This Week in Legacy: Pride of the Ocelot
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 will be talking a little about Ocelot Pride lists in Legacy and how Energy has become a thing to be looked at. In addition, we've got a paper event with Bazaar of Boxes Series 15, and Challenge data from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Energy? In My Legacy?!
One of my favorite things about Magic is when a format informs another format in deckbuilding and card selection. It's really cool when decks from other formats cross over into different formats and find ways to be successful. Such is the case with this deck that we're talking about this week. If you're at all familiar with Modern you'll know that Boros Energy has been a strong part of that format since Modern Horizons 3 with cards like Ocelot Pride and Guide of Souls.
This combo of cards is pretty strong. Putting creatures into play with Guide of Souls not only accrues energy, but it also allows Ocelot Pride to trigger at end step to make more threatening creatures. Many of these decks also use cards like Amped Raptor and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah for great effect.
Legacy, however, gets more than a few cards on its own that allow for it to work with this shell, such as premium removal in Swords to Plowshares and Broadside Bombardiers, but also the powerful manabase that Legacy allows for.
There's a lot this shell can do, and a good majority of the deck is a lot of stuff that is already in the Modern deck, but with some differences due to cards that are just available in Legacy. Staff of the Storyteller, Broadside Bombardiers, and Swords to Plowshares are big reasons to look at this for Legacy, but we can also take it a little bit further and dip into a third color for things like Orcish Bowmasters and Cabal Therapy.
In addition to these Red-centric shells, Legacy also has the ability to dip into a Selesnya version of this deck. This gives the deck access to cards like Scythecat Cub and Peema Trailblazer.
This is a really cool shell and looks very exciting for Legacy. Not only is it interesting, but it's also been doing somewhat well in the format too! The deck has had several strong results in Challenges and Leagues and looks like a ton of fun. If you're looking for something that takes you from Modern into Legacy without a huge investment, this might be worth looking into.
Bazaar of Boxes Series 15
This past weekend was Bazaar of Boxes Series 15! This event was held at the Koning Willem II Stadion in Tilburg, Netherlands, and is one of the premier European Legacy Masters qualifiers. This event had a solid 103 players, which is superb to see! Big thanks to Michel de Jong for continuing to provide us with pictures and all the information about these events. You can find all of the information on these events here.
This event was also streamed with full coverage. You can find the video embed below:
You can find all of the decklists here and the data sheet here.
Beans was the most played deck of the event, but its overall win rate sat right in the middle of the road. Both Dimir and Izzet Tempo looked pretty good, as did Sneak and Show, but the true big hitter was Infect.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Infect | 1st | Sam Dams |
| Dimir Reanimator | 2nd | David Lambregs |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | Wannatog1 |
| Izzet Tempo | 4th | Renzo Verkooren |
| Blue Painter | 5th | Patrick Pouwels |
| Doomsday | 6th | JoostdB |
| Naya Depths | 7th | Thijs Witteman |
| Grixis Tempo | 8th | Alexander Jungnitsch |
This is a very reasonable Top 8 here overall. Some really interesting decks here. At the end of the event, though it was none other than Infect master Sam Dams on his signature deck taking it down.
One of the big things here is the implementation of Legolas's Quick Reflexes, which allows you to really hone in on protecting your infect threat while also possibly being able to clear out a blocker. It's a really sweet card in the Infect stratosphere, and Sam is a true master of the deck, so it's cool to see that persistence and knowledge pay off.
In Second Place we had Dimir Reanimator.
Very interesting take on a deck that has largely been diminished from the overall metagame, but is slowly finding its footing again. I am curious how well this deck will continue to be long-term, but for now, it does seem like it's good.
Legacy Challenge 32 4/30/2025
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 and the data sheet here.
Oops was the most played deck of the event, and its win rate was very good, as was Dimir Tempo. Mystic Forge and Red and Black Stompy decks also looked good here, while Izzet Tempo looked pretty bad.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Ozymandias17 |
| Oops! All Spells | 2nd | kaikas |
| Doomsday | 3rd | DethFrmAbove |
| Oops! All Spells | 4th | musasabi |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | SilversRayleigh |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | Ale_Mtg |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | HrothgarScydling |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 8th | Selfeisek |
Quite a bit of Oops in the Top 8 here, alongside some other Combo. At the end of the event it was Dimir Tempo that won.
This is a fairly straightforward Dimir Tempo list, but I like it. Barrowgoyf is quite strong and has continued to look really good lately.
In Second Place we had Oops.
There's a lot going on here, and it's just a very powerful deck overall. The fact that this deck can leverage spells like Reanimate is wild. If it thinks its game plan is going to get interrupted, it can just make its opponent discard a really good creature and Reanimate it.
