Hey guys, I played in the SCG Colorado Modern States tournament yesterday with the following Bogles list, which is a few cards different from what i posted before, a few days ago, in the earlier thread page. Last minute changes, as always, most notably was getting rid of Keen Sense altogether for a Gryff's Boon:
I play tested with some buddies on Saturday night, before the tournament, and we did a mock 8 man tournament which I crushed, so I was in good spirits heading into Sunday. In testing, Boon felt great and even won me a game out of the graveyard. At the tournament, there ended up being 80'ish people, which translates into 7 rounds of swiss and a top 8.
As far as deck selection, I felt Bogles might be a good call in the Colorado meta right now, as it is usually full of Burn, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, and other aggro. In an aggro mirror, Coronet is the nut and not a lot of those decks can handle it. Open the Armory gave access to a 5th Coronet, which I felt would be sweet. I tested a bunch of blue based decks, but they all didnt feel right. This format, you can obviously get away with being massively linear, as long as free counter spells remain banned. Situational removal and counter spells just cant beat getting faced.
Round 1 vs Junk Midrange
Right off the bat, a BGx matchup, yuck. I won the roll and was lucky enough to steamroll pretty easily at the start. He didnt get a Lilly or decay to slow me down, and all i saw was a Finks before he scooped. So, i thought he was maybe on the CoCo/Chord Abzan combo, but the next game i did see discard, Siege Rhino, and Lilly. However, i was able to play myself around those threats and took the match. Fighting off a legit Junk deck in round 1 felt great. Win 2-0.
1-0-0
Round 2 vs Jund
Geez, can you ask for a worse round 1 and 2? Discard, Lilly, and Abrupt Decay are easily the worst cards to play against with this deck. Again, though, i won the die roll and was able to sprint to a quick turn 4 win before things got nasty. Winning on the play, every time, is very crucial for this deck. Against BGx, my only sideboard plan is to bring in 4 Leylines and then i shave things like an Umbra, 2 Spiritdancers (who usually die to Decay), and a Spirit Link. On the draw in game two, here, i stick a turn 0 Leyline and turn 1 Bogle, which i was able to get there with. Win 2-0
2-0-0
Round 3 vs UW Control
Well, so much for my meta call. So far, all i've seen is midrange and control, as opposed to the aggro and Burn i was expecting. I lost the die roll here, but ground my way to a game 1 win. He got to draw a lot of cards through Ancestral Vision, but i was heavy on the umbras which thwarted any Supreme Verdicts. I felt like i was in good position to win this match, but the next two games i got Fracturing Gusted. Ugh, that had to only be a 1 of in his board, i would imagine, but he drew it games 2 and 3 and got me good. Loss 1-2.
2-1-0
Round 4 vs Bright to Light Scapeshift
Luckily, a lot of my buddies are on this list and i played against it the night before during our testing. It’s a good matchup for Bogles, unless they get a few Tribe Elder fogs and chain a couple Cryptics together. A Rancor, though, totally ruins their Tribe Elder plan. So, draw Rancor, hope they dont draw a lot of Cryptics and snaps. Game 1 he just got browned on as my deck started getting hot. I played a turn 2 Kor, which i got to untap with, and went then Ethereal, draw, Rancor, draw, and Boon draw to attack for 12 and essentially end the game. See, Bogles has its own Ancestral Vision. Game 2 i hit a double Leyline opener, which doesnt outright make the game unwinnable for Scape, but it delays them a few turns, for sure, which was enough. Win 2-0.
3-1-0
Round 5 vs UW Merfolk
Finally, an aggro match. I was ready for this and ready to see how awesome Cornet would be. I recognized this guy as a writer to that Modern Nexus website, so i wanted to make sure i got him good. Unfortunately, this was the round i decided would be a good idea to smoke a joint in between rounds and I was really feeling it. So, i wasnt very talkative and started to get nervous. Game 1, i curved into Coronet and stomped all over him. That was nice, but in game 2 i got blown out by a Hibernation mid-attack, which was gross. We had a little issue after that because after the Hibernation i had 8 cards in hand and we both didnt notice, so I never discarded. He finally noticed on my next turn when i drew and had 9 cards in hand. Dont smoke pot, kiddos. We called a judge and he just made me discard, which i had plenty of lands to do, so all was good and my opponent ended up winning that game anyway. Game 3, i was freaking out over another possible Hibernation, because there is no way to play around it. I just went fast and Coronet crushed. Win 2-1.
4-1-0
Round 6 vs BtL Scapeshift
This guy's deck was just like round 4, but he, as a person, was saltier then the guy in round 4. No one likes losing to Bogles, i get it, but how is your one card combo deck any fairer than what i am doing? You dont see me get all bitter. I was in a good state of mellow at this point and steamrolled game 1. Game 2 was a little slower, but i was able to start gaining massive life with a Spirit Link and Coronet on a 6/6 Bogle. Gaining 12 a turn quickly got me up to 43 life and far out of Scape range. Regardless, he went for scape with 8 lands, which equals 2 Valakuts, 6 Mountains, and 36 damage. I think he thought his only out was to go through the motions and hope i scoop. He scapes, plays all his lands and says, “All the triggers are pointed at you.” Without evening mentioned how much damage, but i know how math works, so i say, “Ok, I take 36, you done with your turn?” then swung for lethal the next turn. Win 2-0
5-1-0
Round 7 vs Naya Company Hoogland.dec
I was hoping to draw into the top 8 this round, but we had to play. Per the standings, i was #7, my opponent was #8, and there was a #9 who had the same record as we did and got paired down. If we drew and that #9 won, then my opponent would have been leap-frogged and not made top 8. So, i offered a draw, he declined, then got shellacked. The first game, i had a to mull to 6 and kept a hand with two Kor's and a fetch (for a possible Dryad Arbor later). I'm usually ok with these hands post board, when they side out removal, but it was risky this time. Luckily, he pathed my first Kor, but the second Kor stuck and instantly got huge and won me the game. Game 2 was a little grindier. I had a Bogle out, early, and on his turn 3 he casted an Engineered Explosives on 1. Now, this guy was reading my cards all match, not understand how Kor worked or how the Umbra's worked... so i played on his lack of knowledge in my next sequence. He sticks EE on 1 and passes with 2 mana open to blow it up. I think a bit, and play Umbra on my Bogle, he lets it resolve, i play Rancor on my Bogle?, he lets it resolves, i move to attacks and then he triggers the EE, so i got Rancor back to my hand and the Bogle lived. We had to have a judge call on that, but i knew how it worked. He definitely should have popped the EE in response to the Umbra, but he admitted later that the thought the EE would just take care of everything, which I was banking on him getting wrong. Win 2-0.
6-1-0
I got second seed in the top 8.
Top 8 vs BUG Control
This guy cubes with me and my friends sometimes, so i know him well enough. He is a great player and he built a tight Control brew with Goyfs, Lilly, Snaps, Tasigur, Ancestral, Decay... all the good stuff and expensive stuff. Essentially, this is another BGx matchup that i was trying to avoid. Even on the play, he got me game 1 with two Lilly's. I was able to fetch my Arbor once, and kill the first Lilly on the swing back, but the second won the game. Losing on the play felt awful. In game 2, i had a great opener of Bogle and Leyline, so i kept. I was chipping away, but never drew an Umbra, so a Damnation set me back and i had to go all in on an Arbor. The pivotal play in this game was him making a sequence where he thought he could Abrupt Decay my Dryad Arbor. I had lethal swinging in and he tried the Decay, which i told him he couldnt and he lost as hitting any of the enchantments on the Arbor wouldnt have mattered at that point since he was at 2 life. Had he realized that Decay is non-land, he could have played his turn differently and lived. Yay for punts. Game 3 had the most insane luck i've ever experienced with this deck thus far. I hit another Leyline and Bogle in my opener, which was sweet and started to chip away. His Damnations and Snap Damnations really kept ruining my plans, though, and then he stuck a Night of the Souls Betrayal while i had nothing out. I almost scooped here, but i remembered that Kor is still an out and he was at 7 life. We were both in top deck mode when i finally hit a Kor, played her, and passed. He, on his draw, hits a Tasigur and has enough lands to do Tasigur, use Tas ability (i give him a useless Inquisition), use Tas ability again (i give him a Goyf), then he plays the Goyf and is completely tapped out, and passes the turn. I'm about to get buried in card advantage and even though i'm at like 17 life (him still at 7), i know my clock is quick. So, i comment, "Man, i need an epic string of Aura's here." Empty handed, on my draw, i get Hyena Umbra, cast it on my Kor, draw, Ethereal Armor, cast, draw, Rancor, cast, draw, Ethereal, cast, draw, hit a blank. Holy *****, I attack for 21 (20 after the Betrayal -1/-1) trample and win. Never have i had a string off a Kor like that in such a crucial moment. Get wrecked. Win 2-1.
