Eternal Masters is happening. I wanna get into legacy now. Any tips?
Legacy forum
Posted on Feb. 15, 2016, noon by ToolmasterOfBrainerd
Eternal masters is a thing. I'm well aware it won't change prices too much, but the increased availability of cards and flux of new players to the format is likely going to make this the best time to get into legacy pretty much ever, except for when mtg first started.
So, how do I get into legacy? I really like Stoneforge Mystic; is Stoneblade a good deck that I should try to build up to? Is deathblade still a thing or is that a bad idea? I've heard stoneblade is on the fall because of the Dig ban, so should I not try to buy into it because of that?
My favorite cards are probably Baleful Strix, True-Name Nemesis, and Stoneforge Mystic. Is there a deck where I could play all 3? I can't afford Goyf or really anything that's too expensive. I already have 2 Snapcaster Mage, a modern grixis manabase (no scalding tarns though), 1 Engineered Explosives, and 2 each of Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. I believe all of those cards see legacy play and I'd like to use them if I can.
I don't plan on trying to get ABURs. Am I going to auto-lose because of that? Can I reasonably play stoneblade without them?
Any tips in general? I definitely plan on proxying up the deck to make sure I like it and play it on untap.in extensively before I pick up the expensive pieces.
Thanks!
GoldGhost012 says... #3
You could try building the new Eldrazi Shop deck if you dont want to buy duals.
February 15, 2016 12:08 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #4
Depending on the deck, you don't need a whole lot of duals (2-4 Tundra per list). You may be able to get away with Hallowed Fountains. I would not recommend trying Jeskai or Esper stone blade/deathblade because the extra color makes the deck hit close to $2400. I'm seeing most UW lists for $1400ish, if you don't run Zendikar fetches or Tundras you'll have a pretty cheap deck.
From what I've heard it's not an overpowered deck but it's very fun to play and and can do quite well.
February 15, 2016 12:08 p.m. Edited.
GlistenerAgent says... #5
Esper Stoneblade is a fine deck that uses all the cards you mentioned.
Don't play a three-color deck if you don't plan on getting ABURs. You'll lose a lot of games you could be winning and won't be having as much fun.
My recommendation is to find a deck you really like. Try everything, even the stupid decks that you don't think you will like to see if you enjoy the playstyle. Do your research (MtGCoverage.com is good for seeing good players play decks), and make an informed decision.
February 15, 2016 12:08 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #6
With esper, I have to believe that the third color gains its expense from Underground Sea, more fetches, and Thoughtseize, since those and Lingering Souls are the only black cards I think they run. I've been playing stoneblade every once in awhile on untap.in for a few months now and those are the only black cards in the deck. Normally I'd agree, but since I already have every single black card in the deck plus a Watery Grave, I'm tempted to try it. That said, the additional life loss from the manabase is a thing. I'll do a lot of testing of that to see if it works okay or if it screws me.
Thanks for the tips guys (and gal).
The Force and Jace are what I'm scared of trying to get, since combined they're like $600 of the deck.
February 15, 2016 12:15 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #7
Forces will probably never go down - even though they're being reprinted, they're at mythic and will probably remain fairly rare. They're a pretty good buy because many decks use them - you'll always be able to find someone looking for forces. You can find them for about $80 (or less if they're SP/MP) so they're not as expensive as you think. I'm not sure how necessary the Jaces are, perhaps you could replace them with something else.
Is running Thoughtseize and Lingering Souls worth the extra money? I feel like running 3 color with shocks is a recipe for disaster.
February 15, 2016 2:10 p.m. Edited.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #8
The only way to find out is to test it :)
The only reason I'm considering a black splash is because I already own all of the black cards because of my modern deck and I don't plan on trading them away. I'd love to build the deck without Jace if he doesn't get reprinted or if he stays expensive even if reprinted. I'll test it with and without the black splash. If it proves to be too painful, then I'll just play UW.
This spring I'll have to hit some garage sales to try and find some old collections. Force was an uncommon and worthless back in the day, so given enough Saturdays to drive around and find garage sales, I should be able to hopefully find a few Forces. Otherwise, you're right, there will always be people buying Force of Will, so just buying them and selling them later isn't a bad option.
February 15, 2016 2:22 p.m. Edited.
gnarlicide says... #9
Buy your duals now. Its tax season, so it should be easy. If you don't then you will fall victim to the rising prices of duals since more people will be wanting to build legacy decks. Good luck.
I built mine years ago, so I might be out of touch.
