This Week in Legacy: Time for School! Time for School!
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week it's time to review Strixhaven for Legacy! We'll be talking about all the things that we think could have some potential in the format, as well as some things that well... don't. In addition to that we've got two Challenge events to discuss from this past weekend as well as the results from the NRG Legacy 2K this past Saturday.
Also just a reminder that you can still get the Mythic Tokens for All Access in the Magic Online store for $25. This is a superb way to try out Legacy, plus there is a Super Qualifier this week on Thursday!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Strixhaven: A Collegiate Legacy Review
Strixhaven: School of Mages is now fully revealed to us, and despite the fact that there's a lot of cool Mystical Archive cards to check out, this set does have a lot of interesting new cards and mechanics, and some that might just as well give us something to talk about in Legacy. Let's first start off by looking at the mechanics of this set however, as there are some important things to discuss.
Magecraft
The biggest mechanic of this set to talk about is of course, Magecraft. If you've been following any amount of MTGFinance and you're wondering suddenly why Chain of Smog, a previous bulk card, is now a $15 card, Magecraft is the big reason why.
By targeting yourself with Chain of Smog, every card with Magecraft can go infinite with this card, as Magecraft's basic rules text is "Whenever you cast or copy a spell, do <X>". By continually copying the spell and targeting yourself, you will continue to trigger Magecraft. However, this does have a few major glaring downsides that are worth discussing, the first of which being the fact that because Chain of Smog is making your discard your whole hand, it is a glass cannon and very easy for an opponent to interact with. For example, a player can simply wait until you have no hand and then counter the next copy of Chain, or if the card with Magecraft that is being triggered is a creature, they can wait until you have no hand and then remove the creature in some fashion, such as with Lightning Bolt or Swords to Plowshares. This does make the power level of this combo very fragile in some ways, but in other ways, it can be powerful simply because many of the Magecraft cards aren't actually all that bad on their own and are worth looking at in other lights. In addition, the Chain combo might actually be pretty good vs decks that can't interact fast enough.
There are more than a few cards that have Magecraft that are worth discussing, so let's start this review by focusing solely on those cards before we move on to other things.
Clever Luminancer
This card is incredibly unique because as noted before, with Chain of Smog it presents the possibility of a Turn 2 kill by making a very large Luminancer. However, there're other interesting applications here as well. Because of how Magecraft works, efficient mana spells like Rite of Flame / Desperate Ritual and Manamorphose become pump spells, and then followed up by a card like Ground Rift / Haze of Rage or Temur Battle Rage can simply make the attack incredibly lethal. Whether there's room for this sort of aggressive Storm-based aggro deck in Legacy remains to be seen, but the card itself is incredibly efficient at one mana and the potential is really there in general for this card to be quite good on its own outside of playing Chain.
Also a reminder that Nivmagus Elemental exists, so that is a thing as well.
Leonin Lightscribe
Another card that goes infinite for combat with Chain, this is another card that has potential alongside the Luminancer as a finisher effect. While two mana is steep here, this could be interesting and I wouldn't count it out especially if the Storm aggro deck is a very real thing.
Professor Onyx
While six mana seems steep, in black those colors are often defined by cards like Dark Ritual and the like, and suddenly powering out Liliana (I mean, PROFESSOR ONYX) doesn't seem all that hard to do. Furthermore, this is a format where Arena Rector exists, so the possibility of a shell-like Curse Stompy where Sol lands and whatnot exists, this seems even more powerful to do. The major reason this card is decent, however, is because its Magecraft ability is essentially Tendrils of Agony. The Planeswalker abilities aren't that superb, but if powered out early it can do some work.
Sedgemoor Witch
Outside of new mechanic Ward (which is our new Hexproof-like evergreen mechanic), making a bunch of 1/1s off this doesn't seem great to go infinite with, but it is a bunch of creatures so it doesn't seem too bad, and there is a very real interesting notion that a board wipe against that simply just gains you a bunch of life. I don't see this one being insane, but it is a payoff with Chain that is game-winning.
