This Week in Legacy: The Eternal Weekend Pre-Check
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 doing a temperature check of Legacy prior to Eternal Weekend next month. It's pretty imminent, so a good look at the format can be helpful! In addition to that we've got two Challenges to discuss as well as the SCGCon Legacy 5K from Pittsburgh this past weekend.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
A Look at Legacy Prior to Eternal Weekend
Eternal Weekend is arriving rather imminently, with the very first of the events occurring this coming weekend. European Eternal Weekend is this weekend in Prague, followed very immediately by the Eternal Weekend in Aichi, Japan the weekend after before getting a week off leading up to NA Eternal Weekend.
With that in mind, let's look at where Legacy is at the moment before we really start getting into the Eternal Weekend groove. I'm looking at our aggregate data set in the Data Collection Project going back to 8/1/2023. You can find the link to that here. The big thing to note is that this data set is missing a few events here or there due to technical difficulties.
Let's start with some graphical data.
Surprisingly, we are currently in a Legacy format where the most popular deck of the format is not a Delver deck, and even the most popular Tempo deck of the format is not actually a deck playing Delver of Secrets. 4C Uro Control has risen to be one of the more popular decks of the format and so much of that has to do with the fact that Up the Beanstalk exists. This card has singlehandedly boosted the 4C Uro archetype, but it has very interestingly provided for several different ways to build the deck, either using stuff like Yorion or going out of red into black as a splash, etc. This deck has also had some strong results, currently sitting at a 52.2% non-mirror win rate.
Dimir Scam has definitively emerged as the most popular Tempo deck and while Grixis Delver is behind it by just a little bit, Dimir Scam is definitely a deck that has proven its power level in the format at the moment. Leaning hard on the power of Grief and Reanimate is really quite strong. Grixis follows right behind with a very similar win rate to Dimir Scam here.
Right on the heels of the two Tempo decks is Boros Stompy. This is a deck we talked about briefly in our article of five decks to think about for Eternal Weekend, and I still definitely believe this is a deck with the power level to win events. It's exceptionally powerful and it has a lot of strong cards that it has integrated, very specifically Forth Eorlingas!.
Reanimator is popular in this Top 5 of decks, but its win rate has plummeted quite a bit down to 42.2% non-mirror win rate. This is a deck that could do well but it faces an uphill battle now especially when the Control decks it usually could prey on can now draw a lot more cards with stuff like Up the Beanstalk.
Down outside of the Top 5 of decks here, we've got a lot of variety. Honestly Legacy looks really good down into the weeds of things. We've got decks like Lands, Red Stompy, and even RUG Delver has been popping up and doing well thanks to cards like Questing Druid.
Legacy looks super fun right now, and I think the vibe check overall has shown that most people are feeling the same way about the format. There's a lot of nuanced gameplay currently, and the format has some fun gameplay patterns as well. I've seen a lot of real positivity about the format, and I think that it will make these Eternal Weekend events very interesting to keep an eye on.
SCGCon Pittsburgh Legacy 5K
There was a Legacy 5K at the SCGCon event in Pittsburgh over the weekend. It looked like it had a pretty solid turnout, with 124 players showing up to battle in Legacy.
You can find all of the decklists here and the datasheet here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| 4C Uro Control | 1st | Alex Bastecki |
| Dimir Scam | 2nd | Robert Hayes |
| Cradle Control | 3rd-4th | Kris Rhinehart |
| 4C Uro Control | 3rd-4th | Patrick Green |
| GW Depths | 5th-8th | Dylan Ham |
| Lands | 5th-8th | Tony Morris |
| 4C Uro Control | 5th-8th | Andrew Lopez |
| Red Painter | 5th-8th | Jakob Heckert |
Really interesting paper Top 8 here. Lot of 4C Uro Control in general in this event and it was 4C Uro Control that won the event in the hands of Alex Bastecki.
