Stephen Menendian, the Voice of Vintage, takes a brief break from Magic’s broken format in order to dabble in a little Legacy action. So, does he pick up the Goblin deck and smash face? Of course not. Stephen’s a Vintage player – he rolls with the combo. This article examines the strength of the Tendrils of Agony based combo deck Iggy Pop. For more Legacy content, tune in later this week…
Now that we’ve established that the current Legacy environment is dominated by three decks (Goblins, Solidarity/Reset High Tide, and Threshold), how can you use this information? That is, to what extent is Legacy a “three-deck format” that is ripe for decimation by a well-designed rogue deck?
I have spent a lot of time telling you what decks to run, but I’ve abandoned you after the deckbuilding stage. I have examined metagames, brought forth the hot tech unto my readers and talked about how to build good decks. My failing was not realizing that not everyone plays as often as I am. Not everyone plays Blue control mirrors for hours at a time or knows how to optimize Brainstorm to see the most cards. Even the best deck in the world is worthless if you do not know how to play it optimally…
Take a look at any Legacy Top 8 and you’ll see the Big Three show up over and over again; these decks are Goblins, Threshold, and High Tide. At any event, one must be prepared to play each of these decks several times, and for a new deck to function well, it must beat these decks. Good luck on that. The Big Three are format-defining, and in some ways, distorting. This series will focus on the matchups between these decks in the coming weeks.
And lo! the Powers That Be decreed that the small yet vocal Legacy community be given a third Grand Prix with which to test their deck construction and metagaming prowess. Things couldn’t be better.
In preparation for GP: Columbus, I’ll be examining the current Legacy metagame and summarizing the decks that define it. This article is primarily written for Legacy novices, but I’ll be sure to add enough detailed analysis to make it worth the time of format regulars. You know who you are.
It has been two years (eight Banned/Restricted cycles after the format was created), and the Legacy banned list has not decreased in size. There are a few cards with very strong arguments for unbanning, and some with more ambiguous positions. However, the DCI has not indicated that they are even considering modifying the list.
Ladies and gentleman, Dan Spero has done you a disservice. He has an unnatural obsession with U/G/W Threshold, and while it is a good deck, it is nowhere near the sex goddess he makes it out to be. Dan Spero would be more than willing to enter that deck into any tournament regardless of format.
One of the recurring comments about Legacy is the non-viability of Combo or Control in this format, supposedly because of the dominance of Threshold or Goblins. Combo is indeed quite absent from the metagame, and Control is limited to weak board control decks which cannot do anything else other than crushing creatures (R/W Rift or Mono-White Control, for example) and are thus usually relegated as pure metagame decks. Oddly enough, the four decks I have been playing after Grand Prix: Lille with a good success are all either Combo or Control decks…
Joe Black has been absent of late… he faced a writing conundrum. What does a self-confessed Constructed junkie write about when mired in a sea of Limited Magic? Thankfully, Osyp found solace in a 100+ player Legacy event… today he shares his thoughts on the format, plus his decklist of choice. As if this weren’t enough, he also shares some of the aborted articles he began in his creative drought, with his customary irreverent style…
Historically, SCG Duel for Duals (DFD) have been dominated by Goblins and Reset High Tide (“Solidarity”), with each of those decks winning the past two DFDs. How did they do this time?
I’m afraid that right now, unless Legacy has some more major circuit events like another Grand Prix or even a Pro Tour, it will be resigned to fall back into stagnation. There is little innovation, and that’s partly due to the fact that the format is still underplayed. C’mon — four Goblin decks in the last Top 8? Solidarity is still the only viable combo? What’s up with that?
Manabases in Legacy are awful. If you compare us to Vintage, we are all still in the phase where people are running City of Brass or Undiscovered Paradise in two- and three-colored decks. Even worse, the most popular deck (Vial Goblins) runs four Wasteland and four Rishadan Port. I find it ironic that I spent a large portion of my time campaigning for Goblins to run all eight colorless lands, and now those same lands get in my way when I try to build new decks…
In my last article, I wrote about how to build creature decks. I probably should not have done that. The truth is, I really hate creature decks. I don’t have the right knowledge and skillsets to play them correctly, and they have a sort of foul odor to them.
For those of you that know me at all, you know me as the Legacy guy. Maybe you’ve been paying attention and you’ve seen my litany of projects: Three-Color Astral Slide, Mono-Blue Control, Flame Vault Stax, and Doomsday. Even Ichorid. So today, the Legacy author most known for tricky and controlling decks is going to show you how to swing with creatures.
Have you had the pleasure of watching your Dark Confidant get hit with a Mogg Fanatic and then getting your Scrubland get destroyed by a Wasteland? Only to watch your opponent run you over with a horde of goblins that you have no way of stopping? If you are playing a deck in Legacy that plans to win with creatures, you need to ask yourself one important question – are you playing a threat?
