This Week in Legacy: The Legacy Round Table - The "Hindsight is 2024" Edition
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've assembled the Round Table for the FINAL article of 2024! What a wild ride 2024 has been for Legacy. I want to take a quick moment to thank everyone I've interacted with this year. There's been a lot going on for this format and for me especially. So thank you. Thank you for reading, for helping, for commenting, and for just being awesome. Let's look forward to a sweet 2025.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Legacy Round Table - The "Hindsight is 2024" Edition
Every year at the end of the year I like to do a bigger Round Table article because it's a good way to get multiple people from the community involved! So for the end of 2024, I present the LEGACY ROUND TABLE.
| Name | Social Media Links |
|---|---|
| Andreas 'ecobaronen' Petersen | |
| Steven Ehrlich | |
| Logan Boston | BlueSky |
| Sigi | |
| George Efelis | BlueSky |
| Marvin // BioDwarf [of Bazaar of Boxes] | |
| Futurism | |
| Jeff (Pokemoki) White | |
| Chris Allinson | |
| Michel de Jong / Arafúra [of Bazaar of Boxes] | |
| zhinonono | |
| Lee Hung Nguyen | YouTube |
| Rochester Royals | BlueSky |
| Harmony Woods | BlueSky |
| Douges | Link Tree |
| Robert Wilson of Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy | Link Tree |
| Chris McGuire | BlueSky |
| Manuel Drudi | BlueSky |
| Peter Plank | IN RESPONSE YT |
| Phillipp Klein (PhinekMtG) | Link Tree |
| Daniel (FlyingDelver) from InResponse | Link Tree |
Thanks so much to all these contributors! This is quite a list of people, so let's get to the questions!
#1 - What are your current thoughts on the Legacy format? Are you having fun? Is the format healthy?
Andreas Petersen: I was having fun before the bans, and I'll be having fun after. For me, Magic is a challenge while the banned list are the rules. I think we have to decide if we want Legacy to be competitive like Standard/Modern/Pioneer or more like Commander where we curate our own experience with house rules. I'm totally fine with both, but it seems like this is the biggest conflict right now with players.
Steven Ehrlich: I would say it's fairly healthy. The most recent bans will hopefully push the format back into a healthy meta game, but I am a bit worried about Nadu taking over the format. I feel the league meta is much better than the large tournament meta, as more people are willing to play fringe and pet decks, and there is room for those style of decks to due well and room for brewing at these lower stakes levels. Overall I'm enjoying the format, and my main gripes have been removed from the format. I'm excited to see where the format goes from here.
Logan Boston: As a primarily fair deck player, Maverick and Depths are my go to decks. It was hard to get excited about Legacy for most of the year. The speed of the format made it feel like a lot of what I was doing was invalidated be what my opponent was doing. I am hoping the bans slow things down a bit.
Sigi: It's hard to say right after a ban, but my gut feeling is that Legacy is still not going to be in the "right" place. I think we either need a good handful of further bans that remove some frustrating play patterns or an approach that's similar to the one that was just taken in Modern, with a good handful of big unbans. That being said, I am still having a lot of fun with Legacy. I just really enjoy playing Magic, and getting to do it every week with people I like has made even the darker moments of the format so much more enjoyable.
George Efelis: I’ve been actively playing Legacy since March of 2024. I bought into the format with Boros Painter and learned Legacy playing many variants of Painter at my local store, culminating in a 48th place finish at EW NA. I’ve had a blast playing the format through Grief,Frog, and MH3.
As a newer enjoyer of the format I honestly thought the format looked like no changes approaching 12/16/24 ban list announcement. There are 5-6 tier 1 decks and a slew of tier 2 decks that all feel like they could win any event. The format felt ripe for people tuning to the expected metagame and being able to be successful with proper forethought and execution.
Marvin // BioDwarf: I think it's healthy, there are enough variants, and I am having fun. I am really curious about what will happen after the bannings.
Futurism: The post-ban format is very new, hard to say anything relevant. I believe Frog gone was a very good first step, tempo cannot have access to an easy card advantage engine that he can just protect with free counterspells especially when the threat also wins against any other Legacy playable creature in 1 to 1. Then, it's good Bauble is gone, I wasn't sure they would ban it but it enables dumb play pattern, reducing the most important window of Legacy: skill. I'm currently having fun as my archetype still remains good and there are a lot of changes incoming that feel positive for now.
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: I wish the ban announcement had gone a little farther, but I think it got rid of the two biggest issues, and we will see what is able to come back from extinction. I predict U/R/x tempo to make a resurgence, as an example.
Chris Allinson: Legacy should allow a wide variety of strategies to compete against each other. I appreciate the constant monitoring of the format by Wizards, and then them updating the Banned & Restricted list appropriately. This year saw a fair amount of format warping, from Sticker goblins, to Grief, to Nadu, Psychic Frog and Vexing Bauble. I didn't have as much fun as I have had in previous years, resulting in me playing far less than usual in all honesty. I do like the recent bans, especially Vexing Bauble (as I am a Storm player at heart), so am excited for 2025. Vexing Bauble was just not suitable for Legacy, a format where Force of Will, Daze and many zero casting artifacts call home.
Michel // Arafúra: Seeing as the recent bannings haven't produced a settled metagame yet, I really can't tell if the format is truly healthy. However, I do believe it will turn out healthier than it has been in these past few months due to some pressure being removed from the format with the banning of Psychic Frog and Vexing Bauble. Call me cautiously optimistic. I'm always having fun in Legacy, though - even when frustrating gameplay patterns emerge!
zhinonono: I think recent meta is more fast, with more decisions based on mulligan and spell casting, and the interactive has weakened a bit. I think there are still a lot of decks to play, so overall for me it's not bad, but I can understand that some people think Legacy is unhealthy and the deck restraint relationship is magnified. After the banlist, the meta creature standard and removal will return to the Delver and Bolt. It will take some time to observe whether it is fun.
