Best Era of Legacy?

[from Cairo]

I would say right before they printed True-Name Nemesis.

I felt best with my deck choice / knowledge of the format / whatever, ability to play against the field at this point, 2012.

The metagame I played in, but wish I'd had a deeper understanding / skill level during was like the 2008-2009 meta with GBR Survival. I played several decks in that era - Goblins, Landstill, Survival, Thresh, but if a redo or timetravel option was open I wish I'd mastered '08-'09 Survival.

[Will_L]

Thinking about it a little more... I really liked Avacyn Restored set

Griselbrand is just so awesome, plus I already liked playing Sneak and Show and Reanimtor before then

[Dice_Box]

To me, the last 3 years have felt the same, like little changed. Sure you have TNN but other than that, it feels like the same old, same old.

To me the most fun was Goblins, Canadian, Solidarity. But I am a Goblins nut so I would say that.

[Barook]

This reminds me of when people talk about their favorite SNL cast. No one ever looks favorably on the current cast... It's always about the cast from a few years ago. Even though the critics said that cast sucked too.

Everybody views the past through the Sunglasses of Urza.

Nostalgia googles are one thing, but the current meta sucks ass. Not only is it incredible stale, but I also don't think there are that many people that would lionize it:

"I sure love to run into a blue cantrip-based shell 4 out of 5 times. This what Legacy is all about, what a time to be alive!"

[Lormador]

My favorite is the Summer of Maverick. There were all kinds of things going on then.

I guess I just wish I could play Goblins again. RIP, gotta go pour some out for my little green men.

[Holiday]

Aside from the Flash-Hulk era, I've always liked Legacy. I think people in general look back on the past through the lenses of nostalgia. It's kind of like when someone says music was so much better in the 90s and they list all their favorite songs/bands of the decade. But if I transported you back to '95 and turned on the radio there would be a ton of shitty songs you've forgotten about, just like all the shit on the radio we complain about today.

Remember back when a lot of Sourcers were bitching about goyf-this and goyf-that? It doesn't feel like that long ago. But guess what, the format evolved and now we bitch about Brainstorm (just an example guys let's not get this thread locked!). Sometimes I think we're a bunch of spoiled little kids who don't realize how good the format has been, and still is right now. Sure there's a lot of blue shell but there's also a ton of diversity.

There's a guy on Reddit (dafrk3in) who lists the major archetypes after each big tournament. You know what the biggest category is by far? Not miracles, not shit with delver in it, it's Other. It's all the various decks you see on the 5 pages of the "Established decks" on this site. That's diversity my friends. Compare that to Modern or Vintage or whatever. Sure you see the classic blue shell decks in the Top 8s and 16s a lot, but let's not forget about Lands, Elves, MUD, Storm, D&T, Jund, Burn etc. Sometimes I wish fine-tuning my deck only involved testing it against the cantrip cartel decks. That would be a lot less work.

What I like about Magic in general is that you can build a deck to foil any deck. Sometimes it's not a rock > paper >scissor thing. Sometimes it's more like Pokemon (sorry 90s kid here) where you have ground > electric > water > fire > grass > ground. That's what Legacy is like. The format keeps itself in check without Wizards typically having to jump in like an overprotective mom who's upset there was some rough play at the soccer meet and little Cody couldn't keep up with the bigger boys (Modern). /rant

[Mr.C]

2008 to March 2010.

Edit; It's been 5 years. Damn.

[HSCK]

I'm pretty sure this is just another thread to complain about Brainstorm....

From TNN-TC felt really good.

[Finn]

Merfolk, Zoo, Threshold was a good time. Brainstorm was already acknowledged as the best card in the game at that time. And I recall a number of people trying to shoehorn it into Merfolk and Zoo (blue zoo, anyone?), but the format had quite a lot of good decks at tier 1.5.

[Sloshthedark]

2010 before Mystical Tutor ban, did not play before 2009, should have returned to the game sooner :/ but happy to experience this era at least a bit, the real decline started by Batterskull for me

[Chatto]

Best era was back when Goblins was really playable in the meta. Still, I just have lot of fun either way, so I can't really speak about The Best Era.

