One thing I'm about to test is Dromoka's Command in place of Path to Exile. It gives us a TON of mainboard tech against many decks in the format, even when they have no creatures.
Against Burn: Counter a Deflecting Palm and fight a creature, or put a counter on our lifelink creature and have it fight to gain a ton of life.
Against Control: Force them to sac Search for Azcanta or Blood Moon
Just two examples I thought would get the conversation going.
I think Dromoka's Command seems much better in theory than it actually plays out. The scenarios where it shines are pretty narrow. I tested it last year for a bit. I think you'll be happier with Path. Just cleaner and more efficient. I don't love path but it's easily the best white/green has to offer. I think killing something with Path that doesn't HAVE to be killed is a mistake a lot of people make when they first pick up the deck. Accelerating Merfolk or Humans or Jund on turn 2,3,4 is not where you want to be. I don't cast Path unless I absolutely have to.
Spirit Link is a great card but comes with the downside of not buffing the creature. I usually play one in the main and one in the board. It's def not a card you want to see a ton of.. but it can turn things massively in your favor against fast creature decks (affinity, merfolk, humans, goblins...). It's just almost completely dead against things like Tron, Strom, and Lantern.
Ha. I'm happy to hear someone else is foiled up! I'm foiled as well but rarely bring it anywhere.. usually just puts a giant bullseye on you at smaller tourneys. Perfect for a GP though! Are you going to Hartford this spring as well or just Toronto?
I know what you mean.. I rarely get to play locally and if I do i get hated out hard.. I think Bogles is a great large event deck and I rode it last year to my only day 2 ever at an SCG.. I won't be in Hartford.. a little out of my range (live across the border from detroit). Will for sure be at both Toronto s and Detroit and hopefully Richmond so i can play my beloved Enchantress in some legacy... I'm actually thinking Bogles will line up nicely for the team trios.. I haven't had luck with it in unified as Infect and Ad Naus always seem to be super present..
Cool. Yeah, I think it's a great choice for a GP. The only part I don't like about bringing it to a tournament with that many rounds is that it inevitably malfunctions for a round or two. That pretty much means you have to win every winnable match.. but I guess that's true of any deck to an extent. Good luck in Toronto and let me know how it goes. There was a small bogle group in Spain this weekend. Pretty stock lists. A few of them did pretty well.
Ha. I'm happy to hear someone else is foiled up! I'm foiled as well but rarely bring it anywhere.. usually just puts a giant bullseye on you at smaller tourneys. Perfect for a GP though! Are you going to Hartford this spring as well or just Toronto?
Hello all! I'm new here, been following the thread a bit for some months. I'm an old casual player who've returned to play MtG like 6 months ago : sold my old collection and strated to build some competitive decks for different formats. In Modern, I built Bogles for its low cost, low interaction and facility to pilot for a guy returning to the game. I'm going to GP Toronto 2018 next week and, even if I considered playing my U/W Control deck, I decided to go for the underdog and play my Bogles deck and catch the metagame off-guard with the strong White sideboard cards. I'll put my list here, I would like some advices from fellow Bogles players! Keep in mind that I'm no pro-player, just a guy who goes to a GP for the experience and the fun of it.
So, I'm going for a Sideboard extension in the main deck with 3x Path to Exile and 3x Leyline of Sanctity in the main board, as they are key against Grixis Death Shadow. The sideboard is pretty self-explanatory : x3 RIP versus Storm, Control, Living End / Path to Exile versus creature based decks / Eidolon of Rhetoric against Burn, Storm, Living End / x2 Gaddock against CoCo, Tron, UWx Control / Leylines versus targeting, LotV, Thoughtseizes and Inquisition / Seal of Primoridum versus Affinity, Lantern, Spellskite, Blood Moon / Stony Silence for Affinity and Lantern, etc.
I've meddled with the Unfliching Courage in the main deck but I've found that they are too slow. When you have them in hand, it's either playing it, or play 3 other 1CMC spells.
I think that's about it! It's my first post here, so be kind If I made any error please lol ^^ What do you think about this list? What should I add or cut? Thanks and have a good day!
The list looks great to me. You've got the core of what you need. The rest is just guessing what you're going to face. I've been getting quite a bit of mileage out of Spirit Link lately. Helps a ton against humans and all the fast, wide creature decks. Mainboardable for sure. List looks good though. Might want to test dissenter's deliverance. You lose the potential Ethereal boost of Seal but gain instant speed and the ability to cycle if there is no Artifact to kill. It's all preference. I play with hexproof a ton and personally think its just a better card. The other card I would test is Gryff's boon. In alot of instances it's just faster and cheaper than Mantle. Does make you a little more susceptible to Chalice. Realistically, you're probably not going to win through a resolved Chalice anyway!
That's my two cents. Great job with the deck and good luck in Toronto.
Been working a ton and just wanted to check in. I've been playing here and there online with pretty good results. Storm is a problem. I literally have 12 sideboard cards to optionally bring in and sill usually get bent over. I would devote a little more time and resources (Cannonist) to storm but I have a feeling wizards will be taking care of that problem for me at the next announcement. While I'm on the subject, I love having a challenging deck to beat but not one that casts 35 spells to my 6 over the course of 20 minutes to my 5. Anyways...
