Blog Blast From the Past - A Comprehensive Intro to the Legacy Format

Interested in what @Fokale has to say

Interested in what the rest of you have to say as well, don't be shy, you guys can post.
 
I'm a bit surprised Darkrai-EX didn't even get a section to itself. I know you briefly mentioned it but is it really not popular enough to warrant more than that?
 
I've only fought against it a couple times, so I don't really know enough about it to explain a deck involving it in any sort of detail. Maybe people just don't have it, or the ones that do don't play Legacy, or they're running something better, or maybe I just don't get matched up against it, or maybe they just decide if they wanna play Dark they're just gonna play Weavile.

It's not like Darkrai-EX is bad, though, so I figured it would be at least worth a mention.
 
Nice article PMJ. I was actually going to do a similar one but hadn't found the time, guess I can stop looking now :p. Anyway, I like the whole introduction to legacy thing. Great to hear tool drop get a mention, and great to hear that you're playing it! :D

I feel like Emboar is actually superior to Typhlosion, mainly due to the fact that you only need one.
Also I have been toying with a Ho-Oh-EX deck with Terrakion, Mewtwo-EX, Sigilyph, and Suicune, and it's not that bad (has some trouble with consistency). Shaymin helps the deck out, and Junk Arm allows repeated use of Scramble Switch, which is great.

Very interested to see how the format shapes up!
 
Oh man, I completely forgot about Emboar. I guess that's because Typhlosion was recently released in the shop.

I am a huge fan of scramble switch. I played it in primal groudon to great effect so I'm interested to hear how you're utilizing it. Do you really need both safeguard pokes?
 
Basically I use Keldeo-EX to Rush In and retreat with Float Stone into a Ho-Oh-EX. Then I use Scramble Switch to switch into my attacker of choice, moving as many energy as I like in the process. I use it alongside Shaymin from unleashed, and Super Scoop Up. Because I play these I don't need to run any Energy Switch.

As for the safeguard Pokemon they both have their advantages. Sigilyph can hit Mewtwo-EX for weakness, and will OHKO it if it has three or more energy attached. This is actually very important because Mewtwo-EX can easily take out my own Mewtwo-EX, so Sigilyph can either return KO my opponents Mewtwo-EX or it can take it out before it does any damage (I play Pokemon Catcher in my list). Even if I don't OHKO it, Sigilyph has safeguard, so he'll probably last until next turn, when he can finish the job.

Suicune on the other hand has 10 more HP and is a water type. This means he can OHKO Reshiram - a Pokemon you would not want to hit into otherwise. While you could do the same amount of damage for the same energies with Keldeo-EX, you would then be putting your Keldeo-EX at risk of getting KO'd - something you don't want. Plus Suicune is a non-EX attacker with safeguard, so he'll probably be sticking around.

I honestly haven't done too much testing with the deck, and the testing I have done has been solely offline with proxies, so a lot of this is just theorymoning, but so far it seems like a pretty viable option.
 
Ho-Oh is one of my favorite Pokemon and I have always wanted to build a deck with Ho-Oh-EX but I never was able to get any. It's also not that great, I think. You need huge amounts of Energy just to OHKO Reshiram, of all things, and he has pretty much no HP to speak of. That said, I think he's best used as a tech against VirGen since all you need is one Energy plus the three free ones you get and you'll OHKO everything in the deck. Even if you get disintegrated by G Booster next turn, you just need one heads flip and you're back in it, meanwhile you can stall with the Safeguard Pokemon of your choice.
 
Also just realized that there is a Wigglytuff with Round.
 
Just fought a cool deck with Flareon. He used Audino, Mr. Mime, Electrode, and Cofagrigus (Six Feet Under) as support. Came down to the wire (I was using some Dark silliness I threw together) but he clutched it out in the end.
 
That was also another criticism of the decision to create an entire format and butcher another as opposed to just removing one or two cards. Perhaps they thought of it as a failsafe that future sets wouldn't create even more broken strategies. Given that hardly anyone played Standard- or Expanded-legal decks on the Unlimited ladder, maybe TPCi figured that this way, people who want to use old cards can use old cards. Really, the only thing they removed was the ability to ladder in Unlimited. You can ladder in Legacy just fine, so Shiftry players really don't have anything to complain about except no longer being able to breeze through the ladder.

Legacy has prize support in the form of tournaments. I've won a dozen or so Dark Explorers packs in the past week and it's great for building up my collection.
 
