Warsaw Eternal Challenge #1 — Legacy Tournament Report
Tournament report — battling the Warsaw Eternal Challenge's Legacy tournament with 8-cast.
This article’s purpose is twofold—it serves as a tournament report from the perspective of an 8-cast player and as a general overview of the event. For those who seek just the former, click here to skip to the appropriate section.
Legacy scene in poland
Warsaw is the capital of Poland, which means:
- we don’t get as much Legacy (or Eternal) action as we would like;
- we are fortunately located relatively close to Bologna, Italy, so we’re able to travel there regularly for 4seasons events.
Legacy has had its ups and downs in terms of its active player base, but thanks to:
- Filip Pawłowski’s Warsaw Eternal Challenge (which aims to consistently gather dozens of players for Premodern and Legacy tournaments),
- Black Bordered Boomer’s (BBB) Challenge (which aims for the same, but also including Old School in the mix)
it (alongside Premodern) is starting to see a resurgence here. We (Polish players and tournament organizers) are not yet able to draw the attention and attendance of foreign players, but we certainly aim to get there sooner rather than later.
Warsaw Eternal Challenge - Filip Pawłowski’s initiative
Taking place at the rapidly growing and flourishing local game store (LGS) CentrumMTG, Warsaw Eternal Challenge managed to gather 40 Premodern and 29 Legacy players. These numbers, at least according to the shared gut feeling of many, are only to keep growing, perhaps even to double in the not-so-distant future.
Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski (left), piloting GB Shallow Grave, facing Ziemowit Strużyna (right) piloting Red Painter
From here on, I’ll focus only on the Legacy tournament.
European Legacy Masters (ELM)
The stakes were raised after it was announced that the winner will be granted an ELM spot. To some, it didn’t matter (they either would or wouldn’t have attended the hosting event regardless), but to others it was an additional reason to step up their game. One thing was certain—everyone would be playing their best, choosing the deck they are most likely to perform best with. This had an interesting consequence—since in Legacy familiarity with the format and its staples matters greatly, it’s more likely for someone to pick a deck they know rather than a top “meta” deck they are unfamiliar with.
This, paired with a relatively low number of players, meant that people who are knowledgeable about others’ preferences may be much better prepared. Personally, I expected a little bit more Show and Tells (there were only 2), but other than that, I feel like I managed to predict the meta quite well.
The tournament from the first-person perspective
From here on, I’ll focus on my personal perspective of the tournament. We’ll go back to a more objective point of view later in the article.
I registered the following list:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
1 Aether Spellbomb
4 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
4 Clown Car
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
4 Force of Will
1 Island
2 Kappa Cannoneer
1 Lavaspur Boots
4 Lotus Petal
2 Memory Guardian
2 Metallic Rebuke
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Otawara, Soaring City
4 Patchwork Automaton
1 Pithing Needle
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Shadowspear
2 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
1 Thought Monitor
4 Thoughtcast
4 Urza's Saga
2 Dismember
3 Disruptor Flute
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hydroblast
2 Metallic Rebuke
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
Bans
It’s worth mentioning that Legacy has faced some important bans recently.
So, despite not being certain which deck I would be playing, I felt happy thanks to those bans.
My experience
It’s worth noting that I have played very little Magic for the last 1.5 years. Occasionally, I’d show up at my friend’s house to play a bit of mixed Eternal formats, but that was it. I didn’t have much free time. Fortunately, that changed in April. I started attending local Legacy FNMs1, and I’ve been doing pretty okay there.
8-cast
I’ve never really come to enjoy Delver strategies. Maybe it will change in time, but having started with ANT, migrated to TES, then to Death and Taxes (yeah), then, after a very long hiatus2, to Karn Echo, I grew fond of… those kinds of decks. Not Delver decks.
