This Week in Legacy: Re-Examining the Legacy Banlist in 2025, Part 1
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 some time to really poke hard at the Legacy Banned list and what my thoughts are on it. In addition we only have a few Challenges to look at, mainly because there was a huge lag issue this past weekend on MTGO that caused some events to get canceled.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Legacy Ban List in 2025
With there not being a ton of Challenges this past weekend, it felt like a great time to sit down and chat about the Legacy Banned list and how it looks in 2025. Mainly this is rooted in the fact that Modern got a number of unbans recently and whether or not we could see a similar shake-up in Legacy. The Modern unbans generated a lot of raw excitement about the format, and it's definitely possible that could be the same for Legacy as well.
We're going to go through this thing mostly card-by-card, but I am going to address a few categories that we don't need to go through card-by-card. In addition, this is definitely going to be a two-part article, because there are a LOT of cards to cover. If you have thoughts on the cards I cover below, please feel free to make a note in the comments!
Major Categories of Cards - Conspiracies, Stickers, Ante, Power, etc.
Obviously there's a few large categories of cards that are banned in Legacy that are never going to be unbanned because they fall into some huge swaths of different reasonings. We have things like Conspiracies, cards that generate Stickers or Attractions, Ante cards, the Power 9, Dexterity cards, and things like Shahrazad. These just don't ever meet any kind of consideration for a Legacy unban at any point in time. I'm also going to be not discussing cards like Bazaar of Baghdad, Library of Alexandria, or Mishra's Workshop for extremely obvious reasons.
With that being said, let's go through the rest.
Arcum's Astrolabe
Banned at the height of Snowko's dominance alongside Oko, Thief of Crowns and Dreadhorde Arcanist, Astrolabe is a card that circumvents much of the idea of the color pie in general by allowing a deck to utilize Snow basics to pretty much cast whatever spell they desire, while also drawing a card as a benefit. Astrolabe is not so much of a power level ban in Legacy, but more of a structural ban. Astrolabe homogenized decks and forced Control into needing to play Snow basics in order to compete, making many of the decks in the format pretty much the same in general.
Some level of Astrolabe's power is that Oko did allow you to make it into a threat, but the general consensus I have had on this card from playing with it pretty extensively is that it's not a card that's likely to ever be unbanned due to how it structurally affects deckbuilding. While Control is having a rough time right now, most of that is due in part to other decks and not Control having a homogenizing deckbuilding card. I don't think we will see a metagame where Astrolabe comes back, and I think generally a lot of people are okay with that. Being forced to play a specific type of Basic land is not for me.
Balance
Whew lad, this is a card. It should probably be lumped into the major categories above but it doesn't really fit them so let's discuss it. Balance is a card that gives great incentive to go all in on a bunch of spells and then follow up with Balance to demolish the opponent's board and hand. More than likely, the person playing Balance is playing some amount of artifact mana so that they have less lands to force their opponent to sacrifice all of their lands (or something like Elvish Spirit Guide + Simian Spirit Guide to remove cards in hand).
With as much fast mana that's in the format, I don't see it ever coming off the banlist. It's very all in, but it's also not much fun for the format overall, and there's just no reason to have this card around.
Channel
This falls in a very similar vein to Balance. It's a 2-mana spell that works great with things like Spirit Guides or artifact mana to get it out quickly, and then you are resolving something big like Emrakul or Kozilek's Command to win the game. While again, this sounds very all-in, the ability to protect this kind of thing is really gross.
Again, not a card I think we ever see come off the banlist, and it definitely doesn't need to be unbanned right now.
Deathrite Shaman
This is a card I'm actually somewhat excited to talk about. I played a lot of Legacy in general at large events during the DRS era, and honestly? DRS is a card that I always find to be one of those things that always looks like maybe it could be unbanned, because it is actually a pretty fun card to play with for the most part. It has a lot of similar structural issues to Astrolabe, because it allows decks to play multiple colors with little downside. However, DRS does it by forcing you to need to play fetches and duals instead of Snow basics like Astrolabe does.
DRS is pretty contentious, and while it's a card I don't think ever gets unbanned due to how it structurally affects the format in general, it's also a card that I think a lot of people would be interested in seeing how it adjusts to a current world. This card is legal on Magic Arena in a format called Timeless, and it does see play there in 4C and Jund midrange piles and this is a format where Brainstorm is legal.
DRS is strong, no lie. It's a really powerful card. It does a lot of different things and is good at generally any time of the game. But if we're thinking of shaking up the format like how Modern was... it's not an unreasonable card. There's a fair possibility that it does break the Tempo shells back in half and we go back to Czech pile days, which is why I don't think it would happen, but I have fond memories of playing with this thing even if I knew it was busted at the time.