My main criticism of the format is that they created a cool format that I might want to play but didn't make it any easier to get into that format online. While trading for BW is easy enough trading for HG/SS is not and they don't offer those cards in their online store often enough. Code cards are hard to come by for those sets as well.
 
I agree. Though I haven't tried buying any codes online recently so I can't speak to how hard those are to obtain.
 
Haven't tried this format in the slightest due to Nats preparation (yup, this early) and this is a nice little crash course guide to it. I would have appreciated a skeleton list or two of the bigger decks, but I don't think this was the aim for the article and might be something for a future one. Well done PMJ!
 
Triumphant packs are being given out as tournament rewards! I don't know how long it's gonna last, but get your fill! Time to get those Junk Arms! :D
 
Oh man, I forgot about Durant! Definitely gonna have to have some fun with that... just as soon as I get two more.

Also, and I didn't think to double check on this before I submitted the article, but the cost of Plasma Freeze codes has gone way up since Legacy became a thing. Getting 50 codes for $20 is a thing of the past. The codes look to be about two bucks a pop which is ridiculous.
 
I actually sank a bit of dough playing this game through playing for a year or so.
Legacy is a completely refreshing format for me to go back to, as I quit the real game during pre-Next Destinies, and I am reminded of decks of the old.

I can share a few decks that I have been using. Most of it can be build on a budget (although I traded up to SR quite a bit), so don't be intimidated by the cost. Next, I want to build Celesect, and I even pulled 2 Celebi Prime, but I still need... everything else. lol

1) Fluffy Chomp
http://puu.sh/pb62X/b248cd1ea6.jpg
(Bottom Row: 3, 7)

This is my first Legacy deck I built to just play in tournaments, easy to build, easy to use. It lacks polish though cause I pretty much stopped using it exclusively, but it should be fine as a reference. Ideally, it is quick set up, and can slow down Plasma Lugia decks that were common in the first couple of weeks.

2) Eevee / Donphan
http://puu.sh/pb64H/d8b3427080.jpg
(Bottom Row: 3, 3, 4, 3)

An odd deck I read up, and I added a few techs to spice up to make it even more weird. The idea is to hit for weaknesses according to common matchups.
- Donphan, OHKOs Darkrai-ex with Silver Bangle
- Leafeon, OHKOs Keldeo
- Flareon, main hitter, OHKOs anything in Celesect/Virgen (barring a Metapod tech)
- Glaceon, Tech to make the Plasma Eevees float for free. Can also use Blend, DCE, and a Bangle to OHKO Landorus-ex.

Electrode Prime can mill a ton of Pokemon to fuel vengeance, OR charge up the entire board as the cost of killing itself, if not, I can also use old Magnetic draw I upped Tool Scrapper to 2 after getting in trouble with Tool Drop.

3) RayEels
http://puu.sh/pb667/7c98f829f6.jpg
(Bottom Row: 1, 3, 5, 7)

Old RayEels, you can choose how to tech your hitters, but Victini trades very well with Virgen/Celesect to not pass up

4) Weavile Eggs:
http://puu.sh/pb680/90b135a238.jpg
(Bottom Row: 1, 2. 8)

Possibility the cheapest (good) deck to build in Legacy, this deck is very common in Legacy due to how easy it is to build, and super consistent. This deck shows off Junk Arm more than anything. Other options include Life Dew, Dowsing Machine, Special Dark... lots of ways to tech the deck.

I use Chatot in the Fossil Slot, cause his attack is Startling Megaphone, it is really good against Garbodor, and auto-win against Tool Drop. This is to reduce the load that Junk Arm has trying to dig up Tool Scrapper, probably not the best tech, but I see it more useful than using a stupid Fossil.

Other cheap (and common) decks include, but not limited to:
- Ninetales/Amoongus, it auto loses to Virizion though.
- Darkrai-ex + Sableye is another easy to find/make deck, use Hypnotoxic Laser to just helmet till Darkrai is charged.

Let me know what you guys think.
 
I'm using Darkrai / Sableye right now and it's amazing. Junk Hunt is clutch against the Fighting matchup.

Weavile is not cheap if you don't have it already, and you pretty much need four junk arm which will be a pain to get if, again, you don't already have it. But it's definitely a tier one deck.

Building Durant as soon as I get home! Can't wait to mill mill mill :>
 
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