Jeff Abong – Legacy Series Organizer

Name: Jeff Abong

# of Legacy Series Events Played:

Zero

AZMP Legacy Top 8s:

Zero

Non-AZMP MTG Accomplishments:

• Top 16 – SCG Phoenix, Legacy, April 2012
• Top 32 – SCG Las Vegas, Legacy, December 2014
• Top 2 – PTQ: Gatecrash, March 2013
• Winner – SCG: IQ, March 2013

Favorite Legacy Deck Of All Time:

Maverick

What about Legacy draws you to the format? What is the best part about playing Legacy?

There are tons of different interactions that really test how well you know Magic.

In your opinion, how has the Legacy metagame evolved over the Series?

Burn has evolved from being a joke to a serious contender because of Eidolon of the Great Revel.

What affected your deck choice from event to event?

None

What do you think is the most overrated deck for the Championships?

BUG-style decks, due to their vulnerablility to burn.
What do you think is the most underrated deck for the Championships?

Burn. It’s not respected enough and people fail to account for how serious it’s gotten.
Legacy can be a scary format for those who are not intimately familiar with all of the cards. What advice would you recommend to novice Legacy players playing in the Championship?

Don’t be afraid to ease into the format slowly. It’s not like Standard where you buy a whole deck before joining a tournament. I played for years with sub-optimal cards and slowly built up my collection. If all else fails you can always borrow the cards that you need, but be sure to pay it back to the community by buying those cards eventually so others can borrow those cards!

Chuck Kraver – Avondale August Winner

Name: Charles “Chuck” Kraver

# of Legacy Series Events Played:

5

AZMP Legacy Top 8s (which events?): 

• January: 5th (seeded 1st after Swiss)
• March: Tied for Last
• June: 12th
• July: 10th
• August Play or Draw: 1st (seeded 4th after Swiss)

Non-AZMP MTG Accomplishments:

1) Won 15 Type I (Classic/Vintage) tournaments in 10 months and 3 Type I.V (Classic Restricted/Legacy) tournaments in 5 months back when magic was single elimination before retiring from constructed magic in 1997 with the birth of my Daughter. Prizes included a Unlimited Mox Ruby from the Leprecon 1997 Type 1 event.

2) Still have my pre-release sealed Exodus deck (7-1-0 lost to Riad in a field of 282) and Stronghold deck (4-1-0 in a field of 206) .

3) Seeing Alpha Magic being played at GenCon 1993. Buying a single Alpha deck (2 rares) but passing on an Alpha booster because who needs more than a single deck to play a card game? Getting lucking to pull an Alpha Ancestral Recall and an Alpha Timewalk in that deck.

4) Trading an unopened box of Homelands for an Alpha Timetwister back when Alpha was not legal in constructed magic.

5) Buying a playset of Candelabra’s of Tawnos and Mishra’s Workshops when they were unrestricted in October 1997.

http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Timeline_of_DCI_bans_and_restrictions

Favorite Legacy Deck Of All Time:

1) Burn in 1997. It won games and matches fast.

2) Berzerk Infect since 2011. I returned to the game to see infect in the Scars block, unrestricted Berzerk and free to play Invigorate!.

What about Legacy draws you to the format? What is the best part about playing Legacy?

1) Like all eternal formats, you can build a deck that will not rotate. Because of Work, Wife, Kids, I cannot keep up with Standard. Change does happen with new sets and bannings/unbannings, but not at speed. I can play a deck for a long time. This gives time to learn how to play and sideboard.

2) It gives me an excuse to buy the cool cards I missed when I left magic for 12 years.

In your opinion, how has the Legacy metagame evolved over the Series?

Burn and Death and Taxes appear to be more popular than ever. They each received a bump in power from recent expansions. Eidolon for Burn. Brimaz and Council’s Judgment for D&T

What affected your deck choice from event to event?

I saw an UG Infect build getting results in StarCityGames Legacy events so I finally made the switch after playing Mono-Green Infect for over 2.5 years. Brainstorm is just too good to ignore for that long.

What do you think is the most overrated deck for the Championships?

Unfortunately, most home-brewed decks like my Mono-Green Infect deck.

What do you think is the most underrated deck for the Championships?

The deck Nathan Cardinell is playing each week. He loves to pilot difficult decks to victory!

Legacy can be a scary format for those who are not intimately familiar with all of the cards. What advice would you recommend to novice Legacy players playing in the Championship?

1) Get your hands on any legacy deck. Borrow one, build an inexpensive one, or proxy one (for training only).