[Humphrey]

I like the format most, when big things happen. Like Mentap Misstep or Treasure Cruise. Sadly WotC wants to conserve the format boring as shit.

[Crimhead]

I think people in general look back on the past through the lenses of nostalgia.

I think people tend to like the eras where they can play the decks their favorite decks. Me, I've been pretty happy ever since the new Legend rule which gave Lands.dec a huge shot in the arm. People who really liked Goblins or Jund or High Tide (or whatever) will remember a different era more fondly.

[Julian23]

About 2008 to early 2010, especially when Bant Survival was a thing yet Vengevine had not entered the scene. Of all the thinks, Rhox War Monk was a highly playable card and people were playing Mind Harness in Merfolk to have game against it. To me that will always have a special place in my heart as the best time.

I mean, I also enjoyed Legacy in 2005/6/7 etc. but I really was way too much of a newbie back then. I would have enjoyed playing Tic/Tac/Toe just as much.

Another time I really enjoyed was mid/late 2011 when straight-up GW Maverick was maybe the best deck in the format and putting Swords on Thrun was what you did against Control deck.

/Edit: a lot of people seem to have really enjoyed 2008-10. Can we go back there please? I also enjoyed very early when it was Landstill vs Goblins vs Solidarity. Even though Solidarity was a huge house and crushed most decks in the format if played correctly. But who am I kidding, hardly anyone I knew played "correctly" back then.

[Jin Gitaxias]

I definately enjoyed the era from mystical tutor ban until the arrival of delver the most.
fuck delver

[Slag]

/Edit: a lot of people seem to have really enjoyed 2008-10. Can we go back there please? I also enjoyed very early when it was Landstill vs Goblins vs Solidarity. Even though Solidarity was a huge house and crushed most decks in the format if played correctly. But who am I kidding, hardly anyone I knew played "correctly" back then.

People keep referencing this trio, but the idea that landstill was at the same popularity or power level as goblins and solidarity surprises me. Some people played landstill, but I seem to recall it being something of a punch-line because it was a control deck that lost to both the premier aggro deck and the premier combo deck. Threshold filled the control deck postion much more effectively. The time period that landstill was a real force was prior to the separation of the banned lists, when you could mana drain and then cast disk.

[phonics]

I like the format most, when big things happen. Like Mentap Misstep or Treasure Cruise. Sadly WotC wants to conserve the format boring as shit.

Yeah, I like when formats are like the wild west.

[Julian23]

People keep referencing this trio, but the idea that landstill was at the same popularity or power level as goblins and solidarity surprises me. Some people played landstill, but I seem to recall it being something of a punch-line because it was a control deck that lost to both the premier aggro deck and the premier combo deck. Threshold filled the control deck postion much more effectively. The time period that landstill was a real force was prior to the separation of the banned lists, when you could mana drain and then cast disk.

That sounds about right. I remember Landstill sideboards having a LOT of Goblin hate though. We're talking stuff like Tivadar's Crusade. In my area (Munich) easily made up 20% of the entire metagame, if not more. Unlike the Miracles mirror though, I really enjoyed their long drawn our mirror matches, fighting over small ressource advantages to eventually grind out a win. Having access to Crucible was of course just great. And Eternal Dragon, oh good old dragon :)

[mishima_kazuya]

2012: UWx Stoneforge vs RUG Delver vs GW Maverick vs Combo deck of the week

I know it's bad for the game, BUT I like it when top tier deck diversity is low. The format of that era was one of the spikiest eras, since wins were rewarded to players who knew match-ups very well and knew how to play the combat phase very well. Additionally, the three non-combo decks had extra rewards for mastering basic Magic, since they commonly transitioned between offense and defense roles during a game. In a way it was like Legacy became a battle of Core Set Limited decks, which was sweet imo.

[Julian23]

commonly transitioned between offense and defense roles during a game

That is something I am dearly missing as well in today's meta.