This Week in Legacy: Pre-BnR Metagame Review
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 taking a look at Legacy and where things sit in the metagame before next week's BnR announcement on November 10th. In addition we've got some Challenges to discuss.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Legacy Pre-Nov 10 2025 BnR Metagame
We've got a BnR Announcement next week, specifically on Monday November 10th, 2025. Now, I hear what you're saying out there. "More ban content?", "Reactionary content creators?!" I think that while there's quite a bit of that going around in some cases, I think the majority of it is just people wanting or wishing for changes in a format they love. Now, that being said, I have never been one much for the truly insane clickbait stuff. I prefer to give people information and let them understand the conclusions to be made around that information as well as try to give context to that information. I often think there's a lot to be understood about context that does get lost in translation, and it is important to understand what is going on with the format from the data level but also from the macro level of things.
With all that on the plate, I am going to state ahead of time that I don't think November 10th, 2025 will bring any changes to Legacy. My thoughts on that are largely centered on the fact that Wizards often tends to view Eternal Weekend as an all-encompassing thing and that all three Eternal Weekend events are considered very important to the community overall. Making any changes to the format in the midst of them is likely going to be off the table.
And while it might be controversial to say this, I've said it before in this column, I do agree with this approach. There's a lot of data to be had in all three events, and using one event as a barometer for the format, even with as much data as there was, may not be the correct thing to do, and it's better to have all three events in retrospect and then find a path to changes afterwards.
Now I do hear the idea that this makes EW a "lame duck" format, but I don't think that's true. We do have a set release in the middle as well, and while ATLA might not have anything for Legacy (set review soon), it is a new set and that sometimes does bring things in. Does it change the format all that much? Probably not, but Standard sets in general have been doing a lot of that this year. In addition, I think it's interesting to see how the formats look across multiple events, as regional differences in play style also affect things.
Regardless, I think the primary thing to be touched next Monday is Standard, which is what Wizards has been fully transparent about. I think it's okay to let Legacy ride through the other two Eternal Weekends and then go from there. I am going to touch on the big top decks though and the overall conversation around these decks and what could be done to address the issues the current format has, with the understanding that the likelihood of any changes actually being implemented next week is pretty low.
With all this being said, here's where Legacy is at with our current data collection efforts and our aggregate data located here. Let's start by looking at some graphical data.
Dimir Reanimator continues to be the most played deck in Legacy since the banning of Troll of Khazad-dum earlier this year, and it currently sits at around a 16% metagame share and has an estimated MWP w/o mirrors of 55.6%. Not going to lie this is a pretty wild place to be for a deck that has spent pretty much the last two years being the best deck in the format. It has the most metagame share and a competitive win rate in non-mirror situations with the entire format gunning for it. The context here is very important. Dimir Reanimator rides that line of being both a graveyard-centric deck but also can be a Tempo deck that doesn't care about the graveyard. Cards like Tamiyo have really reinforced that game plan working quite well. What gives the deck that edge is the fact that it can pivot when it needs to, and when it needs to turn a corner... the Entomb for Atraxa or Archon is right there to be able to do that.
On the H2H data, a good majority of Dimir Reanimator's matchups are quite positive. The deck that aren't positive can have problems against other decks at the top of the format, and that polarizing aspect can be rough.
There's a ton of speculation on what needs to be done to curb this deck, whether Wizards could hit Tamiyo or whether we are at the point where hitting something like Entomb or Reanimate is necessary. While Tamiyo is certainly a card that could likely end up banned in spite of the fact that it makes this deck very good, I am not sure if it's a card that pushes the Tempo Reanimator build out entirely. We've definitely done this multiple times now over multiple BnR announcements, so like, that is a bit of a problem and makes the outside view look like it needs more attention than just a single card every three or so months (realistically I'd love to go more than three months without a ban, which has happened over this past year regardless of whether they were needed or not).
The other major player as of late has been Mystic Forge Combo. This deck doesn't have a ton of ground on MTGO but is roughly 5% of the metagame with a non-mirror of 52%. This does seem rather in line with how most decks should be in the format, without much a really insane looking win rate. That being said, in context its win rates against other decks is extremely good. Decks like D&T that play well versus Dimir Reanimator and could bring that into balance have an awful matchup versus Mystic Forge. The deck's play patterns and stress on the format have been fairly strong since the release of Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, and just all of the things this deck does makes it what it is. Personally if I had to address what this deck is doing, the card to look at is likely The One Ring. Most of the ongoing conversation about the deck has been around this card, as it is a card that Wizards themselves have called out before in their BnR announcements in relation the Legacy, and it just so happens to be the one deck that utilizes The One Ring to its fullest potential.
There's also been a lot of talk about Nadu, Winged Wisdom. I think as long as this card remains legal in Legacy, people are always going to talk about it and whether it should be legal. Showing up in a few different primary decks, Nadu has had some strong paper results at Eternal Weekend NA, and a lot of the commentary seems to be centered around this deck being more popular in paper than on MTGO, mainly because of the amount of clicking involved. I don't really believe this is a true thing, honestly. Having played the decks a number of times on MTGO, executing Nadu isn't terribly difficult, since all you're really looking to do in many cases is draw a bunch more cards than your opponent and have more answers than they have ways to win.
Nadu is a good card, no lies, but I don't think the individual decks the card goes in have been so incredibly backbreaking. Across the board, most of Nadu's matchups are pretty bad across the different builds it's in, which is primarily Cephalid Breakfast and Nadu Midrange. Both decks boast a sub 50% non-mirror MWP, and realistically, they all just don't look that good. The major concern I keep hearing here is that if you take away X and Y from Reanimator and Mystic Forge that Nadu becomes broken, but... I also don't see it. We thought that about the last BnR with Troll going, and it just didn't happen.