Demonic Consultation
The only way this card actually ever gets unbanned is if Thassa's Oracle is banned. As long as it's legal, I don't see this happening.
Demonic Tutor
This is another card I don't see ever getting unbanned, even for a "shake-up". This would make combo decks extremely super consistent in a lot of ways, and would be incredibly absurd.
Dig Through Time
Delve in general is a really strong mechanic in a format where fetch lands are the backbone of manabases. This is technically legal in Timeless, and it is very good there in Show and Tell based decks, which is where Dig flourished before it got banned. This is not a card I foresee getting unbanned even for a shake-up sake.
Dreadhorde Arcanist
This one is another firmly contentious card. Many people believe that taking Daze away may make for a world where Arcanist would be an okay card to unban. It's a weird part to consider, since we never really got to see how Arcanist would have evolved in Legacy post-ban of Oko and Astrolabe. Still, it's likely at the time it would have really ran the format before getting banned finally, and I think Wizards definitely saw that happening.
That being said, this ban happened four years ago, and a lot has changed in that four years. If we're looking to shake things up and we have to force the tempo decks to make space considerations for cards, Arcanist could be a card that could be used to see how that would go. But, in general, it's a card I would be cautious about too because it is a very powerful thing to be doing.
Earthcraft
This is absolutely an example of a card that is probably extremely safe in Legacy. It does a lot of things with Elves + Enchantress, sure, but those decks primarily don't exist in their regular configurations (Elves having shifted to Nadu, etc) and the "infinite" combo aspect of this card is not as easy to deploy as one thinks.
The only major downside to this card that probably prevents it from being unbanned unfortunately has no bearing on the card's playability, but the fact that the card is a Reserved List card. It's definitely something that should not be a reason to unban a card, and Wizards probably would never admit that this is a thing, but there's been virtually no other reason to keep Earthcraft on the banned list for as long as it has been. It's just a card that seems low investment for decks that don't really exist at the moment in Legacy. It's certainly a kind of card that is fine to exist in Legacy.
Expressive Iteration
This got banned fairly recently in all reality, having been banned alongside White Plume Adventurer in March of 2023. I still think this is a card that is probably not going to be unbanned at any point in the future, especially in 2025. It's too efficient at what it does and is extremely powerful.
Fastbond
This is most assuredly a card that's probably never coming off the banlist in Legacy. It would definitely be extremely powerful and no doubt would end up having to be re-banned. The fact that it is Reserved List too also hurts it, but primarily from a power level perspective it would be a bit much.
Flash
Flash is incredibly infamous for its banning, having been banned due to the fact that the card was given errata to bring it back in line with how the card's rules text was supposed to read. The card had one big breakout event (known as GP Flash) and then was banned right after.
Flash is certainly not a card that ever comes off the banlist at this point. While the combo kills are just as good, the fact that you can use it with newer cards like Atraxa, Grand Unifier as well is rough.
Frantic Search
This is a card I've long considered would be pretty safe to come off the banlist, and it would probably not do a whole lot, but it would be a fun card to inject people really thinking about how best to utilize it in Legacy. This achieves a very similar function to the cards unbanned in Modern, for example, because it would get people into wanting to brew with it. Unban this one already, Wizards!
Gitaxian Probe
HARD PASS. Phyrexian Mana was a mistake.
Goblin Recruiter
I often see a lot of the arguments against this card being similar to Sensei's Divining Top or Nadu when it comes to "tournament logistics" as to why this card remains banned. I don't think that is the case in 2025 when you can stack a few cards for Conspicuous Snoop combo to win the game with and go from there. I once believed this would be okay in current Legacy, but the presence of Snoop does mean that the deck functionally becomes a combo deck, and while Goblins has not had much of a presence since the Sticker Goblin went away, I don't think making Goblins a full-on combo deck is a great idea.
Grief
One of the more recent bans, I think a lot of people have very strong feelings about this card enough that it's not coming back.
Gush
Gush is a card that just probably also never gets unbanned. Honestly. Gush seems incredibly strong in a Doomsday deck, much like it is in Vintage and it's restricted there. Being able to float mana and draw a bunch of cards is gross.
Hermit Druid
Realistically, Hermit Druid is a card that wants to combo with cards like Thassa's Oracle. The big upside of the card versus decks like Oops is that Druid wants to go in a deck that contains all duals and fetches and can win the game the turn after it hits the table. That being said, the fact that Druid needs to tap to do this is slightly rough, but it is good late game as it is early game.
Depending on what else gets unbanned at the same time, I could actually see a Druid unban. It would probably be quite good, but it has a lot of counterplay to it that might prove to be interesting. I could see players getting excited to play around with this.
