Rugstill

[Avatar of Bro]

Hey Sourcers!

I've been noticing that over the last few months RUG Delver has taken a loss in popularity especially with cards like Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay making their way into the meta. Understandably so, as well, because those two cards can be devastating if you aren't prepared for them.

I've been developing my RUG Delver deck over several weeks and trying new things. Among them is the reduction of Stifle to one copy, the addition of Standstill, and a few others. With things the way they are I wanted to make RUG regain a little bit of its power since I love the archetype.

My current build is as follows.

CREATURES-------

4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Scavenging Ooze

SORCERIES--------

3 Ponder
2 Chain Lightning
1 Green Sun's Zenith

INSTANTS----------

3 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Tarfire
1 Stifle

ENCHANTMENTS---

3 Standstill

LANDS--------------

4 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD--------

2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Sufluric Vortex
3 Submerge
2 Cursed Totem
1 Seal of Removal
2 Krosan Grip
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt


I'm fully aware of how weird this list may look. My explanations for some of the unconventional cards are as follows -

* Stifle - I reduced this to 1 copy because I believe Stifle is one of those cards that really sucks when it sucks, and along with Daze it's one of the worst nonland topdecks in the deck. Oftentimes I would rather people think I have them so that I can still "control" in some way.

* Tarfire - Tarmogoyf food. It doesn't even have to resolve in order for it to matter.

* Dryad Arbor - It's good for any responses to Standstill that threaten a Delver of Secrets I have out that would have given me board advantage. Even if it's a 1/1, it's still advantage until my opponent has a reason to let me have three cards. I may also try Treetop Village or Faerie Conclave if I feel as if they're better options down the road.

* Counterspell - I've seen virtually no RUG lists that include plain Counterspells. I've gotten much much more use out of them than, say, a Spell Snare. It's also infinitely better than any other countermagic mid-to-late game as well.

* Seal of Removal - Bounce and more Tarmogoyf food. I also consider Germ tokens as well.

* 3 FoW, 4 Pierce - I'm only choosing to run 3 Forces due to the fact that in most cases against decks that aren't creature heavy, a Spell Pierce does a better job at being Force of Will than Force of Will itself. It also saves me cards I would otherwise have to pitch.

* Cursed Totem - Not the most popular option, but Deathrite Shaman, Knight of the Reliquary, and Stoneforge Mystic hate them. It also makes Elf Combo cry in the corner as well. This matters because I see a good bit of it.

* No Rough / Tumble - I really hate the idea of using this card. It's only good if you're clearing boards of Goblins, really, and that's about it. I've hardly ever cast this card and don't think I will most of the time. If I'm going to use board wipe, I would rather go for tempo edge or faster clock and cast Earthquake.

Again, I know the list looks strange but I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions on it. I've tested it and I've gotten pretty good results, but let me know what you think!

Happy New Year everyone! Be safe!

[Einherjer]

Hey

I'll give you a few input points. I have neither tested this list nor did I play anything similar, though I played Canadian Threshold for quite a while.

1) Dryad Arbor: If you want to run him, fine. But I'd much rather switch the Scalding Tarns to Wooded Foothills. This changes leads to:
2) If we play no Tarns any more you might also want to cut the Island for another Dual, to enable you to fetch up everything everytime you need it.
3) 4 Spell Pierce seems excessive. Your deck has a hard time dealing with opposing Tarmogoyfs as you hardly have an out for it. Maybe you'd like to split Pierce/Snare
4) 1 Stifle... I've played Stifle in both, Tempo and Controldecks already, and 99% of the time I played 4 Stifle. I think you really want to play Stifle 0 or 4 times, from time to time it's okay to shave it to 3 if you have slot problems, but 1 seems inefficient to me.
5) Ofc it is sweet when you can pump your Goyf with Tarfire. But when does Goyf's P/T matter? It's smaller than a Knight most of the time, so it does not. It is bigger than a Batterskull most of the time, so it does not. It is equally strong as the opposing Goyf, so it does not. I'd much rather play the 4th Bolt.

So this is what I think, let me know what you think about these points!


Greetings

[Avatar of Bro]

Hey Einherjer,

I agree with you on the Wooded Foothills angle. Stronger fetch capabilities.

I use a single Island because I want to ensure that I will always have a consistent source of blue mana. I go for as much mana security as possible in a deck like this, which is why I run the Taiga. If my Tropical Island gets wasted and then Extirpated or Surgicaled, I'm left with zero green mana. A Taiga at least ensures I have a second green source along with the Dryad Arbor I just put in.

My out to Tarmogoyf is to either counter them or Submerge them. It's the same as any other large creature I want gone.

I can probably at least sideboard the single Stifle against ANT or TES decks. I don't want it gone completely.

I agree with you when it comes to my Tarmogoyf being of equal P/T to my opponents', but as far as Batterskull being smaller, while you're correct on that the fact that it's a consistent life gainer for my opponent is very tough to beat. Oftentimes I'm more worried about the Batterskull on other creatures rather than its vanilla form with the germ as it enters. My out to Batterskull if it isn't countered is to Krosan Grip it game two, and if applicable, game three.

I don't always run into Knight of the Reliquary, but I deal with them in the same sense as dealing with opposing Tarmogoyfs. I know Knights are almost always going to be bigger, but the same argument can be made that Tarmogoyf will always lose to Knight, so I can't make the decision to use a singleton copy of that spell just on him alone. I'm also pretty certain I'm not going to be running into decks that even use Knight 100% of the time, so to me that isn't enough of a reason to replace Tarfire with a spell that will deal one more point of damage one time.

Greetings as well! Thanks for taking the time to reply.