Saw the new blue enchantment. That thing would be a world beater if it were green. I play three Keen Sense right now. I feel like I always have a free attack or two and love the extra chance to draw into my hate or have card advantage against Jund variants. I board them out on the draw for sure. The problem with splashing a color is not the lack of good cards to warrant a splash, it's the mana base. Red offers tons of cards to splash for. I have tested these decks extensively to the same result. There are just too many games that end in deck malfunction. A problem that plagues our deck already. It might be able to rip off a 5-0 here or there but it just isn't consistent enough to take down a big tournament. I think the only thing that will change hexproof is the printing of another blue 1 cmc hexproof creature. Then you could cut green (RIP Rancor), play misty and heath to still fetch for the arbor, and play a u/w version. There are enough white enchantments now to make a solid u/w build. While I'm on the subject, test Unstable Mutation before you write about it. Yes, it gives you some god draws, but it can be a total nightmare in grindy games.
I have been loving Cartouche. I cannot draw enough of that card. The value of having and chump blocker and being able to attack early against things like burn is huge. Not to mention what it does against B/G/X decks. It's not always obvious, but it usually boils down to being the difference against those deck.
I have abandon Stony Silence. I NEVER play affinity anymore which isn't a horrible matchup to being with. I haven't played old school tron or latern at all lately either. I roll with Dissenter's Deliverance. It blows up anything I need to and cycles if there is nothing to destroy. I have always been partial to Nature's Claim but I think Deliverance is just better. I absolutely hate chalice.
In the spirit of more boggle content I will post my thoughts on SCG regionals in Chicago this weekend. I finished 6-3, #37 out of about 300. I don't have my notes so a few of the rounds are hazy. When I get home I will attempt to update for accuracy and games. Anyhow, about 300 people showed up and it was a great time. Shout out to Nerd Rage Gaming for putting on a good one.
Match 1: W - Golgari.. Eldritch oooze? (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/776087#paper)
Match 2: L - 8 Rack
Match 3: W - Burn
Match 4: W - Affinity
Match 5: W - Merfolk
Match 6: W - Humans
Match 7: L - Storm
Match 8: W - U/W Control
Match 9: L - Living End
Match 1 (W) - I am not super sure what this deck was. It was running noose constrictor, lotleth troll and at one point I saw a Griselbrand in the graveyard so I assumed this was some sort of reanimator deck. I am pretty sure I boarded in rest in peace but I just ran my opponent over. That will teach them to run BG without any targeted discard or liliana's
Match 2 (L) - 8 rack. Match goes to 3. Cartouche of solidarity providing a guy was great, I was always able to stay in front of my opponents lili's - against 8 rack, lili lacks creature protection so you just fade 1 sac trigger and kill her and keep on moving. I outplayed my opponent at every turn this match (no one expects mana tithe or silence) up until game 3. In game three I had an early bogle with a cartouche of solidarity. I stupidly swung my token into a blinkmoth and then, although I was able to rebuild twice, was unable to close it out. Had I kept dude back I never would have been behind in creatures and would have won the match. Live and learn!
Match 3 (W) - Burn - this was a weiiiiiiird burn match. First off, at no point did I ever see a red creature. Moving on to the games, in game 1 I remember at one point, my opponent had 3 mana up on my end step and just untapped and drew. I guess they must have flooded. Game 2, was what really made the texture of the match weird. So my opener is a boggle, a coronet, an umbra and some lands and boggles. All I want to do is make a big boggle and do it... so turn 2 I umbra up my boggle and cast another boggle. Swing for 2. Opponent destructive revelries my umbra. Sigh. Pass the turn it is draw go. Turn 3, I top deck and cast some 1 drop umbra and another boggle. Swing 3 - opponent fetches and destructive revelries my 1 drop enchantment again.. ok... I might have played a dryad arbor here. Anyhow, by the end of the game I am swinging with 4 boggles and an arbor every turn. He has resorted to using deflecting palm on my 1/1's. TWICE. Eventually he dies to a horde of 1/1 boggles. Apparently he kept a hand loaded with SB hate - I saw 3 revelry and 2 palms in this game. Felt bad for my opponent because a more experienced player I think would have let me make my big boggle, deflecting palm it TWICE and then destructive revelry away the coronet and 2 other enchantments and that would be about lethal.
Match 4 (W) - Affinity - I remember this one being close and going to 3. Throughought the match, including game 3, my opponent was having a hard time keeping track of enchantments and their effects. At one point had them facing him so he could read them and I think he wanted me to play that way. I allowed this positioning for a minute or so so he had ample time to read the board but then I re-organized my enchantments into a more haphazard pile. I know it feels bad as a player to be less than communicative but in boggles, combat math if some of OUR hidden information. As such, it is in our best interest to layout our enchantments in ways that are a little more complicated for OP to read. For me this means not grouping duplicate enchantments together on my creature "stack", having the enchantments overlapping each other on the physical board and having my boggle on top of his pants. Anyhow, long story short my opponent had me dead in G3 a myriad ways but never got there because he thought I had reach. Amusingly the only green enchantment I had down was a rancor. So just as I lost an early match to misplay, I got one here due to opponent misplay. I'll take it. I asked my opponent what they were seeing after the game and it was one of those times I wish I had kept it to myself - my opponent was polite but clearly realizing this is a hell of a feel bad mid tourney.