Top 4 vs Merfolk
Different Merfolk player than the one earlier in rounds, but the same matchup that i like playing against. Hopefully, this guy didnt have Hibernation to smash me, though. I was on the play and mulled to 5 game 1 and farted out pretty easily. Again, losing game 1 on the play felt gross, but i remembered that i should be favored, no matter what, in this matchup. Game 2, i mulled to 6, on the play but had a real hand and i was way too fast for him. I got a Coronet, which matters. Game 3, i again had to mull to 6, but again had the nut. Without Hibernation, i dont think Merfolk can deal with a Bogle, Ethereal, Rancor, Coronet hand. Well, actually, not a lot of decks can. Win 2-1
Finals vs Living End
I was hoping to dodge this match-up all day, too. Living End says "Sacrifice your creatures", so even an Umbra cant help against the unfair sweeper. I didnt know what to do, I figured I would get slammed game 1, then hope i draw Rest in Peace both times for games 2 and 3. Not the best odds. At the beginning of the match, my opponent proposed a prize split. Split the packs pool 50/50, winner gets the SCG invite and playmat, and loser gets the medal. 'Loser gets the medal?', i though to myself, thats weird, but whatever, i accepted and kept shuffling, but a second later he just announces that he concedes to me. That dude REALLY just wanted the medal, lol. He told me later that he had invites already. Since I was technically the winner then, the judges made me take a picture with the mat and medal before I gave the medal to the second place guy. So, it looks like i get all the glory, but he gets the medal, which i'm ok with since i'm sure i would have been ROFLstomped by his deck. So yeah, i took this ***** down!
The deck ran hot all day, but i'd also like to think i navigated myself through the field very well. I play a lot of Modern and Legacy and i know the decks throughout each format very well, which really helps in decision making. Against any non-red deck post-board, for example, you can rely on a Kor or Arbor to get there pretty consistently, which makes mulligan'ing easier. Knowing when to double down on certain decisions like this won me the day. Not playing around Lilly's or ambush viper Snapcasters are misplays i see other Bogle players make all the time. I'll never run my Bogle, with just a Rancor on it, into your open two mana, blue mage, thank you very much. I dont dilute my deck with too many sideboard cards each match. I feel like 6 is the upper limit, and out of the 6 you take out, some number needs to be Kors and Paths, so you dont run too few Aura's.
Open the Armory was sweet all day. I used it throughout to get a Rancor, Ethereal, an Umbra, and Coronet, whatever the situation called for. I like it as a one of, though, because it is still important to have enough one drop enchantments for the turn 2 double Aura plays. I could possibly see myself going up to two Gryff's Boon, though. Card was sick, even though i never got to play it from the graveyard during the entire tournament, the extra evasion was awesome.
TLDR: I sent a bunch of mages on one way trips to Browntown and won Colorado States.
How would you deal with infect if you matched up with infect?
I didn't think about that much before. It's rare to see infect decks at my lgs, so lucky me because the match up isn't good afaik. But I would board in Path to Exile and some Seal of Primordium and take out Spirit Link, one Open the Armory, one or two Spiritdancer...
3-2 at states. Boon and Open the Arms were awesome. I loved them both. The two loses were absolute blow outs to Elves. That's got to be the worst matchup for bogels out there. It felt completely unwinnable. I drew killer hands in a few of the games and still got just run over. 3 out of 4 of the games my opponents just went off turn three. I had no answer. I brought in Teegs in one of the games for coco/cord and suppression field in another. I didn't feel great about either one but I had nothing else. The other 3 games were great. Tron, Ascendancy, and Thopter. All convincing wins.
What's your deck build like?
It's pretty stock. Same thing I've been running for years with the exception of the new cards. I play it a ton so I feel it's pretty streamlined. Leyline, Stony, Teeg, Skite, in the board. I'm going to just call Elves a loss and live with it. I'd have to shake things up too much to make any kind of impact against it.
Hey guys, I played in the SCG Colorado Modern States tournament yesterday with the following Bogles list, which is a few cards different from what i posted before, a few days ago, in the earlier thread page. Last minute changes, as always, most notably was getting rid of Keen Sense altogether for a Gryff's Boon:
I play tested with some buddies on Saturday night, before the tournament, and we did a mock 8 man tournament which I crushed, so I was in good spirits heading into Sunday. In testing, Boon felt great and even won me a game out of the graveyard. At the tournament, there ended up being 80'ish people, which translates into 7 rounds of swiss and a top 8.
As far as deck selection, I felt Bogles might be a good call in the Colorado meta right now, as it is usually full of Burn, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, and other aggro. In an aggro mirror, Coronet is the nut and not a lot of those decks can handle it. Open the Armory gave access to a 5th Coronet, which I felt would be sweet. I tested a bunch of blue based decks, but they all didnt feel right. This format, you can obviously get away with being massively linear, as long as free counter spells remain banned. Situational removal and counter spells just cant beat getting faced.
Round 1 vs Junk Midrange
Right off the bat, a BGx matchup, yuck. I won the roll and was lucky enough to steamroll pretty easily at the start. He didnt get a Lilly or decay to slow me down, and all i saw was a Finks before he scooped. So, i thought he was maybe on the CoCo/Chord Abzan combo, but the next game i did see discard, Siege Rhino, and Lilly. However, i was able to play myself around those threats and took the match. Fighting off a legit Junk deck in round 1 felt great. Win 2-0.
1-0-0
Round 2 vs Jund
Geez, can you ask for a worse round 1 and 2? Discard, Lilly, and Abrupt Decay are easily the worst cards to play against with this deck. Again, though, i won the die roll and was able to sprint to a quick turn 4 win before things got nasty. Winning on the play, every time, is very crucial for this deck. Against BGx, my only sideboard plan is to bring in 4 Leylines and then i shave things like an Umbra, 2 Spiritdancers (who usually die to Decay), and a Spirit Link. On the draw in game two, here, i stick a turn 0 Leyline and turn 1 Bogle, which i was able to get there with. Win 2-0
2-0-0
Round 3 vs UW Control
Well, so much for my meta call. So far, all i've seen is midrange and control, as opposed to the aggro and Burn i was expecting. I lost the die roll here, but ground my way to a game 1 win. He got to draw a lot of cards through Ancestral Vision, but i was heavy on the umbras which thwarted any Supreme Verdicts. I felt like i was in good position to win this match, but the next two games i got Fracturing Gusted. Ugh, that had to only be a 1 of in his board, i would imagine, but he drew it games 2 and 3 and got me good. Loss 1-2.
2-1-0
Round 4 vs Bright to Light Scapeshift
Luckily, a lot of my buddies are on this list and i played against it the night before during our testing. It’s a good matchup for Bogles, unless they get a few Tribe Elder fogs and chain a couple Cryptics together. A Rancor, though, totally ruins their Tribe Elder plan. So, draw Rancor, hope they dont draw a lot of Cryptics and snaps. Game 1 he just got browned on as my deck started getting hot. I played a turn 2 Kor, which i got to untap with, and went then Ethereal, draw, Rancor, draw, and Boon draw to attack for 12 and essentially end the game. See, Bogles has its own Ancestral Vision. Game 2 i hit a double Leyline opener, which doesnt outright make the game unwinnable for Scape, but it delays them a few turns, for sure, which was enough. Win 2-0.
3-1-0
Round 5 vs UW Merfolk
Finally, an aggro match. I was ready for this and ready to see how awesome Cornet would be. I recognized this guy as a writer to that Modern Nexus website, so i wanted to make sure i got him good. Unfortunately, this was the round i decided would be a good idea to smoke a joint in between rounds and I was really feeling it. So, i wasnt very talkative and started to get nervous. Game 1, i curved into Coronet and stomped all over him. That was nice, but in game 2 i got blown out by a Hibernation mid-attack, which was gross. We had a little issue after that because after the Hibernation i had 8 cards in hand and we both didnt notice, so I never discarded. He finally noticed on my next turn when i drew and had 9 cards in hand. Dont smoke pot, kiddos. We called a judge and he just made me discard, which i had plenty of lands to do, so all was good and my opponent ended up winning that game anyway. Game 3, i was freaking out over another possible Hibernation, because there is no way to play around it. I just went fast and Coronet crushed. Win 2-1.
