Exploring the Impact of Flow State in Legacy: Weekly Recap

Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, and this week we're going to be talking all about the first week of Secrets of Strixhaven and the impact of Flow State on the format. In addition, we've got two paper events to discuss: Bazaar of Boxes 18 and Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 26. As always, we've got our weekly recap and Challenges from MTGO.

The first weekend of Secrets of Strixhaven is upon us, and with it comes the first results the format has with new cards from this set. Well, one thing is pretty clear. Flow State is not only playable, but it's actively great in a wide variety of strategies.

The hubbub over this card was very polarizing, with opinions ranging from "this is the next Expressive Iteration" to "this card is unplayable." However, it seems that right out the gate, people are trying this card very hard. While Expressive Iteration was gate-locked by being specifically in Izzet colors, Flow State only being 1U means that a wider array of decks are able to use it.

Since the release last weekend and only counting Top 32s of Challenges, there were approximately around 195 copies of Flow State across 56 players over the weekend. Most players I saw were playing four copies of the card, indicating a strong initial interest.

The sheer variety of decks this card is going into is amazing, as it's not just Dimir Tempo or Izzet Tempo where the card is seeing play. It's also being utilized in decks like Jeskai Control and card-ref:Doomsday.

Looking back at historical aspects of the format, it took a while for Expressive Iteration to become problematic. Today, we have decks like Energy, D&T, card-ref:Lands, and various others that can attack the tempo matchup, which is a positive sign for the format's balance.

Bazaar of Boxes 18#

This past weekend was the Bazaar of Boxes Series 18 event, held at the Koning Willem II Stadion in the Netherlands. This event had 91 players, showcasing the community's support for Legacy.

Dimir Tempo was the most played deck of the event, but its actual win rate wasn't super good. Izzet Tempo and Sneak and Show both looked strong, as did Cradle Control. Here’s a look at the Top 8:

| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name | |--------------------|---------|----------------------| | Sewer-Cam Combo | 1st | Peter van der Ham | | Dredge | 2nd | TibiSabau | | Boros Energy | 3rd | Mink Veltman | | Sneak and Show | 4th | Ruben Giaquinta | | Lands | 5th | Jordy Nieuw | | Eldrazi | 6th | Tobias Garthe | | Izzet Tempo | 7th | Gert-Jan Bos | | Cradle Control | 8th | Olivier Kapteyn |

In Second Place, we had Dredge utilizing Satoru, the Infiltrator, showcasing the versatility of the deck.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 26#

Also held this past weekend was the Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 26 event in Hilliard, OH, which had 64 players overall. Dimir Tempo was again the most played deck, but its win rate was just below 50%. Here’s the Top 8:

| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name | |--------------------|---------|----------------------| | Dimir Tempo | 1st | Chris Schiber | | Boros Energy | 2nd | Jakob Heckert | | Blue Cloudpost | 3rd | Alex Gronbeck | | Grixis Control | 4th | Tom G | | Cradle Control | 5th | Jared Engelberth | | Izzet Tempo | 6th | Ethan R | | Death's Shadow | 7th | Andrew McMenemy | | Doomsday | 8th | Gabriel Balannik |

Chris Schiber took the win with Dimir Tempo, featuring four copies of Flow State.

Weekly MTGO Recap#

We also had the first Legacy Showcase Challenge event of this premier play season, with around 373 decks total from all events last week. The overall macro archetype of Tempo remained supreme, with Dimir Tempo being the most played deck of the week. Its win rate was 51.6%, slightly up from the previous week.

With the addition of Flow State, its impact on the format remains to be seen, but the early results are promising for a balanced Legacy environment.