[easybox]Christopher Walton is one of our prospective writers for the Introductory Legacy column, the below is his Legacy intro column. Please leave feedback at the end of this column if you enjoyed it or if you didn't.[/easybox]

Introduction

I've loved playing Magic for the last twelve years. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time reading competitive Magic articles about Type One, one of the formats I played. I had always liked 1.5 a lot more, but the store I played Magic at did 1.5 for two weeks out of the Month and Type One for the other two weeks, so I had to compromise. I wasn't very good at either format for a long time, all the cards I wanted to use seemed out of my means. I had been to the Dojo a few times and read some articles there, but none of it really stuck with me. The Dojo was gone before I had ever really had the opportunity to learn from it, and that level of in-depth strategy would be lost for me until sometime in 2001.

Land Tax has always been my favorite card in Magic, I use it at every opportunity that I am able and have since I owned one. One day I was looking for a new way to use Land Tax in a deck, some guys I know were using it with Land's End and Seismic Assault but that idea didn't really appeal to me, I wanted to do something better. I had experimented a bit and at some turn, ended up searching around different Magic sites for Land Tax. And then there it was: You CAN Play Type 1 #1 by Oscar Tan. This was the deck I wanted to play (and did for three years.) It would be difficult to elaborate on how much fun I had Land Taxing and using Scroll Rack, Sacrificing Lands to Zuran Orb and playing Planar Birth to bring them all back playing Moat (it was a big day when I got my first Moat, Thanks Ashley) and eventually winning with Sacred Mesa, those were good days for me. Shortly after I had built Parfait, I went back and I read more of his articles even the ones that were way over my head. It wasn't too difficult to get bearings though because I had found my inspiration at the begging.

This was a clutch moment for me as a Magic player, I started to learn advanced theory from whom I consider to be the greatest Magic theorist, and from there I read all kinds of articles by other people who were writing at the time. Many of the old Dojo articles had been hosted on Star City and there was a real community at The Mana Drain where people posted helpful primers and general strategy articles that I learned a lot from. I spent a lot of time reading about Magic and then playing with some of the best players in the world. Although I was never really able to do as much as I had wanted with 1.5 because if you posted about 1.5 on TMD the post was likely edited, moved and it was suggested that you go to “The Source” a URL for The Source was never given, and if you ever tried doing a Google search for it you never got quite what you wanted. So, for a lot of people, myself included; The Source was this mythical realm of 1.5 discussion that always seems just out of grasp.

In 2004 I stopped playing with Land Tax because the format that I had been playing for years had banned it. I stopped playing Vintage all together prior to that point, and when the lists were split between Vintage and Legacy I struggled to organize and attend Legacy tournaments. I got really involved with The Mana Drain's Legacy section when that eventually formed, and met some great guys from there. The Mana Leak, as it was known was pretty good for discussion, it and I even found out what “The Source” was, there was never a site that posted Legacy content so we did all our discussion and priming ourselves on BBS. Back then it was a really underground thing and we all played it because we generally didn't like the elitism or the cost of Vintage but we all had a real appreciation for what the decks and metagame were. No one else really wanted anything to do with Legacy so we were really just our own clique. With discussion on message boards like TMD and Star City and The Source there was never really a need for a consistent source of competitive articles written for Legacy, even if there was a place to put them.

In 2007 there was an announcement by Wizards of a Legacy Grand Prix, the first in three years. This was in a line of smaller tournaments that Wizards had promoted and it got a lot of people interested in the format with. From nothing came interest in the format I loved! There was even a combo deck that everyone was talking about. Everyone knew about it because it had been developed in public, like nearly every other deck in Legacy because it was a niche format that seldom had a tournament with real prize support or exposure. And there were articles written about Legacy, just a couple at first to give people a heads-up about what the decks were going to look like at the Grand Prix. And this is really where Legacy articles began to be written.

There were some helpful articles but everyone just seemed to write the same “Welcome to Legacy” article over and over, I thought it was going to lay the groundwork for a series but the series never came. Articles seldom discussed any card choices or plays decisions and I felt like there was something missing from the content of these articles, that was present in the old Vintage articles that I would read. Every once in a while a real keeper would come along, Adam Barnello's Breakfast of Champions article sticks out as an important and metagame changing article. But content rich articles were really few and far between. I would talk with my group of friends about the quality of these articles. We would complain that some of the decks that were discussed were so fringe and unplayable that it was impossible to understand why the author would waste our time introducing people to it. We would joke that if a certain author discussed your deck in an article that it was just doomed to fail. We all wanted something better and we kept reading, and waiting for something better especially as the forums turned from discussions into a race to contradict the previous poster or people trolling for attention.

We waited.

And waited…

Mission Statement

The intent of this article is to lead to a regular stream of articles. The goal of this and future articles is to fill the obvious gap in competitive play and decision based articles for the Legacy metagame. To provide unbiased match-up analysis from raw data gathered first-hand. To contribute constructive commentary and rational discourse to specific scenarios in the metagame. And finally present relevant metagame and essential technical information to a wider audience.