Match 5 (W) - Mono U Merfolk - Played against this great young dude who was 6-0 with fish at last years regionals before going 0-3. It was one of the big storylines last year, anyhow... Bogglers always say merfolk is a good matchup but I find it to be pretty poor. For whatever reason I am ALWAYS loosing to spreading seas. In this match however lifelink + spirit mantle was able to get it done. Opponent was never able to spreading seas me in a tempo positive manner. In one game I landed the spirit link + coronet as well for the double gains. I think I was at like 119 life at one point due to opponent chump blocking with an un-ending stream of merfolk. This one went to 3.
Match 6 (W) - humans - Humans has a great clock against an un-interactive deck like ours but aside from a kitesail freebooter, NO interaction. To me this match up is all about getting lifelink asap and jamming. I am extremely high on spirit mantle in boggles and lifelink + spirit mantle is pretty much GG for humans decks.
Match 7 (L) - storm - Storm is just so consistent. I think I took this one to 3. I know in the last game I lost through a leyline; as my opponent was going off they were able to draw into some bounce spell for the leyline. It was one of those games where opponent has a storm count of like 23 and at least after 10 minutes of not playing magic I was allowed to leave heh.
Match 8 (W) - u/w control - This match was very very close. Went to 3. In either game 1 or 2 I was able to mana tithe a cryptic before attacks and that seemed to be enough. Supreme verdict is still a beating. More on the meta call there in general notes below. In game 3, I had a big spirit dancer and opponent was at like 3 life. He had a bunch of cards and mana. Spirit dancer dies returning 2 rancor to my hand. I play an arbor dryad from my hand in the second main, before passing back and UGH you know that hopeless feel. Opponent draws with 6 mana including 1 plains and immediately spreading seas my dryad arbor and then pass it back. So I go ahead and rancor up the arbor. Opponent then has the look of someone who made a terrible misplay. They expected that arbor was no longer a dude. But it was, so I cast the second rancor. Opponent has really slumped into their hand. They opt but don't find anything. I get in there for the kill. What I hadn't realized until after the game was that the opponent had used their only white source to cast spreading seas. They had a blessed alliance in hand. Opponent mumbled under his breath "what bs" but was cordial enough otherwise so no complaints.
Match 9 (L) - Living End - This one was brutal. Blown out in 2. We can't clock them nearly quick enough when they can go off with simian spirit guide turn 2. The only thing I should have done different given the horrendous nature of this combo would have been to mull more aggressively for a rest in peace. Worth going down to 4 or 5 to get in this scenario I think... If we land a RIP they have to wait till like turn 5 to start hard casting stuff which is plenty of time for us to draw and build.
General thoughts:
1. For me the MVP of this deck is 100% spirit mantle. All I want to do is attack my opponents life and gain life. This card enables both unimpeded. I played 2 but I actually like 3 in the list. Just lack a 3d in paper.
2. Cartouche of solidarity is the real deal. It isn't that we need to keep people off of liliana every game but in the ones we do this card does such a good job. The additional utility in a reasonable path target should also not be understated. In the matches where you need mana acceleration, your 1/1 token is likely not super important. It came up for me this weekend, especially running 19 lands.
3. Which leads me to a weird place... Umbra's. Are some percent of Umbra's now a flex slot? There is kind of a weird meta call now between the two umbra's + cartouche. In a jund / abzan / lili meta we want cartouches. In a U/W, U/B or other board wipe meta's we want umbras. Previously spider umbra felt like the lower priority umbra with the decrease in infect but at this point I am into 4 spider umbra's (some protection against inkmoth nexus) and some number of hyena umbra. It might be more correct to get off of unflinching courage instead.
4. 19 lands - it mostly worked out but I had to keep a number of slow 1 mana hands. I think I am going back up to 20. Probably another thicket.
5. I was pretty happy with my sideboard. My basic flex slots are the silence and 2 mana tithes. Silence was great against 8 rack but otherwise did not show up when it was needed. Spirit link #2 was swell. Gaddock Teague never really needed to do any work except vs. Storm where he never got a chance to do any work. I still like it though as an out to tron which will always be lurking around the top/mid/bottom tables I could see trying a piece of creature tech like Eidolon of Rhetoric or Kataki, war's wage.
Ok, that is all I got!
Great report and good stuff at the tourney. I wanted to reply because of the umbra/cartouche dilemma. I feel the exact same way. I am down to 6. 4 Hyena and 2 Spider. That's only my split because I play Keen Sense. I have to have first strike. Anyways, I went through the same thing when building my list for regionals. I hate cutting umbras because it's so nice to have in combat and against sweepers. With modern as wide open as it is right now, I bet you could run as little as three and be fine one weekend and run eight the next weekend and need everyone of them. I think it's just going to be guess/judgement call until the dust settles from the new set.
I love silence. I use it all the time. Good for you for playing with it. It has tons of sneaky applications. I like bring it in against blessed alliance. It's about the only card that stops it.
As for the lands... I have always played 20 but have been very tempted to shave one. There was a top 8 list at one of the regonals that ran 18!! Bogles is the type of deck that is going to have to run a little luckier than others to win. I have no problem with 19 lands. Although 19 with unflinching courage in there might be pushing it a bit.
