For some players, the idea of playing the Legacy format is intimidating. Cards like Force of Will and Wasteland are a little crazy compared to the ones available in Standard and Modern. One thing that is often said about Legacy is that it is an expensive format, and while that statement isn’t wrong, it is a lot cheaper than you might think in the long run.
Take the current standard format for example, and look at the top decks. Here is a list of the Top 8 decks and their respective total price (using TCG’s Mid price) from the recent GP in Chicago:
Take the current standard format for example, and look at the top decks. Here is a list of the Top 8 decks and their respective total price (using TCG’s Mid price) from the recent GP in Chicago:
Deck Price
1st - Mono Black Devotion ~$310
2nd - Mono Black Devotion ~$310
3rd - Azorious Control ~$300
4th - Mono Black Devotion ~$300
5th - Mono Blue Devotion ~$250
6th - Azorious Control ~$300
7th - BG Devotion ~$375
8th - BR Devotion ~$350
Notice that in all of these decks, the price hovers around $300. To contrast, your average Legacy deck costs significantly more. For example, here is another Top-8 list from the SCG Open in Las Vegas (prices using TCG Mid again):
Deck Price
1st - Burn ~$600
2nd - U/W Miracles ~$3,300
3rd - Elves ~$2,000
4th - Elves ~$2,000
5th - U/W/R Delver ~$3,500
6th - Belcher ~$300
7th - Elves ~$2,000
8th - BUG Delver ~$4,500
The average price on these decks is much higher, but there are two important factors to note when looking at these lists.
1. There are 2 decks in this top 8 that cost under $1,000.
2. The cards in these decks will never rotate.
I want to expand on #2 a little bit here. Say you are planning to purchase a car, and you already have $5,000 saved. You have two choices:
1. Use the $5,000 you have to buy a used car that might last you 5-6 years, or
2. Wait and save more money until you can buy a new or new-used car for $20,000+ that will last you 15-20 years (assuming you take care of it)
This same principle can be applied to playing Legacy over Standard. In Standard, you only ever get to use the cards you spend $250-300 for a year until they no longer are legal in the format. While some players argue that this is a good thing because it keeps the format fresh, I argue that it is a horrible return on investment. Spending $300+ every time a new set is released to get the newest cards isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when you total up the cost to build the numerous Standard decks you would build even over the course of 2-3 years, you could have purchased even one of the more expensive Legacy decks which will never rotate out (unless of course those cards get banned, but that’s a different topic for a different day).
All of this being said, I would like to discuss a few tips for those who want to enter the Legacy scene but are unsure where to start.
Step 1 - Pick a deck that suits your playstyle
We all like playing different kinds of decks. Some people prefer the more aggressive aggro route, while others tend to lean towards the control-oriented strategy. In Legacy, all styles of decks are available. I actually started playing Legacy with Merfolk,. and I would argue it’s one of the best decks to start the format with if you are unsure what deck you want to play. It’s kind of a mix between aggro and control, since you put your opponent off of resources with Wasteland and counter magic, while beating them down with fishies.
Step 2 - Proxy decks until you find one that suits you
Picking your deck is probably the hardest part about the format, since there are so many to choose from. One thing that my circle of friends do when we are unsure of what deck to play is simply to proxy the entire deck and jam as many games as possible to see if you enjoy playing it. If you enjoy it, or don’t get bored with it very quickly, you can start to acquire pieces to build it. Far too often I see people who will just spend the money on expensive Legacy cards just to sell them off and build a different deck 1-2 weeks later. Not only is this a waste of money, but constantly switching decks will never make you better at playing since you can’t concentrate on mastering one strategy.
Step 3 - Find a LGS that hosts Legacy events
Hopefully your LGS (local game store) already hosts Legacy events, and if so, great! If not, you might want to talk to other players at the store to see if there is enough interest to even warrant a weekly or bi-weekly event. My LGS hosts events every Thursday night, and we usually have anywhere between 8-16 people depending on the week. When we first started hosting these events however, there were many weeks we would only get 3-4 people to play. Don’t get discouraged if it takes time to build a playerbase. Like I said earlier, Legacy can be an expensive and intimidating format to those unfamiliar, so it may take time to convince enough people to play.
Step 4 - Start playing Legacy, and stick with your deck!
Like I said before, the best way to play Legacy is to pick a deck and stick with it until you master it. I’ve been playing BUG Delver for over a year now, and I have piloted it to moderate success at our weekly Legacy events. I even made it to the quarter-finals of a Win-A-Mox event about a month ago, winning a Rishadan Port as my 3rd/4th place prize!
(For a full write up, you can find it on Reddit herehttp://www.reddit.com/r/MTGLegacy/comments/25wq4p/writeup_top4_with_bug_delver_at_a_36man_winamox/)
Step 5 - Tweak your deck for your local meta
Most lists you find online for Legacy decks are pretty generalized to fight against an unknown meta. If you’re going to be playing Legacy mostly at your LGS to start, you may want to tune your deck to fight the decks other local players will be playing. This isn’t to say you should hate out specific decks or players, but moreso you should tune your list to have a decent matchup against your local meta and/or any large tournaments you may want to attend in the future.
For example, my meta has a lot of Sneak & Show and U/W Miracles running around, so I have found room for 3 copies of Spell Pierce in my maindeck.
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And there you have it, five simple steps on how to start playing Legacy. This is obviously not a catch all process, but I think that for any players who are interested in breaking into the “most expensive” format, this is a great process to move into it slowly without wasting any time or money.
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