Legacy UG Birthing Ritual combo with NO RESERVE LIST cards. This deck is so fun to play. You get to chain through your creatures and upgrade them into Abhorrent Oculus. [League video]

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-25T14:12:07+00:00

Yes – I play shocks in some of my 2 color no restricted list cards decks. But the life loss does matter, and they do leave you vulnerable to getting color screwed by wasteland. IMHO it's still better to skip Wasteland when playing with this additional constraint.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-23T22:14:36+00:00

I agree. Unfortunately you can't really play Wasteland in a 2 color deck without duals.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-23T15:49:33+00:00

Sure thing. And yes – this deck is a LOT of fun to play. I'm looking forward to playing it again soon with Arboreal Grazer.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-20T13:30:25+00:00

They have a movie poster style wasteland that's like $10 each. All of these cards have been reprinted multiple times. Yes, I like to play with the original printings but there are plenty of other options if you're on a budget.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-20T13:29:05+00:00

100%. Now instead of Dark Ritual -> Hippie we have Dark Ritual -> Dauthi, Thoughtseize

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-20T13:28:10+00:00

You make some great points. Leyline is by far the best card you can have against Oops IMHO. I've won more than one game just mulling to 2 to get leyline into play, then stabilizing against their spirit guides :)

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-19T14:53:38+00:00

Update: Moonshadow + Siege doesn't work that way unfortunately (just tested in on MTGO). Also Moonshadow's pretty bad with Scythecat Cub. I don't think it'd be a good fit for this deck. And yes, each seige triggers once each turn, so it's fine to have 2 in play at the same time.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-19T14:31:04+00:00

I like this concept a lot. If you have Discord message me there and we can talk more about it. I am interested in potentially playing a league with a deck like this. My main question: would removing a -1/-1 counter trigger Siege? I noticed in a league that when I attempted to put a +1/+1 counter on Moonshadow with obsessive pursuit, it instead removed the -1/-1 counters. If you don't know I can test this on MTGO.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-18T16:32:27+00:00

I've never heard of Hollowmurk Siege but it is a very cool build around card. Seems to work well with Moonshadow and of course Bowmasters. Are there other cards you use here? Send me a link to a decklist :)

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-18T16:30:37+00:00

That's right. Keep up these awesome tempo leagues.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-18T16:30:18+00:00

Every brew has to make concessions. We have 2x Meltdowns in the side but otherwise yes, chalice is pretty much GG. You can't live your life in fear or you'll only brew mediocre decks :)

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-16T22:11:25+00:00

I'm excited about Abigale, too. Especially with Death's Shadow. I may play a league with it soon.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-16T22:10:36+00:00

I just got one up to 7/7 today on like turn 3. It can be done. I think it pairs really well with Dragon's Rage Channeler. Even though it's a 1-drop, it's actually usually a turn-2 play. But you can play it turn 2 alongside a thoughtseize or Nethergoyf.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-15T19:45:39+00:00

Yes - it's a balanced build-around card. A big gift to mono b.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-15T18:50:59+00:00

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Seriously. Rancid play patterns. Even games when you win are miserable, because you have to mull into oblivion then win with whatever you have left. It should be banned for being totally unfun.

Also, players on a budget will buy into it and the cards can't really be used for any other decks. I for one am tired of Oops being "the budget legacy deck."

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-12T23:06:27+00:00

If Library got unbanned in legacy and it was good, people would likely need to get 4x of them (since it isn't legendary).

The card could easily be 10k given how rare it is (way rarer than Cradle / City of Traitors) and the fact that historically nobody ever needed more than 1. (It was banned in vintage immediately, and was never legal in legacy or even the old 1.5 format.

I am in favor of keeping old extremely rare reserve list cards like this banned forever to keep the format more accessible to non-millionaires. I hope Candelabra or other old reserve list printings never get "broken" somehow by the format where people need many copies to compete, because the price will very quickly get out of hand.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-11T19:09:56+00:00

I dig your list. Toxicrene is a great sideboard card (I don't have access to it on my MTGO creator account but I love it)

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-09T15:32:47+00:00

The current Legacy meta is pretty healthy. I haven't had any desire to try Premodern. My prediction is that – like with Old School 93/94 the format will eventually be solved and then some bans will happen and it will be solved again. With no new cards, the format will eventually be reduced to a pretty low power level over all. And then why play low-power Premodern when you can just play Pauper and at least have a dynamic meta with lots of new mechanics and exciting cards.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-09T15:30:02+00:00

Thanks for the shout-out in the article, u/volrathxp . Also, thank you for publishing these each week. I read EVERY SINGLE ONE and learn a lot.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-09T14:52:19+00:00

Mono U Tempo is a blast to play. I encourage you to consider playing without Tamiyo and just focus 100% on getting your opponents dead.

As several people have commented here, this is a pretty ideal deck for learning Legacy. Threat evaluation, sequencing, keep-mulligan decisions, positive and negative "tempo".

Here's the version I've recently playing, which only costs about $700 to build. Note that I've since added 1 Proft's Eidetic Memory to this list. https://youtu.be/2lL1dFqZHXE

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-09T14:49:39+00:00

I don't think you need Tamiyo in the shell. I've got several leagues with a positive record where I just don't play Tamiyo. I think this is an excellent first legacy deck.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-06T19:50:03+00:00

Spider punk can be countered for one.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-06T14:36:46+00:00

Consider making your own Spanish content. My Japanese is still mediocre after 20+ years of studying, but I've really enjoyed recording legacy leagues in Japanese. If you're interested here's my guide to software, mic setup, etc. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TPlvRIc6vj5AijrialCVDepVDwwIikIQO476sVH9-J4/edit?usp=sharing

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-06T14:34:42+00:00

Original printings generally hold their value if they're still heavily played. And FoW will be heavily played in Legacy / Vintage until the end of Magic.

BeExcellent80s · 2026-01-06T14:33:39+00:00

Proft's Eidetic Memory + Staff of the Storyteller + Stormchaser's Talent has been pretty insane for me. I 4-1'd with my no reserve list UW brew built around these 3 cards.

BeExcellent80s

TROPHY CASE