Legacy Purchase Strategies

[stalkerzero]

Well, as we've almost all beaten the cost of Legacy horse to death I was just wondering what YOU personally recommend for breaking in to Legacy. Realistically I think I have gotten some pretty solid advise from an ex-player on what to do but it wasn't very specific.

1. Build effective budget deck (I plan on finishing Goblins and Dredge both).
2. Play tournaments attempting to get lucky enough to pick up some store credit.
3. Use store credit/available cash for the hobby to pick up staples.
3a. Most likely start with staples like Zendikar fetch lands as their price is bound to raise.
3b. After picking up cards you speculate are incredibly useful and will spike in price then continue buying staples (starting with a mana base).

Essentially seems like a sound theory. At least in Legacy there are a few viable budget decks that can made for under $200.

What do you think? Any particular order? Pick up Duals before they keep skyrocketing? Forces? Anticipate SCG snatching up and burning three quarters of the world's brainstorms and destroying half to sell the rest at $50 a piece?

[jrsthethird]

If you're not entirely new to the game and still play Standard/Extended/Limited, keep an eye out for local tournaments and try to win credit there as well. Other than that, when you go to events, make friends so you can carpool to larger tournaments and borrow cards when necessary. Keep an eye out for deals, my local store had a heavily played Volcanic Island in the case for $15, so I snatched it up.

As always, getting your mana base together is the most expensive part, and the only part you'll be almost required to shell out hard cash for it, so do that ASAP. Any other staples (except ridiculous things like Moat, Retainers, Tabernacle), you should be able to trade for in some extent. Maybe not FOW but that's the only exception.

[stalkerzero]

I absolutely despire the other formats (except for Vintage) but there is a lot of wisdom in playing a few to attempt to build up store credit.

Deals are something I hadn't really thought about looking for in stores. I always figured stores would equal card sharks median or high price at all times. There are like 5-6 stores in a half an hour that all compete for players and don't really pull more than 5-7 legacy players and I'm sure they might have some things they're having trouble off loading.

[chokin]

If you get FoW, Goyf, blue fetches, and some blue duals, you can do a lot.

[jrsthethird]

I absolutely despire the other formats (except for Vintage) but there is a lot of wisdom in playing a few to attempt to build up store credit.

Deals are something I hadn't really thought about looking for in stores. I always figured stores would equal card sharks median or high price at all times. There are like 5-6 stores in a half an hour that all compete for players and don't really pull more than 5-7 legacy players and I'm sure they might have some things they're having trouble off loading.

Most stores tend to be on the higher end, but once and a while you can find cards where the prices are either not totally up to date or the cards in question are heavily played.

[Vacrix]

Finishing a budget deck or decks might not be the best plan in the long run. What you could do is finish both of those decks and then sell them for more so that you can buy the deck that suits your meta. Its hard to win store credit with Goblins when your Meta is all combo or something.

[jazzykat]

Since I have had almost all the staples for quite a while now, I'm not sure what costs are but my suggestion is to figure out what deck you actually really like playing so even if it becomes less suited for the meta you will still be playing with something that is fun for you (don't underestimate the fun factor when this is your only deck). Then look at what you are missing to play this deck and what other cheaper decks can be built with a similar card pool.

For example you want to play AdNT. So you could play ichorid first without diamonds, then with, then you could get seas and fetches and you would have 2 decks...

Or you want to play Canadian Thresh so you can collect the cards for UW Tempo (this isn't as good an example as AdNT and Dredge). That gives you the countersuite, wastelands, some blue fetches towards Canadian Thresh. You still need to get goyfs and 8 duals but you are a lot closer than waiting forever and you have a competed deck in the meantime.



Do you have a favorite deck?

[stalkerzero]

Unfortunately I am a fan of thresh. I know its one of the more expensive deck builds.

Th main reason I am building dredge and goblins is I don't want to wait forever to play.

I did have a brainstorm combo deck I used to enjoy playing but am missing my forces now (sold them for $71 for the set about two years ago). It is a tough call how to break in to the format especially when motivation takes a hit due to no local tournaments with much success.

[MMogg]

I was just wondering what YOU personally recommend for breaking in to Legacy.

Claim your friend's cards were all stolen and then ask Sourcers for donations. :wink:

On a serious side, I think you should draft and take those cards you win/draft and trade them towards staples, or sell them and buy the staples you want. Drafting will not only improve your game, you'll love it. IMGO it's more skill intensive than constructed as you have to have good drafting skills, good deck building skills and good playing skills.

[RogueMTG]

Unfortunately I am a fan of thresh. I know its one of the more expensive deck builds.

Th main reason I am building dredge and goblins is I don't want to wait forever to play.