This list is super sick. Up the Beanstalk is really strong in the current format and especially combined with threats like Murktide Regent and friends.
In Second Place we had Robert Hayes on Dimir Scam.
I really like Sauron's Ransom in these lists. It has always looked quite strong. I also find the red splash for Meltdown to be super interesting.
Legacy Challenge 11/11
The first Challenge event of the weekend was the early morning Saturday event. While we had no data for this event we do know there were 83 players thanks to the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There was no data for this event due to technical issues, so let's look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Boros Stompy | 1st | burrarun |
| Goblins | 2nd | romariovidal |
| Dimir Scam | 3rd | HJ_Kaiser |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 4th | susurrus_mtg |
| Dimir Scam | 5th | davy2892 |
| Grixis Delver | 6th | _INF_ |
| Red Painter | 7th | Julian23 |
| Riddlesmith Combo | 8th | Killabee |
Honestly pretty cool Top 8. Legacy Top 8s have looked super fun as of late. At the end of the event it was Boros Stompy that won.
This is an incredibly clean and straightforward list. It does a lot of really powerful things and really just Forth Eorlingas! I believe is what has really pushed this deck so much.
In Second Place we had Goblins piloted by good friend Romario Neto.
Battle Cry Goblin is pretty cool. The Turbo Muxus plan in general seems quite strong, and Name Sticker Goblin has only improved that game plan.
Further down the Top 8 we had Julian Knab on Painter.
Splashing white in for Plow and Forth Eorlingas! is a super sick move here. I can get behind this very easily given that we're still missing stuff like Chaos Defiler on MTGO.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Riddlesmith Combo piloted by the one and only Killabee.
This list seems super strong and interesting to play. I love a lot of the little miser's one-ofs in the deck like Wheel of Misfortune. Deck seems quite strong for sure.
Legacy Challenge 11/12
The second Challenge event of the weekend was the mid-afternoon Sunday event. While we had no data for this event we do know there was 115 players thanks to the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There was no data for this event due to technical issues, so let's look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Boros Stompy | 1st | Tulio_Jaudy |
| Creative Technique | 2nd | ceralguy |
| Grixis Delver | 3rd | piao |
| RUG Delver | 4th | slaxx |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 5th | L4rss0n |
| 4C Uro Control | 6th | ziofrancone |
| Goblins | 7th | 42crookedsporks |
| Maverick | 8th | EvanW |
This Top 8 also looks really fun and interesting! It was a good weekend for Boros Stompy because it also won this event.
Some spice in this one, such as Eowyn, Fearless Knight and Rick, Steadfast Leader. Also digging the Zealous Conscripts in the sideboard.
In Second Place we had Creative Technique.
Solidly straightforward Technique list. The sideboard game plan of Throes of Chaos + Tibalt's Trickery is pretty sweet.
Further down the Top 8 we have RUG Delver.
Questing Druid continues to prove itself as a powerfully interesting card in the current format. It's got some sweet applications. This list also has some midrange elements to go a bit above like Uro and Minsc & Boo.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Maverick.
Really fun and interesting list here. Anduril, Flame of the West seems like a sick card in this deck, and the meld pairing of Titania, Voice of Gaea and Argoth, Sanctum of Nature is pretty cool as well.
Around the Web
- PunishingWaterfalls has a sweet Bloodbraid Marauder deck. Check it out here.
- Reid Duke on 90sMTG playing some Legacy! Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles talks about final Eternal Weekend choices. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Gambit plays some Grixis Delver! Check it out here.
- The Definitive Guide to Infect with FenrusCloud. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone on Riddler Storm. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
You can find this past week's 5-0 deck lists over here.
This Soul Cauldron deck is SICK.
Super sweet Black Initiative list featuring Lord Skitter, Sewer King!
Mind Over Matter + The One Ring!
This Mono White Initiative build is pretty daggone cool.
Speaking of PunishingWaterfall's sweet Bloodbraid Marauder deck. Here it is!
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!
