Grand Prix: Columbus on May 19-20 inaugurates the return of the Legacy Format to the highest levels of competitive play. This article is your one-stop click to everything you need to know about Grand Prix: Columbus. Even if you have never played Legacy or attended a Grand Prix before, don’t worry – I’ll have answered your questions by the end of this article.
1) Legacy Resembles Extended, Not Vintage.
You may have noticed that Legacy includes almost every set ever printed, all the way back to Alpha. Because of the card pool, one might be concerned that Legacy is “Vintage-light.” Don’t worry. The DCI has done a magnificent job in managing Legacy. With barely 50 bannings (for power) they managed to clean up the vast majority of the mistakes that came through Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited.
Vintage tends to be defined by the presence of the cards that have been removed from Legacy: Yawgmoth’s Will, Mishra’s Workshop, Mana Drain, and Bazaar of Baghdad. The absence of those cards, and many more, ensures that this is no Vintage.
More importantly, the printing of the Ravnica dual lands and the omnipresence of the Onslaught fetchlands gave Extended a color and mana versatility. That feel and that look are replicated here in Legacy, only this time you can use the original dual lands in addition to your shock lands. In terms of the general appearance and feel, Legacy is a more aggressive Extended. Legacy does not remotely resemble Vintage.
In fact, taking your Extended deck and modifying it for Legacy is not a bad idea. Decks like Affinity, Psychatog, and Boros are all potential contenders in Legacy.
2) The Legacy Metagame and the Grand Prix Legacy Metagame are Different
Here on StarCityGames.com and elsewhere, there are some excellent introductory Legacy articles designed to acquaint new players with the format. In addition, there are some links on the right-hand side of this page to Legacy tournament results, such as the SCG Duel for Duals, the Mana Leak opens, and other Legacy tournaments.
While these articles and these tournament results are useful, they tend to represent the metagame, choices, and viewpoints of regular Legacy practitioners and the collective thinking of the Legacy community. Much of that shared knowledge will be absent as non-Legacy players descend upon Columbus and make up the bulk of the Grand Prix metagame. It is the mass of non-Legacy players that will determine what Legacy looks like at Grand Prix: Columbus.
For that reason, this article is not intended to be another introductory article on the Legacy format as it is currently played. This article is intended to bring attention to a different format: Legacy of the Grand Prix Tournaments.
In terms of metagame preparation, focus your attention on the previous Grand Prix results and consider how recent sets and this season’s Extended may impact that metagame. Many players who want to play Legacy will, by necessity, be porting their Extended decks into the format.
3) Important Links
For an overview of how the Grand Prix will run check out this link.
That link will explain how a Grand Prix is run, the prize distribution, and provide other important information.
There have been two previous Legacy Grand Prix tournaments, both held in 2005. Fortunately for you, I’ve dug up the coverage for you to peruse.
Grand Prix: Philadelphia Coverage.
Those links will give you an idea of what people played and what you might expect in Columbus.
4) The Format is Wide Open
Think Extended at the beginning of this current Extended Season… but more so.
Legacy has an enormously deep card pool. With access to cards like Dark Ritual, Lightning Bolt, Force of Will and original dual lands the possibilities for deck construction are incredible. You can play whatever you want. So long as it is strong enough, you will at least have a chance of contending.
The DCI has done an excellent job managing the banned list. They’ve kept anything potentially ruinous out of the format. All of the egregious Extended cards are banned (see Mind’s Desire). The only card that there is any consternation over is Goblin Lackey.
Of all the decks out there, at a 700 person Grand Prix, probably the only deck you are guaranteed to face at some point in nine rounds of swiss is Goblins. Yet, as Roland Chang showed last year at the Legacy Championship – you can run through a swiss and a Top 8 and not face Goblins. He beat everything he faced with U/G Madness while his opponents kept Goblins at bay so he wouldn’t have to face it. However, that was unusual. The only real constraint on deck choice is that you probably need to have a decent chance at winning the Goblins match.
5) The Format is Aggro-oriented and Highly Interactive
Aggro strategies are king of the roost in Legacy. They range of aggro-combo (like Goblins) to aggro-control (like Pikula’s W/B Deadguy Ale). You can even Berserk a rampaging Arcbound Ravager in this format (four times too!).
Take a look at what placed first and second at Grand Prix: Philadelphia…
1st Place: Jon Sonne with Goblins:
Creatures (34)
- 4 Mogg Fanatic
- 4 Goblin Matron
- 4 Goblin Lackey
- 4 Goblin Warchief
- 1 Goblin Tinkerer
- 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- 4 Goblin Piledriver
- 4 Gempalm Incinerator
- 3 Siege-Gang Commander
- 4 Goblin Ringleader
- 1 Skirk Prospector
Lands (22)
Spells (8)
2nd Place: Chris Pikula with W/B Aggro:
Creatures (11)
Lands (23)
Spells (26)
In Columbus you can play those decks card for card. I would, however, play Jotun Grunt in Pikula’s deck.
