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Thread: [Deck] bUrg Tempo

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    [Deck] bUrg Tempo

    Hey folks, I want to discuss with you the relatively new bUrg deck, that came to life during GP Strassbourg 2013. It is mainly invented by my friend Carsten Linden, a famous German RUG Delver player. The GP winner Florian Koch had impressive results with the deck and helped to improve the list (he suggested the mana base in its current form). I play the deck since the beginning of its life cycle. It is the only deck I play - with some recent tournament successes. I even played it "in the dark" before Carsten introduced the deck to the public as he wanted to keep the deck secret before the GP.

    There is an older bUrg Thread here on TheSource and it is a good one. But the primer is not helping at all, as it is basically a list without any explanations. I have asked the thread starter if I can make a new primer. As he did not answer my request I have started this new thread. We need a thread with a good primer that is updated regularly, so forgive me that I decided not to post this as a normal answer in the existing thread. As I talk regularly with the inventors of the deck, I think it is safe to say that this is the best place for all information concerning bUrg.

    So let us start.

    What is the bUrg?

    It is a tempo deck. Tempo decks try to win through cheap and efficient creatures, mana denial in form of Stifle and Wasteland. They want to generate a tempo advantage in comparison to the opponent and keep him in the early game state with free counters like Daze and Force of Will. With these free/cheap spells and creatues we can play far less lands than the opponent. That generates us a virtual card advantage.


    The List

    Here is the state of the art list for the current international meta game:



    Deck: Official bUrg.dec

    Maindeck: 60
    Creatures:14
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Delver of Secrets
    4 Nimble Mongoose
    1 Gurmag Angler
    1 True-Name Nemesis

    Spells:28
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Lightning Bolt
    4 Ponder
    3 Spell Snare
    3 Stifle
    1 Golgari Charm
    1 Dismember
    4 Daze
    4 Force of Will

    Lands:18
    3 Misty Rainforest
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Scalding Tarn
    3 Tropical Island
    2 Underground Sea
    2 Volcanic Island
    4 Wasteland

    Sideboard:15
    1 Counterspell
    2 Spell Pierce
    2 Pyroblast
    1 Fire Covenant
    1 Golgari Charm
    2 Ancient Grudge
    1 Life from the Loam
    1 Abrupt Decay
    1 Surgical Extraction
    1 Nihil Spellbomb
    1 Grafdigger's Cage
    1 Thrun, the Last Troll



    Main Deck

    Creatures

    Deathrite Shaman: Mana dork, Gravehate, a constant one sided sulfuric vortrex in one one-drop creature. Deathrite Shaman is the reason to play this deck over RUG Delver, as he can transform bad matchups to good ones before boarding. Shaman is extremly flexible and gives us a tempo boost that can compensate for the tempo drawback of Daze on the play. We want to play four Shamans in order to have a stable mana base.

    Nimble Mongoose: If you look at the legacy format, you will clearly see that it is full of removal spells. The best ones are Lighnting Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Dismember, Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay. With that in mind you can only think of one of the best creatures in Legacy: Nimble Mongoose. He is resitent to spot removal, a good clock after reaching thresh, bigger than most creatures in the format that can block. He is the all star versus control matchups and good versus aggro decks. He profits from the fact that our plan is to counter or destroy every key threat of the opponent.

    Delver of Secrets: A 3/2 flying creature for one mana? That is a hell of a good creature to deal the first points of damage. He has evasion and our deck consists of 29 spells so that Delver will often flip blindly. Delver has a downside: He is pretty easy removable. But if he cannot be handeled, he wins the games on his own. It is the best win condition versus combo decks.

    That leaves us with only 1-2 creature Slots. We have several options here. We want a big baddie in these slots:

    Tarmogoyf: He was the most efficient beater in legacy. For 2 mana you get a 4/5 or 5/6 that can end games really quickly. But Gurmag Angler has outclassed him. Goyf had its time.

    Gurmag Angler: Meet the new, but better Tarmogoyf. We play only one or two of this guy, as the Delve mechanic can have a dissynergy with Threshold. Bonus: He has "half-shrourd" as he dodges Decay and Bolts.


    Some people suggest playing Young Pyromancers. They are wrong. A quick comparison will prove that:

    Young Pyromancer is better than Gurmag Angler...
    ... in the early game - he is good for speed starts and competes with Shaman, Delver and Wasteland/Stifle in that game state.
    ...versus Lilliana decks.
    ...versus decks that rely on Swords or Decay as main removal.


    Gurmag Angler is better than YP...
    ... in the late game - therefore we can only run 1-2 of him as we only need him end game to seal the deal.
    ... due to the fact that he cannot be removed easily. Nearly all non-combo decks run Deathrite Shamans and therefore cheap spot removal is prevalent in most decks. This removal can also kill YP.


    Gurmag Angler has some huge benefits. Goyf is not too bad in the situations where YP shines, it is ok. YP is really bad or not so great in situations where Gurmag Angler shines. As you see, playing Gurmag Angler is a more balanced approach. As we only have two slots Gurmag Angler is superior because YP loves to be a four-off. Furthermore YP stretches the mana base (you need red instead of green in contrast to all creatures besides the blue Delver). With YP you will get moren often mana screwed.

