MTG Salvation

Totem Armor is the scary aspect of Bogles. There's not a really fantastic way of dealing with it beyond countering where you can and sweeping/wiping where you can before they land. The Celestial Flare can really take them down, but it's not super useful in most matches beyond that one. A lot of people just chalk it up as a loss since it's not a massively popular deck.

I personally think if you can sweep every chance you can and if you run wipes (like Supreme Verdict) and counter anything with Totem Armor, that's probably your best bet.

Blood Moon creates tears of sadness. Do not let it resolve! If you think there is a threat of this, be sure to fetch for basics.

As far as Wear // Tear... it depends on your meta. If you are finding in Game 1's that almost everytime you are wishing you had access to it, then I would work it in. Cryptic Command could also bounce the troublesome permanent and allow you to counter it the second time. I like Wear//Tear more than Revoke Existence more simply because it can 2 for 1 in some games.

USA has mixed matchups vs Bogles. Overall it can be quite scary to go against though. Their nuts hands are sometimes hard to handle. Celestial Flare works great against them if you see a lot of this deck.

Quote from iamghost

yesterday i played against a tribal zoo deck and i realized once more how geist os bad in this meta. my opponent lands a geist and i enchant his goyf with threads of disloyalty, then i play a snap caster and i just beat down with his goyf keeping caster as a blocker. how couldn't do nothing and that's how i feel when i play GoST most of the times. i will try to take him out for another clique, another resto, and maybe another snare.

I'm telling you, flash version is the way to go! Maybe even with Blade Splicer if you so desire.

Quote from hespacc

Quote from ltj999

So I'll do a little tournament report from a gigantic Modern FNM from last night, 45 people!


I love this deck to death just for how dynamic it can play and take so many different roles, but for what Tarns are going for now I'm leaning towards dumping them for a big chunk of change, finishing off merfolk and coming back the UWr way when fetches are reprinted.

Fetches reprint? Did I miss something?

Rumours that are spreading that can't be verified or proven by anyone. Everyone believes that it will happen due to demand, but no you are not missing anything. There is no confirmed reprinting.

Just because you side something out after game 1 does not mean it doesn't belong in the main deck. Sometimes people side in to negate that one threat, sometimes you need that speed game 1 so decide about the impact it makes on future games and what decks you expect game 1 before simply saying you side it out often and maybe it should come out. (:

Quote from Elminster

Isnt disenchant strictly better? It hits all the targets you mentioned, and it can hit pod and cranial plating.

Isn't Wear // Tear better? It hits both of the cards you listed at the same time.

Quote from Dr. Dude

Quote from JPoJohnson

Quote from hespacc

Is it me Or are there only pod twin Storm and some Zoo Decks around in Richmond?

5,pods in top8 - so boring. You can say what u want but with drs threre was much more diversity around.

It just takes time for people to adjust, and gravehate doesn't beat pod. It's a GoodStuff.dec with an infinite backup. You need grave hate OR library searching hate with a strong aggro control/thwarting idea. It'll take more than just a single big modern event for that to pop-up, but it'll come. Pod is a fantastic deck, but not unbeatable. People will beat it back down.

even thought pod top 8ed alot affinity was killing everything i think they just all got matched against each other right before the top 8 i seen multiple affinity mirrors playing against each other and not many people were running it.

Haha, you're making a funny? Making a joke, right? It was the most popular archetype on the field with almost 14% of the field day 2.

Quote from hespacc

Is it me Or are there only pod twin Storm and some Zoo Decks around in Richmond?

5,pods in top8 - so boring. You can say what u want but with drs threre was much more diversity around.

It just takes time for people to adjust, and gravehate doesn't beat pod. It's a GoodStuff.dec with an infinite backup. You need grave hate OR library searching hate with a strong aggro control/thwarting idea. It'll take more than just a single big modern event for that to pop-up, but it'll come. Pod is a fantastic deck, but not unbeatable. People will beat it back down.

Quote from alpinefroggy

Noted but the control version lacks pressure thats as simple as that.

As for people that are playing the flash version, how does a one-of revelation sound?

What would you replace?

Quote from alpinefroggy

I just played the flash version with my friend yesterday and it seems SO MUCH BETTER. Geist and hellkite were so clunky, and my win percentage jumped versus my friend's scapeshift, storm and affinity decks and a few tested games with pod and other decks. It works so nicely to be able to play at instant speed to apply some amount of pressure and still answer things. I like playing without geist and hellkite. In so many matchups they just do nothing and cutting them for cards that are better against the aggro decks and combo decks has been better for me.

