This Week in Legacy: Oops! This Deck is on Fire!
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 going to talking all about the current reign of Oops! All Spells as a deck to contend with in the Legacy format. In addition to that we've got a bunch of Challenges to discuss including a Showcase Challenge.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Oops! They Did It Again!
Legacy certainly has a lot going on right now, but one really unexpected thing about the current format is how much Oops! All Spells has grown as a deck to where it's pretty much become a Tier 1 strategy. As Legacy in general has become hit a lot more with Combo decks, Oops really has risen to the top of the heap as one of the better ones in the format. What is impressive about this is the fact that Oops pretty much has been for a long time what is known as a "Force check" style deck. It's a deck that seeks to initiate a game plan, and if the opponent has disruption like Force of Will or even Leyline of the Void, you're functionally out of the game.
The basic premise of Oops is to use mana accelerant spells to power out something like Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer, flip your library into your graveyard and then cast Dread Return on a Thassa's Oracle, but the deck is proving to be just so much more disruptive than just winning the game on Turn 1.
I think the biggest change in this deck ever was the ability to leverage actual "lands". The Modal DFC cards originally introduced in Zendikar Rising were given a huge boost with the printings in Modern Horizons 3, allowing the deck to have a huge amount of access to up to 12 untapped black sources that on the front face don't count as lands so they aren't seen by Spy/Informer. Having consistent access to their mana has given this deck a strong lease on life in general, but its other technology that has allowed it to prevail and become very good.
The implementation of cards like Memory's Journey main deck means if the Oops player runs into any issues resolving the Dread Return, they can usually flip their Thassa's Oracle back into their deck where they can hard cast it, meaning they are not 100% dead to just a single Force of Will as the deck often used to have issues with in the past. Even moreso, threats like Poxwalkers can leverage the Cabal Therapy action the deck has and allow the Oops player to shred their opponent's hand, ensuring that they can win.
Another big card added to this deck is Jack-o'-Lantern. On the surface the card seems innocuous, but its ability to convert mana into any color from the graveyard is rather huge. If you can convert into UU for example, you can cast Thassa's Oracle from your hand if you need to do so instead of having to Dread Return. It can also convert into Green for casting Memory's Journey from the graveyard. All this it can do from the graveyard, which is really powerful.
What takes this deck further onto the next level is how across the board the sideboard plans for this deck can be. Because these decks have access to actual lands now with MDFCs, more often than not they can play typical hate cards for things that stop their combo game plan (such as Force of Vigor for Leyline) or they can run out a sideboard juke that bypasses the typical graveyard combo plan entirely. This includes things like Goblin Charbelcher, but can also include moving into a somewhat midrange style deck with things like Barrowgoyf, Rotting Regisaur, and Dauthi Voidwalker (i.e. all cards that are easily castable off Dark Ritual). This kind of juke sidesteps decks that often sideboard out removal spells against Oops, because they are generally considered bad against the deck, exploiting how an opponent might sideboard against them.
Oops has certainly become a truly powerful strategy in Legacy, and it's at the point where it's one you really need to consider when playing the format. It's become quite popular due to its speed and power, and it's definitely a deck you're going to see in the Legacy Leagues and Challenges.
What are your thoughts on Oops as a deck? Let me know in the Comments below.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/5/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 48 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Jumba |
| Blue Painter | 2nd | XanaZero |
| Jeskai Control | 3rd | hermanomlg |
| Oops! All Spells | 4th | faultedform |
| Coveted Jewel Combo | 5th | TonyScapone |
| Oops! All Spells | 6th | Cachorrowo |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 7th | McWinSauce |
| Eldrazi | 8th | nedyahiske |
Fair amount of Combo in this Top 8, alongside some Control and D&T. The end of the event was won by Dimir Reanimator.
This is pretty much what we've come to expect out of this deck. Not much frills here for it. The deck continues to be an extremely powerful force in Legacy.
In Second Place we had Blue Painter.
We talked a lot about Stock Up last week and here it is making decks like this very good. Blue Painter has been down and out for a bit now, but is Stock Up the card that makes it great? I certainly hope so.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/7/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 45 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Eureka22422 |
| Red Stompy | 2nd | haveaboavida |
| Coveted Jewel Combo | 3rd | GrouchyTurtle |
| Red Stompy | 4th | Alfzera |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | JoyfulWaffle |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | OlorinMaiar |
| Omni-Tell | 7th | ziggy_stardust |
| Jeskai Tempo | 8th | habsburger |
Again quite a bit of Combo, followed by some Stompy decks. At the end of the event it was Dimir Reanimator that won.
I have a lot of big thoughts about Legacy at the moment, thoughts I'm probably going to share next week and so forth while we wait for the B&R announcment on the 31st, but I think the biggest thing about these lists is just how good of a card Troll of Khazad-dum is, and it's certainly a card on people's radar for this deck.
In Second Place we had Red Stompy.
