[Article] Legacy - Is that even a real deck?

[Nightmare]

http://strategy.channelfireball.com/featured-articles/chasing-victory-legacy-is-that-even-a-real-deck/

Gerry T writes a bit about running bad decks (and a good one) in the MODO Legacy daily events. He's been excited about the format for a while now, and in the article he calls Legacy "A Man's Format" and "the most fun you can have playing Magic." Pretty strong endorsements from one of the biggest names in writing for the game.

The article is fun and takes a look at building some interesting decks that look a lot like the piles that never make it past my front door. Kudos to him for having the balls to run them. Check it out, it's a good read.

[chmoddity]

I think it is amusing to see the Extended Effect TM influence the decks these newer players are making. I mean, do we really know how good Thopter Sqaudron is in Legacy?

I also find it amusing that there is enough Death and Taxes running around MODO that Reanimator is having to react to it.

[Shawn]

I really like Gerry T's writing style and articles, and this one was pretty good. The 4c lists look pretty soft to Wasteland, with only 1 Trop, 1 Volcanic, and 1 Tundra in each of them. I guess Life from the Loam and Mox Diamonds in the second list can negate their effectiveness, but it still looks pretty shaky.

[memnarch]

I agree thats a good article hes a smart guy that doesn't insult the intelligence of his readers either. I'm really liking the idea of Forbid combined with counterbalance and loam In that last incarnation of the Thopter Foundry deck.

I'm glad Legacy will finally be coming online officially. As many people, I suspect, live in areas that are hard to find a good magic tournament let alone a legacy one. I have an easier time finding vintage matches, Its like I might as well be playing some obscure format like EDH.

[memnarch]

Extended decks, or incarnations of extended, frequentlty beat me. They catch me off gaurd and are many times well developed.

Tezzeret the Seeker could even be good in here. The only problem pithing needle can hurt this combo but its cheap, academy ruins gets the pieces back and one of the pieces is ALSO blue. So it has some things going for it. Ive played it online its not half bad.

[SpikeyMikey]

I think that the online metagame, as seen through this article, is still developing and will probably synch up with the RL metagame within 6-8 months. Remember that when Legacy was first created out of 1.5, there were several developing metagames in different regions. The East Coast was dominated by ATS and other Survival variants, the South Central region of the country (primarily Texas) saw U/G Madness as the #1 DTB, and the West Coast was dominated by San Diego Zoo and BHWC Landstill. It took around 6 months for a homogenization of metagames within the United States and we still some variance in fields around the globe, or at least, so I understand from reading threads here. The online meta may be seeing different decks than we do in real life partly because some cards are not available online, but mostly because decks that are highly tuned for the RL Legacy meta may not work well online. The decks that those tuned decks serve as foils to may destroy in the online format but see little to no play in real life because the metagame has developed past them.

One thing in the article that I took issue with, however, was Gerry's desire to run singleton answers to a host of varying problems. This is a habit that I have been working very hard to break myself of. The Legacy metagame is incredibly diverse, and the "Keeper" approach, while effective in slower formats, is a net negative in Legacy because the answers either have to be so broad that they're only partial effective or take up so much room that the consistency of the deck is severely hampered by their presence. Decks like Zoo and Merfolk do well because they are consistent. Zoo could certainly pack singleton answers and then throw in 4 SDT's to find them. But it would hurt the speed and consistency of the deck, and in doing so, would make it a worse deck. Zoo is the most blatant example of this, but the more I tinker with deck designs, the more I realize that it's true for midrange and control decks as well. You need to have a plan and execute it well, because trying to run multiple strategies will leave you without any game plan strong enough to win consistently.

[GThompson]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I will definitely continue to support Legacy as best I can.

Shawn: I cut down to one of each dual because I didn't feel like I needed more than that. By playing additional duals I would actually be opening myself up to Wasteland.

Memnarch: I thought about Tezzeret but five mana is a whole lot, especially for the multicolored decks that I expected to get their fourth and fifth lands Wasted.

Mikey: I explained exactly why the bullet approach was basically not good enough in the article.

