Below is a list of cards you are liable to see in competitive games of legacy. This does not have every card on it that is played in legacy, I excluded some that I thought were far too fringe. Not every card listed is a staple this list is more of a guideline for people not familiar with the format. White Legacy Staples
Be aware, white is not that diverse a color in legacy and some of the cards listed above are not staples, but fringe cards. The most staple cards in white are easily the 1 cmc removal (path to exile/PtE and swords to plowshares/StP) with enlightened tutor showing up a lot more these days in different decks and performing quite well as a toolbox sort of card.
Obviously all the merfolk listed above in consecutive order aren't all staples but are all played in merfolk fish decks in varying numbers. Preordain, I feel, is going to be a tournament staple as much as ponder has if not more so than ponder because it will be used over ponder by some as a sorcery speed cantrip for U but seeing as how M11 just came out today it has yet to be played in a tournament at least to my knowledge.
Black has some interesting cards in it and is infamously known as being the combo color for cards like dark ritual, ad nauseam, tendrils of agony, and doomsday while it has some other interesting cards that are seen in other types of decks like bitterblossom in aggro control in faeries or innocent blood in builds of landstill hoping to stop the aggro rush or diabolic edict in different decks meant to take on creatures with shroud like nimble mongoose, inkwell leviathan, progenitus, emrakul, or other such fatties.
Red, the color of fire and burn. Red is the primary color of zoo and goblins. It is very aggressive but has some control elements to it as well. Canadian thresh plays lightning bolt for creature removal, combo decks protect their combo from blue spells with pyroblast/red elemental blast, it is also very good in combo decks with red because it offers rite of flame, the closest thing red has to dark ritual other than seething song which is unfortunately 3 mana instead of 1.
Green is pretty limited in its applications. Mostly, it is played highly because of a guy called tarmogoyf, goyf for short. Goyf singlehandedly caused the biggest meta shift in legacy about 3 months after it was printed in 2007 due to it being, simply put, a creature that beat almost every other creature in combat and it being able to beat down players to zero life or less within 5 turns of it coming onto the battlefield. Krosan grip is the most played sideboard card in decks running green simply because it answers so much of the format and it being nigh uncounterable unless the opposing player has a counterbalance in play with a card with cmc 3 on top of their library. Survival of the fittest is a godlike card that acts as a recursive tutor for any creature you so desire and when combined with squee, goblin nabob provides card advantage as well as card quality.
Lands are mostly for disrupting other peoples lands and colorfixing. Duals serve this purpose, such as tundra and taiga, and fetchlands, such as polluted delta and wooded foothills. They can also accelerate things out quickly like ancient tomb and city of traitors or control like wasteland your tropical island or maze of ith your tarmogoyf. They can also aggro out like mutavault in merfolk with 5 lords in play is a 7/7 or a mishra's factory can swing for 2 or 3 if you have another one untapped on your side that can give it +1/+1. Overall they are very important because they tap for mana and fetchlands give brainstorm its power via fetching away terrible cards after you put them back on top.
Artifacts, overall, are very diverse in their applications. Sensei's divining top (or SDT for short) is used in some decks to combo with counterbalance while in others is used to get card quality. Aether vial is used in aggro decks to get past countermagic and cheat creatures into play at instant speed. Engineered explosives is used in control decks to blow up lots of stuff at a specific cmc and potentially provide card advantage if you blow up 2 or more of their permanents with one explosive's activation. Mox diamond is used in control or aggro control decks to accelerate or to abuse in loam decks where it has no card disadvantage if you bring land back to your hand with life from the loam/LftL. Chrome mox is used in combo decks to gain mana and to be used as an initial mana source/IMS. Same with lotus petal. Pithing needle is versatile and can be used against a lot of other artifacts like powder keg, engineered explosives, aether vial etc. etc. while being able to shut off a specific fetchland as well such as polluted delta if you know they run it as a 4 of you can potentially blow them out if that is their only source of mana.