All Good Things... Must Have a beginning

To discuss the metgame's top decks, it is important to have an understanding of which decks are doing well on a large scale. Other formats are able to generate a Tier list, something that has generally eluded Legacy. Admittedly, a comprehensive tier list for Legacy will likely never be created for the format is simply too dense to place every deck properly in the gauntlet. Additionally it’s likely impossible to create an impartial tier list for Legacy - we all have biases, pet decks and bad experiences. In an effort to establish a common ground for understanding, I have compiled raw data from all tournaments available on deckcheck.net that featured 49 or more players over the last six months. This is roughly 56 tournaments, including Grand Prix Madrid and a few Star City Games events. This "Tier" system is created by awarding a deck one point for each appearance it made in a top 8 of one of these events, the decks are then sorted by archetype and broken down by specific deck. The total number of points each deck was awarded can be found after the deck title.

This method is not without it flaws; foremost: Scarcity does exist, not everyone has access to Loyal Retainers, a set of Imperial Recruiters, Moat or even Underground Seas. People play what they have access too, so the cheapest viable decks are likely to appear in greater numbers. While I tried to avoid anomalies by using large samples; metagames exist and some of the data comes from Europe where an entirely separate metagame exists, and from Asia where players are known for maindecking hate cards. Even with these problems, that is not to say that the data does not contain helpful information and affirm suspicions that we believe to be true, such as which decks are performing the best. Overall, I am happy with the data and think it presents something that we can work with.

Tiers by placements in the last 5 Months.

(Originally complied May 1st, updated May 31st)

Top Tier

DeckName - #of Top 8s

• Zoo – 46
• Counter-Top - (44)

  • Supreme Blue - 16
  • NO Bant - 22
  • U/g/b/w Counter-Top - 3

• Merfolk – 39
• ANT - 34 (W/ Hybrids 42)
• Goblins - 28

Second Tier

• Canadian Thresh – 23**
• UW/x Control Variants - (24)

• Landstill - 14
• U/W Control - 6
• U/W Thopter Control - 4

• Aggro Loam – 22*
• Reanimator - 20
• Faeries - 18
• Ichorid - 14
• Bant Survival - 13*
• Misc. Bant deck without Counter-Top - (13)

• U/G/w Tempo Thresh - 7
• New Horizons - 6

• Eva Green - 10

• Enchantress - 9
• Belcher - 8

Third Tier

• 43Lands – 7
• Chalice Aggro - (7)

  • Dragon Stompy - 5
  • Angel Stompy - 1
  • Elephant Stompy – 1

• Team America (UGb Tempo) - 6
• The Rock - 6
• U/W Tempo - 6
• Dreadstill - 6
• Dream Halls - 5
• [Stoneforger] Mystic Control - 4
• Loam Control - 3
• Slivers - 3
• Stax - (5)

  • G Stax - 2 (Close to Green Chalice aggro, but less aggro)
  • U Stax - 1
  • W Stax - 2

Fourth Tier

• Pox - 2
• Burn - 2
• MBC (Not Train Wreck) - 2
• Affinity - 1

*These decks saw a significant decrease in performance after the Grand Prix

** Canadian Thresh posted 19 Top 8s prior to the Grand Prix and 1 after the start of the Grand Prix

Metagame Overview

The Top Tier

Zoo

From 56 tournaments, Zoo has put up the best numbers with 42 Top 8 appearances. Zoo did quite well before the Grand Prix and since it has seen its share of top 8s falling. Zoo is one of the most consistent decks in Legacy and that allows it to quickly punish misplays and many sub-optimal starts from opposing decks. Zoo has a highly positive match-up against Merfolk, which is not only one of the best decks in the format; but likely the single most played deck in Legacy. It’s a contested matter if Zoo has a positive match against Counter-Top decks or not but, it does seem that Counter-Top's1 numbers have fallen as more Zoo decks have performed well. Like most non-blue decks, Zoo struggles against most any combo and generally is only able to win games that the combo deck loses to not performing the way it’s designed to, and this doesn’t seem likely to change as truly effective combo hate is simply not an option for most zoo lists.

The defining cards for Zoo, that appear in nearly every Zoo list are Tarmogoyf, Qasali Pridemage, Grim Lavamancer, Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile and Wild Nacatl. In a nutshell, Zoo's Game plan is to reduce the opponent's total to zero as quickly as possible using Grim Lavamancer, Path to Exile and burn to clear the way for creatures to beat through before the opponent can stabilize. On a whole, Zoo's best match-ups are against other creature-based decks and worst match-ups are against any form of Combo. Zoo has the tools in its disposal to win some generally unfavorable matches a good example is using Price of Progress to pull out wins against a Lands deck.

A typical zoo list:

[cardlist]1 Forest

1 Mountain

1 Plains

3 Plateau

1 Savannah

2 Taiga

4 Arid Mesa

4 Windswept Heath

3 Wooded Foothills

4 Grim Lavamancer

4 Kird Ape

2 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Qasali Pridemage

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Wild Nacatl

4 Chain Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Lightning Helix

4 Path to Exile

2 Sylvan Library[/cardlist]

Merfolk (U, U/g, U/w)

Consistent for the last year, Merfolk is one the cheapest and best performing decks in the scene. Merfolk's rise was originally due to the decks dominance of the Counter-Top decks that had a stranglehold on the metagame2. If you are reading about the Legacy metagame as a whole for the first time and read that “The metagame shifted away from Counterbalance” you should understand this to mean that some decks moved more into the 3-4 CMC range, some decks that could not became unplayable but most importantly – Merfolk really started to be played and punish Counter-Top decks.