February 15, 2016 3:34 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #10
bah, play burn! the only really expensive things you will need are Goblin Guide and Chain Lightning
February 15, 2016 4:16 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #11
Gnarl, I'm still a high school student, so I don't have that kind of money. If I did, I'd totally get my duals now since they're going to go up, but I simply don't have that ability.
But if I wanted to play burn, I'd play standard burn, since I'm pretty sure the playstyle is about the same. If I'm getting into legacy, I want to get the full legacy experience. And, no offense, but I just find burn to be boring. It's not who I am.
Although from a budget perspective, burn is a great option.
February 15, 2016 4:29 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #12
well yeah, there isn't too much thinking involved in burn, well except there can be on when to properly shoot that bolt and stuff. but for the most part, tap, zap, repeat.
from a budget standpoint and being in HS, burn can be a good place to start and then you could always get the pieces to make it a modern burn deck as time goes on.
February 15, 2016 4:41 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #13
That's true, although I already have a modern deck.
Hey wait a sec. My modern deck is grixis. Why don't I just build legacy grixis delver? I'll still build without the ABURs, but Wasteland is going to drop since it's a rare in EMA and the rest of the pieces I need are Young Pyromancer, Daze, Force of Will, Wasteland, Deathrite Shaman, Stifle, a pile of $1 cantrips, and a sideboard. It's far from free, but if Wasteland gets cheaper, all of that but Forces are pretty affordable, and even then, the Forces aren't exactly a terrible investment since I'll always be able to sell them for a respectable fraction of what I bought them for, if not the same price. In the end, it'll probably be cheaper to get the rest of Delver than to get Burn.
February 15, 2016 5:44 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #14
Again, running three color with shocks can end very badly - especially with Daze. You'll die to your own mana base. And grixis duals sans Badlands are some of the most expensive ones.
February 15, 2016 6:33 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #15
you are more than welcome to try out grixis without the abur duals, but as others are saying, Legacy is a no joke format. now, nobody here knows what your environment is like and how competitive it is at your LGS or wherever you play, but if you are doing paid events, and usually local Legacy events have worthwhile prize support (duals, cash, other legacy staples) then you can expect the top tier players to show up and want to win.
This isn't meant as a means of trying to not encourage you to play Legacy, but I think more people trying to prep you on what to expect jumping into this format.
February 15, 2016 6:57 p.m.
The first duals are the really important ones so you can fetch them early.
Beyond that, extra duals give you those few % points. But you do basically need them to run Daze and maybe Probe.
February 15, 2016 7 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #17
Go to your LGS, walk from table to table and watch the games play out. Is this the kind of magic you wanna play? if yes, watch another game being played, and calculate how much damage one of the players would take if they were playing shocklands instead. If they crack a fetch at the end of turn and don't do anything with it, you can just have it come in tapped though, so no loss of life. But take a look at how shocks affect the players life totals compared to ABUR duels. Once you find out if they have an impact on a game or not, decide if making a 3 color deck is a good idea or not. if it's not, try looking at a two color deck and do the same thing. If it's still not a good impact, take a look at budget options. Dredge is my niche, and aside from Lion's Eye Diamond, the rest of the deck is fairly cheap. (Ichorids and Cabal Therapy's are the most expensive in the deck aside from LED)
February 15, 2016 7:12 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #18
Fetching at EOT isn't a thing in Legacy. You fetch at very specific times because of Brainstorm and Stifle and Wasteland. Shocklands make that harder.
February 15, 2016 7:15 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #19
that's a very good point. I don't play blue in legacy :P or fetchlands for that matter XD
February 15, 2016 7:17 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #20
and i don't think anything would suck more than having a shockland getting hit by a wasteland after paying the two life :P
February 15, 2016 7:18 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #21
Oh, I fully expect to lose a lot when I first begin in the format. Part of my reason for getting into legacy now is that none of my local stores support legacy, at least, not that I'm aware of, so I'm hoping eternal masters will change that. Besides, I've got a lot of testing to do before I decide what deck to build, so if they never decide to support the format, then I just don't build a deck and play online instead.
February 15, 2016 8:09 p.m.
As GlistenerAgent said, fetchlands are a resource to be used at the best possible moment. You only crack them when you need them. Otherwise, Wasteland, Rishadan Port, Brainstorm, etc. cause you lots of problems.
If you don't have the money for ABUR duals, stick to mono and two-colored decks. Burn, U/W Miracles (with a Stoneforge package), U/R Delver, any Stompy variant using Sol lands, etc. are the types of decks you want to look at where you can get by with fetches and basics, if you even need fetches at all.
