Deathtouch Tribal

4 Force of Will
2 Questing Beast
4 Hooded Blightfang
3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
4 Baleful Strix
2 Chevill, Bane of Monsters
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
1 Sylvan Library
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Unearth
1 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Force of Negation
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Plague Engineer
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Carpet of Flowers
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Thoughtseize


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1saRT_hzZ4

I wanted to start a thread for the "The Bad Touch" deck recently played on ThrabenU's channel. I think it's a fun direction from the usual BUG lists that are played. He made some good suggestions for the deck at the end of the video that I took into consideration when making this list. The deck has your usual good BUG cards (brainstorm, FOW, ponder, sylvan library, baleful strix, Uro). Then it utilizes Hooded Blightfang, and Chevill, Bane of Monsters to really take advantage of the deathtouch ability. In total we are running 14 deathtouch creatures in the main. While playing a control speed game, we begin to get a lot value off of our cards. There is a lot of card draw as well. I put in a Sylvan Library to synergize with Uro and the lifegain off Chevill. I may want to go up to 2 in the future or one in the board. I played 2 leagues with the list today and went 3-2 in both. I think it has legs, just need some fine tuning. I'm open to any suggestions to help make this deck better. A link to ThrabenU's channel is below the deck list. I considered Noble Hierarch in some number in the main, but felt it may be a little off where we need a good amount of black in the deck.

Love the concept, but Hooded Blightfang seems underwhelming. You get a 3-mana 1/4 that might drain a few life. I can see boarding in 2 copies vs Planeswalkers, but 4-of maindeck?

Other deathtouch options that could replace it:
Fynn, the Fangbearer (unlike Infect they still deal regular damage but it also makes Strix/Coatl into a 5-turn clock)
Nighthawk Scavenger (flying lifelink Goyf)
Isareth the Awakener (2T: create a Strix)

Nighthawk Scavenger seems really good here, maybe better than Uro, because as Phil said this deck has no real clock. Since the bottom of the curve is taken up with so many 1/1s you need your 3s and 4s to at least attack quickly. Questing Beast is great for that, but Uro is really slow.

You could also consider making this an 80-card deck. A certain companion likes playing 8Coatl.dec, and then you have room for all these deathtouch guys plus you always have guaranteed access to a clock.

So, maybe the Hooded Blightfangs just become 4 Nighthawk Scavenger. I like that card a lot. It’s also more of a threat on its own that blightfang is, so I’m with you on that. I was tempted to cut Uro and lean a little more into things like questing beast. That’s a clock as well on its own. Though, maybe noble Hierarch could find its way into a list to speed up the rate at which threats are deployed. Plus the exhaled is nice. I haven’t considered Yorion before. Could be an interesting avenue to look at. I’ll post a list later today.

3 Noble Hierarch
4 Baleful Strix
2 Chevill, Bane of Monsters
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
4 Nighthawk Scavenger
3 Questing Beast
4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Pierce
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
1 Sylvan Library
1 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland


Sideboard:


3 Surgical Extraction
2 Veil of Summer
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Force of Negation
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Thoughtseize
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Sylvan Library


Updated deck list as of today. Going to run it through a league later today

I would have a hard time not including Viridian Longbow in this as a machine-gun option. It even gives you outs to Emrakul. You have enough lands and acceleration to make the 3 mana equip cost work.

The equip cost on Longbow is high and just makes you lose harder to removal. Is there nothing cheaper?

Is Hierarch good there? Wonder if it's better to run more interaction, like Thoughtseize and the 4th Decay.
Maindeck Decay seems important because this deck loses so hard to a single Leovold or Narset (ThrabenU's first game) and you can't afford having your removal countered.

