Are you a connoisseur of fine value? Enjoy grinding people out? Perhaps you fancy the idea of beating up those pesky Delver decks? You are in luck! Tune in, for here shall be presented the wonderful world of Shardless BUG!
Overview
Shardless BUG is a Sultai-colored midrange deck built around the card Shardless Agent. It's a grindy deck built to feast on "fair" decks such as Delver and other creature-based decks, but it can struggle against combo decks and other out-of-the-ordinary decks (such as Lands). Shardless BUG is a very expensive deck to put together, and it's probably never going to be quite Tier 1, but barring another printing of a card like Treasure Cruise, which kind of invalidated this deck when it got printed, I reckon it'll always be a viable (and fun!) deck to run.
It's common to play either 21 or 22 lands in this deck, with either 0 or 1 basic land.
The basic land is typically quite useful against Delver (let's say you want to cast Thoughtseize on turn 1 and Abrupt Decay on turn 2 - if you fetch a basic on the first turn, they can't Wasteland you to thwart your plans) and against Blood Moon. If they get a Blood Moon into play and you have a basic swamp and a Deathrite Shaman, you can Abrupt Decay the Blood Moon to escape what would otherwise be a pretty hard lock against this deck. You can also fetch the basic land if your opponent is screwing around with Veteran Explorer and such nonsense. If you do opt to play a basic land, it is suggested that all fetchlands in your deck can get it. In other words, I don't recommend playing Misty Rainforest if you're running a basic Swamp. If you're really afraid of Blood Moon, you can actually play two basic lands - Swamp and Forest.
Creeping Tar Pit is a common inclusion, most useful for its ability to pressure Jace, but it's also a fine card on its own. Manlands let you play additional mana sources without reducing the number of action cards in your deck, and as such it's not uncommon to see the second Tar Pit as the 22nd land in the deck.
Wasteland is in a sort of peculiar position in this deck. Delver decks typically Wasteland very aggressively, often going after the first land the opponent plays, but this is not usually how you should go about things with Shardless BUG. You play Wastelands primarily to deal with random utility lands and such that the opponent might play and cause you trouble, such as Karakas, Inkmoth Nexus and other manlands, Rishadan Port, Dark Depths, Grove of the Burnwillows. Of course, sometimes you should use it aggressively, but that's not what it's in the deck for. In any case, the most common amount of Wastelands these days is 2, but this number is really flexible; you'll see some lists packing the full four, and even some that aren't playing any. Additionally, Wasteland makes Life from the Loam an excellent sideboard option, particularly against other Wasteland decks.
Most Shardless BUG decks run 8 or 9 dual lands. The best dual land is [Underground Sea, as you have both double blue and double black spells, as well as 1-drop blue cards and 1-drop black cards. A normal split is 3 or 4 Seas, 2 or 3 Bayous, and 2 Tropical Islands. These are accompanied by 9 or 10 fetchlands. If you don't run any basics, any combination of Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta and Verdant Catacombs will do. If you run a basic (or more), build your manabase of fetchlands with that in mind. Additionally, some lists splash Meddling Mages from the sideboard. If yours does, you'll want all of your fetchlands to be able to find the white dual land you're using to splash those Mages. In general, saving your fetchlands in-game for Brainstorm purposes is recommended, but sometimes you should make sure to use your fetchlands early in order to set up Brainstorm into Shardless Agent (you can't go turn 2 Brainstorm to set up a turn 3 Shardless Agent if you'll have to sacrifice a fetchland in between).
The monsters
Shardless Agent, as the card your deck is, to an extent, built around, is always a 4-of, and should rarely be boarded out. Typically it's correct to run Shardless Agent out there even if you have some blanks in your deck (for example, if your opponent doesn't have any nonland permanents, Abrupt Decay is a whiff, and if they don't have cards in hand, Thoughtseize/Hymn to Tourach are misses), but it could be correct to play around the possibility by for example not playing Abrupt Decay on your opponent's only creature if you plan on casting Shardless Agent on your turn, just in case you hit another Abrupt Decay.
Tarmogoyf is another card that's pretty close to an automatic 4-of. It's an efficient beater or blocker almost regardless of what you're playing against, and can be tough for some decks (like Delver) to handle. However, in a number of matchups, it's correct to board out some. Tarmogoyf isn't great against Miracles, for example, as they have Plows and Terminuses for days, and you want your threats to be 2-for-1s if possible. It can also be somewhat lacklustre if both players are delving. Lastly, if you suspect that your opponent is bringing in Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void (though I would generally not recommend doing so against this deck), you could always just board out some number of Tarmogoyfs.
Deathrite Shaman is the reason why you can get away with playing 21-22 lands in this somewhat mana hungry deck (for a Legacy deck). He serves a number of purposes in this deck: mana acceleration, clocking the opponent, providing life gain against aggressive decks, disrupting graveyard strategies and incidental graveyard cards such as Snapcaster Mage, Nimble Mongoose, delve cards, etc. For one mana, he's incredibly versatile and powerful, and should always be a 4-of. Against decks that are trying to wrath your board, I'd consider boarding out Deathrite, but otherwise I'd probably keep him in.
Baleful Strix is the card that most commonly rounds out the creature base, usually as a 1-of or 2-of. It's an excellent card against decks that rely on summoning creatures and bashing with them, but it's also perfectly fine elsewhere. It's surprisingly relevant against Miracles, and against combo decks, it at least pitches to Force of Will. In addition to the maindeck copy (or copies), many lists have access to more in the board. If your metagame is Delver-heavy, this is a nice card to have access to.
The stuff
Ancestral Vision, besides being the obvious dream hit with Shardless Agent, is a surprisingly strong card to just suspend on turn 1. Against many decks, suspending an Ancestral Vision early often means you can just try to survive and keep up, and if you do, you'll win once you hit turn 5, as the extra cards are just too much for most decks to overcome. On the first turn, given the choice between for example playing a Deathrite Shaman or suspending an Ancestral Vision, I'll often go with Vision, as you'll want to draw those cards as early as possible. Additionally, even if I have Brainstorm, Shardless Agent and Ancestral Vision in my opening hand, I'll just suspend Vision on turn 1. Suspending it isn't the alternative cost; it's the norm. Vision is one of your most important weapons against Delver and all kinds of grindy matchups, though do note that it gets stopped by Stifle, so don't bend over backwards playing around it when they can always just Stifle your Vision trigger anyway. Finally, sequencing is imporant. Against Delver, you always want to spend your last mana on Ancestral Vision in order to play around Daze. After all, they can't interact with you suspending it, so play your spells first. Against certain fast decks like burn and Belcher, you might want to board out Vision, though I am personally often reluctant to do so; the card is just so good. I'm also looking to play four of these every time, though I have seen lists with fewer.