Lee Hung Nguyen: After the Frog and Bauble ban, I feel like it has gotten better and less linear focused. I don't have enough data post banning, but pre banning I was still fine with it. Lots of powerful cards in Legacy is what keeps the format hot. Yes it was dominated by UB, but online leagues are different to what people play in paper. In paper, people play what they own and know best. And that is drastically different to MTGO. Am I having fun? Yes. I am always having fun in Legacy. (Since I am not a spike. I play to just have fun) Is the format healthy? Healthier than before, but too early to tell. The Sydney, Australia meta has monthly Legacy tournaments, and we only have 1 double up of deck archetypes (D&T) in the top 8.
Rochester Royals: We are having fun, the format still seems to be finding itself. Lots of UB Reanimator still out there, Edrazi and Nadu are definitely strong.
Harmony Woods: Pre-bans I thought the format was mostly okay and Legacy kind of always rules so I was fine with it. Post-bans, well, I frankly have close to no objections or worries about the format. Eldrazi seems to have slowed down, and we get more chances to beat them now because we can focus on them. The removal of Psychic Frog also probably makes red decks better, implying more Price of Progress in the metagame. Nadu is powerful, but IMO seems to be about the right power level for Legacy. The tempo decks are interesting and good, with UR (splashing Questing Druid or not), Grixis, and UB all seeming like pretty reasonable options with pros and cons - I think that's going to be where a lot of exploration and investigation is going to go in the beginning days of this format. From playing the format, it seems like a lot of fun and a lot of the games are really interesting.
Douges: I think there's a few cards that would be on most players watchlists, but for now I'm happy to see where the format goes. As a player on the fairer side of things, I'm happy to see Frog leave the format which might open up some space for GWx
I'm sure some people have their own 'boogie man' of the format, but for me it's pretty open. I'm looking forward to diving into GWx Depths and Maverick, making some adjustments to what might be seen as sacred cows and changing things up to compete in 2025 Legacy.
Robert Wilson: I'm having more fun than I was pre-B&R announcement. Before the B&R I took a break from Legacy. I was traveling and not able to attend EW and the meta drained my motivation to play the format outside of a few events. After the B&R announcement, I went to weekly Legacy for the first time in months, played Grixis Delver, and had a great time. I think we're back in a time of exploration which is a good thing. The meta has opened up and more deck options and cards feel possible and that's important.
Chris McGuire: Am I having fun? Yes; I love the format, so it will take a lot for me to not have fun. Is the format healthy? Even with the recent unbannings, I'd have to say no, Legacy is not healthy. It definitely feels like we've hit a tipping point in terms of what is acceptable to the format, and the bannings, while welcome, haven't tipped things back towards stability.
I will also say that as much as I love Legacy, I've been playing much more Modern since the banning announcement, which I can't say I've ever done since I started playing Legacy.
Manuel Druid: Given the time this round table is going to be released, the question will need a double answer: the Legacy metagame after the EW seemed mostly solved, where you could gravitate around a limited range of archetypes to expect to do well. Be it a Nadu/Ancient Tomb-Stompy/Psychic Frog Variant, those were the best options you had to spike an event, and the fluctuating winrate among these three showed it during the editions of Asian, American and European EW. Healthier than I expected, but not fun in the long run.
Was the format fun? MH3 did its thing and filled the format with cards far from my concept of "fun", and it makes going to a previous and nostalgic vision of magic more unlikely. The offenders advocated during the last months were still there ( UB Reanimator above everything else, despite banning Grief) and new additions made the format more miserable in terms of gameplay, despite being good options in terms of power level (Eldrazi and Nadu).
After this week's banlist, the metagame seems to be opened once a bit more by nerfing the most played strategies: UB seems on par with delver decks now, and people were waiting for it. Maybe it won't last long, but players needed for changes and so far they seem okay with it. Even I feared Nadu decks taking Reanimator' s place in the metagame, but it wouldn't be the case this time. Only time will tell.
Peter Plank: Currently I have fun watching all the new changes to the new metagame. The format all around seems healthy and still developing.
Phillipp Klein: I think the bannings of Psychic Frog and Vexing Bauble pushed the format in the right direction, but there is still some work left to do. The biggest culprit is Nadu, Winged Wisdom, although Nadu might be okay in Legacy powerlevel wise, there are other issues with the card. The rounds at Eternal Weekend Prague always took atleast fifteen to thirty minutes longer than expected which was largely due to Nadu Combo turns taking too long. And at high level play, it is normal to let the Combo be played out, because there is always an itty bitty chance they would fizzle. It's the same problem we had back in the days with Sensei's Divining Top, which was banned because of time reasons. That being said, I'm thankful for the bans and Legacy looks more fun than it has in a long time.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: Yes, absolutely, seems a lot of different decks are all viable again - the format can again be explored!
#2 - What changes would you make to the current format (bans/unbans) and why?
Andreas Petersen: I'm in favor of unbanning over banning. I want people to spend their money and time with confidence, and I firmly believe that some old and powerful cards are ready to be set free in Legacy to keep up with the newer printings.
Steven Ehrlich: I would love to see Nadu banned. It leads to a very tedious play pattern that leads to virtual wins, but the fail rate is real so you are forced to stick it out while your opponent makes a ton of game actions every turn in the hope their deck just doesn't find the answers they need. If Nadu led to a definitive win, I'd be ok with it, but the fact that it's not and the "correct" thing to do is wait them out makes it just miserable to play against. I would also like to see Troll of Khazad-dum gone if the U/B tempo decks are still dominant (as I expect they will be) as it allows they to function too well off the already extremely lean manabase they operate with. the fact it's a fast clock that is virtually unblockable in most matchups also pushes it a little too far, but I'm willing to see how the meta adjusts before saying it definitely needs to go. I feel some of the more innocuous cards on the ban list could come off. Mind Twist comes to mind. It would be harmless in the current meta in my opinion. With lines like Dark Ritual, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach available, Mind Twist seems completely reasonable as it requires basically the same resources to get the same effect and would be acceptable in the current Legacy power level.