Longbow seems like a lot for 4 mana. I feel like some extra removal may just be better. I ran 2 leagues today with the deck and went 3-2 and 4-1! The deck beats up hard on delver strategies and DNT. Lost to elves comboing off early both games. Also got beat by reanimator pretty badly. I'm going to adjust the board a bit. Against tempo decks, and aggro it feels strong. Can definitely grind through a control matchup as well. Combo seemed to be my bigger weakpoint. Hierarch was okay. It was very hand dependent. I'm almost wondering if birds would be better in its place. Being able to get double black on turn 2 easily and dropping a nighthawk seems like a great line. I'd be open to trying thoughtseize in the main. It would definitely help g1 against combo. The deck was a little soft to terminus, but even if they remove a few 1/1's that just opens up opportunity to get their ETB's again. The deck isn't weak to blood moon or wasteland, making it a bit better positioned right now. My big question now is birds or hierarch or neither?

1 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
4 Baleful Strix
2 Chevill, Bane of Monsters
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
1 Sylvan Library
4 Nighthawk Scavenger
2 Questing Beast
4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize


Sideboard:

2 Carpet of Flowers
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
3 Veil of Summer
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Sylvan Library
1 Force of Negation
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Spell Pierce

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bomberman32

I ran 2 leagues today with the deck and went 3-2 and 4-1! The deck beats up hard on delver strategies and DNT. Lost to elves comboing off early both games. Also got beat by reanimator pretty badly.

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Based on those results, I'm even more inclined to suggest 2-3 maindeck Thoughtseizes. You have very little early interaction with unfair decks, just the FoWs. Hierarch/Birds doesn't help you in those games. Thoughtseize would.

Hierarch would help you maintain mana advantage in fair tempo games, but if you're already beating up on Delver and D&T then it might be win-more. You seem well positioned vs fair creatures and mana denial either way.

No Plague Engineer in the SB? That would help against Elves and is just a good deathtouch creature in general.

For SB, 2 FoN + 1 Mindbreak seems better than 2 Mindbreak + 1 FoN. There are a lot of non-storm unfair decks. Mindbreak is narrower.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FTW

Based on those results, I'm even more inclined to suggest 2-3 maindeck Thoughtseizes. You have very little early interaction with unfair decks, just the FoWs. Hierarch/Birds doesn't help you in those games. Thoughtseize would.

Hierarch would help you maintain mana advantage in fair tempo games, but if you're already beating up on Delver and D&T then it might be win-more. You seem well positioned vs fair creatures and mana denial either way.

No Plague Engineer in the SB? That would help against Elves and is just a good deathtouch creature in general.

For SB, 2 FoN + 1 Mindbreak seems better than 2 Mindbreak + 1 FoN. There are a lot of non-storm unfair decks. Mindbreak is narrower.

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So, I slotted the 3 thoughtseize in the main. Maybe I can bump the ponders back up to 4 and add a push main deck instead of the hierarchs. I agree, that I probably don't need them. Thought, having 3 mana on turn 2 was nice. Plague Engineer was originally in my list and I have no idea why I cut it. It has deathtouch! I think the FoN and trap split is better as a 2-1 as you said. I'll try the following out tomorrow and report back


1 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
3 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
4 Baleful Strix
2 Chevill, Bane of Monsters
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
1 Sylvan Library
4 Nighthawk Scavenger
2 Questing Beast
4 Force of Will
1 Fatal Push


Sideboard:


2 Carpet of Flowers
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
2 Veil of Summer
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Sylvan Library
2 Force of Negation
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Plague Engineer

Did some testing for the deck this evening and it went pretty well. My friends and I got together and had a bit of a gauntlet going where we each played everyone else once. I beat RUG delver 2-0, lost to dredge 1-2, beat DnT 2-0, beat Grixis Control 2-1, and lost to Turbo Depths 1-2. I think going forward I a going to swap Chevill, Bane of Monsters for 2 Fynn, the Fangbearer. The entire night I got to use Chevill's ability one time. It just doesn't seem reliable enough to happen when you first need to make it survive a turn, and then manage to kill a creature or walker. I like the idea of Fynn to turn the Strix and Ice-Fang into more of a threat on their own. Also the fact that regular damage on top of infect happening is nice. Just with that and strix or Ice-Fang cuts the clock in half. I also kinda want a Brazen Borrower in here somewhere.