Imperial Seal
Honestly, Imperial Seal might not be too insane, but its definitely a card for Doomsday. Is improving Doomsday a good thing or a bad thing? I guess that depends on how much you like Doomsday. I don't expect it to get unbanned, but it's also not the worst thing on the current ban list.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
The last card I'm going to cover for this first part is a card that is somewhat contentious, but I fully believe Wizards won't ever unban this in Legacy even if it was never legal under the current implementation of the Companion mechanic. The contentious part is that people consider that it maybe should be tested because we never did see how this card would play out in Legacy since the Companion rules changes, but I think we already can infer how this would go from looking at how this card dominated Modern and also how it currently dominates Vintage.
Companions were a very real design mistake and Lurrus was so egregious that it just never should be considered ever, and I don't think it ever will.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/8/2025
The first of the few Challenges we had this week was the Wednesday event. This event had 44 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Oops! All Spells | 1st | DominiqueTutor |
4C Reanimator | 2nd | Magic_Dads71522 |
Izzet Tempo | 3rd | O_danielakos |
Oops! All Spells | 4th | choutin |
LED Dredge | 5th | Geodude_Jared |
Stiflenought | 6th | ecobaronen |
Dimir Reanimator | 7th | Brunninho |
Izzet Tempo | 8th | stu909090 |
Pretty combo heavy Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Oops that won.
This has been where Oops as a deck has been sitting for a little bit now. Cards like Memory's Journey are really powerful in allowing the deck to win through graveyard hard, and Poxwalkers as a card lets you regain cards to use with Cabal Therapy.
In Second Place we had 4C Reanimator.
BORBORYGMOS. Pretty sweet list. I like the sideboard options here because they're all very focused on pushing through the gameplan.
Also in this Top 8 we had LED Dredge.
It's a GRAVEYARD party! A party that ends with lots of creatures in the yard! Seriously, this is a fun list. I like the explosivness of it.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/12/2024 - 1
The second Challenge of the weekend was one of only two that was scheduled due to the lag issues on Sunday. According to the MTGO website it had 45 players.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Cephalid Breakfast | 1st | Cyberzill |
Izzet Tempo | 2nd | _INF_ |
Dimir Reanimator | 3rd | _Chamytinho_ |
Cephalid Breakfast | 4th | king_of_fae |
Jeskai Stoneblade | 5th | jibeta |
Izzet Tempo | 6th | cspickle |
Dimir Reanimator | 7th | T1Initiative |
Red Stompy | 8th | Mogged |
Bit more of a diverse Top 8 here. Some Tempo, some Combo. At the end of the event it was Cephalid Breakfast that won.
Strong looking list here. I like the addition of the singleton Tamiyo. It's certainly a strong card but I don't think you want to go too deep on it in this kind of list, so one makes sense.
In Second Place we had Izzet Tempo.
Very solid looking stock list here based on what the lists have looked like lately. I still think Price of Progress is great right now.
Further down the Top 8 we had a neat take on Dimir Reanimator.
The really fun and sweet thing about this list is the sideboard juke. Transforming into Doomsday is so wild to see.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/12/2024 - 2
The final Challenge of the weekend was the other Sunday event. According to the MTGO website it had 68 players.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Red Painter | 1st | CJBS |
Nadu Cradle Combo | 2nd | Ryan_39 |
Temur Cascade | 3rd | M_4 |
Esper Vial | 4th | Carroz |
Temur Tempo | 5th | silviawataru |
Izzet Tempo | 6th | MdvWin |
Sneak and Show | 7th | JPA93 |
Izzet Tempo | 8th | stu909090 |
I like this Top 8. It's pretty sweet. At the end of the event it was Red Painter that won.
It's very interesting how this deck is constructed. No Welders or Engineers at all is a strange build, but it's kind of cool. Legion Extruder is a neat card, and it's really sweet to see Untimely Malfunction cuz that card is cool.
In Second Place we had Nadu Cradle Combo.
Very straightforward and fun list here. Nadu is looking very reasonable at the moment. One interesting thing to note is that it's cutting down to two copies of Natural Order.
Further down the Top 8 we had Esper Vial.
Phelia + Overlord of the Balemurk is a ridiculously fun combination of cards. This whole list is really slick and I would love to play this at some point.
My Video for the Week
I've got my first video of the year out for the "What Does This Deck Do?" series. This one is on Stiflenought.
Enjoy!
Around the Web
- StrassDaddy is playing some Thalia and Mom in 2025. Check it out here.
- 90sMTG always has some great content. Check out one of their recent videos here.
- ChronoMoon is playing some Loam Pox. Check it out here.
- IN RESPONSE has a new episode. Check it out here.
- The Eternal Glory Podcast also has a new episode. Check it out here.
- OUR BLESSED TACTICS.
- This video from Matt Chow is pretty interesting. Check it out here.
- BONUS ROUND.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Chaos Defiler NIC FIT.
Echo Stompy is sweet.
I love Ocelot Pride decks.
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!