Good stuff. Prison is such a miserable matchup. Unlucky seeing that. That might be the worst matchup in modern.
I ran hexproof yesterday as well. I was 4-1, lost the 6th round, and then dropped at 5-2. I had some work to do so I couldn't really stay and play without a chance for top8. I grinded through titanshift 3 times, beat jund once, and lost to control and faeries. I lost to neverending blessed alliances in the control match and just had a total deck malfunction against faeries. I might have been able to stabilize against a different deck but the mulligans were severely punished by discard and liliana. I was really happy with the deck overall. I play three keen sense in the main and continue to think it's the most underplayed card in hexproof. Yes, it is a horrible topdeck, no argument from me there. I can't count the number of times it has kept me in games that I have no business being in. I usually side out most of them on the draw depending on how early the opposing deck has a creature down. Other notables from the tourney were spirit link and cartouche. Cartouche was just awesome. I play two and might go up to three. It seems to give alot of unforeseen problems to opponents. Twice yesterday I pathed the token to avoid mana screw. Not a great play but much better than the alternative of pathing a tribe elder, ha. I played one spirit link in the SB and was very happy with it. I have always known about this card but have been a little skeptical seeing as though it offers no power boost. I was very happy with it. It had a similar feel to keen sense. I felt I was winning races that I had no business winning. Nothing ground breaking, just wanted to give my official endorsement :). I used to be strictly against cards like keen sense and spirit link but it just doesn't seem like hexproof can race anymore. The meta is just too big, fast, and good. I think the utility auras offer a nice alternative in certain matchups. Lastly, MVP was and always is the Spiritdancer. I've suited that thing up a million times and I'm still surprised how quickly it wins. Hope everyone had fun yesterday!!
Yeah, access to mtgo is really handy. I prefer paper magic but you can play so many games in such a small amount of time online.
I play with OTA on occasion. It's a fun card for sure. If I had to play a game for a million dollars it probably wouldn't be in my 75 but it's definitely useful. I think modern has actually slowed down a little since I tested it last. I can remember thinking that is was a touch slow in some of the matches. I did like it though. I'm not sure slight card disadvantage is the right way to think about it. I think it's a little more like Streetwraith, Bauble, or Ancient Stirrings. Just increasing your odds of getting your best cards into your hand asap.
I hadn't even thought of the combo with unlife, haha. Ugh. I'm sure the pro's will streamline that combo and fit it into a deck somewhere. Hopefully it won't lead to people chalking their boards with enchantment removal.
Solid report; thanks for going into detail on those two. I've added DD to my SB already, but haven't had the chance to get out to an FNM yet and see how it plays. Same goes for Cartouche, I've tinkered with my list to fit in two copies main board and haven't had an opportunity to play with it. About how many games did you get to play with Cartouche? It looks fantastic on paper and I too had high hopes for a functional new toy. At any rate, I 100% agree with your take on replacing our Umbras; totem armor is such an underrated effect. I haven't ran Unflinching Courage in quite some time, so my list usually has 2-3 flex spots which are always fluid; before I replaced them with Cartouche, I had 2 Gryff's Boon in those spots. If you decide to continue running Cartouche, I'd be interested to hear about any updates or if it continues to underwhelm.
I played in 15 leagues or so. Maybe 75 matches. I wish I had time to play more but work is just too much this time of year. I had two copies of cartouche in the list I tested. Everything else was stock. Testing sucks, haha. You play 150 games, only see the card your trying to test probably 30% of the time. And of that 30%, 40% of those are non blow out, actual instances of how the card performs. I'd say there were probably 30 individual games where I got a feel for what it could do. I noticed the following:
-It was fantastic again burn. Having a chump blocker and adding power to the hex creature was boss. Getting their Guide chumped and getting hammered on the backswing is not where burn wants to be.
-It didn't help at all against Tron/Eldrazi Tron. This is where I was most disappointed. This matchup has always frustrated me. I hate Tron. All variations of it. The sweepers hit me just as hard. The 1/1 soldier just got run over. Occasionally hopping in front of a Thoughtknot and saving a few damage. I always felt inclined to try and save the cartouche to rebuild with but you need a creature to even get it going so I always had to just roll it out there.
-I try to make a habit to save a fetch land whenever I can to rebuild with Arbor if I have no creatures in hand. In two of the games I was able to fetch the arber and cartouche it on the following turn. It put an enormous amount of pressure out there after a sweep. This is where it really shined. Both times I drew into a decent aura as well and rebuilt instantly. It definitely has value there.
-Never was I in a scenario where I could fight through blessed alliance with it. I'm sure it happens here and there but it's a stretch.
-It does add a lot of power quickly in the early turns. The any combination of Cartouche and Rancor/Ethereal in my opening hand usually tilted things pretty hard in my favor. As I mentioned before, the token is a bit of a lightning rod. Giving a lot of opponents something to fire a removal spell at that normally would have just gone to waste.
-Was dying to test it against a Jund variant but I never saw it. I pounded Death's Shadow twice and when 1-1 against Abzan but didn't see Cartouche in any of the games. When you actually WANT to play Jund, it's no where to be found. Go figure.