Because of this, having experimented with Blue Painter (which I believe to be much worse than it seems), Red Painter (Goblin package or quit), I finally opted for 8-cast. Running
Let’s talk about some of my deckbuilding decisions:
-
Clown Car is, most of the time, better than Urza's Bauble . - Yes, the Bauble draws cards and the Car doesn’t. Paired with Emry, it becomes an engine that may be the sole reason a game becomes winnable at all. But the Car produces more artifacts and/or bigger threats. I feel like four
Mishra's Bauble s is enough to fuel Emry. Numerous times I was enabled to make a powerful play thanks to the fact that Car produced extra artifacts. Those mainly involved using Metallic Rebuke s. But, on the other hand, it may be the case that 4–4 split between Clown Car and Mishra's Bauble should become an X–Y–4 split between Clown Car , Urza's Bauble , and Mishra's Bauble . This would require more testing and fine-tuning. -
Metallic Rebuke is great. - In my opinion, 8-cast rarely has explosive comebacks. It does have explosive starts, but rarely comebacks. Because of that, if I win a game, that is usually either because of an opponent-overwhelming start or a slow game with a decent threat backed up by countermagic.
Force of Will is great, but it also results in card disadvantage. Rebukes don’t. Rebuke is good. - I wish I played more
Memory Guardian s. -
Memory Guardian is great. I did not appreciate it at first. At least not to the point it deserves. It’s cheap, it blocks big things (maybe not late-game Barrowgoyf -level big, but still), flies over creatures to kill relevant planeswalkers, swings for last remaining points of damage once our opponents deal with our previous threats, etc. And it cheaply fuels Patchwork Automaton , which, I think, is the card that makes the deck. -
Lavaspur Boots elevate the deck almost to the level matching Patchwork Automaton (or sometimes even more). - You certainly are aware of the typical
Urza's Saga 🡒 make 2 Construct s 🡒 get boots 🡒 swing for millions3. But do you know how often you can play Emry, Lurker of the Loch , attach Lavaspur Boots to it, immediately get value, play second Emry, keep it, mill 4 more cards, reattach boots and get even more value?
Yes, this happened. During the tournament. More than once. - I’d love to have maybe one more
Metallic Rebuke , maybe one more Sink into Stupor , maybe more Memory Guardian s, but I really liked having that many Saga targets in the maindeck. - And it does not feel bad to draw them. Well, at least not when it’s the opening hand. Many decks struggle against T1
Aether Spellbomb . Many decks would attempt to Wasteland us, which T1 Pithing Needle stops. Or maybe you simply know that your opponent plays Sneak and Show or relies on Grindstone and you just name that.
Those plays are especially powerful when deployed with T1 Urza's Saga (which paired with T2 Ancient Tomb becomes a great win condition on its own). -
Disruptor Flute is great against Show and Tell -based decks, which I expected to face more than I actually did. - It’s just amazing. Sometimes it just stops
Sneak Attack . Sometimes it makes Show and Tell cost 9 mana. Yes, this happened. During the tournament. More than once4.
I remember a Magic Online game where I had double Fluted on Show and Tell . The opponent, during their turn, cast Echoing Truth targeting one. We fought a counterwar, but I barely lost. It resolved. Then came the Show and Tell . Knowing that 1) if they simply put a creature, I win due to overwhelming board presence; 2) if they put Omniscience and cast Emrakul / Atraxa, I most likely lose, I responded by recasting one Flute, naming Atraxa. Then, thanks to Show and Tell resolving, I put the second Flute naming Emrakul. The Opponent put in Omniscience and conceded the game.
Flute is also arguably decent against Nadu or other things like that. Maybe. Never faced it.
Preparation
This is the moment where I lose all credibility—everything I’ve said thus far has been thought-out and honest, but experience matters, and I, unfortunately, do not have much of it. Prior to this tournament I have played, in total, 12 paper matches and 15 online matches with this iteration of 8-cast. This all spanned over a month. This is very little. So please, don’t take this article as a guide—instead, treat it as a very personalized set of opinions.
I joined the 8-cast Discord server and received great help, mainly from ItsSchwiftyTime. I pondered some ideas, reported some results, stoleborrowed some decklists, and practiced.