Multicolored cards in legacy are interesting and are sometimes downright devastating. Qasali pridemage is one of the most played gold cards next to knight of the reliquary and for good reason. He can blow up artifacts or enchantment's while still being very aggressive and can help win goyf wars with his exalted ability. Knight of the reliquary is a monster of a creature that can help the gamestate by fetching up any number of lands from wasteland to horizon canopy to bojuka bog this guy is incredible. There is some really solid 3 cmc removal spells in gold colors like vindicate, maelstrom pulse, pernicious deed, and firespout. Some of these cards see a lot of play while some see less but you don't see a lot of gold colored cards because of wasteland and if you are playing red but not white you cannot simply splash for lightning helix alone.
This girl rips stuff up and causes mass panic in conjunction with show and tell/omniscience or just show and tell.
That's about it folks and tell me if I did anything wrong please and mods if you have any problems with this thread tell me or if you think it's a great idea perhaps you could sticky it to use it as a reference point for newcomers to legacy who are wondering what cards they should pick up to build different legacy decks.
Great thread!!!! BTW its Mother of Runes not Mother of Rune's. I didn't realize how few green has. Is Ad Nauseum really a staple? Its only a staple in a deck specifically built around it. Not like FoW or Bolt.
I agree quite abit with preordain in the list. While it has yet to really shine in tournament play its another great cheap blue draw card.
Have you thought about adding Careful Study to the list? I know its contradictory to the Ad Nauseum comment, but its a great blue draw card and works very will with decks like madness and reanimator and others that revolve around discard and graveyard decks.
This might be debatable but Exalted Angel. She's starting appear in several stores decks that i play at (when theyre not beating eachother down with reanimator, goblins, and ANT lol). And she's always been good whatever deck shes been into and i noticed a few decks in developing mentioned her at one point.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you see someone playing a control deck, the following strategy is considered acceptable: 1) Slowly reach upward 2) Grab your opponent firmly by the throat 3) Squeeze 4) ???? 5) Profit...and a fountain of red Kool Aid!!!
There's a couple of formating errors, nothing that's a big deal. Innocent Blood and Doomsday are on the same line. You forgot Painter's Servant to go with Grindstone. Otherwise, off the top of my head maybe Trinisphere for artifacts.
Ad nauseam is a staple in most storm combo decks that exist with a few exceptions. Careful study is very niche IMO, only played in reanimator and ichorid. UG madness no longer see's play. Exalted angel was added because I think the card is funny and used to be a staple when angel stompy was tier 1 because there was goblins and turn 2 exalted angel crushed that deck lol.
I added 3sphere, painter, and exalted angel to the list my bad on the 3sphere and painter's servant they slipped my mind.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
I agree with nantuko shade, trinket mage, hypnotic specter, eternal witness, sinkhole, choke, smallpox, and hymn to tourach. Pox is used in one deck. Same with argothian enchantress. Not really staples when they are used in one deck.
Updated with cards though.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Sorry I've been not updating the list lately due to forgetfullness...I'll add some of the cards you mentioned people right now.
Doom blade can kill artifact creatures. Terror can't. Regeneration doesn't matter in legacy. Doom blade is strictly better IMO unless you come across a random troll ascetic once in a while but even then if they tap out doom blade can kill it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Sorry I've been not updating the list lately due to forgetfullness...I'll add some of the cards you mentioned people right now.
Doom blade can kill artifact creatures. Terror can't. Regeneration doesn't matter in legacy. Doom blade is strictly better IMO unless you come across a random troll ascetic once in a while but even then if they tap out doom blade can kill it.
Troll Ascetic effectively has shroud... But I think the point has been made; there is very little regeneration in legacy
In other news, crazy nitwits playing dress-up have also convicted the Hamburglar, the Cookie Crisp Crook, and the Frito Bandito of sundry snack-related thefts.
Seriously, what about this strikes you as remotely worthy of discussion?
Smokestack see's play as a 1 of in some 43land builds and other than that, it see's play only in white stax and has any MUD stax/mono brown stax builds shown up? It isn't really a staple IMO although if you can convince me I'll add it to the list.
