I am so happy right now. When I was told I got to watch Legacy today, it's a coverage writer's dream. It's like the wild west out here. Sure you got your Stoneblades, your RUGs (with or without Natural Order), your Merfolk, and those decks are all still good, but just walking around the top tables at Round 3 reveals the true diversity of the format. There're Reanimators, Dredgers, Alurers, Enchantresses, Ill-Gotten Gainers, Affininites, White Weeners and more. Not to mention, there are more than a couple Goblin decks doing well. Yes, those Goblins. Even in the face of Mental Misstep around every corner, the red ragers are still furiously getting in there for the necessary damage.
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The field is ripe for the picking. And again and again we keep hearing that's why people love Legacy. I sat down with Ryan Messick defending Legacy champion who talked about how varied the format can be. Even in the constant glare of big papa Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Messick says you can play anything you want to.
"I think Jace is a little overblown," he said. Messick insists Stoneforge Mystic is more of the issue, and that Jace is closer to a win-more card. Almost. Talking to Zack Shaffer, sitting at 3-0 with Painter'sStone, and Duane Lindstrom, who had just taken Shaffer to a close three games, echoed the ideas about the Squire-like equipment fetcher. Though Shaffer seemed to think Mystic was less format defining than Mental [autocard]Misstep[/autocard].
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There's certainly something to that. Though Mystic and Jace are numerous at the top tables, Misstep seems almost ubiquitous. The answer it seems is you only play Stoneforge Mystic if you're playing creatures. No such restriction comes along with the free counterspell (typing that phrase, "free counterspell", always seems dirty).
New Phyrexia shook up every format it seems, and Legacy is no exception. Though those three Standard-legal cards are being slung across many tables, there are plenty, plenty, of decks playing neither. So, at first blush, Stone/Jace/Misstep is good, Goblins may or may not be dead, and I'm really happy.
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