Just an update... at the Thursday night Modern I finished 3-1...
R1: UR Moon
G1: I was lucky enough to draw the correct mix of basics plus fetches to make moon irrelevant.. eventually landed a JTMS and began to win the card advantage war... and game 1.. 2 Collective Brutalities gained me enough life to make his burn not so great.
G2: I boarded out 2 cast down, 1 fatal push, a cryptic, and a snap... brought in another Thoughtseize, both strokes, Scooze, and Vraska... Game 2 fetch, shock, thoughtseize on the draw seemed scary but i figured he possibly trimmed some number of bolts. turn 2 brutality, and turn 3 snap thoughtseize followed up by turn 4 goyf. seemed to set me up to walk away with the game... I forget what happened between then and getting bolt snap bolted out the game.
G3: I mull to 5 keep a hand that was fine against a control deck... however opponent played turn 2 young pyromancer, turn 3 clique, and turn 4 JTMS to set me far behind... I had an AV coming off, and a cryptic in hand to fight over it... he won the fight... i lost that game.
Rd2: BOROS stuffy doll (2-0) stuffy doll is bad against a deck that doesn't need creatures to win... and bolt is generally bad against me... he admits control is his worst matchup so i effectively had a bye. plus deck is so fringe the match is relatively unremarkable or worth remembering.
Rd3: BW Soul Sisters (2-0) G1 I suspend AV on turn 1. my opponent gained 15 life on turn 2... follows up with Ascendant which i have the push for... he spectrals on 3 which i can't counter. I play snap serum visions turn 3... take 6 after honor of the pure comes down... i forget exactly how it worked out... but i was able to land a nissa, followed up by a JTMS after pulsing his tokens away... he flooded... I helped him flood.
-I boarded out 4 Goyf, 1 Clique, brought in 2 damnation, 1 vraska, 1 Kiora, the crashing wave cause i wasnt able to get ahold of the other kiora, 1 thoughtseize.
Game 2 my opponent has pretty similar turn 1 and 2... we have similar play pattern to game 1 except he doesn't find a spectral and eventually i land a JTMS into Vraska, and my opponent has 2 paths and 2 lands rotting in his hand the rest of the game. As i Jace fateseal him out and vraska works her way up to an impending ult... he conceded
Rd4: Merfolk (2-0) G1 was very close collective brutality gained me 6+ life that game and i won on 1 life... basic gameplan was kill lords... keep goyf on board... I eventually landed a JTMS and walked away with the game.
-I boarded out 4 goyf, 2 thoughtseize, 2 cryptic command. i didnt see Cavern game 1 so i kept in leaks... brought in kiora, 2 damnation, 2 fulminator mage, vraska, scooze, and to the slaughter.
I think my opponent over boarded for g2... but he deployed his threats, each meeting removal, eventually i landed a Kiora on a board state with grafdigger's cage being the only non-land permanent my opponent had... walked her to ult and he conceded. my opponent's hand at the end of the game was 1 grafdigger's cage and something irrelevant.
Kinda bad "FNM report" my next one, if i do one will be better. I just haven't had the time to sit down and put the memory to paper and my memory is pretty bad lol...
PS:
TL:DR: the deck has yet to drop a match since UR moon.... Feels like a great all around deck and feels like it has game against anything haven't fought the Human or Hollow One menaces yet, but i welcome the challenge.
Full thing:
So i wasn't satisified with the kinds of decks i saw at the magic event, luckily my friend and i have created a gauntlent we can practice against. When i got home i asked my roommate if he could play me a game vs the dreaded tron menance (his native deck) he plays Mono-G tron... I won 2-0... albeit a huge chunk of game 1 wins vs tron as BUG comes down to turn 1 AV or TS into turn 2 goyf into field of ruin on 3 and hope they stumble until you can get Cryptic online.. however i wouldn't neccasarily call it a fluke... as i fought through Karn, 2 Worldbreakers, and 2 Ulamog. to get that game 1 win. Game 2 was much more lopsided as my sideboard is kinda skewed to beat them. He was pretty tilted so we didnt play anymore, he went to bed. Since then i have played JUND twice beating it both times (2-0) as managing life total and resolving AV against them seems to just win you the game. I've beaten GW company (2-0) Collective is a houe against them kill your bird take your company seemed good, Affinity (2-1) if they stumble at all i feel like the match swings heavily in our favor, burn (2-1) seems like the die roll kinda decides this one, collective being a house card seemed great but i did lose game 2 after resolving 2 of them, Storm (2-0) i mean we kinda just accidentally beat this deck without it really being a target game one 5 discard spells that hit gifts, 8 removal spells that hit their lords 11 if you count brutality vs electromancer and then post board having access to another thoughtseize, damping sphere and scooze make the matchup feel kinda unloseable, GW hexproof (2-1), and UW control (2-0).. i could just be riding the high of a good string of games, but this deck seems to have huge promise, again i havent tested against the two main menaces of the format... but i am confident in the hollow one match, and i kinda almost just give up trying to really figure out how to beat humans without warping my board and main to do so. but with all the removal main, plus AV to kinda catch back up after 1-for-1'ing early i think the matchup will probably be 40/60 them, at best 50/50... can't wait to test against them.