Local events
With 8-cast, I managed to go \(4 - 0\), \(3 - 1\) and \(3 - 1\) in locals. Losing, twice, only to Cradle Control. It’s a tough matchup. On one hand, I wish I could play more
I felt particularly good about playing against Show and Tell and BUG Beanstalk (other Beanstalk variances that have access to
Magic Online
I strongly believe that, at least regarding Legacy, playing on Magic Online is almost a necessity if one wants to step up their game to the highest level. Yes, there are some inconsistencies (some cards not being available, the meta skewing toward faster decks, etc.), but they are manageable.
Unfortunately, it comes with a cost. You need to buy or borrow cards. I opted for the latter. If you perform well enough, you may earn enough to actually buy them later on. It’s a fair trade if you ask me.
Swiss
The tournament began. It has officially started at 10:00 and was meant to span over five rounds + top 8. For now, I will focus on reporting my results, my thoughts, and interpreting my notes taken throughout the games.
Clockwise, starting from top-left: Krzysztof Mazurek (UR Cori), Mikołaj Wyspiański (Mono U Jewel), Piotr Szejko (Cradle Control), and Arkadiusz Chojaczyk (Merfolk)
It’s worth mentioning that I skipped a crucial step in preparation—making a sideboard guide. I would definitely recommend having one. Nevertheless, having played for a couple of hours the previous day and having analyzed the meta, I felt decently prepared.
Round 1
- UG Infect
- ~ Bartosz Litwin
I suspected my opponent to be on UG Infect, since I have played against him a couple of times during our Legacy FNMs. I was right.
Game 1
I won the die roll and kept a good hand with Saga and a bunch of countermagic. I figured that if I stop him from doing infect things, then Saga (especially with the help of
- Game 1: Win
Sideboarding
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2
3
4
5
6
7
+2 Dismember
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Metallic Rebuke
-2 Kappa Cannoneer
-2 Clown Car
-1 Shadowspear
-1 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
Game 2
My opponent lead with a colored mana source and cast
- Game 2: Win
Current Result:
\[1 - 0\]Round 2
- UR Delver
- ~ Krzysztof Mazurek
Krzysztof is a seasoned player against whom I battle for the top place in our league. He has multiple international top 8s on his résumé and is a skilled, methodical player. Paired with the fact that he pilots a Tier 1 deck (albeit with a twist of
Game 1
I lost a die roll, but managed to overpower him with
- Game 1: Win
Sideboarding
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
+2 Metallic Rebuke
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Hydroblast
+1 Soul-Guide Lantern
-4 Force of Will
-2 Emry, Luker of the Loch
-1 Pithing Needle
Game 2
I was on the play, but I couldn’t establish a powerful board. I didn’t get any
This game took very long. We also both missed a
- Game 2: Loss
Game 3
No changes to the sideboard. We had very little time to finish this round, and we didn’t manage to do so. The match was a draw.
Current Result:
\[1 - 0 - 1\]Round 3
- Sneak and Show
- ~ Sylwester Strużyna
I’ve known Sylwester for a couple of years. Once a dedicated Infect player, nowadays, he migrated towards
Game 1
I lost the die roll. However, I managed to T1 Saga into
- Game 1: Win
Sideboarding
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
+3 Disruptor Flute
+2 Metallic Rebuke
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Hydroblast
-3 Clown Car
-2 Kappa Cannoneer
-2 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
-1 Shadowspear
-1 Thought Monitor
Game 2
I kept a non-explosive hand, but one that can power through a longer game. I cast a single
- Game 2: Win
Current Result:
\[2 - 0 - 1\]Round 4
- UB Reanimator
- ~ Tomasz “tomjab” Jabłoński
Tomasz is an excellent, even more seasoned player than my previous opponents. I approach this matchup a little differently than the one against Krzysztof, thinking that I will likely lose quite abruptly due to skill and deck difference. I was expecting a short match where I succumb to his plays. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Game 1
I lost the die roll and played a very, very long game 1 (around 30 minutes or so), throughout which I felt like I was barely keeping myself alive. We both went down to 8 life. I have
Eventually, I topdecked a
That card single-handedly stopped my opponent from trying to be aggressive and, suddenly, I could start pressuring him. It even made my opponent stop plusing Tamiyo in favor of buying back cantrips to dig for answers / bigger threats. He did not manage to achieve that goal. I won that game.