4-1-0
Round 6 vs BtL Scapeshift
This guy's deck was just like round 4, but he, as a person, was saltier then the guy in round 4. No one likes losing to Bogles, i get it, but how is your one card combo deck any fairer than what i am doing? You dont see me get all bitter. I was in a good state of mellow at this point and steamrolled game 1. Game 2 was a little slower, but i was able to start gaining massive life with a Spirit Link and Coronet on a 6/6 Bogle. Gaining 12 a turn quickly got me up to 43 life and far out of Scape range. Regardless, he went for scape with 8 lands, which equals 2 Valakuts, 6 Mountains, and 36 damage. I think he thought his only out was to go through the motions and hope i scoop. He scapes, plays all his lands and says, “All the triggers are pointed at you.” Without evening mentioned how much damage, but i know how math works, so i say, “Ok, I take 36, you done with your turn?” then swung for lethal the next turn. Win 2-0
5-1-0
Round 7 vs Naya Company Hoogland.dec
I was hoping to draw into the top 8 this round, but we had to play. Per the standings, i was #7, my opponent was #8, and there was a #9 who had the same record as we did and got paired down. If we drew and that #9 won, then my opponent would have been leap-frogged and not made top 8. So, i offered a draw, he declined, then got shellacked. The first game, i had a to mull to 6 and kept a hand with two Kor's and a fetch (for a possible Dryad Arbor later). I'm usually ok with these hands post board, when they side out removal, but it was risky this time. Luckily, he pathed my first Kor, but the second Kor stuck and instantly got huge and won me the game. Game 2 was a little grindier. I had a Bogle out, early, and on his turn 3 he casted an Engineered Explosives on 1. Now, this guy was reading my cards all match, not understand how Kor worked or how the Umbra's worked... so i played on his lack of knowledge in my next sequence. He sticks EE on 1 and passes with 2 mana open to blow it up. I think a bit, and play Umbra on my Bogle, he lets it resolve, i play Rancor on my Bogle?, he lets it resolves, i move to attacks and then he triggers the EE, so i got Rancor back to my hand and the Bogle lived. We had to have a judge call on that, but i knew how it worked. He definitely should have popped the EE in response to the Umbra, but he admitted later that the thought the EE would just take care of everything, which I was banking on him getting wrong. Win 2-0.
6-1-0
I got second seed in the top 8.
Top 8 vs BUG Control
This guy cubes with me and my friends sometimes, so i know him well enough. He is a great player and he built a tight Control brew with Goyfs, Lilly, Snaps, Tasigur, Ancestral, Decay... all the good stuff and expensive stuff. Essentially, this is another BGx matchup that i was trying to avoid. Even on the play, he got me game 1 with two Lilly's. I was able to fetch my Arbor once, and kill the first Lilly on the swing back, but the second won the game. Losing on the play felt awful. In game 2, i had a great opener of Bogle and Leyline, so i kept. I was chipping away, but never drew an Umbra, so a Damnation set me back and i had to go all in on an Arbor. The pivotal play in this game was him making a sequence where he thought he could Abrupt Decay my Dryad Arbor. I had lethal swinging in and he tried the Decay, which i told him he couldnt and he lost as hitting any of the enchantments on the Arbor wouldnt have mattered at that point since he was at 2 life. Had he realized that Decay is non-land, he could have played his turn differently and lived. Yay for punts. Game 3 had the most insane luck i've ever experienced with this deck thus far. I hit another Leyline and Bogle in my opener, which was sweet and started to chip away. His Damnations and Snap Damnations really kept ruining my plans, though, and then he stuck a Night of the Souls Betrayal while i had nothing out. I almost scooped here, but i remembered that Kor is still an out and he was at 7 life. We were both in top deck mode when i finally hit a Kor, played her, and passed. He, on his draw, hits a Tasigur and has enough lands to do Tasigur, use Tas ability (i give him a useless Inquisition), use Tas ability again (i give him a Goyf), then he plays the Goyf and is completely tapped out, and passes the turn. I'm about to get buried in card advantage and even though i'm at like 17 life (him still at 7), i know my clock is quick. So, i comment, "Man, i need an epic string of Aura's here." Empty handed, on my draw, i get Hyena Umbra, cast it on my Kor, draw, Ethereal Armor, cast, draw, Rancor, cast, draw, Ethereal, cast, draw, hit a blank. Holy *****, I attack for 21 (20 after the Betrayal -1/-1) trample and win. Never have i had a string off a Kor like that in such a crucial moment. Get wrecked. Win 2-1.
Top 4 vs Merfolk
Different Merfolk player than the one earlier in rounds, but the same matchup that i like playing against. Hopefully, this guy didnt have Hibernation to smash me, though. I was on the play and mulled to 5 game 1 and farted out pretty easily. Again, losing game 1 on the play felt gross, but i remembered that i should be favored, no matter what, in this matchup. Game 2, i mulled to 6, on the play but had a real hand and i was way too fast for him. I got a Coronet, which matters. Game 3, i again had to mull to 6, but again had the nut. Without Hibernation, i dont think Merfolk can deal with a Bogle, Ethereal, Rancor, Coronet hand. Well, actually, not a lot of decks can. Win 2-1
Finals vs Living End
I was hoping to dodge this match-up all day, too. Living End says "Sacrifice your creatures", so even an Umbra cant help against the unfair sweeper. I didnt know what to do, I figured I would get slammed game 1, then hope i draw Rest in Peace both times for games 2 and 3. Not the best odds. At the beginning of the match, my opponent proposed a prize split. Split the packs pool 50/50, winner gets the SCG invite and playmat, and loser gets the medal. 'Loser gets the medal?', i though to myself, thats weird, but whatever, i accepted and kept shuffling, but a second later he just announces that he concedes to me. That dude REALLY just wanted the medal, lol. He told me later that he had invites already. Since I was technically the winner then, the judges made me take a picture with the mat and medal before I gave the medal to the second place guy. So, it looks like i get all the glory, but he gets the medal, which i'm ok with since i'm sure i would have been ROFLstomped by his deck. So yeah, i took this ***** down!
The deck ran hot all day, but i'd also like to think i navigated myself through the field very well. I play a lot of Modern and Legacy and i know the decks throughout each format very well, which really helps in decision making. Against any non-red deck post-board, for example, you can rely on a Kor or Arbor to get there pretty consistently, which makes mulligan'ing easier. Knowing when to double down on certain decisions like this won me the day. Not playing around Lilly's or ambush viper Snapcasters are misplays i see other Bogle players make all the time. I'll never run my Bogle, with just a Rancor on it, into your open two mana, blue mage, thank you very much. I dont dilute my deck with too many sideboard cards each match. I feel like 6 is the upper limit, and out of the 6 you take out, some number needs to be Kors and Paths, so you dont run too few Aura's.
Open the Armory was sweet all day. I used it throughout to get a Rancor, Ethereal, an Umbra, and Coronet, whatever the situation called for. I like it as a one of, though, because it is still important to have enough one drop enchantments for the turn 2 double Aura plays. I could possibly see myself going up to two Gryff's Boon, though. Card was sick, even though i never got to play it from the graveyard during the entire tournament, the extra evasion was awesome.
TLDR: I sent a bunch of mages on one way trips to Browntown and won Colorado States.
Congrats dude. That's absolutely awesome. Nothing is more fun then when this deck is running hot. As for that living end guy... ??? I think I would have played that one out if I was him, haha. Good stuff!!
I like Ethersworn Canonist for the Living End matchup besides Rest in Peace, but I do not play Bogles that often. I still do not understand why I should want two copies of Gaddock Teeg in the sideboard. Can someone explain that to me, i.e. against what relevant decks do I want to play the card?
Ill bring in Teeg in any control matchup. It is a must remove for Scapeshift, Gifts decks, and something like Jeskai/UW if they want to play their Cryptics and Wraths. Bogles are hexproof, so what kills them? Wraths, which always cost 4+. Its just another hedge against sweepers. Plus, getting Cryptic Commanded multiple times in a row is one way control decks stabalize.
Cannonist just dies to Shriekmaw, which LE plays maindeck. At least with RIP they need to hit one of their Beats Within.
I like Ethersworn Canonist for the Living End matchup besides Rest in Peace, but I do not play Bogles that often. I still do not understand why I should want two copies of Gaddock Teeg in the sideboard. Can someone explain that to me, i.e. against what relevant decks do I want to play the card?
