Hi everyone! So I recently came into some money that I'm looking to spend on buying into Legacy, but I need help picking a deck. Price point isn't important. My favorite deck of all time was Modern Splinter Twin, and I've failed to find another deck in Modern that scratches the same itch Twin did. In Modern I've been playing things like Grixis Control and Blue Moon, which are pretty cool, and I'm looking at finishing Jeskai Control pretty soon. I tried out various Delver versions, but they just aren't very good in Modern. I enjoy the grindy blue control play style, but I also enjoy fast combo decks. What I loved about Twin was how it was both. It's important for me that the deck I pick in Legacy be competitive. Winning is important to me, but I also want to have fun doing big or broken things while winning.
The decks that have caught my eye so far are ANT, Miracles, Grixis Delver, Lands, Deathblade, and Sneak and Show.
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Modern UBR Grixis Shadow UBR UR Izzet Phoenix UR UW UW Control UW GB GB Rock GB
Commander BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
If money is no object, here's the best combo decks for you if you like doing broken things, playing fast combo, but not glass cannon.
TES/ANT (TES is the faster of the two), Reanimator, or Tin Fins if you want both reanimator and storm smashed together, and High Tide, though it has a high difficult level that you must reach to be truly competitive with this deck and is probably the slowest of them. Sneak/Show is a little less popular than it used to be, you're seeing more reanimator builds adding a dash of Show and Tell to them instead.
Since you like adjustable playstyles like Twin, Tin Fins or the Reanimator with Show and Tell splash might be good places to start. TES has a toolboxy wishboard and can win different ways, but needs to combo out to win. ANT is a little more linear than that and not quite as versatile, but it fares a little better in a slower meta that favors consistency. I would argue that lands is the best deck in the format and is underrepresented due to its pricetag, but its playstyle is pretty linear, comboing out with Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths or sometimes Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire. Unique and fun, but linear, play control, don't die, put opponent into a locked down postion, then win with some combo.
Delver and Deathblade are two of the more fair decks in Legacy, and while you don't get to due super broken things, you get to play a lot of really good cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Force of Will that are disgustingly broken anyway.
Miracles is a good deck if you like traditional control style builds, with its finisher typically featuring Entreat the Angels, but can also take a few different forms.
You should also look at Metalworker/MUD decks. These decks play like Tron with lots of good beatdown engines, except they can also abuse Metalworker and Staff of Domination to assemble a kill combo. I used to play a version that also ran Goblin Welder and did things like welding Wurmcoil Engines in and out or Sundering Titan with Welder, which also got pretty dumb. Sometimes you just Blightsteel/Lighting Greaves someone too, or sometimes you do Metalworker/Staff. And sometimes you just won off the back of a T1 Lodestone Golem. It was super fun.
Out of these, I would argue that TES/ANT, Reanimator w/ Show and Tell or Tin Fins, Lands, and Miracles are all highly competitive choices. The MUD deck is super fun, and can be very competitive, particularly in Storm based metas, but all builds suffer from the inherent Tron problems of getting all robots and no mana or visversa. I think Delver variants are also T1 in most metas. Deathblade is not as popular as it once was, but you still see it throwing up results here and there.
Hi, everyone. I need help choosing between ANT and Reanimator.
I love combo with a bit of a control backup, potentially locking opponents out of the game and not losing to slow control decks. For a time my main modern deck was U-Tron and I get great results with RG version (feels more fun than grixis twin that I've tried too; grixis delver was great when it worked, but I've missed its cruise period).
For the meta - I expect to see Show and Tell, Miracles and Hatebears almost every tournament.
Reanimator seems a good option because I love Iona or Elesh Norn as a wincon (I was planning to build modern esper gifts before EM announcement). It also runs FoW so I'll benefit from the reprint. Unfortunately it will be really hard to do a dual-less version due to the nature of the deck (and there is whole 6 of them).
ANT seems to be a good option because it's a fast combo with (and that's what legacy is about, right?). And it runs LED which can be used to cheaply build dredge and belcher that I can try when I'll want a bit of variance. Unfortunately I'll have to delay purchase of duals once I shell out for LED.
