Magic: the Gathering

Opinion

Report: Monster Alpha Legacy - A Return to Legacy After Five Years

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An invitation to play in a 105-player Legacy tournament after five years may not have yielded the best results, but it demonstrated the importance of Gathering and building a community for the format.

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translated by Romeu

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revised by Tabata Marques

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Table of contents

  1. > Top 16 Decklists
    1. Thiago Kajiyama - Izzet Delver
    2. Gabriel Braga - OmniTell
    3. Eduardo Leite do Santos - Mono Red Painter
    4. Welldace dos Santos - Orzhov Humans
    5. Gleivid Nunes - Nadu Breakfast
    6. André Felipe Boschetti - Jund Midrange
    7. Bernardo Gibran - Grixis Midrange
    8. Julio Junior - Merfolks
    9. Guilherme Ferreira - Mono Black Reanimator
    10. Victor Cabral - Infect
    11. Daniel Saléh - Temur Delver
    12. Gustavo Penelas - Dimir Reanimator
    13. Joaquim Damasceno - Eldrazi Stompy
    14. Arthur Bisbocci - Lands
    15. Felipe Lyra - Orzhov Blink
    16. Igor Silva - Mystic Forge
  2. > Wrapping Up

My first experience in a Legacy tournament was in 2018. At the time, I was playing Modern with Grixis Death’s Shadow, and some of the players in the format at my local store were also participating in an independent Legacy tournament, Alpha Legacy, and having a deck that already shared traits with a Delver of Secrets list and not needing Underground Sea was reason enough to play with the archetype, which led me to second place in the tournament.

34 commons, 13 uncommons, 26 rares and 2 mythics

super type imageLand18

4

Einöde

79.74

1

Insel

0.31

1

Sumpf

0.31

1

Blutbeflecktes Schlammloch

11.15

4

Nasses Grab

52.19

4

Verschmutztes Delta

52.61

1

Aufzuchttümpel

15.98

1

Nebliger Regenwald

22.78

1

Siedender Tümpel

21.6

super type imageKreatur18

4

Delver of Secrets

1.29

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4

Todesritenschamane

32.58

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4

Schatten des Todes

4.61

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4

Straßenwraith

0.46

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2

Gurmag-Anglerfisch

0.14

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super type imageHexerei9

2

Gedankenergreifung

10.84

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3

In Betracht ziehen

3.26

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4

Gitaxianer-Sonde

19.6

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super type imageSpontanzauber15

4

Gedankenwirbel

4.68

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2

Tödlicher Stoß

1.96

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4

Dämmerzustand

8.92

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1

Zergliedern

3.54

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4

Willenskraft

184.44

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60 cards maindeck

Sideboard 15

1

Liliana, die letzte Hoffnung

4.01

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1

Liliana vom Schleier

7.4

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2

Nihilistische Spruchbombe

1.16

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2

Hymne an Tourach

1.23

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1

Marsh-Verluste

0.31

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1

Toxische Sintflut

4

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1

Aufregungssturm

5.66

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1

Zauberdurchbohrung

0.11

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1

Tödlicher Stoß

0.98

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2

Chirurgische Extraktion

3.59

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2

Teuflisches Edikt

0.14

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Since then, I’ve played Legacy a few other times, but I stepped away from the format after the pandemic, until I received an invitation to play in a special edition of the same event and from the same organization as the event where I participated in my first tournament. It happened during our webcast interview: the Alpha Legacy's organizer invited the team from Cards Realm to participate in the commemorative Monster Alpha edition, which would take place on May 10th.

The story of Alpha Legacy fits perfectly with what Legacy as a format represents: resilience. The Rio de Janeiro event was the only one of the city's series of independent tournaments that survived the test of time and the pandemic. Other tournaments, such as Mhysteria Modern and Pauper Masters — the latter organized by myself, Heitor Pietre, and Leonardo Luiz — were unable to keep up with the changes and difficulties that the mix of power creep and social isolation brought. Alpha, however, held up.

Much of why Legacy has held up while other formats have needed new independent organizations is due to the nature of the format's player base that has remained united: when I arrived at the event last Saturday, the number of familiar faces and people I knew from tournaments I attended six or more years ago was immense. Some were still playing the same archetype, while others were also returning in that tournament.

Image: Humberto Romeu
Image: Humberto Romeu

There is some beauty in this. Both in the dedication to specific archetypes — I wouldn't have done it any differently with Death's Shadow under other circumstances — and in the sense of community that exists in having an audience always attending tournaments. On the other hand, there is also that feeling that Legacy hasn't diminished, but it hasn't grown either: it remains exactly where it is.

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A common comparison here in Brazil is the behavior of the Legacy community with the Flesh and Blood community. Both audiences know that their games/formats are expensive, and so they tend to be willing to help other players try out the game and participate in events — this is especially important in Brazil due to economic factors and the devalued currency that has made imported TCGs gradually more expensive and difficult to access each year.

It was this attention to those who are not involved in the format that brought me to the event: enter Ramon, content creator for Legacy and Premodern and the other interviewee on the program to talk about the format in Brazil. Ramon was the one who got the cards and made a deck available for me to play. Not just any deck: an Izzet Tempo as soon as I told him that I was used to playing with Delver of Secrets in the pre-pandemic times.