Dragonsguard Elite
This is another two CMC threat that goes infinite with Chain, but outside of that combo I don't really see this going anywhere as the effect of just making a bigger creature doesn't quite go with the normal green game plan of casting instants or sorceries.
Quandrix Apprentice
At first glance, this seems really strong, but tacking on "hopefully find a land in three cards" to every instant or sorcery doesn't actually do much. I don't expect this one to see play really, no matter how cool the effect really seems.
Witherbloom Apprentice
This is an interesting card that not only goes infinite with Chain of Smog, but also has some play in BUG related shells in regards to casting spells. Turning all of your Force of Will's into net neutral on life and making your opponent lose one life is exceptional, and the fact that this is a creature that can be Green Sun's Zenith'ed for makes it very interesting. In fact, our good friend Peter van der Ham posted a solid starting point of a BUG Delver variant that utilizes this card. Check out his post over here and the decklist below.
Learn
The Learn mechanic is the other new mechanic of Strixhaven. The way this mechanic works is that spells with Learn put a Lesson card (a sorcery with the type Lesson) you own from outside the game (so in Legacy this means your sideboard) into your hand. If you don't do this, you discard a card and then draw a card. The power level of these cards very much is dependent on the fact that Lessons themselves have to be good, but since Lessons can also be played main deck there is a real interesting question to raise as to whether you need the Learn cards at all in a format like Legacy. In fact, pretty much all of the Learn cards in Strixhaven don't really meet the bar of Legacy playability at all. This is fine though, we can't expect every mechanic to have a playable card. In addition, plenty of the Lessons don't really have much appeal either, so we don't really need to worry about those either!
Other Cards Worth Talking About
Let's dive into the cards that aren't related to Magecraft or any other specific Strixhaven mechanic!
Elite Spellbinder
Outside of the fact that this card features the likeness of one of the greatest Magic players of all time, this card itself is really very interesting. What is super interesting about it is the fact that there is no clause for this card to return to the opponent's hand. They have to cast it in order to get the benefit out of the downside, which is very unlike most of these Brain Maggot / Kitesail Freebooter style variants. This means that you aren't feeling too bad about using this to take a spell and then trade with something like a flipped Delver of Secrets, but also that you can very easily blink this card a bunch and tax multiple things out of the opponent's hand. Furthermore, the base stat line of this card isn't bad, a 3 mana 3/1 flier is a staple card in Legacy with cards like Flickerwisp being the definitive standard of the stat line in white. This also being able to be fetched by Recruiter of the Guard is really good, but what I really like is the mana cost aspect. By not costing double white, this card can easily see play in decks involving the card Ancient Tomb, where this can follow up a proactive play like a Thorn of Amethyst to set up a tempo clock while taxing the opponent out of the game.
I like this card a lot, and I think it will find a home somewhere in Legacy.
Solve the Equation
While three mana seems rather steep for this kind of effect, the major comparison of this card to Merchant Scroll is pretty apparent. For one more mana, you can get any color instant/sorcery to hand instead of just a blue instant. This could have a place in some sort of fringe strategy somewhere, but I don't know that it really does meet the litmus test of powerful three CMC spells.
Test of Talents
At first glance this card looks a lot better Invasive Surgery, a card which has seen play on occasion in Legacy, but the comparison to that card really falls off when you consider the limited and narrow application of what this counters. Only dealing with instants or sorceries is exceptionally narrow, and despite the fact that the extraction effect occurs regardless if the spell was countered or not, I don't think this card will see much if any Legacy play at all. If it does, it will be in an exceptionally narrow deck as a sideboard card, and even then it's debatable.
Conspiracy Theorist
This is a weird card to evaluate (and quite frankly, I'm a little frightened by the mage in the artwork too) but I don't know that this does much for the effect. This does offer up an interesting way of synergizing with anything that makes you discard cards, such as Dack Fayden, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, or even Liliana of the Veil, but that's about it. I don't know that this card does anything, but it definitely requires a lot of testing and gameplay to figure out, which that alone may shy people away from really settling on this.
Dragon's Approach
This was one that got requested to talk about via my Twitter post asking about what cards people wanted me to discuss. This card is certainly interesting if you can quickly get a bunch of these cards into the graveyard, either via self mill effects or something like that. Putting a Dragon into play directly feels a lot like Dragonstorm in a sense and this is certainly cheaper for one Dragon. Is this good? I'm not really sure, but I find it certainly amusing.
Efreet Flamepainter
This card evokes a lot of interesting feelings in regards to the card Dreadhorde Arcanist, and a lot of comparisons, but I think the biggest thing is that this card costs four mana. The only place that this mana cost feels realistic is in a Stompy shell, which generally doesn't cast a lot of instants or sorceries. I don't think this makes the cut for Legacy at its mana cost alone.
Mila, Crafty Companion / Lukka, Wayward Bonder
I don't think this card is actually all that good, but it's something to talk about because it's a monowhite half Leovold effect (the draw when your stuff is targeted aspect). I suspect that alone is not good enough to drive this card into decks like D&T, as the first half of this card is basically vanilla text in that deck. If you want to cast the back half however, it doesn't really seem all that great for that kind of deck either, especially given that it costs six mana. As cute as Mila is, I don't think this will be breaking into Legacy any time soon.
Rowan, Scholar of Sparks / Will, Scholar of Frost
What is unique about both halves of this card is the static ability of making instant and sorcery spells cost one less. The Ruby and UR Storm variants have received a lot of interesting cards over the past year (Jeska's Will and Birgi, God of Storytelling) that another card that reduces costs on things is immediately interesting, especially on a card type that is generally somewhat difficult to interact with. Furthermore, since those decks often can make both blue and red (with Lotus Petal mana and etc), being able to have both Will and Rowan in play at the same time definitely seems interesting to not only double up on the static effect, but also use both of their abilities if you need it.
Culling Ritual
This card is immediately interesting due to the mana refund it provides, but the amount of things it actually destroys is pretty slim. Not being able to hit three drops like Teferi, Uro, etc. is not fantastic. However, if you're playing against decks like D&T, being able to destroy a whole bunch of their smaller creatures as well as their Aether Vials is solid. If you can make this cost BG with the mana refund, the rate is great. If you can make it cast nothing, it's even better. The opportunity to make it cost negative is super insane for sure. This is very likely for fringe strategies (Nic Fit could maybe definitely want one of these for situations where Pernicious Deed is bad or turned off by Phyrexian Revoker) but for those strategies, it has a chance to be great.
Deadly Brew
This is certainly an interesting card especially for only costing BG. Being able to recur a permanent with this and any permanent is super intriguing especially since you don't have to choose which permanent you are getting until this spell is resolving. This screams abuse for putting into play cards like Omniscience or something similar, or even just a big Planeswalker of your own. While I don't think this does much, it is interesting.
Fracture
For straight WB this card is really strong. Being able to deal with anything but creatures is a really interesting design space, but this could definitely show up in some Esper Control/Midrange lists where dealing with opposing Planeswalkers and enchantments is much more difficult. This kills Sylvan Library in WB and that part alone is exceptional. This is a card I definitely expect to see play.
Rip Apart
This is sort of an Abrade side-grade, given that costing RW can be considered more of a downside than costing 1R. The big thing however here is that this also deals with enchantments, so I'm really very curious to see where this card goes. Maybe RW Death and Taxes is a thing that can be approached again and this card gives a bit of flexible versatility to that strategy.
Vanishing Verse
I do not expect to see this card in Legacy to be very honest. There are a very wide plethora of cards that this spell misses (namely the fact alone that it doesn't get rid of things like Karn, the Great Creator) that the potential it has in a game to be simply dead is just way too high.
Witherbloom Command
I think this card is interesting, although it would have been way more interesting as an instant (obviously). Each of the modes definitely seems interesting, with the big modes being the mini Abrupt Decay effect and the life drain. This does have some applications, so I wouldn't be surprised to see people trying it out here or there.
Professor of Zoomancy
Raaaaaaaaawr rawwr raaaaaawr.
NRG Legacy 2K 4/3
This past weekend we had the NRG Series Legacy 2K event held by Nerd Rage Gaming on Magic Online. This was a 64 players event, and thanks to the fact that they ran this event via MTGMelee made it very easy to convert data for into the format we use for the Legacy Data Collection Project. You can find the coverage of the event over here.
You can check out all the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Let's take a look at the breakdown.
While most of the recent MTGO Legacy events have been pretty well infested by the popularity of RUG Delver, a lot of players in this event opted into decks like 4C Control / Hogaak, and a surprising number of people on a deck we can only refer to as "Artifact Storm", a Karn / Echo of Eons style of deck that wins with Paradox Engine and Mystic Forge. There was still some RUG Delver here, but it didn't quite do as well as some of the other decks like Hogaak did in this event.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Lands | 1st | Matt Brown |
| Elves | 2nd | Curran Delahanty |
| UR Delver | 3rd | Caleb Yetman |
| Elves | 4th | Will Krueger |
| Hogaak | 5th | PTarts2win |
| Depths Combo | 6th | Brian Ly |
| Bant Control | 7th | Niv Shmuely |
| Bomberman | 8th | F7Eleven |
This is a pretty solid Top 8, with plenty of different represented decks from combo, control, and tempo. However, it was none other than Matt Brown who took down the event in an utterly dominating fashion by never dropping a match the entire event on LANDS!
Matt's list is solid, taking advantage of the advantage provided by new cards such as Valakut Exploration. Also, a slight return of the card Manabond to a Lands list, which is super interesting! That card has a lot of interesting play to it and can lead to some utterly explosive games where you can play it Turn One and then immediately present the Depths combo on your end step.
The Second Place finalist of this event was Curran Delahanty (otherwise known as Testacular on Magic Online) on his signature deck, Elves!
This list is clean and powerful, leaning harder on the combo aspect with Nettle Sentinel instead of the Elvish Reclaimer based variants that have popped up from time to time. If you want a true witness of the power of this deck, check out Curran's mirror match in the Top 8 where he wins the game on Turn Two from just a land and a Dryad Arbor in play to at the end putting a 24/24 Craterhoof Behemoth into play for exactly lethal damage through blockers. Insane!
Also in the Top 8 we had Hogaak, which was one of the other decks in this event that had a really solid performance overall.
There isn't much innovation to the Gaak lists really, which in a way is actually sort of nice because it means the decklists just don't really change all that much so you can really dive into playing the deck and learning it and then pick it up later on and the list is mostly the same.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Bomberman!
This is interesting because we normally see Bomberman in a more UW variant with Gyruda, Doom of Depths as the Companion (the Kanican style variants), but this list is more akin to the older Bomberman lists by utilizing it as a Monastery Mentor stompy variant as well with a combo kill. One fun and interesting thing is that Karn can fetch the card Glass Casket from the sideboard as it is an artifact, making it a very effective removal spell versus certain decks.
Outside of the Top 8, we had a solid showing by a deck I mentioned earlier known as "Artifact Storm".
One thing this deck can do is churn through its deck via the combination of Mystic Forge + Paradox Engine and then very easily make infinite mana and then cast a lethal Walking Ballista. Furthermore, it can make use of all the untap triggers with Mesmeric Orb to self mill to be able to cast Echo of Eons from the graveyard to continue going through the deck. Really intriguing deck overall, close-ish to Karn Echo, but not quite that exact deck, as this is much more "colorless" in nature.
