Legacy: 8 Decks Without Reserved List Cards to Play

The conversation surrounding non-Legacy players when it comes to the format tends to come at some point about how Legacy is expensive. They're not wrong: Magic is an expensive game and Legacy can definitely be even more so due to the number of cards and staples of the format that are on the Reserved List — a promise made by Wizards of the Coast in 1996 to not reprint certain cards to maintain their collectible value.

The list was revised in 2002, when they removed commons and uncommons from it, and again in 2010, when the company tried some initiatives to reprint some cards in special versions, but the backlash from investors was perhaps the biggest Magic has ever faced. Since then, the Reserved List has been set in stone, untouched, and signals a “safe investment” in Magic as a collectible, which has led to several spikes over the years in the prices of the cards included in it.

For Legacy, the cards on the list symbolize a double-edged sword: on the one hand, buying Old Duals or Gaea’s Cradle to play guarantees the certainty that these cards will never depreciate, making them long-term investments that can, in the future, be sold for the same or higher value. On the other hand, they are the biggest deterrent for new players to enter the format.

Think of Dimir Tempo, for example. The average cost of the deck is US$4,500, with US$3,500 being just for the Underground Sea play set. The same is true for most of the format's top competitive decks, and the blessing of having a high investment guaranteed by Wizards of the Coast itself with a no-reprint policy is also the curse of alienating the public from the format that represents the pinnacle of Magic's power level.

We decided to show another side of Legacy in this article. Yes, the best decks, in general, will be running cards from the Reserved List and Old Duals are the best lands you can have, but it is not always necessary to seek such a high investment to play the format in your community, and to prove it, we bring you eight Legacy archetypes without Reserved List cards.

Burn

Burn is, at the same time, the cheapest, simplest and most accessible deck to play that you can build in Legacy. It essentially follows the same mold as what we see the archetype do in Pauper, Modern, and even Pioneer, and most of the cards on the list are already part of the natural pool in other formats — the exception is Price of Progress, which many other versions of the archetype would use if they had access to it.

But just like in other formats, Burn is an easy deck to telegraph, and playing at speed doesn't work as well in more competitive Legacy tables. After all, while you're tapping mana to deal three damage to your opponent, they can come back with an Atraxa, Grand Unifier with Reanimate, or make an Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn from a Show and Tell, win the game on the second turn with Thassa's Oracle, or just know that you don't have any mana left to dodge a Daze while pressuring you with Delver of Secrets.

All Spells

All Spells is a linear combo deck based on the interaction of Balustrade Spy and Undercity Informer with the MDFCs from Modern Horizons III and Battle for Zendikar, which allows playing with lands and have access to their mana without having land cards. Therefore, when activating or triggering the ability of one of these creatures, its controller will put all the cards in their library into the graveyard.

The main victory line revolves around bringing Thassa’s Oracle from the graveyard with Dread Return to win the game, since its controller will have no cards in the library. If this plan fails for some reason, Memory’s Journey offers another attempt the following turn with Reanimate, or we can even follow other lines with Poxwalkers and the tokens from Bridge from Below.

Despite being relatively simple to play and cheap to build, All Spells has some issues with Magic's philosophy since it's the closest thing to a "turn one deck" — it can win games too quickly, and there's debate among players whether, as it gains more notoriety, this would be a healthy standard for the format. Therefore, building All Spells comes with the risk of it eventually being banned for being unfun to play against.

Mono Black Depths

Dark Depths is a combo with many versions in Legacy, and the Mono Black variant is an excellent starting point for the archetype and the format for newcomers to it since it combines a cheaper version with a straightforward game plan that will permeate the base for all variants that are built from it.

The plan involves running Vampire Hexmage to remove all the counters from Dark Depths, which, having no counters, will be sacrificed to create an indestructible 20/20 Marit Lage token. Alternatively, we can also copy Depths with Thespian’s Stage, sacrifice the original land for the Legends Rule and trigger the copy — which will have no counters — to create the token.

From this point on, simply protect Marit Lage with Not of This World or have previously set up with Thoughtseize and Duress to avoid bounce spells, Swords to Plowshares or Solitude and attack with the token for lethal damage on the following turn. To protect the combo, the list also includes a set of Pithing Needle in the maindeck for Wasteland and Karakas.

