Legacy meta - what is it like? (and other questions)
Legacy forum
Posted on June 19, 2014, 9:45 p.m. by Aelenium
hey all! i'm new to legacy... and i just had a couple of questions about it.
1: what is the meta like?
2: can i expect the same competitiveness as modern has?
3: what's a reasonable price for a deck?
JakeHarlow says... #3
And for those decks that use the 1x Restricted Black Lotus ...they cost basically a mid-level Kia.
June 19, 2014 10:36 p.m.
@JakeHarlow: Black Lotus isn't restricted in Legacy...it's outright banned. Vintage is the only format that has a restricted list and the only DCI-sanctioned constructed format where you can play Power 9. Legacy is a completely different format.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur is spot-on. There's a pretty wide variety of decks, it can be a $3,000 format, and it's very spike-friendly. In no particular order, I'd say the strongest decks in the format are:
- Death and Taxes
- Fish
- Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT)
- U/W/x Stoneblade midrange
- U/R/x Delver
- U/W Miracles
- Elves!
Other decks that are good, but meta-dependent or don't see much play, include:
- 12-post variants
- Dredge (preys on metas with little graveyard hate)
- Lands.deck
- 1 and 2-land Belcher (only thrives in metas where no one plays good disruption)
June 19, 2014 11:14 p.m.
Legacy, at least in my limited experience, is generally an older crowd that takes the game seriously. I've got a casual deck that is a few cards away from being legacy legal, O God, the Aftermath, just need to swap out some tutors n such but you can see just from the lands you're looking at dropping some serious money depending on your style of play. The card pool makes it a fun format but is also a big barrier to entry for some. Good luck either way and you should post your deck here once you decide which way to go :)
June 19, 2014 11:16 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #6
sylvannos: Oh, I didn't know that. My bad. I have never played either of those formats.
June 19, 2014 11:26 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #7
Legacy is a blast! As mentioned previously it's fast, competitive, and rewarding. I play a 12 Post deck with decent success.
Goblins is pretty good, too. Affinity shows up every now and again.
June 19, 2014 11:30 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #8
Well, if it's Magic, I wanna play it. Unfortunately it's a little expensive for me right now.
June 19, 2014 11:35 p.m.
ryuzaki32667 says... #9
Legacy is great, you will see everything from the turn 1 decks to the slow grindy decks like miracles. I myself see legacy as a format with tons of broken cards therefore I chose a broken deck than can swing for 22 on turn 1!! Tin Fins is my current deck but I still have the cards for ANT. The last scg open had 6 Delver decks varying in type in the top 8 along with Death and Taxes and a Miracles deck.
June 19, 2014 11:40 p.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #10
Remember that a legacy deck will have FAR more choices in an average game than any other format (except vintage). Even playing a straightforward deck like Sneak and Show or Reanimator, you may have three options on the first turn, another three paths of three options based on what you did the last turn, and it branches out further after that. If you were playing Death and Taxes, you have dozens of options every turn, and Storm offers hundreds of different ways that any given hand could play out.
Expect to spend hours goldfishing, and weeks playtesting before you know how to play any given deck well.
June 20, 2014 5:52 p.m.
And just continuing on what NotSoLuckyLydia was saying, even the order you play your land matters. So many decks play four copies of Wasteland that opening with a fetch land, cracking it for Volcanic Island , then getting hit by Wasteland can mana screw you, versus opening with basic Island .
On the other hand, opening up with basic Island instead of Tundra could mean you wind up stuck with a Terminus in your hand, instead of getting its miracle cost. This is a serious problem if your opponent decided to do something like turn one Empty the Warrens for ten tokens.
...this is just talking about your lands. It doesn't even get into how to play around Daze , Show and Tell , True-Name Nemesis , etc.
June 20, 2014 6:06 p.m.
- Depends on your area, around me there is like 4 elves players and 3 burn, 1 d&t, 1 rug delver, 1 sneak and show, and a couple UW/x decks. So its mostly burn/combo
- I would expect a lot more competitive ness than modern, people who play legacy, and actually play not "oh this is my legacy deck because it has muscle sliver and brainstorm" , tend to be more competitive, more $ and more time invested and more skill required to pilot a majority of decks.However there can easily be less people playing, so less rounds.
Reasonable is $3000 easily, affordable depends on budget. But there are $12,000+ decks out there.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #2
The Legacy meta is full of tempo, combo, and control. The best tempo decks rely on Delver of Secrets Flip strategies. Examples of combo decks are ANT, Reanimator, Sneak and Show, and Elves. U/W/(r) Miracles is also a heavy hitter right now, taking the role of hard control.
Legacy is extremely competitive because all of the cards are extremely powerful. One simple mistake can easily cost you a game, and the mistake may have been so small you don't even know you made it. There's a lot of nuanced play to be had in Legacy. Also, the players who play Legacy tend to take it pretty seriously because...
It's not uncommon for the price of a Legacy deck to exceed $2000. At their cheapest, the revised dual lands (Tundra , etc) are each about $100. The blue ones run up to and above $300. Just like Standard, and Modern, though, there are cheap decks and there are expensive decks. Cheap decks can cost as little as $300, and expensive decks cost as much as a small used car.
June 19, 2014 9:55 p.m.