I forgot troll ascetic had shroud. Nonetheless, troll ascetic is irrelevant since tarmogoyf exists. Only good part about him is the regeneration so he can block all day long as long as you have 2 mana up but when is a deck with green in it on the defense? When they're losing.
Imperial recruiter is not a staple. It see's play in aluren and imperial painter. That is all. And when a card is $200, people don't do much innovation with it since they can't afford the card so the likelihood of more decks showing up with imperial recruiter that aren't the 2 I listed is quite low due to availability issues.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
-Freyalise
Currently Playing:
Retired
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
White Legacy Staples
Swords to Plowshares
Enlightened Tutor
Rest in Peace
Path to Exile
Orim's Chant
Silence
Mother of Runes
Moat
Humility
Oblivion Ring
Ghostly Prison
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Serra Avenger
Stoneforge Mystic
Ethersworn canonist
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Replenish
Circle of Protection: Red
Terminus
Spirit of the Labyrinth
Be aware, white is not that diverse a color in legacy and some of the cards listed above are not staples, but fringe cards. The most staple cards in white are easily the 1 cmc removal (path to exile/PtE and swords to plowshares/StP) with enlightened tutor showing up a lot more these days in different decks and performing quite well as a toolbox sort of card.
Blue Legacy Staples
True-Name Nemesis
Force of Will
Brainstorm
Snapcaster Mage
Daze
Spell Snare
Counterbalance
Gilded Drake
Spell Pierce
Delver of Secrets
Phantasmal Image
Stifle
Standstill
Trinket Mage
Blue Elemental Blast/Hydroblast
Intuition
Show and Tell
Spellstutter Sprite
Ponder
Preordain
Vendilion Clique
Echoing Truth
Hurkyl's Recall
Rebuild
Chain of vapor
Counterspell
Propaganda
Lord of Atlantis
Merrow Reejerey
Merfolk Sovereign
Cursecatcher
Silvergill Adept
Coralhelm Commander
Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Show and Tell
Mystical TutorMental MisstepObviously all the merfolk listed above in consecutive order aren't all staples but are all played in merfolk fish decks in varying numbers. Preordain, I feel, is going to be a tournament staple as much as ponder has if not more so than ponder because it will be used over ponder by some as a sorcery speed cantrip for U but seeing as how M11 just came out today it has yet to be played in a tournament at least to my knowledge.
Black Legacy Staples
Dark Confidant
Thoughtseize
Liliana of the Veil
Hymn to Tourach
Tombstalker
Duress
Leyline of the Void
Ad Nauseam
Faerie Macabre
Hypnotic Specter
Nantuko Shade
Vampire Nighthawk
Dark Ritual
Cabal Ritual
Smallpox
Sinkhole
Cabal Therapy
Smother
Ghastly Demise
Perish
Diabolic Edict
Engineered Plague
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Doom Blade
Bitterblossom
Recurring Nightmare
Extirpate
Entomb
Reanimate
Exhume
Innocent Blood
Doomsday
Tendrils of Agony
Ill-Gotten Gains
Griselbrand
Black has some interesting cards in it and is infamously known as being the combo color for cards like dark ritual, ad nauseam, tendrils of agony, and doomsday while it has some other interesting cards that are seen in other types of decks like bitterblossom in aggro control in faeries or innocent blood in builds of landstill hoping to stop the aggro rush or diabolic edict in different decks meant to take on creatures with shroud like nimble mongoose, inkwell leviathan, progenitus, emrakul, or other such fatties.
Red Legacy Staples
Lightning Bolt
Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast
Grim Lavamancer
Kird Ape
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Price of Progress
Fireblast
Chain Lightning
Burning Wish
Magus of the Moon
Blood Moon
Faithless Looting
Pyroclasm
Goblin Guide
Rite of Flame
Empty the Warrens
Shattering Spree
Imperial Recruiter
Young Pyromancer
Red, the color of fire and burn. Red is the primary color of zoo and goblins. It is very aggressive but has some control elements to it as well. Canadian thresh plays lightning bolt for creature removal, combo decks protect their combo from blue spells with pyroblast/red elemental blast, it is also very good in combo decks with red because it offers rite of flame, the closest thing red has to dark ritual other than seething song which is unfortunately 3 mana instead of 1.