I did have a brainstorm combo deck I used to enjoy playing but am missing my forces now (sold them for $71 for the set about two years ago). It is a tough call how to break in to the format especially when motivation takes a hit due to no local tournaments with much success.

This is more or less how I got into it:

Pick the deck you want to play, make a list and build something as close to it as possible with the cards you already own.
If you don't have FoW, and you want to play blue, buy FoW before anything else. (Somewhat less important but in the same vein, Tarmogoyf if you want to play a Thresh variant, there is no avoiding these.)
If you want to play in the mean time, play the budget version of your "real" deck or a mono-color deck that has a large amount of overlap with cards for your "real" deck. Don't waste money/resources on side-projects that could be going towards cards for deck you actually want to play!
Invest in fetches first and then pick up dual lands 1 at a time when your budget permits. You'd be surprised how well your mana-base can perform with a handful of fetches and 1 or 2 dual lands. No, it's not optimal, but it's workable and you'll get there.

[paK0]

This is more or less how I got into it:

Pick the deck you want to play, make a list and build something as close to it as possible with the cards you already own.
If you don't have FoW, and you want to play blue, buy FoW before anything else. (Somewhat less important but in the same vein, Tarmogoyf if you want to play a Thresh variant, there is no avoiding these.)
If you want to play in the mean time, play the budget version of your "real" deck or a mono-color deck that has a large amount of overlap with cards for your "real" deck. Don't waste money/resources on side-projects that could be going towards cards for deck you actually want to play!
Invest in fetches first and then pick up dual lands 1 at a time when your budget permits. You'd be surprised how well your mana-base can perform with a handful of fetches and 1 or 2 dual lands. No, it's not optimal, but it's workable and you'll get there.



I can only recommend this, it worked out rather well for me. Also try to get into a playgroup. Usually once the people know you they won't have a problem with lending you cards so even though you don't own the full deck you can play without budget-choices.

[mcnubbins2t]

A good way to pick up some staples you need, or can trade towards what you need is to find unsanctioned X-proxy events. So say your local store is doing 5 proxy or 10 proxy legacy, with a first prize of like a pair or dual lands or forces, or maybe a playset of onslaught fetches. Jump on that, do your best to build a list with those proxies, and win some prizes. Also, making good trades is the best way I've found to getting needed stuff. This is especially great when you have players in your group that play multiple formats, and need cards for new decks but have older legacy cards sitting in their binders. Trade forums are great as well. There are many ways of getting into legacy without spending a lot of money, just find out which you can do.

[emidln]

Option L: Make friends with players who have large collections or large amounts of money and can be easily convinced to expand their collection. Leech hard.

[routlaw]

On a serious side, I think you should draft and take those cards you win/draft and trade them towards staples, or sell them and buy the staples you want. Drafting will not only improve your game, you'll love it. IMGO it's more skill intensive than constructed as you have to have good drafting skills, good deck building skills and good playing skills.

I'm a big fan of limited as a format, but as a means getting Legacy cards through trade, it's pretty terrible. People aren't going to trade legacy staples for anything but the chase mythics of current sets, and in terms of odds you're almost better off scratching off lottery tickets at a gas station than opening packs if getting Legacy cards is your goal.

I found that playing in the online community-run pauper tournaments has done a lot more for my playing/metagame evaluating/deck tweaking skills than playing limited has. And those decks usually run around $5-$20 dollars (and, like Legacy, are often "good forever"). Limited is still fun but between the huge amount of jank/worthless rares in packs is astounding.

[stuckpixel]

Strongly suggest not building more than one 'budget' deck. I got caught up in building a few earlier on - not the best investment.

Sooner you jump on buying your duals/fetches, the better. A lot of decks you can get by with 1-2x of each dual, especially if it's a 3+ color deck.

Pick the deck you want, and start buying staples. If you're going to complete a budget deck, go for dredge since it is stupid powerful and sometimes a great meta call.

If your deck uses Zen fetches, grab em soon. Probably priority 1. FoWs very shortly behind that.

I know it sounds fun jumping from deck to deck, but early on in your legacy days, you should really pick one deck and focus on it IMO.

[Finn]

My advice on expanding your Legacy collection is not as much in your strategy but in your perspective. Admit that Legacy is a format for which you buy cards and keep them forever, and you can stomach the investment better. It takes awhile, and that is all there is to it. Be patient and enjoy the collecting process. And for Pete's sake, don't ever sell cards to buy other cards for your newest deck.

[GrooGrux]

I'm a big fan of limited as a format, but as a means getting Legacy cards through trade, it's pretty terrible. People aren't going to trade legacy staples for anything but the chase mythics of current sets, and in terms of odds you're almost better off scratching off lottery tickets at a gas station than opening packs if getting Legacy cards is your goal.