2) Goldfish it a dozen times so you can learn the cards.

3) Deal out the deck in 7 card chunks and decide if you will mulligan each pile or not.

4) Run it in legacy playtest events as found in the AZMagicPlayers Legacy Facebook group. You will gain invaluable practice playing and sideboarding. You will also learning about the other decks in the format.

5) Run it in several local Legacy event as found in Wizards event finder.

6) If you lose a match, first congratulate your opponent. Next, ask for advice on how to better sideboard in future matches against decks like his. Additionally, ask for advice on how to better play your own deck. It is to your opponents advantage for you to win as many matches as possible because it helps his tie-breakers. Plus helping you helps build the legacy community which also helps us all!

7) Win or Lose, have fun because you are playing a game!

Phimus Pan – March Event Winner

Name: Phimus Pan

# of Legacy Series Events Played:

4 I think

AZMP Legacy Top 8s:

1st and 3rd (January and March)

Non-AZMP MTG Accomplishments:

Top 16’d 2004 US Nationals

Favorite Legacy Deck Of All Time:

None

What about Legacy draws you to the format? What is the best part about playing Legacy?

I like the complexity involved in a lot of the games. It’s cool to see a lot of different card interactions.

In your opinion, how has the Legacy metagame evolved over the Series?

Didn’t play enough of them to know.

What affected your deck choice from event to event?

Whatever deck my friends graciously built me.

What do you think is the most overrated deck for the Championships?

I think Death and Taxes is an overrated deck in general.

What do you think is the most underrated deck for the Championships?

Lands

Legacy can be a scary format for those who are not intimately familiar with all of the cards. What advice would you recommend to novice Legacy players playing in the Championship?

If you play lots of individually powerful cards with some disruption, you can put together wins pretty easily.

Mike Griffin – 3 Legacy Series Top 8s

Name: Mike Griffin

# of Legacy Series Events Played:
7 of 9

AZMP Legacy Top 8s:
3 (January, March, June; all with Miracles)

Non-AZMP MTG Accomplishments:

Many PTQ tie break heartbreaks into 9th place, lost in the finals of PTQ to Hawaii (the worst match to lose?!).  Once terrorized the 2-headed giant scene in Illinois…

Standard Esper control: I beat mono blue devotion in a match in 7 minutes at SCG LA, and have won a mirror match game in under 2.

Killed a Stormbreath Dragon with an Anvil-Wrought Raptor.

I once attacked for the game with 2 Nyx-Fleece Rams. One was a 4/9, the other was 3/8…

Favorite Legacy Deck Of All Time:

I have a soft spot for when damage was still “on” the stack, and Mogg Fanatic was a terror.  Back then, there were fewer combo decks killing faster than Burn/Sligh; it’s the deck I cut my teeth on for eternal formats.

More recently, Miracles has captured my attention.  I also love Doomsday, not because it’s good but because it’s fun if you limit your pile selection to 2 minutes.

When I played Stasis, it was Type II, not Type 1.5 (Legacy), does that count?

What about Legacy draws you to the format?

Brainstorm is the gateway drug, and Sensei’s Divining Top is the hard stuff. Jace is my dealer.

Eternal formats offer a much deeper game where everything CAN make a difference.  Which land to play on turn 1 varies from match to match.  I want Tundra into Brainstorm for Terminus on turn 2 vs. Elves, but wouldn’t ever want to lead a Tundra into decks packing Wasteland for instance.  The variety of  cantrips allow combo and control decks to sculpt hands for a “go off” turn, or to navigate the counterspell fights to force through something decisive.

It’s a format of much more than simply what the board shows; Daze, Stifle, Force of Will, Cabal Therapy, Meddling Mage, Phyrexian Revoker, Stoneforge Mystic, Pithing Needle, Aether Vial, Rishadan Port, Spell Pierce, Wasteland, Vendilion Clique, Counterbalance, Sensei’s Divining Top, Brainstorm, Ponder, Thoughtseize/Duress, Hymn to Tourach, and Delver of Secrets are all staples that shine when you develop a deeper understanding of matchups and what your opponent’s plans are.  Predicting what your opponent holds in hand matters more when plans can be executed faster, or unravel your own efforts.

What is the best part about playing Legacy?

• Counterbalancing a Wurmcoil Engine or Fireblast with Terminus.
• Seeing the look of dread on your opponent’s face when you win the die roll and take the draw.
• Tapping Top to entreat Angels in their declare attackers step.
• Vendilion Cliquing away Batterskull in response to Stoneforge Mystic activating.
• Maneuvering around with an opponent who knows you have Blood Moon in hand when you know he has Abrupt Decay in hand.
• “Blindflipping” with Counterbalance.