Decks like Boros and even various Gro, Madness, and Threshold all are potential contenders. Also popular are Survival of the Fittest variants.
There is a smattering of combo in Legacy, thanks in part to cards like Dark Ritual and Lion’s Eye Diamond, but there is even less Control. There are very few true control decks in the format. There are a few Landstill variants that have proven successful in the hands of expert players. But a huge majority of the field is aggro and will remain so.
6) Goblins is the Most Impressive Deck
Goblins is clearly accepted as the top deck to beat. Turn 1 Lackey, turn 2 Warchief plus double Piledriver results in a turn 3 kill. Goblins is a monstrosity with an amazing clock, incredible tutoring, and card advantage (with Lackey, Vial, Matron, and Ringleader).
Even decks that are aimed at Goblins sometimes just lose to Goblins simply due to its speed, disruption, and consistency. Goblins is also a deck that forgives play mistakes. Goblins was out in droves at GP: Philly and GP: Lille, and performed well in both events.
That is not to say that Goblins is the objectively strongest deck in the format. But it is the most impressive. Great players love goblins for a reason.
6) Threshold is the next Deck To Beat
Although I don’t anticipate that Threshold will be a very big part of the Day 1 Swiss metagame, Threshold is the next most successful deck in Legacy. This deck won Grand Prix: Lille, a tournament of 937 players:
Creatures (12)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 3 Lightning Bolt
- 3 Counterspell
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 Serum Visions
- 4 Daze
- 2
- 4 Mental Note
- 2 Pithing Needle
Sideboard
Aggro-Control is a popular and successful deck choice in Legacy. Multiple Threshold decks made Top 8 at both Grand Prix tournaments. Although there is more graveyard hate in the format now, there is no reason to suspect that Threshold is not one of the best deck choices.
7) Boros is a Great Extended Port
Boros did well in Extended and has an even deeper card pool in Legacy with Lightning Bolt, Plataeu, and Price of Progress. It will be easy to assemble and very competitive. Tuning it to beat Goblins and Threshold will be important.
8) Legacy Is Also the Format for Wacky Decks
Ever seen a 43-land deck? Neither had I until I saw the card Manabond in this list:
4 Exploration
4 Manabond
4 Life from the Loam
2 Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale
2 Barbarian Ring
3 Treetop Village
4 Wasteland
3 Nantuko Monastery
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Maze of Ith
4 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
4 Rishadan Port
2 Slippery Karst
1 Secluded Step
1 Forgotten Cave
3 Mulch
2 Tranquil Thicket
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Nomad Stadium
3 Savannah
I watched this deck in action. A game I observed looked something like this:
Turn 1:
Land, Exploration, Land Exploration, Land, Cycle a land.
Turn 2:
Play more Land, play Life From the Loam to cycle, dredge, and play more land.
Turn 3:
Draw most of your deck with cycling and Life From the Loam recursion.
With such a deep card pool, many cool, wacky deck concepts find a home in Legacy.
9) High Tide Combo is the Great Hype
If you read primers on the format or specialized websites dedicated to the format, you will hear a lot about Solidarity, a High Tide combo variant built around Reset. Solidarity is a great deck, but it is a deck that is almost exclusively played by format experts. If you were preparing for a tournament aimed at players who focus primarily or exclusively on Legacy, you may want to put some thought into the High Tide matchup. However, for the Grand Prix – where most of the players will come from other formats – do not worry about seeing much High Tide combo. You are best off just ignoring it.
10) Enjoy Columbus and Plan Ahead
Columbus is the 15th largest city in the nation. It’s bigger than Boston, Seattle, D.C. and even larger than Denver. There is plenty to do and eat.
Don’t be afraid to leave the tournament site. The Convention Center is conveniently located across from North Market, an open market similar to Quincy Market (Faneuil Hall Market) in Boston. If you are sick of convention center food, I encourage you to cross the street and head over for lunch. You can get a great lunch at a decent price. Seating is upstairs.
At night, you are a hop from the Short North and a skip away from the Arena District. Both the Short North and the Arena District are a five-minute walk from the tournament site. For large Magic parties, I recommend Buca Di Beppo or BD’s Mongolian Barbeque. With May weather, you’ll be able to enjoy a few drinks (if you are over 21!) at some of the local establishments.
Until next week!