This Week in Legacy: I'm Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse
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 diving into Streets of New Capenna and whether anything from this set is going to look good for Legacy. We also have two Challenges and the Showcase Qualifier from over the weekend to look at.
So without further ado, let's dive right in!
On These Mean Streets
We are back in spoiler season yet again, having just wrapped up all the spoilers for Streets of New Capenna, a set based on the concept of demon crime families and mafia settings. There are a few new mechanics for this set, but most of those aren't extremely necessary to know all the particulars of for Legacy purposes.
There is one small change to a returning mechanic though, and that is the Hideaway mechanic. Hideaway is now accompanied by a number that tells you how many cards to look at (for example: Hideaway 4) and the rider that the permanent enters tapped has been removed from the mechanic, instead having been tacked onto existing cards that worked this way such as Shelldock Isle (which now has enters tapped as an additional line of rules text).
The other big change to Hideaway is the fact that instead of putting the cards on the bottom of the library in any order, they are now put on the bottom in a random order. While this might not seem like a huge change, it is in fact a slight change to a few decks that abuse this function of the mechanic, namely decks playing Thassa's Oracle with either Thought Lash or even decks utilizing Doomsday and Shelldock with Emrakul to win the game. Those decks can no longer choose the order the cards go on the bottom, giving Shelldock Isle a slight nerf.
With that being said, let's take a look at the cards from the main set, followed by anything we saw from the Commander sets as well.
Even the Score
There's been a bit of hubbub over this card since it turns on for its cost reduction when your opponent casts a main phase Brainstorm but honestly, I don't think this is any good and doesn't really do much at all in the current format. Unless something truly busted can take advantage of it I don't see it getting played.
An Offer You Can't Refuse
Another Swan Song-like variant that hits any noncreature spell. This card does seem interesting if you have a way of ensuring your opponent can't actually use the Treasures (Karn, etc). It's worth noting you can also counter your own stuff, even uncounterable spells to generate Treasures. Whether that's good enough remains to be seen, but this is another doubtful card for me.
Devilish Valet
This card certainly is unique and it does have some interesting hoops to jump through to make it strong, but some form of a blitz style deck could find a home for this as a win condition. Given the right set of circumstances, I don't see this breaking the bank or really doing much, but it's a unique and fun card to potentially build around.
Torch Breath
This card actually seems really strong. Being able to hit any permanent uncounterably is really powerful, but then having the cost reduction on blue permanents is even better. This kills Teferi, Jace, Narset, and even gets through Ward 4 on a Kappa Cannoneer if you have enough mana to sink into it. In addition, this beats up on Hullbreacher at instant speed for one red mana (As you factor in determining X is 2 and then you factor in cost reductions which changes 2R to just R) which is even more powerful.
I suspect this will become a solid sideboard card in the current format as its power is really good all around.
Aven Heartstabber
Baleful Strix this is not, but if you can meet the pseudo-delirium aspect of the card it does become a 3/3 flying with deathtouch and that is certainly interesting. The death trigger is just icing on top of this, but there could be a deck that could make this card work for it.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary
This card is super weird on the surface, as it functions primarily with the new Casualty mechanic that is the basis of the Maestros family in the set. Casualty lets you sacrifice a creature in addition to the cost of the spell and you get to copy it. In the case of Mob Nixilis, you get a second Planeswalker that isn't Legendary. While Ob's abilities aren't insane, doubling up on them may be interesting enough and there's always a lot of potential for a three mana Planeswalker to do something.
Obscura Charm
The upside of this card is being able to return something like a Teferi, Time Raveler from the graveyard at instant speed, which is pretty amusing. It can also counter specific spells and destroy most of the currently played mana value 3 or less threats/Planeswalkers. I don't know if it this is good enough for Esper to be a thing, but between this and another card we're going to talk about it's definitely interesting.
Scheming Fence
This card is unique as it's sort of a Phyrexian Revoker effect but it does require the permanent to be already in play to name with it. The nice thing about this is that this does shut off mana abilities, so you can name Mox Diamond and Lion's Eye Diamond with it. Naming a Mox Diamond in play is sort of amusing since it does give the card the ability to tap for mana, which could be relevant. This can also name Food Chain as well. Just a really unique and interesting card.
Tainted Indulgence
I like this card quite a bit, but I'm not sure where it might go. It has a lot of upside if you meet the pseudo-delirium aspect of it by being a straight 2 mana draw 2. Even without it, the discard could be relevant to specific strategies. Curious to see if anyone builds around this one for sure.