I guess my overall review is positive. I was a little disappointed until I thought about the cards in was competing for a spot with. I think it outclasses most of the other flex aura slots depending on the meta. As for DD.. Man, I've got nothing bad to say. You can really get a feel for why living end is so powerful when you cycle that baby a few times. Especially at instant speed. It feels like you're cheating. At least it did for me.
I think Solemnity is totally unplayable. Stick with Cage and Stony Silence. Like you said, maybe 2 years ago. I'm all set with giving my abzan opponent a loop of never ending kitchen finks and a combo piece. At 3 mana, whatever you are bringing in better be a game changer because it's coming down late. I always like to keep in mind that a card as powerful as Blood Moon is usually too slow at 3 mana.
I have been playing a ton with the new cards and figured I'd throw in my two cents for people who haven't had time to test.
cartouche of solidarity has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Admittedly, I had pretty high hopes for it so you can factor that in. I like the card. I think it is absolutely playable. Most times for me it has felt like a bit of a win more card. Not every time but alot of games. I felt like I only got real value out of it against jund and burn in a handful of games. Where it really underwhelmed for me was against sweepers. Felt like a situation that was already bad got way worse. Other times it had a bit of a Spiritdancer feel when opponents fired a kill spell at it that normally would have just rotted in their hand. Having said all that, it definitely competes for a spot(s) in the deck. I do love how it adds two power to the board. I think it's right in that flex aura spot (Keen sense, unflinching courage, spirit link, spirit mantle, griff's boon). It can absolutely not replace any copies of hyena umbra unless the meta becomes totally scewed from sweepers. And personally out of the flex auras, I'm always always always picking cards that push damage through (Masntle, Boon, Courage) or Keen sense.
Dissenter's Deliverance. I've been waiting years for a card like this. I have loved it. The two mana cost gets around chalice and the ability to cycle when the opponent doesn't draw any hate makes it the best available option, for me. I played nature's claim in the past. Again, to try and get some value when the opponent didn't draw hate. Even if it does involve two for zeroing yourself, haha. Modern is a format where you have to pick your spots. Most decks are going to have things that they just straight up lose to. I realize there are plenty of dangerous enchantments out there. I can usually fetch around moon and worship has become pretty rare. I think this card is the best choice for it's slot (nature's claim, seal, naturalize, fragmentize, natural state).
I do think you've got to be careful tinkering around with the hexproof list. Something does well online and everyone goes crazy for it. If the deck has 4 rancor, coronet, and ethereal then there is a decent chance the person just drew gas and ran opponents over. I guess what I'm saying is there are some weekends on mtgo that I could play 10 copies of Emrakul in hexproof and still just win off the core engine that the deck has. I'd be real careful getting too cute with some of the flex cards and costing yourself wins. I think over sideboarding is another huge problem people have. It happens almost every time I watch hexproof on camera at a gp. Cards brought in from the board that don't give you a massive advantage or defend your strategy, should stay right in the box. It's so easy to water the deck down and cost yourself wins. I would love to see hexproof sneak in a gp top 8. Sometimes I feel like it hasn't happened because people dick around with the lists too much and don't play it for what it is.
dissenter's deliverance. This is a great card out of the board. It solves the problem that has always frustrated me of bringing in hate removal and not seeing any hate. I usually play Nature's Claim. That can gain the 4 life but you have to two for one yourself. It also doesn't kill chalice. I've loved deliverance so far. It's obviously not for everyone. I can usually fetch around blood moon and haven't run into Worship much lately. Give it a try.
Heck, I didn't see the Spellskite proof. I thought of the cartouche as a sideboard option, but yes, I guess, you could play it mainboard.
I didn't realize it at first glance either. I'm hoping they do a full cycle of these auras, at least one per color; seems like there's definitely some potential there if any 'cartouche' aura has the caveat of the target being a creature you control.
Edit: The rest of the cartouche auras look pretty underwhelming. The green one would be ok if it didn't have a 3 cmc.
Yup. Looks like we got skunked. I agree with you. The green one is decent until you look at the cost. You would need an almost perfect scenario to get value off the 3 cmc price tag. I'll take Unflinching Courage all day long if I'm going to jam an aura at 3 mana. Oh well. Kind of strange they made the first cartouche so much better and more efficient than the rest. I just happy we got something. I really think the cartouche of strength is going to be effective.
Did you mean to say the Cartouche of Solidarity? I'm definitely going to test out two of them and see how they perform. I agree in regards to the design for each cartouche; the second one that I saw spoiled was the red which also had a cmc of 1, so I got my hopes up for the others. However, the cartouche of knowledge isn't too bad for those who are still experimenting with blue in their lists; it's more/less a Gryff's Boon that costs 1 more and cantrips.
Yeah, yeah. My bad. I meant Solidarity. I don't think Cartouche of strength is playable.
Heck, I didn't see the Spellskite proof. I thought of the cartouche as a sideboard option, but yes, I guess, you could play it mainboard.
I didn't realize it at first glance either. I'm hoping they do a full cycle of these auras, at least one per color; seems like there's definitely some potential there if any 'cartouche' aura has the caveat of the target being a creature you control.
Edit: The rest of the cartouche auras look pretty underwhelming. The green one would be ok if it didn't have a 3 cmc.
