MTG Salvation

These recent RUG lists are looking quite close to what I was playing (RUG Tempo) when ISD first came out. Recently I've been rocking a different version of RUG Tempo, Human based, with Snappy, Mayors, Delver, and Lavamance, backed with all kinds of goodies with pretty good results. Does well in my control heavy meta.

Based on your meta, you want to be able to not only control your opponent, but keeps threats coming, at a fairly decent curve. A bunch of 6 drops doesnt seem like the best plan imo. And as far as swords go, they work pretty well, specially if you can keep putting out bodies to put it on. Either with Mayor or whichever Garruk.

4-1'd my FNM tonight with a Human based RUG list. 6th out of some 44 people i think.



Was happy with the main deck. Devil's Play was a late filler. Basically just a way to get the in the end if I wouldn't be able to get guys through. Didn't see it much.

R1: 1-2 Loss to Naya Pod --- Lost due to poor draws and hands that, in retrospect, I should of mulligan. Lost a winnable MU.

R2: 2-0 Win over GW Stuff --- New player, basically a M12 GW deck, nothing really exciting.

R3: 2-1 Win over Solar Flare --- LOL MAYOR SO GOOD! ;D

R4: 2-0 Win over G/W Tokens --- Easy game. Play guys, bounce theirs. Win

R5: 2-0 Win over Mono Green --- Lots of big guys like Dungrove and Splinterfright. Just countered and bounced into an easy win.

Deck felt real good 4/5 rounds, never running into much of mana issues save one game R5, but still got there. Had a ton of fun playing the deck. As far as revisions go in the future, maybe changing the Instant/Sorcery around a bit. Vapor Snag and Brimstone Volley were SO good all night. Sideboard needs some work, not much.

I want to go back to it, but I haven't been able to find a list that I'm happy with. Hopefully the next set gives RUG something good. Faithless Looting looks good, but better in Burning Vengeance instead. I haven't been able to play much recently but I think I will be trying out the more Human based RUG lists. With Mayors, Delvers, and Snapcasters.

Even though I'm a big fan of the C.Sphinx, and an avid player of it, I voted for it for the reason that every time I play it, it fails the groan test pretty hard. And I usually am doing something really dirty with the advantages it gives me, even if it only goes around the table once.

I would be sad to see it banned, if it ever came to it, but would understand all the same. Now do I think any of them should really be axed, no not really. If players construct their decks with cards like those in mind, they should have multiple ways of dealing with them.

I like it, though as said above I'm somewhat taken aback. INN has me really looking forward to DA. Hopefully the second set does the same for the third.

I like the strategy for the reason that it was essentially what my first EDH (Numot) deck was and I would like to rebuild it. Sure it may not win all the time, though in my playgroup it seemed to play an important factor in who did win, it was a lot of fun. It's meant to be a fun, slightly competitive deck. If I wanted full out competitive, I'd play my Riku or Ghave deck, this ones for fun. ;D

"Pillowforting" was defined loosely as a style of building defenses and using politics to keep everyone else from attacking you. But, if they were to all focus on you while you built your fort, it would crumble and you would lose.

Or at least thats what I gathered from the cast.

Quote from Blackjack68

When I see the name "Pillowfort", I immediately think of walls, Propaganda and No Mercy. A less antagonistic form of stax that just says "leave me alone, I'm not hurting anyone and have lots of defenses". I have seen several people build decks that way.

That's more or less what I'm going for, thanks Blackjack!

Numot was one of my first EDH generals, so going back and rebuilding it better now that I've learned much about the format seems like a fun idea. And you guessed it right, it was built with a bunch of walls and things that say, "Don't attack me bro! I'm just chilling behind this big shinny wall!" Then, when the time was right, after most players were killed off, I finished them up.

So I was, as said above, a very defensive, leave me alone kind of build.

All suggestions so far have been great, save the off color ones but I love those as well. Once I have some more time I'll post a tentative list in the Multi Sub-forum. Thanks and keep 'em coming!

After listening to the most recent commander cast and their segment on pillowfort strats, it has made me want to rebuild my Numot Control EDH deck. It had a fairly good fort strat to it at the time, but many sets have been released since and I would like to ask the community for suggestions for "pillowfort" type cards.

I have the obvious Propaganda, Ghostly Prison like effects, but I'm sure there is many I'm missing. So if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! Thanks.

Hey fellow Minnesotans! I play in the upper metro area. Coon Rapids to be exact. We have events at our local store Wednesdays and Fridays (Standard) and we usually have 4-8 people on Thursdays for EDH. EDH is also played in between standard rounds wed/fri but mainly thursday nights. We play at a shop called Outpost 2000. I know Legion Games has a EDH night in Burnsville, might be worth checking out. Its a little far for me to drive though.

@gereffi - Emissary may not, but my naturalize sure does. And obviously Mayor out of the board for control.

Quote from Go.dec

What kind of strategy are you running? An aggressive tempo based one? It sounds good except that WRR probably just eats it alive. 4 Snapcaster with all the great spells in green and red is definitely why RUG is worth playing, maybe in another era would Skinshifter and Daybreak Ranger be good, but in a format so defined by Ramp, I just don't see it being solid.

You are correct about my build. Ill try to post a list for referance later, still at work.

True I haven't played agaisnt a lot of ramp as my meta is UB UBW heavy, but I haven't had to much trouble with it. Just need to play tight. Resolved Titans can be rough, though I may be running more Beast Withins to help. I'm also looking a BUG list that is similar to my current RUG list, but replacing burn with kill spells and the like.

Edit: @Go.dec - If Emissary is terrible late game, how do you justify Mana Leak when it is also bad late game after they have, typically, more then enough mana to pay the 3.

Quote from gereffi

I don't run Emissary in my list anymore because I'd rather play a Mana Leak on turn 2. Theby format has been getting a lot slower, and Emissary's usefulness against most decks is pretty low.

So it must be nice to have a mana leak ready and in hand with the proper lands in play untapped everytime.

Having mana leak available is always great, but it really depends on the match up. Against control, I may hold for leak over Emissary/Skinshifter, but they will most likly play a tap land and pass, or play something not worth the mana leak. It's after the have 3 mana open you would want to hold for a counter if the try to play Alchemy EoT. Agaisnt aggro, it's unlikly I'll want to counter there 2 drop when Emissary will trade with their 1 or 2 drop all day long. Same goes for if your on the draw, it really just comes down to the match up, and whats in your hand.

Maybe your build and style varies from most lists I've seen, but turning on snapcaster should not be crucial to your deck. Unless possibly your very spell heavy or possibly a vengeance deck. Either way, IMO Snapcaster should be used as utility. I've found two casters to work very well for me. Obviously 4 in spell heavy versions, but I've posted earlier about my dislike of that strat.

If not Emissary in your two slot, then what would you replace it with?

Sure they may take the 2 damage from Emissary, but after a few turns of that along with the threat Thrun gives us against blue, the damage can really add up so they are left with the choice to either take it again and again, edging out damage each turn, (see Squad Hawk) or let you gain a land/fixer advantage.
And if your having issues with getting 4 mana by turn 3-4, then you may need to re-evaluate your mana base. Maybe try some BoP if your opposed to Emissary. They at least block Inkmoth late game.