Logan Boston: I would like to see Nadu go, I think it’s ability to allow decks to play a very good fair plan and a very good combo plan makes the deck hard to interact with in a meaningful way. I would also like to see either Sowing Mycospawn or Kozilek's Command go.
Sigi: Bans:
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom: As much as I am a Nadu enjoyer, it's very hard for fair decks to deal with in a good way, and it is somewhat limiting in terms of which fair decks people can build. My personal hope is that this impression comes from decks previously not having had enough breathing room to deal with Nadu because of other pressure points in the format, and that things will adjust in a way where the presence of Nadu in the format is perfectly fine and not overbearing. But if it continues to be a dominant deck, action may need to be taken.
- Sowing Mycospawn: The new Eldrazi deck is so much more interactive than any previous Stompy decks while also getting to play twice as many Sol Lands. This mana difference in itself can already be problematic, but Mycospawn further exacerbates it. It being able to exile basic lands and the lands it finds coming into play untapped in a way that's very difficult to interact with pushes it way over the line.
- The One Ring: I previously pointed out that there are a number of frustrating play patterns in Legacy, and while the card isn't as prevalent as it used to be in Modern, the play patterns are similarly problematic when they occur. Fog for a turn plus three extra cards is often enough to either shut the door on a game where you're ahead or to make a full comeback from a previously losing board state.
- Entomb: As long as Entomb is in the format, I am confident that the UB Tempo Reanimator deck will both exist and be at/near the top of the Legacy meta. That shell existing puts so much pressure on the format as a whole that it leaves decks without room to deal with other threats.
- Broadside Bombardiers: This card enables both extremely quick kills and amounts of removal that are almost impossible to overcome unless it's dealt with immediately. I think if bans are made to slow down the format overall, then this one shouldn't be overlooked.
Unbans:
I don't have detailed reasons for why I would like these cards unbanned, so it's mostly a mix of cards that I don't think are too powerful for Legacy or cards that I think would be fun/interesting to play with.
- Deathrite Shaman
- Earthcraft
- Hermit Druid
- Mana Drain
- Mind Twist
- Sensei's Divining Top
- Survival of the Fittest
George Efelis: I would have probably banned Nadu, or nothing in the 12/16/24 announcement. As a newer player to Legacy I am not shackled with what “should” or “should not” be the play patterns of the format. It’s busted power level and I believe people may have rose colored glasses of pre MH Legacy.
I also believe that if the goal is to drop Reanimator to pre 2024 power level. Troll needs to be banned. It fundamentally changed the way the deck was built allowing a consistent blue splash without sacrificing the mana base or the plan a.
Marvin // BioDwarf: Unban DRS, I really like the card and its interactions when it was legal, and I think it's strong but it will not be format-warping.
Futurism: I'm scared of seeing UB Reanimator remaining at the top, and believe that Nadu isn't the most interesting play pattern of Legacy. Forge could also remain an issue as they can replace bauble with defense grid for instance. However, advocating for bans right now would be prematured to say the least. At the very least, I'm hopeful our next 3 month will be way better than the one post grief ban, where Frog was just the absolute dumbest card to leave in the metagame.
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: I think from a design/balance perspective, Kozilek's Command breaks the color pie and skirts some fundamental restrictions on what ancient tomb decks should/shouldn't be able to do. These decks are historically kept in check by a lack of consistency (in exchange for a LOT of power); getting a ramp/removal/graveyard hate/card selection split card (that's also card advantage since you get to pick 2) is a fundamentally flawed tool to give this sort of strategy.
Chris Allinson: The December bans seem great for the format, and at the moment I think we can let the dust settle and see what happens. I mean, I'd love to see a Gitaxian Probe unban, but that would just lead the majority of decks to degenerate down and play 4 unfortunately.
Michel // Arafúra: It's too soon to call for additional bans without having seen what these previous bans have actually truly accomplished. However, there is a part of me that does wonder what would happen if WotC broad-stroked the next B&R announcement and really cleaned things out.
Legacy has changed a ton throughout the years, arguably for the worse. The format has never been faster and 'cheesier' than it is now and I do at times miss the slower and simpler times. Our current high power threats are really putting a strain on our removal and interaction (or in the case of Sowing Mycospawn, the lack of true maindeckable interaction - outside of niche archetypes running maindeck Consign to Memory, for example) and I wonder how things would look if we'd all ... tone it down a little.
zhinonono: I still want to ban Sowing Mycospawn. It is a big blow to mid-range and slow decks. It is almost never cast at 4 mana. Lands, depths and some basic land control decks/midrange deck have a hard time dealing with fungus because you can only use Consign to deal. Many people may not like the game mode of Nadu, but after all, it has not been given much attention and respect so it needs to be observed. If there is any card I want to unban, I might want it 's Lurrus. After all, when it was banned, the companion rules had not been changed yet, and it might give birth to some new deck forms.
Lee Hung Nguyen: I personally feel like Frog and Bauble was correct. I would of liked some unbannings like Frantic Search and maybe top. Control has been on the massive backfoot as of lately, because of the powerful cards from the horizons and Commander sets. It's only fair we gave something back to the control decks to fix the balance. Bauble is nice to offer back, since it was helping the unfair all-in decks and hurting control decks. But at the same time, sometimes people just want to be all-in and not be squashed by a single FoW.
Rochester Royals: Our local meta has some Nadu players in it. I don't think any of us would have been shocked to see it go, but we are curious if the answers to it will be enough to stop it from dominating. Fireballing your opponent with Kozilek's command while having the ability to answer creatures and graveyards may be too strong. We'd like to see frantic search come back.
Harmony Woods: I want to have Entomb banned and Grief come back - I think having Scam around is a good thing, but I honestly don't care that much. I would like a collection of unbans like Mind Twist and Earthcraft on the principle of 'this isn't even good anymore guys', but again don't super care. As far as bans go, Nadu and something from Eldrazi (KCommand?) might be worth at some point but seem fine at current.