U/W Miracles with Stoneforge Mystic is a very powerful two-color deck with its most expensive cards, Force of Will and Wasteland, getting reprints. It's a pretty wide-open archetype as time goes by and you can invest more into the deck. Black can be added for Deathrite Shaman and make the deck more of a traditional Stoneblade. I think this is what you're looking for, but please playtest the deck extensively so you don't go to time each game with Sensei's Divining Top and Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
February 18, 2016 3:09 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #25
I don't think Miracles is a good starting point.
February 18, 2016 8:37 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #27
Why? Because it's difficult to pilot (and even more durdely than eggs)? Or because it requires a really good understanding of the format? I plan on playing probably literal hundreds of matches online before I build it to learn the format and be sure that I'm building the right deck.
February 18, 2016 12:25 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #28
It's really hard. I would try something that's more proactive first, because no new Legacy player is ready for incredibly long and intricate games if they don't know the common interactions and matchups.
Even if you plan to practice lots of matches, don't play Miracles. You won't have a good time. I'd leave it for after you've developed a familiarity with the format.
February 18, 2016 12:29 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #29
A lot of obscure win cons like enchantress, dredge, and other weird decks have really weird ways of winning. Enchantress plays enchantments on their lands and then casts emrakul. At that point you're dead. With dredge, they don't even cast spells. So you need to find a way to stay alive and interact with the creatures that come out. It's just a tough time learning all the lines people can play, and if you don't know one of them, you just lose
February 18, 2016 2:23 p.m.
alanwescoat says... #30
Eternal Masters is not going to enable Legacy or Vintage play. It simply is not. This is because none of the Reserved List cards are going to be reprinted. About thirty cards on the reserved list are forming the critical bottleneck which prevents expansion of either format.
Your meta does not currently support Legacy, which means that other players are not going to have the cards, either. Imagine that you want to play polo, so you go buy a horse and all of the gear. That is all well and good, but...nobody else in your neighborhood has a horse and polo gear. You are done. You do not get to play polo. Everyone else might be able to afford field hockey, but they are not going to appreciate you riding your horse around them.
That being said, there is a lot of talk about UNRESERVED, a format which is basically Legacy but where all cards on the Reserved List are banned. Yep, all 571 of them. Now, THAT could make a pretty good game, one that stands a chance of expanding and developing a large player base. Now, E.D.H. started as an informal game, and the format spread to the point where Wizards supports it in a fairly strong way. Likewise, UNRESERVED, while not officially a supported format, could become a strong unofficial format. Also, shop owners are free to make their own formats for F.N.M. now, so UNRESERVED could become a thing. It could become a very good thing, and Eternal Masters could support that very good thing.
February 24, 2016 8:06 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #31
Well, Eternal Masters has enabled me to play legacy now. Because of it, my LGS is starting weekly unsanctioned Legacy tournaments in which we can use 20 'playtest cards'. Because of this, I was able to build Grixis Delver for $25 and a few trades, which I can live with. And not budget Grixis Delver either, but full-grown Grixis Delver with the only change being 5 ABURs instead of the usual 6.
Thanks for the help guys (and gal). I look forward to going 0-4 in my first legacy tournament.
March 10, 2016 11:41 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #32
Best of luck man! Hopefully you'll go at least 2-2. Delver is a great starting deck for legacy
March 11, 2016 2:14 a.m.
readerrw07 says... #33
I'm gonna be trying for a legacy deck now. My choice is elves, if I cna find a decently viable build that doesnt need duals or Cradles to function (Cradles will be a thing for me eventually but it'll take a long long time). Not sure if EM will have anything for the deck in it, since the super expensive cards in the deck are Reserved. (I guess reprints of Craterhoof, Zendikar fetches of course, Or Glimpse of Nature or Natural Order) But yeah that deck is a possible choice for budget. Dont quote me on that though since I havent done Cradle-less testing yet
April 3, 2016 2:31 a.m.
Im gonna start playing infect in legacy when eternal masters comes out. Besides invigorate, what are the most crucial expensive cards to play the deck?
ducttapedeckbox says... #2
I do not play Legacy, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
You will be at a disadvantage if you don't plan on buying into ABUR duals. Also remember that not all Legacy staples will be reprinted. If we see the same pattern that we did with the Modern Masters sets, anything that is reprinted as Rare will drop, and anything that isn't reprinted at all will skyrocket due to the hype. Eternal Masters might not make Legacy as accessible as it may seem.
February 15, 2016 12:05 p.m.