Fairly standard stock list here. And really there's no need to get into the weeds with this deck. It's just that good, and it's going to be that good until there's something to truly combat it.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/8/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 39 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Izzet Tempo | 1st | ReformedPaolo |
| Dimir Reanimator | 2nd | Bezerra_da_Silva |
| Beanstalk Control (Yorion) | 3rd | ziofrancone |
| Rakdos Reanimator | 4th | TheGrimLavamancer |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | Ark4n |
| Ocelot Pride Tempo | 6th | Dafne17 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | mortr3d |
| Izzet Tempo | 8th | habsburger |
Bit more on the Tempo side of things here, with multiple Tempo decks. At the end of the event it was Izzet Tempo that won.
This is a pretty solid looking list and what we've come to expect out of Izzet at the moment. Unholy Heat is a nice option for dealing with many threatening things.
In Second Place we had Dimir Reanimator.
The other big star of this show is frankly Brazen Borrower. It's a generically strong card with relevant text and being able to bounce any nonland permanent while also presenting the option of a 3/1 flier down the line is just so very very good.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/9/2025
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the morning Sunday event. This event had 36 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Izzet Tempo | 1st | PM_Boltface |
| Omni-Tell | 2nd | gygax |
| Dimir Reaniamtor | 3rd | silviawataru |
| Omni-Tell | 4th | musasabi |
| Blue Painter | 5th | Chris_McNasty |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | Capriccioso |
| Red Stompy | 7th | morenoHARDCORE |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 8th | bcs8995 |
Somewhat of a reasonable spread here, but still quite a bit of Combo. At the end of the event it was Izzet Tempo that won.
Ditching the Questing Druid completely honestly makes sense to me. I am digging the Tarfire in the list, giving the deck another card type to enable delirium for Dragon's Rage Channeler but also just being a good quality damage spell. Stifle is nice as well.
In Second Place we had Omni-Tell.
We talked quite a bit about Stock Up in this deck especially last week. It's a really powerful place to be for a deck playing Show and Tell. You get to not only hard cast Stock Up if you have Tomb + Blue source, but chaining them with Omni in play is really strong.
Legacy Showcase Challenge 3/9/2025
We had a Legacy Showcase Challenge this past weekend, taking place on Sunday. These events are premier play events, and they cost QPs to enter. The Top 8 of this event gets to move on to the Showcase Qualifier at the end of the season. This event had a solid 233 players in it! What a great turnout!
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. Huge thanks goes to gr33nashe for helping me with the data for this event.
Dimir Reanimator was by far the most popular deck of the event at a whopping 42 copies (nearly 20% of the metagame). It's overall win rate however was very close to the norm of 50% (50.39% w/ mirror, 50.47% w/o mirror). Red Stompy was also popular, and despite having at least one Top 8 finish its overall win rate was also pretty poor.
So what did do well? Well, let's take a look at the Top 8. For this event specifically we're going to also cover the Top 4 decklists.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Cradle Control | 1st | delightedhalfling |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 2nd | toondoslav |
| Sneak and Show | 3rd | termidor |
| Esper Control | 4th | Galaxy_Impact |
| Azorius Tempo | 5th | NilsFit |
| Red Stompy | 6th | KoolooLimpah |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 7th | TrueFuturism |
| Izzet Tempo | 8th | C_S_W____ |
Frankly, this is a very reasonable and well rounded Top 8. There's some Tempo, some Stompy, a Combo deck, and even Cloudpost. At the end of the event it was none other than Cradle Control that won.
According to the social medias, this pilot was actually none other than Newton Hang himself, so I am not surprised to see such a performance out of the creator of this deck. One of the new big additions out of Jumpstart Foundations is Scythecat Cub. Given that things like Wight of the Reliquary exists, being able to make any creature humongous is pretty great. Given that the cat also has Trample, making itself bigger is also very viable. Definitely a really interesting list.
In Second Place we had D&T.
The Orzhov D&T variants have been incredibly popular for a while now. Realistically, having payoffs like Overlord of the Balemurk and Bowmasters is great, and also Phantom Blade from the Assassin's Creed set is very strong. But honestly? It's the surveil lands. Having good incentive to play the surveil lands while them also tapping for two relevant colors is so good to a deck like D&T, that often doesn't have a good way to clear the top card of their deck if they need to.
In Third Place we had Sneak and Show.
Stock Up continues to look excellent in these blue dual + Ancient Tomb decks that allow for Show and Tell to be a thing. It's just a really solid card, and has a lot of strong action to it that even just hard casting it by paying mana is good.
In Fourth Place we had Esper Tempo.
The white splash here is kind of light pre-board, since you're only looking at Prismatic Ending and Swords. Post board, it's only slightly more with a single copy of Wrath of the Skies. It is rather interesting to see only two copies of Daze.
And I have one more for y'all. I couldn't let this event go without sharing this one. Someone went 6-3 in this event for 21st on functionally Modern Mill (with shocks and everything). The only Legacy card that I can see is four Swords to Plowshares. This is amazing.
Around the Web
- IN RESPONSE has a new episode. Check it out here.
- The Eternal Glory Podcast is talking about BAN SEASON. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone is Stocking It Up. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is playing some Ketramose D&T. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
This is a really sick Ocelot Pride deck.
DEMIGOD OF REVENGE.
STANDSTILL....
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!