Douges: I've actually taken a bit of a break from the format recently, so I don't have an opinion here. I think there's some really interesting space in Legacy for a restricted list like Vintage, but I know the challenges of putting together something like that.
Robert Wilson: Its still too soon to say, but from what I'm seeing across paper and online play is that people are trying more decks and playing more. That's a great sign and I hope we're at a point of stabilization in the meta.
Chris McGuire: Nadu goes immediately, never to be seen again. I know that Legacy is the format where design mistakes get to live forever; however, Nadu is so egregious that it simply should have never seen the light of day. The play patterns it introduces are toxic and need to be removed from the format.
Sowing Mycospawn is banned. I've been back and forth on whether Mycospawn or Eye of Ugin goes, but I think that Mycospawn's ability to set a player back severely on mana fairly early in the game in a way that is difficult to interact with is probably too much for Legacy to handle at the moment. Plus targeting Mycospawn reduces splash damage to other decks that play Eye of Ugin or Glaring Fleshraker.
Troll of Khazad-dum is banned. While the Psychic Frog banning was both warranted and well-deserved, it doesn't look like that has done enough to slow down UB Reanimator early on. It's possible that the format adjusts to rein in the deck in the short term, but if I'm making a decision today I'm taking the Troll. (It's either that or Entomb, but I do believe that preserving older cards as much as possible is part of the charm of Legacy, and targeting the supercharged new hotness that enables the older cards is the better way to go.) Troll provides a very solid self-discarding Reanimate target that also fixes mana, and to me that still gives Reanimator the ability to play a very consistent game plan since they're not forced to play multiple reanimation targets and self-discard spells in order to make the deck work.
Manuel Druid: While everybody was on Frog and something from Tomb decks to get axed, last Monday I was expecting a major ban with some awareness about Nadu decks, that seemed to be the next top dog in the near future given how different can be the archetypes running it and how much value oriented these ones are without having a specific hate card. After a week, that didn't seem the case and I just hope things keeps going this way.
Peter Plank: Maybe we do a similar changeup as in modern to let the unbans get loose. Unfortunatelly my lovechilds SDT and Arcum's astrolabe should stay there. Would love to use my Gobbos with them. But to stay in track: Let's see how the metagame looks in a month and then decide where we have to go.
Phillipp Klein: Besides my issues with Nadu, we should wait for the meta to settle to make any other assumptions for a ban. On the topic of unbans I think there are some cards that can safely be unbanned if we only talk powerlevel like Mind Twist, Earthcraft and Survival of the Fittest. These cards have other problems though, like their price tag. Imo unbanning expensive reserved list cards might not be the best idea for the accessibility of the format.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: I would love to see some unbans actually, I could see some or a combination of Mind Twist, Earthcraft, Frantic Search, Windfall, Yawgmoth's Bargain as potentially fine cards.
#3 - What do you think is the best-positioned strategy in the Legacy format after the bannings?
Andreas Petersen: I predict that Nadu decks will dominate before players start to respect it more with cards like Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Cursed Totem and sweepers. Eldrazi remaining intact is huge for that deck, but it can struggle against an unpredictable field of various combo decks due to its color restrictions on sideboard cards.
Steven Ehrlich: U/B tempo shells (possible still with a reanimator package) will still be the top of the meta. The Wasteland/Daze/Force of Will shell is just the strongest thing in the format and has been since the Top ban, so I see no reason why it won't still be the top of the meta. It might just be a bit slower now that Frog is gone.
Logan Boston: I think Nadu strategies are the best positioned after the bannings. They were already very well positioned before and they didn’t lose anything from the bans while several of the other top decks did.
Sigi: I think most people will expect Nadu and Eldrazi to be on top. However, if that is the case, I also expect Moon Stompy to be a very strong deck again. Turbo Doomsday and Oops all Spells seem like the best-positioned dedicated fast decks now.
George Efelis: Feels like Nadu will be the clear early front runner. It lost nothing in the bans, and other problematic matchups did. Perhaps IF the format slows down enough for Control to be successful it could help curb the bird.
Marvin // BioDwarf: I hope Delver will come back!
Futurism: Nadu for sure, didn't lose anything, Bauble gone is an extremely good news for them, Frog as well despite not being as important. The pack is blue, has cantrips and free counterspells thus is fine against combo while being a very consistent slower combo deck itself. I don't see anything challenging it right now, at least not without giving up some other match-ups.
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: It's hard to say! Nadu and Eldrazi dodged bans and so they are good level 0 picks. Bug Beans (a personal favorite of mine) was also helped by the bans. I would also caution to not count UB Reanimator down and out! If psychic frog was a 10/10 card, there are still 9 or 9.5/10 options to take its place.
Chris Allinson: With Vexing Bauble gone, I feel Storm and Force of Will based decks will see the highest win %. Blue needs a good win con though, so perhaps Beanstalk control with Murktide is the go-to.
Michel // Arafúra: Most likely it's going to be a combination of various Nadu strategies, Eldrazi Stompy and a flavor of Tempo, most likely Grixis Delver again. I'm kind of unsure about Dimir Reanimator; losing Frog there was rather huge, but I wouldn't be surprised if the deck was at least still a player in the metagame - if not secretly at the top still. It wasn't the only deck losing Frog, the entire metagame lost Frog + losing Vexing Bauble is a net-positive for any blue deck in this format. So, I wouldn't be surprised if there was somehow still enough gas left in the tank for Dimir Reanimator.
I also believe Chalice of the Void and Lightning Bolt have kind of been soft-unbanned and I'm really curious to see if that is going to affect the balance of Ancient Tomb vs Tempo strategies. We've had quite a period where a ton of these decks' life totals weren't pressured early out of the tempo decks, so we might see the Ancient Tomb decks having to curve out a little lower again.
zhinonono: I would probably nominate Eldrazi as the best deck after the ban. The UB deck has been reduced due to the Frog gone, and the addition of Delver in the meta will make Chalice of the Void stronger. The number of bad matchups for Eldrazi has not increased much, same to R prison, or maybe Delver will slay all.