I found that playing in the online community-run pauper tournaments has done a lot more for my playing/metagame evaluating/deck tweaking skills than playing limited has. And those decks usually run around $5-$20 dollars (and, like Legacy, are often "good forever"). Limited is still fun but between the huge amount of jank/worthless rares in packs is astounding.

Trading will never work. I draft and sell all of my singles online and magically morph them into duals using paypal :-)

[GrooGrux]

My advice on expanding your Legacy collection is not as much in your strategy but in your perspective. Admit that Legacy is a format for which you buy cards and keep them forever, and you can stomach the investment better. It takes awhile, and that is all there is to it. Be patient and enjoy the collecting process. And for Pete's sake, don't ever sell cards to buy other cards for your newest deck.

Do not ever sell your cards, i agree!

[Plague Sliver]

Do not ever sell your cards, i agree!

Agree++. I sold a playset of Chalices last year and have been regretting it since. As much as playing 1-2 decks is fun in Legacy it's always better to have options.

[GrooGrux]

Option L: Make friends with players who have large collections or large amounts of money and can be easily convinced to expand their collection. Leech hard.

Option T: Join a magic team.

[sunshine]

My advice on expanding your Legacy collection is not as much in your strategy but in your perspective. Admit that Legacy is a format for which you buy cards and keep them forever, and you can stomach the investment better. It takes awhile, and that is all there is to it. Be patient and enjoy the collecting process. And for Pete's sake, don't ever sell cards to buy other cards for your newest deck.

Mostly this. Realize that the beauty of eternal formats is an eternal (hopefully) investment. If it is at all financially reasonable for you I'd suggest jumping right into the deep end of the pool and picking up whatever you need to get that first deck assembled. Chances are you're going to enjoy the game much more playing a deck you want to play (and personally it just irks me to play suboptimal builds in general, but maybe that's just me) and ultimately you're going to spend exactly the same amount of money if not less.

Also, the whole "I'll play a different deck until I win enough to make the deck I actually want to play" works just about as well in theory as "I'll pay for the deck I want to play now, and play it until I win my investment back" assuming you're ultimately satisfied with that single deck :wink:.

That's my two cents - of course we need the usual disclaimer that magical cards are not more important that braces for your kid, etc, etc.

EDIT: Yeah, having friends with cards helps a lot too. Not sure where you're located but I'm usually willing to lend stuff out at tourneys and I think you'd be surprised at how many people are willing to lend stuff out in general - even to perfect strangers, given some sort of collateral.

[JACO]

You can really go about it one of three ways:
1) Try to build a cheap but effective deck (Dredge) and use your tournament winnings to further build your collection:
2) Start buying and borrowing cards that have more utility across decks, such as fetchlands, duals, Brainstorms, Force of Wills. This is more expensive in the short term, but allows you to use those same cards across a variety of decks later. Dropping $150-200 on a Dredge deck is a sunk cost if you're never going to play those cards outside of Dredge.
3) The hybrid approach would be to buy Dredge, start winning with it to gain other staples, and then trade off Dredge parts later to fund the rest of what you need for other decks.

As far as acquiring staples, Zendikar fetches are 50% cheaper than Onslaught ones, so I'd pick up stuff like those, Brainstorms, Ponders, ThopterFoundry stuff, and other cards that are still cheap (ie $1 or less for a lot of play value).

[Ozymandias]

You can really go about it one of three ways:
1) Try to build a cheap but effective deck (Dredge) and use your tournament winnings to further build your collection:
2) Start buying and borrowing cards that have more utility across decks, such as fetchlands, duals, Brainstorms, Force of Wills. This is more expensive in the short term, but allows you to use those same cards across a variety of decks later. Dropping $150-200 on a Dredge deck is a sunk cost if you're never going to play those cards outside of Dredge.
3) The hybrid approach would be to buy Dredge, start winning with it to gain other staples, and then trade off Dredge parts later to fund the rest of what you need for other decks.

As far as acquiring staples, Zendikar fetches are 50% cheaper than Onslaught ones, so I'd pick up stuff like those, Brainstorms, Ponders, ThopterFoundry stuff, and other cards that are still cheap (ie $1 or less for a lot of play value).

I endorse this post. I started playing with dredge, and basically won my way to Dragon Stompy and 2-land Belcher.

Also, considering porting some other decks you may have around. I've played Goblins from Block till now. And MBC becomes Train Wreck.

Also, the only cards worth breaking up and selling off from Dredge are the LEDs. The rest you can sell as a package for added value.