I used to have the same opinion of Teeg, but then I started using him and i think he's awesome. Tron, Coco, Chord, Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, Cryptic, Verdict, Gifts Ungiven, Damnation, even some planeswalkers like Gideon and Garruk. Overall I think he's a very good game 2 and 3 compliment to Bogles' strategy of making your opponents cards unplayable.
I can't believe I didn't notice this card, What do you guys think of Oppressive Rays? It's an aura that can be searched by OtA and it isn't a dead card as long we are against any creature deck. Slap it on all the infect creature and spellskite. Conpared to gelid shackles, would this actually be better?
Hey guys, I played in the SCG Colorado Modern States tournament yesterday with the following Bogles list, which is a few cards different from what i posted before, a few days ago, in the earlier thread page. Last minute changes, as always, most notably was getting rid of Keen Sense altogether for a Gryff's Boon:
I play tested with some buddies on Saturday night, before the tournament, and we did a mock 8 man tournament which I crushed, so I was in good spirits heading into Sunday. In testing, Boon felt great and even won me a game out of the graveyard. At the tournament, there ended up being 80'ish people, which translates into 7 rounds of swiss and a top 8.
As far as deck selection, I felt Bogles might be a good call in the Colorado meta right now, as it is usually full of Burn, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, and other aggro. In an aggro mirror, Coronet is the nut and not a lot of those decks can handle it. Open the Armory gave access to a 5th Coronet, which I felt would be sweet. I tested a bunch of blue based decks, but they all didnt feel right. This format, you can obviously get away with being massively linear, as long as free counter spells remain banned. Situational removal and counter spells just cant beat getting faced.
Round 1 vs Junk Midrange
Right off the bat, a BGx matchup, yuck. I won the roll and was lucky enough to steamroll pretty easily at the start. He didnt get a Lilly or decay to slow me down, and all i saw was a Finks before he scooped. So, i thought he was maybe on the CoCo/Chord Abzan combo, but the next game i did see discard, Siege Rhino, and Lilly. However, i was able to play myself around those threats and took the match. Fighting off a legit Junk deck in round 1 felt great. Win 2-0.
1-0-0
Round 2 vs Jund
Geez, can you ask for a worse round 1 and 2? Discard, Lilly, and Abrupt Decay are easily the worst cards to play against with this deck. Again, though, i won the die roll and was able to sprint to a quick turn 4 win before things got nasty. Winning on the play, every time, is very crucial for this deck. Against BGx, my only sideboard plan is to bring in 4 Leylines and then i shave things like an Umbra, 2 Spiritdancers (who usually die to Decay), and a Spirit Link. On the draw in game two, here, i stick a turn 0 Leyline and turn 1 Bogle, which i was able to get there with. Win 2-0
2-0-0
Round 3 vs UW Control
Well, so much for my meta call. So far, all i've seen is midrange and control, as opposed to the aggro and Burn i was expecting. I lost the die roll here, but ground my way to a game 1 win. He got to draw a lot of cards through Ancestral Vision, but i was heavy on the umbras which thwarted any Supreme Verdicts. I felt like i was in good position to win this match, but the next two games i got Fracturing Gusted. Ugh, that had to only be a 1 of in his board, i would imagine, but he drew it games 2 and 3 and got me good. Loss 1-2.
2-1-0
Round 4 vs Bright to Light Scapeshift
Luckily, a lot of my buddies are on this list and i played against it the night before during our testing. It’s a good matchup for Bogles, unless they get a few Tribe Elder fogs and chain a couple Cryptics together. A Rancor, though, totally ruins their Tribe Elder plan. So, draw Rancor, hope they dont draw a lot of Cryptics and snaps. Game 1 he just got browned on as my deck started getting hot. I played a turn 2 Kor, which i got to untap with, and went then Ethereal, draw, Rancor, draw, and Boon draw to attack for 12 and essentially end the game. See, Bogles has its own Ancestral Vision. Game 2 i hit a double Leyline opener, which doesnt outright make the game unwinnable for Scape, but it delays them a few turns, for sure, which was enough. Win 2-0.
3-1-0
Round 5 vs UW Merfolk
Finally, an aggro match. I was ready for this and ready to see how awesome Cornet would be. I recognized this guy as a writer to that Modern Nexus website, so i wanted to make sure i got him good. Unfortunately, this was the round i decided would be a good idea to smoke a joint in between rounds and I was really feeling it. So, i wasnt very talkative and started to get nervous. Game 1, i curved into Coronet and stomped all over him. That was nice, but in game 2 i got blown out by a Hibernation mid-attack, which was gross. We had a little issue after that because after the Hibernation i had 8 cards in hand and we both didnt notice, so I never discarded. He finally noticed on my next turn when i drew and had 9 cards in hand. Dont smoke pot, kiddos. We called a judge and he just made me discard, which i had plenty of lands to do, so all was good and my opponent ended up winning that game anyway. Game 3, i was freaking out over another possible Hibernation, because there is no way to play around it. I just went fast and Coronet crushed. Win 2-1.
4-1-0
Round 6 vs BtL Scapeshift
This guy's deck was just like round 4, but he, as a person, was saltier then the guy in round 4. No one likes losing to Bogles, i get it, but how is your one card combo deck any fairer than what i am doing? You dont see me get all bitter. I was in a good state of mellow at this point and steamrolled game 1. Game 2 was a little slower, but i was able to start gaining massive life with a Spirit Link and Coronet on a 6/6 Bogle. Gaining 12 a turn quickly got me up to 43 life and far out of Scape range. Regardless, he went for scape with 8 lands, which equals 2 Valakuts, 6 Mountains, and 36 damage. I think he thought his only out was to go through the motions and hope i scoop. He scapes, plays all his lands and says, “All the triggers are pointed at you.” Without evening mentioned how much damage, but i know how math works, so i say, “Ok, I take 36, you done with your turn?” then swung for lethal the next turn. Win 2-0
5-1-0
Round 7 vs Naya Company Hoogland.dec
I was hoping to draw into the top 8 this round, but we had to play. Per the standings, i was #7, my opponent was #8, and there was a #9 who had the same record as we did and got paired down. If we drew and that #9 won, then my opponent would have been leap-frogged and not made top 8. So, i offered a draw, he declined, then got shellacked. The first game, i had a to mull to 6 and kept a hand with two Kor's and a fetch (for a possible Dryad Arbor later). I'm usually ok with these hands post board, when they side out removal, but it was risky this time. Luckily, he pathed my first Kor, but the second Kor stuck and instantly got huge and won me the game. Game 2 was a little grindier. I had a Bogle out, early, and on his turn 3 he casted an Engineered Explosives on 1. Now, this guy was reading my cards all match, not understand how Kor worked or how the Umbra's worked... so i played on his lack of knowledge in my next sequence. He sticks EE on 1 and passes with 2 mana open to blow it up. I think a bit, and play Umbra on my Bogle, he lets it resolve, i play Rancor on my Bogle?, he lets it resolves, i move to attacks and then he triggers the EE, so i got Rancor back to my hand and the Bogle lived. We had to have a judge call on that, but i knew how it worked. He definitely should have popped the EE in response to the Umbra, but he admitted later that the thought the EE would just take care of everything, which I was banking on him getting wrong. Win 2-0.
6-1-0
I got second seed in the top 8.
Top 8 vs BUG Control
This guy cubes with me and my friends sometimes, so i know him well enough. He is a great player and he built a tight Control brew with Goyfs, Lilly, Snaps, Tasigur, Ancestral, Decay... all the good stuff and expensive stuff. Essentially, this is another BGx matchup that i was trying to avoid. Even on the play, he got me game 1 with two Lilly's. I was able to fetch my Arbor once, and kill the first Lilly on the swing back, but the second won the game. Losing on the play felt awful. In game 2, i had a great opener of Bogle and Leyline, so i kept. I was chipping away, but never drew an Umbra, so a Damnation set me back and i had to go all in on an Arbor. The pivotal play in this game was him making a sequence where he thought he could Abrupt Decay my Dryad Arbor. I had lethal swinging in and he tried the Decay, which i told him he couldnt and he lost as hitting any of the enchantments on the Arbor wouldnt have mattered at that point since he was at 2 life. Had he realized that Decay is non-land, he could have played his turn differently and lived. Yay for punts. Game 3 had the most insane luck i've ever experienced with this deck thus far. I hit another Leyline and Bogle in my opener, which was sweet and started to chip away. His Damnations and Snap Damnations really kept ruining my plans, though, and then he stuck a Night of the Souls Betrayal while i had nothing out. I almost scooped here, but i remembered that Kor is still an out and he was at 7 life. We were both in top deck mode when i finally hit a Kor, played her, and passed. He, on his draw, hits a Tasigur and has enough lands to do Tasigur, use Tas ability (i give him a useless Inquisition), use Tas ability again (i give him a Goyf), then he plays the Goyf and is completely tapped out, and passes the turn. I'm about to get buried in card advantage and even though i'm at like 17 life (him still at 7), i know my clock is quick. So, i comment, "Man, i need an epic string of Aura's here." Empty handed, on my draw, i get Hyena Umbra, cast it on my Kor, draw, Ethereal Armor, cast, draw, Rancor, cast, draw, Ethereal, cast, draw, hit a blank. Holy *****, I attack for 21 (20 after the Betrayal -1/-1) trample and win. Never have i had a string off a Kor like that in such a crucial moment. Get wrecked. Win 2-1.