Abrupt Decay is secretly the best card in the deck, and should always be a 4-of. There are very few matchups where Abrupt Decay isn't great, and against certain decks, such as Miracles and Delver, it's amazing. Delver's entire plan revolves around sticking a threat or two and disrupting you enough to let those threats go all the way, and Abrupt Decay just laughs at that plan. Against Miracles, particularly pre-board, it's your one reliable answer to a Counterbalance that has hit the table. Post-board, some players board out the Counterbalances to play around Abrupt Decay, but I don't know if this is a good idea; I think it's better for them to board in cards like Vendilion Clique and Monastery Mentor to stress our Abrupt Decays, and you certainly can't afford to board them all out anyway. An uninterrupted Counterbalance/Top combo or Monastery Mentor will run away with the game, and Abrupt Decay stops both of those plans, no questions asked. It's usually very good against other decks too, exceptions being Omni-Tell and Storm, where it is pretty bad, and I'd look into boarding them out. As with Ancestral Vision, Abrupt Decay being uncounterable means that it's often the last spell you should cast in a turn.
Brainstorm is quite likely the best card in Legacy, and you're playing four of them. When used with fetchlands (which it should be; don't just play random turn 1 Brainstorm unless you're in trouble), Brainstorm lets you draw three cards in exchange for two cards you don't need at the time. In the early game, you can use it to dig for lands or answers to their threats, and in the late game, you can trade away unwanted lands and discard spells for more gas. You can also use it to set up Shardless Agent. One neat trick is to put the card you want to cascade into below a land; that way you can put the land on the bottom, and gain even more value from the Brainstorm. All of this said, don't go nuts trying to set up Shardless Agent with Brainstorm. Shardless is quite clunky, and both cards are individually powerful enough that you shouldn't be sacrificing tempo to combine them unless you're pretty sure you can get away with it.
Force of Will, while not excellent in this deck, is just a necessity. Some of the linear decks are too fast for you to grind out, and it's important enough in these matchups that you have to play a few. Besides, countering a Jace or a Monastery Mentor in "fair" matchups is quite strong. The issue with Force of Will in this deck is that you simply don't have that many blue cards. Spare Ancestral Visions in the late game tend to be the most common card to pitch, but other than that, you're not running any of the situational counterspells that other decks often play, or anything like that. So when you're facing decks where Force of Will is your most important card, it's often good to board in additional blue cards. Having your anti-combo cards be blue is good for this reason. I typically play three Force of Wills maindeck, sometimes with the last one in the board.
Hymn to Tourach is just a powerful card. It might not affect the board, but it really affects the opponent's ability to do something to the board later. Sometimes it's a bit slow, but in certain matchups (typically against combo decks like Storm and Sneak & Show), it's among your best cards. I usually play three in my 75, often with two being main. Against fast decks, I'd consider boarding them out on the draw. It's also not amazing against Miracles, as they're good at protecting their important cards with Top and Brainstorm, but I tend to keep them in regardless.
Thoughtseize is a good early play, particularly against combo decks, but a highly mediocre card later in the game. Random late game Thoughtseizes are part of why saving Brainstorms is nice. Regardless, it's important enough in certain matchups that I usually play two in the main, sometimes with an additional one in the board.
Liliana of the Veil is a versatile and powerful card, and can be really devastating in the right situations. If the opponent has just summoned a Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant, following up with Liliana and edicting them feels pretty great. It's also the one way to get a True-Name Nemesis off the board in the first game.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor is a late game trump card. If you get to slam Jace on a board where you're not terribly behind, you've usually won the game. In some matchups, however, it's quite slow, so it's going to be one of your most frequently boarded out cards. Most lists run one or two of JTMS.
Maelstrom Pulse is a fairly frequent 1-of in the maindeck of Shardless BUG-lists. Although it is somewhat pricy, it's a useful catch-all to have access to, as it can deal with Jace, a swarm of Angels (from Entreat) or Goblins (from Empty the Warrens), and so on.
Matchups
Miracles - Even (favorable if the Miracles player isn't very good).
Against Miracles, you're definitely the aggressor, as you need to be able to prevent them from landing an unopposed Jace and just run away with the game, and eventually an Entreat the Angels might just get you. You need to play somewhat cautiously too, though, as Terminus will wreck you otherwise. I generally don't like aggressively countering Sensei's Divining Top, and would rather save my Forces for the big threats like Jace and Entreat, but sometimes you do have to prevent a turn 2 Counterbalance from happening. Some Miracles players might board out their Counterbalances to try to blank your Abrupt Decays, but I don't think this is generally a good idea to do, and would assume that Abrupt Decay is still a good card after board; after all, a more likely strategy, in my experience, is to try to stress our Decays by bringing in even more must-Decay threats, such as Monastery Mentor, in which case boarding it out could be disastrous.
Good sideboard cards: Vendilion Clique, Null Rod, Pithing Needle, Sylvan Library; supplement with additional Baleful Strixes, the last Force of Will. You can consider a card like Engineered Plague or Dread of Night if you suspect a lot of Monastery Mentors.
Maindeck cards you'll want to cut: Liliana of the Veil, some amount of Tarmogoyfs and Deathrite Shamans (not only are these pretty poorly positioned already, but Miracles players have a tendency to board in Rest in Peace against us).
Elves - Favorable
How good this matchup is depends on how many good sideboard cards you're packing. Toxic Deluge is good, Engineered Plague is obviously great, and Night of Souls' Betrayal is extremely difficult for them to beat. Between Force of Wills for their big spells (Natural Order, primarily) and removal for their key creatures, we should usually have enough stuff to disrupt them from executing their plan. I often just let Glimpse of Nature resolve in this matchup, but it obviously depends on what they could do and what they could have. The most important creatures to kill are typically Wirewood Symbiote and Heritage Druid, but killing any turn 1 Elf is generally a good idea. And do save your Wastelands for their Gaea's Cradles.
Good sideboard cards: Grafdigger's Cage, Engineered Plague, Night of Souls' Betrayal, Toxic Deluge, Disfigure, Pithing Needle (I like to name Wirewood Symbiote in the dark), Golgari Charm, Umezawa's Jitte.
Maindeck cards you'll want to cut: Most of your cards are reasonable against them, but cards I'd be looking at cutting would typically be Hymn to Tourach (particularly on the draw), Lilianas, Jaces, Baleful Strix. I tend to keep Ancestral Vision; the games can be somewhat grindy when you have a lot of removal post-board, and you need something to pitch to Force of Will, anyway.
Delver Variants - Favorable
Our deck exists in large part to prey on Delver decks, so naturally it is a pretty solid matchup. I took my first ever loss to them after somewhere around 10-15 straight wins, but I don't think the matchup is quite that lopsided; there are plenty of ways we could get in trouble against a typical RUG Delver deck, for example. Our most vulnerable spot is the mana. If they're on the play and lead with Delver into Wasteland and then Stifle, we could be in a lot of trouble (this is where a basic Swamp can come in handy). However, once we gain access to our second and third mana, things get really good for us. Baleful Strix is excellent, Abrupt Decay is fantastic, and Shardless Agent is pure gold. Make sure to guard your life total; you don't want to die suddenly to a flurry of Lightning Bolts; play around Stifle, Daze, and Spell Pierce when you can.
Good sideboard cards: Disfigure, extra copies of Baleful Strix, Life from the Loam, Engineered Plague (primarily for the Grixis variant - name human), Umezawa's Jitte, Nihil Spellbomb (against RUG), Toxic Deluge.
Maindeck cards you'll want to cut: Force of Will, Jace, discard spells.
Shardless BUG (the mirror)
This is an exceedingly grindy matchup, and you'll want to extract as much value from each of your cards as possible. That means setting up Shardless Agent to make sure you don't hit a blank (i.e. not risk hitting Abrupt Decay if they have no board, not risk hitting Hymn or Thoughtseize in the late game), aggressively using discard when they actually have a hand you can attack, Brainstorm only for full value if possible (like when you have two bad cards in hand and a fetchland with which to get rid of them). Also, try to keep Liliana in mind; you often don't want to run out a Tarmogoyf as your only creature if they can follow up with Liliana immediately; instead, play something like Baleful Strix first for edict-protection. The best cards in the matchup are Jace and Ancestral Vision. Successfully casting either of those can lead to a blowout in one direction.
Good sideboard cards: Life from the Loam, Sylvan Library, extra copies of Baleful Strix, Disfigure is reasonable, as it kills Deathrite Shaman; the fourth Force of Will is an option.
Maindeck cards you'll want to cut: Discard spells, Liliana. I like keeping some number of Force of Wills, as Ancestral Vision and Jace are so important, and there is presumably less discard to prey on stray Forces after sideboarding.
Oh sweet, first. I posted this in the BUG Control thread since that seems to be a split thread. I hope I can get better guidance here.
Took the deck to a four round tournament tonight and went 1-1-2. The last round we went to game three with ten minutes left so I had a lot of misplays. A lot. And it was against a Junk colored deck with no Stoneforge Mystic and running Lingering Souls. First time piloting the deck, and I am not entirely sure i should be running twenty two lands, but the color sensitivity is crucial so I think I'll leave it alone until I get more in tune with how the deck goes. I am coming from Burn, sweet, sweet Burn. I beat Reanimator(home brew for the most part), draw against the mirror, lost to Dredge and that Junk deck.
First change I want to make is have a second Jace and maybe move Lili to the side replacing either Thoughtseize or Hymn, or just take Lili out completely. Not sure yet, but I feel like discard is weak right now with DTT running all over the place. I also want to swap out a Needle for a Krosan Grip.
Could you guys give me sideboard suggestions? Here's what I did against my opponents:
Dredge - Out Hymn
In Nihil Spellbomb
Mirror - Out two Force, Jace, Toxic, Thoughtseize
In Decay, Charm, Library, Jitte, and Clique
Game three I switched Lili for Jace. I did this for another win con and since I'm not longer on the play, tempo was no longer in my side.
Reanimator - Out Hymn, Disfigure, one Decay, Toxic
In Spellbomb, one Needle, Arcane Laboratory, Clique
Junk - Out Lili, Hymn, two Force
In Decay, Charm, Library, Rod and Clique
Game three I dropped Clique for the second Deluge. After my opening seven, I realized Clique is really bad in a game full of Souls.
I'm surprised that you're not playing four Decays main; I'd play like six if I could. But as always, it depends on the metagame. I primarily play on Modo.
As for the mirror match... I played in a local Legacy series last year. Eight qualifier tournaments and then an invitational in the end. I found myself in the final of that invitational, in the Shardless BUG mirror match. I'd never played the matchup before, and boarded out my Forces. My opponent, who had a reasonable amount of experience with the matchup, didn't. I got destroyed 3-0 in the match, and afterwards he told me he thought the key was keeping in his Forces. Discard is what you want to be taking out; it's always going to be long and grindy, and topdecking discard is going to be awful, whereas countering cards like Jace and Ancestral Vision is key. Speaking of, I'd certainly not board out Jace; that guy is one of your best cards.
Our decks are quite different, though. From the sample decklist, I think I'd board like this:
-2 Thoughtseize
-2 Liliana
-2 Hymn to Tourach
+1 Tasigur
+2 Baleful Strix
+2 Disfigure
+1 Sower of Temptation
Though I'm not quite sure which one's better of Hymn and Liliana.
Yeah, I definitely think I should have kept the Jace in as he is another win condition that can't be easily dealt with. I was thinking that taking the Forces out would be a bad idea, but the discard I would be hit with would make Force uncasteable. Would you think stripping the opponent out of cards to and drop as many threats as possible to the finish line? A kind of out tempo the mirror fight?
But I can definitely see the other side of the fight as well. You can't strip top decks, and if an Ancestral goes off, there goes that entire fight if you haven't put down any pressure. If a Jace hits the table when you could have Forced it! Maybe this is play or draw dependent type of decisions? On the play, discard, on the draw, counter? Or vice-versa? I definitely need to get more reps with this deck in before I start changing too many things.
Came in third place tonight, losing to TES, who helped to teach me about the Storm match up. I won against Junk and Death & Taxes. I sided out Forces against Junk and D&T, bringing in more death against everything. The only difference I've made in my list from the last time was moving Decay to the main from the side and Disfigure from the main to the side. I still need plenty more reps with the deck because I know I made a few play mistakes, but I think I made the right calls. Play mistakes being tapping the wrong mana and I'm still taking too long to make plays.
I -REALLY- want that Liliana to be a Jace. I can see this deck having trouble with needing win cons besides Tarmogoyf and Jace is it.
I took Shardless to a GPT this weekend, five rounds going two wins three losses. One was Omnitell, one was Merfolks, one was Infect. What's our board plan against Merfolk and Infect? I feel like these are winnable matches, but I just could figure out what to do exactly. I know I took out Forces against Merfolk, brought in more death for hands and creatures. Not sure what else. I can post my list if someone is willing to help.
I've found both Merfolk and Infect to be favorable matchups; efficient removal and superior creatures just do a number on them. I notice that you don't run any Disfigures in the sideboard, though, which can probably make those matchups fairly tough. I'd definitely advise running a couple.
Against Infect, Wasteland is one of your best cards. Some Infect decks run Yavimaya Hollow, which is a surprisingly tough card to beat, I've found. I also really like Hymns against infect; they tend to stockpile a few tricks in hand, and they also run Dig Through Time.
Yeah, sadly, I'm not really one to discuss constructed strategy, usually; I posted this thread primarily as a service to resident mod ExpiredRascals, who noted that this section was in need of a Shardless BUG thread. I'll follow up questions as best I can, but I don't expect to post here too frequently otherwise.
If Dig Through Time gets banned Shardless BUG will make a comeback. Treasure Cruise was the initial problem after Khans came out but DTT is in almost the same number of lists now that TC was in back then and it causes the same problems for an attrition based grindy list that TC did.
The problem right now is you're not winning on turn 3 or 4 and you're no longer getting a consistent advantage in the grindy games either, even with Jund on the sidelines for the same reason.
Any little bit helps, and I greatly appreciate the primer. Hopefully the deck takes off again, soon, so I my pry more info from larger groups.
I run just one Disfigure in the seventy-five, and I'm having trouble fitting in more things in the side. My list has changed since my last one. I feel as if Jitte takes over for the spot of multiple Disfigures. But Jitte is probably just a crutch right now, until I can get more experience with the deck. Right now it's just piloting itself, I think.
Would you say I should keep Thoughtseize in, or just keep Hymns in? I have a lot of trouble figuring out what to side out, besides the singleton Pulse. I also sided out my Jaces to make room for Deluge and Krosan Grip. After the match, I was told Jace is a beating. My argument is that I'm afraid I won't make it to four mana.
By the way, two basics are amazing. I haven't been hindered by it yet. Yet. I do recommend it though.
What does everyone think about Dimir Charm in this deck? It seems like a cheap counterspell (which this deck desperately needs) while not being too embarrassing to cascade into.
Its been awhile since ive been to these forums. Its a relief to see that sharldess has its own primer! Ive been out of the game for a few months, but im currently testing shardless again.
Im light on discard spells. I have run thoughtseize main before. Ive run more hymn to tourach before. But in the current Dig Through Time meta, im not sure too many discard spells are a good idea. Sure, sometimes its cool to cascade into a hymn, but sometimes they top deck dig, and we help them cast it. I have 3 duress in the board to "help" in some horrid matchups...like omni-tell.
Speaking of the big blue monster..
Yes running duress against a dig through time deck is the opposite of what i just talked about, butOmi-Tell is a rough one for us or at least it has been for me. My current board strategy involves duress, nihil spellbomb, and arcane laboratory. We need cheap ways to interact...or die to a turn 2 show and tell. Duress is ok, im sure there s better. They run more digs and cantrips than we do, and eventually kill out of no where. I see that some people are opting for the white splash for meddling mage. I am not a fan of the 4th color, but i understand why peole think they need to go that route. Its also good against other random combo decks...storm comes to mind.
I am consider addding a 2nd Jace, the mind sculptor to the sideboard to help with the miracles matchup, but im testing this lst pretty hard the next few days. I accept any criticism on my list. Im till coming back up to speed.
The current meta consists of a ton of delver and miracles decks both of which we have pretty good matchups against. It feels like we are well positioned...
Someone mentioned earlier that he would run 6 abrupt decays if he could. I second this thought. Its so damn good against counterbalance...i never want less that 4 in my list.
By the way A+ to the OP. Thought you explained the reasoning behind cards as well. Maybe the primer could be extended to sideboard choices?
I'm not a big fan of discard in today's meta either, because of Dig just undoes everything. However, a Hymn at the right time just blows opponents out so hard. Dig is also why I moved Lili to the board and moved Jace to two in the main. Lili is an allstar in Storm, but mediocre everywhere else.
Yeah shes pretty meh in legacy...but situationally good. Sticking her on turn 2 off a deathrite shaman vs miracles can be very good. Same vs death and taxes, storm. Im still not very high on her tho, but I think my 1-of is ok for now. I like the second jace for some matchups. I recently added one to my sideboard for such occasions. I cut the Umezawa's jitte for it. It was either that or the second toxic deluge, but that card has won me too many games.
If Dig Through Time gets banned Shardless BUG will make a comeback.
Well, here we are.
I've recently been running three Hymns main, and I assume this number will go down now that DTT is banned.
@Dimir Charm: Doesn't seem particularly impressive to me. Charm doesn't kill Tarmogoyfs (most of the time) or flipped Delvers, or basically anything where they spent more mana than you did, and countering sorceries isn't a big deal against most decks. And at two mana, it's not very efficient.
Quote from Krovax »
By the way A+ to the OP. Thought you explained the reasoning behind cards as well. Maybe the primer could be extended to sideboard choices?
Cheers. Might definitely do it. There are basically a million sideboard options, though, so it'd take some time. I think I've played about 40 different sideboard cards so far, and I haven't played more than about 100 matches with the deck.
Dimir Charm kills unflipped Delver, Deathrite Shaman, Goblin Guide, Wirewood Symbiote plus elves that may or may not be killable due to combo on board, everything that D&T puts out except for Brimaz and Serra Avenger, etc. It's not perfect by any means but it will win you games now and then, particularly when it kills one of the first 4 mentioned above.
It stops Glimpse of Nature, Green Sun's Zenith, Natural Order, Gamble (game 1 and then sides out for GY hate), Show and Tell, Terminus, Entreat the Angels, Council's Judgement, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Cataclysm, Ancestral Vision, Rift Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike (not for long is my guess), Duress, Gitaxian Probe, various cantrips that you might well want to stop in a top deck midgame situation, etc.
It's a decent wildcard to have in hand against a lot of lists. The third mode doesn't get used that often but you can use it to effect what the opponent is drawing off of a top (often a bad idea since they're probably drawing a miracle - which it will counter) and you can use it to improve your top deck in the mid game if everything has ground to a halt. It's probably ok as a way to better predict a Shardless Agent play also although probably just ok in that role.
So you think less hymns now that dig through time is gone? Tbh, its back to the drawing board on my my list right now. With DTT gone, i immediately change my stance on targeted discard discussed earlier. More hymns, mor thoughtseize more wastelands.
Speaking of more wastelands, people will want to run them again. At least the decks that traditionally jammed 4 ( death and taxes, RUG delver) will be on the rise again. Maybe need to rethink the mana base. The meta is in for a shake up.
Hello!
I have a Maverick deck, but I've been looking to upgrade to some other legacy deck and Shardless BUG had caught my eye.
How has the recent Dig ban effected the deck? Has it made the deck itself much worse? Has any bad/good matchups changed (because they don't have dig anymore)?
Hello!
I have a Maverick deck, but I've been looking to upgrade to some other legacy deck and Shardless BUG had caught my eye.
How has the recent Dig ban effected the deck? Has it made the deck itself much worse? Has any bad/good matchups changed (because they don't have dig anymore)?
My understanding, which seems to be confirmed by quite a bit of recent testing online, is that the ban of Dig means less OmniTell and more Delver and other "fair" decks back in the meta. Shardless Sultai is known to be quite good against those "fair" decks. I'm about to do some testing with Shardless, so I'll be sure to report how that goes. I know that I won a decent amount against Shardless with my Stoneblade deck recently, but I can't be sure if those games/lists were representative.
BTW - Does anyone have a reliable recent list? The ones I'm seeing are all over the place.
I feel as if Shardless BUG got a big upgrade, and will be extremely popular. I can't picture any current match ups getting worse, but some have definitely gotten a lot better. Aside from the mirror, Burn, Jund, and Lands, I can't picture a fair deck giving this deck problems. Of course, this is coming from an inexperienced Shardless BUG player, feel free to correct if I'm wrong because I can use that information as well.
As for reliable lists, the core was given in the original post. Build accordingly for your meta. I do believe the white splash can be erased, now that Omnitell is back to its original version or Sneak & Show.
Are you a connoisseur of fine value? Enjoy grinding people out? Perhaps you fancy the idea of beating up those pesky Delver decks? You are in luck! Tune in, for here shall be presented the wonderful world of Shardless BUG!
Overview
Shardless BUG is a Sultai-colored midrange deck built around the card Shardless Agent. It's a grindy deck built to feast on "fair" decks such as Delver and other creature-based decks, but it can struggle against combo decks and other out-of-the-ordinary decks (such as Lands). Shardless BUG is a very expensive deck to put together, and it's probably never going to be quite Tier 1, but barring another printing of a card like Treasure Cruise, which kind of invalidated this deck when it got printed, I reckon it'll always be a viable (and fun!) deck to run.
Sample decklist
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
3 Bayou
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland
Creatures (14)
4 Shardless Agent
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Baleful Strix
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Brainstorm
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Force of Will
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Baleful Strix
2 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Disfigure
1 Pithing Needle
1 Life from the Loam
1 Engineered Plague
1 Sylvan Library
It's common to play either 21 or 22 lands in this deck, with either 0 or 1 basic land.
The basic land is typically quite useful against Delver (let's say you want to cast Thoughtseize on turn 1 and Abrupt Decay on turn 2 - if you fetch a basic on the first turn, they can't Wasteland you to thwart your plans) and against Blood Moon. If they get a Blood Moon into play and you have a basic swamp and a Deathrite Shaman, you can Abrupt Decay the Blood Moon to escape what would otherwise be a pretty hard lock against this deck. You can also fetch the basic land if your opponent is screwing around with Veteran Explorer and such nonsense. If you do opt to play a basic land, it is suggested that all fetchlands in your deck can get it. In other words, I don't recommend playing Misty Rainforest if you're running a basic Swamp. If you're really afraid of Blood Moon, you can actually play two basic lands - Swamp and Forest.
Creeping Tar Pit is a common inclusion, most useful for its ability to pressure Jace, but it's also a fine card on its own. Manlands let you play additional mana sources without reducing the number of action cards in your deck, and as such it's not uncommon to see the second Tar Pit as the 22nd land in the deck.
Wasteland is in a sort of peculiar position in this deck. Delver decks typically Wasteland very aggressively, often going after the first land the opponent plays, but this is not usually how you should go about things with Shardless BUG. You play Wastelands primarily to deal with random utility lands and such that the opponent might play and cause you trouble, such as Karakas, Inkmoth Nexus and other manlands, Rishadan Port, Dark Depths, Grove of the Burnwillows. Of course, sometimes you should use it aggressively, but that's not what it's in the deck for. In any case, the most common amount of Wastelands these days is 2, but this number is really flexible; you'll see some lists packing the full four, and even some that aren't playing any. Additionally, Wasteland makes Life from the Loam an excellent sideboard option, particularly against other Wasteland decks.
Most Shardless BUG decks run 8 or 9 dual lands. The best dual land is [Underground Sea, as you have both double blue and double black spells, as well as 1-drop blue cards and 1-drop black cards. A normal split is 3 or 4 Seas, 2 or 3 Bayous, and 2 Tropical Islands. These are accompanied by 9 or 10 fetchlands. If you don't run any basics, any combination of Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta and Verdant Catacombs will do. If you run a basic (or more), build your manabase of fetchlands with that in mind. Additionally, some lists splash Meddling Mages from the sideboard. If yours does, you'll want all of your fetchlands to be able to find the white dual land you're using to splash those Mages. In general, saving your fetchlands in-game for Brainstorm purposes is recommended, but sometimes you should make sure to use your fetchlands early in order to set up Brainstorm into Shardless Agent (you can't go turn 2 Brainstorm to set up a turn 3 Shardless Agent if you'll have to sacrifice a fetchland in between).
Shardless Agent, as the card your deck is, to an extent, built around, is always a 4-of, and should rarely be boarded out. Typically it's correct to run Shardless Agent out there even if you have some blanks in your deck (for example, if your opponent doesn't have any nonland permanents, Abrupt Decay is a whiff, and if they don't have cards in hand, Thoughtseize/Hymn to Tourach are misses), but it could be correct to play around the possibility by for example not playing Abrupt Decay on your opponent's only creature if you plan on casting Shardless Agent on your turn, just in case you hit another Abrupt Decay.
Tarmogoyf is another card that's pretty close to an automatic 4-of. It's an efficient beater or blocker almost regardless of what you're playing against, and can be tough for some decks (like Delver) to handle. However, in a number of matchups, it's correct to board out some. Tarmogoyf isn't great against Miracles, for example, as they have Plows and Terminuses for days, and you want your threats to be 2-for-1s if possible. It can also be somewhat lacklustre if both players are delving. Lastly, if you suspect that your opponent is bringing in Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void (though I would generally not recommend doing so against this deck), you could always just board out some number of Tarmogoyfs.
Deathrite Shaman is the reason why you can get away with playing 21-22 lands in this somewhat mana hungry deck (for a Legacy deck). He serves a number of purposes in this deck: mana acceleration, clocking the opponent, providing life gain against aggressive decks, disrupting graveyard strategies and incidental graveyard cards such as Snapcaster Mage, Nimble Mongoose, delve cards, etc. For one mana, he's incredibly versatile and powerful, and should always be a 4-of. Against decks that are trying to wrath your board, I'd consider boarding out Deathrite, but otherwise I'd probably keep him in.
Baleful Strix is the card that most commonly rounds out the creature base, usually as a 1-of or 2-of. It's an excellent card against decks that rely on summoning creatures and bashing with them, but it's also perfectly fine elsewhere. It's surprisingly relevant against Miracles, and against combo decks, it at least pitches to Force of Will. In addition to the maindeck copy (or copies), many lists have access to more in the board. If your metagame is Delver-heavy, this is a nice card to have access to.
Ancestral Vision, besides being the obvious dream hit with Shardless Agent, is a surprisingly strong card to just suspend on turn 1. Against many decks, suspending an Ancestral Vision early often means you can just try to survive and keep up, and if you do, you'll win once you hit turn 5, as the extra cards are just too much for most decks to overcome. On the first turn, given the choice between for example playing a Deathrite Shaman or suspending an Ancestral Vision, I'll often go with Vision, as you'll want to draw those cards as early as possible. Additionally, even if I have Brainstorm, Shardless Agent and Ancestral Vision in my opening hand, I'll just suspend Vision on turn 1. Suspending it isn't the alternative cost; it's the norm. Vision is one of your most important weapons against Delver and all kinds of grindy matchups, though do note that it gets stopped by Stifle, so don't bend over backwards playing around it when they can always just Stifle your Vision trigger anyway. Finally, sequencing is imporant. Against Delver, you always want to spend your last mana on Ancestral Vision in order to play around Daze. After all, they can't interact with you suspending it, so play your spells first. Against certain fast decks like burn and Belcher, you might want to board out Vision, though I am personally often reluctant to do so; the card is just so good. I'm also looking to play four of these every time, though I have seen lists with fewer.
Abrupt Decay is secretly the best card in the deck, and should always be a 4-of. There are very few matchups where Abrupt Decay isn't great, and against certain decks, such as Miracles and Delver, it's amazing. Delver's entire plan revolves around sticking a threat or two and disrupting you enough to let those threats go all the way, and Abrupt Decay just laughs at that plan. Against Miracles, particularly pre-board, it's your one reliable answer to a Counterbalance that has hit the table. Post-board, some players board out the Counterbalances to play around Abrupt Decay, but I don't know if this is a good idea; I think it's better for them to board in cards like Vendilion Clique and Monastery Mentor to stress our Abrupt Decays, and you certainly can't afford to board them all out anyway. An uninterrupted Counterbalance/Top combo or Monastery Mentor will run away with the game, and Abrupt Decay stops both of those plans, no questions asked. It's usually very good against other decks too, exceptions being Omni-Tell and Storm, where it is pretty bad, and I'd look into boarding them out. As with Ancestral Vision, Abrupt Decay being uncounterable means that it's often the last spell you should cast in a turn.
Brainstorm is quite likely the best card in Legacy, and you're playing four of them. When used with fetchlands (which it should be; don't just play random turn 1 Brainstorm unless you're in trouble), Brainstorm lets you draw three cards in exchange for two cards you don't need at the time. In the early game, you can use it to dig for lands or answers to their threats, and in the late game, you can trade away unwanted lands and discard spells for more gas. You can also use it to set up Shardless Agent. One neat trick is to put the card you want to cascade into below a land; that way you can put the land on the bottom, and gain even more value from the Brainstorm. All of this said, don't go nuts trying to set up Shardless Agent with Brainstorm. Shardless is quite clunky, and both cards are individually powerful enough that you shouldn't be sacrificing tempo to combine them unless you're pretty sure you can get away with it.
Force of Will, while not excellent in this deck, is just a necessity. Some of the linear decks are too fast for you to grind out, and it's important enough in these matchups that you have to play a few. Besides, countering a Jace or a Monastery Mentor in "fair" matchups is quite strong. The issue with Force of Will in this deck is that you simply don't have that many blue cards. Spare Ancestral Visions in the late game tend to be the most common card to pitch, but other than that, you're not running any of the situational counterspells that other decks often play, or anything like that. So when you're facing decks where Force of Will is your most important card, it's often good to board in additional blue cards. Having your anti-combo cards be blue is good for this reason. I typically play three Force of Wills maindeck, sometimes with the last one in the board.
Hymn to Tourach is just a powerful card. It might not affect the board, but it really affects the opponent's ability to do something to the board later. Sometimes it's a bit slow, but in certain matchups (typically against combo decks like Storm and Sneak & Show), it's among your best cards. I usually play three in my 75, often with two being main. Against fast decks, I'd consider boarding them out on the draw. It's also not amazing against Miracles, as they're good at protecting their important cards with Top and Brainstorm, but I tend to keep them in regardless.
Thoughtseize is a good early play, particularly against combo decks, but a highly mediocre card later in the game. Random late game Thoughtseizes are part of why saving Brainstorms is nice. Regardless, it's important enough in certain matchups that I usually play two in the main, sometimes with an additional one in the board.
Liliana of the Veil is a versatile and powerful card, and can be really devastating in the right situations. If the opponent has just summoned a Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant, following up with Liliana and edicting them feels pretty great. It's also the one way to get a True-Name Nemesis off the board in the first game.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor is a late game trump card. If you get to slam Jace on a board where you're not terribly behind, you've usually won the game. In some matchups, however, it's quite slow, so it's going to be one of your most frequently boarded out cards. Most lists run one or two of JTMS.
Maelstrom Pulse is a fairly frequent 1-of in the maindeck of Shardless BUG-lists. Although it is somewhat pricy, it's a useful catch-all to have access to, as it can deal with Jace, a swarm of Angels (from Entreat) or Goblins (from Empty the Warrens), and so on.
Miracles - Even (favorable if the Miracles player isn't very good).
Against Miracles, you're definitely the aggressor, as you need to be able to prevent them from landing an unopposed Jace and just run away with the game, and eventually an Entreat the Angels might just get you. You need to play somewhat cautiously too, though, as Terminus will wreck you otherwise. I generally don't like aggressively countering Sensei's Divining Top, and would rather save my Forces for the big threats like Jace and Entreat, but sometimes you do have to prevent a turn 2 Counterbalance from happening. Some Miracles players might board out their Counterbalances to try to blank your Abrupt Decays, but I don't think this is generally a good idea to do, and would assume that Abrupt Decay is still a good card after board; after all, a more likely strategy, in my experience, is to try to stress our Decays by bringing in even more must-Decay threats, such as Monastery Mentor, in which case boarding it out could be disastrous.
How good this matchup is depends on how many good sideboard cards you're packing. Toxic Deluge is good, Engineered Plague is obviously great, and Night of Souls' Betrayal is extremely difficult for them to beat. Between Force of Wills for their big spells (Natural Order, primarily) and removal for their key creatures, we should usually have enough stuff to disrupt them from executing their plan. I often just let Glimpse of Nature resolve in this matchup, but it obviously depends on what they could do and what they could have. The most important creatures to kill are typically Wirewood Symbiote and Heritage Druid, but killing any turn 1 Elf is generally a good idea. And do save your Wastelands for their Gaea's Cradles.
Our deck exists in large part to prey on Delver decks, so naturally it is a pretty solid matchup. I took my first ever loss to them after somewhere around 10-15 straight wins, but I don't think the matchup is quite that lopsided; there are plenty of ways we could get in trouble against a typical RUG Delver deck, for example. Our most vulnerable spot is the mana. If they're on the play and lead with Delver into Wasteland and then Stifle, we could be in a lot of trouble (this is where a basic Swamp can come in handy). However, once we gain access to our second and third mana, things get really good for us. Baleful Strix is excellent, Abrupt Decay is fantastic, and Shardless Agent is pure gold. Make sure to guard your life total; you don't want to die suddenly to a flurry of Lightning Bolts; play around Stifle, Daze, and Spell Pierce when you can.
This is an exceedingly grindy matchup, and you'll want to extract as much value from each of your cards as possible. That means setting up Shardless Agent to make sure you don't hit a blank (i.e. not risk hitting Abrupt Decay if they have no board, not risk hitting Hymn or Thoughtseize in the late game), aggressively using discard when they actually have a hand you can attack, Brainstorm only for full value if possible (like when you have two bad cards in hand and a fetchland with which to get rid of them). Also, try to keep Liliana in mind; you often don't want to run out a Tarmogoyf as your only creature if they can follow up with Liliana immediately; instead, play something like Baleful Strix first for edict-protection. The best cards in the matchup are Jace and Ancestral Vision. Successfully casting either of those can lead to a blowout in one direction.
Took the deck to a four round tournament tonight and went 1-1-2. The last round we went to game three with ten minutes left so I had a lot of misplays. A lot. And it was against a Junk colored deck with no Stoneforge Mystic and running Lingering Souls. First time piloting the deck, and I am not entirely sure i should be running twenty two lands, but the color sensitivity is crucial so I think I'll leave it alone until I get more in tune with how the deck goes. I am coming from Burn, sweet, sweet Burn. I beat Reanimator(home brew for the most part), draw against the mirror, lost to Dredge and that Junk deck.
My list:
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Brainstorm
1 Disfigure
2 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Hymn to Tourach
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Creeping Tar-Pit
2 Wasteland
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Thoughtseize
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Golgari Charm
1 Sylvan Library
1 Null Rod
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Arcane Laboratory
1 Vendilion Clique
First change I want to make is have a second Jace and maybe move Lili to the side replacing either Thoughtseize or Hymn, or just take Lili out completely. Not sure yet, but I feel like discard is weak right now with DTT running all over the place. I also want to swap out a Needle for a Krosan Grip.
Could you guys give me sideboard suggestions? Here's what I did against my opponents:
Dredge - Out Hymn
In Nihil Spellbomb
Mirror - Out two Force, Jace, Toxic, Thoughtseize
In Decay, Charm, Library, Jitte, and Clique
Game three I switched Lili for Jace. I did this for another win con and since I'm not longer on the play, tempo was no longer in my side.
Reanimator - Out Hymn, Disfigure, one Decay, Toxic
In Spellbomb, one Needle, Arcane Laboratory, Clique
Junk - Out Lili, Hymn, two Force
In Decay, Charm, Library, Rod and Clique
Game three I dropped Clique for the second Deluge. After my opening seven, I realized Clique is really bad in a game full of Souls.
As for the mirror match... I played in a local Legacy series last year. Eight qualifier tournaments and then an invitational in the end. I found myself in the final of that invitational, in the Shardless BUG mirror match. I'd never played the matchup before, and boarded out my Forces. My opponent, who had a reasonable amount of experience with the matchup, didn't. I got destroyed 3-0 in the match, and afterwards he told me he thought the key was keeping in his Forces. Discard is what you want to be taking out; it's always going to be long and grindy, and topdecking discard is going to be awful, whereas countering cards like Jace and Ancestral Vision is key. Speaking of, I'd certainly not board out Jace; that guy is one of your best cards.
I'd probably do something like:
-2 Thoughtseize
-1 Liliana
-1 Toxic Deluge
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Sylvan Library
+1 Umezawa's Jitte
Our decks are quite different, though. From the sample decklist, I think I'd board like this:
-2 Thoughtseize
-2 Liliana
-2 Hymn to Tourach
+1 Tasigur
+2 Baleful Strix
+2 Disfigure
+1 Sower of Temptation
Though I'm not quite sure which one's better of Hymn and Liliana.
But I can definitely see the other side of the fight as well. You can't strip top decks, and if an Ancestral goes off, there goes that entire fight if you haven't put down any pressure. If a Jace hits the table when you could have Forced it! Maybe this is play or draw dependent type of decisions? On the play, discard, on the draw, counter? Or vice-versa? I definitely need to get more reps with this deck in before I start changing too many things.
I -REALLY- want that Liliana to be a Jace. I can see this deck having trouble with needing win cons besides Tarmogoyf and Jace is it.
I took Shardless to a GPT this weekend, five rounds going two wins three losses. One was Omnitell, one was Merfolks, one was Infect. What's our board plan against Merfolk and Infect? I feel like these are winnable matches, but I just could figure out what to do exactly. I know I took out Forces against Merfolk, brought in more death for hands and creatures. Not sure what else. I can post my list if someone is willing to help.
Against Infect, Wasteland is one of your best cards. Some Infect decks run Yavimaya Hollow, which is a surprisingly tough card to beat, I've found. I also really like Hymns against infect; they tend to stockpile a few tricks in hand, and they also run Dig Through Time.
Yeah, sadly, I'm not really one to discuss constructed strategy, usually; I posted this thread primarily as a service to resident mod ExpiredRascals, who noted that this section was in need of a Shardless BUG thread. I'll follow up questions as best I can, but I don't expect to post here too frequently otherwise.
The problem right now is you're not winning on turn 3 or 4 and you're no longer getting a consistent advantage in the grindy games either, even with Jund on the sidelines for the same reason.
I run just one Disfigure in the seventy-five, and I'm having trouble fitting in more things in the side. My list has changed since my last one. I feel as if Jitte takes over for the spot of multiple Disfigures. But Jitte is probably just a crutch right now, until I can get more experience with the deck. Right now it's just piloting itself, I think.
Would you say I should keep Thoughtseize in, or just keep Hymns in? I have a lot of trouble figuring out what to side out, besides the singleton Pulse. I also sided out my Jaces to make room for Deluge and Krosan Grip. After the match, I was told Jace is a beating. My argument is that I'm afraid I won't make it to four mana.
By the way, two basics are amazing. I haven't been hindered by it yet. Yet. I do recommend it though.
WURUWr Stoneblade
Modern
WRGNaya Zoo Company
My List:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Shardless Agent
2 Baleful Strix
Walkers: 3
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Other Spells: 21
1 Sylvan Library
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Hymn to Tourach
2 Wasteland
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Massacre
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Disfigure
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Arcane Laboratory
3 Duress
Just a few comments:
Im light on discard spells. I have run thoughtseize main before. Ive run more hymn to tourach before. But in the current Dig Through Time meta, im not sure too many discard spells are a good idea. Sure, sometimes its cool to cascade into a hymn, but sometimes they top deck dig, and we help them cast it. I have 3 duress in the board to "help" in some horrid matchups...like omni-tell.
Speaking of the big blue monster..
Yes running duress against a dig through time deck is the opposite of what i just talked about, butOmi-Tell is a rough one for us or at least it has been for me. My current board strategy involves duress, nihil spellbomb, and arcane laboratory. We need cheap ways to interact...or die to a turn 2 show and tell. Duress is ok, im sure there s better. They run more digs and cantrips than we do, and eventually kill out of no where. I see that some people are opting for the white splash for meddling mage. I am not a fan of the 4th color, but i understand why peole think they need to go that route. Its also good against other random combo decks...storm comes to mind.
I am consider addding a 2nd Jace, the mind sculptor to the sideboard to help with the miracles matchup, but im testing this lst pretty hard the next few days. I accept any criticism on my list. Im till coming back up to speed.
The current meta consists of a ton of delver and miracles decks both of which we have pretty good matchups against. It feels like we are well positioned...
Someone mentioned earlier that he would run 6 abrupt decays if he could. I second this thought. Its so damn good against counterbalance...i never want less that 4 in my list.
By the way A+ to the OP. Thought you explained the reasoning behind cards as well. Maybe the primer could be extended to sideboard choices?
BUGShardless SultaiBUG
Modern
URSplinter TwinUR
BWGAbzan MidrangeBWG
Standard
URWJeskai TokensURW
BUGShardless SultaiBUG
Modern
URSplinter TwinUR
BWGAbzan MidrangeBWG
Standard
URWJeskai TokensURW
I've recently been running three Hymns main, and I assume this number will go down now that DTT is banned.
@Dimir Charm: Doesn't seem particularly impressive to me. Charm doesn't kill Tarmogoyfs (most of the time) or flipped Delvers, or basically anything where they spent more mana than you did, and countering sorceries isn't a big deal against most decks. And at two mana, it's not very efficient.
Cheers. Might definitely do it. There are basically a million sideboard options, though, so it'd take some time. I think I've played about 40 different sideboard cards so far, and I haven't played more than about 100 matches with the deck.
It stops Glimpse of Nature, Green Sun's Zenith, Natural Order, Gamble (game 1 and then sides out for GY hate), Show and Tell, Terminus, Entreat the Angels, Council's Judgement, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish, Cataclysm, Ancestral Vision, Rift Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike (not for long is my guess), Duress, Gitaxian Probe, various cantrips that you might well want to stop in a top deck midgame situation, etc.
It's a decent wildcard to have in hand against a lot of lists. The third mode doesn't get used that often but you can use it to effect what the opponent is drawing off of a top (often a bad idea since they're probably drawing a miracle - which it will counter) and you can use it to improve your top deck in the mid game if everything has ground to a halt. It's probably ok as a way to better predict a Shardless Agent play also although probably just ok in that role.
Speaking of more wastelands, people will want to run them again. At least the decks that traditionally jammed 4 ( death and taxes, RUG delver) will be on the rise again. Maybe need to rethink the mana base. The meta is in for a shake up.
BUGShardless SultaiBUG
Modern
URSplinter TwinUR
BWGAbzan MidrangeBWG
Standard
URWJeskai TokensURW
Down with Miracles. <3
I have a Maverick deck, but I've been looking to upgrade to some other legacy deck and Shardless BUG had caught my eye.
How has the recent Dig ban effected the deck? Has it made the deck itself much worse? Has any bad/good matchups changed (because they don't have dig anymore)?
My understanding, which seems to be confirmed by quite a bit of recent testing online, is that the ban of Dig means less OmniTell and more Delver and other "fair" decks back in the meta. Shardless Sultai is known to be quite good against those "fair" decks. I'm about to do some testing with Shardless, so I'll be sure to report how that goes. I know that I won a decent amount against Shardless with my Stoneblade deck recently, but I can't be sure if those games/lists were representative.
BTW - Does anyone have a reliable recent list? The ones I'm seeing are all over the place.
As for reliable lists, the core was given in the original post. Build accordingly for your meta. I do believe the white splash can be erased, now that Omnitell is back to its original version or Sneak & Show.
My current list.
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (I want two, can't figure out what to switch)
1 Liliana of the Veil
4 Ancestral Visions
4 Brainstorm
2 Thoughtseize
2 Hymn to Tourach
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Force of Will
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Wasteland
1 Forest
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
1 Creeping Tar-Pit
1 Pithing Needle
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Disfigure
1 Thoughtseize
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Sylvan Library
1 Null Rod
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Golgari Charm
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Krosan Grip
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Vendilion Clique