- Game 1: Win
Sideboarding
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
+2 Faerie Macabre
+2 Metallic Rebuke
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Soul-Gudie Lantern
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
-4 Force of Will
-3 Clown Car
-1 Thought Monitor
Game 2
The game was shorter, and my notes simply say “slow game, outvalued.” Looking at the registered life total makes this particularly interesting:
| Me | Opponent |
|---|---|
| 20 | |
| 13 |
Which means that I somehow managed to heavily employ
- Game 2: Win
Current Result:
\[3 - 0 - 1\]Round 5
- RUG Delver
- ~ Maciej “Fidzio” Fidziński
Maciej is my good friend with whom I’m part of the Black Bordered Boomers group6. To my surprise, we are paired on the first table, meaning that we are at the very top of the leaderboard. Because of this, we intentionally draw (ID) the match and await for the top 8.
Final result after Swiss:
\[3 - 0 - 2\]Top 8
The top 8 meta didn’t seem that favorable to me, and, in my opinion, I am paired with the worst of any possible matchups from that mix during my first top 8 match.
Going left-to-right: Mariusz Krzywicki (Red Painter), Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski (GB Shallow Grave), Wiktor Werner (UG Show and Tell), Tomasz “tomjab” Jabłoński (UB Reanimator), (below) Marcin Nowakowski (RUG Delver), (up again) Adam Gerwatowski (Nadu Combo), Filip Kwiatkowski (8-cast), and Maciej “Fidzio” Fidziński (RUG Delver)
Quick loss to GB Shallow Grave
- GB Shallow Grave
- ~ Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski
My notes for each game say:
- “Too much discard”
- “T1 discard + combo”
That’s it. That concludes my journey in this tournament with 8-cast. As for the sideboarding in this match, I believe I did the same configuration as with UB Reanimator, but I left
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
+2 Faerie Macabre
+2 Metallic Rebuke
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Soul-Gudie Lantern
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
-4 Clown Car
-2 Kappa Cannoneer
-1 Pithing Needle
-1 Thought Monitor
Grzegorz is a great and versatile player. He plays in many formats, he plays many different decks and knows all of them pretty well. No shame in losing to him, especially given the matchup.
Final result:
Qualified for top 8 at seat #3, lost in the first round of it.
Wrapping up
So is 8-cast good / viable?
I don’t know. I like playing it, and I feel like the deck offers some impressively powerful plays, but maybe I simply fail to differentiate between truly powerful plays and simply synergistic plays that most of the time barely get the job done. You can’t really compare the raw power of 8-cast to, e.g., UB Reanimator’s. Even the best hands of 8-cast consisting of a quick, grown Patchwork or a quick Kappa cannot even get close to land 🡒
But maybe I’m incorrect to look at it from this very perspective. Maybe, despite the aforementioned deck having access to so many cantrips, 8-cast, due to its cohesion of multidimensional synergistic cards, actually presents narrower variance. It sounds weird, but…
…but I simply don’t know. I haven’t really played UB Reanimator. I actually have played very little in the current meta—at most a hundred matches. Maybe if I pick up a “more meta” deck, I will suddenly have the same realization to when I switched from Karn Echo to 8-cast when the latter was still in its glory days. I thought “wow, decks should be doing that much that well and that consistently?”.
But the deck felt good. I felt good playing it. I felt like I had a chance against pretty much any matchup, especially in longer games.
There are exceptions, of course. Because of the lack of traditional cantrips and “safe” card advantage, I don’t feel comfortable playing against all-in combo decks such as Doomsday, Oops, or the nemesistic GB Shallow Grave (and Cradle Control…). Nowadays, those decks are way more consistent than they used to. If I aggressively mulligan for counters, I feel like they can rebuild quicker, especially since mulliganing implies having access to fewer cards. If I don’t, I usually end up with a possibly great-feeling hand that has a good mix of interaction and board presence. Then they just overpower me with just enough discard / protection and combo off anyway.
