This Week in Legacy: New Legacy, New Spice
Howdy folks! It's time again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're on the hunt for the spiciest things we can find in this new era of Legacy! As such since this is a full on Spice article we won't have a Spice Corner this week, because this whole article is a Spice Corner! In addition to that, we've got two events from this past weekend to look at, a regular Challenge and the Legacy Showcase Challenge (the first one since the bans), so plenty of fun things to discuss!
Without further do, let's dive right in!
So Spicy, It Hurts
This week's article is devoted to the Spice of life. We're in a brand new Legacy era still, and people are back to brewing some of the coolest piles of cards I've seen. I put out a call on Twitter as well as combed through decklists to find some of the most interesting lists I could. And boy did I find some!
Our first list comes to us from @AdmiralVortex on Twitter, and it's pretty amusing to look at. Such a greedy manabase here, but if you can make it work, then work!
Players familiar with formats like Pioneer and Modern will be familiar with how this deck functions on the back of Niv-Mizzet Reborn being essentially a tutor effect and card draw engine, while also being a 6/6 flier. Yorion really makes this deck tick for sure, giving it a grindy option in the late game that also resets Planeswalkers and blinks cards like Niv for more cards. What a really interesting looking deck for sure!
Our next one comes from @FunkyCino on Twitter, with a spicy little ramp deck.
The ramp is real here, and I can see how the package of Utopia Sprawl + Wild Growth can work here to power out stuff. I think what I would like to see in this list would be Green Sun's Zenith simply because of the utility it has both early and late game. The idea here is of course porting more of a Modern Ponza style ramp strategy into the format, and I think that could work if we looked to some of those cards like Zenith. Also, definitely would like to see a Klothys somewhere since that card is so back-breaking. Still, definitely looks super fun!
Our next one comes from @Beest42 on Twitter, and it's a real wild one. It's called "Emrybelly"!
Okay so, I see where this is going. You have Strix and Baubles, Prophetic Prism which enables Emry to come down early, and then Emry enables Ethereal Forager to delve away recastable stuff. Seems really super cool. In addition, the copies of Breya, Etherium Shaper is really super neat to see as well. Looks like an incredibly fun deck!
User @djizma_mtg on Twitter sent in a few as well, one of which caught my eye as it is a Splinter Twin Stompy deck!
Honestly everything about this makes a ton of sense. I love seeing these kinds of takes on Stompy decks because it just proves how ultimately versatile the shell really is and that is super cool to see. I think Hullbreacher is likely the best Ancient Tomb card to come around in a bit, so that helps as well. It should be relatively obvious what the goal of this deck is. Twin em!
In my continued search, I dipped even further into the rabbit hole of the League 5-0's and found some more cool and spicy stuff, starting with this list from my good friend fishduggery.
A land-centric control deck is really intriguing and that's basically the idea here. Utilizing both Uro and Omnath alongside cards like Field of the Dead and Life from the Loam is really super cool. This looks like a ton of fun, plus it's got Primeval Titan in it! Can't go wrong with that!
Another list that caught my eye was this green centric Vial deck with Fauna Shaman and Atraxa, Praetors' Voice in it.
There's a lot of one-of's here but that's because they're all tutorable with Fauna Shaman, and it makes this deck much more of a sweet toolbox deck than anything else. This is sort of like how Esper Vial utilized Recruiter of the Guard, this deck does the same but with Fauna Shaman which is super fun looking.
Another card that has been on my radar is Showdown of the Skalds and musasabi did not disappoint with this next entry.
Most Sagas occupy a weird space of playability outside of Standard, but Showdown is one Saga that I think merits more look at. The first Chapter is pretty obvious that it does quite a bit of digging and lets you play cards out of that pile until the end of the next turn, but it's Chapters 2-3 that make it really interesting, especially in a deck like this where many of the cards cost 0-2. What this means is during those turns you can stack up a ton of counters on your creatures simply by playing the spells in your hand or the 0 drops that were exiled to Chapter 1. This gets really good with cards like Stonecoil Serpent, Walking Ballista, and Arcbound Ravager.