Top 4 vs Merfolk
Different Merfolk player than the one earlier in rounds, but the same matchup that i like playing against. Hopefully, this guy didnt have Hibernation to smash me, though. I was on the play and mulled to 5 game 1 and farted out pretty easily. Again, losing game 1 on the play felt gross, but i remembered that i should be favored, no matter what, in this matchup. Game 2, i mulled to 6, on the play but had a real hand and i was way too fast for him. I got a Coronet, which matters. Game 3, i again had to mull to 6, but again had the nut. Without Hibernation, i dont think Merfolk can deal with a Bogle, Ethereal, Rancor, Coronet hand. Well, actually, not a lot of decks can. Win 2-1
Finals vs Living End
I was hoping to dodge this match-up all day, too. Living End says "Sacrifice your creatures", so even an Umbra cant help against the unfair sweeper. I didnt know what to do, I figured I would get slammed game 1, then hope i draw Rest in Peace both times for games 2 and 3. Not the best odds. At the beginning of the match, my opponent proposed a prize split. Split the packs pool 50/50, winner gets the SCG invite and playmat, and loser gets the medal. 'Loser gets the medal?', i though to myself, thats weird, but whatever, i accepted and kept shuffling, but a second later he just announces that he concedes to me. That dude REALLY just wanted the medal, lol. He told me later that he had invites already. Since I was technically the winner then, the judges made me take a picture with the mat and medal before I gave the medal to the second place guy. So, it looks like i get all the glory, but he gets the medal, which i'm ok with since i'm sure i would have been ROFLstomped by his deck. So yeah, i took this ***** down!
The deck ran hot all day, but i'd also like to think i navigated myself through the field very well. I play a lot of Modern and Legacy and i know the decks throughout each format very well, which really helps in decision making. Against any non-red deck post-board, for example, you can rely on a Kor or Arbor to get there pretty consistently, which makes mulligan'ing easier. Knowing when to double down on certain decisions like this won me the day. Not playing around Lilly's or ambush viper Snapcasters are misplays i see other Bogle players make all the time. I'll never run my Bogle, with just a Rancor on it, into your open two mana, blue mage, thank you very much. I dont dilute my deck with too many sideboard cards each match. I feel like 6 is the upper limit, and out of the 6 you take out, some number needs to be Kors and Paths, so you dont run too few Aura's.
Open the Armory was sweet all day. I used it throughout to get a Rancor, Ethereal, an Umbra, and Coronet, whatever the situation called for. I like it as a one of, though, because it is still important to have enough one drop enchantments for the turn 2 double Aura plays. I could possibly see myself going up to two Gryff's Boon, though. Card was sick, even though i never got to play it from the graveyard during the entire tournament, the extra evasion was awesome.
TLDR: I sent a bunch of mages on one way trips to Browntown and won Colorado States.
Congrats on the big win!!! How did you feel about having Path in the deck? Were you always glad having it or drawing it?
I didnt need to use Path too much, but yeah, i wouldnt want a main deck without them. It was good in a Merfolk race, one game, and hitting a Siege Rhino another game. Some maniacs like to play maindeck Spellskites, so its good insurance against that.
Congratulations on winning States! I have been playing several other decks recently, so I haven't been to this thread in a while. I like your ist.
Instead of double posting, I am also showing tonight's FNM. 31 players, 5 rounds.
Round 1 vs. Merfolk. The first game was odd. He kept a 1 Island hand and couldn't play anything but 2 Vapor Snag and a Cursecatcher - pretty easy to beat even with an average hand. In the next game, my hand is a bit slow and he gets to 4 Lords. I leave back a Dryad Arbor and he makes a mistake of not playing Merrow Reejery, which I knew he had, first, and then another Fish to tap the Dryad Arbor. I survive at 2 life and he scoops. He is normally a Junk player, a new player, and only started playing Fish since this past Tuesday. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. GR Tron. A player at this FNM lent out 2 Tron decks and played Tron himself. So, my opponent was playing a deck that was somewhat tough. This came into play during the sideboarding. In the first game, I kept a hand that explodes if I draw a 2nd land. I do and then I win pretty easily. He can get to Tron by turn 4, but needs to use 2 of the lands to search for the final piece. In the next game, I get there with a punishing hand again. He stumbled a bit after a mull to 6, had his turn 2 Spellskite Nature's Claimed right away and then it ended soon afterward. I believe his mistake was not putting in Ugin, 2 Krosan Grip, and something else and taking out Kozilek's Returns, which are fairly slow. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Kiki Chord. In the first game, I keep a hand with Umbras, Bogle and 2 Kor Spiritdancer. My Kor Spiritdancers get Path to Exiled, including 1 when I didn't wait to play it and an Aura on the same turn. He had 1 card left, so I didn't think it was Path. He chumps a bunch and gets the combo eventually. He was at 2 and my next 2 cards were Daybreak Coronet and Ethereal Armor. In the next game, I get an Aura with Kor Spiritdancer in play, but I end up with 11 lands and 5 cards between play, hand, and graveyard. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Mardu. I keep a hand with Plains and 6 cards. He nabs a Bogle with Thoughtseize. I draw another and that is nabbed as well. He kills my Kor Spiritdancer and basically goldfishes me with 2 Kitchen Finks and something else that I forgot. In the next game, I do before game Leyline of Sanctity, Bogle, into Ethereal Armor and I'm off to the races. In the final game, I keep a solid hand, but not much interaction. He doesn't have discard and my Bogle gets big. On his turn 3, I feel like he will cast Liliana of the Veil, but he plays Lingering Souls. I have Rancor this time and I proceed to draw 2 straight fetches, which I leave untapped for double Dryad Arbor. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Abzan Company. He draw somewhat awkwardly, playing turn 1 Viscera Seer off Swamp. His Company is Wall of Roots and Noble Hierarch. He doesn't quite get there, as I suit up a Kor Spiritdancer really huge and Path to Exile his Kitchen Finks with Melira and Anafenza coming into play, with the +1/+1 counter on the stack of Kitchen Finks. In the next game, I see an opening for Kor Spiritdancer again. I do turn 3 Rest in Peace and then start putting Rancors and more on the Spiritdancer. It's easy from there. He also was a newer player. 2-0.
I finish 4th at 4-1. The guy from the 3rd round was 1st at 4-0-1, IDing the final round.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Played in a tiny 11 person GPT. It was a rainy day.
Round 1 vs. GR Tron. Turn 3 Tron, turn 4 Oblivion Stone. Next turn, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. My slow hand doesn't get there. In game 2, sorry, no mystery. Same thing. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I scoop immediately after he minuses, exiling my board for the 2nd time. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. Grishoalbrand. He gets there on turn 3 with Goryo's Vengeance on Griselbrand after I Path to Exile his turn 2 Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand. In the next 2 games, I get there with Rest in Peace and Gaddock Teeg. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GR Tron. In the first game, Oblivion Stone on turn 4 after natural turn 3 Tron gets me again. He is low on life, but stabilizes with Wurmcoil Engines. In the next game, I have turn 2 Stony Silence. I presume his hand has 1 Nature's Claim. My first draw steps are Stony Silence, Stony Silence, land, Gaddock Teeg, which would come down a turn after he cast Karn Liberated. He told me that he had Pyroclasm, which was pretty good because I did not have a single Aura other than 1 Daybreak Coronet. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. ? I didn't stay to play, but whoever plays gets the win 2-0.
Tough tournament. I got stomped. It was day of the "O Stone," "turn 3 Tron," or sideboard cards like crazy. The funny thing is that before the tournament, I heard someone talking about his Tron deck and I thought "I hope I don't lose to turn 4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in 2 games." Unfortunately for me, I didn't bring Grishoalbrand or I could have switched up and stomped this tournament.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Played in a tiny 11 person GPT. It was a rainy day.