[kicks_422]

I enjoyed the article. And I'm enjoying the new Source banner as well. *thumbs up*

[SpikeyMikey]

Sorry, I've been at work, so I read about the first half and then skimmed the rest. That'll teach me to open my mouth :)

Given that the online meta is so loose and populated mostly with subpar decks (and given that Goblins is the aggro of choice instead of zoo) why not play some rock variant? Rock is historically a good choice for beating random.dec while also giving control fits. It's only real drawback is it's inability to handle fast decks but it will consistently beat combo and control. An StP/Edict split main with some Deeds gives you an ideal removal suite for the fledgling online format.

Edit: I've been working on a 4c Doran deck for the last week or two, and while I'm concluding that it's solidly tier two and incapable of becoming tier 1 even with heavy tweaking, I've reached the same conclusion about the duals. In any 3-4 color deck, 1 of each applicable dual is plenty with 10 different fetches. It may require more thought than an approach withmore multicolor lands but if you put that thought into it, you'll emerge with a manabase that is less disruptable and still flexible enough to get the job done. Much like Survival managed to reinvent itself in Bant by trimming unecessary junk like Anger and Rofellos and was rewarded with a less disruptable gameplan.

[Koby]

I too enjoy the new site tag ... "Is that even a real deck?".

I enjoyed the article, but I'm kind of curious why all the pros are advocating Reanimator when the online meta is already geared towards beating it. (Well those who pay attention to the meta anyway).

I play exclusively online because there's no good paper scene around these parts. I've witnessed the most unusual card choices in some test games, such as the stellar Mirri's Guile in Rgb Gobbos, with Maelstrom Pulse SB. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off and play tight.

The online meta as I've experienced:
Goblins, Merfolk, Reanimator, Death & Taxes, Zoo, Countertop Variations (typically Thopter and Bant), NO Bant, the rare Affinity

There is still plenty of variance on the decks you'll encounter, but scouting is so easy between rounds that after Round 1 you know exactly what you're going to be playing against.

[majikal]

I enjoyed the article. And I'm enjoying the new Source banner as well. *thumbs up*
Is it Cavius day already?

[Skeggi]

No, Cavius day is April 30th. Everyone knows that.

[majikal]

No, Cavius day is April 30th. Everyone knows that.
lrn2facetious. kthxbai

[LinkXwing]

Forgive me please everyone but I seem to be out of the loop... Did I miss a thread around here I wonder?

I haven't played Magic Online since the original beta test long, LONG ago. Is Legacy now 100% imported and legal on Magic Online? I was aware of something called Master's Edition and a format called "Classic", but that was not Legacy as we know and play today. If it is true that Legacy is now 100% online, I shall have to finally subside and sign up for a real Magic Online account.

[chris_acheson]

Forgive me please everyone but I seem to be out of the loop... Did I miss a thread around here I wonder?

I haven't played Magic Online since the original beta test long, LONG ago. Is Legacy now 100% imported and legal on Magic Online? I was aware of something called Master's Edition and a format called "Classic", but that was not Legacy as we know and play today. If it is true that Legacy is now 100% online, I shall have to finally subside and sign up for a real Magic Online account.

Legacy on Magic Online does exist, though it's missing Urza's Legacy, Urza's Destiny, and Masques block. Urza's Legacy is scheduled (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/112309a) for release in June. Some of the cards from these sets are available in other sets. Daze, for example, is available in the Jace vs. Chandra Duel Decks.

[Eldariel]

Legacy on Magic Online does exist, though it's missing Urza's Legacy, Urza's Destiny, and Masques block. Urza's Legacy is scheduled (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/112309a) for release in June. Some of the cards from these sets are available in other sets. Daze, for example, is available in the Jace vs. Chandra Duel Decks.

Some other old cards such as Sinkhole, Maze of Ith and Control Magic are missing too.

[Malakai]

...Reanimator...I feel like it’s the best deck in the format right now, hands down.
Got a good chuckle out of that.

Not my type of article, not my type of deck; your list seemed very scattered and disorganized, even for a deck with tutors. That said, I'm glad to see any interest in legacy from the pro sector I can find.