I think Nadu is a reasonable card for Legacy, but I think that people just hate the thing enough that eventually it might happen. I don't think it happens any time soon though.
Honestly I think any discussion about Legacy is going to be centered around these three decks though and I do think there's good discussion to be had on it, and what needs to be done to address things, but I definitely think we'll be realistically doing this after EW. I am looking forward to seeing what happens, but more than likely expect some further discussion on the format for EW and the ATLA set reviews.
Do you think Legacy will get any changes on Nov 10th? Sound off in the comments!
Legacy Challenge 32 10/29/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 51 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 Reanimator was the most played deck, but its overall win rate was not superb despite having two Top 8s. Izzet Tempo and Dimir Tempo looked great here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | ziofrancone |
| Izzet Tempo | 2nd | i_b_TRUE |
| Dimir Reanimator | 3rd | lia2022 |
| Oops! All Spells | 4th | Bawer |
| Blue Cloudpost | 5th | choutin |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | Munchlax446 |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 7th | Roodslay |
| Coveted Jewel Combo | 8th | TonyScapone |
Definitely an interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Dimir Tempo that won.
Feed the Cycle is a really interesting inclusion here. Foraging seems pretty easy in these kinds of decks when you're dumping a lot of cards in your graveyard anyways by playing the game.
In Second Place we had Izzet Tempo.
Fairly straightforward list here, and definitely more in line with what folks like Roland Chang played at Eternal Weekend NA.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/31/2025
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 and the data sheet here.
Dimir Reanimator was again the most played deck, and its win rate was right on the line but it had some Top 8s. Mystic Forge looked great, as did Dimir Tempo.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Forge Combo | 1st | Eureka22422 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 2nd | Chloe_Knight |
| Loam Pox | 3rd | Carroz |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | derJurist |
| Izzet Tempo | 5th | _INF_ |
| Stoneblade | 6th | cicciogire |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 7th | jayru |
| 8Cast | 8th | Thebigempty92 |
Mostly Dimir and Mystic Forge here, with some others sprinkled in. At the end of the event it was Mystic Forge that won.
The copy of Mishra's Research Desk is kind of sweet here. It's a card with some neat utility for sure, and the fact that you can pick it up off Saga is sweet.
In Second Place we had Dimir Reanimator.
This looks like a fairly stock looking list overall. Three Daze isn't really a huge deal, really.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/1/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday 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.
Izzet Tempo ended up being the most played deck of the event here, but its overall win rate didn't seem too good even though it had a Top 8. Loam Pox did fantastic here on two pilots both making Top 8.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Eldrazi | 1st | newbornskyfire |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | ziofrancone |
| Loam Pox | 3rd | altniccolo |
| Omni-Tell | 4th | JPA93 |
| Red Stompy | 5th | kanican |
| Izzet Tempo | 6th | Oceansoul92 |
| Blue Cloudpost | 7th | jibeta |
| Loam Pox | 8th | Sol-e22558 |
What a very interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Eldrazi that won.
Very interesting take on the Eldrazi shell by re-integrating green into the list for both Eldrazi Repurposer and Once Upon a Time. It's very aggressive and powerful.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo.
Same deck that won an earlier Challenge by the same pilot. What's really interesting here is the numbers on certain cards like Tamiyo being at three copies.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/2/2025 - 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.
Mystic Forge Combo was the most played deck but its win rate wasn't fantastic. Blue Cloudpost did super well here, as did Blue Painter. Both Dimir Reanimator and Izzet Tempo kind of rode the middle of the line.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 1st | einstein9998 |
| Blue Cloudpost | 2nd | Chocolate_Branco |
| Blue Cloudpost | 3rd | Mr_VVizard |
| Blue Painter | 4th | Razdan08 |
| Lands | 5th | empiricism |
| Saga Storm | 6th | ScarJo121 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | RyanWu |
| Izzet Tempo | 8th | SkysTheLimit |
Very interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Nadu that won.
Genemorph Imago is a super sweet looking card that kind of does what Bristly Bill, Spine Sower does with the Landfall, but it pitches to both Forces and isn't Legendary so doesn't get popped with Karakas]. Really interesting take on the Nadu Midrange pile.
In Second Place we had Blue Cloudpost.
This deck is super sweet and really makes use of cards like Stock Up and Thundertrap Trainer. Really super cool deck overall.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/2/2025 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 78 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most played deck but didn't really have a great win rate. Dimir Reanimator also looked weirdly on the line despite doing very well in the event. Mystic Forge looked good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | OSCA66 |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | ziofrancone |
| Dredge | 3rd | MahfuzVanGogh |
| Jeskai Control | 4th | Takizawa |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 5th | einstein9998 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 6th | TheMagePower |
| Oops! All Spells | 7th | Pharina |
| Esper Control | 8th | VPMaeda09 |
Very interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Dimir Reanimator that won.
Pretty stock looking list here. Not much frills here.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo.
This same pilot did very well over the past several events with this same list. It definitely looks very strong and again, Feed the Cycle is a super cool card.
Around the Web
- The Eternal Glory Podcast has a new episode. Check it out here.
- IN RESPONSE also has a new episode. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Archive plays the Breakout Decks of EW. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
HIGH TIDE.
What a wild Dimir Delver list.
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!