Hi, everyone. I need help choosing between ANT and Reanimator.
I love combo with a bit of a control backup, potentially locking opponents out of the game and not losing to slow control decks. For a time my main modern deck was U-Tron and I get great results with RG version (feels more fun than grixis twin that I've tried too; grixis delver was great when it worked, but I've missed its cruise period).
For the meta - I expect to see Show and Tell, Miracles and Hatebears almost every tournament.
Reanimator seems a good option because I love Iona or Elesh Norn as a wincon (I was planning to build modern esper gifts before EM announcement). It also runs FoW so I'll benefit from the reprint. Unfortunately it will be really hard to do a dual-less version due to the nature of the deck (and there is whole 6 of them).
ANT seems to be a good option because it's a fast combo with (and that's what legacy is about, right?). And it runs LED which can be used to cheaply build dredge and belcher that I can try when I'll want a bit of variance. Unfortunately I'll have to delay purchase of duals once I shell out for LED.
By hatebears, do you mean Death and Taxes? Nobody in Legacy calls it hatebears
Both of the decks you mentioned will really struggle if you play zero duals. Shocks are dangerous because both decks have spells that utilize your life total.
If I were you, I'd shell out for Underground Seas now, before EMA. I'm sure they'll spike again when EMA drops.
Looking to build a decent legacy deck that's Mono-colour. As such I kinda want a benefit for going mono.
I own most cross format staples except Goyfs + Liliana.
Money isn't so much an option, as long as I can get the cards through Puca.
Having BGx staples doesn't translate well to mono colored decks
Best mono colored deck at the moment is probably Death and Taxes. Elves and Burn are not long after that. There's also Merfolk, which can really punish the format's blue decks.
Both of the decks you mentioned will really struggle if you play zero duals. Shocks are dangerous because both decks have spells that utilize your life total.
Would it be reasonable to start with reanimator without splash and 2 Underground Seas? Probably 2 Darkslick Shores in place of other two until I get a chance to upgrade.
Playing reanimator without duals is not a good idea. Reanimator wants to combo off as fast as possible, and not being able to search for Usea off of a fetch can result in a very avoidable colorscrew. You're better off with Watery Grave, as those are at least fetchable, but bolting yourself is not a good thing to do in Legacy anyway.
@Mezriss You really need the duals in ANT/TES. Since storm engines typically utilize Ad Nauseum, playing shocks hurts far more than usual. Reanimator is also a dangerous deck to play shocks with, as Reanimating a Griselbrand already costs a lot of life, and adding two or three more life to that is very dangerous in Legacy, particularly when playing against Burn. Honestly, botht the decks you've chosen lean on life totals more heavily than other decks do, and as such, duals are extra important.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Whatever you build, you're going to need to do some investing, but the deck that comes to mind that can make the most use out of what you have would probably be Reanimator. It will play your Forces, Deltas, and your Sea, but you're going to need more Seas. The rest of the deck isn't too bad after that, it might take a little time to get all the peices, but Graveborn's printing helped out a lot with many of them.
Honestly, though, if you have minimal cash to spend, you might be able to trade into Death and Taxes. After the four Rishadan Ports and the Karakas, the rest of the deck is relatively inexpensive, and you've already got half the wastelands. So I'd consider trying to trade the Sea and Forces for D&T pieces if you're trying to keep expenses to a minimum. I mean, you can always build burn if nothing else.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Considering getting into Legacy, no idea what to build though.
I really love comboes that DON'T literally win on the spot. Lantern control in Modern is a example of this - love that I can establish the combo but I'm using it instead of just presenting it, if that makes sense.
Not too keen on building Miracles (cost [If I really love a deck this isn't too big since I'll proxy and slowly get pieces] and someone in my playgroup has it already, the deck is fun though)
Hi everyone! I'm super new to the forum (just found out about it today) but not new to Magic and especially to Modern, my format of choice. My FLGS has decided to start hosting a once monthly Legacy tournament, with the potential to begin holding it more regularly if things go well. So on the recommendation of a friend I came here to try and figure out what Legacy decks might interest me.