Yup. Looks like we got skunked. I agree with you. The green one is decent until you look at the cost. You would need an almost perfect scenario to get value off the 3 cmc price tag. I'll take Unflinching Courage all day long if I'm going to jam an aura at 3 mana. Oh well. Kind of strange they made the first cartouche so much better and more efficient than the rest. I just happy we got something. I really think the cartouche of strength is going to be effective.
Good card period. My guess is a 2/2 split with Hyena umbra depending on how sweeper heavy the meta is. Maybe even more than 2. It's a great card. Does tons of good things. Helps against tons of decks. Great against Jund. Great against Blessed Alliance. I think it's a keeper. That's just my guess.
The Cartouche in the subtype is interesting. I think that's a type of jewelry. The name of the card is interesting as well. I bet there will be more of these. Cartouche of justice, Cartouche of honor... something like that. But I have no idea. I'm out of touch with the spoilers scene. Just another guess. This might be a huge set for aura's.
I saw someone play boggle with Lunarch Mantle as a 1 of... Did somebody try it?
I've tried it a few times. I liked it a lot. It's def no more than a two of. There's obvious overlap between Lunarch Mantle, Spirit Mantle, and Gryff's Boon. I feel like they are all vying for a similar spot/role. I like Lunarch's +2/+2 to get out of Anger range. It's also a nice draw against Chalice. All depends what you run into. I don't think there is a definitive right or wrong between the three.
Guy won at FNM in a small 12 person tournament last night. He ran Bogles and splashed Blue. He ran Innvocation of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker with that Blue enchantment that lets you scry each time you hit. Seemed to work pretty well.
It's enticing. I've just had trouble with speed and consistency every time I've tested it. I spend the first two turns dicking around with the stalker and by the time I have something set up, I either take 15 poison from Blinkmoth or 27 damage from cranial plating or am staring down Ugin. I'm not saying it can't work but I just prefer the consistency and speed of GW.
I think Dromoka's Command seems much better in theory than it actually plays out. The scenarios where it shines are pretty narrow. I tested it last year for a bit. I think you'll be happier with Path. Just cleaner and more efficient. I don't love path but it's easily the best white/green has to offer. I think killing something with Path that doesn't HAVE to be killed is a mistake a lot of people make when they first pick up the deck. Accelerating Merfolk or Humans or Jund on turn 2,3,4 is not where you want to be. I don't cast Path unless I absolutely have to.
Spirit Link is a great card but comes with the downside of not buffing the creature. I usually play one in the main and one in the board. It's def not a card you want to see a ton of.. but it can turn things massively in your favor against fast creature decks (affinity, merfolk, humans, goblins...). It's just almost completely dead against things like Tron, Strom, and Lantern.
Cool. Yeah, I think it's a great choice for a GP. The only part I don't like about bringing it to a tournament with that many rounds is that it inevitably malfunctions for a round or two. That pretty much means you have to win every winnable match.. but I guess that's true of any deck to an extent. Good luck in Toronto and let me know how it goes. There was a small bogle group in Spain this weekend. Pretty stock lists. A few of them did pretty well.
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=18360&d=313990&f=MO&show_pts=Y
The list looks great to me. You've got the core of what you need. The rest is just guessing what you're going to face. I've been getting quite a bit of mileage out of Spirit Link lately. Helps a ton against humans and all the fast, wide creature decks. Mainboardable for sure. List looks good though. Might want to test dissenter's deliverance. You lose the potential Ethereal boost of Seal but gain instant speed and the ability to cycle if there is no Artifact to kill. It's all preference. I play with hexproof a ton and personally think its just a better card. The other card I would test is Gryff's boon. In alot of instances it's just faster and cheaper than Mantle. Does make you a little more susceptible to Chalice. Realistically, you're probably not going to win through a resolved Chalice anyway!
That's my two cents. Great job with the deck and good luck in Toronto.
Been working a ton and just wanted to check in. I've been playing here and there online with pretty good results. Storm is a problem. I literally have 12 sideboard cards to optionally bring in and sill usually get bent over. I would devote a little more time and resources (Cannonist) to storm but I have a feeling wizards will be taking care of that problem for me at the next announcement. While I'm on the subject, I love having a challenging deck to beat but not one that casts 35 spells to my 6 over the course of 20 minutes to my 5. Anyways...
Saw the new blue enchantment. That thing would be a world beater if it were green. I play three Keen Sense right now. I feel like I always have a free attack or two and love the extra chance to draw into my hate or have card advantage against Jund variants. I board them out on the draw for sure. The problem with splashing a color is not the lack of good cards to warrant a splash, it's the mana base. Red offers tons of cards to splash for. I have tested these decks extensively to the same result. There are just too many games that end in deck malfunction. A problem that plagues our deck already. It might be able to rip off a 5-0 here or there but it just isn't consistent enough to take down a big tournament. I think the only thing that will change hexproof is the printing of another blue 1 cmc hexproof creature. Then you could cut green (RIP Rancor), play misty and heath to still fetch for the arbor, and play a u/w version. There are enough white enchantments now to make a solid u/w build. While I'm on the subject, test Unstable Mutation before you write about it. Yes, it gives you some god draws, but it can be a total nightmare in grindy games.