Green Legacy Staples
You guessed it, Tarmogoyf
Veteran Explorer
Krosan Grip
Green Sun's Zenith
Scavenging Ooze
Life from the Loam
Eternal Witness
Noble Hierarch
Wild Nacatl
Choke
Natural Order
Birds of Paradise
Sylvan Library
Terravore
Living Wish
Nimble Mongoose
VengevineSurvival of the FittestGreen is pretty limited in its applications. Mostly, it is played highly because of a guy called tarmogoyf, goyf for short. Goyf singlehandedly caused the biggest meta shift in legacy about 3 months after it was printed in 2007 due to it being, simply put, a creature that beat almost every other creature in combat and it being able to beat down players to zero life or less within 5 turns of it coming onto the battlefield. Krosan grip is the most played sideboard card in decks running green simply because it answers so much of the format and it being nigh uncounterable unless the opposing player has a counterbalance in play with a card with cmc 3 on top of their library. Survival of the fittest is a godlike card that acts as a recursive tutor for any creature you so desire and when combined with squee, goblin nabob provides card advantage as well as card quality.
Land Legacy Staples
Wasteland
Tundra
Tropical Island
Underground Sea
Volcanic Island
Savannah
Bayou
Badlands
Plateau
Taiga
Scrubland
Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Wooded Foothills
Bloodstained Mire
Windswept Heath
Marsh Flats
Arid Mesa
Verdant Catacombs
Karakas
Mishra's Factory
Mutavault
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Maze of Ith
Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors
Bojuka Bog
Rishadan Port
Tolaria West
Horizon Canopy
Tower of the Magistrate
Gaea's Cradle
Riptide Laboratory
Cavern of Souls
Lands are mostly for disrupting other peoples lands and colorfixing. Duals serve this purpose, such as tundra and taiga, and fetchlands, such as polluted delta and wooded foothills. They can also accelerate things out quickly like ancient tomb and city of traitors or control like wasteland your tropical island or maze of ith your tarmogoyf. They can also aggro out like mutavault in merfolk with 5 lords in play is a 7/7 or a mishra's factory can swing for 2 or 3 if you have another one untapped on your side that can give it +1/+1. Overall they are very important because they tap for mana and fetchlands give brainstorm its power via fetching away terrible cards after you put them back on top.
Artifact legacy staples
Aether Vial
Sensei's Divining Top
Umezawa's Jitte
Engineered Explosives
Chalice of the Void
Crucible of Worlds
Chrome Mox
Mox Diamond
Grafdigger's Cage
Batterskull
Tormod's Crypt
Relic of Progenitus
Nihil Spellbomb
Trinisphere
Pithing Needle
Powder Keg
Ratchet Bomb
Lion's Eye Diamond
Lotus Petal
Painter's Servant
Grindstone
Isochron Scepter
Phyrexian Dreadnought
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Light and Shadow
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of Feast and Famine
Zuran Orb
Ensnaring Bridge
Grim Monolith
Mox Opal
Phyrexian Revoker
Grafdigger's Cage
Artifacts, overall, are very diverse in their applications. Sensei's divining top (or SDT for short) is used in some decks to combo with counterbalance while in others is used to get card quality. Aether vial is used in aggro decks to get past countermagic and cheat creatures into play at instant speed. Engineered explosives is used in control decks to blow up lots of stuff at a specific cmc and potentially provide card advantage if you blow up 2 or more of their permanents with one explosive's activation. Mox diamond is used in control or aggro control decks to accelerate or to abuse in loam decks where it has no card disadvantage if you bring land back to your hand with life from the loam/LftL. Chrome mox is used in combo decks to gain mana and to be used as an initial mana source/IMS. Same with lotus petal. Pithing needle is versatile and can be used against a lot of other artifacts like powder keg, engineered explosives, aether vial etc. etc. while being able to shut off a specific fetchland as well such as polluted delta if you know they run it as a 4 of you can potentially blow them out if that is their only source of mana.