I forgot to mention my testing after the Tron matchup, I was able to get ahold of the corect kiora... have yet to side her in, kinda wondering what she's really there for will probably be switching out with something else.
Updated list btw:
two simple changes to sideboard only...
-1 Liliana, death's Majesty
+1 Surgical Extraction
-1 Ceremonious Rejection
-1 Scavenging Ooze
+2 Gifted Aetherborn
I'd love to try the "midrange" version of the deck once to see if I like playing with Jace and have a little more Blue than my current list, but I have a question: T1 Disruption vs. T1 Serum Visions, what do you do when in Game 1 and Game 2 etc.
The only feedback I can give in regards to any non-delirium BUG midrange list, is that I feel it's the right home for JtMS since we are a more proactive deck, as opposed to draw go control decks where JtMS has clearly been overrated at first.
The more I play with JTMS the more I think he's just not good in this kind of build. Turn 4 I rarely if ever want to tap out for him and if I do, it's for a desperation Brainstorm to find an answer for my next turn. If I don't drop him T4, I end up discarding him to LotV. I also dropped JVP because he's too low impact and was hardly relevant in a lot of matchups.
I played a bunch of side events with BUG Midrange (BGu) and Jeskai/UW control is miserable if they land a Teferi. The matchup seems very hard since they have so much removal. I believe this build is better against aggro (all in aggro) and midrange but is terrible against go wide aggro and draw go control.
Not sure How I want to tweak it but I've gone up to the full 6 discard package and want to test out 2x Kalitas. I really like Nissa/Serum Visions/Grim Flayer+Bob. Ashiok is too swingy and either very meh or very good, I think I"m going to remove it for a Thrunn to help my control matchup. Some other considerations for Kalitas replacements would be Vendilion Clique or Damnation. I also want to add another cast down but don't know where to trim. The most obvious spot for me would be removing 1x IoK.
For those wondering, I dropped the heavy control version of BUG because although I enjoyed it, I'm just too slow of a control player and I kept going to time.
I've seen Nissa, Steward of Elements being mentioned a few times before. Curious to hear if she is any good in a modern shell like this.
I played her from the board vs. UB control in standard when countermagic vs. creatures for the Scarab God was a thing.
What would you cut for her?
I'm also curious to hear bug players' opinion about what the deck needs from possible future cards.
In several discussions online, i'm reading that cards like Baleful Strix and Shardless Agent would be "safe" for modern, and would fit this deck nicely. I'm very sure UB and UG need a strong multicolored modern staple, but would these be it? Are they really safe?
What do you think the decks need and where would you slot them in?
I've seen Nissa, Steward of Elements being mentioned a few times before. Curious to hear if she is any good in a modern shell like this.
I played her from the board vs. UB control in standard when countermagic vs. creatures for the Scarab God was a thing.
What would you cut for her?
I like Nissa on her own, but I especially like Nissa when paired with Courser of Kruphix for perfect information for her 0 ability the turn we cast her. I made room in my list by cutting a Serum Visions, since her +2 is a similar effect.
What do you think the decks need and where would you slot them in?
I want a playable, maindeckable modal spell like Kolaghan's Command that's reasonably costed. Silumgar's Command could have been it, but was too overcosted, even for Standard.
I agree. Simic and Golgari never had their command so who knows what future sets will bring.
I'd pay three mana (Simic and 1) for: "Choose two: counter target non-creature spell, return target creature to its owner's hand, target player gains 4 life or search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped."