But maybe it’s variance. Maybe it should not be like this, and in my experiences I have just been unlucky.
But, again, on the other hand, it may as well mean that I was simply lucky to win other matchups.
The winner
Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski, piloting his GB Shallow Grave, after defeating me in our first match of the top 8, managed to beat both Mariusz Krzywicki’s Red Painter and Tomasz “tomjab” Jabłoński’s UB Reanimator, earning his spot in the next ELM and winning a signed
Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski - winner of Warsaw Legacy Challenge vol. 1
The players
It was great to see both relatively new and seasoned players. People come and go, but it’s always sad to see dedicated players losing interest. That’s why the presence of the format veterans was such a pleasurable experience.
Maciej “Fidzio” Fidziński (left, piloting RUG Delver) and Grzegorz “Dauthi” Jezierski (right, piloting GB Shallow Grave)
Tomasz “tomjab” Jabłoński, very sneakily piloting UB Reanimator
We didn’t manage to get pictures of Sylwester Strużyna, but we’re glad you are still sticking around!
Miscellaneous things, trivia, oddities
Time for some interesting statistics, in no particular order.
The most commonly played card was Force of Will
It has appeared 84 times in total. Based on the fact that we had 2272 registered cards in total, this means that
- 84x
Force of Will (\(3.69\%\)) - 68x
Brainstorm (\(2.99\%\)) - 65x
Ponder (\(2.86\%\)) - 59x
Wasteland (\(2.59\%\)) - 47x
Daze (\(2.07\%\)) - 37x
Polluted Delta (\(1.63\%\)) - 37x
Force of Negation (\(1.63\%\))
The reason why I opted for the uncommon number 7 for the top most common cards is that all of them are present in Delver-based (or historically Delver-derived) strategies. Given Delver-esque variants continuously proving to be the top tier of decks, this list clearly indicates which cards might be worth considering sleeving in.
The eighth card was a non-Delver-esque one. It was
It’s not really worth to talk about the least frequently occurring card, since:
- the sample size (29 players) is very small
- every now and then someone will register a fringe deck that nobody else has ever seen, which would usually imply that a given obscure card would be seen as the rarest one-of
There were only 2 Null Rod s in total
Yeah. Just two. In Wiktor Werner’s UG Show and Tell and Grzegorz Janczewski’s UB Tempo.
Personally, I would expect more artifact hate from players. Maybe the presence of 8
There were 121 cards that were played as full playsets in “the 75”
The list of those cards can be expanded by clicking here:
Expand
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Misty Rainforest -
Force of Will -
Brainstorm -
Ponder -
Up the Beanstalk -
Swords to Plowshares -
Leyline Binding -
Ancient Tomb -
Seat of the Synod -
Urza's Saga -
Lotus Petal -
Mishra's Bauble -
Mox Opal -
Emry, Lurker of the Loch -
Metallic Rebuke -
Thoughtcast -
Clown Car -
Patchwork Automaton -
Green Sun's Zenith -
Windswept Heath -
Nadu, Winged Wisdom -
Nomads En-Kor -
Endurance -
Shallow Grave -
Entomb -
Dark Ritual -
Thoughtseize -
Reanimate -
Cabal Therapy -
Unmask -
Animate Dead -
Marsh Flats -
Witherbloom Apprentice -
Chain of Smog -
Leyline of the Void -
Food Chain -
Ignoble Hierarch -
Scythecat Cub -
Wight of the Reliquary -
Verdant Catacombs -
Doomsday -
Daze -
Underground Sea -
Polluted Delta -
Duress -
Barrowgoyf -
Force of Negation -
Orcish Bowmasters -
Fatal Push -
Wasteland -
Crop Rotation -
Exploration -
Life from the Loam -
Mox Diamond -
Sphere of Resistance -