In Modern, I'm focusing my attention on UR Storm and away from my former 'main' deck Esper Control. I also have (most) of Death and Taxes built in Modern as well (just have to get those Aether Vials). I've been looking at ANT, which seems wicked fun, as well as Stoneblade/Deathblade since I have Stoneforge Mystics and Deathrite Shamans sitting around. I've also looked at Death and Taxes as I have a good chunk of the Modern version done and they share a good number of pieces. Merfolk is also something I've looked at as well. Other than that my Legacy collection is limited to Brainstorms, a few Dark Rituals, and a few other things laying around. If you play any of these decks I'd LOVE to get your opinion on them.
Budget is not a terrible issue, as I'll be working while attending college and using my monthly Magic budget to slowly build up the deck I choose while playing a proxied version at the tournament (which my FLGS is thankfully allowing so as to get people in the door while building decks).
EDIT: I've also seen the Strix/Explorer Pod deck a couple of times. If I could get an opinion on that as well that would be fantastic. I'm a former Kiki-Pod player and adored my Birthing Pods, so the chance to (potentially) play them again makes me giddy.
Considering getting into Legacy, no idea what to build though.
I really love comboes that DON'T literally win on the spot. Lantern control in Modern is a example of this - love that I can establish the combo but I'm using it instead of just presenting it, if that makes sense.
Not too keen on building Miracles (cost [If I really love a deck this isn't too big since I'll proxy and slowly get pieces] and someone in my playgroup has it already, the deck is fun though)
Enchantress plays a lot like that. You're trying to quickly establish a draw engine and lock pieces, then grind out the win somehow. Some of them are using Helm of Obedience + Rest in Piece to do that these days, but Emrakul, Words of War, Sigil of the Empty Throne, and Doomwake Giant all see or have seen some play. Whether the deck is competitive or not is up for debate. It's good enough for local metas without a lot of fast combo, but it likely struggles at larger events (soft to combo, some versions take forever to win and go to time regularly). It's a surprisingly common starting point for the format, in my experience. It's a long time legacy deck and there are a lot of people out there who like it. I've run into a number of people who either started the format with enchantress (myself included) or keep it around as a pet deck.
You could also look at a stax variant or a painter variant. Stax plays out grindy lock pieces and wins through attrition. Its big issue is consistency. Sometimes you'll draw the right pieces in the right order and the game feels unloseable, sometimes you don't and the game feels unwinnable. Painter wins via combo (Painter's Servant + Grindstone), but it usually wants to rush out a lock piece or two first. In terms of more competitive decks that play like you talked about, miracles would be the first one on the list. You mentioned not wanting that, but if your long term goal involves larger events than a local weekly or kitchen table games you might want to revisit it. It's a powerful deck with a very quick soft lock.
Hi everyone! I'm super new to the forum (just found out about it today) but not new to Magic and especially to Modern, my format of choice. My FLGS has decided to start hosting a once monthly Legacy tournament, with the potential to begin holding it more regularly if things go well. So on the recommendation of a friend I came here to try and figure out what Legacy decks might interest me.
In Modern, I'm focusing my attention on UR Storm and away from my former 'main' deck Esper Control. I also have (most) of Death and Taxes built in Modern as well (just have to get those Aether Vials). I've been looking at ANT, which seems wicked fun, as well as Stoneblade/Deathblade since I have Stoneforge Mystics and Deathrite Shamans sitting around. I've also looked at Death and Taxes as I have a good chunk of the Modern version done and they share a good number of pieces. Merfolk is also something I've looked at as well. Other than that my Legacy collection is limited to Brainstorms, a few Dark Rituals, and a few other things laying around. If you play any of these decks I'd LOVE to get your opinion on them.
Budget is not a terrible issue, as I'll be working while attending college and using my monthly Magic budget to slowly build up the deck I choose while playing a proxied version at the tournament (which my FLGS is thankfully allowing so as to get people in the door while building decks).
EDIT: I've also seen the Strix/Explorer Pod deck a couple of times. If I could get an opinion on that as well that would be fantastic. I'm a former Kiki-Pod player and adored my Birthing Pods, so the chance to (potentially) play them again makes me giddy.
