Is THE SOURCE's overall activity decreasing?

[phonics]

I have only played Legacy since 2011, but yeah. Goyf seems like it was basically the beginning, and we are far past the point now.

I think they just printed so many good, cheap efficient blue cards since Lorwyn. Blue got:

Ponder
Clique
Spell Pierce
Preordain
Delver
Gitaxian Probe
Snapcaster
Mental Misstep
Dig Through Time
Treasure Cruise
True Name Nemesis
and others I am surely forgetting.

This just gave blue decks (specifically tempo based) so many options. Some of the best aggressive and versatile threats while only making the decks even more consistent. The cantrip package is just so strong now it makes it a lot harder for other colors to compete, since to compete they need to have just as efficient options, but those efficient options usually end up slotting better into a deck that offers the consistency that the cantrip shell provides, DRS being one of those. The package is so strong that you can run 3 colors and a splash in the face of wastelands and bloodmoons since you have enough cantriping and speed to help fight what is should be a great weakness.
Back when Canadian Thresh came out, it was something that you really had to thread the needle with, you had to worry about having sub-par threats, low blue count for force and other things that are no longer issues because the deck has just become so much better.

[Aggro_zombies]

Man, only played Legacy since 2011? I could probably write a whole essay on why circa 2005-2006 Legacy was amazing just by using the Goblins versus Threshold matchup as an example. You missed so much good stuff!

[Eldariel]

For me personally, I enjoyed Legacy the most when people where complaining that Goblin Lackey was overpowered. I miss having truelly aggressive decks like Goblin and Zoo running around. Even Fish has nosedived. While I love Lands I miss the days before the race to the bottom had yet to take over and a 5 mana 2/2 that made 3 tokens was a true powerhouse.

I guess my answer is thus, Legacy was best just before the Goyf showed us what creatures where to become.

I completely agree. I was a Goyf detractor when it came out and my opinion never really changed. Even though I don't think Zoo was truly competitive before Wild Nacatl and 'Goyf itself making me place it at a rather different juncture than the UGr/UGW Thresh, Goblins, Landstill, Solidarity metagame where I first crafted Sea Stompy and we had things like Iggy Pop and RGSA showing up. And the beauty that was Mosswort Nought.

[Barook]

Man, only played Legacy since 2011? I could probably write a whole essay on why circa 2005-2006 Legacy was amazing just by using the Goblins versus Threshold matchup as an example. You missed so much good stuff!

Maybe we should just make an oldschool Legacy format before everything went to hell with Innistrad onwards.

[sroncor1]

I always thought it was the printing of Ponder that really signaled the increased velocity and focus on increased efficiency within the format. Before that cantrips were really strong but not bananas. Like a shell of Portent, Mental Note, and Brainstorm just seems quaint now. And that is sad. It's either that or the banning of Survival as losing a card that allowed so much deck building and just general coolness was really sad. I get it at the time as the creature powercreep was starting to get insane, but still before Vengevine there were so many ways to build Survival decks.

I know people speak about diversity these days but its hard for me to see much difference in Chech pile, grixis, BUG, RU delver variants. A few threats are different but they all feel so similar sitting on the other side of the table. Maybe I am just fucking old anymore.

Seth

[Stevestamopz]

Yeah yeah blue is boring (I agree) but it's becoming an echo chamber.

I think the decrease in activity on the source is the rise in shit like plebbit and discords for each individual deck. As with everything, we need immediate stimulation and there's always bound to be someone online to bounce ideas off on discord or reddit.

You may have to wait some days before you get an answer here because that's the nature of forums. No one feels obligated to reply to my specific post - if you're in a chat room, you're probably more obligated to reply to someone.

[ESG]

Considering this conversation bubbled up just a few weeks ago, I feel the need to underscore the results of the back-to-back 1Ks that happened this weekend in Seattle. Yesterday was a 72-person event. It would have been larger but was capped at 72 players. Steel Stompy won the first event.

Today there was an 86-player event, and it was Grixis Mill vs. UB Death's Shadow in the finals!

IF YOU THINK THAT LEGACY IS SOLVED OR STALE, I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU.

It was super exciting to see these brews slice through the field.

The breakdown is in this thread: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...71#post1035471)

[Brainstorm Ape]

Huh, I wonder if the downturn in decks registering StP has made Death's Shadow a legitimate contender in the Legacy metagame. In Modern it's pretty much free to run out multiple Shadows (hardly anyone plays Condemn), but in Legacy a single Shadow getting Plowed is back-breaking.

Eagerly awaiting the decklists.