In your opinion, how has the Legacy metagame evolved over the Series?

• Phase 1: Fair Decks (Death & Taxes, BUG, Delvers, Deathblade)
• Phase 2: Miracles & Combo (Show and Tell, Storm)
• Phase 3: Burn & Land/Depth strategies

Reanimator and MUD decks have been fairly present, we’ve had a diverse meta, but the above phases seem to me to be the overall trend this year.

What affected your deck choice from event to event?
Miracles initially for simply card availability–it’s what I had most of at the time.  It’s grown on me :P

I’ve played Dredge a bit more recently as a tactic to “sideboard check” that enough people are packing graveyard hate (Tormod’s Crypt, Grafdigger’s Cage, Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, Scavenging Ooze, etc.).  Before Alex secured his lead beyond my reach, I wanted to make sure people were at least
sideboarding answers for his reanimation!  I’m not sure how well that worked…

What do you think is the most overrated deck for the Championships?
Burn

I’m trying to spread the word to everyone to run Pulse of the Fields :D Burn is fast and aggressive, and affordable compared to many Legacy decks, but it seems so much more fragile when I think of Hymn to Tourach, Misdirection, Energy Field, Pulse of the Fields, Iona, Griselbrand, Batterskull, etc.  I
think it’s probably a fine deck in a Delver heavy meta, but I don’t think that time is now.  Eidolon has given it a sure boost, but as long as you plan for Eidolon and Vortex, it seems like they need a perfect draw to steal the game.

What do you think is the most underrated deck for the Championships?
There’s a BUG walker list popping up with Kiora that is making me scratch my chin… Esper Stone/Deathblade is still a capable list that gets in under the radar. I think a proficient High Tide pilot could wreak some havoc!

Legacy can be a scary format for those who are not intimately familiar with
all of the cards. What advice would you recommend to novice Legacy players
playing in the Championship?

Hah, Legacy can be a scary format even for those familiar with the format! Definately brush up on the frequently played cards (i.e, know Brainstorm from Ponder, etc.  Recognize their uses for finding lands, hiding cards from discard etc.).  Understand that games can get out of hand quickly, so try to look
ahead a turn or two (i.e., that Batterskull germ is going to be swinging in a couple turns, what’s my plan to deal with it?).  How do you deal with a True-Name Nemesis?  Not everyone runs them, but when it picks up a Sword of X and Y, you’re almost out of time.

More than just being reactive, however, you can also be the one doing the scary things.  I think this is why Burn is so alluring; “I don’t care what you do, but you have 3-4 turns to stop me from burning you down.”

There are enough varying decks to run into that having specific answers for just one deck is not as much a concern as having diverse use cards.  Grafdigger’s Cage hurts not just Dredge, but Reanimator, and Elves to a slight degree (Natural Order and Green Sun’s Zenith).  This is one reason it sees a bit more use than Tormod’s Crypt.

Until you know your opponent is or isn’t running Wasteland(s), be prepared to lose a non-basic.  Turn 1 basic lands are ironically often better than a dual.
Brainstorm is the most skill intensive cantrip.  Consider I turn 1 Island, turn 2 Brainstorm (planning to drop a fetchland and shuffle away 2 cards). Mid-Brainstorm, I’ll have 9 cards in hand.  I have 72 choices of putting back any 2 cards in either order.  I need to consider fetching now, or maybe waiting to draw the top of those 2 cards (nevermind the consideration of setting up a Miracle or Counterbalance coverage).

A brain-teaser as to why I love Legacy: on the play, turn 1 Island.  Opponent turn 1 Swamp, Cabal Therapy targeting you.  You tap Island and play Brainstorm. Do you hide your two best cards from the Therapy?  Do you think your opponent expects that?  Do you leave some obvious picks in your hand to get your opponent to guess wrong?  I doubt there’s a “correct” answer, as it will vary from game to game, hand to hand, opponent to opponent.

If you’re just getting into Legacy, enjoy!  It’s a rough landscape to start out in, but as you become aquanted with a deck and a few matchups, you will find your stride.  For those looking to break into Legacy from Modern; the Zendikar fetches see at least as much play as the Onslaught ones, Shock lands
are slightly less desirable but work when playing Aggro with a budget.  Decks like Affinity, Merfolk, Death & Taxes, Infect, Burn and the like use a lot of “bleed-over” cards from Modern, potentially lessening the blow to get into Legacy.