Round 1 vs. GR Tron. Turn 3 Tron, turn 4 Oblivion Stone. Next turn, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. My slow hand doesn't get there. In game 2, sorry, no mystery. Same thing. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I scoop immediately after he minuses, exiling my board for the 2nd time. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. Grishoalbrand. He gets there on turn 3 with Goryo's Vengeance on Griselbrand after I Path to Exile his turn 2 Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand. In the next 2 games, I get there with Rest in Peace and Gaddock Teeg. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GR Tron. In the first game, Oblivion Stone on turn 4 after natural turn 3 Tron gets me again. He is low on life, but stabilizes with Wurmcoil Engines. In the next game, I have turn 2 Stony Silence. I presume his hand has 1 Nature's Claim. My first draw steps are Stony Silence, Stony Silence, land, Gaddock Teeg, which would come down a turn after he cast Karn Liberated. He told me that he had Pyroclasm, which was pretty good because I did not have a single Aura other than 1 Daybreak Coronet. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. ? I didn't stay to play, but whoever plays gets the win 2-0.
Tough tournament. I got stomped. It was day of the "O Stone," "turn 3 Tron," or sideboard cards like crazy. The funny thing is that before the tournament, I heard someone talking about his Tron deck and I thought "I hope I don't lose to turn 4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in 2 games." Unfortunately for me, I didn't bring Grishoalbrand or I could have switched up and stomped this tournament.
Bad luck i guess?
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Seems like it. I regret overshuffling their decks, but you can't control Tron on turn 3 each game and O Stone on turn 4 every game. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a card we straight scoop to, even if they are at 1 life at the time.
The owner of the Tron decks during FNM said that turn 3 Tron happens 30% of the time, so it's always a large possibility.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Just thought I'd give a little feedback from my FNM. Let me start by saying that I was playing a build of the deck with 4 paths and 3 spiritdancers. I ended up going 2-3 on the night. My losses were to Merfolk, Abzan and Scapeshift and the wins came against u/w control and some sort of jeskai control deck. All in all I feel like I ran into some bad luck in the losses, mostly being stuck on one land. I made some misplays, but that is expected with a deck that I'm not familiar with.
Some thoughts going forward include switching to 1 path main, and using 4 open the armory. I really think that being able to find the pieces that you need is important.
Just had a thought recently.
I'm not really much of a bogles player, but bear with me:
The biggest issue bogles faces is the inconsistency. Both in opening hands, and in mulligans.
This is partially alleviated by cards like kor spiritdancer or keen sense, as well as horizon canopy, to keep hitting gas.
Thats all well and good, but another card exist, the fixes the other half of the equation: serum powder.
Maybe it sounds kind of bad, but if any deck could use it, its this deck.
You need a land or two, a creature or two, and a couple of auras. You mulligan if you don't have a reasonable quantity of each. You don't need to risk exiling an important combo piece (exiling a creature still leaves like 10 more in the deck, 20 lands, 25 auras).
I have been goldfishing the list (no actual games), and I've been able to keep 7s and 6s every time but 1, which I kept 5.
Its possible some of my mulligan decisions are wrong (but likely not a huge number of them), and while you also have to worry about drawing another dead card (the powder) later in the game, it feels like a worthy tradeoff.
Is what I was playing for reference. It seems pretty standard to be honest, no spirit link or unflinching courage, but otherwise nothing really special.
Probably not an optimized list for powder, but the idea is there. There is certainly a noticeable impact in starting hands.
Power also causes leyline out of the side to be stronger too.
Just thought I'd give a little feedback from my FNM. Let me start by saying that I was playing a build of the deck with 4 paths and 3 spiritdancers. I ended up going 2-3 on the night. My losses were to Merfolk, Abzan and Scapeshift and the wins came against u/w control and some sort of jeskai control deck. All in all I feel like I ran into some bad luck in the losses, mostly being stuck on one land. I made some misplays, but that is expected with a deck that I'm not familiar with.
Some thoughts going forward include switching to 1 path main, and using 4 open the armory. I really think that being able to find the pieces that you need is important.
I think 4 mainboard Open the Armory might be a little excessive, as we would almost never want to see 2 copies in our opening hand instead of auras. I do think 2 or 3 copies main is a good number though. I'm also on board with dropping Path to Exile down to 1 or even 0 copies. Reid Duke's Worlds deck only had 2 copies of PTE, and in the sideboard! With Eldrazi, Twin, and Bloom all gone from the meta, I don't think Path is needed as much as it once was. I'd rather stuff more auras and open the armory into the deck, or even Vines of Vastwood for Spiritdancer/Dryad Arbor protection or the extra damage to close out a game.
Hello,
what do you think about Kruphix's Insight and Commune with the Gods ?
When I play, I remain often with no cards in hand due playing and also due to discard effects from opponent and maybe also with no cards on board due to oblivion stone, engineered explosives, etc.
Thanks
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1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Temple Garden
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Spider Umbra
4 Hyena Umbra
4 Daybreak Coronet
1 Gryff's Boon
1 Spirit Link
2 Spirit Mantle
1 Open the Armory
3 Path to Exile
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Stoney Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Nature's Claim
1 Suppression Field
I play tested with some buddies on Saturday night, before the tournament, and we did a mock 8 man tournament which I crushed, so I was in good spirits heading into Sunday. In testing, Boon felt great and even won me a game out of the graveyard. At the tournament, there ended up being 80'ish people, which translates into 7 rounds of swiss and a top 8.
As far as deck selection, I felt Bogles might be a good call in the Colorado meta right now, as it is usually full of Burn, Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity, and other aggro. In an aggro mirror, Coronet is the nut and not a lot of those decks can handle it. Open the Armory gave access to a 5th Coronet, which I felt would be sweet. I tested a bunch of blue based decks, but they all didnt feel right. This format, you can obviously get away with being massively linear, as long as free counter spells remain banned. Situational removal and counter spells just cant beat getting faced.
Round 1 vs Junk Midrange
Right off the bat, a BGx matchup, yuck. I won the roll and was lucky enough to steamroll pretty easily at the start. He didnt get a Lilly or decay to slow me down, and all i saw was a Finks before he scooped. So, i thought he was maybe on the CoCo/Chord Abzan combo, but the next game i did see discard, Siege Rhino, and Lilly. However, i was able to play myself around those threats and took the match. Fighting off a legit Junk deck in round 1 felt great. Win 2-0.
1-0-0
Round 2 vs Jund
Geez, can you ask for a worse round 1 and 2? Discard, Lilly, and Abrupt Decay are easily the worst cards to play against with this deck. Again, though, i won the die roll and was able to sprint to a quick turn 4 win before things got nasty. Winning on the play, every time, is very crucial for this deck. Against BGx, my only sideboard plan is to bring in 4 Leylines and then i shave things like an Umbra, 2 Spiritdancers (who usually die to Decay), and a Spirit Link. On the draw in game two, here, i stick a turn 0 Leyline and turn 1 Bogle, which i was able to get there with. Win 2-0
2-0-0
Round 3 vs UW Control
Well, so much for my meta call. So far, all i've seen is midrange and control, as opposed to the aggro and Burn i was expecting. I lost the die roll here, but ground my way to a game 1 win. He got to draw a lot of cards through Ancestral Vision, but i was heavy on the umbras which thwarted any Supreme Verdicts. I felt like i was in good position to win this match, but the next two games i got Fracturing Gusted. Ugh, that had to only be a 1 of in his board, i would imagine, but he drew it games 2 and 3 and got me good. Loss 1-2.
2-1-0
Round 4 vs Bright to Light Scapeshift
Luckily, a lot of my buddies are on this list and i played against it the night before during our testing. It’s a good matchup for Bogles, unless they get a few Tribe Elder fogs and chain a couple Cryptics together. A Rancor, though, totally ruins their Tribe Elder plan. So, draw Rancor, hope they dont draw a lot of Cryptics and snaps. Game 1 he just got browned on as my deck started getting hot. I played a turn 2 Kor, which i got to untap with, and went then Ethereal, draw, Rancor, draw, and Boon draw to attack for 12 and essentially end the game. See, Bogles has its own Ancestral Vision. Game 2 i hit a double Leyline opener, which doesnt outright make the game unwinnable for Scape, but it delays them a few turns, for sure, which was enough. Win 2-0.
