Magic is a game of many formats, with each rising and falling in popularity with the ebb and flow of new sets. There are countless examples of this, like the meteoric ascension of Commander and the recent fall and rise of Standard. One format that has seemingly been on its way out for years is Legacy. With dwindling event support and huge financial barriers to entry limiting new players, it’s not hard to see why. The idea that “Legacy is dead” has been bandied about regularly as a result. At an Eternal Weekend event that took place this past weekend, this didn’t seem to be the case, however. A record number of Legacy players showed up to the Eternal Weekend tournament, painting the veteran MTG format in a new light.
Legacy Lives At MTG Eternal Weekend!
For those out of the loop, Eternal Weekend is a series of MTG events that spotlight the Legacy and Vintage formats. These are typically held three to four times a year, in different locations and with different organizers. This past weekend saw the North American Eternal Weekend event take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hosted by online retailer Card Titan.
It was here that those who see Legacy as a dead format received some significant evidence to the contrary. At the weekend’s Legacy Championship tournament, a whopping 1,147 players registered to play. That’s nearly 1,200 people enjoying a format “on its way out.” According to Card Titan, this was the largest Legacy Championship of all time. While still a far cry from the Grand Prix of the format’s glory days, this is a huge figure, and one not to be taken lightly.
The success of this Legacy Championship poses some interesting questions. “What’s behind the surge in support for Legacy?” chief among them. There are a number of reasons one could point to here. For one Legacy is a true eternal format, in that its cards don’t rotate and its metagame is relatively stable. This stands it in sharp contrast to Standard, which will now be getting six sets a year. Even Modern has been dubbed an unofficial rotating format thanks to the huge impact of Modern Horizons sets.
In this sense, players from years gone by can come out and enjoy the Legacy and Vintage festivities. Unlike the constantly evolving metagames of Modern that wipe out entire archetypes, Legacy and Vintage decks of old usually remain the same with a few changes.
With the way Magic in general is heading, it makes sense for players to gravitate to a stable format like this. It may be more expensive in the short term, but in the long term, your deck will likely have a much longer competitive lifespan.
An Evolving Metagame
Speaking of decks and metagames, Legacy, as it currently stands, is in a bit of a fertile period when it comes to deckbuilding innovation. New brews are popping up regularly, and old ones are getting spicy new tools to work with.
Take Dimir Reanimator, for instance. This is a relatively new deck that emerged thanks to Modern Horizons 3’s Psychic Frog. Alongside Entomb, the card lets players drop huge threats into the ‘yard consistently, which can then be Reanimated for cheap. Other new cards, like Duskmourn’s Metamorphosis Fanatic, have also made the list.
Nadu decks in Legacy are another recent development. Unlike Modern, the much-maligned Bird is yet to be banned in Legacy. As such, it’s currently defining its own combo archetype. A similar deck, it should be noted, to Cephalid Breakfast; a classic Legacy brew that still puts up respectable results. Even Eldrazi decks have seen development lately, with the advent of Sire of Seven Deaths in Foundations.
This is just a small slice of what’s going on in Legacy right now, too. The metagame for the Eternal Weekend Legacy Championship was wildly diverse, with no less than 15 different decks seeing reasonable representation. This led to an equally diverse top 8, with Mystic Forge Combo taking up a surprising three slots, and five other decks filling the rest. You can check out a detailed breakdown of the event in this YouTube video from Matt Chow.
All of this to say, Legacy is in a great place right now creatively speaking. Magic players tend to prefer formats where there’s plenty of room for self-expression, and Legacy has that in spades. There are decks here for a range of different playstyles and, crucially, a range of different budgets.
The Players Speak
“1200+ for the 2024 Legacy Championships for a “dead format”. @wizards_magic, it’s the largest and most alive it’s ever been. Support us the way we support you – give us our damn paintings back.”
Roland Chang
Legacy’s strong current position now looks several times stronger in light of this weekend’s record turnout. Players, like Roland Chang above, have been taking to social media to demand more support for a format that could clearly use it. While Chang’s numbers are slightly off, his sentiment is spot-on. Legacy appears to be in fantastic shape, and it could be time for the tide to turn.
Many other players chimed in as well. Taylor Bates added: “Better idea: Give us Legacy RCQ seasons and Pro Tours.” This sounds like a bit of a reach given how hard Wizards is focusing on Standard, Commander, and Pioneer. Format death is often a bit of a slow, self-fulfilling prophecy. As a format loses players, it also loses events, which in turn causes more loss of players. Replacing some of the Legacy events lost in recent years could get things moving in the other direction.
Sadly, Legacy is unlikely to ever get the Pro Tour treatment. At the end of the day, Reserved List cards create too large of a barrier for many players to compete in Legacy.
“I imagine Legacy players are more likely then the average Magic player to go to big events like this. They have incentive (because finding people to play Legacy with is a pain in the ass) and they have the financial means to do so (hopefully).”
buildmaster668
Buildmaster668 offers a compelling counterpoint here. While this weekend’s turnout was certainly impressive, it’s also one of the few Legacy events that exists on the calendar. With fewer events in general, those who play Legacy will naturally gravitate to Eternal Weekends as time goes on. The numbers here are great, but they may not necessarily translate to smaller-scale events firing if Legacy were to be adopted more widely.
It’s hard to say whether Legacy has the legs to become a significant format again. This weekend was promising to be sure, but one tournament does not a playerbase make. On the other hand, the time is ripe for a Legacy renaissance, and those refugees fleeing soon-to-be-changed-forever Standard could well find their forever home within.