Merfolk's strength found in its Lords; Lord of Atlantis, Merrow Reejery, Merfolk Sovereign and now a 13-16th lord in the form of Coralhelm Commander. Honestly, It’s still up in the air if Coralhelm Commander is going to make a big splash or not, far too early to tell, but the Bazaar of Moxen IV was won by a Merfolk player using 16 lords (eschewing Standstill) in an impressively large tournament. The creatures in Merfolk are reminiscent of Silvers in how well they play together –leading to overwhelming alpha-strikes of huge, low cost creatures. As a tempo deck, Merfolk is generally able to throw a wrench in the mana of any slower decks that want to punish it for inevitable over-extensions. These two facets combine well in the metagame, giving it a fair game against storm combo, most anything with an Island and many of mid-range decks with Tarmogoyf that are not able to keep up with the speed of this deck. Because Merfolk doesn’t use the same draw package that most blue decks do, it is a lot more susceptible to variance in draws.

A standard Merfolk maindeck looks close to this:

[cardlist]4 Cursecatcher

4 Silvergill Adept

4 Lord of Atlantis

4 Merrow Reejery

2 Coralhelm Commander

2 Merrow Sovereign

4 Daze

4 Force of Will

2 Echoing Truth

4 Standstill

2 Umezawa's Jitte

4 AEther Vial

4 Wasteland

3 Mutavault

13 Island[/cardlist]

Ad Nauseum Tendrils (ANT and other non-linear storm combo)

These decks that take the form of ANT, ANT/Doomsday Hybrid (ANTDD) and Next Level Storm (NLS) play slightly differently, but all aim to end in the result of playing Tendrils of Agony after playing about a dozen other spells. The deck has really done well over the last year resulting from the fall of Counterbalance decks and Canadian Thresh. As a bonus; not only are more of the bad match-ups disappearing but the decks that are filling the void are seldom able to race and never have the right tools to stop the combo.

ANT and its brethren are favored in most of the first game of the match, especially where there is no Counterbalance. Game 2 the options are open for how to answer prospective hate which ranges from Krosan Grip for Counterbalance, Slaughter Pact/Deathmark for any Hatebear3 or alternate combo plans such as Doomsday for aggro decks that punish a late Ad Nauseum. The adequate hate for these combo decks simply does not exist and until it does, non-blue decks simply will not have a chance which is good news for both combo players and Merfolk players who continue to punish non-combo blue decks.

There are several approaches to Ad Nauseum storm, many people seem to like the linear approach that Satio took at Grand Prix Madrid:

[cardlist]2 City of Traitors

3 Flooded Strand

1 Island

3 Misty Rainforest

2 Polluted Delta

1 Tropical Island

4 Underground Sea

2 Ad Nauseam

4 Brainstorm

4 Cabal Ritual

3 Chrome Mox

4 Dark Ritual

4 Duress

3 Infernal Tutor

4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Lotus Petal

4 Mystical Tutor

2 Ponder

2 Sensei's Divining Top

2 Tendrils of Agony

2 Thoughtseize[/cardlist]

Counter-Top1 (Supreme Blue, NO/PRO Bant and other Goyf + Counter-top decks)

What is likely Legacy’s defining deck, Counter-Top decks trace their roots from the older Threshold decks and quickly established itself as powerful and format warping monster. The metagame for the last few years has struggled time and again to find a consistent answer for this deck. When Zoo was on the rise most of these decks were forced to include Rhox War Monk as a concession to the more aggro metagame. With the rise of Merfolk, these decks have had to adapt many times running Firespout in the main or board as a way to attempt to establish control. The same can be observed with the current shift toward a Counter-Top deck that can handle Reanimator more easily. Although everyone builds their deck with this one in mind, Counter-Top decks are highly versatile and are able to adapt effectively to most metagames.

Counter-Top decks do very well against random decks and are about the only thing that keeps a check on combo decks right now. The problem is that – the format may have finally caught up with Counterbalance. Goblins ad Merfolk are both beatings for it. There are aggro decks aiming at the weak point in the Counterbalance curve. There are some combo decks that are using 3CC4 cards at that same weak point in the curve (although not the weakest.)

The differences between Natural Order Bant and Supreme Blue are generally less than eight cards in the maindeck, but these tend to make a huge difference in how the decks play. Supreme Blue decks are built to combat decks like Zoo and Merfolk often using cards that are higher on the curve like Rhox War Monk and Firespout to maintain ground control. It is generally left to fight a war of attrition to win, but is generally able to do so with the help of Counterbalance. Natural Order Counter-Top can play very similarly, but always has the ability to play a Natural Order and produce a Progenitus, which has a tendency to end games rather effectively.