That would rock Although ravnica will probably bring back charms again. If so, reduce the cmc by one and choose one.
Well in the interim, until we hopefully see something in Golgari and Simic I think there is still much to be found in blue that is good.
I'm still playing Fgi_88s list for the time being. I will admit that I'm still learning how to play under the duress of life loss that Dark Confidant brings as it is not a card that I've typically played much in the past. I also am still on a Vendilion Clique rather then a Tireless Tracker... The clique has been good though so I may find that I stick with it. The other difference is that I have only 3 creeping tar pits in my deck. I generally did not like having more then that against aggro.....but I'm seeing now after playing against a really well played Jeskai last night that there were times I desperately wished I had that 4th man land just to get around his counters.
I've been playing against some good players in my LGS that are considerably more experienced than myself. Jeskai, Affinity, Bogles and Tezzerator last night.
Bogles: Close. First match he immediately plunks down 2 Leyline of Sanctity (something I wasn't expecting having not played against Bogles much and not expecting main board hate of that nature), and here I thought my hand of 3 discard spells, a dark confidant and a fatal push was serviceable.....bad move. Anyways Smashes face with flying slippery thing with lots of enchantments and totem armor.
2nd game was shockingly a nastier start, with 2 Leyline of Sanctity + 1 Rest in Piece. I played through this by resolving Jace as he gave me 1 turn to resolve his hate and something of my own. He resolves a hex proof creature with a bunch of enchantments - I destroy any enchantments he had that gave him evasion/protection and start to play a grindy game where I resolve creatures to block the single hex proof creature he had while protecting Jace. The fun part is I fateseal myself to ultimate as he can't get through in time.
3rd Game is tit for tat - this time he drops one leyline and then hits the floor running with a hex proof guy not wanting me to lock him out with a save the queen planeswalker strat again. I blow up his leyline and take a beat or 2 that gets me to half health. Drop lotv, sac his creature, and then he drops a dryad arbor and another hex creature. I have a Jace in my hand but only 1 island. He kills Lotv with beats, but not before I've taken his arbor. Top deck mode and my island fetch shows up with me on 1 health. Cest la vie.
Affinity: Rough. The guy is a very skilled affinity player and has straight gas for hands. The first game with him on the play he had me dead by turn 3. Perfect hand. My single push did very little before I was toast. Its always a battle deciding whether to let Affinity stack its field with Overseer or wait for the inevitable air swing from Inkmoth Nexus as Push/Cast Down are our only way of really dealing with that thing. Game 2 - Much the same. Very fast. Very efficient. The extra turn almost allowed me to drop Damnation. His redundancy of evasive threats made it rather irrelevant, as I died for exactly lethal before I could drop it the next turn. I have gotten blasted by this match a lot locally.
In my experience Gifted Aetherborn resolving on turn 2 has done more work than anything else in my deck, and essentially has earned me the only wins I've ever gotten against Affinity, some 2 out of 10 matches. I would appreciate any tips on how to deal with their speed.
Tezzerator: Another skilled player that I have lost to several times when he played this deck. Interestingly I actually 2-0ed him by racing with beats and trash canning his foundry game 1. Game 2 he mulligans to 5, same strategy for me - early resolved creatures and hand disruption. He also saw a 2nd land 2 turns too late. Vendillion clique came in and sealed his fate on that one.
Jeskai. Holy hell. I think I played my best game against this deck but he just really really outplayed, outclassed, and ultimately outgrinded me....which was bizarre. His hands and draws were amazing. Game 1 I open his hand with a IoK and find a Supreme Verdict, Cryptic Command, Snapcaster Mage, Path to Exile, Lightning Helix, and 2 lands....I have a Goyf, a Dark Confidant, the floating IoK, a Scavenging Ooze and a Push, + 2 lands. I decide to take the immediate removal spell hoping to drop the scooze later on curve and hopefully deflate his future Snapcaster play. Well. His later draws grant him a bolt. Which really really sucked. Confidant eats it. I find myself getting that 2nd forest a turn too late.
I drop scooze, He snaps in snapcaster mage targeting path in the yard....and here is where my lack of experience bites me in the ass. I attempt to intercept the path by exiling it thinking that the spell has to be cast immediately when Snapcaster enters the field. Not so. It has flashback but he can cast it when he chooses. (felt awful knowing I too play snapcasters) So he of course casts it in response to me targeting it with scooze and it goes off. Fuuuuuuuu.
