Last March I put together the first of what I had intended to be a recurring article series: The Legacy Cookbook. Compiling information from recent tournaments I wanted to create a resource for players that presented an up-to-date list of the most competitive Legacy decks.

A couple of months after that article New Phyrexia was released and with it . The widespread use of this card sent shockwaves through Legacy instantaneously rewriting the landscape for blue decks and fundamentally changing a number of matchups. A number of storylines have emerged over the past two months. Most notable:

The disappearance of the /Top engine under the pressure of Merfolk and Green Sun's Zenith

The emergence of Graveyard decks including a surging group of decks supplemented by Reanimator and Cephalid Breakfast

The return of non-Counterbalance control decks including Landstill and Deedstill and then many of those decks changing over to s as the primary draw engine in place of Standstill

The continuing evolution of Zoo and Natural Order decks

A shift in decks to

The near-total absence of Goblins and Affinity from top 16 finishes in the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open since the introduction of Mental Misstep

The use of in a variety of Legacy strategies

With all of that what could've been a simple update instead is jam-packed with new decks and reimagining of old ones.

Aggro Loam

Aggro Loam is a strategy that pops up every so often both in the US and in Europe. Essentially the deck is a non-blue card advantage deck which grinds out extra cards with and ; a recent addition to an older strategy is the hybrid with and . This particular version adds on white for a fourth color for and and cuts the s that used to be a standard inclusion.

There are some great reasons for playing Aggro Loam. Traditional control decks are vulnerable to the Loam engine creature decks are vulnerable to the giant monsters and package and tribal decks are often soft to the engine.

What this deck can't do is beat combo. In fact this build isn't even remotely interested in trying to beat it without cards like or which sometimes pop up in this style of deck.

Aluren

Still a niche player due to the paper cost of Imperial Recruiters I continue to believe this is a viable deck if you have access to the necessary cards. Interestingly this version plays a Phyrexian Mana card that isn't ; like ANT below this version includes Gitaxian . We also have a deck here that is relatively resistant to .

If someone can come up with a solution whereby Imperial Recruiter can get reprinted this deck could be a contender in paper Magic. I'm surprised it isn't seeing more play on MTGO.

ANT (Ad Nauseam Tendrils)

By and large ANT is the same deck it was pre-Mental . The one notable change has more to do with the absence of /Top from the metagame which was traditionally a predator for Storm combo; without that deck there's no longer much of a need for an alternate plan like the Doomsday/Emrakul/Shelldock Isle plan and similarly cards like and are far less necessary.

In place of those plans most ANT decks currently use Dark Confidant out of the sideboard; Bob can provide gas against traditional control and Junk decks and is also solid against other combo decks.

There's a notable difference in this specific build which is the use of . Versions that play typically run a lower land count. The other interesting thing is the use of extra Tendrils of Agony in the sideboard which can be great at recovering lost life from Dark Confidant and and additionally can also be used to overwhelm control opponents by playing double Tendrils in one turn.

without is certainly an option and a flexible one. There are a lot of great things going on in this build. Spellstutter Sprite is a great weapon against and this list has some interesting one-ofs including and .

I also like the sideboard which gives the deck a lot of flexibility against non-Misstep decks. The use of only two s and almost no equipment package is odd though; Spellstutter Sprites get even better when they have swords.

Note the Tower of the Magistrates and Serenity in the sideboard; between and Green Sun's Zenith you can get a lot of mileage out of your singleton sideboard cards.

Blue Zoo

Blue Zoo or (Aquarium if you prefer) is really melding of RUG and variants with Big Zoo more than a traditional Zoo deck; this is basically RUG with a white splash for and .

The blue adds a number of things normally missing from Zoo. adds consistency to the deck. Jace adds a card advantage engine one that is extra-potent given the deck's use of so many shuffle effects (Knight of the Reliquary and ten fetches). And gives the deck play against combo as well as acting as a counter to and opposing s or removal for an opening or .

Some of the most unique weapons in this deck can be found in the sideboard. and are flexible options with a variety of applications. Sliding equipment off opposing creatures by giving them Protection from Artifacts via Tower of the Magistrate is an interesting angle to take. Thrun and both play important roles and one-ofs are rather potent in this deck given Green Sun's Zenith and Jace.

Whether this remains a viable and distinct deck from others in this list remains to be seen but I wanted to include it on the list as you may face it in your next few tournaments.

