This Week in Legacy: Texan Chicken!
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 a paper event in the Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 18 event in Texas! In addition to that we've got some Challenges to look at from last week. Next we'll be kick-starting our Aetherdrift set reviews, so if there's any cards you specifically want me to cover, let me know in the comments!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 18
This past weekend was the 18th Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy event, held this time in Texas at Asgard Games in Houston. The first place prize for this event was a Revised Underground Sea, and some other really great prizes down to 16th place. These events are always really great, and Robert Wilson always gives us a lot of great info on these events. There is another event (BCDL 19) coming on Saturday, February 1st in Ohio at The Warp Gate. You can find information about this event here. In addition, Robert shared with me that also BCDL 20 has been announced at Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy on Saturday, March 22nd, which you can find here.
This particular event had 63 players overall, which is a great turnout for one of these events. Rob was kind enough to send off some pictures of the event for us.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most popular deck of the event, and it's win rate was fairly reasonable, especially in its non-mirror matches (54.9%). Stiflenought was also super popular, but its win rate was not very good. Nadu decks had strong win rates, as did Eldrazi. The decks that suffered the most here were Mono Green Cloudpost and Mystic Forge.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Nadu Cradle Combo | 1st | Collin Rountree |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 2nd | Michael Batista |
| Nadu Cradle Combo | 3rd | Colin Logan |
| Dimir Reanimator | 4th | Chase Hoppe |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 5th | Charlie Stein |
| Izzet Tempo | 6th | JP Coleman |
| Eldrazi | 7th | David Dech |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | Gavin Meagher |
Quite a lot of Nadu in this Top 8. This is definitely a deck that was identified as something that could be problematic with Frog and Bauble gone, but the MTGO results haven't really reflected that. The winner of the event was the Nadu Cradle variant.
This deck is certainly very powerful, and the fact that it's a great deck that doesn't need to be playing Force of Will says a lot about how strong it really is. Nadu in general is quite good, and I do want to point out the interesting card in Gilded Drake here that is showing up as a singleton in the list. It's a really cool piece of tech for sure.
In Second Place we had Nadu Midrange.
This is much more in line with the more midrange style of lists that we see for this strategy. The upside of this deck is that it has the ability to just be a midrange pile with Uro and Bristly Bill to win the game with. It also has the ability to cycle the Endurance loop with Boseiju and Otawara.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/22/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 37 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Capitano_CL |
| Necrodominance Combo | 2nd | TonyScapone |
| Necrodominance Combo | 3rd | Sprouts |
| Eldrazi | 4th | Flossed |
| Worldgorger | 5th | Roodslay |
| Bant Control (Yorion) | 6th | Killah_SUV |
| Eldrazi | 7th | DNSolver |
| Red Stompy | 8th | _Shatun_ |
Quite a bit of combo in this event. At the end of the event it was Dimir Reanimator that won.
Barrowgoyf seems like a really good threat in this shell. Not only does it make the primary Reanimator game plan great with its trigger, but it can also be a strong creature to close games on the midrange/tempo game plan.
In Second Place we had Necrodominance Combo.
The amount of this deck in the metagame is generally quite low, so its interesting to see it do well here. Tony is a general combo master so I'm sure he can make any combo deck look great.
Also in this Top 8 we had Worldgorger.
Dragon dragon dragon dragon! Also Chain of Smog combo in the sideboard, but mosty DRAGON.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/24/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 32 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Forge Combo | 1st | Chris_McNasty |
| Lands | 2nd | DeathWrongShaman420 |
| Izzet Tempo | 3rd | kentaro_hokori |
| Red Stompy | 4th | _Shatun_ |
| Red Painter | 5th | utley26 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | 2plus2isfive |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | _INF_ |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | golsapao |
Some Reanimator, some Izzet Tempo, and a smattering of other decks. At the end of the event it was Mystic Forge that won.
It is interesting to see how this deck is looking without Vexing Bauble. One thing we see here is cards like Candy Trail which is cool. Defense Grid seems to have replaced Bauble, but not as a full four. I think this deck seems pretty reasonable now that it doesn't have protection to things like Force of Vigor.