[dahcmai]

I tell people this when getting into the format.

Build the mana base first. It's so much easier to build other decks once that part is down.

Start with the Fetches. Zendikar and Onslaught fetches are virtually the same so it's a matter of which ones you can find for the prices you want to pay. Grab Polluted Delta when possible, but luckily the other onslaught ones aren't so vital.

Then if you want to play Blue or some other deck with it, you'll need to think about whether or not you can get away without Forces. Forces are a big part of control or aggro control decks and a worthy investment.

Duals can be cheapened up by buying only one of the colors you need and using fetches to shore up the colors from there. You'll just have to avoid playing things with Moat and Tombstalker in the same deck for a bit. : )

Check what the decks have in them to see if you can use a card in several decks. It makes it easier to move on to something else later for you get bored of one particular one. For example, Cabal Therapy is used in quite a few decks so it's a good buy, Swords to plowshares, Daze, Aether Vial, and similar cards fit in this same category.

Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is the supreme example of a card that doesn't go in much of anything else but lands. Horrid investment unless you really, really want to play Lands and stick with it for a long time. Rishadan Port is another good example of a limited card. It really only sees play in Lands, Goblins, and Death and Taxes styles. Is it worth the price to only play those three if you had the rest of the cards? Probably not for the most part. Get some value to your money first. I see too many people buy cards like that and realize they need to trade them off to get a new deck to play when bored.

Lion's Eye Diamond, Mox Diamond, and pretty much any card above the $40 mark that's only used in one or two decks should be avoided when first starting.


Grab common staples as you see them. Daze is slowly getting quite expensive. It's not going to stop anytime soon. Pick up these commons when you see them.


Try to not "pimp out" your deck unless you have a serious income. Big mistake for people new to the format is to pick a deck they like and try and get only foils or Japanese for it. It's fine, but expect to pay some serious cash for some cards. Recognize that a foil wasteland playset is going to kick the crap out of your wallet and make buying duals seem cheap. If you start in that direction, you will hit a roadblock and you'll realize you spent money you could have spent on having a lot more options of decks to play.

More often than not, those same people who had all those pretty foils end up trading them off trying to build the next deck and could have just had two or three decks for the effort they put into one.

[Aleksandr]

... overlap ...

Invest in fetches first and then pick up dual lands 1 at a time when your budget permits. You'd be surprised how well your mana-base can perform with a handful of fetches and 1 or 2 dual lands. No, it's not optimal, but it's workable and you'll get there.


BtW, you may play some hate in the meantime before you get your hands on the desired duals. For example MoonThresh with (obv.) Blood Moon and/or Back to Basics could be a right call. And you'll be surprised how many people will it caught unaware. Also Moon and B2B = money, so if you get them for cheap (namely Moon with *cough* many *cough* printings since The Dark), you can consider them as a savings. I bought triple B2B two years ago and for the price I gave than back, I could buy one-of today...

Obvious problem is anything with FoW/Goyf/duals or Moxen/LEDs, but let me tell you - with my last experiences, I ain't gonna play non-blue deck. Never, ever, in any metagame possible, on earth, in the air, on sea and underwater. But now I just repeat myself...

UW Tempo is a good deck to start, it is funny to play, is quite strong and if you can withstand to browse its corresponding thread, you may learn a lol.. sorry, I meant "a lot".

Also Dredge is not a bad deck, but is a bit complicated, one must know how to sideboard and you'll get pretty soon hated outta club. Affinity is dirt cheap and as it lost most of its power, people devote no place in sb to fight it... and that's exactly the reason, why it can win if not awaited. Maybe some guy who stops Extended can sell it for reasonable money... Not that I'd wish to play it.

Monored Stupid Burn? But who plays it? Also Chain Lightning is really expensive for what it does and you can play it in few decks only - Burn, Sligh, Zoo... anything else?

BtW, you'd be surprised how well the rogue decks work. Just put in some staples and you're golden. (Maybe...) Check your meta than unleash your fury.

EDIT: And ZEN fetches are for half price of the ONS, even though they make the same... Nearly the same.

IF I just started to play Legacy and builded my collection from nothing, I'd go for these playsets, hands down:

Misty Rainforest
Force of Will
Daze
Brainstorm
Ponder

than (if I did not choose to play UWT), I'd flip a coin if I like black, red or white splash for Thresh. This leads to either:

Underground Sea
Thoughtseize/Stifle (?)
Dark Confidant
Wasteland
(playsets)

or:

Volcanic Island
Lightning Bolt
Wasteland
Stifle
(again - playsets)

or:

Tundra
Swords to Plowshares
Sensei's Divining Top
Counterbalance/Natural Order (?)
(playsets... who can tell?)

and no matter what color splash you chose, you need:

Tropical Island
Tarmogoyf
(ahem... playsets?)

