This Week in Legacy: The Future of Legacy Data
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 are going to be talking about a pretty major change in how decklist data is going to be published via the MTGO website. In addition to that we've got some events like BCDL 25, some MTGO Challenges from the week before and the Legacy Showcase Challenge.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
A Major Change in MTGO Decklist Data
We've got a pretty major change to how Legacy Decklist data is going to be presented to us from the MTGO website... and it's not good. You can read the full announcement blog here, but I'm not even gonna mince words on this and cut right to the chase.
If you are sitting there thinking to yourself that most Legacy Challenge events don't usually break 64 players... you'd be right. Most events hover in that below 64 range, generally in the 50s or so. This means that every single one of the Legacy Challenges on a good week probably only have the Top 8 posted, possibly the Top 16 if it's a good Sunday event. This change will functionally make how Legacy is perceived to be a very minimal deck format, when Legacy is in reality a much more open format than people think it might be. This doesn't help at all in that sense.
I posted a video the day this was release about this, and I'll embed this at the end of the section here, but this is definitely firmly an action I believe was taken due to influence by Wizards of the Coast. Daybreak Games has in the past been incredibly supportive of data and decklist data, and while there's no reason given in the article, it doesn't take much to read between the lines to note that Wizards has always been notoriously anti-data. This is an absolutely frustrating thing to see, and I implore Wizards to consider rolling back this change back to the way things were. While it would be nice to have more data than we had, we probably aren't getting that (after what happened the last time we had all the data), so the bare minimum here is to put things back the way it was before.
I absolutely recommend going out and sharing your thoughts on this on the MTGO Discord, but at the same time I urge folks to be respectful to Daybreak on this. Provide clear and concise feedback that you don't like this, so that the feedback can be pushed back to Wizards.
Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 25
This past weekend was yet another Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy event held in Ohio! This event was held over at The Guardtower West in Hilliard, OH and it had around 36 players overall. Not quite hitting the cap, but it does wax and wane for our friends at the Chicken. Still, good turnout is good turnout. I always appreciate our friends at BCDL, because they run great events and are actively improving the overall community.
Our friend Rob Wilson with the Chicken also asked to let y'all know there's more events down the pipeline. See below for more details. You can find the post on this here.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo saw a lot of play here, and it did very well overall in the event with a 67.86% non-mirror win rate. ANT, Blue Post, and Jeskai all did fairly well. Izzet Tempo did not do well, nor did Doomsday.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Andy Heiszler |
| Cradle Control | 2nd | Harry Romesburg III |
| Blue Cloudpost | 3rd | Carey Banyas |
| Affinity Stompy | 4th | Matt Strand |
| ANT | 5th | Bryan Vescio |
| Infect | 6th | Cody Ross |
| Sneak and Show | 7th | Harry Romesburg Jr |
| Eldrazi | 8th | Chris Lundstrom |
Definitely an interesting Top 8, very diverse. At the end of the event it was Andy Heiszler on Dimir Tempo that won.
Pretty straightforward list overall here. We see a lot of this deck because it's very popular of course. I do enjoy seeing the Tourach, Dread Cantor in the sideboard. That is a nice inclusion.
In Second Place, we had Cradle Control.
It's crazy how good Badgermole Cub is in this deck. Definitely one of the bigger cards to impact this deck as a whole since Modern Horizons 3 gave us stuff like Wight of the Reliquary and Springheart Nantuko.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/11/2026
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 54 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 it did have a pretty good win rate. Beans did extremely well here, as did Mardu Energy. Red Stompy and Oops both did poorly, Oops moreso.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 1st | Harry1232 |
| Lands | 2nd | wongdeck |
| Doomsday | 3rd | boryas |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | stu909090 |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | mei0024 |
| Coveted Jewel Combo | 6th | TonyScapone |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | mechrataal |
| Mardu Energy | 8th | musasabi |
Good bit of Dimir Tempo here, but the event ended up being won by Beans.
Quantum Riddler is by far one of the best threats for the Beans decks to ever get, I feel. It just does so much for very little investment. It triggers Beans when cast for Warp, and even just jamming a Riddler with Warp with no way to blink it is very good, because late game you have a threat hanging out in exile you can just get into play AND it draws you cards even then. I also really like the addition of both Bowmasters and Barrowgoyf (in the sideboard) to this list. Having some diverse threats is a really good idea for being able to force opponents to have to answer too many things.