The final list of this article is the epitome of spice. Take a relatively interesting card (in this case Kavu Predator) and put together something that works with its uniquely triggered ability (your opponent gaining life). One of the best and most interesting ways to abuse this? False Cure.
What False Cure does here is that it allows you to cast your spells like Invigorate and Skyshroud Cutter to trigger Kavu Predator with impunity because no matter how much life they gain, they will lose that life to go back to where they were, making the hit from Predator that much more deadly. It's a really super cool idea and incredibly spicy and fun.
More Spice for the Spice Lord!
As always, I am ever on the lookout for Spice lists on a regular basis, and I appreciate everyone who sent me what they were working on. There's always more out there, and I love the fact that this new Legacy era has got people really out there and brewing hard, and not only that having success with it.
Keep at it Legacy community! Your ignenuity never ceases to amaze.
Legacy Challenge 3/6
We had two events this past weekend, the first of which was the regular early morning Sunday Challenge. Thanks to the efforts behind the Legacy Data Collection project we know we had 75 players for this event! You can find all the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the datasheet for this event here.
Let's dive right into the charts.
What was pretty cool here was that no single archetype cracked above 10% metagame share (although U/R Delver came close at 9.3%) and that there was just a fair amount of diversity going on all over the event. Things are not quite yet settled but they're getting there, and it's cool to see how the metagame is shaping up. Furthermore, just from talking to people the game play also seems to be really fun as well, so it's super cool to see that as well.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Death and Taxes | 1st | Carroz |
| U/R Delver | 2nd | Ozymandias17 |
| Painter | 3rd | utley26 |
| Infect | 4th | Fenruscloud |
| Bant Control | 5th | Koala40 |
| U/R Delver | 6th | ayukawa |
| RUG Delver | 7th | wakarock |
| G/W Depths | 8th | wara |
Super interesting Top 8 here, with some sweet archetypes showing up for sure. At the end of the event, it was Carroz who took it all down on Death and Taxes!
The biggest thing about these lists since the Oko ban is the reduction of Spirit of the Labyrinth in the main, but they're still running at least one because of how powerful it is versus Uro decks. There has definitely been a solidification of the deck to what cards are the best slots and Skyclave Apparition is a powerful catch-all threat in that regard.
The Second Place finalist is our good friend Matthew Vook on U/R Delver (with a slight green splash in the sideboard).
We primarily classify this as U/R because the main deck configuration of the deck's primary game plan is all on a U/R Delver typical plan of burn + countermagic. Only in post-board games (when needed) does the deck dip into green, not really making it a true RUG Delver deck. The primary sideboard cards it wants here in that regards is Veil of Summer, Ancient Grudge, and Klothys, God of Destiny. Monastery Swiftspear is a sweet inclusion however, and so is Bedlam Reveler.
Also in this Top 8 we had a solid showing by Painter. This particular pilot not only paced Third in this event, but also Third in the Showcase Challenge event as well.
This deck is powerful and really interesting. The biggest thing about this deck is the presence of Karn, the Great Creator which has greatly enhanced and influenced these artifact-centric combo decks like Painter. utley26 is a well-regarded Painter player and definitely is a solid pilot, so congrats to them on both finishes this weekend!
Also in the Top 8 we have good friend Fenruscloud, the perennial master of Infectious Phyrexian Diseases, on his signature deck.
The biggest change to this deck as of late has been the inclusion of Teferi, Time Raveler. This card does a great job of protecting the kill turns where you are turning the corner quickly with pump spells, but also makes it easier to protect your threats by generally having the final say on counterspells. I also dig the Great Sable Stag in the sideboard quite a bit.
Outside of the Top 8, we had a great 5-2 showing by Ninjas!