That was a critical turning point and he curves out making short work of damn near everything I do from that point on.
Game 2, I thought I had him. I board in 2 gifted aetherborn to bait removal, a thrun the last troll for obvious reasons, (sideboard is obviously very different from yours Fgi_88) I can't remember what I boarded out but I think it might have been 1 cast down, 1 thought seize, and possibly a dark confidant? I was on tilt I forget. Anyways. He drops a leyline of sanctity but I anticipated as much and kept a hand with 1 Gifted aetherborn, 1 dark confidant, 1 goyf, 1 liliana the last hope, and a fatal push. I kind of chuckled because I definitely felt the creature redundancy was going to be a problem for him and indeed it was. I drop the Aetherborn, and as I thought he lets it resolve and holds up a path. for 3 turns I just clock him with it and he finally gives in and paths it. I drop dark confidant afterward and I can see it guts him. He top decks removal and kills it a turn later. I draw 2 more confidants that are also topdeck removed but I drop Lilly, Last Hope after the 2nd one dies and bring them back twice more. It was hilarious - trade after trade, with me dumping in the yard and getting my DCs back. Eventually he animates a Colonade that I snap/push. and I proceed to beat him with a 2 damage clock until he is down to 10 health....yea...Forgot to mention - he pathed my earlier goyf and I never saw another. He draws a Gideon walker, makes tokens, slowly takes over the game, wins. I just couldn't close in time.
Lightning Helix is an absolute pain in the ass when you can't hit your heavy beats.
And that was that. PS - Sorry for the wall of text.
Interesting list, what's the take from this list? 24 lands with 4 manlands. 6 walkers in total. only 12 creatures. only 5 discard spells. Dismember Next to Cast Down!
Indeed interesting, but not quite different. The thing that stands out to me is the two copies of Snapcaster Mage. I'd probably play 3 with some more countermagic from the side.
Interesting list, what's the take from this list? 24 lands with 4 manlands. 6 walkers in total. only 12 creatures. only 5 discard spells. Dismember over Cast Down?
He posted his list and matchups he faced in the ModernBUG subreddit, if you want to ask him anything, or I can too if you like.
Disdainful stroke has some applications against scaepshift (scapeshift, titan), jeskai (cryptic command, teferi and jace), and there are few other things it hits.
I don't regularly play sultai, but I would imagine that it's a meta call.
Disdainful stroke has some applications against scaepshift (scapeshift, titan), jeskai (cryptic command, teferi and jace), and there are few other things it hits.
This. It serves largely the same purpose Ceremonious Rejection does, but has greater flexibility in more matchups. I'm willing to be slightly less mana efficient for that personally.
Been playing some games with a more leaner version of the delirium deck by saintdoom on redit, only to discover the amazing synergy of Grim Flayer and Nissa, Steward of Elements.
Wanted to play with this card in modern for a while and i must say it's pretty sweet.
Obviously, she goes well with Bob too, but the other way around
Been playing some games with a more leaner version of the delirium deck by saintdoom on redit, only to discover the amazing synergy of Grim Flayer and Nissa, Steward of Elements.
Wanted to play with this card in modern for a while and i must say it's pretty sweet.
Obviously, she goes well with Bob too, but the other way around
Great card and a worthwile adition to the deck.
I'm currently back on my more control centric version of Sultai - and I can tell you that even in that version Nissa Steward of Elements is arguably the most dangerous card in there. She hits ultimate insanely fast and doing this while digging for additional threats is strong. She has insane synergy with both Grim Flayer and Jace, the Mind Sculptor I personally like her more then Liliana of the Veil these days because she turns the corner quickly if left on the field for more then a turn. People at my LGS attempt to remove her almost immediately for this reason.
I will say that she is best vs Control and Midrange. Tapping out for her against aggro in early turns isn't advised as turn 3 tends to be really critical against hyper fast decks like Affinity or Burn.
Let's start by saying that it's great to see BUG back in the mtgtop8 lists. it has been a while.
I ran a grindy traverse build with a few main and sideboard bullets which could potentially be game over and this deck got stronger as long as games went on. As of late, i'm trying a leaner and a little faster version of that deck. Credits to Saintdoom on reddit.