Lee Hung Nguyen: I've been advocating for this for ages, but I think MTGO should have trial periods of X card is unbanned and banned in this particular league format for data's sake. I know it sounds like a MTGO only format, but it would be an interesting way to collect data and see how it runs after 3-6 months. In regards to strategy, I would like to see WotC release a page that says: "public can fill out this questionaire and collect research data of what the community thinks". They dont need to be forced to act on the data, but at least the data points are there. We're still in a mysterious void of how they decide on the bannings, but at least we know they hire pro players and advocates that speak on behalf of the community. But is that enough? The fact that other community based formats and articles like this on MTG Goldfish, provide insights, we still unsure how they decide and I just want more transparency.
Rochester Royals: Nadu and Eldrazi
Harmony Woods: IDK. I've liked Temur Delver, but i feel like it gets beat up on by other Delver decks? maybe Grixis? but the mana is kind of rough so maybe UB? Pyroblast is cool though.
Douges: I think it's between Nadu and Eldrazi. Both super powerful decks that don't have to care too much about what their opponent is going and both built around cards that people might not have been too surprised to see them go during the last ban announcement (Nadu, Flesh & K-Command)
Robert Wilson: I'm not sure if there's a clear best deck and that's a good place to be and I hope that's where it stays. Nadu, Eldrazi, Delver, Painter, and Doomsday all seem like they are in a good spot.
Chris McGuire: Oops All Spells until everyone starts playing with Leyline of the Void again, followed by the various Nadu shells.
Manuel Druid: Right now I don't see any Tier 0, while blue decks need to set up to face Nadu and stompy decks. These ones are the strategies I'd put my money on, but I'm not sure if things are going to change when there will be a consensus on the new pop blue deck of reference. Reanimator has to get if it wants to keep the fair plan or stick to a more comboish approach, in the meanwhile tempo decks are wandering around the online metagame, but they're far from being the favourite ones.
Peter Plank: At the current stage fast combo decks and tempo decks build the top Off the meta. I would call out Oops/Delver-variants(URB/UR) and Doomsday to be really strong currently.
Phillipp Klein: *insert Austronaut meme here* "Wait, Tempo is the best deck? Always has been" Since 2012 Tempo in its many iterations was always the best positioned strategy in Legacy and I don't think that's going to change in any way. Tempo always has answers for everything and the shell with Brainstorm, Wasteland and Daze backed up by a efficient threat can and will be the top deck in our format.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: As always, a proactive strategy will be best going into an relatively new meta. I am looking at UR-based Delver decks (UR, RUG, or Grixis), Nadu decks, Eldrazi, or an updated version of Reanimator.
#4 - What was your Favorite Card of 2024 and Why?
Andreas Petersen: Psychic Frog. The card is a beautiful homage to Magic's history, but was too strong for Legacy. I'll keep playing it in Vintage!
Steven Ehrlich: Beseech the Mirror. As a storm/combo player I love what this card does and how it's resulted in a ton of different storm and combo variants such is BSS, TES, Doomsday Storm, etc.
Logan Boston: The Surveil lands are definitely my favorite cards of 2024. They add so much to the game for all decks and especially in a land based strategy being able to recycle them for extra value is really nice.
Sigi: Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. There are many spots where playing correctly with Tamiyo is far from trivial, she produces lots of interesting scenarios, and unlike Psychic Frog, she also tends to promote playing a slower game.
George Efelis: Painter's Servant. I learned the format around it, it was super well positioned nearly all year, and it helped me cash my first eternal weekend.
Marvin // BioDwarf: Psychic Frog, it brought me to a 151st finish at EW Prague, and I like what the card does. I do understand the banning, but I will miss the little guy.
Futurism: Planar Nexus, very interesting card, I think it's mostly good for Cloudpost only which is a very good sign playing it is clearly not free (Forge as well, but if they switch from Bauble to Defense Grid having only mana turn one is not good for them). I like the power boost it gave to my archetype.
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: Psychic Frog. The card was good, but also led to fun and intricate games. Frog mirrors were very skill intensive and it was very rewarding to navigate combat correctly or trick the opponent into going all in on their frog and then getting a blowout. Psychic Frog was a card that required investment and risk and had a wide range of outcomes, which led to replayability. Unfortunately, it's human bias to more strongly remember the times where it carried a game rather than the times you 1:1ed it or, better yet, got them to discard 3-4 cards to it before killing it.
Chris Allinson: Undercity Sewers. Being able to "end of turn fetch" this land has had quite an impact on most formats including Legacy, Modern and even Vintage. Also, I like the og art, which is recognizable from across the room.
Michel // Arafúra: Psychic Frog. I actually did really like Frog as a fair blue (non-Reanimator) mage and enjoyed the skill testing play patterns it provided. However, I'm also really happy that the format won't have to revolve around "does this kill Frog? No? Back in the binder it goes" anymore. Having the tension of Lightning Bolt and Pyro/Red Blast back in the format is something I welcome as well.
zhinonono: My favorite card of 2024 is Gaea's Cradle, from the time I played Cradle Control to Elves Nadu, it will always be one of my favorite cards. I like to choose the hard path in life.
Lee Hung Nguyen: Glaring Fleshraker and Eldrazi Confluence. I know people will hate me for this, but I'm a colourless fiend and Glaring is the truth. Eldrazi Confluence is a card most people don't even know exist, but its a powerhouse in Australian highlander formats. (Singleton Vintage Kinda. Learn more at www.7ph.com.au)
Rochester Royals: Of the three of us filling out this survey, one said Nadu, one said Psychic Frog, and one said Vexing Bauble. All for the same reason: they were very interesting. We would like to see interesting cards for non-blue decks, new combo archetypes, and skill testing tempo creatures, but hope they can print cards that won't go all nut-busto on the format.