3-1-0
Round 5 vs UW Merfolk
Finally, an aggro match. I was ready for this and ready to see how awesome Cornet would be. I recognized this guy as a writer to that Modern Nexus website, so i wanted to make sure i got him good. Unfortunately, this was the round i decided would be a good idea to smoke a joint in between rounds and I was really feeling it. So, i wasnt very talkative and started to get nervous. Game 1, i curved into Coronet and stomped all over him. That was nice, but in game 2 i got blown out by a Hibernation mid-attack, which was gross. We had a little issue after that because after the Hibernation i had 8 cards in hand and we both didnt notice, so I never discarded. He finally noticed on my next turn when i drew and had 9 cards in hand. Dont smoke pot, kiddos. We called a judge and he just made me discard, which i had plenty of lands to do, so all was good and my opponent ended up winning that game anyway. Game 3, i was freaking out over another possible Hibernation, because there is no way to play around it. I just went fast and Coronet crushed. Win 2-1.
4-1-0
Round 6 vs BtL Scapeshift
This guy's deck was just like round 4, but he, as a person, was saltier then the guy in round 4. No one likes losing to Bogles, i get it, but how is your one card combo deck any fairer than what i am doing? You dont see me get all bitter. I was in a good state of mellow at this point and steamrolled game 1. Game 2 was a little slower, but i was able to start gaining massive life with a Spirit Link and Coronet on a 6/6 Bogle. Gaining 12 a turn quickly got me up to 43 life and far out of Scape range. Regardless, he went for scape with 8 lands, which equals 2 Valakuts, 6 Mountains, and 36 damage. I think he thought his only out was to go through the motions and hope i scoop. He scapes, plays all his lands and says, “All the triggers are pointed at you.” Without evening mentioned how much damage, but i know how math works, so i say, “Ok, I take 36, you done with your turn?” then swung for lethal the next turn. Win 2-0
5-1-0
Round 7 vs Naya Company Hoogland.dec
I was hoping to draw into the top 8 this round, but we had to play. Per the standings, i was #7, my opponent was #8, and there was a #9 who had the same record as we did and got paired down. If we drew and that #9 won, then my opponent would have been leap-frogged and not made top 8. So, i offered a draw, he declined, then got shellacked. The first game, i had a to mull to 6 and kept a hand with two Kor's and a fetch (for a possible Dryad Arbor later). I'm usually ok with these hands post board, when they side out removal, but it was risky this time. Luckily, he pathed my first Kor, but the second Kor stuck and instantly got huge and won me the game. Game 2 was a little grindier. I had a Bogle out, early, and on his turn 3 he casted an Engineered Explosives on 1. Now, this guy was reading my cards all match, not understand how Kor worked or how the Umbra's worked... so i played on his lack of knowledge in my next sequence. He sticks EE on 1 and passes with 2 mana open to blow it up. I think a bit, and play Umbra on my Bogle, he lets it resolve, i play Rancor on my Bogle?, he lets it resolves, i move to attacks and then he triggers the EE, so i got Rancor back to my hand and the Bogle lived. We had to have a judge call on that, but i knew how it worked. He definitely should have popped the EE in response to the Umbra, but he admitted later that the thought the EE would just take care of everything, which I was banking on him getting wrong. Win 2-0.
6-1-0
I got second seed in the top 8.
Top 8 vs BUG Control
This guy cubes with me and my friends sometimes, so i know him well enough. He is a great player and he built a tight Control brew with Goyfs, Lilly, Snaps, Tasigur, Ancestral, Decay... all the good stuff and expensive stuff. Essentially, this is another BGx matchup that i was trying to avoid. Even on the play, he got me game 1 with two Lilly's. I was able to fetch my Arbor once, and kill the first Lilly on the swing back, but the second won the game. Losing on the play felt awful. In game 2, i had a great opener of Bogle and Leyline, so i kept. I was chipping away, but never drew an Umbra, so a Damnation set me back and i had to go all in on an Arbor. The pivotal play in this game was him making a sequence where he thought he could Abrupt Decay my Dryad Arbor. I had lethal swinging in and he tried the Decay, which i told him he couldnt and he lost as hitting any of the enchantments on the Arbor wouldnt have mattered at that point since he was at 2 life. Had he realized that Decay is non-land, he could have played his turn differently and lived. Yay for punts. Game 3 had the most insane luck i've ever experienced with this deck thus far. I hit another Leyline and Bogle in my opener, which was sweet and started to chip away. His Damnations and Snap Damnations really kept ruining my plans, though, and then he stuck a Night of the Souls Betrayal while i had nothing out. I almost scooped here, but i remembered that Kor is still an out and he was at 7 life. We were both in top deck mode when i finally hit a Kor, played her, and passed. He, on his draw, hits a Tasigur and has enough lands to do Tasigur, use Tas ability (i give him a useless Inquisition), use Tas ability again (i give him a Goyf), then he plays the Goyf and is completely tapped out, and passes the turn. I'm about to get buried in card advantage and even though i'm at like 17 life (him still at 7), i know my clock is quick. So, i comment, "Man, i need an epic string of Aura's here." Empty handed, on my draw, i get Hyena Umbra, cast it on my Kor, draw, Ethereal Armor, cast, draw, Rancor, cast, draw, Ethereal, cast, draw, hit a blank. Holy *****, I attack for 21 (20 after the Betrayal -1/-1) trample and win. Never have i had a string off a Kor like that in such a crucial moment. Get wrecked. Win 2-1.
Top 4 vs Merfolk
Different Merfolk player than the one earlier in rounds, but the same matchup that i like playing against. Hopefully, this guy didnt have Hibernation to smash me, though. I was on the play and mulled to 5 game 1 and farted out pretty easily. Again, losing game 1 on the play felt gross, but i remembered that i should be favored, no matter what, in this matchup. Game 2, i mulled to 6, on the play but had a real hand and i was way too fast for him. I got a Coronet, which matters. Game 3, i again had to mull to 6, but again had the nut. Without Hibernation, i dont think Merfolk can deal with a Bogle, Ethereal, Rancor, Coronet hand. Well, actually, not a lot of decks can. Win 2-1
Finals vs Living End
I was hoping to dodge this match-up all day, too. Living End says "Sacrifice your creatures", so even an Umbra cant help against the unfair sweeper. I didnt know what to do, I figured I would get slammed game 1, then hope i draw Rest in Peace both times for games 2 and 3. Not the best odds. At the beginning of the match, my opponent proposed a prize split. Split the packs pool 50/50, winner gets the SCG invite and playmat, and loser gets the medal. 'Loser gets the medal?', i though to myself, thats weird, but whatever, i accepted and kept shuffling, but a second later he just announces that he concedes to me. That dude REALLY just wanted the medal, lol. He told me later that he had invites already. Since I was technically the winner then, the judges made me take a picture with the mat and medal before I gave the medal to the second place guy. So, it looks like i get all the glory, but he gets the medal, which i'm ok with since i'm sure i would have been ROFLstomped by his deck. So yeah, i took this ***** down!
http://i.imgur.com/aYNUoqc.jpg
The deck ran hot all day, but i'd also like to think i navigated myself through the field very well. I play a lot of Modern and Legacy and i know the decks throughout each format very well, which really helps in decision making. Against any non-red deck post-board, for example, you can rely on a Kor or Arbor to get there pretty consistently, which makes mulligan'ing easier. Knowing when to double down on certain decisions like this won me the day. Not playing around Lilly's or ambush viper Snapcasters are misplays i see other Bogle players make all the time. I'll never run my Bogle, with just a Rancor on it, into your open two mana, blue mage, thank you very much. I dont dilute my deck with too many sideboard cards each match. I feel like 6 is the upper limit, and out of the 6 you take out, some number needs to be Kors and Paths, so you dont run too few Aura's.
Open the Armory was sweet all day. I used it throughout to get a Rancor, Ethereal, an Umbra, and Coronet, whatever the situation called for. I like it as a one of, though, because it is still important to have enough one drop enchantments for the turn 2 double Aura plays. I could possibly see myself going up to two Gryff's Boon, though. Card was sick, even though i never got to play it from the graveyard during the entire tournament, the extra evasion was awesome.
TLDR: I sent a bunch of mages on one way trips to Browntown and won Colorado States.
I didn't think about that much before. It's rare to see infect decks at my lgs, so lucky me because the match up isn't good afaik. But I would board in Path to Exile and some Seal of Primordium and take out Spirit Link, one Open the Armory, one or two Spiritdancer...