Supreme Blue:

[cardlist]4 Flooded Strand

2 Island

4 Polluted Delta

4 Tropical Island

4 Tundra

2 Volcanic Island

4 Rhox War Monk

4 Tarmogoyf

2 Trygon Predator

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Brainstorm

4 Counterbalance

4 Daze

3 Firespout

4 Force of Will

2 Ponder

4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Swords to Plowshares[/cardlist]

Natural Order Counter-Top

[cardlist]1 Forest

1 Plains

2 Island

4 Windswept Heath

4 Misty Rainforest

3 Tropical Island

3 Tundra

1 Dryad Arbor

1 Progenitus

3 Qasali Pridemage

4 Rhox War Monk

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Noble Hierarch

3 Counterbalance

3 Natural Order

3 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Daze

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will[/cardlist]

Goblins (Mono Red, R/b R/g and R/b/g)

Formerly the format defining deck, Goblins is starting to make a comeback and has found a metagame where the first question you ask when you build your deck isn't, “How many answers do you have to turn one Goblin Lackey?” allowing for Goblins to breach a huge gap. Goblins main game plan is to cheat costs on what is actually a rather expensive tribe. Goblin Lackey, Æther Vial, Goblin Warchief and the newer Warren Instigator are all cards that reduce or entirely circumvent a Goblin’s cost. The deck then has Stingscourger, Lightning Crafter, Gemplam Incinerator and sometimes Mogg Fanatic as removal and to finish out the suite, there is access to Ringleader and Matron as draw and tutor. While no one goblin is impressive on its own, the strength of the deck when all or even just a few of the pistons are running is undeniable.

So, why is Goblins doing well right now? It's important to state that Goblins was never a bad deck it simply fell out of favor. With the Merfolk invasion, Goblins has found a nearly unloseable match in one of the formats most common decks. Goblins have also traditionally been very good against Counterbalance based decks due to its pahantomly high curve, along with cards that simply do away with casting threats such as Æther Vials and Lackey. Goblins players have also been able to find answers for traditionally difficult problems such as, “What do you do about Tarmogoyf?” and how to deal with the loss of Mogg Fanatic in the form of Stingscourger and Mogg War-Marshall. The other problem of Engineered Plague has really had reduced effectiveness since the release of M10 with its Lords. Most decks that were leaning on Engineered Plague no longer can as there are simply too many lords for it to be effective (Just ask Merrow Reejery, Lord of Atlantis, Merfolk Sovereign, Coralhelm Commander, Mad Auntie, Goblin King, Goblin Chieftain, Elvish Champion, Imperious Perfect, Elvish Arch-druid, Sinew Sliver, Muscle Sliver and don't forget Plated Sliver.) It was also a surprising turn of events when people all over the world discovered that Goblins has a very strong Reanimator match which really helps the cause for Goblins. Like both Zoo and Counter-Top, Goblins has a very strong match against random decks and no deck has a bigger reputation for pulling wins out of nowhere like Goblins does.

That is not to say that Goblins is the perfect deck choice – the deck has obvious flaws. Goblins has an abysmal combo match, this short sentence does little to elaborate on how bad it truly is. Goblins has to attack for the win, generally with a lot of guys – there are plenty of decks that want to take advantage of that. Goblins can also stumble against Zoo which packs large creatures + ample removal + Grim Lavamancer which will kill any single goblin over and over. Even though Goblins has clearly bad match-ups; as previously stated: Goblins can and does pull wins out of nowhere. Ask Owen Turtenwald who came in second with it at Grand Prix Columbus (A.K.A. Grand Prix Flash.)

This is a Goblins list that did well at the Bazaar of Moxen IV that looks quite solid:

[cardlist]4 Wasteland

4 Rishadan Port

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Badlands

1 Auntie's Hovel

1 Swamp

4 Mountain

4 Goblin Lackey

4 Goblin Piledriver

4 Stingscourger

4 Goblin Warchief

4 Goblin Matron

4 Goblin Ringleader

3 Mogg Fanatic

2 Goblin Chieftain

2 Gempalm Incinerator

1 Siege-Gang Commander

1 Wort, Boggart Auntie

1 Warren Weirding

4 AEther Vial[/cardlist]

Many modern lists have forgone the use of Rishadan Port, but it's an excellent part of the Goblin's strategy. Goblin's mana denial is very effective when paired with Goblin Lackey and Æther Vial and is sometimes enough to simply win the game.

