Legacy Metagame: MTGO Challenge Champions (1/21 & 1/22)
Card: Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath | Art: Vincent Proce
Hello fellow Legacy lovers! This is Curt, swooping in to provide a bit of commentary on this past weekend’s MTGO Legacy Challenge results!
Bolt the Bird's Nick Norman regularly reviews MTGO’s weekend Modern Challenge Champions, and in that vein, I will be reviewing what happened in Legacy over the weekend.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
Legacy MTGO Saturday Challenge Results
Hammertime - CrusherBotBG
Izzet Murktide - _INF_
Aluren - otaba
Izzet Delver – 2plus2isfive
Death & Taxes w/ Yorion - yoshiwata
White Stompy - mattsoree
Death’s Shadow - Oceansoul92
White Stompy - _Batutinha_
Full list is here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper (https://feremiyjeenyus.github.io/mtgo-results-scraper/)
Legacy MTGO Sunday Challenge Results
4C Control -- _moose_
Izzet Delver – kentaro_hokori
Painter – utley26
Izzet Delver – duke12
White Stompy - micrograms
Azorius Control - SenpaiBlank
Helm Combo - abombdiggity
Hammertime – CrusherBotBG
Full list is here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper (https://feremiyjeenyus.github.io/mtgo-results-scraper/)
Top Decks
Izzet Murktide, despite rumors of its demise, continues to put up results with four copies appearing in the weekend’s action. No matter where you come down on Initiative, this deck has the bones to compete in the hands of a skilled operator and won’t be going away anytime soon. Not to be left out was White Stompy, itself placing three copies this weekend.
What did surprise me was the appearance of Hammertime, taking Saturday’s challenge with what I dare to call a vanilla deck list. 4C Control, supported by Uro, took down the Sunday challenge showing that this deck has what it takes to survive in the current meta.
I was surprised at the absence of the usual suspects of Legacy. Painter placed one copy this weekend, but Elves, Reanimator, and Doomsday were nowhere to be found.
Death & Taxes had a good showing this weekend, with a somewhat stock list aside from the inclusion of a single Initiative creature. I'm curious to know if this tech helped turn the tide in any of the matches. D&T seems to have been relegated to lower tiers with the emergence of White Stompy, but it's nice to see there are still folks willing to pilot this deck to the top.
Aluren, ever a historic staple, placed this weekend, as did the classic Helms / Leyline combo deck.
I would be remiss to note the appearance of Death’s Shadow as well, a deck more geared toward the Modern format.
Hammertime
Looking deeper at Hammertime, there wasn’t anything super special that landed this deck at the top. The inclusion of Retrofitter Foundry is interesting and combos well with Urza’s Saga, littering the board with plenty of chump blockers while also pumping up any construct tokens. Ancient Den is also a smart move, further adding to the ability to quickly pump up construct tokens.
Citizen’s Crowbar is an interesting inclusion, able to combo out with Sigarda’s Aid and flash onto the battlefield at the end of an opponent’s turn only to destroy something on the next turn. I could see this being useful against several artifacts in the format and is something most opponents won’t account for in their gameplay.
4C Control
Uro continues to make its presence known, yet again putting up a top finish. Despite the fact that Izzet Murtkide and White Stompy get all the press, 4C Uro has been putting up respectable results week after week. I wonder if the fact that it takes a bit of skill to pilot this deck has led to fewer people crying for a restriction on anything in the deck?
Four copies of Uro, followed up by three copies of Minsc & Boo represent a formidable front for any opponent.
Looking at this deck, it is very linear, with the bulk of disruption and cantrips coming in at one or two mana value. With four copies each of Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending, there isn’t much this deck can’t absorb without stiff push-back. The only notable absence I see in this list is Fable of the Mirror Breaker which I have seen included in some brews to help with mana fixing.
One of the big weaknesses I see in this deck is its soft spot for Blood Moon and Chalice of the Void. However, that has not stopped this deck from continuing to put up great results week after week and is attributable to the pilot’s ability to plan for these cards hitting the table.
Helm Combo
I can respect a good under-the-radar combo deck like this! The classic Helm of Obedience / Leyline of the Void combo still has what it takes to hang with the current meta! The list that placed this week included some stock cards such as Dauthi Voidwalker and Opposition Agent. Also digging the Chrome Mox here, enabling a turn-one Dauthi, something any opponent needs to respect. Shoring up the second line of attack was some new tech in the form of Sheoldred and Phyrexian Fleshgorger.
I also dig the respect for Initiative decks with the inclusion of Nemesis Trap and Sarevok’s Tome (what?!)
Death & Taxes w/ Yorion
I have felt sort of bad for D&T players as of late. Their deck has been pushed to the sidelines with the emergence of White Stompy. That is why I smiled to see how well they did up until the end, putting what was mostly a stock D&T list into the Top 8. There was one copy of Seasoned Dungeoneer which I think would be interesting to know if any games were swayed by the inclusion. With four copies each of Swords to Plowshares and Solitude, to go with two copies of Touch the Spirit Realm, it must have been frustrating to play against this deck with that amount of creature removal.
Still, it is nice to see an old stalwart of the format still able to hang with the new kids on the block!
Takeaways
I pulled up the weekend results fully expecting to see White Stompy overrunning the competition, and while the archetype did put up some top finishes, the route to the winner’s circle clearly did not go through the Undercity. Has the meta finally figured out how to temper the hotness of White Stompy?
Izzet Delver continues to place decks in the top of the field each weekend. It really is hard to argue with this recipe. Each deck contained some sort of tech to battle the White Stompy decks too so maybe that is enough to retain its claim of being the best deck in the format.
I also liked seeing the smattering of other decks that don’t normally place high in a weekend challenge. D&T’s appearance shows that maybe it still has a place at the table. It could also be that the meta has been shaken up enough for other archetypes to creep into the top of the field as we see with decks like Helm Combo and Death & Taxes placing near the top.
I look forward to seeing next weekend’s results to see if someone else has brought back an out-of-favor deck to compete in what has become a wide-open new meta!
That is all the space I have this time around. I hope that this was an entertaining read and generates a little bit of controversy among you Legacy folks out there!
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