It's pretty stock. Same thing I've been running for years with the exception of the new cards. I play it a ton so I feel it's pretty streamlined. Leyline, Stony, Teeg, Skite, in the board. I'm going to just call Elves a loss and live with it. I'd have to shake things up too much to make any kind of impact against it.
Congrats dude. That's absolutely awesome. Nothing is more fun then when this deck is running hot. As for that living end guy... ??? I think I would have played that one out if I was him, haha. Good stuff!!
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
Ill bring in Teeg in any control matchup. It is a must remove for Scapeshift, Gifts decks, and something like Jeskai/UW if they want to play their Cryptics and Wraths. Bogles are hexproof, so what kills them? Wraths, which always cost 4+. Its just another hedge against sweepers. Plus, getting Cryptic Commanded multiple times in a row is one way control decks stabalize.
Cannonist just dies to Shriekmaw, which LE plays maindeck. At least with RIP they need to hit one of their Beats Within.
I used to have the same opinion of Teeg, but then I started using him and i think he's awesome. Tron, Coco, Chord, Engineered Explosives, Chalice of the Void, Cryptic, Verdict, Gifts Ungiven, Damnation, even some planeswalkers like Gideon and Garruk. Overall I think he's a very good game 2 and 3 compliment to Bogles' strategy of making your opponents cards unplayable.
TappedOut
Would love to have more input to improve!
Congrats on the big win!!! How did you feel about having Path in the deck? Were you always glad having it or drawing it?
Instead of double posting, I am also showing tonight's FNM. 31 players, 5 rounds.
Round 1 vs. Merfolk. The first game was odd. He kept a 1 Island hand and couldn't play anything but 2 Vapor Snag and a Cursecatcher - pretty easy to beat even with an average hand. In the next game, my hand is a bit slow and he gets to 4 Lords. I leave back a Dryad Arbor and he makes a mistake of not playing Merrow Reejery, which I knew he had, first, and then another Fish to tap the Dryad Arbor. I survive at 2 life and he scoops. He is normally a Junk player, a new player, and only started playing Fish since this past Tuesday. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. GR Tron. A player at this FNM lent out 2 Tron decks and played Tron himself. So, my opponent was playing a deck that was somewhat tough. This came into play during the sideboarding. In the first game, I kept a hand that explodes if I draw a 2nd land. I do and then I win pretty easily. He can get to Tron by turn 4, but needs to use 2 of the lands to search for the final piece. In the next game, I get there with a punishing hand again. He stumbled a bit after a mull to 6, had his turn 2 Spellskite Nature's Claimed right away and then it ended soon afterward. I believe his mistake was not putting in Ugin, 2 Krosan Grip, and something else and taking out Kozilek's Returns, which are fairly slow. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Kiki Chord. In the first game, I keep a hand with Umbras, Bogle and 2 Kor Spiritdancer. My Kor Spiritdancers get Path to Exiled, including 1 when I didn't wait to play it and an Aura on the same turn. He had 1 card left, so I didn't think it was Path. He chumps a bunch and gets the combo eventually. He was at 2 and my next 2 cards were Daybreak Coronet and Ethereal Armor. In the next game, I get an Aura with Kor Spiritdancer in play, but I end up with 11 lands and 5 cards between play, hand, and graveyard. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Mardu. I keep a hand with Plains and 6 cards. He nabs a Bogle with Thoughtseize. I draw another and that is nabbed as well. He kills my Kor Spiritdancer and basically goldfishes me with 2 Kitchen Finks and something else that I forgot. In the next game, I do before game Leyline of Sanctity, Bogle, into Ethereal Armor and I'm off to the races. In the final game, I keep a solid hand, but not much interaction. He doesn't have discard and my Bogle gets big. On his turn 3, I feel like he will cast Liliana of the Veil, but he plays Lingering Souls. I have Rancor this time and I proceed to draw 2 straight fetches, which I leave untapped for double Dryad Arbor. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Abzan Company. He draw somewhat awkwardly, playing turn 1 Viscera Seer off Swamp. His Company is Wall of Roots and Noble Hierarch. He doesn't quite get there, as I suit up a Kor Spiritdancer really huge and Path to Exile his Kitchen Finks with Melira and Anafenza coming into play, with the +1/+1 counter on the stack of Kitchen Finks. In the next game, I see an opening for Kor Spiritdancer again. I do turn 3 Rest in Peace and then start putting Rancors and more on the Spiritdancer. It's easy from there. He also was a newer player. 2-0.
I finish 4th at 4-1. The guy from the 3rd round was 1st at 4-0-1, IDing the final round.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Round 1 vs. GR Tron. Turn 3 Tron, turn 4 Oblivion Stone. Next turn, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. My slow hand doesn't get there. In game 2, sorry, no mystery. Same thing. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I scoop immediately after he minuses, exiling my board for the 2nd time. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. Grishoalbrand. He gets there on turn 3 with Goryo's Vengeance on Griselbrand after I Path to Exile his turn 2 Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand. In the next 2 games, I get there with Rest in Peace and Gaddock Teeg. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. GR Tron. In the first game, Oblivion Stone on turn 4 after natural turn 3 Tron gets me again. He is low on life, but stabilizes with Wurmcoil Engines. In the next game, I have turn 2 Stony Silence. I presume his hand has 1 Nature's Claim. My first draw steps are Stony Silence, Stony Silence, land, Gaddock Teeg, which would come down a turn after he cast Karn Liberated. He told me that he had Pyroclasm, which was pretty good because I did not have a single Aura other than 1 Daybreak Coronet. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. ? I didn't stay to play, but whoever plays gets the win 2-0.
Tough tournament. I got stomped. It was day of the "O Stone," "turn 3 Tron," or sideboard cards like crazy. The funny thing is that before the tournament, I heard someone talking about his Tron deck and I thought "I hope I don't lose to turn 4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in 2 games." Unfortunately for me, I didn't bring Grishoalbrand or I could have switched up and stomped this tournament.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Bad luck i guess?
TappedOut
Would love to have more input to improve!
The owner of the Tron decks during FNM said that turn 3 Tron happens 30% of the time, so it's always a large possibility.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Modern: Bogles // 8-Whack/Goblins // UW Titan // Hollow One // Affinity // Dredge
EDH: Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Atraxa, Praetor's Voice // Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Some thoughts going forward include switching to 1 path main, and using 4 open the armory. I really think that being able to find the pieces that you need is important.
I'm not really much of a bogles player, but bear with me:
The biggest issue bogles faces is the inconsistency. Both in opening hands, and in mulligans.
This is partially alleviated by cards like kor spiritdancer or keen sense, as well as horizon canopy, to keep hitting gas.
Thats all well and good, but another card exist, the fixes the other half of the equation: serum powder.
Maybe it sounds kind of bad, but if any deck could use it, its this deck.
You need a land or two, a creature or two, and a couple of auras. You mulligan if you don't have a reasonable quantity of each. You don't need to risk exiling an important combo piece (exiling a creature still leaves like 10 more in the deck, 20 lands, 25 auras).
I have been goldfishing the list (no actual games), and I've been able to keep 7s and 6s every time but 1, which I kept 5.
Its possible some of my mulligan decisions are wrong (but likely not a huge number of them), and while you also have to worry about drawing another dead card (the powder) later in the game, it feels like a worthy tradeoff.
4 Gladecover Scout
2 Kor Spiritdancer
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
2 Plains
4 Serum Powder
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Hyena Umbra
4 Rancor
4 Spider Umbra
2 Spirit Mantle
1 Keen Sense
Is what I was playing for reference. It seems pretty standard to be honest, no spirit link or unflinching courage, but otherwise nothing really special.
Probably not an optimized list for powder, but the idea is there. There is certainly a noticeable impact in starting hands.
Power also causes leyline out of the side to be stronger too.
I think 4 mainboard Open the Armory might be a little excessive, as we would almost never want to see 2 copies in our opening hand instead of auras. I do think 2 or 3 copies main is a good number though. I'm also on board with dropping Path to Exile down to 1 or even 0 copies. Reid Duke's Worlds deck only had 2 copies of PTE, and in the sideboard! With Eldrazi, Twin, and Bloom all gone from the meta, I don't think Path is needed as much as it once was. I'd rather stuff more auras and open the armory into the deck, or even Vines of Vastwood for Spiritdancer/Dryad Arbor protection or the extra damage to close out a game.
what do you think about Kruphix's Insight and Commune with the Gods ?
When I play, I remain often with no cards in hand due playing and also due to discard effects from opponent and maybe also with no cards on board due to oblivion stone, engineered explosives, etc.
Thanks