In its current form, I run this deck. Some compromises have been made due to not owning the right cards (yet)
I'm not decided on what i like best, need some more games with this list to make up my mind. I Need to learn to evaluate my opening hand in another way a traditional GBx build would. Since traverse and bauble are used to influence the lands at you disposal from T1, one land hands have proven to be keepable, something I would never do with another deck. Not even bushwhacker zoo, to name one of my decks that can function on as little as one land if really neccesary.
The general idea is to focus more on early disruption and threats. Using Snapcaster Mage to flashback a turn 1 hand disruption or removal spell after putting down a threat on T2, functionally acting as an attacking and blocking LotV, sort of.
Last week I've been playng some more serious matches with Sultai. Amongst them where BR Hollow One, Jund and Mardu Pyromancer. The deck feels strong and has game vs most. Like said before, some tech v.s. go wide strategies might be usefull.
And there, out of nowhere, a dark horse emerges. This reasonably costed, traversable creature will hose mardu's and spirit tokens.
So far the new core set is shaping up to be good for my decks.
R1: UR Moon
G1: I was lucky enough to draw the correct mix of basics plus fetches to make moon irrelevant.. eventually landed a JTMS and began to win the card advantage war... and game 1.. 2 Collective Brutalities gained me enough life to make his burn not so great.
G2: I boarded out 2 cast down, 1 fatal push, a cryptic, and a snap... brought in another Thoughtseize, both strokes, Scooze, and Vraska... Game 2 fetch, shock, thoughtseize on the draw seemed scary but i figured he possibly trimmed some number of bolts. turn 2 brutality, and turn 3 snap thoughtseize followed up by turn 4 goyf. seemed to set me up to walk away with the game... I forget what happened between then and getting bolt snap bolted out the game.
G3: I mull to 5 keep a hand that was fine against a control deck... however opponent played turn 2 young pyromancer, turn 3 clique, and turn 4 JTMS to set me far behind... I had an AV coming off, and a cryptic in hand to fight over it... he won the fight... i lost that game.
Rd2: BOROS stuffy doll (2-0) stuffy doll is bad against a deck that doesn't need creatures to win... and bolt is generally bad against me... he admits control is his worst matchup so i effectively had a bye. plus deck is so fringe the match is relatively unremarkable or worth remembering.
Rd3: BW Soul Sisters (2-0) G1 I suspend AV on turn 1. my opponent gained 15 life on turn 2... follows up with Ascendant which i have the push for... he spectrals on 3 which i can't counter. I play snap serum visions turn 3... take 6 after honor of the pure comes down... i forget exactly how it worked out... but i was able to land a nissa, followed up by a JTMS after pulsing his tokens away... he flooded... I helped him flood.
-I boarded out 4 Goyf, 1 Clique, brought in 2 damnation, 1 vraska, 1 Kiora, the crashing wave cause i wasnt able to get ahold of the other kiora, 1 thoughtseize.
Game 2 my opponent has pretty similar turn 1 and 2... we have similar play pattern to game 1 except he doesn't find a spectral and eventually i land a JTMS into Vraska, and my opponent has 2 paths and 2 lands rotting in his hand the rest of the game. As i Jace fateseal him out and vraska works her way up to an impending ult... he conceded
Rd4: Merfolk (2-0) G1 was very close collective brutality gained me 6+ life that game and i won on 1 life... basic gameplan was kill lords... keep goyf on board... I eventually landed a JTMS and walked away with the game.
-I boarded out 4 goyf, 2 thoughtseize, 2 cryptic command. i didnt see Cavern game 1 so i kept in leaks... brought in kiora, 2 damnation, 2 fulminator mage, vraska, scooze, and to the slaughter.
I think my opponent over boarded for g2... but he deployed his threats, each meeting removal, eventually i landed a Kiora on a board state with grafdigger's cage being the only non-land permanent my opponent had... walked her to ult and he conceded. my opponent's hand at the end of the game was 1 grafdigger's cage and something irrelevant.
Kinda bad "FNM report" my next one, if i do one will be better. I just haven't had the time to sit down and put the memory to paper and my memory is pretty bad lol...
PS:
TL:DR: the deck has yet to drop a match since UR moon.... Feels like a great all around deck and feels like it has game against anything haven't fought the Human or Hollow One menaces yet, but i welcome the challenge.