Than there is some crappy stuff like Mongoose, Fire//Ice, Smother, Qasali PM, Needle, Crypt, etc., but I believe that you can read deckcheck even without my stupid advice. More important is where are those overlaps.

NQGb overlaps with Team America. You need Stifles, Tombtalkers and... Sinkholes. but these can be Hymns. (Not that they are so great...)
NQGr overlpas... huh, with nothing? Not possible... that MoonThresh at least?
NQGw (and NOProg, of course) overlaps with UWT. You'll apreciate (yeah, IDK the correct spelling of this...) Jitte and Aether Vial.

You always need two fetches to complete the triangle (e.g. 4 Rainforest, 1 Heath, 1 Strand), but that's all. Some glass counters for your Jittes and Vials would be also very apprisi... aprece... very good.

The whole Legacy card pool is (only IMAO!):

core:

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Force of Will
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Brainstorm

auxiliary:

4 Ponder
4 SDT
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plows
4 Counterbalance

4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Isle
4 Underground Sea
1 each non-blue fetch
1 or 4 Fl. Strand
1 or 4 P. Delta

4 Wasteland

4 Dark Confidant
4 Tombstalker (?)
4 Qasali PM
4 RWM
4 Nimble Mongoose

3 to 4 Natural Order
some Pernicious Deed / EE

4 Aether Vial
2 to 3 Jitte


I'd build UWT, NQGw and Canada. This way I'd avoid U/B fetches and duals, while I can play my Wastelands in 2/3 of my decks, my Goyfs in 2/3 of my decks, my U/W lands in 2/3 of my decks and my FoWs in 3/3 of my decks. Sounds like a good purchase.



tl; dr:

Buy this playsets: Misty Rainforest, Tropical Island, Force of Will, Tarmogoyf. The sooner the better

[stalkerzero]

BtW, you may play some hate in the meantime before you get your hands on the desired duals. For example MoonThresh with (obv.) Blood Moon and/or Back to Basics could be a right call. And you'll be surprised how many people will it caught unaware. Also Moon and B2B = money, so if you get them for cheap (namely Moon with *cough* many *cough* printings since The Dark), you can consider them as a savings. I bought triple B2B two years ago and for the price I gave than back, I could buy one-of today...

Also Dredge is not a bad deck, but is a bit complicated, one must know how to sideboard and you'll get pretty soon hated outta club. Affinity is dirt cheap and as it lost most of its power, people devote no place in sb to fight it... and that's exactly the reason, why it can win if not awaited. Maybe some guy who stops Extended can sell it for reasonable money... Not that I'd wish to play it.

I am worried about seeing a lot of mirror and even more graveyard hate due to the fact that pretty much everyone playing is mostly just attempting to get in to Legacy.

I did run a mono-blue storm deck (top/helm of awakening/brainstorm) a few years ago and the only parts of it I sold were my fetches and Forces so I still have most of the rest of the playable stuff (counterbalance/tops/ponder/brainstorm/daze). I have a lot of the common and uncommon staples still around since I"m prone to Magic breaks and my first break from the game lasted from 1994-2008. So most of my cards are either from around unlimited->revised or from packs I bought time spiral onwards.

I'm really liking the idea of a limited proxy few months that I read in a tournament thread where they gradually allowed less and less proxies. I think that might be something I bring up to spur some interest in the format.

[the Thin White Duke]

I would say to buy the deck you want to play. If Magic is a hobby that you really enjoy, don't feel bad about dropping a bunch of money on cardboard. That is of course, if you can afford to do it. You can look at it from the investment angle also, but unless you're going to try to make money off of Magic, I think that should be far down the list of justifications.
Take the plunge and get what you want, because you don't want to get cards and keep asking yourself "what if..."
And speaking of regret...
Like others have said,never, ever, ever sell your cards!!
I've sold off, re-bought, and sold off my collection over the past couple of years. It sucks!!!
NEVER SELL YOUR CARDS!!

[stalkerzero]

After talking things over with my wife I will have between 100 to 200 a month. Tax time probably around 1000-1500. I could afford to just pick up any deck I wanted but sending my son to a private school is much more important to us.

I also made it known that all non-sexual birthday and christmas presents should be in the form of magic cards.

Its just a shame I moved away from a thriving legacy community (where yawg plays) and in to a standard dominated area.

I guess the big decision is what deck. As much as I like the concept of thresh I hate turning dudes sideways. Something with painters/grindstone is more of what I like (combo). Epic painter looks pricey but fun. I could always try a rogue budget deck too.