BUG Control

This is essentially Deedstill without the “still” and with s instead. A versatile control deck that packs tons of permanent removal with a counter package and mana disruption this deck may not see all that much play but it is a powerful choice in a metagame that reflects a lot of creature-based strategies.

s and Jace really power this strategy. Turn by turn opposing threats are countered or removed one-to-one and then s comes off Suspend sweeps the board clear and Jace puts the nail in the coffin.

Yes in this format as well.

Pushing the envelope indeed.

Buried Ooze

I'd love to spend a day inside Ken Adams brain. He's one of my favorite deck designers. The StarCityGames.com Open Series dating back to the beginning with the $5Ks is littered with unique decks that Ken's played to a top 8. Here we have Ken's take on Ooze Combo a deck that's had a lot of activity on The Source but not too many notable finishes.

Essentially this deck takes the Ooze combo package from the old B/G/W Survival Ooze drops the white (as you no longer need Enlightened Tutor for ) and adds a package around it. That package gives the deck some great anti-control options such as and . Of course you can also combo out using the / combo. The sideboard adds yet another approach: .

Far from being a one-trick pony this is a versatile and powerful deck that dodges vulnerability to . Post-board Natural Order helps mitigate weakness to graveyard hate. In the scheme of things this is a somewhat budget-friendly deck (by Legacy standards) as you don't actually need four s to make this work.

Burn

Not too much different here from Patrick Sullivan's build but I wanted to include this to show that Burn is still a viable deck and perhaps the cheapest viable deck in the format. The absence of /Top should keep this deck viable although for my money the best card in this deck is still . When you're connecting for six or more damage with that card you're probably winning and when that card is ineffectual you're probably losing.

This deck still has basically no shot against most Legacy combo decks.

Cephalid Breakfast

I wanted to include a version of this deck with Mental and one that had success after was printed. Cephalid Breakfast is kind of like a deck that can play counterspells which gives it some unique advantages. In this particular version and Eladamri's Call are put to especially good use; note the singletons in the board like and that can single-handedly rout some opposing decks.

Deadguy Ale

I'm surprised more people haven't picked up this deck post-Mental . Note that you'll find this deck labeled a few different ways in the database including B/W Discard and B/W Weenie.

I find this style of deck to be enormously annoying to play against. and rip hands apart and can set you up for free wins. If you manage to hit lands with you can finish the game off with or to prevent your opponent from ever actually playing Magic.

If your opponent is driven to actually fight back the deck has a number of engines that kick in at two mana. can win games by itself against control decks; and equipment pair nicely with as well. is perfect in this style of deck as is both of which can seal games when they go long. This deck loves to grind.

As with all decks like this the real issue is that you're not in blue and are reliant on hitting the right mix of early discard and/or acceleration to keep up with decks that are operating at a higher power level.

Manaless

These are actually almost two different decks.

The first is a traditional deck without Lion's Eye Diamond; this version has and doesn't play Flame-Kin Zealot. The sideboard has for opposing graveyard decks (although three is an ugly number when it comes to Leylines) and Winds of Change for the combo matchup (though I still don't get this and think it's kind of some bizarre “danger of old things”). is for Painter's Servant decks and Elesh Norn has added a fantastic blowout creature against a large number of opponents.

The second is the newcomer Manaless . Regular has explosive power much like a combo deck. This is especially true of the versions that play LED. This Manaless version however is much the opposite. It is designed to slowly but surely turn after turn without ever playing any draw spells that can be countered. Because of this the slower control decks really struggle against this version.

Elves

Elves hasn't done much on the SCG circuit lately but it has done extremely well on MTGO where it is a constant presence in Daily Events and Premier Events. The version above is interesting in that it has Red Elemental Blast in the sideboard perhaps to acknowledge which has been running amok both in paper and digital Legacy. Many versions of Elves on MTGO have been packing s and as a sideboard weapon where in the past you might've found .

I'd really like to see an Elves deck with Edric Spymaster of Trest as a back-up combo piece / draw engine.

Enchantress

Here again I've included this deck simply to show that it still exists post-Mental although it remains a niche deck. It has however picked up a few new toys from recent sets. provides a new win condition and is an interesting way to finish games and provide protection from Painter decks.

Eva Green

Eva Green is another “oldie but goodie” type of deck and while I don't recommend it over the black/white decks in a similar design space it does still see play; as you may run into it from time to time I figured it was worth featuring in one of these articles.

