Dylan Hovey analyzes the Legacy metagame and what may have the upper hand this weekend when playing Magic’s legendary format.

Between SCG Syracuse and the Magic Online MCQ, I’ve got Legacy on the brain. After immersing myself into the format, we’re going to figure out where the format is and what decks are well-positioned.

We have to start with the best Wrenn and Six deck at the moment.

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This is the new breed of RUG Delver, or as some are calling “No Bad Cards RUG”.

This deck has emerged as a top contender after the dust that Modern Horizon kicked up has settled. My favorite part of this deck is the Crop Rotation innovation, Delver decks used to have to touch black in order to fight Marit Laige. Jarvis and friends found a way to keep the mana clean while having a good answer to the 20/20, not to mention another way to set up Wrenn and Six + Wasteland locks when that’s relevant.

I’ve been pretty partial to a similar deck to the one above.

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The decks play out similarly, one just trades a bit of consistency for more power, and a better combo match up. Right now, I don’t think you can go wrong with a delver deck as long as it has Wrenn and Six and Tarmogoyf in it.

The next deck that I think is very well positioned is Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT). ANT has a great Delver match up and takes advantage of limited Chalice of the Void decks in the metagame.

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I’m not a proficient ANT pilot, full transparency, as I’ve never sleeved the deck up, but I have a lot of respect for ANT. A combo deck that can either pick apart strategies or punch a hole in interaction is a good way to play around soft countermagic, or inform yourself how to cantrip.

The last deck that I think is a top contender is Dark Depths.

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(Four copies of Elvish Reclaimer not shown above)

Dark Depths is succeeding right now because the format isn’t ready to deal with a 20/20. There aren’t many Swords to Plowshares running around, and as we saw with the Wrenn and Six Delver decks, they’re either playing stretched mana bases or odd cards to combat the 20/20.

Depths is another deck like ANT that forces through their combo with discard spells or slows their opponent down with the discard spells. If the last two decks have shown us anything, it’s that the format is susceptible to discard spells right now, and these two decks abuse them.

So right now the top decks look like Wrenn and Six Delver, ANT, and Dark Depths. So when a metagame is established there are always ways to attack it. Each of these decks is susceptible to various early lock pieces, and the best deck to do that is Mono-Red Prison.

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Bloodmoon and Chalice of the Void are either individual knockouts against each of the top decks or in tandem, they lock the opponent out of playing the game entirely. Not to mention a quick disruptive piece backed up by the Goblins or Karn will end the game quickly. Potent disruption and aggression is always a good combination, and now the lock pieces out of Mono-Red are positioned well.

The last deck that may be poised for a good weekend is Stoneblade, a deck that I’m considering for this weekend’s Magic online MCQ, here’s the list I’ve been working on.

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Stoneblade’s are on the downswing, Miracles is unplayable and people are starting to put down the Astrolabe Wrenn and Six decks. When looking at the top decks, Stoneblade should have a good game against the Tarmogoyf Delver decks because of how well the removal lines up with their creatures, but the pilot must have a good plan for Wrenn and Six.

Another matchup where Stoneblade shines is when playing against Depths. Repeated answers to a 20/20, resilient threats, and card advantage engines that are difficult for Dark Depths to interact with make this a pretty favored matchup for Stoneblade. A weird aspect of Stoneblade is that it’s the ponder deck that is good against Chalice of the Void, so if you want to play a blue deck while still beating Chalice, Stoneblade is a good option.

You can’t go wrong registering some Tarmogoyf Delver deck, ANT, and Dark Depths. They’re the best decks at the moment, they attack the format from the correct angles and take advantage of their worst matchups being underplayed. My sleeper picks for this weekend are Mono-Red Prison and Stoneblade. These decks have even to great matchups against the top decks while having strong proactive draws.

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