This Week in Legacy: Player Spotlight Series - The Grave Troll Cometh!
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 doing yet another player spotlight! This time around we've got Vicente Mahfuz, otherwise known as MahfuzVanGogh on Magic Online, a master of Dredge! In addition to that we've got some news about this past week's Banned and Restricted Announcement (in which there were no changes to Legacy) and a slew of other event stuff like paper events and three Challenge events on MTGO.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Player Spotlight Series - The Grave-Troll Cometh! Vicente Mahfuz
We're back with another Player Spotlight Series! This week we are talking to Vicente Mahfuz, otherwise known as MahfuzVanGogh on MTGO. Vicente is a master of the Dredge archetype and is very passionate about his chosen deck, and the tinkering he does with it. He's won several events on MTGO with the deck as well as Top 8'ed more beyond that.
Check out the video below and thanks to Vicente for joining us for the column!
Banned and Restricted Announcement 3/11 - No Changes to Legacy
There was a Banned and Restricted Announcement this past week, but no changes were made to Legacy. You can find this announcement here.
They did at least briefly mention Legacy, so let's see what they have to say about it.
I think it's nice to know what they're keeping an eye on but for me, I would have preferred to have seen some form of statement or even just a missive about how they feel about cards like "Name Sticker" Goblin being implemented slightly different on Magic Online than in paper, and especially the tournament logistics nightmare of certain decks needing to register sticker sheets even though nothing in their deck uses them, etc. I would also maybe liked to have seen something about differences in card sets on MTGO, as we've recently learned the Fallout decks won't be on the platform yet. While yes, Orcish Bowmasters has been a thing to mention and keep an eye on, and I appreciate the note of Broadside Bombardiers having powered up Prison stategies, I still think there are very conceptual aspects of the format it would be nice to know what their thoughts are on.
Still, I'm fine with no changes to the format at the moment, and letting some things shake out.
South Wales Legacy Showcase 3/9
This past weekend was a big showcase event in South Wales! This event was a European Legacy Masters Qualifying event, and I've got some great information on the event given to us by Doishy, one of the organizers of it. Let's hear what he has to say.
At 53 players registered, this was one of the biggest non-proxy UK Legacy events to be seen and definately this biggest to grace the South West/Wales which is in an awkward spot in terms of having a scattered player base (especially in non-American distance terms) and a little out of the way for key hubs in London, Nottingham and Scotland. This was especially impressive given the clash with European powerhouse tournament the 4Seasons Winter event in Milan on the same weekend where a lot of players had gone to. Prize pool was a total of £1400 (~$1800).
The event was brainstormed by me (Doishy) and brought to life with the help of David Jones (local Cardiff Judge), Luke Kay (ELM Rep for the UK) and Firestorm games in Cardiff (Hosting venue).
It was all streamed on Twitch and the vod will be available soon on the ELM Youtube. This was an ELM qualifier and although Will Hall (the Will Hall EXP streamer etc) took it down and obtained the champion trophy, they refused the ELM invite so it passed to second place Francis Cowper (@FGC).
The event went super smoothly, the store is amazing and if enough +ve feedback presented then hopefully have another one next year, perhaps even bigger!
Next ELM qualifier for the UK is the Nottingham Legacy Monthly on the 27th of April and we are hoping this one will be streamed too! Details located here.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Beanstalk decks were fairly popular here, with a solid win rate as well. Mostly everything above the cut did pretty well with the exception of Red Stompy.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Scam | 1st | TheWillHallExp |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 2nd | Francis Cowper |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | AleD36 |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | David Inglis |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 5th | Alex Jarvis |
| UB Reanimator | 6th | NicB47 |
| The EPIC Storm | 7th | RobT9 |
| Grixis Delver | 8th | Ben Jones |
Large amount of Grief in the Top 8 here, with the finals being down to Dimir Scam vs. Cephalid Breakfast. The winner was TheWillHallExp on Dimir Scam.
This is the green splash variant we've seen pop up a few times here or there as of late. Witherbloom Command seems like an absolutely insanely powerful card at the moment. Rebuying Wasteland is so very good.
In Second Place we had the finalist who got the ELM Qualifier, Francis Cowper on Cephalid Breakfast.
No Stoneforge Mystic here in this build, instead leaning on Saga as the primary backup plan. The sideboard juke of boarding into Triumph of Saint Katherine seems quite good against a wide array of decks for sure.
SCGCon Philadelphia Legacy 5K 3/10
This past weekend at SCGCon Philadelphia there was a Legacy 5K event on Sunday. This event drew 218 players to it! Pretty great turnout!
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. I will note, numbers may be slightly skewed as there was a bunch of paper decklists not entered into MTGMelee.
Beanstalk Decks were the most popular here, but their win rate was just below 50% overall, despite a top finish. UB Reanimator had the field this weekend in this event, being incredibly represented and a strong win rate. Grixis Delver also did well in addition to both Boros Stompy and Lands.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Grixis Delver | 1st | Patrick Owens |
| UB Reanimator | 2nd | Nick Pynn |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | Amy Altman |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | Micah Larrow |
| UB Reanimator | 5th | Brian Coval |
| UB Reanimator | 6th | Ryan Mullens |
| The EPIC Storm | 7th | Bryant Cook |
| Beseech Storm | 8th | Chad Uzzell |
A lot of UB Reanimator in this Top 8! At the end of the event it was Grixis Delver that won.