Full thing:
So i wasn't satisified with the kinds of decks i saw at the magic event, luckily my friend and i have created a gauntlent we can practice against. When i got home i asked my roommate if he could play me a game vs the dreaded tron menance (his native deck) he plays Mono-G tron... I won 2-0... albeit a huge chunk of game 1 wins vs tron as BUG comes down to turn 1 AV or TS into turn 2 goyf into field of ruin on 3 and hope they stumble until you can get Cryptic online.. however i wouldn't neccasarily call it a fluke... as i fought through Karn, 2 Worldbreakers, and 2 Ulamog. to get that game 1 win. Game 2 was much more lopsided as my sideboard is kinda skewed to beat them. He was pretty tilted so we didnt play anymore, he went to bed. Since then i have played JUND twice beating it both times (2-0) as managing life total and resolving AV against them seems to just win you the game. I've beaten GW company (2-0) Collective is a houe against them kill your bird take your company seemed good, Affinity (2-1) if they stumble at all i feel like the match swings heavily in our favor, burn (2-1) seems like the die roll kinda decides this one, collective being a house card seemed great but i did lose game 2 after resolving 2 of them, Storm (2-0) i mean we kinda just accidentally beat this deck without it really being a target game one 5 discard spells that hit gifts, 8 removal spells that hit their lords 11 if you count brutality vs electromancer and then post board having access to another thoughtseize, damping sphere and scooze make the matchup feel kinda unloseable, GW hexproof (2-1), and UW control (2-0).. i could just be riding the high of a good string of games, but this deck seems to have huge promise, again i havent tested against the two main menaces of the format... but i am confident in the hollow one match, and i kinda almost just give up trying to really figure out how to beat humans without warping my board and main to do so. but with all the removal main, plus AV to kinda catch back up after 1-for-1'ing early i think the matchup will probably be 40/60 them, at best 50/50... can't wait to test against them.
Updated list btw:
two simple changes to sideboard only...
-1 Liliana, death's Majesty
+1 Surgical Extraction
-1 Ceremonious Rejection
-1 Scavenging Ooze
+2 Gifted Aetherborn
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Vendilion Clique
Thirteen Instants
4 Fatal Push
3 Mana Leak
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Cast Down
2 Cryptic Command
Thirteen Sorceries
4 Serum Visions
3 Ancestral Vision
3 Collective Brutality
2 Thoughtseize
1 Maelstrom Pulse
Three Planeswalkers
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Field of Ruin
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Sunken Ruin
1 Forest
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Damping Sphere
2 Gifted Aetherborn
1 To The Slaughter
1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Damnation
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
The only feedback I can give in regards to any non-delirium BUG midrange list, is that I feel it's the right home for JtMS since we are a more proactive deck, as opposed to draw go control decks where JtMS has clearly been overrated at first.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I played a bunch of side events with BUG Midrange (BGu) and Jeskai/UW control is miserable if they land a Teferi. The matchup seems very hard since they have so much removal. I believe this build is better against aggro (all in aggro) and midrange but is terrible against go wide aggro and draw go control.
Not sure How I want to tweak it but I've gone up to the full 6 discard package and want to test out 2x Kalitas. I really like Nissa/Serum Visions/Grim Flayer+Bob. Ashiok is too swingy and either very meh or very good, I think I"m going to remove it for a Thrunn to help my control matchup. Some other considerations for Kalitas replacements would be Vendilion Clique or Damnation. I also want to add another cast down but don't know where to trim. The most obvious spot for me would be removing 1x IoK.
For those wondering, I dropped the heavy control version of BUG because although I enjoyed it, I'm just too slow of a control player and I kept going to time.
Latest list:
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Breeding Pool
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
Instants
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Cast Down
3 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Serum Visions
1 Maelstrom Pulse
Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
2 Grim Flayer
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
Walkers
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
2 Damping Sphere
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Golgari Charm
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
I played her from the board vs. UB control in standard when countermagic vs. creatures for the Scarab God was a thing.
What would you cut for her?
I'm also curious to hear bug players' opinion about what the deck needs from possible future cards.
In several discussions online, i'm reading that cards like Baleful Strix and Shardless Agent would be "safe" for modern, and would fit this deck nicely. I'm very sure UB and UG need a strong multicolored modern staple, but would these be it? Are they really safe?
What do you think the decks need and where would you slot them in?