-The Second Tier-

Aggro Loam (Rgb, Rgbw, Rgw, Gbw)

Although putting up a fair number of Top 8s, a substantial number of these come from a time prior to the Grand Prix and it has seen a huge decline in both play and performance since. The deck Aggro-Loam has a somewhat deceptive name since it often plays a control roll using Burning Wish as a tutor for problems and Loam to generate card advantage via Cycling lands and Wasteland. What does make it 'aggro' is its use of large creatures from the staple Tarmgoyf to any number of other fatties like Countryside Crusher, Knight of the Reliquary and sometimes even Terravore. The deck often uses Dark Confidant as roughly half the deck costs zero so the life loss is minimal and Aggro loam is able to get a jump start on the game with the use of Mox Diamond, it uses Chalice of the Void as protection considering that it uses no 1cc spells itself. Aggro-Loam will seldom be out-classed when it comes to creatures, but can play somewhat slowly and has a surprisingly low threat density it also doesn't have a good source of draw outside of Loam, so filtering through the 30-or-so cards that cost Zero can sometimes be a problem

Aggro-Loam is generally able to beat up on Zoo, Merfolk, Goblins and Counterbalance decks, but will struggle against Combo and a more dedicated control deck. The word “Generally” used because Aggro-Loam is not a hyper-consistent deck and while it can have a game against most all the top decks, it can also drop games against all the top decks. This is the kind of deck that Zoo can punish for not starting with a great hand or just from losing a few life to Dark Confidant. Both Merfolk and Zoo can use Wastelands to set Loam back just far enough to win, Loam lack of a 1CC removal spell and general high cost of threats means that it's possible to overwhelm them. Counterbalance decks will sometimes be able to set a 2cc and 3cc spell on top and lock the Loam player out of the game. Aggro Loam is a strong deck when it works – which is most of the time, but you take a calculated risk every time you play a non-blue deck and increase this chance again when you play cycling cards and utility lands over threats. But overall, Aggro-Loam and Loam control decks have a lot going for them right now.

Reanimator

It took a few months after Entomb was unbanned for Reanimator to place and now it's firmly established after having won the Grand Prix and many decent sized events. The deck is fast and its use of Iona is much stronger than any of the other decks trying to cheat her into play. The deck also has an arsenal of other very strong creatures that can be tutored for, for the win in almost any situation. The access to both Daze and Force (The same counters that most tempo decks have) allows the deck to protect itself while still playing at a blazing speed. Much in the way the format used to be defined by “How many answers do you have to turn one Iona” decks are being forced to answer the question “What do you do about Iona/Sphinx of the Steel Wind/Blazing Archon.”

Reanimator does well against Zoo, Merfolk, Ad Nauseum (on account of Reanimator is a faster combo deck) and most of the Tier 2 and 3 decks, as well as most random decks. Reanimator stops shining against decks packing Counterbalance, Goblins, Loam control decks with Knight of the Reliquary and Faeries, where Spell-stutter Sprite is a hard counter. Reanimator can easily work around Graveyard hate by using Show and Tell from the sideboards, blanking much of the hate that is going to come in. When playing the deck, one should never feel as though they were never in a game because the deck’s such a powerhouse that you always have a decent chance of putting down a win before your opponent is even able to start executing his game plan.

Currently Reanimator is still a poorly understood, non-linear combo deck that looks straight forward and will severely punish misplays on the part of both the pilot and opponent. Many players have been the victim of knee-jerk entombing Iona only to have her be the incorrect creature and losing the game because of which. Each creature that is discussed for Reanimator (Iona, Inkwell, Blazing Archon, Empyrial Archangel, Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Akroma, Angel of Wrath, even) have a time where they will shine above the rest and instances where if you make the incorrect play by choosing it; you will lose the game. Reanimator will continue to reward those that understand it well and be unimpressive for pilots who are not willing to spend the time to learn it's radically different play style.

Ichorid (A.K.A. Dredge)

For this article Ichorid will be used to discuss versions of Dredge with LED, with Bloodghast and with

Neither of those cards. Operating on the fringes of the theory of Card Advantage6 Ichorid is a graveyard based combo deck that plays unlike any other deck in the format. Ichorid has favorable game one against most of the Legacy metagame and a much more shaky game two and three where the pilot is forced to guess what hate is coming in and will need to board in answers at the cost of speed and is the victim of the opponent's draw regardless.

Ichorid is best suited to play against Counter-Top, Aggro and control and suffers against prison5 and combo. Ichorid plays little mana and can operate at full capacity off one land, doing several things per turn regardless of if a spell resolves or not. A prison deck will capitalize on the lack of mana Ichorid has available to it, while the dredge player may not need the spells to resolve – it is still important for those spells to be cast. As a combo deck Ichorid is slower than rival combo decks and as such loses races. Dredge will mulligan more aggressively than other decks leading it sometimes to lose to its own mulligans. Ichorid also has one final failing, it is a luck based deck meaning that there is little control over the outcome of your game and few, if any opportunities to outplay the opponent.

Enchantress (G/W and G/W/r)

Sometimes called Solitaire, Enchantress is generally categorized in its own archetype of “Enchantress” due to it's highly unique and non-interactive style of play. Essentially Enchantress is a control deck with a combo finish but operates on few of the same principles as other control decks. Enchantress does generate real card advantage through use Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress’s Presence, and Replenish, but shines at how it is able to generate Virtual Card Advantage7 by having no targets for most removal and blanking creature's and burn's effectiveness through cards like Solitary Confinement, Elephant Grass and Moat. Even pinpoint removal such as Krosan Grip is negated by the shroud giving and tutoring Sterling Grove. Counterspells are only a speed bump when Replenish comes riding down the Mountain (it often plays a single Taiga/Plateau)

Enchantress is great against any deck that wants to attack you, Goblins, Merfolk, Zoo, even Counter-Top decks. It will occasionally drop games to things like Pridemage, or not being able to dig out a Solitary Confinement it can even sometimes be Counterbalanced out of a game. Enchantress's best match-up is Ichorid and worst is most any storm combo. These match-ups are so polarized that the only way for Ichorid to win is for Enchantress to do almost nothing. Conversely the only way for Enchantress to beat Storm combo is if mana burn existed and they board in Dark Confidant.