Void Rend
Instant speed can't be countered Vindicate is extremely good. I don't know if this puts Esper back on the map or not, but this does make its removal strong enough to possibly get there. The downside is being in three different colors in a format with Wasteland, but I've never seen this stop any of the 4C Control piles either so I don't think that's as huge of a downside as one might believe.
Luxior, Giada's Gift
This card is yet another card that combos with Devoted Druid (as Druid will get +1/+1 for each -1/-1 counter on it, canceling them all out). The bigger upside of this card over something like Swift Reconfiguration is that this can be located off of Urza's Saga and that alone gives me pause to consider what this card could do.
Unlicensed Hearse
This card is subtle but really powerful. It's graveyard hate that gets rid of two cards, but then later on it becomes a creature with power and toughness equal to the number of cards it has exiled. This definitely has potential as a unique graveyard hate option that also turns into a beater late game.
The Shard Tri-Color Lands
Seeing as how plenty of the Ikoria triome cycle sees play here or there in various decks, I would not be surprised to see any of these cards in a deck at some point. They definitely have the potential to do so, as being fetchable despite coming in tapped can still be worth a 1-of slot here or there.
Witness Protection
Hello, yes? My name is Griselbrand, and I'm calling about your car's extended warranty? Why yes, I am a very Legitimate Businessperson, why do you ask?
Security Rhox
Yo this is "Brick Wall" Balzano and I'm here to say I'm not very happy about not getting my own card in this set. You hear me? Brick Wall demands justice!
New Capenna Commander
We're also getting a bunch of Commander decks for this set, so let's dive into some cards from the Commander product and see where they stand.
In Too Deep
Uncounterable Planeswalker removal is honestly highly interesting enough. I'd be thrilled if this had Flash, but it makes sense why it doesn't (granted Swift Reconfiguration did for one less mana). Still, this could be interesting enough to try out provided it makes it onto MTGO. Giving Enchantress a way to shut off an opposing Narset for example is strong enough. Yes, they do get to cash in that card for a clue, but if you're going off and winning the game, that hardly matters.
Dogged Detective
I saw some mild discussion over this, but honestly, I'm not too thrilled with it. The body isn't great, the Surveil isn't that insane, and a good majority of removal in Legacy is exile based, making it unlikely to repeat itself without a sac outlet to put this into the graveyard, and honestly, there are a ton of better sac fodder cards than this. I'm not sold on it unless I see it in action and even then I am fairly medium on it.
Currency Converter
Since it's a one-mana artifact with text on it, we do have to be aware of Urza's Saga for cards like this. As far as this particular card is concerned, there is some niche synergy with Liliana of the Veil (for all the Pox players in the room) by being able to cash in cards you discard off of it for tokens. The big problem with this is if it dies, any previous exiled cards are lost to the annals of time. Still, this also loots for a rather expensive cost, but maybe there's some sort of brew that could use this or just make it part of a Pox Saga deck. I'm not really sure. Liliana hasn't been an exceptionally great card in Legacy as of late, but you never know.
Legacy Challenge 4/16
We had two Challenges this past weekend, the first of which was the early morning Saturday event. This event had 60 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Quite a bit of UR Delver here, but the win rate of the deck was kept reasonably down to 45.16% nonmirror. Elves performed quite well, so did Stoneblade and Reanimator.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Reanimator | 1st | Ark4n |
| 4C Control | 2nd | Baby |
| Stoneblade | 3rd | davy2892 |
| Jeskai Control | 4th | Ozymandias17 |
| Death and Taxes | 5th | yoshiwata |
| GW Depths | 6th | ConnorM426 |
| UR Delver | 7th | 7991ociR |
| UR Delver | 8th | Bullwinkkle6705 |
Definitely an interesting Top 8 here with a lot of different things going on. At the end of the event it was Ark4n with Reanimator that took it down.
A really interesting list here. I love Archon of Cruelty as it always seems so incredibly strong in this shell. The sideboard is also interesting, feature two copies each of Lake of the Dead (for mere acceleration) and Profane Tutor (a way to find other cards in the deck you need). Definitely cool.
In Second Place we've got 4C Control.
The fourth color here is mainly the red splash which is typically for Expressive Iteration but in this case is for main deck Pyroblast and sideboard cards. Definitely a unique list. Haven't seen much Archmage's Charm in the format that much so it's kind of neat to see.
Also in this Top 8 we had a Delver/Stoneblade variant.
UW DelverBlade is pretty interesting to see, especially with four copies of Stifle. Seems like a strong choice.
Further down we have Matt Vook on Jeskai Control.
This is a sweet list, focusing more on the cards that make Jeskai powerful instead of directly on the Hullbreacher/Day's Undoing combo that we typically see out of Jeskai these days. Murktide Regent seems very powerful here, as does Mentor.