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I'd pay three mana (Simic and 1) for: "Choose two: counter target non-creature spell, return target creature to its owner's hand, target player gains 4 life or search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped."
That would rock Although ravnica will probably bring back charms again. If so, reduce the cmc by one and choose one.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I'm still playing Fgi_88s list for the time being. I will admit that I'm still learning how to play under the duress of life loss that Dark Confidant brings as it is not a card that I've typically played much in the past. I also am still on a Vendilion Clique rather then a Tireless Tracker... The clique has been good though so I may find that I stick with it. The other difference is that I have only 3 creeping tar pits in my deck. I generally did not like having more then that against aggro.....but I'm seeing now after playing against a really well played Jeskai last night that there were times I desperately wished I had that 4th man land just to get around his counters.
I've been playing against some good players in my LGS that are considerably more experienced than myself. Jeskai, Affinity, Bogles and Tezzerator last night.
Bogles: Close. First match he immediately plunks down 2 Leyline of Sanctity (something I wasn't expecting having not played against Bogles much and not expecting main board hate of that nature), and here I thought my hand of 3 discard spells, a dark confidant and a fatal push was serviceable.....bad move. Anyways Smashes face with flying slippery thing with lots of enchantments and totem armor.
2nd game was shockingly a nastier start, with 2 Leyline of Sanctity + 1 Rest in Piece. I played through this by resolving Jace as he gave me 1 turn to resolve his hate and something of my own. He resolves a hex proof creature with a bunch of enchantments - I destroy any enchantments he had that gave him evasion/protection and start to play a grindy game where I resolve creatures to block the single hex proof creature he had while protecting Jace. The fun part is I fateseal myself to ultimate as he can't get through in time.
3rd Game is tit for tat - this time he drops one leyline and then hits the floor running with a hex proof guy not wanting me to lock him out with a save the queen planeswalker strat again. I blow up his leyline and take a beat or 2 that gets me to half health. Drop lotv, sac his creature, and then he drops a dryad arbor and another hex creature. I have a Jace in my hand but only 1 island. He kills Lotv with beats, but not before I've taken his arbor. Top deck mode and my island fetch shows up with me on 1 health. Cest la vie.
Affinity: Rough. The guy is a very skilled affinity player and has straight gas for hands. The first game with him on the play he had me dead by turn 3. Perfect hand. My single push did very little before I was toast. Its always a battle deciding whether to let Affinity stack its field with Overseer or wait for the inevitable air swing from Inkmoth Nexus as Push/Cast Down are our only way of really dealing with that thing. Game 2 - Much the same. Very fast. Very efficient. The extra turn almost allowed me to drop Damnation. His redundancy of evasive threats made it rather irrelevant, as I died for exactly lethal before I could drop it the next turn. I have gotten blasted by this match a lot locally.
In my experience Gifted Aetherborn resolving on turn 2 has done more work than anything else in my deck, and essentially has earned me the only wins I've ever gotten against Affinity, some 2 out of 10 matches. I would appreciate any tips on how to deal with their speed.
Tezzerator: Another skilled player that I have lost to several times when he played this deck. Interestingly I actually 2-0ed him by racing with beats and trash canning his foundry game 1. Game 2 he mulligans to 5, same strategy for me - early resolved creatures and hand disruption. He also saw a 2nd land 2 turns too late. Vendillion clique came in and sealed his fate on that one.
Jeskai. Holy hell. I think I played my best game against this deck but he just really really outplayed, outclassed, and ultimately outgrinded me....which was bizarre. His hands and draws were amazing. Game 1 I open his hand with a IoK and find a Supreme Verdict, Cryptic Command, Snapcaster Mage, Path to Exile, Lightning Helix, and 2 lands....I have a Goyf, a Dark Confidant, the floating IoK, a Scavenging Ooze and a Push, + 2 lands. I decide to take the immediate removal spell hoping to drop the scooze later on curve and hopefully deflate his future Snapcaster play. Well. His later draws grant him a bolt. Which really really sucked. Confidant eats it. I find myself getting that 2nd forest a turn too late.
I drop scooze, He snaps in snapcaster mage targeting path in the yard....and here is where my lack of experience bites me in the ass. I attempt to intercept the path by exiling it thinking that the spell has to be cast immediately when Snapcaster enters the field. Not so. It has flashback but he can cast it when he chooses. (felt awful knowing I too play snapcasters) So he of course casts it in response to me targeting it with scooze and it goes off. Fuuuuuuuu.