I've been trying to convince you guys! Glad you liked it. What was your list? (:

A couple of things:

1. Against mill? Laugh because they are slow and outrace them?
2. Leyline of Sanctity
3. Seriously though? You lose to mill?
4. Have you lost like... sets of a game? Or a single game here or there? My brother ran a pretty streamlined mill deck for a little bit and they're just too inconsistent. I always won with around 5-10 cards in my library.

Quote from alpinefroggy

could one play 3 angels with 3 cliques and 4 snapcasters. I have the problem of not having access to the full four angels right now but is playing 4 angels decent? Why not 3 cliques

Angels combo with your other pieces very nicely. I was almost never sad to see an Angel in my hand. Flash either Snapcaster Mage or Vendilion Clique EoT and then I can flash in Angel to either protect them from removal or double their ETB effect.

Quote from alpinefroggy

@JPoJohnson
How was going the flashy version doing?

How well does the deck apply pressure without geist?

How well does the deck function on a more instant speed basis rather than with clunky (but powerful) sorcery speed threats. It seems like something I might want to do because a couple of articles said geist seems to be a bad thing to be using right now.

How was the flash version doing:

Fantastic. I absolutely loved running 4 Restoration Angels with their ability to basically double down on my ETB triggers on Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique. Also protected them from spot removal (which I used on Vendilion Clique mostly since he had the most damage. I did use it on a Celestial Colonnade once though). Obviously there was less pressure than running Geist. Storm was a harder matchup.

How did the deck apply pressure:
In regards to applying pressure... it did alright. You grind out the first couple of turns making sure they don't gain control of the board and then everything you do is in response to them. There are a lot of decks that just can't handle that type of control. Being able to always deny them either creatures or spells while doing it at instant speed and leaving threats in their wake was great. There are a lot of games like Zoo that I felt like it went great. I could instant-block with Angel, deny them a blocker, blink a snapcaster, and Path their other critter and then swing for 3-5 next turn all for 5 mana. Beautiful.

The playstyle is completely different. You're more reactive with the way you play and threat based. It takes some getting use to, but I definitely prefer the flash deck to the regular one.

Quote from alpinefroggy

UWR twin is a huge value deck and I like it/may try it (when I can around to spending more money on cards for this deck). My question is, why not just cut the twin combo and stick with the value train with walls, splicers and angels?

With most of your T3 onward spells being instants/flash except for the combo winning piece (kiki/Splinter), you play the midrange control game all the way until there is an opening. Midrange can't exploit small openings nearly as much as Tempo Twin can. I end up losing out on what? Cryptic Command and Geist of Saint Traft? Small loss for the exponential power that is gained I feel. Especially once you sideboard against certain decks and have Dispel to use at your leisure to counter their silver bullet.

The deck also isn't as strongly shutdown against twin hate because of the tempo package packing quite a punch. I've enjoyed the deck more than anything else I've played in modern (in the UWr category... I still love my 'folk).

Forgive me fellow Midrangers, for I have sinned.



There is one concern I always had with my flash Midrange build and it was the fact that it was hard to comeback if I got behind. When I was ahead, it was phenomenal because there were so many combat tricks that I could manage in order to stay ahead. The value-town engine of Wall of Omens/Snapcaster Mage/Vendilion Clique combined with either Restoration Angel/Splinter Twin is too fantastic to pass up. All the combo enabling pieces to win the game are safe from sweepers and have flash. Play enough removal to prevent the opponent from doing anything drastically lethal while keeping position on the board. For the most part, it plays out as a midrange deck. I win more often without ever going 'infinite' in attackers vs just out-valuing my opponent with blockers and attackers. The oops-I-win aspect of the deck is also nice. It's also practically immune to Blood Moon. There is no card costing more than 2 of a colored mana other than Splinter Twin and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Break and they cost red so there is no impact there.

I know this decklist probably doesn't belong in this list at this point since it has more aspects of a different deck than it does with Midrange, but I figured I would post it here as part of the deck's evolution to where it has gotten (since I started with Geist-of-Saint-Win->Flash UWR Midrange->Flash UWR Midrange Twin).