Disruptor Flute -
Urza's Cave -
Guide of Souls -
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah -
Ocelot Pride -
Amped Raptor -
Arid Mesa -
Cavern of Souls -
Floodpits Drowner -
Harbinger of the Seas -
Lord of Atlantis -
Master of the Pearl Trident -
Tide Shaper -
True-Name Nemesis -
Aether Vial -
Grim Monolith -
The One Ring -
Coveted Jewel -
Transmute Artifact -
Stock Up -
Sink into Stupor // Sophoric Springs -
Copy Artifact -
Defense Grid -
Gaea's Cradle -
Birds of Paradise -
Chord of Calling -
Painter's Servant -
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker -
Pyroblast -
Goblin Welder -
Goblin Engineer -
Delver of Secrets -
Dragon's Rage Channeler -
Lightning Bolt -
Scalding Tarn -
Snow-Covered Mountain -
Red Elemental Blast -
Grindstone -
Volcanic Island -
Atraxa, Grand Unifier -
Sneak Attack -
Show and Tell -
Chrome mox -
Lion's Eye Diamond -
Burning Wish -
Echo of Eons -
Galvanic Relay -
Gamble -
Rite of Flame -
Nethergoyf -
Blighted Agent -
Glistener Elf -
Inkmoth Nexus -
Invigorate -
Legolas's Quick Reflexes -
Noble Hierarch -
Tropical Island -
Veil of Summer -
Cori-Steel Cutter -
Stoneforge Mystic -
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben -
Recruiter of the Guard -
Solitude -
Karakas -
Prismatic Vista -
Flooded Strand
On the other hand, there were 184 cards that were played as “one-of”s:
Expand
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Bayou -
Savannah -
Hedge Maze -
Island -
Blue Elemental Blast -
City of Traitors -
Otawara, Soaring City -
Aether Spellbomb -
Pithing Needle -
Lavaspur Boots -
Shadowspear -
Thought Monitor -
Grafdigger's Cage -
Soul-Guide Lantern -
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower -
Forest -
Plains -
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath -
Dryad Arbor -
Karakas -
Sylvan Safekeeper -
Meticulous Archive -
Keen-Eyed Curator -
Birds of Paradise -
Boseiju, Who Endures -
Carpet of Flowers -
Deafening Silence -
Collector Ouphe -
Force of Negation -
Force of Vigor -
Outland Liberator -
Borborygmos Enraged -
Goryo's Vengeance -
Collective Brutality -
Verdant Catacombs -
Bloodstained Mire -
Polluted Delta -
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn -
Manipulate Fate -
Snow-Covered Forest -
Snow-Covered Island -
Snow-Covered Swamp -
Undercity Sewers -
Underground Mortuary -
Underground Sea -
Dress Down -
Hullbreacher -
Hullbreaker Horror -
Pick Your Poison -
Surgical Extraction -
Veil of Summer -
Elvish Reclaimer -
Quirion Ranger -
Grist, the Hunger Tide -
Bojuka Bog -
Gaea's Cradle -
Lair of the Hydra -
Swamp -
Deep Analysis -
Consider -
Lion's Eye Diamond -
Cavern of Souls -
Flooded Strand -
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries -
Into the Flood Maw -
Relic of Progenitus -
Manamorphose -
Spoils of the Vault -
Misty Rainforest -
Scalding Tarn -
Cabal Therapy -
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse -
Badlands -
Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft -
Volcanic Island -
Nihil Spellbomb -
Unlicensed Hearse -
Ghost Quarter -
Horizon Canopy -
Riftstone Portal -
The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale -
Windswept Heath -
Wooded Foothills -
Expedition Map -
Haywire Mite -
Ghost Vacuum -
Dark Depths -
Echoing Deeps -
Fomori Vault -
Thespian's Stage -
Galvanic Discharge -
Elegant Parlor -
Arena of Glory -
Manifold Key -
Candy Trail -
Paradox Engine -
Dismember -
Chain of Vapor -
Flusterstorm -
Chaos Defiler -
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth -
Craterhoof Behemoth -
Delighted Halfling -
Leovold, Emissary of Trest -
Birchlore Rangers -
Gilded Drake -
Eladamri, Korvecdal -
Crystal Barricade -
Mox Opal -
Lotus Petal -
Phyrexian Dragon Engine -
Mishra's Research Desk -
Ensnaring Bridge -
Disruptor Flute -
Damping Sphere -
Tarfire -
Mountain -
Thundering Falls -
Arid Mesa -
Blood Moon -
Goblin Cratermaker -
Magus of the Moon -
Faerie Macabre -
Tormod's Crypt -
Mycosynth Lattice -
Liquimetal Coating -
Unholy Heat -
Tropical Island -
Abrade -
Meltdown -
Red Elemental Blast -
Brazen Borrower -
Counterbalance -
Hydroblast -
Maddening Hex -
Mistrise Village -
Simian Spirit Guide -
Archon of Cruelty -
Defense Grid -
Brotherhood's End -
Wish -
Alchemist's Gambit -
Echoing Truth -
Empty the Warrens -
Grapeshot -
Mind's Desire -
Peer into the Abyss -
Reforge the Soul -
Shattering Spree -
Tendrils of Agony -
Void Snare -
Drown in the Loch -
Atraxa, Grand Unifier -
Animate Dead -
Engineered Explosives -
Sheoldred's Edict -
Marsh Flats -
Go for the Throat -
Consign to Memory -
Null Rod -
Toxic Deluge -
Become Immense -
Pendelhaven -
Ponder -
Scale Up -
Sylvan Library -
Venerated Rotpriest -
Spellskite -
Fae of Wishes -
Eureka -
Ground Seal -
Enter the Infinite -
Urza's Bauble -
Steam Vents -
Lion Sash -
Loran of the Third Path -
Kaldra Compleat -
Shadowy Backstreet -
Duress -
Umezawa's Jitte -
Yorion, Sky Nomad -
Containment Priest -
Wrath of the Skies -
Split Up
And the following cards were played only as a playset (every single time this card occurred in a decklist, it was always a four-of (potentially split between maindeck and sideboard))—there were 71 of them:
Expand
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Force of Will -
Brainstorm -
Up the Beanstalk -
Leyline Binding -
Seat of the Synod -
Emry, Lurker of the Loch -
Metallic Rebuke -
Thoughtcast -
Clown Car -
Patchwork Automaton -
Green Sun's Zenith -
Nadu, Winged Wisdom -
Nomads En-Kor -
Shallow Grave -
Entomb -
Dark Ritual -
Reanimate -
Unmask -
Witherbloom Apprentice -
Chain of Smog -
Leyline of the Void -
Food Chain -
Ignoble Hierarch -
Scythecat Cub -
Wight of the Reliquary -
Doomsday -
Crop Rotation -
Exploration -
Mox Diamond -
Sphere of Resistance -
Urza's Cave -
Guide of Souls -
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah -
Ocelot Pride -
Amped Raptor -
Floodpits Drowner -
Lord of Atlantis -
Master of the Pearl Trident -
Tide Shaper -
True-Name Nemesis -
Aether Vial -
Grim Monolith -
The One Ring -
Coveted Jewel -
Transmute Artifact -
Copy Artifact -
Chord of Calling -
Painter's Servant -
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker -
Goblin Welder -
Goblin Engineer -
Delver of Secrets -
Dragon's Rage Channeler -
Snow-Covered Mountain -
Sneak Attack -
Chrome mox -
Burning Wish -
Echo of Eons -
Galvanic Relay -
Gamble -
Rite of Flame -
Blighted Agent -
Glistener Elf -
Inkmoth Nexus -
Invigorate -
Legolas's Quick Reflexes -
Stoneforge Mystic -
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben -
Recruiter of the Guard -
Solitude -
Prismatic Vista
And, lastly, the following cards were played only as a one-of (every single time this card occurred in a decklist, it was always a one-of (either in the maindeck or in the sideboard)) — there were 106 of them:
Expand
-
Hedge Maze -
Aether Spellbomb -
Pithing Needle -
Lavaspur Boots -
Shadowspear -
Thought Monitor -
Soul-Guide Lantern -
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower -
Meticulous Archive -
Keen-Eyed Curator -
Collector Ouphe -
Outland Liberator -
Borborygmos Enraged -
Goryo's Vengeance -
Collective Brutality -
Manipulate Fate -
Snow-Covered Forest -
Snow-Covered Island -