In Second Place we had Lands.
This seems like a rather straightforward Lands list. Old school Punishing Fire tech is quite neat to see alongside new stuff like Urza's Saga.
Further down the Top 8 we had Red Painter.
This pilot is a very well-known Boros Painter player, so I'm not surprised to see them do well. They tend to play more of a toolbox variant of these decks, utilizing cards like Karn and a full eight red blasts.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/25/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 34 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Just_Roll |
| Dimir Reanimator | 2nd | 2plus2isfive |
| Black Stompy | 3rd | Mav40121 |
| Sneak and Show | 4th | JPA93 |
| Grixis Control | 5th | habsburger |
| Oops! All Spells | 6th | Kuranari-Jackpa |
| Red Stompy | 7th | Minest110 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 8th | Jumba |
This is a pretty variable Top 8. At the end of the event it was Dimir Tempo that won.
I enjoy that Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is seeing play in these kinds of decks. It seems really good with cards like Tamiyo and Bowmasters, where you can attack and bounce them to replay them for value.
In Second Place we had Dimir Reanimator.
This list is much more full on into the Reanimator plan than most of these decks. The sideboard is where most of the tempo elements are found.
Further down the Top 8 we had Grixis Control.
The amount of the red splash here is fairly light overall, with the major hitters being Molten Collapse (which is a strong card for sure) and things like Price of Progress and Pyroblast. Other than that, this is very much a sort of Dimir Tempo list without some of the Tempo elements like Daze.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/26/2025 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 35 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Dimir Reanimator was quite popular, and despite some strong finishes, its win rate was not super good. Izzet Tempo looked good, as did Oops All Spells and Red Stompy. In addition, Death and Taxes was quite good here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Reanimator | 1st | Yukke |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | Mogged |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 3rd | JohnDoe397 |
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 4th | yoshiwata |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | fuya |
| Izzet Tempo | 6th | cspickle |
| Dimir Reanimator | 7th | dag8 |
| Omni-Tell | 8th | Schanz0127 |
Some exciting things here in the Top 8. At the end of the event, it was Dimir Reanimator that won.
Drown in the Loch is a sweet card here in this kind of list. I think it's a pretty neat thing to include here.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo.
Losing Psychic Frog doesn't really seem to have impacted this shell too much. It is interesting to see effects like Baleful Strix given how popular Orcish Bowmasters is.
Also in this Top 8 we had Death and Taxes.
The shift to an Orzhov version with Overlord of the Balemurk is not super surprising. The Overlord works so very well with cards Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Flickerwisp when you cast it off of its Impending cost. Being able to just flicker a 5/5 into play that has a card selection effect is quite good.
Legacy Challenge 32 1/26/2025 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 66 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lands | 1st | Sprouts |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | _Chamytinho_ |
| Red Painter | 3rd | CJBS |
| Black Stompy | 4th | HellMonkey |
| Red Stompy | 5th | Antarctica |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | oosunq |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | lordoflifegain |
| Red Stompy | 8th | chinarapov |
Lot of Ancient Tomb in this Top 8. At the end of the event it was Lands that won.
Malevolent Rumble is a super powerful card and I love seeing it in a deck like this. Its hit rate is often going to be quite high, since there's more than half of the deck as permanents.
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
Very straightforward Eldrazi list here. Gaea's Cradle is a solid inclusion here.
Also in this Top 8 we had Black Stompy.
This doesn't have much of a combo element to it, it's more of a midrange pile with some of the really strong black threats like Bowmasters, Barrowgoyf, and Opposition Agent. Most of these cards work really well with the Stompy game plan since they can be deployed quickly with the mana advantage afforded by it.
Around the Web
- Phil Abandons Terminus. News at 11.
- TonyScapone has a video on their finals with Necro Combo. Check it out here.
- Chrono Moon has some Stoneblade action. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is Saga teching. Check it out here.
- MahfuzVanGogh is celebrating one year of Dredge content. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
This sweet Mardu Staff of the Storyteller list is something.
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!