I have been loving Cartouche. I cannot draw enough of that card. The value of having and chump blocker and being able to attack early against things like burn is huge. Not to mention what it does against B/G/X decks. It's not always obvious, but it usually boils down to being the difference against those deck.
I have abandon Stony Silence. I NEVER play affinity anymore which isn't a horrible matchup to being with. I haven't played old school tron or latern at all lately either. I roll with Dissenter's Deliverance. It blows up anything I need to and cycles if there is nothing to destroy. I have always been partial to Nature's Claim but I think Deliverance is just better. I absolutely hate chalice.
I think thats all for now. Good luck everyone!!
Great report and good stuff at the tourney. I wanted to reply because of the umbra/cartouche dilemma. I feel the exact same way. I am down to 6. 4 Hyena and 2 Spider. That's only my split because I play Keen Sense. I have to have first strike. Anyways, I went through the same thing when building my list for regionals. I hate cutting umbras because it's so nice to have in combat and against sweepers. With modern as wide open as it is right now, I bet you could run as little as three and be fine one weekend and run eight the next weekend and need everyone of them. I think it's just going to be guess/judgement call until the dust settles from the new set.
I love silence. I use it all the time. Good for you for playing with it. It has tons of sneaky applications. I like bring it in against blessed alliance. It's about the only card that stops it.
As for the lands... I have always played 20 but have been very tempted to shave one. There was a top 8 list at one of the regonals that ran 18!! Bogles is the type of deck that is going to have to run a little luckier than others to win. I have no problem with 19 lands. Although 19 with unflinching courage in there might be pushing it a bit.
I ran hexproof yesterday as well. I was 4-1, lost the 6th round, and then dropped at 5-2. I had some work to do so I couldn't really stay and play without a chance for top8. I grinded through titanshift 3 times, beat jund once, and lost to control and faeries. I lost to neverending blessed alliances in the control match and just had a total deck malfunction against faeries. I might have been able to stabilize against a different deck but the mulligans were severely punished by discard and liliana. I was really happy with the deck overall. I play three keen sense in the main and continue to think it's the most underplayed card in hexproof. Yes, it is a horrible topdeck, no argument from me there. I can't count the number of times it has kept me in games that I have no business being in. I usually side out most of them on the draw depending on how early the opposing deck has a creature down. Other notables from the tourney were spirit link and cartouche. Cartouche was just awesome. I play two and might go up to three. It seems to give alot of unforeseen problems to opponents. Twice yesterday I pathed the token to avoid mana screw. Not a great play but much better than the alternative of pathing a tribe elder, ha. I played one spirit link in the SB and was very happy with it. I have always known about this card but have been a little skeptical seeing as though it offers no power boost. I was very happy with it. It had a similar feel to keen sense. I felt I was winning races that I had no business winning. Nothing ground breaking, just wanted to give my official endorsement :). I used to be strictly against cards like keen sense and spirit link but it just doesn't seem like hexproof can race anymore. The meta is just too big, fast, and good. I think the utility auras offer a nice alternative in certain matchups. Lastly, MVP was and always is the Spiritdancer. I've suited that thing up a million times and I'm still surprised how quickly it wins. Hope everyone had fun yesterday!!
I play with OTA on occasion. It's a fun card for sure. If I had to play a game for a million dollars it probably wouldn't be in my 75 but it's definitely useful. I think modern has actually slowed down a little since I tested it last. I can remember thinking that is was a touch slow in some of the matches. I did like it though. I'm not sure slight card disadvantage is the right way to think about it. I think it's a little more like Streetwraith, Bauble, or Ancient Stirrings. Just increasing your odds of getting your best cards into your hand asap.
I hadn't even thought of the combo with unlife, haha. Ugh. I'm sure the pro's will streamline that combo and fit it into a deck somewhere. Hopefully it won't lead to people chalking their boards with enchantment removal.
I played in 15 leagues or so. Maybe 75 matches. I wish I had time to play more but work is just too much this time of year. I had two copies of cartouche in the list I tested. Everything else was stock. Testing sucks, haha. You play 150 games, only see the card your trying to test probably 30% of the time. And of that 30%, 40% of those are non blow out, actual instances of how the card performs. I'd say there were probably 30 individual games where I got a feel for what it could do. I noticed the following:
-It was fantastic again burn. Having a chump blocker and adding power to the hex creature was boss. Getting their Guide chumped and getting hammered on the backswing is not where burn wants to be.
-It didn't help at all against Tron/Eldrazi Tron. This is where I was most disappointed. This matchup has always frustrated me. I hate Tron. All variations of it. The sweepers hit me just as hard. The 1/1 soldier just got run over. Occasionally hopping in front of a Thoughtknot and saving a few damage. I always felt inclined to try and save the cartouche to rebuild with but you need a creature to even get it going so I always had to just roll it out there.
-I try to make a habit to save a fetch land whenever I can to rebuild with Arbor if I have no creatures in hand. In two of the games I was able to fetch the arber and cartouche it on the following turn. It put an enormous amount of pressure out there after a sweep. This is where it really shined. Both times I drew into a decent aura as well and rebuilt instantly. It definitely has value there.
-Never was I in a scenario where I could fight through blessed alliance with it. I'm sure it happens here and there but it's a stretch.
-It does add a lot of power quickly in the early turns. The any combination of Cartouche and Rancor/Ethereal in my opening hand usually tilted things pretty hard in my favor. As I mentioned before, the token is a bit of a lightning rod. Giving a lot of opponents something to fire a removal spell at that normally would have just gone to waste.
-Was dying to test it against a Jund variant but I never saw it. I pounded Death's Shadow twice and when 1-1 against Abzan but didn't see Cartouche in any of the games. When you actually WANT to play Jund, it's no where to be found. Go figure.
I guess my overall review is positive. I was a little disappointed until I thought about the cards in was competing for a spot with. I think it outclasses most of the other flex aura slots depending on the meta. As for DD.. Man, I've got nothing bad to say. You can really get a feel for why living end is so powerful when you cycle that baby a few times. Especially at instant speed. It feels like you're cheating. At least it did for me.
I think Solemnity is totally unplayable. Stick with Cage and Stony Silence. Like you said, maybe 2 years ago. I'm all set with giving my abzan opponent a loop of never ending kitchen finks and a combo piece. At 3 mana, whatever you are bringing in better be a game changer because it's coming down late. I always like to keep in mind that a card as powerful as Blood Moon is usually too slow at 3 mana.
cartouche of solidarity has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Admittedly, I had pretty high hopes for it so you can factor that in. I like the card. I think it is absolutely playable. Most times for me it has felt like a bit of a win more card. Not every time but alot of games. I felt like I only got real value out of it against jund and burn in a handful of games. Where it really underwhelmed for me was against sweepers. Felt like a situation that was already bad got way worse. Other times it had a bit of a Spiritdancer feel when opponents fired a kill spell at it that normally would have just rotted in their hand. Having said all that, it definitely competes for a spot(s) in the deck. I do love how it adds two power to the board. I think it's right in that flex aura spot (Keen sense, unflinching courage, spirit link, spirit mantle, griff's boon). It can absolutely not replace any copies of hyena umbra unless the meta becomes totally scewed from sweepers. And personally out of the flex auras, I'm always always always picking cards that push damage through (Masntle, Boon, Courage) or Keen sense.
Dissenter's Deliverance. I've been waiting years for a card like this. I have loved it. The two mana cost gets around chalice and the ability to cycle when the opponent doesn't draw any hate makes it the best available option, for me. I played nature's claim in the past. Again, to try and get some value when the opponent didn't draw hate. Even if it does involve two for zeroing yourself, haha. Modern is a format where you have to pick your spots. Most decks are going to have things that they just straight up lose to. I realize there are plenty of dangerous enchantments out there. I can usually fetch around moon and worship has become pretty rare. I think this card is the best choice for it's slot (nature's claim, seal, naturalize, fragmentize, natural state).
I do think you've got to be careful tinkering around with the hexproof list. Something does well online and everyone goes crazy for it. If the deck has 4 rancor, coronet, and ethereal then there is a decent chance the person just drew gas and ran opponents over. I guess what I'm saying is there are some weekends on mtgo that I could play 10 copies of Emrakul in hexproof and still just win off the core engine that the deck has. I'd be real careful getting too cute with some of the flex cards and costing yourself wins. I think over sideboarding is another huge problem people have. It happens almost every time I watch hexproof on camera at a gp. Cards brought in from the board that don't give you a massive advantage or defend your strategy, should stay right in the box. It's so easy to water the deck down and cost yourself wins. I would love to see hexproof sneak in a gp top 8. Sometimes I feel like it hasn't happened because people dick around with the lists too much and don't play it for what it is.
Yeah, yeah. My bad. I meant Solidarity. I don't think Cartouche of strength is playable.
Yup. Looks like we got skunked. I agree with you. The green one is decent until you look at the cost. You would need an almost perfect scenario to get value off the 3 cmc price tag. I'll take Unflinching Courage all day long if I'm going to jam an aura at 3 mana. Oh well. Kind of strange they made the first cartouche so much better and more efficient than the rest. I just happy we got something. I really think the cartouche of strength is going to be effective.
Good card period. My guess is a 2/2 split with Hyena umbra depending on how sweeper heavy the meta is. Maybe even more than 2. It's a great card. Does tons of good things. Helps against tons of decks. Great against Jund. Great against Blessed Alliance. I think it's a keeper. That's just my guess.
The Cartouche in the subtype is interesting. I think that's a type of jewelry. The name of the card is interesting as well. I bet there will be more of these. Cartouche of justice, Cartouche of honor... something like that. But I have no idea. I'm out of touch with the spoilers scene. Just another guess. This might be a huge set for aura's.
I've tried it a few times. I liked it a lot. It's def no more than a two of. There's obvious overlap between Lunarch Mantle, Spirit Mantle, and Gryff's Boon. I feel like they are all vying for a similar spot/role. I like Lunarch's +2/+2 to get out of Anger range. It's also a nice draw against Chalice. All depends what you run into. I don't think there is a definitive right or wrong between the three.
It's enticing. I've just had trouble with speed and consistency every time I've tested it. I spend the first two turns dicking around with the stalker and by the time I have something set up, I either take 15 poison from Blinkmoth or 27 damage from cranial plating or am staring down Ugin. I'm not saying it can't work but I just prefer the consistency and speed of GW.