This Week in Legacy: Oopsie Daisy
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 be talking all about Oops! All Spells. In addition to that we've got some Challenges from this past week to look at.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Whoopsie Oopsie!
It seems that Oops! All Spells is back in some talking points again in regards to how well its doing in the Legacy metagame. This article isn't going to focus so much on that aspect of things (because I think that's better suited for the larger normal discussion of the metagame in full context) but more so on what current Oops lists look like, and a refresher for those folks who aren't aware of what this deck does.
At its core, Oops is a deck that is generally seeking in Game 1 to execute a very specific game plan. Either get Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer into play, mill your entire deck and then Dread Return a Thassa's Oracle to win the game by sacrificing Narcomoeba for Dread Return. The game plan is exceptionally specific because it is really looking to only do this one thing. The deck often does have a scant few ways to manage if that game plan fails horribly (one of those ways is using cards like Memory's Journey to put Oracle back into the library to cast from hand), and the deck does tend to play protection to stop any disruption if it can, but if the deck's main game plan absolutely fails, then the game is essentially over. Honestly, this goes either way, because if the deck manages to do its thing, the game is over. It's primarily important to know when interacting with this deck that if the opponent does manage to trigger Spy or activate Informer, most of the time the game is probably in the Oops player's favor, because of cards like Cabal Therapy and occasionally other protection spells like Pact of Negation. It doesn't always work out this way in the Oops player's favor, and you can get through their protection and win the game, but Oops does have a lot of game one advantages that give it that raw power.
It's when this deck goes to sideboard games that things start getting really interesting. Oops is a deck well renowned for having lots of wild sideboard jukes, but it's not like these things come completely out of nowhere, and you're stuck having to be blindsided with what crazy sideboard juke they're doing next. More often than not, Oops does this because its primary game plan is often very fragile to anti-graveyard cards (especially cards like Leyline of the Void) and juking can give them an edge in post board games where an opponent may misboard for the matchup.
The key is in that Game one, especially if it's a Game one where the Oops opponent wins. When Oops goes off they have to flip their entire deck into their graveyard. This is public zone information, and it's something you're allowed to look through. This is key to understanding what Oops might be doing in a post board game, because how their deck is constructed tips off what kind of sideboard juke/gameplan they are going for.
As an example, the list above has a juke that allows it to execute Goblin Charbelcher as a win condition, but it also gains the ability to deal with anti-graveyard permanents with Force of Vigor. The big key card here? Pact of Negation in the main deck is one way to identify that the Oops player has a juke that lets them not only sidestep the graveyard, but also has the ability to deal with anti-graveyard artifacts/enchantments. Another way of telling an opponent may have Force of Vigor is that they're playing Summoner's Pact in the main deck as well. This helps boost the number of green cards for Force of Vigor.
Now these decks don't always have Force of Vigor, and instead goes full on deep into a juke with Charbelcher / Beseech the Mirror.
The other big difference between the list above and the pure juke is that it's not playing cards like Memory's Journey, Jack-o'-Lantern, and Poxwalkers. These are other things you can use as a tool to guide your sideboarding decisions.
A third school of sideboard jukes is to completely ignore a combo finish and go for more of an aggressive build. This often involves cards like Barrowgoyf and Passageway Seer.
What sets this build apart and distinguishes its juke is the fact that the deck is not playing Pact of Negation, and is instead playing the card Unmask. These builds do not have ways in their sideboard to deal with anti-graveyard permanents in any way, so they have to play hand disruption like Unmask to get rid of certain cards. Following this up with cards like Goyf and Initiative threats is pretty groovy, and give the deck a fair game plan that lets it also leverage its fast mana into fast threats.
This isn't even an exhaustive list of all the types of jukes this deck can achieve however, but for the most part the deckbuilding principles behind various jukes tend to look the same when it comes to including cards like Pact of Negation, Unmask, etc. Being able to identify the version of the deck the opponent is on and how best to sideboard for that version is very helpful knowledge that can assist you in knowing what to do in the moment versus a deck like Oops. The deck very much operates under the notion of wanting the opponent to trip up so they can capitalize on that and win the game, and being able to clearly and concisely understand the gameplan and its sideboard jukes takes out a lot of that mystery aspect of the deck and grants you, as the opponent a firmer measure of control.
As noted, we'll be doing yet another larger metagame discussion soon, so we'll talk more about how Oops is doing in the overall metagame at that point.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/14/2026
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 55 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. There were some technical issues with this event that prevented full data collection. This particular event was not merged into the main aggregate sheets for this reason.
Both Dimir and Oops had equal share here, with Dimir doing very well and Oops doing less than 50%. Lands looked strong here, as did Affinity and Omni-Tell.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Dazai |
| Temur Tempo | 2nd | DethFrmAbove |
| Dimir Tempo | 3rd | NeyMatoGrosso |
| The EPIC Storm | 4th | DrPP |
| Stoneblade | 5th | DMianete |
| Cradle Control | 6th | ConnorM426 |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 7th | Roodslay |
| Eldrazi | 8th | Tetsubou |
Fairly solid looking Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Dimir Tempo that won.