Snow-Covered Swamp -
Hullbreacher -
Hullbreaker Horror -
Grist, the Hunger Tide -
Bojuka Bog -
Lair of the Hydra -
Deep Analysis -
Consider -
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries -
Into the Flood Maw -
Manamorphose -
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse -
Badlands -
Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft -
Nihil Spellbomb -
Unlicensed Hearse -
Ghost Quarter -
Horizon Canopy -
Riftstone Portal -
The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale -
Wooded Foothills -
Haywire Mite -
Ghost Vacuum -
Echoing Deeps -
Fomori Vault -
Galvanic Discharge -
Elegant Parlor -
Arena of Glory -
Manifold Key -
Candy Trail -
Paradox Engine -
Chain of Vapor -
Chaos Defiler -
Craterhoof Behemoth -
Leovold, Emissary of Trest -
Birchlore Rangers -
Gilded Drake -
Eladamri, Korvecdal -
Crystal Barricade -
Phyrexian Dragon Engine -
Mishra's Research Desk -
Damping Sphere -
Tarfire -
Thundering Falls -
Blood Moon -
Goblin Cratermaker -
Tormod's Crypt -
Mycosynth Lattice -
Liquimetal Coating -
Abrade -
Counterbalance -
Maddening Hex -
Brotherhood's End -
Wish -
Alchemist's Gambit -
Echoing Truth -
Empty the Warrens -
Grapeshot -
Mind's Desire -
Peer into the Abyss -
Reforge the Soul -
Shattering Spree -
Tendrils of Agony -
Void Snare -
Drown in the Loch -
Engineered Explosives -
Sheoldred's Edict -
Go for the Throat -
Null Rod -
Toxic Deluge -
Become Immense -
Pendelhaven -
Scale Up -
Sylvan Library -
Venerated Rotpriest -
Spellskite -
Fae of Wishes -
Eureka -
Enter the Infinite -
Steam Vents -
Lion Sash -
Loran of the Third Path -
Kaldra Compleat -
Shadowy Backstreet -
Umezawa's Jitte -
Yorion, Sky Nomad -
Wrath of the Skies -
Split Up
Those statistics were generated using parts of this Kotlin code paired with decklist data from this archive
Spices
There was one fairly spicy list. Wiktor Werner’s UG Show and Tell played a single
Acknowledgements
This tournament would not have been possible without the extensive effort of the selected individuals and other representatives. I would like to personally thank:
- Filip Pawłowski, for seeing this tournament to the end. From start to finish, he managed to plan, organize and coordinate the entire event. Legacy in Poland would not have been the same without you.
- CentrumMTG, for hosting the event in a concealed, yet approachable and cozy place. It’s great to see what an amazing LGS you are becoming.
- MagicTown, for sponsoring some of the prizes and for supplying players with staples from Eternal formats.
- The ELM Team, for providing a slot for the most prestige Legacy event in Europe, or—perhaps—in the whole current world.
I’m sure many people share my appreciation for the aforementioned. You are doing a great job, everyone. Keep it up!
Friday Night Magic, but hosted on Wednesdays. ↩︎
In total, I have been playing Magic for around 13 years, 11 of which was Legacy. The aforementioned hiatus was like 2 or 3 years though. And it happened just when 8-cast became a thing. ↩︎
First 3m40s of this video. ↩︎
Okay, it actually happened just once during the tournamnet, but it also happened during a Magic Online League (and since I played 3 in total, that frequency seems relevant), and during an FNM a week ago. ↩︎
Which may either mean that it’s a slightly weaker, or a slightly stronger build. Time will tell. ↩︎
Stay tuned for our Challenge—Episode 2, where we are going to be hosting an Old School, Premodern, and Legacy tournaments, where among other prizes you can win dual lands! It’s going to be organized during the second half of September 2025. ↩︎