How about dem bans eh? That was an unexpectedly eventful Monday, I thought I had a little more time before the bannings were dropped on our heads. Starting next Friday, Standard will be looking drastically different and Modern will have lost yet another draw spell while Dredge is heavily weakened (again). I’m not here to tell you how I feel about each individual banning. I’m here to remind you again that there is a safe space.
You got into Modern because you didn’t have to buy a new deck constantly, but the way the bans get thrown around it might be a better choice to divest from Modern and build into Legacy. Standard has a low up-front cost that is easily accessible, but it looks a lot more like Modern after Monday. I know that this is not an easy step. Legacy isn’t cheap, nor is it offered everywhere. If you’re in New England, you’re pretty lucky. We have a strong Legacy scene up here and I know every store I play at there are always people with spare decks willing to lend them to new players. Outside of New England it isn’t that straightforward sadly, but I do have some suggestions on how to make Legacy more accessible to you.
The first part is hardest: find eight people who want to play Legacy. Don’t worry, you get to include yourself. These don’t need to be people who can afford top tier decks, just eight people who want to play. Next go talk to your LGS and see if they have a night they would be willing to host your group. Don’t screw them over, you need to be willing to show up every week. It costs LGS’s money to be open and it isn’t the world’s most profitable business so make sure to be a good customer.
Suggest paying in cash that is turned into store credit as the prize support. Five or ten bucks a person means you’re guaranteeing some money for your local store while directly investing in the deck you want. Now I’m sure you’re wondering, so I have a store to play at and people to play with but I don’t have a deck so it doesn’t matter? You do not need to be playing a tier one $3000 deck to be playing Legacy. You don’t even need to be playing a tier two $1000 deck to be playing legacy. Find what decks you like, find what cards you have and do some brewing! Maybe challenge our own Aaron Gazzaniga to brew a deck for you!
As an example I’ve put together a budget fun Cloudpost list for anyone to play! It actually isn’t drastically different than the regular (expensive) list that I’ve posted about before. This list, if you put it all through TCG and grab the mids, comes in at just under $500. Honestly I think you can do it under $400 if you do it right.
Budget Cloudpost
| Lands (26) 6 Forests 4 Vesuva 4 Cloudpost 4 Glimmerpost 1 Eye of Ugin 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Glacial Chasm 1 Karakas 4 Windswept Heath Creatures (6) 4 Primeval Titan 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger Spells (28) 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 4 Crop Rotation 4 Ancient Stirrings 4 Explore 4 Pithing Needle 3 Sensei’s Diving Top 4 Expedition Map 2 Moment’s Peace 2 All Is Dust |
You probably also already own a lot of these cards, many of them are commons and all but ten cost less than $5 each. All of the truly expensive cards, Emrakul, Ulamog, Ugin and Karakas, are easily replaceable. There are other cheap Eldrazi or equally strong artifact creatures that cost less than a dollar. Karakas isn’t necessary, it just allows for infinite turns with Emrakul (bounce, recast, etc) and can even just be replaced with another forest. Without these cards the deck drops by $130. If you replace the Tops it loses an additional $60 and becomes a $300 deck if you don’t own any of those cards. Definitely less than your Modern deck, and about the same price as your now worthless Standard deck. I’ve written in the past about how to turn Standard and Modern into Legacy decks but now there is more incentive than ever.
Legacy is a great format, that while not easy to get into is completely possible. You can take as long as you want to save up cards and most likely you won’t have to worry about your deck being banned. So come to the dark side! We have dual lands! Sure, it’s not the easiest format to learn and yes it will be awhile until you have your dream deck but at least you don’t have to worry about Wizards completely ruining it. Plus they’ve been offering more and more reprints so it’s becoming more affordable to play Legacy everyday.
Kate hails from Worcester MA and also does a bit of Card Altering. Check her Stuff out on Facebook! She mainly plays legacy and modern though will occasionally find herself playing EDH.