This is basically a Rock-style deck although a bit more on the aggressive side. Recent additions to this deck include Go for the Throat and . One of the great things about Legacy is that you can clearly trace this deck's evolution back for years yet every block offers new tools even for well-established archetypes.

Goblins

Soooo… Goblins.

Goblins Goblins Goblins.

I was one of the early and vocal doubters of the concept of jamming into non-blue decks. Obviously when Jim Davis—long a Jedi Master when it comes to Goblins—made it into the top 8 of the StarCityGames.com Invitational with Goblins featuring a number of people ran to Facebook to proclaim their glorious victory.

Since this occurrence we've seen exactly zero additional decks like this in the top sixteen of SCG Opens. So the only time this idea worked was in a mixed-format tournament that was invite-only (wherein a number of people were not normally Legacy players) and even then only when played by one of the world's best Goblins players.

I'm just saying…

I mentioned this deck in passing last April when it was ripping it up on MTGO Daily Events. While it was a viable deck then once you add to the mix you really have a potent deck. All of this deck's plans of attack ignore and is really powerful in the deck. Typical builds also pack plenty of hate for combo decks and tribal decks and because it was something of a niche deck flew under the radar for months.

That's obviously starting to change and the deck had another breakout performance on 7/24 at the Seattle Open. There are ways to beat this deck and cards that are solid against it like Spellstutter Sprite and potentially new hate cards like and Sundial of the Infinite.

Junk

Junk Depths

Not much has changed for regular Junk which has perhaps been hampered by ; when you can't be sure your initial will connect or your will hit things get a lot harder for this deck.

Junk Depths builds on the regular Junk plan by introducing a plan which can win games in a hurry. One problem with Junk-style decks is that they're always vulnerable to losing off the top of the opponent's deck. Adding a package can let you finish games immediately that might otherwise have slipped away. is also a nice addition in a world where Jace is incredibly popular. And of course all these elements—Living Wish Life from the Loam—dodge .

Lands

I'm including this deck because it narrowly missed a top 8 and still sees some play; personally however I don't think I would recommend this deck currently.

Landstill

Landstill crashed back into American Legacy during the first post-Misstep SCG Open piloted by Gerry Thompson and Drew Levin; almost immediately after that first tournament some pilots switched to Ancestral with my recollection being Drew Levin jumping vocally on that bandwagon right away(though I don't mean to attribute this innovation that's just my recollection). This trend can also be seen in the quasi-Deedstill deck I listed above which also uses s.

In case anyone believes that all Landstill decks have transitioned into other forms of UW Control this isn't the case. Landstill uses some of my favorite cards like and cards that don't always see play in Legacy but are game-changers in many matchups. This particular build also has which is popping up in many Legacy decks. There's also a in this version which is great as that's a card that doesn't see much play.

There's also a hybrid Landstill / deck toward the end of this article.

Merfolk

Merfolk seems to have cooled off lately and there are a number of reasons for this. The deck is still pretty much in the same spot as it was ten weeks ago: the pre-Misstep Merfolk deck with in it. The field has filled up with cards that are solid against Merfolk including Grim Lavamancer big creatures combo resistant to such as Graveyard decks and so on. And the decks Merfolk preyed on especially /Top are missing in action.

Merfolk has also suffered from being one of the number one villains of the format; it's much harder to win with this deck when everyone is packing s Llawan Cephalid Empress and other cards meant specifically to destroy you.

Mono-U Control

What does Mono-Blue Control have that other control decks can't use that effectively? ! It also packs the best Vedalken you're going to find as with sixteen s you could an Emrakul.

Not saying it's likely just saying… there's a chance.

Outside of that my honest opinion is that this is really a worse Landstill. is a cool card and yes it can auto-win some matchups but really folks is the star of this show. If you run into a metagame were B2B isn't good then well your deck isn't all that good.

.

Sometimes I feel like someone isn't really trying at all with these deck names. I look forward to playing “Wild Nacatl” or “Lightning Bolt” in my next tournament.

Anyway I like some of what's going on in this deck. Beyond the / combo there's a sweet in the sideboard and a in the maindeck. Still playing with and against this deck on occasion the lack of consistency is pretty striking just as some hands are undeniably powerful.

NO

Not really dissimilar to the deck above this version is packing the combo along with an sideboard package. In a field littered with relatively similar decks the use of the combo can help you punch through a clogged board and resolves right past cards like and .

That said this build lacks removal and is significantly behind in Jace count compared to a lot of other similar decks. Also you can't equip anything to and that makes me sad for him.