I'll talk BUG nic fit (strix/explorer) first, because that deck is a lot of fun. You're capitalizing on the legacy manabases that frequently run very basic land light to get very efficient one sided ramp. The deck is very open. As long as you have the GB core, any other color combo can work. BUG pod has seen some success, and it does alleviate some of the consistency problems that the deck can run into. Going over the top of other legacy decks is always amusing, and you get some frustrated people when you win with EDH/standard cards. My issue with the BUG pod variant was that it always felt a little threat light. If you could stick you enormous threat, you won. If you couldn't, you were playing a bad midrange game. I didn't play around with it for all that long and it definitely has fans, so YMMV.
If you're looking for something that transitions between modern and legacy well, merfolk is probably the best choice. Add Force of Wills to the modern version and you have a playable deck, though there are some other cards that should be considered. ANT and DnT have fewer pieces in common with their modern counterparts, but both are great decks. The biggest failing, assuming from your post that you may want to try out a variety of decks, is that the expensive pieces are not always shared between decks. Lion's Eye Diamond is mostly exclusive to fast combo, Rishadan Port is only DnT, lands, and some fringier archetypes like goblins. Seeing as you're going to be proxying it's not an immediate concern, but something to keep in mind as you purchase. Stoneblade has the pieces - blue duals, forces, etc - with broadest format applications from what you've listed, which makes it a reasonable point to jump in if you can get past the cost.
Ignoring finances, ANT and DnT are both very solid decks. They're also different enough that I would just proxy them up and play a few games with each to see how you feel about them. Both of them are consistently viable options, so it comes down to personal preference and/or metagame calls which one you want to play. I would personally lean towards ANT, but that comes from a love of combo decks more than power level or viability concerns.
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Reanimator sounds interesting, is it possible to run the deck with Watery Grave?
Taxes is something I've looked into, I might build it if Port and Karakas get reprinted in EMA.
It's more possible than other decks looking to run it. Still, reanimating a Griselbrand from a shocked in and fetched watery grave is literally half your life. In Legacy, I've noticed life points tend to either matter a WHOLE lot or not at all. When they matter a WHOLE lot, shocks can mean the difference between falling into bolt/fireblast range, getting to activate Griselbrand to draw into a Force of Will, or in Ad-Nauseum decks, getting to draw a few extra cards when comboing. Watery Grave will cost you some games, but the games you win you won't notice a difference.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Lands does not fold to blood moon, it can answer it. The usually play Abrupt Decay and/or Krosan Grip. You just float the mana in response to the Blood Moon coming down, and after it resolves, nuke it. Blood Moon can typically be found in some version of MUD and Burn/Goblins. For almost everyone else, it's just as much a liability, so it's probably not quite as common as it is in modern where there are more decks that can make use of it asymmetrically. Lands is indeed a T1 deck and there are arguments it's actually the best deck in legacy, but is underrepresented due to the expense of the deck, specifically Tabernacle. I'd pick Lands if you can afford it, Miracles decks are everywhere and Lands is much less commonplace. People are usually ill equipped sideboard wise for it, and you'll face many opponents that have never had to face off against it.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Lands does not fold to blood moon, it can answer it. The usually play Abrupt Decay and/or Krosan Grip. You just float the mana in response to the Blood Moon coming down, and after it resolves, nuke it. Blood Moon can typically be found in some version of MUD and Burn/Goblins. For almost everyone else, it's just as much a liability, so it's probably not quite as common as it is in modern where there are more decks that can make use of it asymmetrically. Lands is indeed a T1 deck and there are arguments it's actually the best deck in legacy, but is underrepresented due to the expense of the deck, specifically Tabernacle. I'd pick Lands if you can afford it, Miracles decks are everywhere and Lands is much less commonplace. People are usually ill equipped sideboard wise for it, and you'll face many opponents that have never had to face off against it.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
thanks for the quick reply! and good answer. didn't know that about blood moon. lands looks more fun and a little bit easier for me so i think i'll play test it and perhaps buy into it.