Faeries (U/b and U/b/r)

Faeries is another in a long line of blue aggro-control decks, this one learning on Spell-stutter Sprite, Vendillion Clique and mostly Bitterblossom to win games when paired with a Umezawa's Jitte. Faeries is an amazingly synergistic deck but it’s one of the few tribal decks that is still vulnerable to Engineered Plague. Faeries has done well despite the dominance of Merfolk, Goblins and Zoo which are all tough for the deck. Most of Faeries good matches and tier two and lower decks but it does very well against Reanimator and Ad Nauseum

Faeries is great at playing against and around Counterbalance, playing as tempo decks they generally seize any small misstep the way Goblins or Zoo would and run with it. Because none of the creatures are very good on their own something extra is always needed to win the game when there is no Bitterblossom involved meaning that often times Faeries is playing a two-card combo just to attack. Faeries loses a lot of life to itself and leans on Umezawa's Jitte not only to win the game, but prevent the loss of the game from their own cards.

Bant Survival

Originating as a deck trying to capitalize on the benefits of using Noble Hierarch over Birds of Paradise in a Survival shell, Bant Survival had a few followers but didn’t really seem to be going anywhere. The deck received a huge boost when Iona, Shield of Emeria was printed and now again with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on the beat. Bant Survival plays a lot like NO Bant sans Counterbalance while Survival isn't on-line. Once Survival is on-line the game reduces to a Loyal Retainers based reanimation strategy against most decks or tutoring up numerous Rhox War Monks against aggro decks. Bant Survival attempts to fulfill many roles and doesn't often get to choose; When Survival is on-line it easily win the game, when Survival isn't on-line the game becomes a bit more difficult, stuck as an aggro-control deck with sub-optimal cards and numbers. Bant Survival really startles the line on minimum number of creatures a deck can plan while still utilizing Survival of the fittest. Bant Survival decks play between 18 and 22 creatures where as Elf Survival plays 35, GW Survival lists play29 and RecSur plays 22+.

Bant Survival is going to do well against the midrange decks and some aggro decks, hiding behind walls like Tarmogoyf and Rhox War Monk until the fog of uncertainty clears out and there is a huge flyer on the battlefield. Even though the deck has access to Force of Will, that's really it for the control package and Bant Survival struggles to gain a win against combo decks. Survival as an archetype is simply weak against Ichorid as well. Bant Survival is often backtracking against Merfolk and you can see that in the lists that are running Llawan, Cephalid Empress. The numbers that this deck has put up is makes this deck is a big contender considering the scarcity of Loyal Retainers. It's certainly something to be on the lookout for on a larger-scale tournament.

Landstill (U/W/x)

Landstill is the standby control deck of Legacy using Standstill to draw cards, paired with the pressure of man-lands such as Mishra's Factory and the incredible power of Decree of Justice. Some builds will take advantage of Cunning Wish as a tool-box, Humility and/or Moat as a means of creature control and a package of Planeswalkers to win with. Landstill is formerly a Tier One deck and has fallen from there due to pressure from the increased play of Merfolk, Ichorid and Canadian Thresh and in favor of decks with smoother learning and mana curves.

Landstill is heavily favored against Counter-Top, Prison decks, and most decks that both cast and attack with creatures. Merfolk is the huge reason for the decline of Landstill and has warped the deck's direction. As stated, Ichorid and Canadian Thresh are the other rough matches for this deck. Regarding combo: Landstill faces a balancing match when trying to have enough combo hate to stay competitive and playing enough removal to beat aggro and aggro-control decks. Most combo decks should go from split or unfavorable game one to favorable to highly favorable game two.

Eva Green (B/g Suicide)

B/g suicide, it has placed consistently well throughout the last year-and-a-half. Eva Green the best performing mid-range deck/Rock deck, it is solid against combo and Counter-Top decks but can really struggle against opposing creature-heavy strategies. Eva Green is a deck that should give you the feeling that when you sit down at the table, you’re going to play a game of Magic, the deck has the tools to combat every other game plan in the format and is surprisingly consistent for a non-blue deck.

Belcher

Legacy's all-in, luck-based, storm deck. Playing the deck is easy: You throw your hand on the table and hope that your opponent does not have the appropriate answer. The deck has been unchanged since Shadowmoor came out and has been doing well again as Zoo and Merfolk have taken larger shares of the pie and decks that can handle Belcher have taken smaller sections.

Belcher really wants to play against anything without Force of Will on the play, and anything without Chalice, Trinpshere, [sometimes] Daze, targeted discard effects and Force of Will on the draw. There are plenty of decks that can't do anything to hinder Belcher's game plan, hatebears simply never come down in time and Daze effects often are not good enough. All that stated, Belcher will just lose to a properly placed Force of Will, Belcher will mulligan frequently and it mulligans worse than any other deck, Belcher will lose to itself all the time, and there are plenty of times that putting 14 goblins on the table on turn one surprisingly does not win the game. People play it and do well with it, but you are really going all-in and playing against your opponent's opening seven.