In Second Place, we had Lands.
Exceedingly straightforward list. Players were trying out the whole Vibrance angle, it seemed for a hot minute, but I think old habits and Sphere of Resistance die hard and people will go back to what they know works.
Also in this Top 8 we had Coveted Jewel.
See Beyond is kind of a neat card. The version of this I played had Lat-Nam's Legacy, which I didn't much care for. I am not sure how much you really need this kind of effect, but Tony is a true expert at these kinds of decks so I will definitely have to give this one a shot.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/13/2026
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 48 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 again the most played deck, and it had a very good win rate overall. Izzet was also popular, but its win rate was very bad.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | TheGrimLavamancer |
| Living End | 2nd | MeninooNey |
| Dimir Tempo | 3rd | RIDDLE0423 |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | kentaro_hokori |
| Jeskai Tempo | 5th | ecobaronen |
| Oops! All Spells | 6th | manohito |
| Aluren and Tell | 7th | einstein9998 |
| Red Stompy | 8th | _Batutinha_ |
Very interesting looking Top 8. At the end of the event, it was Sneak and Show that won.
I have to imagine Hexing Squelcher out of the board here is wildly good. It definitely makes it even more difficult for your opponent to put out two of them, because multiples really ruin your opponent's day.
In Second Place, we had Living End!
This deck showed up last week in a Challenge, and it is crazy how cool it is to see a deck like this do well. I also really like the idea of sort of sideboarding into RUG Cascade with Crashing Footfalls and Inevitable Betrayal. Kind of wild stuff.
Further down the event, we had a showing by Mono Black Reanimator.
Being able to also blend in Show and Tell into the mix muddies things a little, but the deck is still very predominantly a Mono Black deck that splashes into blue or green. The juke here is the Chain of Smog combo plan since it can just ignore graveyard hate and have a combo kill that usually just wins on the spot (unless your opponent has removal).
Legacy Challenge 32 2/14/2026
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 46 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 yet again and it didn't really do fantastic, despite two copies in the Top 8. Beans did very well and so did Lands, as well as D&T.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 1st | JohnDoe397 |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | PekkaChu |
| Umori Energy | 3rd | DominiqueTutor |
| Sneak and Show | 4th | TheGrimLavamancer |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 5th | AlexanderRosdahl |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | Gabri091 |
| Lands | 7th | ZeusDesTodes |
| Lands | 8th | John1111 |
Not a hateful-looking Top 8. At the end of the event, it was D&T that won.
D&T goes on to have a REALLY good set of events in the rest of this weekend, and honestly, I'm not surprised. Dimir Tempo is exactly the kind of deck that D&T wants to play against because Tempo traditionally struggles against this kind of deck. The redundant removal and ways to deal with various threats make D&T the perfect thing to beat up on Dimir, a deck I feel is pretty massively overrated.
In Second Place, we had Dimir Tempo.
So yes, I stand by the statement that this deck is pretty overrated overall. People are playing this deck a lot but people are also realizing there are a lot of flaws in the deck's construction as well. The biggest one for me, which this deck is not playing, is Hymn to Tourach. I think that card's time has long past Legacy and no amount of trying will keep it afloat, and I think it's quite bad in these lists. I also think these decks should likely be playing more Moonshadow because that card is superb.
Also in this Top 8... UMORI ENERGY?!?
Okay, not exactly what I had on my bingo list for 2026, but here we are. Umori makes "card type" cost 1 less, and of course, every nonland card in the deck is a creature, fulfilling Umori's Companion clause. What a wild deck this is. This feels like something I would play at a local for sure.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/15/2026 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 40 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 again... the most played deck. (Can you say it with me?!) Again despite a Top 8 its overall win rate wasn't very good. Boros Energy did quite well here, as did most things across the board. Izzet Tempo also did poorly, as well as Jeskai Control and Lands.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Death and Taxes - BW (Yorion) | 1st | yoshiwata |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | xfile |
| Grixis Tempo | 3rd | SauTay |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 4th | Aigis |
| Necrodominance Combo | 5th | cynedis |
| Boros Energy | 6th | Unlif3 |
| Affinity Stompy | 7th | TradingonTilt |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 8th | kohei1202 |
Very interesting Top 8 for sure here. Again, D&T dominated the win.