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Modern
Looking to buy into Death's Shadow for Modern
FWIW Blood moon isn't super common anymore. Miracles lists have been cutting it from the SB. So then all you really have to worry about are painter lists, sneak and show lists, or things of that nature.
Also, I have no idea why this slipped my mind, but Lands plays Mox Diamond a lot, so it can still produce colored mana even if a Blood Moon is on the board. Most of its spells are not super color intensive anyway, so the deck can still function.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Also, I have no idea why this slipped my mind, but Lands plays Mox Diamond a lot, so it can still produce colored mana even if a Blood Moon is on the board. Most of its spells are not super color intensive anyway, so the deck can still function.
Riftstone Portal as a one-of is getting some traction too. Lands doesn't enjoy Blood Moon, but it can still play the game.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Oh yeah, my friend was playing Riftstone Portal in the deck, it's pretty good, I liked it. But yeah, point being that while Lands doesn't like Blood Moon, it's a fairly uncommon card to face down, and it has ways to fight through it, it doesn't just scoop to it.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Yeah, you also side in FOUR grips. That with 4 gambles, pretty much ensures you'll be able to get rid of a moon affect. Protip: Fetch that basic forest asap
Hello all! I'm looking for a deck that is purely for LGS tournaments, so nothing major. I have no intention of ever becoming a serious Legacy player, so having a dead-end deck doesn't bother me. These events would be small, like 8 people at most. I am on a budget, which presents an odd issue. I really like Sac-Land Tendrils and Manaless Dredge. In such a small meta Dredge seems very vulnerable. Furthermore, there is a Mono-Black Reanimator player, which already guarantees some amount of graveyard hate. Adding a second to the meta seems kind of redundant. What should I pick?
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"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." - Abraham Lincoln
Well, when you say "budget" in Legacy, that means different things to different people. Obviously if you want a budget deck that isn't graveyard based, burn is an option. Plus, a lot of burn pieces cross over to Modern, so you can usually build two decks at once basically. But...it's burn and is kind of linear and can get boring. But first you need to define "budget" and how long you're willing to commit to working on the deck, and what the most expensive cards you're willing to pursue are. Elves is relatively inexpensive once you get past the Gaea's Cradles, and has the "combo" element you seem to like. It can be a fairly complex deck, but it's still a good choice. Also available is Enchantress. Lots of people recognize Enchantress as a deck that's somewhat fallen from grace from its status as a T1 deck, but the people playing it keep playing it because it is a SUPER fun deck to play that's part combo. And if Earthcraft ever gets an unban, it could suddenly regain a lot of popularity. In a small, local meta, with a more casual Legacy scene, I would probably look into Enchantress. Super fun deck, not terribly expensive, and powerful enough to get some fun wins at small local scenes.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
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that's actually a really sweet list, thanks. I think I'm just gonna learn pox for now and learn the format to see where I go for now
The decks that have caught my eye so far are ANT, Miracles, Grixis Delver, Lands, Deathblade, and Sneak and Show.
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
TES/ANT (TES is the faster of the two), Reanimator, or Tin Fins if you want both reanimator and storm smashed together, and High Tide, though it has a high difficult level that you must reach to be truly competitive with this deck and is probably the slowest of them. Sneak/Show is a little less popular than it used to be, you're seeing more reanimator builds adding a dash of Show and Tell to them instead.
Since you like adjustable playstyles like Twin, Tin Fins or the Reanimator with Show and Tell splash might be good places to start. TES has a toolboxy wishboard and can win different ways, but needs to combo out to win. ANT is a little more linear than that and not quite as versatile, but it fares a little better in a slower meta that favors consistency. I would argue that lands is the best deck in the format and is underrepresented due to its pricetag, but its playstyle is pretty linear, comboing out with Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths or sometimes Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire. Unique and fun, but linear, play control, don't die, put opponent into a locked down postion, then win with some combo.
Delver and Deathblade are two of the more fair decks in Legacy, and while you don't get to due super broken things, you get to play a lot of really good cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Force of Will that are disgustingly broken anyway.
Miracles is a good deck if you like traditional control style builds, with its finisher typically featuring Entreat the Angels, but can also take a few different forms.
