Legends
Legends is a set of cards from the game Magic: The Gathering. It is notorious for being blatantly underpowered on the whole, yet somehow having some of the most overpowered cards in history printed in there as well. It was focused around the new legend mechanic, which made a creature or land unique. (At the time, it meant you couldn't cast that spell if another copy was already on the field; now, the rules are a bit different.)
It was the first set to include multi-colored cards, but for some strange reason, being multicolored was considered an inherent benefit rather than an inherent detriment, as was being legendary. Because of this, they made every multicolored creature extremely weak.
Every.
Single.
One.
(For the uninitiated, having more than one color usually means the card is harder to cast, so this is usually compensated by making the effect stronger. For instance, compare Fires of Yavamaya to Fervor.)
Notable Cards[edit]
The following is a list of noteworthy cards from Legends. Since Legends is so old, and I don't know shit about Vintage, this list will be mainly focused on the Legacy applications of the cards.
Wood Elemental[edit]
If you know the rules of magic and aren't immediately repulsed by this piece of shit waste of paper, you'll fit right in with the rest of /tg/ when it comes to MTG. Wood Excremental is widely regarded as the worst creature card ever printed in Magic history. Also it is on the reserved list, which would really be a shame if WotC ever decided to release From The Vault: Worst.
Mana Drain[edit]
And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have mana drain. Compare mana drain to counterspell and weep. This card is so strong it was banned in legacy.
Jedit Ojanen[edit]
This is a prime example of the fundamental problem with the Legends set. The idea behind this card was that being blue and white AND a legend AND A CAT WARRIOR was all so cool that people would already want to play it, so they couldn't make it good as well.
So they decided on a 5/5 for 7 mana.
THE WHOLE SET IS LIKE THIS.
Shelkin Brownie[edit]
Bands with other was not only a mistake, but didn't even get enough support to warrant a hoser. WotC currently doesn't even pretend otherwise. [1].
This is a creature whose only purpose is to negate RUBBISH CARDS NOBODY HAS ANY REASON TO PLAY! And - AND - there's an Island-but-better that has the exact same ability. Meaning that even in the absolute unlikely scenario where you know your opponent has found some ultimate (non-existent) combo using bands with other, THERE'S STILL ANOTHER CARD THAT IS FAR FAR BETTER!
Karakas[edit]
Karakas doesn't suck. Not by a long shot. It bounces Emrakul, who is otherwise impossible to deal with, and combos with Mangara of Corondor to wipe your opponent's board. Often seen as a singleton in decks running Knight of the Reliquary. Despite being reprinted in Eternal Masters and Ultimate Masters - at Mythic Rare both times (usually a sign WotC has realized a card is way stronger than originally thought) - it's still a $70 card.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale[edit]
Where Karakas is just a really good card, Tabernacle is broken. And for that reason, it costs (at the time of writing) $2000.
No, you didn't read that wrong. Two thousand dollars.
But yeah, go complain about Jace the Debt Sculptor some more.
Tabernacle sees play in only a few decks, but every one of them wins with lands, be it manlands, volcanoes, or just dragging out the game until your opponent kills himself.
Chain Lightning[edit]
This is a great example of where the intent does not at all match the result. The intention of this card was probably a lightning bolt that your opponent could bounce back to you, and you could bounce back again, etc. until one of you ran out of mana.
The result was... lightning bolt at sorcery speed.
The rest of the card isn't even worth mentioning, since the cost to copy it is RR and very few decks will have RR open when you cast it. 99 times out of 100 this card is just a lightning bolt at sorcery speed. It's not a bad card (quite the contrary, 3 damage for 1 mana is great), it's just designed all wonky.
This is a legacy Burn staple, and in conjunction with several other spells allows the deck to run an effective 16 lightning bolts.
Moat[edit]
In the vein of Tabernacle, this is another extremely expensive niche card. Clocking in at $600, this deck shuts down most aggro decks for only 4 mana. The only frequently used creatures in Legacy that have flying are Delver of Secrets and Vendilion Clique, so Moat does work most of the time. It's only really used in Enchantress and Miracles decks, as well as plenty of rich people EDH decks.
Headless Horseman[edit]
The Headless Horseman is the most iconic character of early American literature, not to mention the trope's origins in German and Irish mythology. He gained a life of his own as a character beyond Washington Irving, and has been adapted and updated countless times. In some games, he's an unstoppable killing machine.
Yet in Magic, he's a vanilla 2/2. Thanks a lot, guys. For comparison the uncommon Black Knight, who was in the game from the very start, costs less in monoblack (and as mentioned above, RND didn't understand the value of color fixing yet), wasn't legendary and had the nifty "first strike" and "protection from white" abilities.
| Settings of Magic: The Gathering | |
|---|---|
| Pre-revisionist: | First Magic Sets - First Urza Block - Arabian Nights Legends - Homelands - Ice Age - Mirage |
| Weatherlight Saga: | Portal Starter Sets - Second Urza Block Tempest Block - Masques Block - Invasion Block |
| Post-Weatherlight: | Otaria Block - Mirrodin - Kamigawa - Ravnica - Time Spiral |
| After the Mending: | Lorwyn - Alara - Zendikar - New Phyrexia Innistrad - Return to Ravnica - Theros - Tarkir - Eldraine - Ikoria |
| Two-Block Paradigm: | Kaladesh - Amonkhet - Ixalan |
| Post Two-Block Paradigm: | Eldraine - Ikoria - Kaldheim - Strixhaven |
| Never in a standard set: | Fiora (Where the Conspiracy sets take place) - Kylem (Battlebond) |