This is pretty standard looking stuff here. Snuff Out is primarily for dealing with cards you can't clear off with Fatal Push (your opposing Murktides for sure).
In Second Place we had a Temur Tempo build.
I am not too keen on Katara, Waterbending Master personally, but I have seen some people have success with it, so I think it probably does play fairly well to an extent. The real one I like here is Redirect Lightning. That card is super sweet.
Further down the Top 8 we had The EPIC Storm.
I love that the Burning Wish board here includes stuff like Approach of the Second Sun. Also, a big thing here is four copies of Boomerang Basics in the sideboard. The versatility of this card is really strong, as you often bounce your own card and receive a new one in return.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/16/2026
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 53 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was the most played deck of the event, and it had a very strong overall win rate. Other decks that did well here were Affinity, Omni, Beans, and Red Stompy.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Ryuho090 |
| Omni-Tell | 2nd | RIDDLE0423 |
| Dimir Tempo | 3rd | ecobaronen |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 4th | JohnDoe397 |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | Dazai |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | Lord_Beerus |
| Red Stompy | 7th | GoblinElder |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 8th | DB_hARAIN |
Lot of Dimir in this Top 8. At the end of the event, it was Dimir Tempo that won again.
The only major thing here is no Brazen Borrower in the main deck. Other than that, fairly stock looking list.
In Second Place, we had Omni-Tell.
The sideboard juke into cards like Murktide, Barrowgoyf, and friends is pretty sweet. A lot of decks are going to be prepped for Show and Tell and be blindsided by Barrowgoyf.
Further down the Top 8 we had D&T.
Canoptek Scarab Swarm is a super sweet card I haven't seen in a hot minute. Blinking it with Phelia seems pretty groovy.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/17/2026
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 54 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was again the most played deck, and again had an incredibly good win rate. Eldrazi looked good here too, as did Lands.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | grindstone-cowboy |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | stu909090 |
| Sultai Control | 3rd | Ark4n |
| Beanstal Control (Non-Yorion) | 4th | jibeta |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | Oceansoul92 |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | ReformedPaolo |
| Eldrazi | 7th | Schmeckles |
| Lands | 8th | lokman120 |
Starting to sense a theme with all the Dimir Tempo floating about. At the end of the event it was Dimir vs Dimir.
The numbers in these builds are kind of wild, not gonna lie. Two Daze, three Daze? Feels like I'm counting on Sesame Street here!
Further down the Top 8, we had some Beans. Roll that beautiful bean footage.
Phelia and Riddler are just really groovy. I like this build also incorporating Orcish Bowmasters.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/18/2026 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 45 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was again the most played deck, but its overall win rate was less than 50% despite a Top 8 appearance. D&T looked very good here, as did Mardu Energy.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mardu Energy | 1st | Selfeisek |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | Lord_Beerus |
| Beanstalk Control (Yorion) | 3rd | fredmcfred |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 4th | JohnDoe397 |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | Trohck |
| Jeskai Control | 6th | jankyb |
| Stoneblade | 7th | gazmon48 |
| Eldrazi | 8th | ryugha |
This is a pretty varied Top 8 overall, with the winner of the event being Mardu Energy.
This deck can get out of hand rather quickly, especially with cards like Voice of Victory and Goblin Bombardment. Being able to turn your tokens into more damage is always groovy.
In Second Place, we had Dimir Tempo.
No Brazen Borrower at all is kind of wild. I feel like that card is actually still really good right now.
Further down the Top 8 we had Jeskai Control.
Oh neat, this isn't Wizards, it's just straight up Back to Basics and Dress Down. That's really something.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/18/2026 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 81 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo had a super strong presence here, and a good win rate to boot. Oops rode the middle of the line here, while everything else above the cutoff did fairly poorly.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Oceansoul92 |
| Sneak and Show | 2nd | wingzeronfc |
| Dredge | 3rd | Janosh12345 |
| Selesnya Depths | 4th | maximusdee |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | ReformedPaolo |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | kentaro_hokori |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | MackSmith |
| Eldrazi | 8th | Karazu |
Again, half of the Top 8 here is Dimir Tempo, and it also won the event.
Feed the Cycle is the only truly interesting card I've seen come out of this deck in a bit, and even then, it feels like flavor of the week before finding something else that does something similar. At least this card does kill Planeswalkers.
In Second Plac,e we had Sneak and Show.
Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine is a really sweet card here. Also wow that sideboard of just lots and lots of red cards that do things. Untimely Malfunction spotted, which is pretty cool.
Also in this Top 8 we had Dredge.
A much more aggressive build than what we've seen out of players like Mahfuz (the Satoru build that can combo off). This is a lot more in line with classic Dredge gaming.
Around the Web
- BeExcellent has a trophy video with a $500 Mono Black deck! Check it out here.
- GreenSunsZenith.com has a great post on the best graveyard interaction for Legacy Maverick. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is back with some Mardu Control. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Cool Pox list.
Birthing Ritual will always be spicy.
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!
