This week we return to legacy for our power rankings and what an exciting week it was. As always the power rankings are done by going through the top top decks of a given event or weekend, and assigning points based on finish. 6 points for 1st place, 5 for 2nd, 4 for top 4, 3 for top 8, 2 for top 16, and 1 for top 32 if available.
5-Infect 6 points
Legacy infect is similar but very distinct from its modern counterpart, still capable of blazing fast kills the power level of Berserk and Invigorate mean that you need less cards to kill quickly. Inversely the power level of legacy means that you need more interaction for your opponent so removing some of the less powerful pump spells allows the deck to play Force of Will and Daze to disrupt the opponent and protect your own combo.
Infect by Tom Ross
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Pendelhaven
1 Sylvan Library
1 Become Immense
2 Berserk
4 Brainstorm
1 Crop Rotation
3 Daze
3 Force of Will
4 Invigorate
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vines of Vastwood
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Ponder
SB: 1 Necropede
SB: 1 Viridian Corrupter
SB: 1 Seal of Primordium
SB: 1 Crop Rotation
SB: 1 Dismember
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Force of Will
SB: 1 Hydroblast
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Submerge
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 1 Wasteland
SB: 1 Karakas
4-Miracles 9 points
Sometime playing magic is an art but sometimes it’s a science and when it comes to Miracles it is definitely a science. Relying on the powerful miracle mechanic from Avacyn Restored with Sensei’s Divining Top to keep the floating near the top of your deck until you need them. Which also interacts with Counterbalance by giving you agency over what cards are on top of your deck to reveal allowing you to counter more of your opponent’s spells. Miracles is a true control deck trying to keep safe in a hostile and inhospitable world.
Miracles by Rich Cali
2 Monastery Mentor
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Island
2 Plains
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Council’s Judgment
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Ponder
3 Terminus
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Izzet Staticaster
SB: 1 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Rest in Peace
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Wear
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
3-Lands 10 points
I managed to avoid talking about this deck last time we were on Legacy but couldn’t get there this time #neverlucky. Lands is a deck that primarily wins with its lands. Surprising I know but there are a couple of ways it can accomplish this. First by combining Dark Depths and Thespian’s Stage to make a 20/20 creature and instant speed, and using life from the loam to keep bringing them back as many times as needed. Second by using either Molten Vortex or a Punishing Fire engine with Grove of the Burnwillows, this is obviously a grindier win but is much more powerful at disrupting your opponent’s creatures. You combine these 2 powerful strategies with a very constricting Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Maze of Ith control plan, this deck can be almost impossible to outlast.
Lands by David Long
1 Forest
1 Bayou
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Glacial Chasm
3 Maze of Ith
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Rishadan Port
3 Taiga
4 Thespian’s Stage
2 Tranquil Thicket
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Dark Depths
4 Mox Diamond
4 Exploration
3 Molten Vortex
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Crop Rotation
4 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
SB: 2 Sphere of Resistance
SB: 3 Dark Confidant
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 1 Duress
SB: 4 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Dark Depths
2-Grixis delver 12 points
In a world of lawlessness and degeneracy someone has to keep the peace, and that someone is Delver of Secrets. An extremely disruptive strategy of wastelands and cheap permission and interaction makes Delver a nightmare for the unprepared. When you back up all of this disruption with powerful cheap creatures like its name sake as well as Young Pyromancer and Deathrite Shaman it can give you very little time to recover from the early disruption. Delver has been a major mainstay in Legacy for years and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; due to the fact that its disruption is powerful against every strategy that relies on having lands in play or casting spells.
Grixis Delver by Noah Walker
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Gurmag Angler
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Pierce
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Forked Bolt
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Baleful Strix
SB: 1 Grim Lavamancer
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Darkblast
SB: 1 Dismember
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Cabal Therapy
SB: 2 Painful Truths
1-Eldrazi 18 points
So, this is new a legacy take on the modern Eldrazi deck with twice as many lands that produce multiple mana and a format much more punished by chalice of the void this is a new take on an old favorite deck that the worst people you know play called stompy that basically tries to lock you out of casting spells with chalice of the void and thorn of amethyst and then kill you with whatever threats they can scrounge up. Well now they have certainly found a powerful one in the form of the new Eldrazi from Oath of the Gatewatch. What remains to be seen is if the strategy is still viable in the modern era, however at least this week it has turned Legacy on its head.
Eldrazi by Gerry Thompson
4 Eldrazi Mimic
1 Endbringer
4 Endless One
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Traitors
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Wasteland
3 Eye of Ugin
1 Karakas
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Mox Diamond
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Dismember
1 Warping Wail
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Sphere of Resistance
SB: 3 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Dismember
SB: 3 Warping Wail
SB: 2 Umezawa’s Jitte
SB: 2 All Is Dust