Dream Halls

A relatively new deck on the scene, Dream Halls was unbanned at the same time Entomb was but didn't do anything for months. Then within about a week, two huge tournaments were won by none other and the deck started appearing all over. The deck uses Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors to speed out Dream Halls or Show and Tell, for Dream Halls and will proceed to ether combo out via Conflux or simply put a Progenitus on the table and pass the turn. Builds that are splashing black will use Duress and/or Thoughtseize as protection along with the obvious Force of Will, the rest of the deck is draw and a means to win the game. Dream Halls is basically a 2 card combo: Dream Halls + Progenitus/Conflux + another colored card.

When it first emerged, Dream Halls was very powerful and was doing a lot of winning. It had a couple of things going for it: 1. It was an unknown, no was sure how to play against it. 2. Reanimator had not been present just yet. Dream Halls is positive against most decks that try to attack and one of the deck's real strengths its ability to win around Counterbalance. Dream Halls is also very fast against decks that cannot disrupt, going off as early as turn two. As people learned how to play against the deck, naturally the results stopped coming in as frequently but also, Reanimator appeared and is a terrible pairing for Dream Halls. Dream Halls also tends to be slower than other combo decks and is a bit more likely to be raced by aggro decks due to the use of Thoughtseize + Ancient Tomb, but the deck still has strong surprise factor and is difficult to properly hate.

U/w Thopter Control

An even newer deck to the format, U/w Thopter has been played erratically over the last couple months but this isn't quite the extended port that one may expect. This is a dedicated U/w control deck this only a few cards away for U/w Landstill and in some cases is incorporated into Landstill. This often deck uses Counter-Top to lock the opponent out of the game, and sets up a win with either Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo or simply via Jace or Elspeth. It uses Enlightened Tutor to find any number of Silver Bullets such as Moat, Oblivion Ring, either piece of the Counter-Top combo, either piece of the Thopter-Sword combo or sometimes even Back to Basics.

Thopter Control wants to play in the Counter-top mirror, where its card quality is much higher; it also has very favorable combo match-ups. Because it uses Counterbalance and Islands, it's going to fight an uphill battle against Merfolk and Goblins (Thopter tokens are blue) but it will wrest games from Zoo and it has an easy time with most mid-range and aggro control decks. This is really a deck to look out for as the list becomes more refined and people play with it more.

43lands.dec

A few months ago this deck was seen to be at the top of tier one by many, but in the last five months it hasn't put up the numbers that were expected. Part of this is undoubtedly regarding the availability of the deck's key component: The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. But there is another issue at hand as well; the deck's match-ups were over estimated. Certainly this deck eats Zoo and often Goblins as well. But it was widely known before this past winter that this deck loses to Counter-Top. Lands decks also have a lot of trouble putting the final nail in the coffin so piloting it in large events can result in more unintentional draws than any other deck this side of Stasis. This deck loses to any combo, the deck will often times even lose to a well placed graveyard hate card. Most importantly, 43lands can lose the Merfolk match despite what many had thought. There are a lot of great players that have adopted this as their pet deck and because of such this deck will likely see a lot of changes and a few more placings in the coming months.

Canadian Threshold

This is the final deck that will be covered because something interesting happened. Prior to the Grand Prix, this deck Top 8ed 19 times in events with 49 or more people. After the Grand Prix it Top 8ed twice. Either the deck fell out of favor in a startling way or the metagame has shifted to a point where it's barely playable. It’s still a deck that people will play, and it’s still a deck that can win games but it’s worth noting that this deck may need to be shelved for a while unless it can undergo some serious revamping, as the deck has been practically unchanged with the exclusion of occasional additions of Vendillion Clique, Grim Lavamancer or Trygon Predator, where as decks with white have gained access to Qasali Pridemage and Knight of the Reliquary.

Blurbs on Other Decks

It is not to say that the above decks are likely to be the only decks you encounter in Legacy there are easily upwards of 60 playable decks in the format with new ones appearing all the time and I'd like to spend a little time on some of the less common decks that are out there:

B/g Dark Depths – Its performed a few times but it is looking to perform a lot of roles without the tools to do all of them well, it is a deck that can still use some refining and is showing up a bit.

U/W Tempo (A.K.A. No Goyf) – A joke of the Legacy community, the deck has put up some respectable numbers but it isn't clear if this deck is going to become a big contender at the top.

Dragon Stompy – Previously a deck to play, Dragon Stompy is explosive and disruptive, but the problem has been that it isn't consistent. Mana bases are beginning to get shaky again so if Dragon Stompy gets another solid creature it may start to do well again.

Team America - This deck was played a lot about a year ago, but has really fallen in popularity. It only has 8-10 creatures and is looking at a mana denial plan so decks like Goblins and Zoo are able to out aggro it, this deck has had a couple of good performances recently but Tombstalker may just be outclassed by Knight of the Reliquary.