Sort of interesting to only see two Bowmasters, but I don't hate it. This deck really functions off Recruiter of the Guard so you don't always have to be super redundant, and it also helps that its not a card you always want to draw in every matchup.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo again! (Second verse same as the first?)
Still no Moonshadow. Trust me folks, this card is very sweet.
Also in this Top 8 we had Necrodominance Combo.
Don't really see this deck too often enough. Realistically its because the deck isn't insanely good, but it has its moments when people forget it exists.
Legacy Challenge 32 2/15/2026 - 2
The final regular Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 52 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 (AGAIN?! IN THIS ECONOMY?!) and it had a solid win rate. Eldrazi also did very well, as did Sneak and Show. Beans did rather poorly, as did decks like Mardu and Oops.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | HyuugaHeir |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | JakeTMS |
| Dimir Tempo | 3rd | blademagician |
| Eldrazi | 4th | 4FunNoWin |
| Eldrazi | 5th | Rinzler_92 |
| Izzet Tempo | 6th | Rockenoma222 |
| Lands | 7th | Univerce |
| Dimir Tempo | 8th | Oceansoul92 |
Lot of Tempo decks and stuff, but the winner was Sneak and Show.
This is pretty clean overall. Stock Up continues to thrill me as one of the best cards printed for Legacy in a long time.
In Second Place, we had Dimir Tempo.
Okay Moonshadow is a go, but there's a HYMN! HISS! One thing that's super amusing about Moonshadow is that it doesn't care about where a permanent card hits the graveyard, so if for example if your opponent counters your Orcish Bowmasters then it grows the Moonshadow. This thing gets out of hand really quickly.
Down in the Top 16, we had Stiflenought.
Ooh, I like the Azorius slant here. Doorkeeper Thrull is absolutely one heck of a great card, but having Swords to Plowshares is really huge. Also nice to see just actual factual Stifle. This list is really just very well built overall.
Legacy Showcase Challenge 2/15/2026
This weekend was also the second Showcase Challenge event of the Premier Play season. These events require QPs to enter and the Top 8 get invited to the Showcase Qualifier at the end of the season. This event had 228 players in it, which is pretty good!
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Tempo was insanely overplayed in this event, and I think the deck showcased how much people are gunning for the deck and it did not do well at all as a result. The deck had a 40.25% non-mirror win rate, which is crazy bad for the kind of representation it had. Lands sat just below 50% despite having a Top 8, and decks like Oops/Eldrazi seemed to do pretty well, but I think it was realistically decks below the 8 deck cutoff that had some of the best results.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Death and Taxes - W (Yorion) | 1st | l337erhosen |
| Aluren and Tell | 2nd | einstein9998 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 3rd | easymoneymarksman |
| Lands | 4th | Sharkcaster_Mage |
| Affinity Stompy | 5th | TheDingoKing |
| Boros Energy | 6th | LasVegasChaos |
| Sneak and Show | 7th | Sorathrix |
| Lands | 8th | Irgaron |
Oh man, what a Top 8. This is some really sweet-looking diversity. At the end of the event, it was MONO WHITE D&T that won (I told you D&T had a good weekend, right?)
Oh snap, this list is really cool. Batterskull! I love it. I also really dig the Phyrexian Metamorph as a Recruiter target that just becomes anything you want it to be. I am thrilled to see a list like this, honestly. It's just really good.
In Second Place, we had Aluren and Tell (and our good friend Brady Munroe)!
This deck is SO MUCH FUN. I've been playing this deck myself this past week and playing around with Brady's list, and just had a lot of really groovy fun games with it. Aluren is your Sneak Attack, and Formidable Speaker is so good at sometimes just being a 2/4 that goes and fetches a bunch of 2/4s if you need it to.
Also in this Top 8, we had Affinity Stompy.
This is another deck I would love to spend some time with. It really revitalized what 8Cast was trying to do into a more aggressive, focused deck and made for a better Kappa Cannoneer deck than there ever has been in Legacy.
Around the Web
- BeExcellent has a video on Azorius Stoneblade. Check it out here (NO RESERVED LIST CARDS!)
- Fenruscloud is playing Sneak and Show. Check it out here.
- Bazaar of Boxes posted their Series 17 coverage. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Archive has Sneak and Show vs Doomday. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Hogaak with Moonshadow?!
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!