Gold/Multicolored Legacy Staples
Abrupt Decay
Deathrite Shaman
Supreme Verdict
Detention Sphere
Qasali Pridemage
Knight of the Reliquary
Deathrite Shaman
Trygon Predator
Fire(fire/ice)
Kitchen Finks
Vindicate
Lingering Souls
Maelstrom Pulse
Firespout
Thopter Foundry
Gaddock Teeg
Meddling Mage
Pernicious Deed
Rhox War Monk
Lightning Helix
Baleful Strix
Notion Thief
Ashen Rider
Multicolored cards in legacy are interesting and are sometimes downright devastating. Qasali pridemage is one of the most played gold cards next to knight of the reliquary and for good reason. He can blow up artifacts or enchantment's while still being very aggressive and can help win goyf wars with his exalted ability. Knight of the reliquary is a monster of a creature that can help the gamestate by fetching up any number of lands from wasteland to horizon canopy to bojuka bog this guy is incredible. There is some really solid 3 cmc removal spells in gold colors like vindicate, maelstrom pulse, pernicious deed, and firespout. Some of these cards see a lot of play while some see less but you don't see a lot of gold colored cards because of wasteland and if you are playing red but not white you cannot simply splash for lightning helix alone.
Colorless legacy staples:
Emrakul, the Aeons' Torn
This girl rips stuff up and causes mass panic in conjunction with show and tell/omniscience or just show and tell.
That's about it folks and tell me if I did anything wrong please and mods if you have any problems with this thread tell me or if you think it's a great idea perhaps you could sticky it to use it as a reference point for newcomers to legacy who are wondering what cards they should pick up to build different legacy decks.
Last update: 3/15/2014
Sincerely,
B.C.
Currently Playing:
Retired
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
I agree quite abit with preordain in the list. While it has yet to really shine in tournament play its another great cheap blue draw card.
Have you thought about adding Careful Study to the list? I know its contradictory to the Ad Nauseum comment, but its a great blue draw card and works very will with decks like madness and reanimator and others that revolve around discard and graveyard decks.
This might be debatable but Exalted Angel. She's starting appear in several stores decks that i play at (when theyre not beating eachother down with reanimator, goblins, and ANT lol). And she's always been good whatever deck shes been into and i noticed a few decks in developing mentioned her at one point.
Not a fan or supporter of New Magic
I added 3sphere, painter, and exalted angel to the list my bad on the 3sphere and painter's servant they slipped my mind.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Updated with cards though.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Currently looking to buy miscut Homelands, (my wife thinks I'm crazy too).
Semper Gumby (Always Flexible)
Also, with the rise of Vengevine Survival after GP Columbus, what about adding Vengevine, Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, Trygon Predator, and Wonder to this list?
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/18259_So_Many_Insane_Plays_The_Complete_Legacy_Checklist.html
Doom blade can kill artifact creatures. Terror can't. Regeneration doesn't matter in legacy. Doom blade is strictly better IMO unless you come across a random troll ascetic once in a while but even then if they tap out doom blade can kill it.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Troll Ascetic effectively has shroud... But I think the point has been made; there is very little regeneration in legacy
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
BW(G) Junkblade - Legacy
BW Vial Deadguy - Legacy
UWR Geist - Modern
UR(B) Delver - Modern
W(G) Death & Taxes - Modern
Oona, Queen of the Fae - EDH
I forgot troll ascetic had shroud. Nonetheless, troll ascetic is irrelevant since tarmogoyf exists. Only good part about him is the regeneration so he can block all day long as long as you have 2 mana up but when is a deck with green in it on the defense? When they're losing.
Imperial recruiter is not a staple. It see's play in aluren and imperial painter. That is all. And when a card is $200, people don't do much innovation with it since they can't afford the card so the likelihood of more decks showing up with imperial recruiter that aren't the 2 I listed is quite low due to availability issues.
Currently Playing:
Retired