This Week in Legacy: Gotta Go Fast!
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're revving up the engines for Aetherdrift! We've got the full spoiler in hand for this set and we're seeing what cards from this set could be interesting in Legacy. In addition to that we've got some news on Bazaar of Boxes Series 14 as well as BCDL 19 and a bunch of Challenges from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Aetherdrift for Legacy
We're in the driver's seat for the new Standard Aetherdrift coming soon here, and seeing what from this set would be cool for Legacy play. This set brings back both Vehicles and Mounts from other sets, while also having Cycling. New mechanics include things such as Exhaust (abilities you can only activate once a game) and Speed (a new thing to track that only increases once per turn to Max Speed).
Speed is something to think about, simply because as a mechanic it's another thing to track, but it does track independently of the cards that "start your engines." So if you put one into play and start at 1 speed, you can track up to max speed even if the card that started it isn't in play. That makes some of the effects interesting to maybe consider on certain cards.
There's also some Commander decks (only two this go around) to look at too. Let's take a look at what cards from this set might be playable for Legacy. If there's a card you think I missed, please let me know below in the comments. There isn't a ton from this set that looked super interesting, but there are some things.
Perilous Snare
I think the speed functionality here is less of an issue and more of the fact that this is a card that exiles nonland permanents on an artifact that is easy for things like Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer can both nab. That is an interesting thing to consider since it exiles. Some lists have played Portable Hole but that card only hits MV 2 or less. This hitting everything is kind of neat. Later on, if you do have max speed it can put counters on things, since speed tracks independently of the cards that start it.
Skyseer's Chariot
This is like an Anointed Peacekeeper that is an Artifact. Again, there a lot of ways to recur Artifacts so this could be something interesting to look at.
Repurposing Bay
Birthing Pod doesn't see a ton of play in Legacy, but this is sort of like a Tinker Pod in a lot of ways. I'm not sure if this will see play, but it does seem cool. There's a lot of up front mana investment here for sure.
Demonic Junker
This is a weird removal spell that is cost reduced if you want it to be and are building around it. I don't think it's super good but it's a card.
Momentum Breaker
I don't think this is insanely good, but it's a cool effect. They either have to discard or sacrifice something, and then you can cash it in for value.
Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer
This is expensive, but it's a cool effect. I like being able to weld in and out artifacts, so it's super neat. I doubt Daretti sees play but holy cow it's cool.
Howlsquad Heavy
This is kind of a neat Goblin. It's sort of a Rabblemaster that also turns into a Priest of Titania specifically for Goblins, and it has a way of enabling increasing speed the turn it comes down. This is pretty neat.
Ketramose, the New Dawn
This is a beefy God and it does a lot of really interesting stuff. You can Delve and stuff with it and get value, and then it becomes a reasonable 4/4 Menace Lifelink with Indestructible. I don't know where this goes but it's certainly interesting.
Pyrewood Gearhulk
I am not sure if this is good or not but I get big Craterhoof Behemoth vibes off of it, which is kind of cool. Maybe in some form of artifact-centric deck, but more than likely doesn't see play.
The Aetherspark
This is a weird card to evaluate. It's a Planeswalker, but at the same time it's an Equipment that can be found with Stoneforge Mystic. It could actively be kind of cool as a multipurpose Jitte-like effect, and especially is interesting as a Planeswalker that can't be attacked once its attached to a creature. I'm curious to see if anyone tests this out for sure.
Guardian Sunmare
I had a dream I was a Horse.
Bazaar of Boxes Series 14
On 1/25 our good friends over at Bazaar of Boxes held their Series 14 event, being held again at the Koning Willem II Stadion (a soccer stadium!). You can find all of Bazaar of Boxes' info on this event here. Big thanks to Michel de Jong on continuing to send us all kinds of information on these events. This event was also a Qualifier for the European Legacy Masters tournament series! Here's a sweet shot of the venue itself.
This event was streamed with full coverage. I'm including the embed of the coverage VOD on YouTube if you want to take a gander at some of the sweet Legacy that occurred.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Reanimator was the most popular deck of the event and it did have a positive win rate. Cephalid Breakfast did very well here, as did Stiflenought.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Maarten van Tol |
| Gruul Stompy | 2nd | Ruben Smeets |
| Eldrazi | 3rd | Storm Rombout |
| Stiflenought | 4th | ArmorCrow |
| The EPIC Storm | 5th | JoostdB |
| Grixis Tempo | 6th | Frank Roelofs |
| Stiflenought | 7th | Ravinator |
| Jeskai Control | 8th | Sam Dams |
This is kind of a cool Top 8 here. At the end of the event the winner was Maarten van Tol on Dimir Reanimator.
A lot is going on here in this list. This list has a lot of tempo elements with Murktide as well as Barrowgoyf and Bowmasters. Very interesting way to build this.
In Second Place we had Ruben Smeets on Gruul Stompy.
It has been a while since I've seen a Minsc & Boo! This list is pretty sweet. Bombardiers alongside the Initiative threats is quite cool.
Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 19
This past weekend in Columbus, Ohio was another Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy event! This event was BCDL 19 held at the Warp Gate. Big thanks to our Ohio friends in Carey Banyas and Matt Strand for all their help in running these events on this side of things.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was very popular, but it's overall win rate was fairly medium. Dimir Reanimator looked very strong, as did Stiflenought.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Brendan Layne |
| The EPIC Storm | 2nd | Benjamin Ciufo |
| Sultai Tempo | 3rd | Andrew Bailey |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 4th | Jared Cassarly |
| Stiflenought | 5th | Carter Hewitt |
| Oops! All Spells | 6th | Brian Howard |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | John Hata |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | Chris Schiber |
Quite a bit of Combo and Reanimator here. In fact the winner was Brendan Layne on Dimir Reanimator.