NO RUG

This is basically RUG Tempo for people that can't let go of .

pairs with and Force of Will to keep key threats off the board without investing mana. This deck calmly and smoothly transitions up into while countering early threats but is equally able to just beat down with .

I'm not sure I would suggest this over the tempo version but your mileage may vary. There's also a danger in playing these quasi-control decks in a field that also has a true control component.

Painted Stone

Now with . Next deck!

Kidding but not really.

Actually there's some in the sideboard which enable a back-up combo and I like that in the maindeck since there are decks out there playing Emrakul. This seems to be replaced as the combo deck of the week by .

Reanimator

This is one of my absolute favorite decks in Legacy at the moment and one that really got charged back up by and Jin Gitaxias and Elesh Norn. Eli's deck has a few things going for it besides the power increase from some of the new cards. He's playing four a concession to some of the faster aggro variants(and !) as well as the absence of and also has and .

I'm also a huge fan of the set of four s. While nothing will make up for the loss of I've found that having an extra set of spells like or can really amp the consistency back up. With the metagame being as it is and /Top being more or less extinct this version cuts the s completely.

The sideboard still has and Show and Tell to beat the hate and now features (along with Grave Titan one of the most random throw-ins I've ever written about that ended up being kind of good).

In any case I really like this deck and suggest you test against it and put it on your short list.

RUG Tempo

This is another deck I really like; you get the Ancestral lots of varied counters flexible removal (or “removal”) like Beast Within and .

In a nutshell this is like the RUG /Top decks that played Lavamancer but in place of the outdated Counter/Top engine you get a ton of exciting and flexible new cards. This version is also packed with three . Out-Jace-ing your opponent is something you need to get comfortable with in today's Legacy.

This is another deck I'd personally be testing with and against.

Stoneblade

The first version is UWR and essentially replaces Ancestral and Beast Within in the above RUG Tempo list and replaces it a package and .

At the expense of repeating myself this is a deck I can really get behind. It has trumps for a lot of the other popular decks and is in a sweet spot in the metagame. Those REBs and s build onto an already great Merfolk matchup and also happen to stick it to . And I've long loved ; it's this deck's version of .

Team America

Again I wanted to show an example of what this deck looks like with . Like decks I respect this deck's potential for raw power when the elements come together but the mana can malfunction or be forcibly malfunctioned by opposing or Magus of the Moon.

Recently some of the luster has come off this deck but it has been a cyclical deck since its inception and will likely come back into favor eventually.

TES

If your name is Liam Kane or Bryant Cook game on! Otherwise game off. Game… not on? You know what I'm saying here. I'm at least partially kidding.

and all these “tempo” decks require potential TES players to practice more than ever. This deck is one of the few that really hasn't changed.

Despite what you might have heard though it's also still a good deck. is the perfect card for this metagame.

UW Control

There's nothing really fancy about this deck but it's great that it exists; seeing in Legacy is awesome to me especially because it's actually quite good. If there's a deck designed to out-Jace the rest of Legacy this is the one.

Four four four and a let this deck simply out-draw many decks that occupy similar control or quasi-control design spaces.

“Hi my name is Drew and I'm addicted to drawing cards.”

In fact the number of “tempo” decks and other hybrid builds with half their foot in the control “door” so to speak are a great reason to play this deck; a full-on control deck can muscle right past those decks.

UW Landstill (with Stoneforge)

This is a bit less of a traditional Landstill deck and more of a Stoneforge / Landstill hybrid. Outside of the fact that it only has two Jace I like it. I wanted to include this if for no other reason than to show how much room to innovate there is between the various Stoneforge and base U/W decks.

Seriously is the new .

Zoo

The first is an example of Zoo with .

Seriously that guy is everywhere.

It's like all the s that got banned from Standard ran over to Legacy. I'd probably recommend something other than Sword of Mind and Body but I like the rest of this list.

And at perhaps the other extreme from Blue Zoo we end with Patrick Sullivan's hyper-aggressive Zoo deck with s. It basically ignores by overloading on one-drops. It's good at smashing in faces. Many Zoo decks are starting to cut down on due to the absence of in the metagame.

So Legacy players that's your format. If Wizards was trying intentionally to break it well… sorry they have to try harder.

Until next time—which may be a while—happy cooking!

Matt Elias

Voltron00x@gmail.com

Voltron00x on Twitter TMD and The Source