Legends is known for its erratic card design, upon a close inspection, it is much easier to kill creatures in this set than it is to cast them.

Legends was the first expansion set to be sold in packs of 15 (previous expansions had been sold in packs of 8). The set, like Antiquities, was created by the group of students at the University of Pennsylvania that had helped Richard Garfield design the original game. The expansion symbol for Legends was the capital of a column.

Legends is the oldest expansion to have been printed in a foreign language; the Italian Leggende was released in 1995, shortly after L'Oscurita (Italian The Dark). These two expansions were released in the opposite order in their original English printings.

One notable printing error with Legends: Each booster box contained only half the uncommon cards. This along with the limited number of cards made collecting the entire 310-card set very difficult.

Legends introduce several important mechanics to the game and each pack of cards contained a rules card explaining the new mechanics and keywords.

• Legendary - The Legendary play mechanic, known as the "Legends Rule" was introduced in this set. Legends are powerful creatures that only one copy of which can be in play at a time. Legends provided both Legendary Creatures and Legendary Lands, while Legendary Enchantments would not arise until Champions of Kamigawa.
• Enchant World - Enchantments that enchanted the entire "world." These enchantments would have an effect that affected all players at the same time and were limited to only one in play at a time.
• Multicolor - Legends was the first set to feature many cards that required more than one color of mana to play. These cards were distinguished by a gold background and have become much more commonplace (The last expansion of the Alara block, Alara Reborn, is composed of entirely multicolor cards.).
• Rampage - An ability that took effect whenever said creature became blocked by more than one creature. Creatures with Rampage would get a bonus to their power and toughness for each creature blocking it beyond the first.
• Banding - A very complex game mechanic that was eventually dropped from the game after Weatherlight, Legends further complicated matters by creating creatures that banded only with creatures of a certain type. In essence, banding allowed multiple creatures to attack as a single unit, allowing the attacking player to decide how damage was distributed to his or her creatures, if the defending player blocked. Legends is the only set to feature the bands with other mechanic - with the exception of the Unhinged card Old Fogey.

Story: Legends follows the adventures of Hazezon Tamar who teams up with many other legends from the set such as Jedit Ojanen. The book takes place in the southern regions, including Scarwood on Jamuraa. The story itself takes place chronologically well after the Ice Age, and sometime before Weatherlight as the first Airships are built by Johan who tried to conquer the entire continent. Many other legends of the set fight Johan's army at the battle for Efrava.