I like this list quite a bit. It's very straightforward and has a lot of cool stuff in it. Thundering Falls seeing play to surveil into the graveyard for Murktide/DRC is pretty cool.
In Second Place we had UB Reanimator.
This deck has continued to do very well as of late, and it's quite scary. It has a very fair element to it, being able to play out cards like Grief and Bowmasters, but them also reanimate a large creature like Atraxa or Archon of Cruelty.
Also in this Top 8 we had Beanstalk!
Oh man, the Leyline of the Guildpact variant is so much fun! I'm also really digging some of the stuff in the sideboard like Doorkeeper Thrull and Kozilek's Return.
Near the bottom of the Top 8 we had The EPIC Storm, piloted by the deck's creator Bryant Cook!
This is a super fun list. Loving the inclusion of two surveil lands here. Seems quite interesting to set up an Echo on top in response to the Surveil and then put it in the graveyard.
Legacy Challenge 3/9
The first Challenge event of the weekend was the early morning Saturday event. This event had 52 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Beanstalk Control was the most popular deck of the event and it also did quite well. Goblins also performed very well as did RUG Delver.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 1st | trunks132 |
| RUG Delver | 2nd | _INF_ |
| Omni-Tell | 3rd | MoMo321 |
| Death and Taxes (Yorion) | 4th | yoshiwata |
| Soul Cauldron Combo | 5th | mephidro |
| Goblins (Turbo Muxus) | 6th | GodOfSlaughter |
| Stiflenought | 7th | kiyoaggro |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 8th | albertoSD |
Highly interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was our good friend trunks132 that won on Beanstalk.
Triumph and Uro both seem very good at gaining a lot of life. I like this list quite a bit. It looks like a lot of fun.
In Second Place we had RUG Delver.
As we've come to see in most of these lists, the green is really just for Questing Druid at this point. Many of these lists are not playing other green cards even in the sideboard. I think a big part of this is being able to easily play Blood Moon out of the sideboard for sure.
Also in this Top 8 we had Soul Cauldron Combo.
This deck is incredibly cool. Having this fair game plan like Painter but also having a combo kill just like Painter that is on a different axis is really interesting.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Stiflenought.
Doorkeeper Thrull having enabled this deck to have yet another option for putting Dreadnought into play is quite cool, but it's nice that this one has flash and flying.
Legacy Challenge 32 3/10
Daybreak did a thing and added another Weekly Challenge! There is now a Legacy Challenge 32 player on Sunday mornings! The first of these events had 41 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. Unfortunately the data isn't complete due to not enough data for Match Up Input, so no fancy screenshots for this one.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Goblins (Turbo Muxus) | 1st | choutin |
| Dimir Scam | 2nd | Solidsnake408 |
| Red Painter | 3rd | kanican |
| Doosmday | 4th | clan |
| Boros Stompy | 5th | SHAKELION |
| Golgari Depths | 6th | sakuragi21722749 |
| RUG Delver | 7th | _INF_ |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | wizardpasta |
Fairly varied Top 8 overall here. At the end of the event it was Goblins that won.
This deck is still incredibly strong. It does a lot of really powerful things ahead of the curve thanks to the fast mana and especially the Sticker Goblin.
In Second Place we had Dimir Scam.
Honest to goodness Hymn to Tourach! Very cool indeed.
Also in this Top 8 we had Boros Stompy.
This deck finding some room for Bombardiers is neat. It seems like a really strong card to be playing for sure.
Further down this Top 8 we had Golgari Depths.
The Scam package showing up in the Depths shell is intriguing for sure. Grief is for sure very strong.
Legacy Challenge 64 3/10
The final Challenge of the weekend was the 64 player Challenge on Sunday. This event had 78 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here. Unfortunately the data isn't complete due to not enough data for Match Up Input, so no fancy screenshots for this one.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Red Stompy | 1st | xJCloud |
| Selesnya Depths | 2nd | Moonmadness-_- |
| Cradle Control | 3rd | MatsOle |
| Dimir Scam | 4th | medvedev |
| Omni-Tell | 5th | Iwouldliketorespond |
| Goblins (Turbo Muxus) | 6th | GodOfSlaughter |
| RUG Delver | 7th | 8salazzar8 |
| RUG Delver | 8th | WeareVenom |
Very interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was our good friend xJCloud that won on Red Stompy.
Canoptek Scarab Swarm is one of the Warhammer 40,000 cards that's popped up and it was really sick in paper, so it's cool to see it show up here.
In Second Place we had Selesnya Depths.
It's cool to see straight GW Depths as a thing. It's a very clean looking list for sure.
Also in this Top 8 we had Cradle Control.
This deck always looks very powerful. The fair midrange plan backed up by Natural Order nonsense is always cool. Also, the GB Surveil land showing up here is sweet.
Further down the Top 8 we had Omni-Tell.
The One Ring definitely seems like a sweet piece of Omni-Tell tech for sure. I am digging it.
Around the Web
- Legacy of the North has a video on Cloudpost vs Grixis Delver. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is talking about Surveil Lands in Maverick! Check it out here.
- Speaking of our guest this week, MahfuzVanGogh has a video on Poxwalkers Turbo Dredge. Check it out here.
- To Stifle or Not To Stifle, that is the question.
- The Eternal Glory Podcast has a new episode on the stability of the format. Check it out here.
- The Eternal Gambit is Scaminating with Triumph of Saint Katherine. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
This Reanimator pile that's playing Sauron, the Dark Lord!
Naya Maverick with both Mawloc and Broadside Bombardiers?!
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!