Harmony Woods: Aven Interrupter. Just one of my favorite cards, fun in cube and other formats. As far as one relevant to Legacy, Nethergoyf. Just a great design no notes
Douges: Talon Gates of Madara I think was one of the most underrated and powerful printings for Legacy in 2024. It's great in offense and defence and has fit into a few different decks with Crop Rotation effects (notably Elvish Reclaimer).
Every unique land that's printed and has a powerful effect only increases the power of tutor effects like Reclaimer, Knight of the Reliquary, Wight of the Reliquary, Crop Rotation and even Green Sun's Zenith.
Robert Wilson: This is hard. I loved playing with Psychic Frog, but didn't like the stranglehold it developed on the meta. I like playing with it in Vintage, but I'm worried Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Psychic Frog are constricting the meta and forcing everyone into Dimir or Esper. Red and green rarely see play now and Lurrus/Frog have supplanted BUG and RUG fair decks.
Chris McGuire: My favourite card of 2024 has only just been released in paper and I still can't play with it yet in Magic Online, but when it finally does come out in the new year I'll be jamming it as much as I can because I truly think there's something there. It's Gornog, the Red Reaper (from Jumpstart Foundations). I do think there's a red Warrior Stompy shell to be discovered built around this card and, although it is possible it's simply outclassed by the current The One Ring-centric builds of Moon Stompy, I'm going to enjoy trying to find it.
Manuel Druid: Psychic Frog. I wouldn't design a better card for this metagame and for what I've been playing so far. The impact left on Legacy required for some action and in the end I'm glad it happened. Glory, glory to the HypnoFrog.
Peter Plank: Urza's Saga. It is hands down the sweetest valuepackage you can include in a lot of decks.
Phillipp Klein: As I dove deeper into Oops All Spells, I learned the power of Memory's Journey. This card seems really underrated and can work as a mini doomsday just for G. It's also a pretty skill intensive card, as the right way to use it is not always that clear. It has won me a lot of games and my good run at EW was mostly on the back of MJ.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: I was a Psychic Frog fanboy so I am gonna go with that!
#5 - What's on your Legacy Wish List for 2025?
Andreas Petersen: I would love that players used more ressources on solving problems rather than voice their concerns about them. Magic is the most fun way to use your brain muscles in the entire world, so don't waste that opportunity! When it comes to new printings, I would welcome cards that make Control better in the format.
Steven Ehrlich: I would love to see something further nerfed in the U/B tempo lists as I'm honestly tired of that shell being the top of the meta for almost a decade now. I would also love to see WotC show more love and respect for the format. Legacy is clearly alive and thriving, and the community is the driving force behind it. Even with all the hurdles WotC throws at the format it continues to grow and it deserves the same attention as all the other formats.
Logan Boston: More hatebears that can be found with Green Sun's Zenith. I think another hate piece that can be tutored for a different angle would add a lot of flexibility to Maverick players game ones. I know it will probably never happen but a G/W card with Thalia’s effect would be perfect.
Sigi:
- Helpful bans and unbans: Getting the format to a more stable position where every macro archetype is properly represented feels like the top priority right now.
- Interesting new cards from Standard-legal sets: Most of what we've gotten in the past couple of years has come from non-Standard or Commander products. I'd like to see more cards that pass through Standard make it to Legacy instead. By saying that, I am not implying that Standard should have more powerful cards, but rather that I'd like to see interesting cards that have received proper attention from Development and Play Design find homes in Legacy decks.
- Splitting the Eternal Weekend Legacy Main Event into two days: With the increase in attendance across Eternal Weekends this year, we've clearly seen that the interest in Legacy is there. We're getting to the point where it's becoming difficult to play all the rounds in the event in one day, so expanding it to a full 2-day structure similar to what GPs used to be would be really cool.
George Efelis: I’ve been playing blue decks at locals post EW, so probably some fun FF or Spider-Man card that helps push slow blue control to have a win button. Something akin to splinter twin in Modern last decade.
Marvin // BioDwarf: New unbannings will create some chaos!
Futurism: NO MH4 PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU LEAVE US BE. Also a banlist more flexible, but I would thread extremely carefully about giving the banlist to the community because this is the first time I've seen that many takes only based on personal, thus subjective, feelings (Bowmasters and Mycospawn are the two most obvious one). I still see several candidates who could be fitted for the job.
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: I'd like to see a Mana Drain unban. It's been years since Counterspell saw any serious play, and control decks have been struggling to combat the proactivity of power crept threats. A burst of colorless mana might be too good in combination with The One Ring though, so it's not without risks and would probably need an eye kept on it.
Chris Allinson: A Preordain variant that has Surveil 2 instead of Scry 2
Michel // Arafúra: I want Legacy to slow down a little again, take it to a place where fair (blue and non-blue) decks can actually keep up and bring us to a place where interactive decisions matter again, as opposed to slamming a haymaker or combo piece ahead of curve and our answers not being able to keep up.
Being proactive in this format, having agency, is just way better than being reactive, because we lack the reactive tools to interact with the widely various threats Legacy currently revolves around. This is the underlying feeling I have with the format. Mind you, that's not to say that I don't enjoy Legacy at the moment and the fundamental interactiveness is entirely lacking - I would just be curious to see what would happen if we shifted gears a little, took a step back, because I'm afraid of what future sets will do to Legacy with WotC's current design philosophy.
While the above may seem pessimistic, I am still loving Legacy and most likely will for a long time to come - regardless of what a specific metagame looks like at a specific moment in time.
zhinonono: More official Legacy tournaments on MTGO and offline. And if possible abolish RL.
Lee Hung Nguyen: This shot is so far that living on the moon seems closer than this wish, but I would like to see Legacy Grand Prix come back and it travel the world to smaller countries to maybe like Australia and or even New Zealand :). Also they should experiment with restricting cards in Legacy (like Vintage) and unban a few bad boys hey
Rochester Royals: We'd like to see midrange come back, and control be good. If DougesOnTwitch is happy we're happy.
Harmony Woods: Genuinely not sure. I guess paintings coming back and it being part of the Spotlight Series in some form?