Much of the main deck of this deck hasn't really changed from the last times it has floated around, and Retrofitter Foundry is still the best card in the deck bar none, but what is interesting here is some of the cool sideboard options like Court of Ambition and Fall from Favor. Seems pretty intriguing to have in this deck for sure. It's great to see this deck doing reasonably well however, as it really is a fun and interesting deck.
Legacy Showcase Challenge 3/7
This past weekend we also had our first Showcase Challenge event since the bans, and it was a whopper at 231 players overall thanks to efforts of the Legacy Data Collection project! You can find all the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. Showcase Challenges are events that require Qualification Points (QPs) to enter (40 to be exact) and they feed into the Showcase Qualifier events as the Top 8 of the event gets to move onto the Showcase Qualifier to play for a chance to compete in one of the Championship events.
Let's dive right into the charts!
There is a ton of diversity here, and again no deck cracked above 10% (with again the closest being U/R Delver at 8.7% which is still not back-breaking) in metagame share. This looked like a really fun event, and I was in on many streams throughout the day helping with data collection and games just looked incredibly fun and interesting. We'll be doing another "State of the Metagame" article soon as well as another Legacy Round Table pretty soon as well once we get some more good data, so it will be interesting to see where things lie then.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| U/R Delver | 1st | ziofrancone |
| Bant Control | 2nd | mechint |
| Painter | 3rd | utley26 |
| RUG Delver | 4th | StormGuyisme |
| Red Prison | 5th | bcs8995 |
| Grixis Delver | 6th | VCF |
| Red Prison | 7th | SlayItWithRoses |
| Standstill | 8th | duke12 |
Again this is a really interesting Top 8, from having both Red Prison to Delver, to fair blue control to even just Standstill. Really sweet looking for sure. At the end of the event it was ziofrancone on U/R Delver to take it down.
This is a more focused U/R Delver variant with True-Name Nemesis and of course the spell belly Ethereal Forager. This is a pretty lean deck with a lot of disruption (including Stifle) and also a neat card in the sideboard here in Fall from Favor. I don't know that this card is super good or not, but might be better than it was.
The Second Place finalist is a deck we've come to call Bant F.I.R.E.
This deck is mainly a Bant Miracles variant with cards like Uro and Teferi. It leans really hard on having a lot of disruptive elements like seven Force effects plus has an insulation to Wasteland by playing more basics as well as cards like Carpet of Flowers. The big hitter here is Sylvan Library, which makes use of all the incidental life gain from Uro to recoup cards.
Also in the Top 8 we have Mono Red Prison!
Fireflux Squad is certainly the real deal. It's extremely powerful and can put in a lot of work, especially when combined with cards like Goblin Rabblemaster and tokens made off of cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Hanweir Garrison.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we have Standstill!
Sharks! Moat!! What isn't to love about this pile. It's really fun looking and interesting for sure. From the few times I saw this deck show up on someone's stream it seemed really cool. I even managed to watch this deck cast Standstill, and then cast a second Standstill to trigger the effect to make their opponent draw three cards which drew them from an empty library. Wild stuff indeed.
Just outside of the Top 8 we had a showing by Goblins!
This deck is running not just Muxus but also running the Conspicuous Snoop / Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo as well, giving the deck a powerful way of winning the game via the combo as well as the card advantage generated by the Snoop. Also really interesting here is the Volrath's Stronghold which can rebuy cards, especially when it's rebuying Gempalm Incinerator!
Around the Web
- 90sMTG has a video of Sharkstill vs. Burn! Check that out here.
- Legacy Maverick on a budget! Check it out on GreenSunsZenith.com!
- Red Eldrazi with Birgi and Hazoret! Check it out here!
- Hushbringer Stiflenought by Phil Gallagher! Check it out here.
- Ninja Bears by PVDH! Check it out here.
What I'm Playing This Week
I'm still working on refining a list of Karn Echo I like to do a video with. Going to be trying this during this week. I think Ravenform looks incredibly interesting!
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 Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Patreon! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the /r/MTGLegacy Discord Server and subreddit.
Until next time!