[MMogg]

After talking things over with my wife I will have between 100 to 200 a month. Tax time probably around 1000-1500. I could afford to just pick up any deck I wanted but sending my son to a private school is much more important to us.

I also made it known that all non-sexual birthday and christmas presents should be in the form of magic cards.

Its just a shame I moved away from a thriving legacy community (where yawg plays) and in to a standard dominated area.

I guess the big decision is what deck. As much as I like the concept of thresh I hate turning dudes sideways. Something with painters/grindstone is more of what I like (combo). Epic painter looks pricey but fun. I could always try a rogue budget deck too.

Build ANT or some kind of Storm combo. I think buying LEDs are a sound investment and you can still pick up a playset for $100 or a little more (about $25-30 each). It also will force you to pick up Underground Seas and a couple other duals, depending on your build. The rest of the deck is pretty cheap (fetches are pretty accessible), but LEDs and duals are on the reserve list and I think their values will only increase. LED is already used in ANT, Belcher and some Ichorid builds, I can only imagine more uses over time.

Underground Seas would also allow you to build Reanimator, which would also get you a Force of Will playset.

I guess, what I am proposing as a strategy is build decks that overlap (dunno if this was mentioned).

ANT's LEDs --> Belcher (also uses Chrome Mox) or Ichorid (although you don't like attacking)
ANT's U.Seas --> Reanimator --> Reanimator's Force of Will --> Bant/Thresh --> Their Tarmos --> Zoo (again, I know you don't like attacking)

In general, I think it's like the others said, don't sell your cards and each deck you build can take something from the others.

[the Thin White Duke]

Its just a shame I moved away from a thriving legacy community (where yawg plays) and in to a standard dominated area.
It sounds like we're in the same boat. That begs a question about how competitive of a deck you want. Not to nuke everything I previously posted, but how often are you planing on playing? Is it worth dropping a ton of money for something competitive, or just having a deck to play occasionally?
I ask that question because it's something I've encountered living out where no one plays Legacy. I've held off re-buying so many cards because it's not worth it for me to rebuild big money decks. I don't know if your situation is like mine.


Something with painters/grindstone is more of what I like (combo).
Play Quinn. It's pretty cheap to put together after you get the grindstones.

[MMogg]

It sounds like we're in the same boat. That begs a question about how competitive of a deck you want. Not to nuke everything I previously posted, but how often are you planing on playing? Is it worth dropping a ton of money for something competitive, or just having a deck to play occasionally?
I ask that question because it's something I've encountered living out where no one plays Legacy. I've held off re-buying so many cards because it's not worth it for me to rebuild big money decks. I don't know if your situation is like mine.

I guess that also depends on future mobility. I kept some cards with me as I came to China and I will bring most of them back wherever I go to next. Although no one plays Magic in my area, I can reasonably assume the next place I go to will have players. I think duals and Force of Will, for example, will always be good and will not need replacing (as opposed to some other cards that might get punted... pretty sure duals won't be punted. So picking them up now can only be win-win.

[stalkerzero]

It sounds like we're in the same boat. That begs a question about how competitive of a deck you want. Not to nuke everything I previously posted, but how often are you planing on playing? Is it worth dropping a ton of money for something competitive, or just having a deck to play occasionally?
I ask that question because it's something I've encountered living out where no one plays Legacy. I've held off re-buying so many cards because it's not worth it for me to rebuild big money decks. I don't know if your situation is like mine.


Play Quinn. It's pretty cheap to put together after you get the grindstones.

Realistically I"m looking at playing 1-3 times per month with around 6-10 people (unless a miracle happens). That's something I was taking in to account on the budget but....if I don't spend it on magic cards I'll spend it on other things that don't have any real value (I love to blow money on the most pointless things).

I am looking at a fairly large move in the next year or so (after we both graduate college) and if we can find a nice enough area with a thriving Magic community she's very willing to consider Magic as part of our moving considerations. I"m wondering if Columbus, Ohio has a thriving scene as that was somewhere we were looking anyways.

Edit: I did proxy up Quinn. Loved playing it. I have about 7-8 proxied that I play against a former player who was ranked fairly high and still keeps up on the game. Quinn just didn't quite perform like I wanted it to. I'm worried about the lack of Moat (I don't think spending $200 on a card that goes in to so few decks at this point of starting my collection is wise). I plan on playing LEDless Dredge and Goblins for a while (at least until I get forces and can slap together some form of blue control).

[the Thin White Duke]

Humility is often just as good as Moat. Maybe not as splashy, but a lot easier on Hip National Bank.

[lordofthepit]

A lot of great suggestions being put out there. In terms of deck choices, here's what I would recommend.