You should also look at Metalworker/MUD decks. These decks play like Tron with lots of good beatdown engines, except they can also abuse Metalworker and Staff of Domination to assemble a kill combo. I used to play a version that also ran Goblin Welder and did things like welding Wurmcoil Engines in and out or Sundering Titan with Welder, which also got pretty dumb. Sometimes you just Blightsteel/Lighting Greaves someone too, or sometimes you do Metalworker/Staff. And sometimes you just won off the back of a T1 Lodestone Golem. It was super fun.
Out of these, I would argue that TES/ANT, Reanimator w/ Show and Tell or Tin Fins, Lands, and Miracles are all highly competitive choices. The MUD deck is super fun, and can be very competitive, particularly in Storm based metas, but all builds suffer from the inherent Tron problems of getting all robots and no mana or visversa. I think Delver variants are also T1 in most metas. Deathblade is not as popular as it once was, but you still see it throwing up results here and there.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
I love combo with a bit of a control backup, potentially locking opponents out of the game and not losing to slow control decks. For a time my main modern deck was U-Tron and I get great results with RG version (feels more fun than grixis twin that I've tried too; grixis delver was great when it worked, but I've missed its cruise period).
For the meta - I expect to see Show and Tell, Miracles and Hatebears almost every tournament.
Reanimator seems a good option because I love Iona or Elesh Norn as a wincon (I was planning to build modern esper gifts before EM announcement). It also runs FoW so I'll benefit from the reprint. Unfortunately it will be really hard to do a dual-less version due to the nature of the deck (and there is whole 6 of them).
ANT seems to be a good option because it's a fast combo with (and that's what legacy is about, right?). And it runs LED which can be used to cheaply build dredge and belcher that I can try when I'll want a bit of variance. Unfortunately I'll have to delay purchase of duals once I shell out for LED.
By hatebears, do you mean Death and Taxes? Nobody in Legacy calls it hatebears
Both of the decks you mentioned will really struggle if you play zero duals. Shocks are dangerous because both decks have spells that utilize your life total.
If I were you, I'd shell out for Underground Seas now, before EMA. I'm sure they'll spike again when EMA drops.
Having BGx staples doesn't translate well to mono colored decks
Best mono colored deck at the moment is probably Death and Taxes. Elves and Burn are not long after that. There's also Merfolk, which can really punish the format's blue decks.
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
Would it be reasonable to start with reanimator without splash and 2 Underground Seas? Probably 2 Darkslick Shores in place of other two until I get a chance to upgrade.
@Mezriss You really need the duals in ANT/TES. Since storm engines typically utilize Ad Nauseum, playing shocks hurts far more than usual. Reanimator is also a dangerous deck to play shocks with, as Reanimating a Griselbrand already costs a lot of life, and adding two or three more life to that is very dangerous in Legacy, particularly when playing against Burn. Honestly, botht the decks you've chosen lean on life totals more heavily than other decks do, and as such, duals are extra important.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
This is what I have:
2 Wasteland
1 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
4 Force of Will
What deck do you recommend to build if you don't have a lot of money to spend?
Honestly, though, if you have minimal cash to spend, you might be able to trade into Death and Taxes. After the four Rishadan Ports and the Karakas, the rest of the deck is relatively inexpensive, and you've already got half the wastelands. So I'd consider trying to trade the Sea and Forces for D&T pieces if you're trying to keep expenses to a minimum. I mean, you can always build burn if nothing else.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Reanimator sounds interesting, is it possible to run the deck with Watery Grave?
Taxes is something I've looked into, I might build it if Port and Karakas get reprinted in EMA.
I really love comboes that DON'T literally win on the spot. Lantern control in Modern is a example of this - love that I can establish the combo but I'm using it instead of just presenting it, if that makes sense.