Legacy Challenge 32 5/2/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 33 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Oops was again the most played deck, and despite a Top 8 appearance its overall win rate wasn't very good. Grixis Tempo and Esper Control both looked good, as did "Other Aggro" (which is just RW Energy).
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | snoopy-magic |
| Grixis Tempo | 2nd | Eureka22422 |
| Necrodominance Combo | 3rd | wonderPreaux |
| Red Stompy | 4th | MathiasHardStyle |
| Dimir Reanimator | 5th | Capitano_CL |
| Esper Control | 6th | harmonywoods |
| RW Energy | 7th | WadeB |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | AFX |
Fair spread of both fair and unfair here. At the end of the event, it was Sneak and Show that won.
Incredibly straightforward Sneak and Show list here, honestly. I don't think there's much more you could be doing with this deck that it's not already doing. Stock Up is so incredibly good for these decks in general, but especially for this version.
In Second Place, we had Grixis Tempo.
Functionall,y this is Dimir, but it becomes Grixis post board with a lot of red sideboard cards like Blasts and Meltdown.
Legacy Challenge 32 5/3/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday 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.
Omni-Tell was the most played deck, and despite a Top 8 appearance, its overall win rate was less than 50%. Cephalid Breakfast and 8Cast both looked pretty good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Cephalid Breakfast | 1st | L4rss0n |
| Dimir Reanimator | 2nd | mortr3d |
| Jeskai Control | 3rd | jibeta |
| Omni-Tell | 4th | daibloXSC |
| Stiflenought | 5th | Hammafist |
| Lands | 6th | Sprouts |
| Cradle Control | 7th | oosunq |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 8th | Xerk |
Actually sort of a fairly diverse Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Cephalid Breakfast that won.
Tamiyo is a pretty sick inclusion here. The card is pretty back-breaking if you can flip it early on. It controls the board quite a bit and recurs spells, and the ultimate is game-winning.
In Second Place, we had Dimir Reanimator.
This deck did show up a fair amount over the weekend, and it does currently have a fairly positive win rate overall. It is amusing to see that the best version of this was just to tune the Dimir version and not try goofy stuff like Oliphaunt or Generous Ent.
Legacy Challenge 32 5/3/2025 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first 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 and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was the most played deck of the event, and its win rate backed that up. It looked pretty good. Izzet Tempo and Oops also both looked quite good here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | _INF_ |
| Izzet Tempo | 2nd | duke12 |
| Oops! All Spells | 3rd | choutin |
| Sneak and Show | 4th | Ozymandias17 |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 5th | Chloe_Knight |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | gusti99 |
| Stiflenought | 7th | Hammafist |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | Ryuho090 |
Lot of Tempo and Combo in this Top 8. At the end of the event it was Dimir Tempo that won.
I kinda like that Disruptor Flute is also seeing play in these sorts of decks too. It's a super strong card and it's really fun to play with as well.
In Second Place we had Izzet Tempo.
Cori-Steel Cutter continues to really push these Izzet Tempo lists. The card is just quite good and I expect we will continue to see it more and more as the format moves forward.
Legacy Challenge 32 5/3/2025 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 39 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 and its win rate was very bad despite having one Top 8 appearance. Several decks in the cutoff had very strong win rates here, including Grixis and Stiflenought.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Grixis Tempo | 1st | Frejat |
| Esper Control | 2nd | Iwouldliketorespond |
| Lands | 3rd | Sprouts |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | JPA93 |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 5th | wiky |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | TheSandwichKing |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | mortr3d |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | Diem4x |
Fair bit of Dimir Reanimator here. At the end of the event it was Grixis Tempo that won.
Not much to really say about this one, but it's nice that there's a wide range of different tempo decks in Legacy at the moment that all feel slightly different.
In Second Place we had Esper Control.
I love me some Staff of the Storyteller, and this paired with Bowmasters is pretty cool. It's too bad you can't trigger it with Tamiyo given that she makes Clue tokens and not creature tokens, but Urza's Saga is also quite good at that.
My Video of the Week
I put out another Legacy edition of "What Does This Deck Do?" recently on YouTube. This episode covers Oops! All Spells.
Around the Web
- Douges has a video on Abzan Maverick. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy has a Voice of Victory and Therapy. Check it out here.
- IN RESPONSE has a new episode on BUG Beans! Check it out here.
- The Eternal Glory Podcast has a new episode. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone is going Inifnite with Slivers. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Mockingbird Stiflenought!
Sage of the Skies Initiative!
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!