- Non-LED Dredge - Best bang for the buck in my opinion, and I actually prefer the build without LEDs, even though I own a playset. Great against control or aggro, a legitimate threat to win local tournaments, and easy to put together cheaply. Weaknesses are susceptibility to hate--which I think is a good problem to worry about, because if opponents are preparing for you, you're doing something right--and the fact that most of the cards are not portable to other archetypes. I find it fun to play, but your opponents may hate you for playing it, especially if you're doing so casually.
- Merfolk - Great choice that more than holds its own against most combo and control decks. A solid mix of a reasonably fast clock, disruption, and permission will go a long ways. This is considerably more expensive than Dredge with its Wastelands, Forces, Mutavaults, and perhaps Jittes, and in a more aggro-heavy meta with less blue, a splash might be necessary, but most of those cards are staples that can fit into quite a few decks.
- Goblin - Another solid choice. Consistent, explosive, and has a tutoring/card advantage engine. I'd hold off on the Ports though if you're on a budget--they don't fit in very many decks and will set you back quite a bit. The weakness is that few of these cards (besides Vial and Wasteland) will fit in other decks, but on the other hand, most of the cards besides Piledriver and Rishadan Port will cost less than $10.

I would avoid the following archetypes.
- 43 Lands. For obvious reasons, plus cards like Tabernacle, Port, Mazes of Ith, Exploration will set you back a pretty penny but are extremely narrow in function.
- Sea Stompy. I see no reason to play this over Merfolk, especially given the cost of City of Traitors and Sea Drake, which can hardly be included in other decks.
- Dragon Stompy. Similar reasons, as Sea Stompy. I think Goblins is simply more consistent without sacrificing the explosiveness. This is the first decks I tried to put together when I came back into the game, but I feel no desire to play it whatsoever.
- Stax. Again, City of Traitors, Baneslayer Angel, and Mox Diamond are pretty narrow cards in Legacy for their price tag. If you feel like playing mono-white, I feel like Quinn and Death and Taxes are a better option for the price, and I would avoid the latter because it loses a lot without Karakas, which is extremely narrow and expensive. (Note how that a lot of the ridiculously overpriced narrow cards are from Legends.)
- Enchantress. There's only one deck in which you would want to play the likes of Agorithian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Serra Sanctum, etc. If you like permanent-based control, I think Quinn is as fun but comes with a more reasonable price tag (plus has more "portable" control elements).

[lordofthepit]

Humility is often just as good as Moat. Maybe not as splashy, but a lot easier on Hip National Bank.

I think Humility is much better than Moat with the M10 rule changes, at least in Quinn (but not Enchantress or CounterThopter), especially with the rise of Qasali Pridemage and Reanimator fatties.

I believe IBA removed his Moat entirely from his most recent Quinn builds.

[Mark Sun]

Realistically I"m looking at playing 1-3 times per month with around 6-10 people (unless a miracle happens). That's something I was taking in to account on the budget but....if I don't spend it on magic cards I'll spend it on other things that don't have any real value (I love to blow money on the most pointless things).

I am looking at a fairly large move in the next year or so (after we both graduate college) and if we can find a nice enough area with a thriving Magic community she's very willing to consider Magic as part of our moving considerations. I"m wondering if Columbus, Ohio has a thriving scene as that was somewhere we were looking anyways.

Edit: I did proxy up Quinn. Loved playing it. I have about 7-8 proxied that I play against a former player who was ranked fairly high and still keeps up on the game. Quinn just didn't quite perform like I wanted it to. I'm worried about the lack of Moat (I don't think spending $200 on a card that goes in to so few decks at this point of starting my collection is wise). I plan on playing LEDless Dredge and Goblins for a while (at least until I get forces and can slap together some form of blue control).

Columbus has a good Legacy scene, in my opinion, with pretty popular (sanctioned) Meandeck Opens, and a good player base. I can't speak for myself, as I don't know if I'll be around next year (graduating engineering student looking for employment), but I'm sure the folks at Comic Town (here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?16469-Weeekly-Columbus-Ohio-legacy-tournaments-begin-Wednesday-17-Feb-6pm-ComicTown-Morse)) would love to have you as part of weekly tournaments.

About Quinn, the Thin White Duke is correct; Humility is not only a good replacement for Moat, it's arguably better in the current metagame, as cards like Qasali Pridemage and Trygon Predator are pretty cold to it. Quinn is definitely a fun deck, as I myself have a copy. I would also look into building Mono-R Goblins; that deck always has a chance to win, and does very well.