Not too keen on building Miracles (cost [If I really love a deck this isn't too big since I'll proxy and slowly get pieces] and someone in my playgroup has it already, the deck is fun though)
In Modern, I'm focusing my attention on UR Storm and away from my former 'main' deck Esper Control. I also have (most) of Death and Taxes built in Modern as well (just have to get those Aether Vials). I've been looking at ANT, which seems wicked fun, as well as Stoneblade/Deathblade since I have Stoneforge Mystics and Deathrite Shamans sitting around. I've also looked at Death and Taxes as I have a good chunk of the Modern version done and they share a good number of pieces. Merfolk is also something I've looked at as well. Other than that my Legacy collection is limited to Brainstorms, a few Dark Rituals, and a few other things laying around. If you play any of these decks I'd LOVE to get your opinion on them.
Budget is not a terrible issue, as I'll be working while attending college and using my monthly Magic budget to slowly build up the deck I choose while playing a proxied version at the tournament (which my FLGS is thankfully allowing so as to get people in the door while building decks).
EDIT: I've also seen the Strix/Explorer Pod deck a couple of times. If I could get an opinion on that as well that would be fantastic. I'm a former Kiki-Pod player and adored my Birthing Pods, so the chance to (potentially) play them again makes me giddy.
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
You could also look at a stax variant or a painter variant. Stax plays out grindy lock pieces and wins through attrition. Its big issue is consistency. Sometimes you'll draw the right pieces in the right order and the game feels unloseable, sometimes you don't and the game feels unwinnable. Painter wins via combo (Painter's Servant + Grindstone), but it usually wants to rush out a lock piece or two first. In terms of more competitive decks that play like you talked about, miracles would be the first one on the list. You mentioned not wanting that, but if your long term goal involves larger events than a local weekly or kitchen table games you might want to revisit it. It's a powerful deck with a very quick soft lock.
I'll talk BUG nic fit (strix/explorer) first, because that deck is a lot of fun. You're capitalizing on the legacy manabases that frequently run very basic land light to get very efficient one sided ramp. The deck is very open. As long as you have the GB core, any other color combo can work. BUG pod has seen some success, and it does alleviate some of the consistency problems that the deck can run into. Going over the top of other legacy decks is always amusing, and you get some frustrated people when you win with EDH/standard cards. My issue with the BUG pod variant was that it always felt a little threat light. If you could stick you enormous threat, you won. If you couldn't, you were playing a bad midrange game. I didn't play around with it for all that long and it definitely has fans, so YMMV.
If you're looking for something that transitions between modern and legacy well, merfolk is probably the best choice. Add Force of Wills to the modern version and you have a playable deck, though there are some other cards that should be considered. ANT and DnT have fewer pieces in common with their modern counterparts, but both are great decks. The biggest failing, assuming from your post that you may want to try out a variety of decks, is that the expensive pieces are not always shared between decks. Lion's Eye Diamond is mostly exclusive to fast combo, Rishadan Port is only DnT, lands, and some fringier archetypes like goblins. Seeing as you're going to be proxying it's not an immediate concern, but something to keep in mind as you purchase. Stoneblade has the pieces - blue duals, forces, etc - with broadest format applications from what you've listed, which makes it a reasonable point to jump in if you can get past the cost.
Ignoring finances, ANT and DnT are both very solid decks. They're also different enough that I would just proxy them up and play a few games with each to see how you feel about them. Both of them are consistently viable options, so it comes down to personal preference and/or metagame calls which one you want to play. I would personally lean towards ANT, but that comes from a love of combo decks more than power level or viability concerns.
It's more possible than other decks looking to run it. Still, reanimating a Griselbrand from a shocked in and fetched watery grave is literally half your life. In Legacy, I've noticed life points tend to either matter a WHOLE lot or not at all. When they matter a WHOLE lot, shocks can mean the difference between falling into bolt/fireblast range, getting to activate Griselbrand to draw into a Force of Will, or in Ad-Nauseum decks, getting to draw a few extra cards when comboing. Watery Grave will cost you some games, but the games you win you won't notice a difference.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
is lands a t1 deck? it looks easier to play than miracles but blood moon murders it. how prevalent is blood moon in legacy?
Looking to buy into Death's Shadow for Modern
Legacy
Looking to buy into Lands for Legacy
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Looking to buy into Death's Shadow for Modern
Legacy
Looking to buy into Lands for Legacy
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave