This Week in Legacy: This Frog is on Fire
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be taking a look at post ban Legacy's first week without Grief. In addition to that we've got some Challenge data to discuss.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
A Week In Without Grief - Have You Seen This Frog?
We are a week in to post ban Legacy, and I think it's pretty safe to say that the notion that there would be less Psychic Frog after the ban is pretty busted in half. If there ever was a card that is the face of current Legacy after the ban, the little Frog that could is most assuredly it.
Modern Horizons 3 gave us several new threats that have become the new core of the format's tempo decks, and it's not just the Frog. Nethergoyf and Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student have also become very powerful threats that are now the format's new most powerful tempo deck. Being able to no longer play Grief simply allowed these decks to tighten up their slots, not having to play 8 slots devoted to a Scam package anymore.
The result? Frog is insanely well positioned to be one of the most premier Legacy threats of the entire format, and it's not even close. The card has quickly shot up the ranks to become the 2nd most played creature in the format at the moment at nearly 25% of the overall metagame at right on 3-4 copies (hint: four copies is correct).
Oh and guess what? The Reanimator shell? Yeah it's still there.
I think this showcases that perhaps there should have been some future proofing to the Banned and Restricted announcement from the 26th, and we should have just hit Psychic Frog at the same time. I understand the decision Wizards made and why, but I would have liked to have seen some further changes than what we got. I'm not super excited for Legacy at the moment because of this. The Frog is an interesting card to play with, but it snowballs so quickly that playing against it is really rough.
Outside of Dimir Tempo and UB Reanimator, we've definitely seen the same movers and shakers that were already moving pre-ban continue to do well. Decks like Eldrazi, Red Painter, and now Bant Nadu are all pushing on the format, the majority of these decks all leaning on some functional Modern Horizons 3 card in some way (new Eldrazi, Vexing Bauble, and Nadu).
Now, I know this is only the first week in, but I don't believe much will change going forward here. It would take something really big to dethrone Frog as one of the best threats, and I don't expect we'll get something like that before the next BnR announcement in December. And if Wizards is unwilling to make an emergency change for something like Grief, I don't think they will do so for Frog, so this is most assuredly what we will expect Eternal Weekend to look like.
I will definitely be watching the ongoing developmental metagame, but I'm not thrilled.
Legacy Challenge 32 8/28
The first event of the week was the Wednesday evening event. This event had 56 players in it thanks to the decklist page published by Daybreak Games. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Eldrazi | 1st | Raydan |
| Worldgorger Dragon | 2nd | Roodslay |
| Red Painter | 3rd | Betrix2688 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 4th | Lollerstank |
| Eldrazi | 5th | MAFS |
| Jeskai Control | 6th | wiky |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | MisplacedGinger |
| Eldrazi | 8th | MsMayer |
This is something of an interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Eldrazi that won.
Very straightforward green variant. Little bit of Gaea's Cradle here to help enable some mana for this deck, especially with Glaring Fleshraker making even more off of it.
In Second Place we had Worldgorger Dragon.
Very interesting take on Dragon. It's wild how much this deck just want to loop to try to get to Archon of Cruelty and it seems like there's no other way to "win". Sideboard though, moving into Chain of Smog combo was sweet.
Legacy Challenge 32 8/30
The second event of the week was the Friday night event. This event had 48 players in it thanks to the decklist page published by Daybreak Games. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Elves | 1st | SHAKELION |
| Loam | 2nd | Flossed |
| UB Reanimator | 3rd | 2plus2isfive |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 4th | BazaarOfBagDaddy |
| Eldrazi | 5th | Mogged |
| Goblins (Vial) | 6th | Geodude_Jared |
| Eldrazi | 7th | Awepp |
| Beanstalk Control (Yorion) | 8th | AnziD |
Very interesting Top 8 actually. At the end of the event it was Elves that won, featuring Nadu.