Douges: A very powerful GSZ target, something along the power level of Leovold that ISN'T a blue creature (GWB). I'd also like to make it to an Eternal Weekend (most likely Asia) but we'll see how much leave I have with some other trips already planned
Robert Wilson: More cards like Faerie Mastermind - its an interesting punisher card that's playable but not warping. Also I'd like more Legacy staples in retro border foil. I'm expecting Delver of Secrets after seeing Huntmaster of the Fells in Innistrad Remastered, but I'm also hoping for Carpet of Flowers, Hydroblast, Pyroblast, Brazen Borrower, and Murktide Regent.
Chris McGuire:
- Nadu's eviction from the format.
- Other bannings to help bring the format back into balance.
- Perhaps some unbannings to rejuvenate the format a la the Modern unbannings.
- Eternal Weekend to offer paitings for top prize again.
- Universes Beyond sets to have very little impact on Legacy
Manuel Druid: A different approach from Wizard about the time for bans. What they did with Modern was weird, but it ignited players' curiosity again and somehow that's something I'd like to try once.
Peter Plank: A CMC 1 artifact that cantrips in ETB. Could do nothing else and I would still play it!
Phillipp Klein: I wish for a balanced and fun format, a format that is as diverse as possible, with no clear tier 0 deck and a lot of viable options.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: Similar to what we recently saw with Modern, I would like to see a bigger shakeup in Legacy next year. That can involve more bannings and some unbannings if its necessary.
#6 - Write a Legacy Haiku. Be Creative!
Andreas Petersen: The Love of the Game // The reason we are all here // Please remember it
Steven Ehrlich: Beseech for Gaea's Will // I Cast my entire graveyard // Cry, I'm bad at math
Logan Boston: Wasteland all players // Knight of the Reliquary // Tutors them all up
Sigi: Waxing and waning. // Crimson ardour to pale white, // the Moon shifts the tide.
George Efelis: Painter’s Servant is // The color of the world and // Will end you swiftly
Marvin // BioDwarf: Psychic Frog is gone, // New paths emerge from the dust, // Legacy evolves.
Futurism: Price of Progress is red // Mycospawn isn't green // Force is still a shitty card against Post (Editor: Counting syllables I don't think this is a haiku!)
Jeff (Pokemoki) White: The whispering winds // Blow change across the landscape // The bedrock remains
Chris Allinson: The frog swam away // The bauble's light did fade // Legacy's free again
Michel // Arafúra: Proactive players, // Reactive players follow, // Balance in the flow?
zhinonono: The frog carried the baubles away. // We got off the highway of hell. // Ahead was the insect colony.
Lee Hung Nguyen: Frog's mind echoes faint, // Banned from the eternal dance— // Dreams now left to fade.
Rochester Royals: Salt comes easily // Take notice of what is good // Enjoy gathering
Archon is still good // Don't let spaghetti kill you // The bird is the word
We're accessible // Come play playtest cards with us // Roc Royals Magic
Harmony Woods: legacy is fun // tempo decks are very fun // this format rules
Douges: Swords and creatures strike, // Wasteland breaks the land in twain, // Maverick's heart beats strong.
Robert Wilson: Now Delver is Back // We Can Finally Have Fun // Bolt You For The Win
Chris McGuire: Rest in Peace to you // Vexing Bauble/Psychic Frog // You will not be missed
Manuel Druid: Old pond — frogs // jumped in — sound // of water.
Peter Plank: Vexing Frog! // Domination all along! // Now they're gone!
Phillipp Klein: Combo pieces fall, // Memory's Journey restores, // The graveyard tells all.
Daniel // FlyingDelver: Old dual lands whisper, // Force of Will shields the silence, // Legacy endures.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/18
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 43 players in it according 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 1st | Ale_Mtg |
| UR Delver | 2nd | wiky |
| Red Stompy | 3rd | Will_Split |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | Jumba |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | Cachorrowo |
| Sneak and Show | 6th | snoopy-magic |
| Eldrazi | 7th | BERNASTORRES |
| ANT | 8th | karatedom |
Our first Challenge of post-ban Legacy and we didn't have full data on this but the Top 8 in of itself is fairly diverse. We did see one UB Reanimator list here, proving that the shell is at the very least not 100% dead. At the end of the event it was Nadu Midrange Combo that won.
One very interesting thing here to note is the addition of Shaman en-Kor as another form of Nomads en-Kor effect to enable Nadu. I like this variant of Nadu because it can play much more like a midrange pile and win off the backs of cards like Bristly Bill while also threatening to go deep into a bunch of cards to keep the opponent at bay until they are defeated.
In Second Place we had UR Delver.
This week saw a return to form of the light green splash for two Questing Druid, which is really not enough to make it RUG in my book. Lightning Bolt and Dragon's Rage Channeler becoming soft-unbanned is great to see, and this looks like a very traditionally fine Delver list to exist in the format.
At the bottom of this Top 8 we had ANT.
ANT was starting to regain some amount of popularity in the end of the Frog/Bauble era there, and I think the fact that Bauble is now gone kind of helps the deck a little better in the long run. It will be interesting to see where this one goes, but it's a really sweet list.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/20
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 40 players in it according 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Red Stompy | 1st | SiL3nTGoaT |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | Ozymandias17 |
| Sneak and Show | 3rd | snoopy-magic |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | _Batuntinha_ |
| Eldrazi | 5th | BERNASTORRES |
| Beseech Storm | 6th | Eureka22422 |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 7th | jibeta |
| Creative Technique | 8th | _J0SE_ |
This is a somewhat diverse Top 8, but there are a lot of Ancient Tomb decks and a fair amount of combo decks here. Dimir Tempo seems to have survived the Frog ban, but the event was won by Red Stompy.
Instead of even bothering to try to go back to Chalice of the Void, this particular list went deeper on its mana, utilizing both Chrome Mox and Lotus Petal alongside Simian Spirit Guide to cast its really broken three and four drop cards. Pyrogoyf is an absolutely insane card in multiples, and I have no doubt that these Red Ancient Tomb will keep playing it for as long as its good.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo.