Merfolks

A long time ago, Merfolks was once one of the best decks in Legacy, but it lost its place as more efficient cards came out for other archetypes and new strategies emerged from Stoneforge Mystic, Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage and Jace, the Mind Sculptor — all cards that somehow feel dated to the format in 2025.

That's not to say that Merfolks isn't a good deck to start with in Legacy. It's monocolored, interactive, has a game plan that's easy to understand and rewards its controller for dedicating themselves to the archetype and learning the most efficient lines, all with a dozen kindred interactions and a few new cards that have strengthened the archetype in recent years.

Orzhov Humans

NOTE: The above list runs a copy of Scrubland. It is possible to replace it with a copy of Godless Shrine or a basic without major concessions, since we are talking about a one-of, but we chose to present the original list to maintain integrity.

Orzhov Humans was not a deck I expected in a Legacy list, but it was its presence in the Top 16 of the Monster Alpha, with 105 players, that led to the writing of this article — it has almost the same structure as the Pioneer Humans lists, only with the inclusion of disruptive cards like Wasteland and other staples that there is no reason not to use: Esper Sentinel, Mother of Runes, Aether Vial and Dark Confidant (which will soon be in Pioneer too!)

Not unlike Merfolks, the Humans plan is to take advantage of the interactions between its creatures with a disruptive game plan where all of its cards offer some benefit to the other creatures, or disrupt the opponent's game plan in some way, allowing it to hold the combos or more explosive decks while advancing your board every turn.

Death & Taxes

There are many variants of Death & Taxes: some with two colors, others without Yorion, Sky Nomad, and others that don't use static effects as much and focus exclusively on ETBs while generating value with Overlord of the Balemurk and/or Ketramose, the New Dawn. The variant above, however, is a good starting point.

Despite the amount of creatures, Death & Taxes is a kind of Control toolbox that runs Recruiter of the Guard to search for any creature that poses a problem for the opponent: effects to tax their mana like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, removal with Skyclave Apparition and Solitude, land disruption with White Orchid Phantom, or just a quick win condition with Stoneforge Mystic to search for Kaldra Compleat — most of these interact with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd to create snowball effects every turn.

The disruptive effects are aggregated with Wasteland and Rishadan Port, and since we have Aether Vial, we can dedicate two mana per turn to locking down an opponent's land while advancing our game plan.

All of these elements make Death & Taxes, regardless of the version, an efficient choice for the format as long as you don't face very fast combos, but the skill ceiling for this archetype is extremely high and rewards those who know the Legacy Metagame well, prepare the best list to deal with the main decks in your region, and know how to master each possible line that Recruiter of the Guard makes possible in the match.

Death's Shadow

NOTE: Death's Shadow lists usually runs one copy of Underground Sea. Much like the Humans list above and the deck's core theme, it's okay to swap it for a Watery Grave or a basic land.

Maybe you want to play Delver, but don't want to spend thousands on an Old Duals set — but what if there is a version of “Delver” where running Shock Lands is a benefit? Born in Modern in 2016, Death's Shadow became a recognized competitive deck in Legacy in the hands of Josh-Utter Leyton during the Pro Tour 25th in 2018, and has since become one of the gateways for fans of Tempo decks.

Since your key creature cares about how much life you lost this turn, popping Fetch Lands to fetch an untapped Watery Grave becomes a benefit to playing Death’s Shadow early, or even serves at times as a Giant Growth free for the creature, which stacks up for more damage the more copies of it we have on the board.

Furthermore, as proven previously in Modern, Shadow is precisely the kind of creature that benefits from a Tempo shell full of efficient cantrips and free spells, and while power creep has changed a portion of which cards accompany it in lists, its core of Thoughtseize, Street Wraith and Shock Lands remains untouched.

Mono Blue Delver

And if you prefer to start piecing together your Delver pool, a Mono Blue variant of the format's most famous archetype has seen some recent results in Challenges.

Over the years, blue Tempo decks have gained several tools and cards that have been used or tested in Delver lists at some point, and this variant takes advantage of the color reduction to take diversify the answers, with lines that involve Stifle, as well as specific one-ofs like Stern Scolding and Spell Snare.

On the other hand, playing with one color makes you less vulnerable to Wasteland but also greatly limits the number of responses in the maindeck and Sideboard that do not involve stack interaction, leaving you very passive against cards that resolve on the board and/or that cannot be countered. However, Mono Blue Delver is a good entry point for those who want to gradually build the two-color base for Izzet, and possibly move on to other variants in the future.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!