Wildy interesting take on making the Elves combo into a Nadu combo instead. Casting Emrakul seems like a strong way to quickly end a game.
In Second Place we had Loam.
Very interesting take on Loam, because it's not playing Chalice, but gets things like Saga, Springheart Nantuko, and other new cards like Wight of the Reliquary. This is an interesting deck for sure.
Legacy Challenge 32 8/31
The third event of the week was the early morning Saturday event. This event had 51 players in it thanks to the decklist page published by Daybreak Games. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Worldgorger Dragon | 1st | Roodslay |
| Dimir Tempo | 2nd | Kentaro_Hokori |
| UB Reanimator | 3rd | Ryuho090 |
| Gruul Stompy | 4th | Andy_Over |
| Eldrazi | 5th | Ayukawa |
| BR Reanimator | 6th | snoopy-magic |
| Red Painter | 7th | choutin |
| Doomsday | 8th | Azerate218 |
Not a bad looking Top 8 here either. At the end of the event it was Worldgorger Dragon that won, the same pilot that made Second Place earlier this week's events.
Very similar list, including the Chain of Smog combo in the sideboard. This deck does look like a lot of fun.
In Second Place we had Dimir Tempo.
We talked about this already. This is definitely one of the new faces of the current format and Psychic Frog being as good as it is. Very strong deck.
Legacy Challenge 32 9/1
The fourth event of the weekend was the 32-player Sunday Challenge event. This event had 54 players in it thanks 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.
Dimir Tempo had a strong presence and win rate, as did UB Reanimator. Elves also looked very good as did Red Painter.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| UB Reanimator | 1st | Maxtortion |
| Elves | 2nd | MtgNate4 |
| Elves | 3rd | SHAKELION |
| Red Painter | 4th | kanican |
| Lands | 5th | alli |
| Dimir Tempo | 6th | jessy_samek |
| Red Stompy | 7th | PunishingWaterfalls |
| Dimir Tempo | 8th | OSCA66 |
Quite a bit of Dimir decks and Elves in this Top 8. At the end of the event, it was UB Reanimator that won.
Very powerful-looking deck here. Turns out losing Grief did not impact this shell's existence at all!
In Second Place we had Elves.
The Nadu shell for this deck is so very interesting. Having a way to win games that doesn't involve Glimpse of Nature is really sweet.
Legacy Challenge 64 9/1
The final event of the week was the 64 player Sunday event. This event had 72 players in it thanks to the decklist page published by Daybreak Games. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Red Painter | 1st | grindstone-cowboy |
| Elves | 2nd | Graciasportanto |
| UB Reanimator | 3rd | Adamwasmo |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | DMianete |
| Dimir Tempo | 5th | DuckDuckMongoose |
| UB Reanimator | 6th | Diem4x |
| Lands | 7th | Nictophobia |
| Dimir Tempo | 8th | Arca_De_Karn |
Quite a lot of Psychic Frog in this Top 8. At the end of the event though it was Red Painter that won.
Strong looking list. Vexing Bauble looks really good in this deck in the main. Being able to ruin your opponent's game plan to freely interact with your combo seems quite good.
In Second Place we had Elves again.
I definitely think this Nadu Elves deck is going to be something to watch going forward. It seems strong and has a lot of power behind it.
Around the Web
- Maxtortion has a video of his UB Reanimator Challenge win. Check it out here.
- Everyday Eternal has a new episode. Check it out here.
- BCDL has up their videos of their recent events. Check it out here.
- The Legacy Gambit has a new episode on Mono White Initiative. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy fixes some Mana Issues. Check it out here.
- PunishingWaterfalls has a video on Nadu Cradle! Check it out here.
- Go check out the awesome folks at Legacy Small Talk.
- Phil Gallagher has a recent video of BATTLE OF WITS that I supplied a list to him for. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
This UR Storm list is sweet.
Ocelot Pride and Guide of Souls killing it!
Sneak and Show playing Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine!
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!