Also in the Top 32 we had our good friend Lynnchalice on the one and only Queen's Gambit.
Every time I see this list I am really excited by it. It's a really innovative list and looks like a ton of fun. Kudos to Lynnchalice for continuing to work on this!
Legacy Challenge 4/3
The same morning (but way earlier) as the NRG event we also had our normal Saturday morning Challenge event. Thanks to the efforts of the LDC (and a few members who really stuck it out to collect data) we know this event had 81 players in it, which is pretty solid really for a Saturday morning that also had another event going on.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Let's dive right into the breakdown.
RUG Delver had an exceptionally solid performance in this event and a highly popular meta share. Other decks like Hogaak and D&T were popular but boasted fair win rates at this sample size.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Food Chain | 1st | musasabi |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 2nd | maian |
| Death and Taxes | 3rd | EronRelentless |
| Red Prison | 4th | suyasome |
| RUG Delver | 5th | Beeenew |
| Maverick | 6th | Bocmanice |
| Depths Combo | 7th | Pastratta |
| GW Depths | 8th | PhilLesh |
What a Top 8! Very different archetypes all around from combo, prison, tempo, and more. However it was none other than FOOD CHAIN that took down the event, in a Food Chain vs.... Cephalid BREAKFAST match?!!?
We talked about this deck a lot last week, but this variant of the deck seems to be pretty strong overall. The raw power of having cards like Lightning Bolt but also having access to Pyroblast out of the sideboard is really good. Having gotten a chance to play around with this deck this past week myself, I can see how strong it is. This is definitely a deck to have on your radar when playing on Magic Online.
As noted before, the Second Place finalist was maian on Cephalid Breakfast.
This same pilot also got 5th in one of the Challenge events last week, so they seem to be improving with the deck. One fun thing I noticed in the sideboard here is the sideboard copies of Memory's Journey, which is a great Surgical Extraction beating card. Living Wish is really interesting here, providing a really awesome angle to the deck overall.
Also in the Top 8 we had a showing by Mono Red Prison.
The best new card of this deck is easily Fireflux Squad. This card is so incredibly powerful in being able to turn just random tokens into another creature threat, and occasionally that threat is something that makes more tokens for Fireflux to work with. This list also is bringing in cards like Hazoret the Fervent, which seems really strong to hit off a Fireflux trigger.
Outside of the Top 32 we had a great showing by Mono Red Painter.
Magmatic Channeler is a really sick piece of tech for working with cards like Goblin Welder or Goblin Engineer, by using it to pitch a card you want to weld in. Definitely seems like a really powerful play. Chromatic Star also makes for a fun and interesting card to weld in and out as you can draw a card off its trigger when its put into the graveyard. This list is really cool overall!
Legacy Challenge 4/4
We also had a Challenge on Easter Sunday (for those that celebrate), and thanks to the efforts by the LDC we know we had 91 players in this event, which is solid given that it was a holiday and all.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Let's dive right into the breakdown!
UR Delver was the top dog of this event in popularity, but RUG had an exceptionally high approximate win rate overall, and was also very good here as well. In fact, as we'll see by looking at the Top 8, it was a virtual smorgasbord of Delver decks, which turned out pretty okay for the winner of the event.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Death and Taxes | 1st | yoshiwata |
| Grixis Delver | 2nd | Pietrone10 |
| RUG Delver | 3rd | kentaro_hokori |
| Standstill | 4th | kurohiren |
| RUG Delver | 5th | jankyb |
| UR Delver | 6th | Paradise_Lost |
| Infect | 7th | TheProNoun |
| UR Delver | 8th | Oceansoul92 |
Definitely a ton of Delver in this Top 8, as 5/8 of the Top 8 was overtaken by some variant of Delver. However, brave soul yoshiwata was able to take down this event on the Champion of the People, Death and Taxes.
