Introduction and Common Misconceptions

Legacy is an incredibly complicated and strategically rewarding format, and it is criminally underplayed by the greater MTG community. With fetchlands are being reprinted in KTK, now is a great time to get into the format if you're interested. If you're an MTG veteran, but haven't ever played a Legacy game, I highly recommend you read at least this post; even if you never intend to play legacy it's nice to know a bit about it so you don't seem dumb misinformed around Legacy players.

By the way, I am by no means an expert. I play a lot of legacy, I could talk for hours about it, and I probably know more than most about it, but just about everything I write is going to be opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

Note: this is gonna be a lot easier to read if you download AutocardAnywhere.

First thing's first:

Embarrassingly Common Misconceptions About Legacy 

 

1. Legacy is a turn one format. 

No. Not even a little bit.
There are only a few major decks in legacy that even attempt to consistently win on turn one, the most famous among these being Belcher. Belcher attempts to win by using cards like and Rite of Flame and Lion's Eye Diamond to cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher (the namesake of the deck) as soon as possible. This is almost always a garaunteed win because the deck only runs one land and instead relies on alternate sources of mana to combo off.
Here's the thing: Belcher sucks. It really does. It's inconsistent and easy to disrupt. Even if belcher gets the dream matchup where its opponent doesn't run any hand disruption or counterspells there's a very real chance that it fizzles and doesn't go off because comboing off on turn 1 is really, really hard. The truth is a lot of belcher games play draw-go for the first few turns before they draw a lethal hand.
Combo in legacy is strong, don't get me wrong; it's just not turn 1 strong.

In fact, legacy games tend to go on far longer than standard games in my experience. Miracles, a top tier control deck, will play games that last 45 minutes. Even aggressive decks like RUG delver often have to grind out wins on turn 10. Jund, arguably the grindiest deck in the game, wins many games on the back of Deathrite Shaman burn. While many decks have the potential to just randomly end games on turn 4, it's not a particularly common occurrence.

By the way, if any of these terms are gibberish to you now, all will be revealed later; just bear with me.

2. If you don't run blue, you lose to combo.

Force of Will certainly helps the combo matchup, but don't think it's the only defense against combo. If you ever pilot a storm deck, there is so god damn much nonblue, maindeck combo hate in the format, it's unbelievable. Off the top of my head: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; Cabal Therapy; Thoughtseize; Hymn to Tourach; Karakas (a very popular combo deck uses Show and Tell to cheat Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play on turn 3, Karakas kills this strategy); Eidolon of the Great Revel; even Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze can be used to hate out most combo decks. And that's maindeck! Game 2 you have to fight through Ethersworn Canonist, Rest in Piece, Choke, Duress,
even the occasional Mindbreak Trap (side note: don't run Mindbreak Trap).

This doesn't mean combo is bad; it just means combo is surprisingly hard to play, even against decks with no counterspells.

 

3. Force of Will is an overpowered card.

The truth is, Force is an unbelievably terrible card against fair decks. Blue decks have to run it to fight unfair decks like storm or Show and Tell, but when I'm on RUG delver and my opponent is on BUG delver Force is the first card I side out. Paying two cards to counter one spell is just awful, and you have to be 100% certain that letting the card resolve will hurt you more than countering it. Casting Force of Will is like punching yourself in the balls to avoid being stabbed in the throat.

By the way, when I say "fair" and "unfair" I'm not just griping, those are widely used terms in legacy. The precise definition varies from person to person but I'll to that later.

 

4. People play blue for Force of Will

People play blue for Brainstorm, the actual best card in legacy, and one of the most nuanced. There is no feeling quite like a mainphase brainstorm with a fetchland in hand (for the uninitiated, you draw three, tuck two cards you don't need, then shuffle them away). Brainstorm is one sexy, sexy card.

Ever wonder why decks like RUG run more fetchlands than they do actual lands? It's because of brainstorm (and Nimble Mongoose, but mostly brainstorm). Ever wonder why High Tide, a mono blue combo deck, runs fetchlands? That's right: brainstorm (and Sensei's Divining Top, but mostly brainstorm).

For example, most storm decks are primarily UB. They run black for Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Ad Nauseum, you know, the meat of the deck. They run blue for brainstorm and ponder. Without blue, these decks would be pretty bad. With blue, they're tier 1. Brainstorm is that strong.

 

5. Tarmogoyf is the best creature ever printed.

You can definitely argue that Tarmagoyf is the best creature in legacy, it's not as cut and dry as many people make it out to be. I think a lot modern players assume that goyf is as good in legacy as it is in modern, which isn't really the case. There are a couple of reasons for that:

• It relies on the graveyard, so it can be shrunk by cards like Rest in Piece and Deathrite Shaman, both of which see more play in legacy than modern
• It has no evasion so it gets blocked by Lingering Souls and True-Name Nemesis for days
• Removal is a lot better in legacy, so a goyf often eats a Swords to Plowshares. Even Abrupt Decay is more dangerous in legacy since mana is so much more consistent
• Submerge is a popular sideboard card, and it's one of the strongest tempo plays you can make in legacy

Now I will say this: goyf has the most efficient body in legacy in terms of stats per mana. But that doesn't even make it the most efficient beater in legacy! In my experience, Delver of Secrets usually gets in for more damage than goyf.

You're probably wondering: If it's not goyf, what is the best creature in legacy? Well, in my opinion, it's Deathrite Shaman. That card does everything. It gives you mana, it does damage, it gains life, it shrinks opposing goyfs, it exiles Reanimate targets, it exiles Snapcaster Mage targets, it exiles Lingering Souls, and it has an efficient body. I don't know what Wizards was thinking when they made DRS.

 

6. Legacy is pay to win.

Ok, yeah, legacy is really expensive. There's no cheap tier 1 deck. I'm not gonna pretend like you can beat good players on top tier decks with a $100 deck.

However.

You can make a solidly tier 2 deck, and learn the nuances of it, and be a very competitive legacy player without spending much more than a tier 1 modern deck. In fact, a good player on a budget Nic Fit list is gonna beat a bad player on a BUG Delver list (one of the most expensive decks in the game, damn you Underground Sea) more often than not.

Plus a semi-decent player playing Burn can pull out random tournament wins if he gets lucky enough. You're gonna learn over the course reading this blog that I hate burn with a passion. I'll get to that later though.