Whenever we all sit down to play Magic, whether it be at the local card shop, our friend's table, or online, tucked away in our deck box is THE DECK we love to play. Among our friends, this deck is either famous or infamous for winning games, doing crazy things, or just great at annoying everyone at the table. Sometimes its a combo deck, sometimes a control deck, sometimes an aggro deck with a special form of evasion, or for some of us, its something so bizarre that it defies definition. But whatever THE DECK might be, it is something near and dear to our hearts.

I'd been playing Magic: the Gathering for over four years when the Invasion block began to be released. Like every player, I fooled around with a hundred deck ideas. I had scrapped hundreds more, when one Fourth of July weekend, I discovered the Lady...the Lady Captain...Captain Sisay. Flipping through my trade binder, I began to take stock of all the Legends that were sitting around unused in my binder. I placed them all in a stack, figured out a rough mana base (really really really rough), and placed this monstrosity in my backpack and headed off to a friends to play Magic. As you all can imagine, it was a complete and utter failure. I would get Captain Sisay out, look for a legend, then realize that I didn't have the right mana to even begin to cast them. I figured oh well...another one bites the dust.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to a discussion with a now departed friend Pat (rest in peace Pat) and we were discussing card interaction when he mentioned Belbe's Portal would do wonders for the deck. Pulling out a playset he had been hoarding for a dragon deck, we traded and got down to business on turning this pile of cards into a deck.

We immediately identified several legends that would make the cut in the form of the Invasion Dragon Legends. Crosis, the Purger, Rith, the Awakener, Treva, the Renewer, Dromar, the Banisher, and Darigaaz, the Igniter would serve as the backbone of the deck, while Captain Sisay, Reya Dawnbringer helped to find and keep these mighty dragons in play.

Pat and I both tossed around several legends we thought would work, and finally after much playtesting, we settled on the first version of what would become my signature deck.

The next night at my friend Rich's, I unleashed the beast. Not too many people had ever seen a 5 color deck that worked, so this deck was totally unexpected and completely underestimated. I won several games in a row with it before all 6 of us sat back and realized that I had found THE DECK for myself.

Just a rules clarification for everyone. At the time, the legend rule stated that Legends were a creature type. Therefore, it was able to be chosen by the working of Belbe's Portal. More on the rule changes a little later.

When looking at the decklist, you'll notice a lot of one-count Legends. Keep in mind the deck works like a toolbox deck, using Captain Sisay as a tutor to look for whatever Legend the situation might call for. Tsabo Tavoc was used to kill other Legends that got in the way, while Reya Dawnbringer was used to bring back dead Legends and other creatures from the graveyard into play (a great way to bring back discarded Legends if you had to pitch them from an overfilled hand). Mageta the Lion was a great way to clear the board of weenie hoards, and with Reya Dawnbringer in play, it formed a great combo to get things back into play quickly from the destruction.

A couple of cards may look a little strange here, so let me clarify a few of the others. Verdeloth the Ancient gave an excellent beefy ground creature that was able to bring some friends with him to help break those late multiplayer game creature stalemates. He also comboed well with Nemata, Grove Guardian to raise the power of the Saprolings in play and to give a place to pump late game mana and to enjoy the look on peoples faces when the "Dragon" deck suddenly ate people alive with lots of green leafy things. Plus, with Treva the Renewer on the table, my life total would often get ridiculous with the amount of green permanents on the table.

The creatures were rounded out with Spirit of the Night and Sliver Queen. The Queen served dual purposes; one as a cheap beater and token creator, the other as a single creature that served as one half of the conditions needed for Coalition Victory. The Spirit was the original smack in the face. A 6/5 that flew, trampled, hasted, and had first strike half the time was a very special thing at the time (ie pre-Akroma days).

The rest of the deck was support cards. Fertile Ground and Harrow played the role of mana accelerators, Coalition Victory gave the deck an alternate win condition, all the while, Oath of Druids would punish people silly enough to play weenies against the deck before it could get up to speed.

Over the next few months, Legends past in and out of the deck, but the core deck stayed stable until a personal tragedy separated me from Magic for a very long time to come.

When I returned to Magic almost three years later, at the beginning of Darksteel, I discovered an entirely different world of Magic from when I left. Artifact decks running rampant, Tooth and Nail decks were smashing around trying to stop them.. what a mess to return to. At that time, I decided to begin to rebuild old decks, and this, of course, included the mighty Legends deck. The playgroup that I had joined when moving across the state had a lot to say about the deck and included making several changes that would ultimately bring its power level to a state I could only dream of three years before.

After weeks of frantic trading, and a lot of money on the singles market, this version hit the table. A couple of new Legends that intrigued me when putting it together definitely upgraded the sheer power and speed of the deck. Arcanis the Omnipotent gave the deck an extra three cards a deck, almost unheard of card advantage. Kamahl, Pit Fighter gave the deck direct damage for the first time, while Viscera the Dreadful gave this retooled version a way to get rid of most creatures that could cause me problems without having to resort to the mass destruction of Mageta the Lion. And finally Akroma, Angel of Wrath just slammed into the table with a thud and many groans.

Then came the deck's shattering blow.

205.4c Any permanent with the supertype "legendary" is subject to the state-based effect for legendary permanents, also called the "legend rule" (see rule 420.5e).

420.5e If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners' graveyards. This is called the "legend rule." If only one of those permanents is legendary, this rule doesn't apply.

Champions of Kamigawa was going to be released and the new legend rule turned Legends from a creature type to a supertype. Making Belbe's Portal absolutely useless to get large Legends into play quickly. So while the core of my deck was still viable, it was now impossible to get Legends into play quickly unless they were multicolored. So with much regret, I put the deck to bed and looked to create something new with all the Legends that appeared in Champions and Betrayers of Kamigawa.

With this deck I took a radically new approach by using Fist of Suns to be able to quickly cast legends, often using Myojin of Seeing Winds to draw a massive amount of cards, then use Myojin of Life's Web to drop all the creatures in my hand for one large devestating blow the next turn. Plus, casting both Iname as One allowed me to search out both Kokusho, the Evening Star for a twenty point life gain and life loss for my opponents.

I've been able to enjoy a lot of my Legends over the years, but a good friend of mine recently unleashed a deck that is so close to my Legends deck, that I thought I would include it in this article.

As you can see, this deck uses some of the most powerful multicolored creatures (including Legends) along with Dragon Arch to bring them quickly into play as an activated ability...thus making them practically uncounterable and able to be brought into play on your opponents turn. The deck can also benefit from discarding cards or recover quickly from mass destruction by using Yore-Tiller Nephilim to resurrect creatures during the attack phase.

Other things his deck loves to do:

• Sisters of Stone Death to remove your favorite creatures and then smack you in the face with them.
• Use Isperia the Inscrutable to tutor out massive flyers.
• Finally, Karevek the Merciless shows no mercy to people playing large spells in the late game.

I hope that you've enjoyed this walk with the Legends. And remember, always allow your decks to adapt and grow with you as a player. You never know when an old favorite just might lead you to multiplayer victory.

Until next time...play with your mind, but enjoy the game with your heart.

~omegaprime9774~

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