Dreadstill – Not too long ago this deck was everywhere, but recently the numbers have really fallen, although there was a big placing at the Bazaar of Moxen IV. Dreadstill is a powerful control deck but is likely one of the many victims of Qasali Pridemage's cat-attack.

Stax – Another deck that has really seen a lot less play since Pridemage came about, it’s still very strong and the different flavors of it still periodically do well. If Zoo’s numbers start to diminish, Stax variants may make a comeback.

Misc Survival – Actually a deck that has done well, these are Survival decks that are either RGSA (Red Green, Survival Advantage) RecSur, or just Rock-like decks using Survival as a toolbox enabler. This is to say that Bant Survival is not the only brew of Survival that has done well.

Elf Survival – Not putting up the numbers that were expected of it, Elf Survival is an aggro-combo deck with Natural Order that is fairly solid.

Burn/Sligh – These decks play fewer creatures than Zoo, it's generally a budget deck but they do have some decent match-ups and can steal games from people. These decks will likely always be in their own tier.

Pox – Another budget deck that pops up everywhere. The deck can only win if they have more resources than you but every time they cast Smallpox, they can at best break even. Strangely Pox can steal games from combo, Enchantress, Zoo, and many mid-range decks. Like Burn, it will likely always be in its own tier as a deck that is often incapable of winning a tournament because this control deck purposefully ignores the rules of Card Advantage.

End of the Beginning

While I did complain at the start of the article about the pain of introductory articles. I feel that this one is important because so many of the articles written about Legacy and so much of the discussion that happens in the forums is based mostly on opinions, feelings and little-so on fact and hard data. This is the state of the metagame and this is where the first batches of testing and analysis will occur. Legacy is a rich and vibrant format with a lot of room for innovation. I’ve enjoyed Legacy for years and am eager to see where it goes in the future. With the build up for the Grand Prix in Columbus I’m excited to see what sort of tech comes out in the final seconds and to see where Legacy goes after the tournament.

End Notes:

1. Counter-Top - This is in reference to Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top. This combination allows you not only to fix draws but produce a variable lock on the mana costs of 0-2 and sometimes 3-4 as well. This is a very powerful strategy that will take many decks out of the game and comes on-line as early as turn three. Additionally, this can refer to a cross section of aggro-control decks that aim to use Counter-Top to establish control before turning to the aggressive role.
2. Metagame - "Game within the game" originally from Role Playing Games and seen as a negative because it means that you are taking outside knowledge and applying it to your character. In Magic however, which is a competitive game it is a necessary tool and something that every player does without recognizing it. There are three major types of metagames that these articles will be concerned with.

   1. The Legacy Metagame - This is the state of which decks are popular at the time, this phrase is designed to help explain large-scale trends
   2. The Local Metagame - This is what people are playing around you and more to the root of what Metagame means. If you keep losing to Ichorid, you may want to metagame against that deck with additional graveyard hate, shift your deck to incorporate maindeck disruption for the deck or play a deck that has a much easier time with the Ichorid. Metagaming is essential to doing well at small scale, regular events.

3. Hatebear - This is the nickname given to all manner of 2/X creatures around the CMC 2 range that are aimed at disrupting a [combo] deck. Common examples are Gaddock Teeg, Meddling Mage, Ethersowrn Cannonist, Yxilid Jailer, Aven Mindcensor and Magus of the Moon
4. CC - Meaning Casting Cost. This is the older abbreviation used where CMC is used now - its one less character and considering that "Cast" is once again in the Magic jargon, likely highly acceptable as shorthand. An Example of use for this abbreviation, "If you're going to cast a 7CC card, it had better win the game." Where the number represents the total cost of the card, be it 5WW, 6R or just 7 colorless.
5. Prison - Used to describe Stax and Stax-like decks, prison decks are about creating a game state where the board is locked down with cards such as Crucible of Worlds, Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void, Ghostly Prison/Propaganda Magus of the Tabernacle/The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Smokestack - creatures can't attack, spells can't be played. They generally aim to get a win out of a concession, and have little in the way of win conditions
6. Card Advantage - I cannot tell you who invented the phrase "Card Advantage" But I can tell you who did all the work to introduce the concept to people, his name is Oscar Tan. Every one of his articles is a wellspring of knowledge even if it has to do with the Vintage metagame seven years ago. The concept is straight forward but the explanation for Card Advantage is a bit lengthy so I will link to a few separate posts about it that cover many of the same things.

   Back form when Magic Articles had some meat to them:

   Tempo and Card Advantage

   Counting Card Advantage

   Recounting Card Advantage

   Revisiting Card Advantage Part 1

   Revisiting Card Advantage Part 2

7. Virtual Card Advantage - See links above.
8. Silver Bullet - A Silver Bullet is a card, generally a permanent that is a one-of that creates virtual card advantage against certain decks or stops a key card in the opponent's deck from working properly. Examples: Moat [Against Goblins, Merfolk, Zoo,] Solitary Confinement [against Burn, Duress, Hymn to Tourach] Pithing Needle [against Wasteland, Engineered Explosives] Propaganda [against a horde of creatures]