Fynn seems interesting.

Rules question: If Baleful Strix dies in combat and you have Glissa, the Traitor, would it be a legal target for returning?

Glissa should see Strix. When State-Based Effects are checked, both creatures die at the same time from lethal combat damage. Triggers go on the stack after. At that point Strix is already in the yard to target.

Glissa could also recur SB hate cards like Nihil Spellbomb to grind out Dredge and Tropical Island.dec

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bomberman32

I beat RUG delver 2-0, lost to dredge 1-2, beat DnT 2-0, beat Grixis Control 2-1, and lost to Turbo Depths 1-2. I think going forward I a going to swap Chevill, Bane of Monsters for 2 Fynn, the Fangbearer. The entire night I got to use Chevill's ability one time. It just doesn't seem reliable enough to happen when you first need to make it survive a turn, and then manage to kill a creature or walker. I like the idea of Fynn to turn the Strix and Ice-Fang into more of a threat on their own. Also the fact that regular damage on top of infect happening is nice. Just with that and strix or Ice-Fang cuts the clock in half. I also kinda want a Brazen Borrower in here somewhere.

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Good results! So you're consistently beating the top tier fair decks, but losing to combo decks. Maybe that could be fixed with some SB adjustments. Borrower would help vs Depths.

Yeah, Chevill might be too conditional. Unless it's reliably triggering twice it's probably worse than Strix and Coatl (Also 1-power deathtouch, but flies and draws the card right away). Every time it does nothing or even just triggers once (delayed cantrip), it's not doing enough.

Fynn + 8Strix could be a good way to speed up the clock. Then again, Fynn will draw removal like Chevill and if it doesn't survive long enough to get 10 poison counters then it accomplished nothing. Worth testing but may not be consistent enough. Glissa could be another value engine, but might be too conditional like Chevill. Another option could be to just maindeck 2 Plague Engineers in that spot, freeing up SB space for combo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FTW

Glissa should see Strix. When State-Based Effects are checked, both creatures die at the same time from lethal combat damage. Triggers go on the stack after. At that point Strix is already in the yard to target.

Glissa could also recur SB hate cards like Nihil Spellbomb to grind out Dredge and Tropical Island.dec



Good results! So you're consistently beating the top tier fair decks, but losing to combo decks. Maybe that could be fixed with some SB adjustments. Borrower would help vs Depths.

Yeah, Chevill might be too conditional. Unless it's reliably triggering twice it's probably worse than Strix and Coatl (Also 1-power deathtouch, but flies and draws the card right away). Every time it does nothing or even just triggers once (delayed cantrip), it's not doing enough.
Fynn + 8Strix could be a good way to speed up the clock. Then again, Fynn will draw removal like Chevill and if it doesn't survive long enough to get 10 poison counters then it accomplished nothing. Worth testing but may not be consistent enough. Glissa could be another value engine, but might be too conditional like Chevill. Another option could be to just maindeck 2 Plague Engineers in that spot, freeing up SB space for combo.

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I’m going to test the Fynn/ 8 Strix the next few days and see how that goes. I am a little apprehensive that I’ll run into the same problem as Chevill, but I’m open to trying it. I’m not the biggest fan of glissa. Where fynn “combos” with 12 cards in the main deck, glissa only works with 4. If I want cards back from the grave that were board cards I should probably add the 2 plague engineer to the main and open up some board slots. Carpet is nuts in this deck. Had the privilege of playing a T2 Questing Beast with FOW backup. I know it’s a narrow situation, but it felt good nonetheless. I am 100% on board for the 2 Plague Enginner to the main and probably putting 2 Brazen Borrower in the board taking their place. Especially with mentor running around again. I’ll test both the Fynn plan and the engineers and see how it goes. The deck isn’t tier 1 by any means, but it’s still a fun BUG midrange deck that grinds really well.