Eternal Masters is out on MTGO. Many players anticipated Eternal Masters so that they could finally buy the cards they need in order to start playing Legacy (for example, Daze used to be very expensive on Magic Online. It will cost a fraction of what it currently costs when EMA is released). The players hope that Legacy staples will be finally affordable at least for a short time after EMA is released. I would like to use this occasion to write about the Legacy format because in June there is a high possibility that players will want to try out Legacy for the first time. New players will hopefully venture into the format, but without prior experience the beginning may be harsh. I'd like to introduce Legacy to new or less experienced players and talk a bit about some of the Legacy decks one might encounter at Legacy tournaments, be it online or in real life.

Legacy is a very skill intensive format and requires a different skill set than other formats. It offers a lot though, and it is very rewarding and fun! Since Legacy is so vast it is very difficult to talk about it in general or to shortly introduce someone to the format. Many decks are viable and players tend to gravitate to a deck they like to play sooner or later. This creates a highly diverse metagame since many of these decks are not the tier 1 decks that win big events or are commonly seen as winners of Legacy Leagues or Premier events. Do not be fooled though, these decks that might seem as someone's pet deck are powerful!

Legacy as we know it was created in 2004. It was preceded by Type 1.5 which was more or less Type 1 without Power Nine. Restricted cards from Type 1 were banned in Type 1.5. In 2004 the format was renamed to Legacy and it got its first dedicated banlist. It became a very different format (The same fate awaited Type 1/Vintage that also got a new Restricted list) and it took a while until Legacy as a format stabilized.

I've been pondering about what defines Legacy for a long time but couldn't come up with it. I should have asked a different question though 'Why do I play Legacy?'. I started playing Legacy because no other format allowed me to play the decks I wanted. Legacy is a vast format and thus speaks mainly to long time players. In order to cater to these players Legacy needs to be complex and needs to allow players to play deck archetypes from the whole of Magic history. There are decks that play a totally different game, be it Storm, Dredge, Death and Taxes or Reanimator. This makes Legacy relatively difficult for beginners to learn. A lot of experience is needed in order to be a good Legacy player. There are many viable decks and one needs to learn how to play against them all. Since Legacy decks try to be as powerful as they can be within the limits of the banlist. There are many plays or cards that can seem broken. A player starting to play Legacy needs to accept this fact and get used to it.

Legacy Banlist Advantageous Proclamation

Amulet of Quoz

Ancestral Recall

Backup Plan

Balance

Bazaar of Baghdad

Black Lotus

Brago's Favor

Bronze Tablet

Channel

Chaos Orb

Contract from Below

Darkpact

Demonic Attorney

Demonic Consultation

Demonic Tutor

Dig Through Time

Double Stroke

Earthcraft

Falling Star

Fastbond

Flash

Frantic Search

Goblin Recruiter

Gush Hermit Druid

Immediate Action

Imperial Seal

Iterative Analysis

Jeweled Bird

Library of Alexandria

Mana Crypt

Mana Drain

Mana Vault

Memory Jar

Mental Misstep

Mind Twist

Mind's Desire

Mishra's Workshop

Mox Emerald

Mox Jet

Mox Pearl

Mox Ruby

Mox Sapphire

Muzzio's Preparations

Mystical Tutor

Necropotence

Oath of Druids

Power Play

Rebirth Secret Summoning

Secrets of Paradise

Sentinel Dispatch

Shahrazad

Skullclamp

Sol Ring

Strip Mine

Survival of the Fittest

Tempest Efreet

Time Vault

Time Walk

Timetwister

Timmerian Fiends

Tinker

Tolarian Academy

Treasure Cruise

Unexpected Potential

Vampiric Tutor

Wheel of Fortune

Windfall

Worldknit

Yawgmoth's Bargain

Yawgmoth's Will

Any card except those cards on the banlist can be played (there are cards banned due because they are too powerful, Conspiracy cards, cards requiring manual dexterity and Shahrazad). All the broken cards that can be played in Vintage are banned in Legacy which means that Legacy players need to find the second best card to do these broken things. If you can't play Oath of Druids there is still Show and Tell to cheat Griselbrand or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in play. If you don't have access to Yawgmoth's Will, to some Past in Flames will suffice. Bazaar of Baghdad is not legal in Legacy but graveyard strategies are potent, Dredge and Reanimator are certainly decks you can play because there are other cards that allow us to put cards in graveyard (Breakthrough, Lion's Eye Diamond, Entomb etc.)

Apart from being the most vast format, Legacy is also the most consistent format there is. This is mainly due to two different things - mana base and library manipulation/card selection spells. Having access to fetchlands and original dual lands makes 2-3 color decks very stable and efficient. Since library manipulating cards like Brainstorm or Ponder are not restricted or banned in this format a player has a lot of control over his library and thus it should not surprise anyone that Brainstorm is one of the defining cards of Legacy.

Since decks can be very consistent, they can become lethal very fast. Due to this many decks need to have an answer to such decks usually in the form of Force of Will - an iconic card that allows us to fight against turn 1 or turn 2 combo kills or helps us deal with cards we cannot deal with otherwise.

A Legacy deck is a mix of cards that are needed to fight against early combo kills or cards like Show and Tell and cards that help to execute a strategic plan to win the game. Legacy is not about a single card winning the game, usually more cards are needed in order to win it (for example Vintage is more about a single card winning the game). This format is more about synergy and game plan rather than about sheer power of individual cards. Many decks can be built and many strategies work. The deck does not need to be Tier 1 in order to win a Legacy event. Budget deck exist in Legacy but it is not like in other formats where the price of the deck can be very low. In the case of Legacy a budget deck can cost around 500USD (250 tix) or even more. That is a very small price compared to 3000USD (500-1000tix) price many decks have. Some decks are known to be played more in their budget version - Reanimator, Infect, Dredge (Manaless version), Death and Taxes (more like true White Weenie deck in this case), and Belcher. Non-blue decks are less expensive in general (for example Lands won't cost less, neither will Jund) but that usually shifts the price range to 1500USD-2000USD which can hardly be called 'budget' (doesn't really work on Magic Online, non-blue decks still cost 500-900tix).

Now I'd like to shortly introduce the most favorite decks that a player can encounter in Legacy.

I'm sure that this article convinced you that Legacy is indeed a very vast format providing a player with endless possibilities for deckbuilding. There are many decks still to be discovered featuring new or old cards. A player can also choose to play a deck to reminisce the old times. I can only hope that Eternal Masters will not only raise the awareness of older formats, but will also provide players with the opportunity to try Legacy out, and get hooked on the skill intensity required, unlimited deck building possibilities and great community both in real life and online.