Legacy Challenge 4/17
Our second event of the weekend was the afternoon Sunday event, which had 75 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
UR Delver had a much better overall performance in this particular event, as did Doomsday and ANT.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| 8Mulch Lands | 1st | Nick_Fox |
| UR Delver | 2nd | RNGSpecialist |
| Eldrazi | 3rd | jben |
| Oops All Spells | 4th | lollerstank |
| 4C Control | 5th | AnziD |
| UR Delver | 6th | Latke |
| Jeskai Control | 7th | Yuza_of_the-clouds |
| Doomsday | 8th | Earlder1 |
Definitely an intriguing Top 8 here, with some Delver but also some fun stuff like Eldrazi. At the end of the event though it was 8Mulch Lands that took it all down.
This deck is so cool. I love seeing the evolution of it and how powerful it is. Has been one of my favorite things to play in quite a while for sure. This list cuts a Crop Rotation for the main deck Flame Jab which seems rather reasonable.
The Second Place pilot was on UR Delver.
It's worth noting that this deck doesn't have any actual Delvers in it whatsoever, instead leaning on DRC and Murktide, but also leaning hard on the use of Snapcaster Mage with both Predict and Expressive Iteration. It's a very interesting approach to the Tempo shell, showing how truly adaptable this shell really is.
As noted before we had an Eldrazi pilot in this Top 8.
Haven't seen too much of this deck in a while, but when a lot of the Bant / 4C shells are being pushed on, I can see this kind of deck doing well since Chalice is good against a number of the other top decks of the current format.
Also in this Top 8 we had our good friend Anuraag Das.
This list is pretty sweet. I love Timeless Dragon. It's just a really strong card overall. The Loams and Entreat the Angels here is also super cool.
Legacy Showcase Qualifier 4/17
This past weekend was also the culmination of the first Season Showcase events on Magic Online. The Showcase Qualifier is an invitation-only event that is extended to anyone who makes Top 8 of a Showcase Challenge or wins a Last Chane Qualifier event. This usually results in around 28 players or so in the events. Due to their nature, these events are pretty inbred as they are often a chance to prove metagaming knowledge and special tech against such a small field. These events are also typically pretty stacked player-wise with a lot of really powerful Legacy players.
The winner of this event goes on to the MOCS (Magic Online Champions Showcase) as well qualifies for a PT level Arena Championship event. In this case it was for the Streets of New Capenna Championship event.
You can find the data sheet for this event here. Unfortunately, these kinds of events do not often have decklists published by Wizards.
As is to be expected in such a small field, a lot of players are going to gravitate to either the best-perceived deck in the format or will play what they specialize in (for any deck specialists that made it to the event). In This case, UR Delver is often a popular choice at the moment for these types of events and we definitely see that in force with almost 46% or so of the event being UR Delver. There are also a ton of one-off decks in this event, simply because of specialists like 8Cast and 4C Control.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Yorion Zenith | 1st | McWinSauce |
| Reanimator | 2nd | Ark4n |
| Jeskai Control | 3rd | Ozymandias17 |
| UR Delver | 4th | easymoneymarksman |
| UR Delver | 5th | 7991ociR |
| UR Delver | 6th | JUJUBEAN__2004 |
| UR Delver | 7th | Azerate218 |
| GW Depths | 8th | ConnorM426 |
As expected, quite a bit of Delver given the makeup of the event. As noted prior, we do not have decklists for this event from Wizards, however we do know that the winner of the event was McWinSauce on Yorion Zenith! You can go check out his list here on Twitter. Congrats to Tom White (McWinSauce) for winning this event and making it to the MOCS and PT!
Around the Web
- 90sMTG has some sweet Jeskay Day's Undoing vs Cloudpost action. Check it out here.
- Phil Gallagher has some Waste Not, Want Not! Check it out here.
- Sapphire Medallion High Tide?!
- Eternal Durdles is doing some Death's Shadow. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Pit has some 8Cast vs 4C Control going on. Check it out here.
- TIBALT'S TRICKERY
- OH RIGHT JOKULHAUPS
The Spice Corner
You can find this past week's 5-0 deck lists over here.
Approach of the Second Sun Omni-Tell is a thing.
Mono Black Control is something else for sure.
This is a SICK Stiflenought list. Varolz, the Scar-Striped with Death's Shadow or Dreadnought in the graveyard?!
Our good buddy Marcus is on some HIGH TIDE this week.
Speaking of Dreadnoughts, this list is wild.
What I Played This Week
My video for this week was a little ditty with Food Chain! It's GOBLINS!
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 Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Patreon! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