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The list had everything you'd expect: a full set of duals that made me wonder ten times if I was shuffling too hard when I cracked a Fetch Land, a full set of the new Cori-Steel Cutter, Force of Will, and a robust Sideboard for a broad Metagame that, honestly, wouldn't cover all fronts even if there were 20 cards in it — the tabletop Legacy scene differs a lot from region to region, and while lists like Merfolks and Death & Taxes aren't in the Top Tiers today, they were quite popular in the tournament, not to mention a dozen other archetypes that I observed and never imagined I'd find at a Legacy table: in one of them, the player was running Zombies, and an Orzhov Humans made Top 16 that day.

Image: Humberto Romeu
Image: Humberto Romeu

The tournament had 105 players, seven rounds and no cut for Top 8. My result was 2-3 and one drop when I concluded that I would not make it to the Top 16. The matches were Death & Taxes (0-2), Mono Black Midrange (2-0), Merfolks (2-1), Death & Taxes (1-2) and Sneak & Show (1-2), and a dozen factors influenced the results: the lack of experience with the deck — I did not practice even one match on MTGO before the tournament —, a Sideboard that was not prepared to deal with Death & Taxes, and one or two horrendous misplays against Sneak & Show to seal my fate.

Image: Humberto Romeu
Image: Humberto Romeu

But what really matters in this experience? I had fun.

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Legacy is the pinnacle of Magic's power level, the power play that we are so used to seeing in Standard, Pioneer or even Pauper nowadays is easily answered by the wide availability of cheap and efficient answers in the format, including free spells like Force of Will that dictate the mana efficiency of the Metagame, and putting together the pieces of what I was used to doing with Death's Shadow added to what the new cards and power creep did provided a mix of nostalgia with something fresh that I hadn't seen in a while playing Magic.

Top 16 Decklists

While we don't have data on the complete Metagame, the diversity of strategies that permeated the tournament was also represented by the Top 16, with 14 different archetypes distributed between Aggro, Control, Combo and Tempo.

Thiago Kajiyama - Izzet Delver

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Gabriel Braga - OmniTell

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While Mistrise Village seemed like a surefire addition to Legacy, I'm surprised that Auroral Procession also found its way in. It seems like a Regrowth that's also a pitch is enough to earn some slots in the format.

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Eduardo Leite do Santos - Mono Red Painter

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Welldace dos Santos - Orzhov Humans

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This Orzhov Humans was the most surprising deck of the event. Its cost compared to other Legacy archetypes is notoriously cheap (Scrubland is the only card on the Reserved List) and ithe game plan is a straightforward strategy that works in other formats as well, operating almost like the Pioneer variant, but with the inclusion of Mother of Runes, Aether Vial and Esper Sentinel.

Gleivid Nunes - Nadu Breakfast

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The rumors that Nadu, Winged Wisdom has more impressive results in live tournaments still lack more comprehensive sampling, but one of the biggest design mistakes in recent Magic history was present in the Top 16.

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André Felipe Boschetti - Jund Midrange

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The days of Tarmogoyf and Bloodbraid Elf are years gone, but a good portion of Jund Midrange is still composed of cards that we would see in pre-Horizons lists, such as Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize.

Bernardo Gibran - Grixis Midrange

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To think that Kaito, Bane of Nightmares would make it so far as to be a win condition in Legacy. Apparently, a Planeswalker that bypasses Force of Will with Ninjutsu and offers the full package of win condition, temporary removal, and card advantage is at the right power level for eternal formats.

Julio Junior - Merfolks

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There was a time long ago when Merfolks was the best deck in the format. Today, the archetype remains one of the best gateways and beginner-friendly decks to Legacy — and one with proven tournament results in the hands of skilled players.

Guilherme Ferreira - Mono Black Reanimator

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Victor Cabral - Infect

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When was the last time we saw Infect make Top 8 in a Challenge or other major Legacy tournament?

Daniel Saléh - Temur Delver

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You can't go wrong with one of the most well-established decks in the history. Temur Delver has changed a lot since the days of the famous Canadian Threshold, but it still has all the tools to serve as a fun police — it surprises me that all the Tempo lists that made Top 16 chose not to use Cori-Steel Cutter.

Gustavo Penelas - Dimir Reanimator

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Mixing the Tempo plan with Reanimate and payoffs is still an option for Legacy after the bans. Perhaps, after so many controversies involving Psychic Frog, Grief and Troll of Khazad-dûm, Dimir Reanimator has finally found itself in a fair deck spot for the Metagame.

Joaquim Damasceno - Eldrazi Stompy

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Arthur Bisbocci - Lands

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Felipe Lyra - Orzhov Blink

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Igor Silva - Mystic Forge

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Wrapping Up

The experience of playing the Monster Alpha does not count towards the result. I chose to play with no true goal in mind and avoiding the pressure of wanting to win, and I knew that the years away from the format and the little practice with my list would not bear fruit to the point of wanting to stress about a Top 8, but rather to enjoy a Magic tournament with people I haven't seen in years.

The community, whether with the invitation to play, or by lending a deck, or the general atmosphere at the tables (despite a few dated jokes that could have been avoided), made me feel welcome to play a format that remains strong and competitive because of the same community that cultivates it, whether in Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, or any other region of the world — and it should remain strong as long as the players remain united in making it flourish.

There is a beauty in a format like Legacy that we only find there. And although the format's entry doors are quite restrictive, perhaps there is a community around you willing to help to have another person attending the events, or people who can indicate the starting points to start building your list little by little, or even someone who can, with you, start a community in your region.

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With the ongoing changes we have experienced with Magic in recent years, the Gathering has been the most important part of the game. And at least in Brazilian Legacy, this Gathering remains alive.

Thanks for reading!

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