That was a critical turning point and he curves out making short work of damn near everything I do from that point on.
Game 2, I thought I had him. I board in 2 gifted aetherborn to bait removal, a thrun the last troll for obvious reasons, (sideboard is obviously very different from yours Fgi_88) I can't remember what I boarded out but I think it might have been 1 cast down, 1 thought seize, and possibly a dark confidant? I was on tilt I forget. Anyways. He drops a leyline of sanctity but I anticipated as much and kept a hand with 1 Gifted aetherborn, 1 dark confidant, 1 goyf, 1 liliana the last hope, and a fatal push. I kind of chuckled because I definitely felt the creature redundancy was going to be a problem for him and indeed it was. I drop the Aetherborn, and as I thought he lets it resolve and holds up a path. for 3 turns I just clock him with it and he finally gives in and paths it. I drop dark confidant afterward and I can see it guts him. He top decks removal and kills it a turn later. I draw 2 more confidants that are also topdeck removed but I drop Lilly, Last Hope after the 2nd one dies and bring them back twice more. It was hilarious - trade after trade, with me dumping in the yard and getting my DCs back. Eventually he animates a Colonade that I snap/push. and I proceed to beat him with a 2 damage clock until he is down to 10 health....yea...Forgot to mention - he pathed my earlier goyf and I never saw another. He draws a Gideon walker, makes tokens, slowly takes over the game, wins. I just couldn't close in time.
Lightning Helix is an absolute pain in the ass when you can't hit your heavy beats.
And that was that. PS - Sorry for the wall of text.
Indeed interesting, but not quite different. The thing that stands out to me is the two copies of Snapcaster Mage. I'd probably play 3 with some more countermagic from the side.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Does it boil down to Affinity vs. non-tron big mana?
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Disdainful stroke has some applications against scaepshift (scapeshift, titan), jeskai (cryptic command, teferi and jace), and there are few other things it hits.
I don't regularly play sultai, but I would imagine that it's a meta call.
Not crazy at all. Crazy if you expect to win anything other than a lucky FNM with it though, yes.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Wanted to play with this card in modern for a while and i must say it's pretty sweet.
Obviously, she goes well with Bob too, but the other way around
Great card and a worthwile adition to the deck.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I'm currently back on my more control centric version of Sultai - and I can tell you that even in that version Nissa Steward of Elements is arguably the most dangerous card in there. She hits ultimate insanely fast and doing this while digging for additional threats is strong. She has insane synergy with both Grim Flayer and Jace, the Mind Sculptor I personally like her more then Liliana of the Veil these days because she turns the corner quickly if left on the field for more then a turn. People at my LGS attempt to remove her almost immediately for this reason.
I will say that she is best vs Control and Midrange. Tapping out for her against aggro in early turns isn't advised as turn 3 tends to be really critical against hyper fast decks like Affinity or Burn.
Let's start by saying that it's great to see BUG back in the mtgtop8 lists. it has been a while.
I ran a grindy traverse build with a few main and sideboard bullets which could potentially be game over and this deck got stronger as long as games went on. As of late, i'm trying a leaner and a little faster version of that deck. Credits to Saintdoom on reddit.
In its current form, I run this deck. Some compromises have been made due to not owning the right cards (yet)
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
2 Blooming Marsh
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Planeswalkers
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
1 Liliana, the last Hope
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Flayer
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Walking Ballista
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Spells
3 Misrha's Bauble
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
2 Cast Down
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
2 Negate
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Damnation
I'm not decided on what i like best, need some more games with this list to make up my mind. I Need to learn to evaluate my opening hand in another way a traditional GBx build would. Since traverse and bauble are used to influence the lands at you disposal from T1, one land hands have proven to be keepable, something I would never do with another deck. Not even bushwhacker zoo, to name one of my decks that can function on as little as one land if really neccesary.
The general idea is to focus more on early disruption and threats. Using Snapcaster Mage to flashback a turn 1 hand disruption or removal spell after putting down a threat on T2, functionally acting as an attacking and blocking LotV, sort of.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
And there, out of nowhere, a dark horse emerges. This reasonably costed, traversable creature will hose mardu's and spirit tokens.
So far the new core set is shaping up to be good for my decks.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -