Against Jeskai control, do we bring in the Teeg?
They will likely still quite a no. of burn spells around, hence Teeg will die quite a lot.
But Teeg is a house against their bombs
The 2nd question is on a situation I found myself in:
Playing against Grishoalbrand game 2 after sb.
Won game one.
Game 2, opponent starts with Faithless Looting and discard Griselbrand/Borborygmos promptly.
No mull from both sides.
My hand has Bogles, Teeg, Auras, Path, lands.
Choice there is to either cast Bogles and risk being comboed out or holding the mana for Path.
What would you do?
Against Jeskai control, do we bring in the Teeg?
They will likely still quite a no. of burn spells around, hence Teeg will die quite a lot.
But Teeg is a house against their bombs
The 2nd question is on a situation I found myself in:
Playing against Grishoalbrand game 2 after sb.
Won game one.
Game 2, opponent starts with Faithless Looting and discard Griselbrand/Borborygmos promptly.
No mull from both sides.
My hand has Bogles, Teeg, Auras, Path, lands.
Choice there is to either cast Bogles and risk being comboed out or holding the mana for Path.
What would you do?
You definitely DO bring in Gaddock Teeg. If they don't have removal, it slows them down. Also you always have the opportunity to put a Totem Armor on it right away, making Path to Exile the only 1 for 2 out. Path is probably first to get cut as well - some number of Path being cut is correct. Just don't expect Gaddock Teeg to do much, especially if you don't invest a Totem Armor or 2 on him.
Against Grishoalbrand...aha, my favorite deck! If you have 1 land, you play the Bogle. If you have 2 or more lands, you leave up Path to Exile. Path to Exile has a small chance to disrupt them, mostly because their life total is still near 20, but it's possible and much more likely than the slower clock that you give will cost you the game. You take a turn off attacking for some amount, but you HAVE to, just HAVE to, be ready for the turn 2 Goryo's Vengeance. Often, Grishoalbrand players will disguise their play if they have Simian Spirit Guide and do Looting and Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand all on turn 2. You can't play around that, but I'm just pointing that out.
So to recap, yes you leave up Path to Exile. Of course it all comes down to a read on the opponent as well, but why take the chance that they have the win in hand? Let's just do some fake, made-up numbers. They are 95% to win if you don't Path to Exile. They are 85% likely to win if you DO Path to Exile. You are 5% less likely to win by not playing the Bogle out on turn 1. I feel the percentages are in favor of leaving up Path. I have won with Grishoalbrand with 2 Path to Exile on the stack before, so it does happen, but Path definitely does disrupt a bit.
You do what you believe gives you the best chance to win, but I'll let you know I've played the matchup only around 11 times, but I've played each of these decks for over a year.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Game 1 against burn, I was at 3 against an opponent swiftspear and 2 cards in hand and 3 lands. His earlier play has been all burn spells to trigger the swiftspear. Tapping all his mana each turn
I had a 5/3 bogles with opponent at 12. With 2 lands in play, my hand was all lands except a canopy.
My choice is to
1.attack with the 5/3 (rancor, ethreal armor) and hoping to dodge any burn spell for one turn, and draw a gryff boon for lethal or lifelink aura next turn.
2. Or stay on defence to avoid goblin guide, and only goblin guide and hope to topdeck lifelink aura
What will you pick?
Game 2 I drew an interesting hand against burn on sb game playing first:
Leyline
Arbor
Fetch x 2
Rancor
Daybreak
Horizon Canopy
My deck only plays one arbor.
Do you think that is playable?
Game 3 sb game against burn, hand is this which I play first:
Leyline
Forest
Canopy
Path x 2
Rancor
Game 1 against burn, I was at 3 against an opponent swiftspear and 2 cards in hand and 3 lands. His earlier play has been all burn spells to trigger the swiftspear. Tapping all his mana each turn
I had a 5/3 bogles with opponent at 12. With 2 lands in play, my hand was all lands except a canopy.
My choice is to
1.attack with the 5/3 (rancor, ethreal armor) and hoping to dodge any burn spell for one turn, and draw a gryff boon for lethal or lifelink aura next turn.
2. Or stay on defence to avoid goblin guide, and only goblin guide and hope to topdeck lifelink aura
What will you pick?
Game 2 I drew an interesting hand against burn on sb game playing first:
Leyline
Arbor
Fetch x 2
Rancor
Daybreak
Horizon Canopy
My deck only plays one arbor.
Do you think that is playable?
Game 3 sb game against burn, hand is this which I play first:
Leyline
Forest
Canopy
Path x 2
Rancor
Would you keep this?
1. It's definitely worth attacking here. In addition to Gryff's Boon, Spirit Mantle and Ethereal Armor are also lethal. He might even choose to chump with Swiftspear right away as he might not be able to the turn after if you play Boon/Mantle. In total these add up to many more outs than just the 4 Coronets if you wait.
2. This is an easy mulligan. Keeping without a hexproof creature is always really sketchy against burn, and having the Dryad Arbor in hand makes it much worse because you cannot fetch it EoT. The Leyline cannot make up for this by itself. If the Dryad Arbor was a Spider Umbra instead, it's potentially keepable because you can fetch Arbor at the end of opponent's turn 2 and then suit it up with Umbra+Coronet right away. Still, he might not tap out on turn 2 and you're screwed.
3. This is a keep. While again you have no hexproof creature, this is a 6-card hand that in addition to Leyline can defend itself with the two Paths. I don't think you're favored to win the game with this hand, but it's probably better than an average 5 card hand.
About 6 months ago, I was aware that there would be a Grand Prix in my hometown.
And it would be the first constructed GP ever happened here.
The format is modern.
Being mostly a Legacy player, I did not really have an idea of the format.
Not having a lot of time to playtest, my plan then was to settle on a particular deck early and then started the practice.
After checking the mtgtop8 lists for some deck choices, I came to the following 4 potential decks which I should like playing:
Mono white hatebears (vial or non vial)
Mono black 8Rack
Ponza
Affinity
I posted the above choices to the local groups and explained that I was new to modern and needed a deck choice for GP. Opinions varied and pretty much suggested that 1-3 were just dogs. Then local player Kiu (aka Tron God) suggested me to play Bogles as Bogles is
easier to pilot and can ignore the opponent most of the time. I checked the deck and then decided that the deck seems cool enough and has a low floor to start with.
Then I just acquired the cards and started the testing.
My testing was mostly done online in cocaktrice through causals as I did not have a lot of time for paper testing. (also did not want to spend money to acquire the deck in digital form in MTGO).
My first iteration of the deck was the then standard 4 Leyline main version of the deck:
Enchantment (26)
4x Daybreak Coronet
4x Ethereal Armor
1x Gryff's Boon
3x Hyena Umbra
3x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Rancor
4x Spider Umbra
1x Spirit Link
2x Spirit Mantle
Instant (2)
2x Path to Exile
Land (20)
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Horizon Canopy
1x Plains
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Temple Garden
1x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Creature (12)
4x Gladecover Scout
4x Kor Spiritdancer
4x Slippery Bogle
Sideboard (15)
1x Dromoka's Command
3x Gaddock Teeg
2x Path to Exile
2x Rest in Peace
4x Seal of Primordium
3x Stony Silence
Nothing too fancy there.
When I was drawing closer to the tournament, online causal testing revealed that maindeck Leyline seemed to be more often dead with much less Death Shadow in the metagame.
Then I came across this list by William Ljungberg accidentally:
Land (21)
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Horizon Canopy
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Enchantment (26)
4x Daybreak Coronet
4x Ethereal Armor
4x Gryff's Boon
3x Hyena Umbra
4x Rancor
3x Spider Umbra
1x Spirit Mantle
3x Unflinching Courage
Instant (1)
1x Path to Exile
Creature (12)
4x Gladecover Scout
4x Kor Spiritdancer
4x Slippery Bogle
Sideboard (15)
3x Gaddock Teeg
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Path to Exile
2x Rest in Peace
2x Seal of Primordium
2x Stony Silence
He had a 12-3 run in GP Prague and was said to be the early creator of Bogles. What’s not to like?
So I changed to this list and then started the intensive testing with one more week to go.
I came into the GP with an expected metagame of Humans, Tron, UW Control, Burn being the most played decks.
Onto the event:
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - vs Counter Company
Game 1 - I was on the draw and we both kept out 7.
Opponent went T1 fetch, shock, BOP. I went with T1 fetch, shock, Bogles.
Opponent played T2 Vizier of Remedies and a shock tapped.
Sigh, bad matchup.
On my turn 2, I went Rancor, Ethereal Armor, attack for 5. Opponent down to 12.
On his turn 3, opponent tanked, played a fetch and then passed.
T3, I went rancor, spider umbra, hyena umbra (thought about leaving one mana open to bluff Path to Exile but opponent will go for it anyway and hence decided against it) to grow Bogles to a 12 power monster. Attack, blocked my bolges with BOP and Vizier, tapping the two for a chord for 2 to search for Druid. Damage cleared and both his critter dies and he fell down to 2. At eot, he fetched, fell to 1.
On his T4, he played a Eternal Witness tapping the Druid with one land untapped, getting back the Vizier. Then he put one -0/-1 counter on his Druid to untap it and added one more mana and tapped his land, playing Vizier, then he generated 1 million mana. Play Duskwatch Recruiter and that was game! So close!
Game 2 - we both mulliganed
T1 land go, opponent has no mana dorks.
T2 Spiritdancer was not met with any removals. Opponent just land go on T2
T3 I suit up my Spiritdancer with double Ethreal Armor without any response. The attack brought him to 12. My opponent fetches at my EOT and his T3 involves shockland and a 1/1 Ballista.
T4, I further suited up the Spirtdancer to a 13/13 with an umbra, pointed a Path to the Ballista, then attack for the win. Apparently opponent may have been relying on some Collected Company?
Game 3 - I keep with opponent down to 6
T1 mana dork.vs Bogle
T2 Pridemage vs Teeg
T3 Play irrelevant creature and exalted attack with Pridemage against Teeg attack and Bogle being suited up and not able to attack.
T4 Opponent played irrelevant creature vs Spirit Mantle Bogle for 5 more. Teeg stay on sideline.
T5 Opponent cannot attack anymore because he was losing the race and I had a Daybreak Cohorot & Gryff’s Boon to seal it up as opponent has only 1 Pridgemange to either remove Mantle or Gryff’s Boon.
After the game, opponent showed me a hand of Chord and Collected Company being locked by Teeg.
Good to win a bad matchup!
2-0
Round 3 - vs Burn
In general, burn matchup should be easy. Just stick a lifelink aura nad win, right?
Game 1 - on the play and I mulled to a not particular sexy hand with Bogle and a Spiritdancer but one Aura and no lifelink. Opponent kept.
T1 Bogle met T1 Swiftspear.
T2 Ethereal Armor on Bolge and opponent Lavla Spike and attack with spear. Suspend Rift Bolt after combat
T3 I made a 3/5 Spiritdancer with Gryff’s Boon. Opponent attacked with Swiftspear and I blocked the 2/3 Swiftspear. Opponent casted a bolt, a Searing Blaze to grow his Swiftspear to 4/5 . So his Swiftspear survived while my Spiritdancer died.
T4 I finally drew some auras to grow my Bogles to 5/3. But by then I am only at 3 life with opponent at 12 life from Bogle attacks.
I would die to any bolt. With a canopy in hand and my choice here was either:
1. Do not attack and wait to topdeck a lifelink aura, this play can prevent dying to Goblin Guide with Swiftspear on the table.
2. Attack opponent to 7 and hope to draw Gryff’s Boon, Ethereal Armor to finish him next turn.. I had 7 copies of the card left and two draw steps.Shortening the clock and dun give him much chance to topdeck a bolt.
I took line no. 2.
Opponent drew and played Goblin Guide (not sure topdecked or not). Sad…
Took a peek at my top card, Grff’s Boon, saddddder…...sigh
Game 2 mulled to 6
I drew a hand with 2 Bogles, Daybreak Cohorot, Path, lands.
I played Bogles and equipped with Ethereal Armor. But kept drawing more bogles instead of auras.
Opponent hit me with double Swiftspear and ALWAYS left open 2 mana, even when presented the opportunity to Helix me on his turn for 2 extra damages. Instead he did it on my end step. VERY suspicious.
I smelled Destructive Revelry.
At the end, I had to go for it after drawing 2 more Bogles but not auras, and he showed me the Revelry for the Ethereal Armor. And that’s game with my poor draw.
Burn is such a good matchup and losing to burn in 2 games seemed unbelievable. But that happened. My opponent seemed to draw quite well in both games. Maybe that is variance.
2-1
Round 4 - vs UW Control with Terminus
This round report is short as there is not much to say about this matchup.
In my experience, you either win easily when they dun have the terminus or just scoop to the Terminus followed by planeswalker.
Game 1 - Mull to 5 on the play into a hand of Arbor, Aura, lands
Not wanting to go to four when opponent kept his 7, I kept the hand and prayed that I was paired against a removal light deck.
T1 Arbor got Sunlanced? WTF? Path is expected but Sunlance?
Ok.
T2 I topdecked a Bogle and we are on to business now.
T3-T5, I suited up the Bogle the best I can to a 5/2. The way that my opponent drew his cards suggested that he was on Terminus. I attacked my opponent to 10. When my opponent played a Teferi and drew cards on T5. I tanked for a moment and finally decided to attach the Teferi instead of him. Teferi killed, opponent tapped out for Terminus.
I replayed another Bogle and started to suit up again, getting opponent to 3.
He Terminus again and got Jace online, it’s time to pack it in.
Game 2
T2 Spiritdancer is spell snared.
T3 Spiritdancer plus Rancor met Path to Exile.
I got my Bogles and suited up. That met Terminus after two attacks.
Then I had two more Bogles going. He tried a Colonade block but that met with a Path.
Though, flooding and without drawing auras, I am forced to deploy the Hexproof 1/1s vs his Clique, Snappie with double Planewalkers going all the time and flipped Search for more control fun.
At the end, he ultimated Teferi and start to work on my lands.
Not even close, where is my TEEG?
2-2
Round 5 - Burn
Game 1 On the play, I mull to 6 to a hand with Daybreak Cohorot.
T1 Bogle vs Goblin Guide
T2 No play vs Eidolon
T3 Spiritdancer and aura vs some burn and attack
T4 Daybreak Cohort plus Spiritdancer means GG
Game 2 Similar things happened (lifelink is good against Burn) as I drew “normal” Bogles draw while opponent did not see any of his sb cards. He showed me Destructive Revelry, Ensnaring Bridge after the match. I did bring in some seals for the matchup though.
Confidence back after this easy win!
3-2
Round 6 - Grixis Reanimator
Game one on the play, I kept while opponent mulled
T1 Bogles vs Island Serum Vision, suspected UW control
T2 suit up Bogles to attack for 3, and opponent played Blackcleave Cliffs and left mana open
T3 tried to put an aura on the Bogles. Opponent casted Izzet Charm to counter it!
T4 attacked for 7, opponent played another serum vision
T5 attacked for 7 more
The Izzet Charm was a big tell of Reanimator. Hence I sideboarded that way and brought in all RIP, Path, Teeg.
Game two, I mull to 6 to a decent hand.
Opponent went T1 Vision with both scry on top, T2 Search for Azcanta, I suspected that it may actually be Grixis Control and I sb wrongly.
I went with the usual beatdown plan to take my opponent from 18 to 14 then to 8..
On his T4, opponent thought for long on his upkeep for his Search for Azcanta scry. That may have taken 2 minutes. Then he flipped Emrakul to the GY and responded the shuffle trigger with Goryo’s Vengeance. I sac all my permanants and was down to 1 life.
My T4, I played a land and a Bogle.
The other turns involved us to race to kill the other person first.
I found a Ethereal Armor and tried to double my clock, but he had Izzet Charm.
In his digging to Through the Breach end, he discarded a SSG, I thought that he may actually be ok to cast that Guide with me in 1 life. I attacked him down to 3 before he finally found Breach for Emrakul.
Game 3 we both kept
I had a great draw.
T1 Bogle vs T1 Faithless Looting discarding lands.
T2 Auras on Bogles, opponent did some more diggings
T3 RIP and auras.on Bogles
By T4, my opponent outs will be Through the Breach for Emrakul.
I counted my permanents and found that I will get to kept a lethal Bogles even through the Emrakul trigger
My opponent thought for a bit and finally decided to dig more.
He passed and when I attacked next turn, he was dead.
4-2
Round 7 - Bridgevine
Game one on the draw, I kept while opponent mulled
I got a 13/13 Bogles enchanted with Spider Umbra, double Ethereal Armor and Daybreak Cohorot going, gained 13 life in the process, dropped him to 9 before he found a sac outlet of to prevent lifegain.
He had two Bridge from Below and started to do crazy things with 2 Bloodghast to generate a no. of zombies. I popped a Canopy to find a Rancor to trample through the blockers and to get the lifegain of another 17 life. Upto 42 life now and killing 5 Zombies in the process.
Then on his turn, he began to go nuts. Sac Bloodghast, got 2 zombies, played fetch, brought back Bloodghast, sac Bloodghast, got 2 more, sac fetch, got a land, brought back Bloodghast, played and sac Neonate etc, the end result is a whopping 16 Zombies on the battelfield, then he casted Bushwacker with kicker to give them all +1/+0 and haste! That is too much for me to handle with the blocked zombie being sac before damage to prevent lifegain….GG
Game 2 - we both kept
I drew no sb cards but a beatdown Bogles hand with a path.
T1 Bogles met with T1 Thoughtseize.
He discarded one of my Auras.
I suited up Bogles and then start attacking, he tried the one drop, 0 mana creature, Vengevine plan. I pointed my topdecked path to it.
Then my opponent seemed to lose his steam, and my Bogles beatdown just went all the way with him digging with Faithless Looting and discarding lands.
Game 3 -we both kept
His Stitcher's Supplier betrayed him this game, milling useless cards (like double destructive revelry?) into the gy. I just do the usual Bogle beatdown thing.
5-2
Round 8 - BURN AGAIN
Game one - On the play, we both kept
I got a lifelink Bogles going, saw RW fastland, Goblin Guide, then he conceded
Game two - I kept a Leyline, Spiritdancer x 2, Aura hand, Horizon Canopy
His draw was pretty heavy on creatures with Goblin Guide and Grim Lavamancer (blanking my Spiritdancer until T3).
I drew my 2nd land with the help of the guide and also got a Bogle in the process. Began equipping the Bogle with Auras when my life was at low teens.
Then when I sticked Daybreak on the Bogle and attacked. Opponent tried to Destructive Revelry the Daybreak and want to make my Bogle tapped.
A judge call later, we were back to attack step and my opponent Destructive Revelry the Daybreak before combat . Opponent had a Goblin Guide and a Lavamancer on the table, I was at 4 (2 damage from Destructive Revelry, fetches, self damage from Horizon Canopies, damn that land), sensing that he wanted me to tap my 5/3 Bogles for attack. I suspect that he had some form of haste creature there. So better not attack.
Indeed he had, he casted a Goblin Guide, I blocked one and took 3 and went to 1.
My hand had Unflinching Courage but not the painless mana (damn Horizon Canopy again!) to cast it! I casted a naked Bogle for block with only one painless mana on the battlefield.
Opponent has another Grim Lavamancer, 3 creatures vs 2 creatures, who wins?
With opponent at 13, I have no outs.
Game 3 - Mull the good old one Plains and Bogles, Auras hand to the aforementioned Leyline, 2 paths 6 card hand which I MULLed (probably a mistake as advised by Mats) into a 5 card hand of Bogle, double Horizon Canopy, land, Daybreak hand, scry Unflinching Courage to the top.
This game is hilarious:
It went like this:
T1 Bogle vs Grim Lavamancer
T2 Shockland tapped pass vs opponent nth
T3 Attach Unfliching Courage attack (3/3) met Skullcrack, ok
T4 Attach another Unflinching Courage attack (5/5) met Skullcrack again, hmmm, ok
T5 Attach Daybreak Conhort attack (8/8) met SKULLCRACK ONCE AGAIN, this is not ok!
That is already 9 damages from the Skullcracks alone, I had taken 6 damage from Horizon Canopies, the rest was easy mode for burn deck…..
Opponent showed me even more burn spell in hand afterwards...
5-3
HOW ON EARTH CAN I LOST TWICE TO BURN in a tournament with Bogles?
I still dunno how, but it happened...
Takeaway:
Modern is not an easy format. You are working on thin margin, and games are quick. There are only a few decisions in a game and that may change the outcome of a game.
Life may be fair, I had won some of the more difficult matchups like Counter Company and possibly Reanimator. And then karma came and made my opponent drew so good that even two good matchups like Burn were lost.
This is the way Modern is. I would like to say that matchups are super important, but stumbling just a bit can cost you a game vs. decks that you're strongly favored against. Other times, you will draw nutty and destroy them, no matter what they have. I am a big Modern aficionado and everyone knows me as "the Modern guy" locally. But I still have to admit that my format of choice has the most variance of any format worth playing.
Private Mod Note
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I also played this deck in GP Stockholm and finished with a respectable 12-3 record for a 19th place. Unfortunately I lost the round 15 win-and-in so missed out on top 8. All three of the losses were against UW Miracles, which is somewhat concerning, but I also beat it twice in the tournament. Terminus is a huge problem but it's also almost the only relevant card in the matchup. I was frequently able to reload and overcome the first Terminus and in several duels I won through 2 of them. All in all I think this matchup is fairly close to 50-50. One thing to note is that you need to keep Spirit Mantles post sideboard to get through Timely Reinforcements. Take out Path to Exile instead, as they are even more useless than against the old UW control.
In addition to this I beat GDSx2, Bridgevine, Jund, Affinity, Mardu Pyromancer, Bogles, Titanshift and Bant Spirits. I won't recap every game because it's not super interesting and to be honest I don't remember all. Some interesting notes:
I basically gave away one duel against Bant Spirits. I started out with turn 1 Bogle and he had turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer. At this point I had only 1 more land in hand along with Kor Spiritdancer, Rancor and 2xDaybreak Coronet. I played the Spiritdancer figuring that between the next draw step and Spiritdancer trigger, I should be able to draw another land. Of course I did not, and as a result he was able to Spell Queller both of my Coronets (once off a Collected Company) and counter all the Path to Exiles with Mausoleum Wanderers. If I just play Rancor and pass on turn 2, the next turn's Daybreak Coronet will just straight up win me the game.
I also gave away one duel in the mirror which is especially embarrassing. I was on the draw and we both had a turn 1 Bogle. She was stuck on 1 land and I just had a Dryad Arbor so we played 1 aura each on turn 2. On turn 3 I still had no third land but I played a Spirit Mantle to be able to reduce damage by blocking (her bogle was 5/3 at that point). However, assuming she had any 1-mana aura (exceedingly likely given the lack of lands) this would not have been enough as I would die over 2 turns anyway. I was at 10 after 3x Canopy use and 2+5 damage from the Bogle. Much better would have been to play a 1 mana aura using Dryad Arbor, then EoT Path my own Arbor to get double white for Daybreak Coronet. This would have beat almost any play from her side, especially given that I could follow up with the Spirit Mantle next turn.
In game 1 against Bridgevine he was on the play and on turn 3 he attacked me with Greater Gargadon, Vengevine and four 2/2 zombies. I was able to chump the Gargadon with a Bogle, kill one zombie with my Bogle+Ethereal and take 10 damage to go from 14 to 4. On my turn I could play Spider Umbra+Daybreak Coronet to attack for 8 gaining to 12, and at this point he couldn't even attack as Greater Gargadon would die to the 8/8 first strike lifelink and his other units would not deal enough damage. I guess this highlights how good this matchup is, that even with such a crazy start on the play I was able to win on turn 4.
Against Titanshift post sideboard he had Engineered Explosives but I was able to build up on a Spellskite. Gaining to 26, even a "36 damage Scapeshift" was not lethal as I could pay 24 life to redirect.
All in all I'm happy with my deck choice and will probably play the deck again in the future. I'm still interested in the blue splash for Stubborn Denial as a way to fight against Terminus (and combo decks like Storm/KCI), but as I had no time for testing there was no chance for this tournament. The prevalence of Field of Ruin could prove problematic for this plan.
Good job! That is an amazing record for Bogles at a GP. I have yet to have the guts to try Bogles at a GP, although I've only played in 3 Modern ones (playing GW Trap a long time ago and Titanshift twice more recently).
I think everyone has fallen into that trap of "should I play Kor Spiritdancer on turn 2" because I have so many relevant Auras, only a few can be nullified and by then, I've drawn a million cards? Even to this day, it's tough for me to not want to get value instead of a more likely win. I would say at Casual REL, I'm more likely to take chances, although I've heard from others that I should play the same regardless of REL. I just think of it as "testing" out certain riskier lines...
You did play against some tough decks. I would say that the threat of UW Miracles is what has kept me off Bogles for a while now. I actually play UW Miracles right now. I think the deck is just too good. I get a quasi feeling of when I played Control in Standard when Wizards of the Coast used to always make it the most powerful thing to play. It's not quite there, but I do think it may be the best deck in Modern. I am close to dethroning KCI in my order list of "Best" decks in Modern.
How do you feel about Titanshift? I've played it from both sides sooooo many times before. I feel like it's a really close 50/50 matchup, probably slightly favored for Bogles. It really depends on what people draw. Leyline of Sanctity vs. Scapeshift or vs. Scapeshift + Summoner's Pact for Reclamation Sage. Small Bogle vs. Prime Time. Bogle with Daybreak Coronet vs. anything. Bogle not getting big enough in time to withstand Sweltering Suns. Gaddock Teeg getting Lightning Bolted. This could go either way in my opinion.
*Just saw your list on the mothership. I love the 8 fetches. I have been doing so since around 2014 when I started Bogles and always loved it, even if most lists have always had 4-6 at most. I figure you usually are pretty good against burn type strategies anyway, it helps you play around Blood Moon, and it helps you find a "creature" if you just can't find one otherwise. I know that last one is occasionally a trap against removal decks, but you have to do what you can sometimes. Why only 1 Leyline of Sanctity in the main? I understand having 4 in the 75, but 1 in the main just seems like asking to always draw it when it's a dead card in the matchup or never draw it when it's amazing. I guess you know your meta better than me and it seemed good against what you played against (heck, 4 would have been good!). Why 21 lands in the main? Is it mainly to hard cast Leyline better? Most lists run, what, 19 lands including Arbor. I personally run 20 lands, including Arbor, but it seems like you play more than myself. I really trust your judgment on the deck and most likely other decks as well, so I'm really curious. Thanks.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I feel like the matchup is good overall, probably 60-40. To start with they will only draw Scapeshift in something like 50% of games. Secondly it's not always fast enough. They need a fairly specific draw to play Scapeshift with 7 lands on turn 4 and even then we might still be on 19 or above due to Coronet or not taking damage. Meanwhile Bogles will win on turn 4 very frequently. Primeval Titan is often not enough to win as we have Path to Exile, and it can't really block a large Bogle either. After sideboard we have Gaddock Teeg to shut off the Scapeshift plan, and if we can protect him with Umbras that can mean game over right away. I'm generally more worried about Pyroclasm than Sweltering Suns as that can be cast before Umbras or Ethereal Armor comes down. And then there's Leyline for some extra disruption.
I also played this deck in GP Stockholm and finished with a respectable 12-3 record for a 19th place. Unfortunately I lost the round 15 win-and-in so missed out on top 8. All three of the losses were against UW Miracles, which is somewhat concerning, but I also beat it twice in the tournament. Terminus is a huge problem but it's also almost the only relevant card in the matchup. I was frequently able to reload and overcome the first Terminus and in several duels I won through 2 of them. All in all I think this matchup is fairly close to 50-50. One thing to note is that you need to keep Spirit Mantles post sideboard to get through Timely Reinforcements. Take out Path to Exile instead, as they are even more useless than against the old UW control.
In addition to this I beat GDSx2, Bridgevine, Jund, Affinity, Mardu Pyromancer, Bogles, Titanshift and Bant Spirits. I won't recap every game because it's not super interesting and to be honest I don't remember all. Some interesting notes:
I basically gave away one duel against Bant Spirits. I started out with turn 1 Bogle and he had turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer. At this point I had only 1 more land in hand along with Kor Spiritdancer, Rancor and 2xDaybreak Coronet. I played the Spiritdancer figuring that between the next draw step and Spiritdancer trigger, I should be able to draw another land. Of course I did not, and as a result he was able to Spell Queller both of my Coronets (once off a Collected Company) and counter all the Path to Exiles with Mausoleum Wanderers. If I just play Rancor and pass on turn 2, the next turn's Daybreak Coronet will just straight up win me the game.
I also gave away one duel in the mirror which is especially embarrassing. I was on the draw and we both had a turn 1 Bogle. She was stuck on 1 land and I just had a Dryad Arbor so we played 1 aura each on turn 2. On turn 3 I still had no third land but I played a Spirit Mantle to be able to reduce damage by blocking (her bogle was 5/3 at that point). However, assuming she had any 1-mana aura (exceedingly likely given the lack of lands) this would not have been enough as I would die over 2 turns anyway. I was at 10 after 3x Canopy use and 2+5 damage from the Bogle. Much better would have been to play a 1 mana aura using Dryad Arbor, then EoT Path my own Arbor to get double white for Daybreak Coronet. This would have beat almost any play from her side, especially given that I could follow up with the Spirit Mantle next turn.
In game 1 against Bridgevine he was on the play and on turn 3 he attacked me with Greater Gargadon, Vengevine and four 2/2 zombies. I was able to chump the Gargadon with a Bogle, kill one zombie with my Bogle+Ethereal and take 10 damage to go from 14 to 4. On my turn I could play Spider Umbra+Daybreak Coronet to attack for 8 gaining to 12, and at this point he couldn't even attack as Greater Gargadon would die to the 8/8 first strike lifelink and his other units would not deal enough damage. I guess this highlights how good this matchup is, that even with such a crazy start on the play I was able to win on turn 4.
Against Titanshift post sideboard he had Engineered Explosives but I was able to build up on a Spellskite. Gaining to 26, even a "36 damage Scapeshift" was not lethal as I could pay 24 life to redirect.
All in all I'm happy with my deck choice and will probably play the deck again in the future. I'm still interested in the blue splash for Stubborn Denial as a way to fight against Terminus (and combo decks like Storm/KCI), but as I had no time for testing there was no chance for this tournament. The prevalence of Field of Ruin could prove problematic for this plan.
Well done! Congratulations to your finish.
Regarding your list, how have the 4 maindeck path to exile been? I saw that most list plays only 1-2 in maindeck with the remaining in sideboard.
3 spirit mantle is also interesting, though I suppose it has some plays vs uw control to prevent flash creature/colonade from blocking.
With only 4 lifegain auras, do you miss the lifegain in aggro matchup?
I just want to point out that I've run 3 Spirit Mantle since forever I believe. It's like having 7 "evasion" Auras in the main with Rancor; I guess 8 if you count Gryff's Boon too. It's also nice having these, as your opponent doesn't or can't really account for you having one of these. I usually sand bag 1 if I can and then when they leave back blockers, I put it on for GG.
You can always side them out against certain matchups where you need speed. I actually side them out a lot, but have recently been only siding out 2 so that I have essentially 5 "Rancor."
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
With more and more cards getting printed there are a lot of auras competing for the same flex spots. Spirit Link, Gryff's Boon, Cartouche of Solidarity, Spirit Mantle and Unflinching Courage are all reasonable options. I've just found Spirit Mantle to be the most useful recently. It's excellent against Grixis Death's Shadow and it helps a lot with blocking against decks like Human, Hollow One and so on. With all the options available now Spirit Link feels a bit too narrow, unlike all the other auras it's truly useless in a number of matchups. Path to Exile I've always felt were essential, it helps so much against decks like Affinity, Burn, Humans, Eldrazi, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bant Spirits and so on. Even in matchups where it's weaker like Jund and Mardu it's still very servicable and will buy you a few turns to topdeck something. But, if UW control becomes dominant, it's certainly time to drop the Path to Exiles and go all in on Gryff's Boon.
On the other hand William Ljungberg also went 12-3 at GP Prague with a list containing 4 Gryff's Boon and 3 Unflinching Courage but only 1 Path to Exile and 1 Spirit Mantle. All in all the deck mostly relies on the 30-34 fixes slots and the rest makes a smaller impact. I haven't been testing enough against the current meta to make any authoritative statements.
Finally got to play my Bogle deck last night for the first time after taking 4 months to put it together. I went 3-1 and finished just out of the money. I will post a more complete report tonight, but I played against UW Spirits, Ad Nauseam, Burn, and mono black Zombies. Only loss of the night was to Spirits. I will post a deck list later as well.
Damn, your store doesn't do prizes based on record? That's pretty crappy.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
We had a small turn out last night. We average about 28 players normally, and first place is about $35 in store credit. Last night we had 15 and played 4 rounds of Swiss with a top cut to 4. We don't play out the top due to time constraints.Had several nights where we stayed until midnight, and the owner made the call for the top cut.
With more and more cards getting printed there are a lot of auras competing for the same flex spots. Spirit Link, Gryff's Boon, Cartouche of Solidarity, Spirit Mantle and Unflinching Courage are all reasonable options. I've just found Spirit Mantle to be the most useful recently. It's excellent against Grixis Death's Shadow and it helps a lot with blocking against decks like Human, Hollow One and so on. With all the options available now Spirit Link feels a bit too narrow, unlike all the other auras it's truly useless in a number of matchups. Path to Exile I've always felt were essential, it helps so much against decks like Affinity, Burn, Humans, Eldrazi, Hollow One, Bridgevine, Bant Spirits and so on. Even in matchups where it's weaker like Jund and Mardu it's still very servicable and will buy you a few turns to topdeck something. But, if UW control becomes dominant, it's certainly time to drop the Path to Exiles and go all in on Gryff's Boon.
On the other hand William Ljungberg also went 12-3 at GP Prague with a list containing 4 Gryff's Boon and 3 Unflinching Courage but only 1 Path to Exile and 1 Spirit Mantle. All in all the deck mostly relies on the 30-34 fixes slots and the rest makes a smaller impact. I haven't been testing enough against the current meta to make any authoritative statements.
Mats, I saw that you also play only 3 spiritdancer, that seems a bit unusual as we only have so little creatures here.
What is your take on that? Thanks
Finally getting around to posting about my tournament from this past Thursday. I really don't remember all of the details, but a few things stand out. For reference, this is the deck I was playing. The SB is still under construction.
The only loss for the night came from UW Spirits, and specifically Blessed Alliance. I won the race in game 1, but in games 2 and 3 that card was really making it difficult for me. I also did not get clarification on how that card works vs. Leyline of Sanctity. So, how do Blessed Alliance and Leyline of Sanctity interact with one another involving target player sacrificing an attacking creature?
My other games were against Burn, Ad Nauseam, and some mono black zombie brew. Burn was a pretty favorable match up, and he misplayed several times. Ad Nauseam was also fairly easy. Leyline put in a lot of work on top of the bad draws he was getting. The mono black zombie player was pretty salty during and after the game. I thanked him for the games, and he got upset about the match. According to him "Anyone can win with a $1000 deck" Anyway, I went 3-1 and didn't get in the money due to bad tiebreakers. Better luck next week.
The only loss for the night came from UW Spirits, and specifically Blessed Alliance. I won the race in game 1, but in games 2 and 3 that card was really making it difficult for me. I also did not get clarification on how that card works vs. Leyline of Sanctity. So, how do Blessed Alliance and Leyline of Sanctity interact with one another involving target player sacrificing an attacking creature?
Blessed Alliance says, "target player." They cannot target you. They are the only "legal" target. Blessed Alliance's mode of "Target player sacrifices a creature" cannot target you. They can still gain 4 life, untap 2 creatures and whatever the other mode is.
It's actually funny the way I learned this. Two years ago, I was playing vs. Esper Mill in the top 4 of a PPTQ. I had Leyline of Sanctity out before the game and he tried to cast Blessed Alliance on me. It was a long tournament and I had never seen the card before (I knew of it, just hadn't seen it up close). I was about to sacrifice the creature when my friend behind me asked us to stop and went to get a Judge. Luckily for me, he did this because it was unsure about whether I could win the game 3 if I sacrifice the creature. It basically would put it at 50/50 instead of 99/1 to win. But that pushed me into the finals, where I won vs. Slivers.
My friend told me he knew that from Limited because those effects always target. I hadn't played Limited seriously since Zendikar and Worldwake, so I didn't know. Duh! RTFC.
You guys probably already know this, but Leyline protects against Gifts Ungiven too. Not that you would side it in only for those, but...
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
@FoodChainGoblins, thanks for the info. Now I will know for future reference. Hopefully I can finish in the money this Thursday. On a totally unrelated note, has anyone used Ultimate Guard Supreme UX Matte sleeves? I just switched over after using UP Eclipse sleeves that were pretty much toast after one week of play. Kinda wish Dragon Shield would get off their collective ass and make a matte front sleeve.
[quote from="mcsavage702 »" url="/forums/the-game/modern/established-modern/aggro-tempo/220251-g-w-auras-bogle?comment=2593"]
You guys probably already know this, but Leyline protects against Gifts Ungiven too. Not that you would side it in only for those, but...
Against Storm Leyline of Sanctity are decent as they force an answer before they can Grapeshot, and stopping Gifts Ungiven is also useful. However, I had one Storm opponent side out Gifts Ungiven and some Past in Flames to be less vulnerable to Gaddock Teeg/Leyline/Rest in Peace. Instead he took in Pieces of the Puzzle and went for a more straight forward storm plan. So be careful about oversideboarding too much and slowing yourself down.
Regarding the Kor Spiritdancer I just feel like it's not the best card, especially in multiples, and a long time ago I replaced one with a 21st land. But again, this is a meta dependent choice and the difference in results will be very marginal either way. Hard to say what is correct.
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They will likely still quite a no. of burn spells around, hence Teeg will die quite a lot.
But Teeg is a house against their bombs
The 2nd question is on a situation I found myself in:
Playing against Grishoalbrand game 2 after sb.
Won game one.
Game 2, opponent starts with Faithless Looting and discard Griselbrand/Borborygmos promptly.
No mull from both sides.
My hand has Bogles, Teeg, Auras, Path, lands.
Choice there is to either cast Bogles and risk being comboed out or holding the mana for Path.
What would you do?
You definitely DO bring in Gaddock Teeg. If they don't have removal, it slows them down. Also you always have the opportunity to put a Totem Armor on it right away, making Path to Exile the only 1 for 2 out. Path is probably first to get cut as well - some number of Path being cut is correct. Just don't expect Gaddock Teeg to do much, especially if you don't invest a Totem Armor or 2 on him.
Against Grishoalbrand...aha, my favorite deck! If you have 1 land, you play the Bogle. If you have 2 or more lands, you leave up Path to Exile. Path to Exile has a small chance to disrupt them, mostly because their life total is still near 20, but it's possible and much more likely than the slower clock that you give will cost you the game. You take a turn off attacking for some amount, but you HAVE to, just HAVE to, be ready for the turn 2 Goryo's Vengeance. Often, Grishoalbrand players will disguise their play if they have Simian Spirit Guide and do Looting and Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand all on turn 2. You can't play around that, but I'm just pointing that out.
So to recap, yes you leave up Path to Exile. Of course it all comes down to a read on the opponent as well, but why take the chance that they have the win in hand? Let's just do some fake, made-up numbers. They are 95% to win if you don't Path to Exile. They are 85% likely to win if you DO Path to Exile. You are 5% less likely to win by not playing the Bogle out on turn 1. I feel the percentages are in favor of leaving up Path. I have won with Grishoalbrand with 2 Path to Exile on the stack before, so it does happen, but Path definitely does disrupt a bit.
You do what you believe gives you the best chance to win, but I'll let you know I've played the matchup only around 11 times, but I've played each of these decks for over a year.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I had a 5/3 bogles with opponent at 12. With 2 lands in play, my hand was all lands except a canopy.
My choice is to
1.attack with the 5/3 (rancor, ethreal armor) and hoping to dodge any burn spell for one turn, and draw a gryff boon for lethal or lifelink aura next turn.
2. Or stay on defence to avoid goblin guide, and only goblin guide and hope to topdeck lifelink aura
What will you pick?
Game 2 I drew an interesting hand against burn on sb game playing first:
Leyline
Arbor
Fetch x 2
Rancor
Daybreak
Horizon Canopy
My deck only plays one arbor.
Do you think that is playable?
Game 3 sb game against burn, hand is this which I play first:
Leyline
Forest
Canopy
Path x 2
Rancor
Would you keep this?
1. It's definitely worth attacking here. In addition to Gryff's Boon, Spirit Mantle and Ethereal Armor are also lethal. He might even choose to chump with Swiftspear right away as he might not be able to the turn after if you play Boon/Mantle. In total these add up to many more outs than just the 4 Coronets if you wait.
2. This is an easy mulligan. Keeping without a hexproof creature is always really sketchy against burn, and having the Dryad Arbor in hand makes it much worse because you cannot fetch it EoT. The Leyline cannot make up for this by itself. If the Dryad Arbor was a Spider Umbra instead, it's potentially keepable because you can fetch Arbor at the end of opponent's turn 2 and then suit it up with Umbra+Coronet right away. Still, he might not tap out on turn 2 and you're screwed.
3. This is a keep. While again you have no hexproof creature, this is a 6-card hand that in addition to Leyline can defend itself with the two Paths. I don't think you're favored to win the game with this hand, but it's probably better than an average 5 card hand.
And it would be the first constructed GP ever happened here.
The format is modern.
Being mostly a Legacy player, I did not really have an idea of the format.
Not having a lot of time to playtest, my plan then was to settle on a particular deck early and then started the practice.
After checking the mtgtop8 lists for some deck choices, I came to the following 4 potential decks which I should like playing:
Mono white hatebears (vial or non vial)
Mono black 8Rack
Ponza
Affinity
I posted the above choices to the local groups and explained that I was new to modern and needed a deck choice for GP. Opinions varied and pretty much suggested that 1-3 were just dogs. Then local player Kiu (aka Tron God) suggested me to play Bogles as Bogles is
easier to pilot and can ignore the opponent most of the time. I checked the deck and then decided that the deck seems cool enough and has a low floor to start with.
Then I just acquired the cards and started the testing.
My testing was mostly done online in cocaktrice through causals as I did not have a lot of time for paper testing. (also did not want to spend money to acquire the deck in digital form in MTGO).
My first iteration of the deck was the then standard 4 Leyline main version of the deck:
Enchantment (26)
4x Daybreak Coronet
4x Ethereal Armor
1x Gryff's Boon
3x Hyena Umbra
3x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Rancor
4x Spider Umbra
1x Spirit Link
2x Spirit Mantle
Instant (2)
2x Path to Exile
Land (20)
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Horizon Canopy
1x Plains
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Temple Garden
1x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Creature (12)
4x Gladecover Scout
4x Kor Spiritdancer
4x Slippery Bogle
Sideboard (15)
1x Dromoka's Command
3x Gaddock Teeg
2x Path to Exile
2x Rest in Peace
4x Seal of Primordium
3x Stony Silence
Nothing too fancy there.
When I was drawing closer to the tournament, online causal testing revealed that maindeck Leyline seemed to be more often dead with much less Death Shadow in the metagame.
Then I came across this list by William Ljungberg accidentally:
Land (21)
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Horizon Canopy
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Enchantment (26)
4x Daybreak Coronet
4x Ethereal Armor
4x Gryff's Boon
3x Hyena Umbra
4x Rancor
3x Spider Umbra
1x Spirit Mantle
3x Unflinching Courage
Instant (1)
1x Path to Exile
Creature (12)
4x Gladecover Scout
4x Kor Spiritdancer
4x Slippery Bogle
Sideboard (15)
3x Gaddock Teeg
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Path to Exile
2x Rest in Peace
2x Seal of Primordium
2x Stony Silence
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gppra18/top-stories-2018-08-26
He had a 12-3 run in GP Prague and was said to be the early creator of Bogles. What’s not to like?
So I changed to this list and then started the intensive testing with one more week to go.
I came into the GP with an expected metagame of Humans, Tron, UW Control, Burn being the most played decks.
Onto the event:
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - vs Counter Company
Game 1 - I was on the draw and we both kept out 7.
Opponent went T1 fetch, shock, BOP. I went with T1 fetch, shock, Bogles.
Opponent played T2 Vizier of Remedies and a shock tapped.
Sigh, bad matchup.
On my turn 2, I went Rancor, Ethereal Armor, attack for 5. Opponent down to 12.
On his turn 3, opponent tanked, played a fetch and then passed.
T3, I went rancor, spider umbra, hyena umbra (thought about leaving one mana open to bluff Path to Exile but opponent will go for it anyway and hence decided against it) to grow Bogles to a 12 power monster. Attack, blocked my bolges with BOP and Vizier, tapping the two for a chord for 2 to search for Druid. Damage cleared and both his critter dies and he fell down to 2. At eot, he fetched, fell to 1.
On his T4, he played a Eternal Witness tapping the Druid with one land untapped, getting back the Vizier. Then he put one -0/-1 counter on his Druid to untap it and added one more mana and tapped his land, playing Vizier, then he generated 1 million mana. Play Duskwatch Recruiter and that was game! So close!
Game 2 - we both mulliganed
T1 land go, opponent has no mana dorks.
T2 Spiritdancer was not met with any removals. Opponent just land go on T2
T3 I suit up my Spiritdancer with double Ethreal Armor without any response. The attack brought him to 12. My opponent fetches at my EOT and his T3 involves shockland and a 1/1 Ballista.
T4, I further suited up the Spirtdancer to a 13/13 with an umbra, pointed a Path to the Ballista, then attack for the win. Apparently opponent may have been relying on some Collected Company?
Game 3 - I keep with opponent down to 6
T1 mana dork.vs Bogle
T2 Pridemage vs Teeg
T3 Play irrelevant creature and exalted attack with Pridemage against Teeg attack and Bogle being suited up and not able to attack.
T4 Opponent played irrelevant creature vs Spirit Mantle Bogle for 5 more. Teeg stay on sideline.
T5 Opponent cannot attack anymore because he was losing the race and I had a Daybreak Cohorot & Gryff’s Boon to seal it up as opponent has only 1 Pridgemange to either remove Mantle or Gryff’s Boon.
After the game, opponent showed me a hand of Chord and Collected Company being locked by Teeg.
Good to win a bad matchup!
2-0
Round 3 - vs Burn
In general, burn matchup should be easy. Just stick a lifelink aura nad win, right?
Game 1 - on the play and I mulled to a not particular sexy hand with Bogle and a Spiritdancer but one Aura and no lifelink. Opponent kept.
T1 Bogle met T1 Swiftspear.
T2 Ethereal Armor on Bolge and opponent Lavla Spike and attack with spear. Suspend Rift Bolt after combat
T3 I made a 3/5 Spiritdancer with Gryff’s Boon. Opponent attacked with Swiftspear and I blocked the 2/3 Swiftspear. Opponent casted a bolt, a Searing Blaze to grow his Swiftspear to 4/5 . So his Swiftspear survived while my Spiritdancer died.
T4 I finally drew some auras to grow my Bogles to 5/3. But by then I am only at 3 life with opponent at 12 life from Bogle attacks.
I would die to any bolt. With a canopy in hand and my choice here was either:
1. Do not attack and wait to topdeck a lifelink aura, this play can prevent dying to Goblin Guide with Swiftspear on the table.
2. Attack opponent to 7 and hope to draw Gryff’s Boon, Ethereal Armor to finish him next turn.. I had 7 copies of the card left and two draw steps.Shortening the clock and dun give him much chance to topdeck a bolt.
I took line no. 2.
Opponent drew and played Goblin Guide (not sure topdecked or not). Sad…
Took a peek at my top card, Grff’s Boon, saddddder…...sigh
Game 2 mulled to 6
I drew a hand with 2 Bogles, Daybreak Cohorot, Path, lands.
I played Bogles and equipped with Ethereal Armor. But kept drawing more bogles instead of auras.
Opponent hit me with double Swiftspear and ALWAYS left open 2 mana, even when presented the opportunity to Helix me on his turn for 2 extra damages. Instead he did it on my end step. VERY suspicious.
I smelled Destructive Revelry.
At the end, I had to go for it after drawing 2 more Bogles but not auras, and he showed me the Revelry for the Ethereal Armor. And that’s game with my poor draw.
Burn is such a good matchup and losing to burn in 2 games seemed unbelievable. But that happened. My opponent seemed to draw quite well in both games. Maybe that is variance.
2-1
Round 4 - vs UW Control with Terminus
This round report is short as there is not much to say about this matchup.
In my experience, you either win easily when they dun have the terminus or just scoop to the Terminus followed by planeswalker.
Game 1 - Mull to 5 on the play into a hand of Arbor, Aura, lands
Not wanting to go to four when opponent kept his 7, I kept the hand and prayed that I was paired against a removal light deck.
T1 Arbor got Sunlanced? WTF? Path is expected but Sunlance?