[KindGrind]

Sold my collection around 2001 and resumed playing last summer. Needless to say, I was quite disgusted to see the prices on duals... I have acquired pretty much all the staples needed to play Legacy within the last year (apart from Underground Seas), using money I had invested in another hobby (shmups) to buy the cards. Many great pieces of advice mentioned, mostly:

Once you buy, never sell/trade your cards.
You WILL regret it and buy back. I sold off my playset of Counterbalance to a store, only to buy them back a month later with a hefty markup. Also sold my LEDs before the 25 to 40$ jump and I've been regretting it ever since.

I concur on the following, mentioned by others:
Choose and build a good deck you'd like to play. Money invested in staples is pretty much a sure bet. Get Tropicals, Wastelands, Goyfs and FoWs. Pick them up one at a time... I'd also go for Aether Vials and, as pretty much everybody else mentioned, Zendikar fetchlands.

And remember, you can live without Underground Seas in Legacy.

[bakofried]

I'm just kind of roving from deck to deck right now. Like, first I built Vial Affinity, which got my foot in the door w/ Aether Vial. Then I built Goblins, which helped with Wastelands. Right now I'm building Non-LED Dredge, because I want to get my combo on w/o breaking the bank, and I traded a bunch of standard stuff for everything except a Moeba or two....

But anyway, my strategy is just to build a bunch of different decks that utilize different staples, and eventually I'll have most of the staples I need. After Dredge, (this summer) I'm going to work on Merfolk; namely, Force, Jitte, and Mutavault. The Jitte and Force will help me a bit more, and well, I'll take it from there.

[death]

@OP,

Invest in a playset of Force (highly played ones will do) and build yourself a Merfolk deck. This archetype can be rewarding considering the current meta. It can get you far enough without investing much into dual$, fetchland$, or diamond$. Of course, you can reap your rewards later.

[the Thin White Duke]

I'll vote for Merfolk as well.
As I said previously, I have sold off big chunks of my collection. I was smart enough however to keep my set of Forces. Merfolk is a relatively cheap build, it's competitive, and Blue goes a long way to building other Legacy decks.

[EssKay]

As far as the drafting/buying packs thing goes, with the falling price of rares, does it make more sense to just skip those things all together and just buy the singles you need, or does it work out to where you actually get your initial investment back with extra in trade/resale value?

[MMogg]

As far as the drafting/buying packs thing goes, with the falling price of rares, does it make more sense to just skip those things all together and just buy the singles you need, or does it work out to where you actually get your initial investment back with extra in trade/resale value?

Well, drafting and buying packs are two completely separate things. Drafting not only builds your Limited skills, but if you draft enough and become actually good at it, you can either win more product (with which you can then resell or draft or trade), whereas just buying and cracking packs gets you nothing (or at least it's a gamble). Even if you do an informal draft, usually the drafts I've been in, people who win the draft get first pick of all the rares and foils at the end of the draft (a.k.a. rare picking in lieu of prize support), so that is even better than winning product in some situations when a bomb rare foil gets opened. That's why I think drafting is a great strategy and cracking packs is one of the worst.

[danyul]

I'm in a similar situation. I sold off all my cards and have to start from scratch. Shit sucks, but I'm optimistic. I've found a few good weekly tournies to hit up and a bigger monthly one. Some of the tournies around here give out Legacy staples instead of boosters or store credit as prizes, which is nice. If you can find tournies like that and have a little luck then I'm sure you can get up and running in no time. Also, might I suggest Combo Elves as a starter deck? I know it doesn't run any staples that would translate well to other Legacy decks, but it's very cheap to build and pretty consistent. I've been having really good luck with it.

[Svenanole]

I'll vote for Merfolk as well.
As I said previously, I have sold off big chunks of my collection. I was smart enough however to keep my set of Forces. Merfolk is a relatively cheap build, it's competitive, and Blue goes a long way to building other Legacy decks.

this is how i first started out, then i proxied a countertop bant deck, and casually got the cards, then relized i didn't like CB so i moved onto new horizons (literally and figuratively)

I really only spent $50 on new horizons outside of the staples i had (Terravore, Crucible and Horizon Canopy)

now i have essentially everything needed to run any non combo legacy deck minus 3 goyfs (darn snipper getting me 8 tundras...)

I would try to do ebay as much as possible. There are plenty of deals on there, you just have to know how to look. PM me if you need help with this and I will teach you how

[from Cairo]

I'd definitely aim for the "Established" decks with high overlaps to "DTBs" - IE: UW Tempo, Naya Sligh, Merfolk, CBT Thopter, etc. Stuff where you're getting a competitive deck, but also knocking out a big chuck of staples you'll need for future deck building. As other posters have all said - Zen Fetches and FoW should be priority one, they aren't going to get cheaper.