This list is really solidly built. Worth noting that we get to see Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in the sideboard, which is an off and on sideboard option but it is great to see it back.
The Second Place finalist was on Grixis Delver!
This is a pretty cleanly built list, which is eschewing having a threat like Gurmag Angler for Ethereal Forager and True-Name Nemesis. We also see the tech of playing Painful Truths and Mystic Sanctuary in the sideboard here, which is really solid as well for really grindy games.
Also in the Top 8 we have a really unique Standstill list in that it's actually 4C with Life from the Loam and Mox Diamond in a sort of Lands Meets Shark Typhoon unholy marriage.
This list is super interesting, and I love the angle of just being able to turn into a Lands based strategy with Field of the Dead while under the Standstill lock. Seems like an incredibly fun and interesting deck.
Outside of the Top 8 we had a showing by Worldgorger Dragon combo.
This is really neat as a list, utilizing the card Fae of Wishes as the payoff to grab a card from the sideboard to win the game with (typically this is Torment of Hailfire). I also like how this can just sort of turn into a bit of a Reanimator strategy post board with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
Speaking of Reanimator-like strategies, we've also got in the Top 32 a showing by TIN FINS.
This variant of Tin Fins is as I believe is known as Martian Law (named after another Sealab 2021 episode) because it splashes red into the deck to play cards like Burning Wish as part of the kill condition. For those unaware as to how this deck works, it utilizes Shallow Grave to get Griselbrand into play and then also utilizes Children of Korlis to continually regain life to keep drawing cards through the deck until they have cast enough spells to cast Burning Wish for Tendrils of Agony or Empty the Warrens to win the game. Shallow Grave is what primarily almost always sets apart Tin Fins lists from normal Reanimator, and this is an important distinction given that BR Reanimator has on occasion played Children of Korlis and Tendrils as a backup win condition.
Around the Web
- One of the bigger announcements this past week comes from our good friends over at The Legacy Pit! They have announced The Legacy Pit Open, a paper event set to take place in September 2021. This is due in part to things beginning to trend back to a more positive place in the US with COVID-19 vaccinations, and the Legacy Pit folks are keeping a solid eye on things to make sure that this event is safe for everyone. Check out their announcement video here and also join their Discord to keep appraised of any updates. You can also find the Event page on Facebook here.
- This month's ManaTraders Series is going to be Legacy!
- Fenruscloud of Infect fame is continuing their Legacy Masters series via their Twitch channel, and they've posted more of their guests over on Reddit. You can check out who is coming by over here.
- Phil Gallagher has a little Jund Sacrifice Nic Fit for us this week! Check otu the video here.
- Mono Green Allosaurus Stompy!
- 90sMTG tested some Strixhaven cards, featuring out good friend Peter van der Ham! Check it out here.
- A great article over on MinMaxBlog was posted by one and only Tse Shuen Wan (Lynnchalice). This article is perfect if you're trying to figure out what a good control/midrange strategy to play, so check that out here.
- Because this past week was indeed April Fool's Day, Max of MinMaxBlog had a very important banning article to discuss with us. The target? Aether Vial, of course.
The Spice Corner
Naya... Prison?!
White Eldrazi and Taxes featuring the Heliod, Sun-Crowned / Walking Ballista combo!
I'm only posting this one because it has Risen Reef in it.
This is one heck of a Lands deck. Obligatory Cosima, God of the Voyage sighting!
Spiriiiiiiiiits!
This person really just wanted to play 93/94 Mono Black, so Juzam Djinn it is!
Back to What I'm Playing This Week
I'm technically still really playing Karn Echo, but thanks to the All Access token I get the chance to play something completely way way way way way way way WAY out of my rental limit through Cardhoarder. This is FAR from tuned and is true pile in the absolute truest sense of the word.
Oh and in case I wasn't meme'ing hard enough... there is also this one too.
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!