Curie is quite interesting, but the pilot himself noted on social media that she hardly mattered (ouch!) and that she could have been other cards instead. Still, it's interesting to see that there is still a list here for this deck. Whether or not it stands the test of the rest of the format remains to be seen, but a good week one performance is always nice.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Creative Technique.
Vexing Bauble's presence in the format did in fact utterly delete one deck from the metagame, and that is the Creative Technique combo deck. Bauble countering spells cast for free utterly decimated this deck, and it was already a rather fringe player in the format to begin with that it just went away. Now that Bauble is gone, we get to see this deck come back. Whether this is a good thing or not, I can't say. This deck is incredibly divisive among players. Some people really love it, some people really hate it.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/21
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 47 players in it according 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 | choutin |
| Gruul Stompy | 2nd | Didackith |
| UB Reanimator | 3rd | mortr3d |
| UR Delver | 4th | Chloe_Knight |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | Kuranari-Jackpa |
| Red Painter | 6th | utley26 |
| Stiflenought | 7th | ajdadd420 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 8th | AstroZombie74 |
This one is a bit more diverse than before, but definitely a good amount of combo. At the end of the event it was Oops that won.
Oops having a positive result in an uncertain metagame for the first week is definitely something I'm not surprised to see. It's just one of those decks that capitalizes on this sort of thing, and it was already putting up some reasonable results pre-ban meta. The addition of multiple Dread Return and another Thassa's Oracle here is interesting. I feel like most things getting exiled on the Thoracle combo is usually Narcomoeba with Surgical which makes the combo harder, but I bet it gets some people to have more copies of your win condition.
In Second Place we had Gruul Stompy.
Is Initiative making a bit of a comeback? It seems like these decks were everywhere earlier in the year, and then disappeared with MH3's release. Now maybe they get to come back just a little bit? I'm not sure. It is week one of a new metagame so people are definitely trying things that were previously considered not good.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had our first look at post-ban Mystic Forge.
I am not 100% convinced that simply replacing Vexing Bauble with Defense Grid in the current manabase where you only have four sol lands in Ancient Tomb is correct. I do believe this deck will evolve again to accomodate those early plays of T1 Defense Grid better, because it really didn't change much else here, and there are a lot of games where you can't play the card Turn 1 when you really want it. The deck was really designed to work with that Turn 1 Vexing Bauble play, right down to its mana, and I do think that we'll see a shift.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/22 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 44 players in it according to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
UR Delver was the most popular deck of the event and it had a really solid win rate. UB Reanimator was also somewhat popular and it's win rate was reasonable. Eldrazi did very well, while Nadu Combo did just below the 50% mark.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| UR Delver | 1st | SkysTheLimit |
| UB Reanimator | 2nd | KazukiOoyama |
| Eldrazi | 3rd | nanovo |
| Eldrazi | 4th | Raydan |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 5th | ktmr-39 |
| UR Delver | 6th | m0sc0wmitch |
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 7th | Harry1232 |
| Gruul Stompy | 8th | Filhi_do_MOL |
Eldrazi did quite well here, but it was UR Delver that won at the end of the event.
We covered this one already in another Challenge event, but it is nice to see traditional UR Delver coming out in force of the first week metagame. I have most certainly never felt too upset having a known Delver strategy to exploit in the format. We'll see if this one sticks or if it falls back to Dimir Tempo, but I think Lightning Bolt is a very good reason to be in red for sure.
In Second Place we had UB Reanimator post-ban.
Swapping in Bowmasters and more Brazen Borrower seems to have at least worked for now, but we'll see how well it sticks long term. I have a feeling that people not expecting to have to deal with this deck may have lightened up on their hate and a lot of people are still going to be trying the deck in the weeks to come. I do think there is a possibility the deck readjusts and is still good, mainly because Troll of Khazad-dum is such a powerful card.
Also in this Top 8 we had Mono Green Cloudpost.
Cloudpost has kind of disappeared at some point in the midst of the Frog metagame, which is wild considering so many of its new toys came from Modern Horizons 3 like Disruptor Flute and the new Eldrazi cards. Sowing Mycospawn is certainly a card, one that I feel a good number of folks are not going to be very happy with as we keep moving forward with Legacy.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/22 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 70 players in it according 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nadu Midrange Combo | 1st | amgpewqq |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | death_grips |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | BrunoGuerra |
| Grixis Delver | 4th | TueBo |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | piao |
| Doomsday | 6th | wonderPreaux |
| Grixis Delver | 7th | ecobaronen |
| Stiflenought | 8th | Gabelmeister |
This is a reasonable Top 8. Quite diverse really. At the end of the event it was Nadu Midrange Combo that won.
I love the versions of this deck with Agatha's Soul Cauldron. The card has so many weird little niche applications that makes it so much fun to play with. It's a proactive piece of graveyard hate that also lets you turn things in your graveyard to your combo, which is really cool.
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
Because this deck virtually did not change through the bannings, this is definitely a deck to keep an eye on longer term. The combination of Fleshraker, Mycospawn, and Kozilek's Command is exceptionally potent, and I think people will be looking for ways to beat this deck for sure.
Also in the Top 8 we had Beans!
This deck lost the Frog, but it did gain a sweet value engine in Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. This card can either be a very value-heavy play for this deck, or it can be a win condition that holds down the fort while building to a bigger and better play. Either way, it seems pretty cool in this deck.
Around the Web
- 90sMTG has a video on Week One of the Post-Ban. Check it out here. Also be sure to subscribe to their channel and maybe help them hit 10K subs before the end of 2025!
- TonyScapone is Gambling Epically. Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles has Crucible of Words on the cast. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Merfolk is super sweet!
Ocelot Pride and friends is groovy.
This deck is something. I may have to spin this one up for a League.
This one is really cool. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Overlord of the Balemurk is kind of sweet because you can Impending cost the Overlord and then blink it with Phelia to get a 5/5 that does things when it ETBs or attacks.
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!