Ok.
T2 I topdecked a Bogle and we are on to business now.
T3-T5, I suited up the Bogle the best I can to a 5/2. The way that my opponent drew his cards suggested that he was on Terminus. I attacked my opponent to 10. When my opponent played a Teferi and drew cards on T5. I tanked for a moment and finally decided to attach the Teferi instead of him. Teferi killed, opponent tapped out for Terminus.
I replayed another Bogle and started to suit up again, getting opponent to 3.
He Terminus again and got Jace online, it’s time to pack it in.
Game 2
T2 Spiritdancer is spell snared.
T3 Spiritdancer plus Rancor met Path to Exile.
I got my Bogles and suited up. That met Terminus after two attacks.
Then I had two more Bogles going. He tried a Colonade block but that met with a Path.
Though, flooding and without drawing auras, I am forced to deploy the Hexproof 1/1s vs his Clique, Snappie with double Planewalkers going all the time and flipped Search for more control fun.
At the end, he ultimated Teferi and start to work on my lands.
Not even close, where is my TEEG?
2-2
Round 5 - Burn
Game 1 On the play, I mull to 6 to a hand with Daybreak Cohorot.
T1 Bogle vs Goblin Guide
T2 No play vs Eidolon
T3 Spiritdancer and aura vs some burn and attack
T4 Daybreak Cohort plus Spiritdancer means GG
Game 2 Similar things happened (lifelink is good against Burn) as I drew “normal” Bogles draw while opponent did not see any of his sb cards. He showed me Destructive Revelry, Ensnaring Bridge after the match. I did bring in some seals for the matchup though.
Confidence back after this easy win!
3-2
Round 6 - Grixis Reanimator
Game one on the play, I kept while opponent mulled
T1 Bogles vs Island Serum Vision, suspected UW control
T2 suit up Bogles to attack for 3, and opponent played Blackcleave Cliffs and left mana open
T3 tried to put an aura on the Bogles. Opponent casted Izzet Charm to counter it!
T4 attacked for 7, opponent played another serum vision
T5 attacked for 7 more
The Izzet Charm was a big tell of Reanimator. Hence I sideboarded that way and brought in all RIP, Path, Teeg.
Game two, I mull to 6 to a decent hand.
Opponent went T1 Vision with both scry on top, T2 Search for Azcanta, I suspected that it may actually be Grixis Control and I sb wrongly.
I went with the usual beatdown plan to take my opponent from 18 to 14 then to 8..
On his T4, opponent thought for long on his upkeep for his Search for Azcanta scry. That may have taken 2 minutes. Then he flipped Emrakul to the GY and responded the shuffle trigger with Goryo’s Vengeance. I sac all my permanants and was down to 1 life.
My T4, I played a land and a Bogle.
The other turns involved us to race to kill the other person first.
I found a Ethereal Armor and tried to double my clock, but he had Izzet Charm.
In his digging to Through the Breach end, he discarded a SSG, I thought that he may actually be ok to cast that Guide with me in 1 life. I attacked him down to 3 before he finally found Breach for Emrakul.
Game 3 we both kept
I had a great draw.
T1 Bogle vs T1 Faithless Looting discarding lands.
T2 Auras on Bogles, opponent did some more diggings
T3 RIP and auras.on Bogles
By T4, my opponent outs will be Through the Breach for Emrakul.
I counted my permanents and found that I will get to kept a lethal Bogles even through the Emrakul trigger
My opponent thought for a bit and finally decided to dig more.
He passed and when I attacked next turn, he was dead.
4-2
Round 7 - Bridgevine
Game one on the draw, I kept while opponent mulled
I got a 13/13 Bogles enchanted with Spider Umbra, double Ethereal Armor and Daybreak Cohorot going, gained 13 life in the process, dropped him to 9 before he found a sac outlet of to prevent lifegain.
He had two Bridge from Below and started to do crazy things with 2 Bloodghast to generate a no. of zombies. I popped a Canopy to find a Rancor to trample through the blockers and to get the lifegain of another 17 life. Upto 42 life now and killing 5 Zombies in the process.
Then on his turn, he began to go nuts. Sac Bloodghast, got 2 zombies, played fetch, brought back Bloodghast, sac Bloodghast, got 2 more, sac fetch, got a land, brought back Bloodghast, played and sac Neonate etc, the end result is a whopping 16 Zombies on the battelfield, then he casted Bushwacker with kicker to give them all +1/+0 and haste! That is too much for me to handle with the blocked zombie being sac before damage to prevent lifegain….GG
Game 2 - we both kept
I drew no sb cards but a beatdown Bogles hand with a path.
T1 Bogles met with T1 Thoughtseize.
He discarded one of my Auras.
I suited up Bogles and then start attacking, he tried the one drop, 0 mana creature, Vengevine plan. I pointed my topdecked path to it.
Then my opponent seemed to lose his steam, and my Bogles beatdown just went all the way with him digging with Faithless Looting and discarding lands.
Game 3 -we both kept
His Stitcher's Supplier betrayed him this game, milling useless cards (like double destructive revelry?) into the gy. I just do the usual Bogle beatdown thing.
5-2
Round 8 - BURN AGAIN
Game one - On the play, we both kept
I got a lifelink Bogles going, saw RW fastland, Goblin Guide, then he conceded
Game two - I kept a Leyline, Spiritdancer x 2, Aura hand, Horizon Canopy
His draw was pretty heavy on creatures with Goblin Guide and Grim Lavamancer (blanking my Spiritdancer until T3).
I drew my 2nd land with the help of the guide and also got a Bogle in the process. Began equipping the Bogle with Auras when my life was at low teens.
Then when I sticked Daybreak on the Bogle and attacked. Opponent tried to Destructive Revelry the Daybreak and want to make my Bogle tapped.
A judge call later, we were back to attack step and my opponent Destructive Revelry the Daybreak before combat . Opponent had a Goblin Guide and a Lavamancer on the table, I was at 4 (2 damage from Destructive Revelry, fetches, self damage from Horizon Canopies, damn that land), sensing that he wanted me to tap my 5/3 Bogles for attack. I suspect that he had some form of haste creature there. So better not attack.
Indeed he had, he casted a Goblin Guide, I blocked one and took 3 and went to 1.
My hand had Unflinching Courage but not the painless mana (damn Horizon Canopy again!) to cast it! I casted a naked Bogle for block with only one painless mana on the battlefield.
Opponent has another Grim Lavamancer, 3 creatures vs 2 creatures, who wins?
With opponent at 13, I have no outs.
Game 3 - Mull the good old one Plains and Bogles, Auras hand to the aforementioned Leyline, 2 paths 6 card hand which I MULLed (probably a mistake as advised by Mats) into a 5 card hand of Bogle, double Horizon Canopy, land, Daybreak hand, scry Unflinching Courage to the top.
This game is hilarious:
It went like this:
T1 Bogle vs Grim Lavamancer
T2 Shockland tapped pass vs opponent nth
T3 Attach Unfliching Courage attack (3/3) met Skullcrack, ok
T4 Attach another Unflinching Courage attack (5/5) met Skullcrack again, hmmm, ok
T5 Attach Daybreak Conhort attack (8/8) met SKULLCRACK ONCE AGAIN, this is not ok!
That is already 9 damages from the Skullcracks alone, I had taken 6 damage from Horizon Canopies, the rest was easy mode for burn deck…..
Opponent showed me even more burn spell in hand afterwards...
5-3
HOW ON EARTH CAN I LOST TWICE TO BURN in a tournament with Bogles?
I still dunno how, but it happened...
Takeaway:
Modern is not an easy format. You are working on thin margin, and games are quick. There are only a few decisions in a game and that may change the outcome of a game.
Life may be fair, I had won some of the more difficult matchups like Counter Company and possibly Reanimator. And then karma came and made my opponent drew so good that even two good matchups like Burn were lost.
That may be my destiny.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)In addition to this I beat GDSx2, Bridgevine, Jund, Affinity, Mardu Pyromancer, Bogles, Titanshift and Bant Spirits. I won't recap every game because it's not super interesting and to be honest I don't remember all. Some interesting notes:
I basically gave away one duel against Bant Spirits. I started out with turn 1 Bogle and he had turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer. At this point I had only 1 more land in hand along with Kor Spiritdancer, Rancor and 2xDaybreak Coronet. I played the Spiritdancer figuring that between the next draw step and Spiritdancer trigger, I should be able to draw another land. Of course I did not, and as a result he was able to Spell Queller both of my Coronets (once off a Collected Company) and counter all the Path to Exiles with Mausoleum Wanderers. If I just play Rancor and pass on turn 2, the next turn's Daybreak Coronet will just straight up win me the game.
I also gave away one duel in the mirror which is especially embarrassing. I was on the draw and we both had a turn 1 Bogle. She was stuck on 1 land and I just had a Dryad Arbor so we played 1 aura each on turn 2. On turn 3 I still had no third land but I played a Spirit Mantle to be able to reduce damage by blocking (her bogle was 5/3 at that point). However, assuming she had any 1-mana aura (exceedingly likely given the lack of lands) this would not have been enough as I would die over 2 turns anyway. I was at 10 after 3x Canopy use and 2+5 damage from the Bogle. Much better would have been to play a 1 mana aura using Dryad Arbor, then EoT Path my own Arbor to get double white for Daybreak Coronet. This would have beat almost any play from her side, especially given that I could follow up with the Spirit Mantle next turn.
In game 1 against Bridgevine he was on the play and on turn 3 he attacked me with Greater Gargadon, Vengevine and four 2/2 zombies. I was able to chump the Gargadon with a Bogle, kill one zombie with my Bogle+Ethereal and take 10 damage to go from 14 to 4. On my turn I could play Spider Umbra+Daybreak Coronet to attack for 8 gaining to 12, and at this point he couldn't even attack as Greater Gargadon would die to the 8/8 first strike lifelink and his other units would not deal enough damage. I guess this highlights how good this matchup is, that even with such a crazy start on the play I was able to win on turn 4.
Against Titanshift post sideboard he had Engineered Explosives but I was able to build up on a Spellskite. Gaining to 26, even a "36 damage Scapeshift" was not lethal as I could pay 24 life to redirect.
All in all I'm happy with my deck choice and will probably play the deck again in the future. I'm still interested in the blue splash for Stubborn Denial as a way to fight against Terminus (and combo decks like Storm/KCI), but as I had no time for testing there was no chance for this tournament. The prevalence of Field of Ruin could prove problematic for this plan.
I think everyone has fallen into that trap of "should I play Kor Spiritdancer on turn 2" because I have so many relevant Auras, only a few can be nullified and by then, I've drawn a million cards? Even to this day, it's tough for me to not want to get value instead of a more likely win. I would say at Casual REL, I'm more likely to take chances, although I've heard from others that I should play the same regardless of REL. I just think of it as "testing" out certain riskier lines...
You did play against some tough decks. I would say that the threat of UW Miracles is what has kept me off Bogles for a while now. I actually play UW Miracles right now. I think the deck is just too good. I get a quasi feeling of when I played Control in Standard when Wizards of the Coast used to always make it the most powerful thing to play. It's not quite there, but I do think it may be the best deck in Modern. I am close to dethroning KCI in my order list of "Best" decks in Modern.
How do you feel about Titanshift? I've played it from both sides sooooo many times before. I feel like it's a really close 50/50 matchup, probably slightly favored for Bogles. It really depends on what people draw. Leyline of Sanctity vs. Scapeshift or vs. Scapeshift + Summoner's Pact for Reclamation Sage. Small Bogle vs. Prime Time. Bogle with Daybreak Coronet vs. anything. Bogle not getting big enough in time to withstand Sweltering Suns. Gaddock Teeg getting Lightning Bolted. This could go either way in my opinion.
*Just saw your list on the mothership. I love the 8 fetches. I have been doing so since around 2014 when I started Bogles and always loved it, even if most lists have always had 4-6 at most. I figure you usually are pretty good against burn type strategies anyway, it helps you play around Blood Moon, and it helps you find a "creature" if you just can't find one otherwise. I know that last one is occasionally a trap against removal decks, but you have to do what you can sometimes. Why only 1 Leyline of Sanctity in the main? I understand having 4 in the 75, but 1 in the main just seems like asking to always draw it when it's a dead card in the matchup or never draw it when it's amazing. I guess you know your meta better than me and it seemed good against what you played against (heck, 4 would have been good!). Why 21 lands in the main? Is it mainly to hard cast Leyline better? Most lists run, what, 19 lands including Arbor. I personally run 20 lands, including Arbor, but it seems like you play more than myself. I really trust your judgment on the deck and most likely other decks as well, so I'm really curious. Thanks.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Well done! Congratulations to your finish.
Regarding your list, how have the 4 maindeck path to exile been? I saw that most list plays only 1-2 in maindeck with the remaining in sideboard.
3 spirit mantle is also interesting, though I suppose it has some plays vs uw control to prevent flash creature/colonade from blocking.
With only 4 lifegain auras, do you miss the lifegain in aggro matchup?
You can always side them out against certain matchups where you need speed. I actually side them out a lot, but have recently been only siding out 2 so that I have essentially 5 "Rancor."
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)On the other hand William Ljungberg also went 12-3 at GP Prague with a list containing 4 Gryff's Boon and 3 Unflinching Courage but only 1 Path to Exile and 1 Spirit Mantle. All in all the deck mostly relies on the 30-34 fixes slots and the rest makes a smaller impact. I haven't been testing enough against the current meta to make any authoritative statements.
GMono Green StompyG
GWBoglesGW
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)GMono Green StompyG
GWBoglesGW
Mats, I saw that you also play only 3 spiritdancer, that seems a bit unusual as we only have so little creatures here.
What is your take on that? Thanks
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Slippery Bogle
4 Kor Spiritdancer
Spells
4 Ethereal Armor
2 Gryff's Boon
2 Hyena Umbra
4 Rancor
4 Spider Umbra
4 Daybreak Coronet
2 Spirit Mantle
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Path to Exile
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Damping Sphere
2 Nature's Claim
2 Dromoka's Command
The only loss for the night came from UW Spirits, and specifically Blessed Alliance. I won the race in game 1, but in games 2 and 3 that card was really making it difficult for me. I also did not get clarification on how that card works vs. Leyline of Sanctity. So, how do Blessed Alliance and Leyline of Sanctity interact with one another involving target player sacrificing an attacking creature?
My other games were against Burn, Ad Nauseam, and some mono black zombie brew. Burn was a pretty favorable match up, and he misplayed several times. Ad Nauseam was also fairly easy. Leyline put in a lot of work on top of the bad draws he was getting. The mono black zombie player was pretty salty during and after the game. I thanked him for the games, and he got upset about the match. According to him "Anyone can win with a $1000 deck"
GMono Green StompyG
GWBoglesGW
Blessed Alliance says, "target player." They cannot target you. They are the only "legal" target. Blessed Alliance's mode of "Target player sacrifices a creature" cannot target you. They can still gain 4 life, untap 2 creatures and whatever the other mode is.
It's actually funny the way I learned this. Two years ago, I was playing vs. Esper Mill in the top 4 of a PPTQ. I had Leyline of Sanctity out before the game and he tried to cast Blessed Alliance on me. It was a long tournament and I had never seen the card before (I knew of it, just hadn't seen it up close). I was about to sacrifice the creature when my friend behind me asked us to stop and went to get a Judge. Luckily for me, he did this because it was unsure about whether I could win the game 3 if I sacrifice the creature. It basically would put it at 50/50 instead of 99/1 to win. But that pushed me into the finals, where I won vs. Slivers.
My friend told me he knew that from Limited because those effects always target. I hadn't played Limited seriously since Zendikar and Worldwake, so I didn't know. Duh! RTFC.
You guys probably already know this, but Leyline protects against Gifts Ungiven too. Not that you would side it in only for those, but...
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)GMono Green StompyG
GWBoglesGW
Against Storm Leyline of Sanctity are decent as they force an answer before they can Grapeshot, and stopping Gifts Ungiven is also useful. However, I had one Storm opponent side out Gifts Ungiven and some Past in Flames to be less vulnerable to Gaddock Teeg/Leyline/Rest in Peace. Instead he took in Pieces of the Puzzle and went for a more straight forward storm plan. So be careful about oversideboarding too much and slowing yourself down.
Regarding the Kor Spiritdancer I just feel like it's not the best card, especially in multiples, and a long time ago I replaced one with a 21st land. But again, this is a meta dependent choice and the difference in results will be very marginal either way. Hard to say what is correct.