Drown in the Loch has seemed like a fun card in these decks. It does a lot of things and flexibility in modal spells is nice. This is a solid looking list overall here though.
In Second Place we had The EPIC Storm.
This is a very good looking list. I love the Burning Wish package here. One of the things that I know has been discussed by Bryant Cook on this deck is the advent of Vexing Bauble being gone has allowed him to play cards like Pulverize again as a Wish target, which is really sweet.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/29/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 39 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Black Reanimator | 1st | The_shallow_grave |
| Stoneblade | 2nd | harmonywoods |
| Esper Tempo | 3rd | Hammafist |
| Red Stompy | 4th | Mogged |
| Dimir Reanimator | 5th | PierrePoilievre2025 |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | duke12 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 7th | Slasher21 |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | _bwonsamdi_ |
Very interesting Top 8. Good spread of decks. At the end of the event it was Mono Black Reanimator that won.
This is a very sweet and focused list. The main game plan is raw and fast, but the sideboard juke plan is also quite good. Getting to dive into Smog Combo alongside Spoils of the Vault is really sweet.
In Second Place we had Esper Stoneblade.
This is a neat list. I really like the spread of Equipment here, but especially love Pre-War Formalwear as a Stoneblade card. It's definitely solid deckbuilding here.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/31/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 46 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | GrouchyTurtle |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | Flossed |
| Dimir Reanimator | 3rd | 2plus2isfive |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | fingers1991 |
| Saga Storm | 5th | karatedom |
| Doomsday | 6th | wakame |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | _INF_ |
| Colorless Painter | 8th | XanaZero |
Lot of combo here in the Top 8. At the end of the event it was Oops that won.
Lively Dirge is a neat card to see here. Getting to rebuy Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer from the graveyard later on if they get countered is pretty cool.
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
This has got a bit of Lands vibe here too with some of the things like Maze of Ith and Blast Zone. I am digging the Disruptor Flutes in the sideboard as well.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/1/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 45 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | paucr5 |
| Doomsday | 2nd | wakame |
| Dimir Reanimator | 3rd | 2plus2isfive |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | John1111 |
| Red Stompy | 5th | Munchlax446 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | PierrePoilievre2025 |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 7th | TrueHero |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | choutin |
Lot of Dimir Reanimator here, and it did indeed win the event.
It's been very interesting seeing how these decks pivoted after the banning of Frog. I do believe that the biggest driver of this deck still being great is Troll of Khazad-dum, as it being paired with Reanimate is quite good. I'd be curious to see if Troll is realistically the card that might dethrone this deck if it were banned.
In Second Place we had Doomsday.
Bit of a 4C splash build here. This gives access to Teferi, but also to Veil of Summer. Trying everything you can to force through your Doomsday seems to be correct and those cards definitely do that.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/2/2025 - 1
The final regular Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 37 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Both Oops and Red Stompy were very popular, but Red Stompy didn't have a great win rate despite having a good finish in the Top 8. Oops did very well, as did BW D&T.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Black Reanimator | 1st | Roodslay |
| Energy Tempo | 2nd | m-boy |
| Necrodominance Combo | 3rd | Stanshine |
| Red Stompy | 4th | WadeB |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 5th | yoshiwata |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 6th | einstein9998 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | Ryuho090 |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | fetchmonkeygo |
Quite a combo heavy Top 8 again. At the end of the event it was Mono Black Reanimator that won.
This is another very fast and very clean list that wants to get its reanimation target on board as soon as possible in multiple ways. Unmask into Cabal Therapy is quite neat especially if you can Shallow Grave back a threat, swing with it, then use Unmask and Therapy to clean up their hand.
In Second Place we had Energy Tempo.
Oh boy, we don't often get to see these Ocelot Pride + Guide of Souls synergy decks that much, but this one takes it a step further and adds Amped Raptor to the mix. Seems like a strong place to be overall. The Goblin Bombardment is a nice throw back to the Modern lists since you can toss Cats to flip your Ajani.
Legacy Showcase Challenge 2/2/2025
The last event of the weekend was the Showcase Challenge event. This is a Premier play event that had 238 players in it thanks to the MTGO website. The Top 8 of this event gets an invitation to the Showcase Qualifier at the end of the season. Unfortunately we had no data for this event at all.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Cephalid Breakfast | 1st | L4rss0n |
| LED Dredge | 2nd | MahfuzVanGogh |
| Selesnya Depths | 3rd | Moonmadness-_- |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | Folero |
| Red Stompy | 5th | helvetti |
| Eldrazi | 6th | WataugaCJ |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | O_danielakos |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | Rulleboren |
There is a pretty heavy combo presence here, and that seems to be very defining for Legacy right now as a format. At the end of the event it was Cephalid Breakfast that won.
This is a solid looking list here. Having the Nadu plan has really beefed this deck up quite a bit, but at the same time I think surveil lands like Hedge Maze have been a huge boon to these kinds of decks. Being given card selection on a land is really solid.
In Second Place we had LED Dredge.
This is a super cool list. The ability to have the Thassa's Oracle win off using Satoru, the Infiltrator to push through your deck is really solid. Mahfuz is a Dredge master, so it's awesome to see his persistence and play pay off in a big way.
Around the Web
- Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 18 is now on YouTube. Check it out here.
- Maxtortion has a video from the Showcase Challenge. Check it out here.
- Bryant Cook has a video on The EPIC Storm that is naturally EPIC. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone is otterly curious. Check it out here.
- Green Sun's Zenith has an article on understanding the Maverick. Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles is mastering Jeskai. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
This is a neat take on Ninjas.
Parallax Wave and Shark Typhoon! Replenish!!!
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