    True-Name Nemesis: This creature has wrapped up the metagame. It has evasion, can chump block all creatures in legacy and a resolved batterskull. It cannot be killed by spot removal. So it has the wall abilities of a Gurmag Angler/Goyf, the evasion of Delver and the "shroud" part of Nimble Mongoose. The card is utterly great versus midrange and control decks. With the high mana costs it is a no-go versus combo. Versus Tempo, the answer of the question "Gurmag versus Nemesis" is not clear: Nemesis is not removable for Grixis Delver players if it lands, but that is the problem due to the high casting costs and the sided in Pyroblasts in the postboard games. On the one hand, a resolved True-Name Nemesis is a clock that does need to be protected. We can concnetrate on screwing the other tempo player. On the other hand, Gurmag is far better castable and can only be removed by Dismembers. That is why Gurmag blanks half of the removal spells of Grixis Delver (Forked Bolt, Lightning Bolt) - he is half-removal proof. So Gurmag and True-Name are at least equally good versus tempo decks. So what is the conclusion? Gurmag is better versus combo, equally good versus tempo, worse versus midrange decks. True-Name Nemesis is a great card that can be included in our deck up to a 2-off. I opted for a split between Gurmag and True-Name.

    Vendilion Clique: This one is great for meta-games that are full of Nemesis and combo decks. It flies over Nemesis and can. Clique is also good versus Jund as it can put crucial combo pieces on the bottom of the library. Currently True-Name and Gurmag are better all-rounders in most situations. Clique dies to the cheap rmeovals that every deck now Plays due to the rise of Deathrite Shaman.

    Sylvan Libary: Before you call me crazy let me explain why I put Sylvan Library in the creature category. The card is like Jace and can help us to constantly cantrip and draw business - so it acts as Mongoose or Delver number five. Sylvan Library gives us an edge versus grindy matchups. It is nuts versus combo as the life loss is irrelevant. Sylvan Library makes our mana base better. As the meta moved away from Decay decks the card is really awesome right now. Sylvan Library however competes with the creature slots. And that is the reason I put it in that category. One does not play more than one main deck library.

    Which creatures should I play?

    I introduced to you creatures that are playable in bUrg.

    It is a matter of playstyle and meta game which ones you play.

    But we can agree on some points:

    - Tempo decks do not want to play more than 11-12 creatures normally. It is a proven and therefore the right number. Ok, Grixis Delver Plays 15 creatures but the deck is a "midrange tempo" deck that Plays 10 (!!!) easily removable creatures. They need more gas than us. Plus. Shamans are not counted as "real" creatures, as they normally serve as mana in the first turns.

    - The deck would not be a good tempo deck without a playset of Delvers. Fact.

    - bUrg needs Shamans to run 4 colours and not to be too greedy with the mana base. A playset of Shamans is a must-have.

    - We need as many shroud creatures as possible. Shroud creatures gain a virtual card advantage as they render 7-9 removal spells of the opponent to dead cards. With the low creature count tempo decks need some sticking creatures. Versus control decks like Miracles a shroud creature can win games on his own. I suggest playing at least 5-6 shroud or half-shroud creatures where at least 4 of them should be real shroud creatures.

    The rest is up to you. Just take the 4 points above into consideration.

    I play with the following configuration:

    4 Delvers
    4 Shamans
    4 Mongeese
    1 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Gurmag Angler

    I ended with 14 creatures as Shamans are not there for making damage in most cases.

    Mana Denial

    Legacy consists of gready mana bases with lots of fetchlands and duals - Czech Pile and Grixis prove that fact. We want to punish that with Wasteland and Stifle. Wasteland trades 1 for 1 but did you look at the mana curve of the deck? It is full of 1,1,1,1 and 1 mana spells. With that in mind Wasteland does not bother us much as we only need 2 colored mana sources to cast every spell in the deck. We can sometimes prevent the opponent of casting dangerous but not so cheap spells. Note: Wasteland is not a land. It is a sorcery for 0 mana that reads: You cannot play a land this turn, destroy target non basic land. Remember that always. The full playset of Wastelands is a must.

    Stifle gives us a tempo advantage as it helps us to keep our free counter spells alive even during the mid game. Stifle has so many other functions than only countering fetchland activiations. It helps us against Rest in peace, Pernicious Deed, Engineered Explosives, Liliana of the Veil (the minus 2 ability), Storm triggers, Deathrite Shaman activiations, Ichroid and so on. As we are a 4-colour deck we must run Stifles and at least three copies are advised. bUrg needs to protect its mana base.

    Counter

    Daze and Force of Will are fee counters that help us to interact with the opponent even if we are tapped out. Daze saves our creatures. Daze is a card that is neglected by some. Daze gives us an advantage even if we dont have it in hand. The opponent must decide if he wants to wait a turn with his spell to cast it Daze proof or if he risks casting it. Force of Will makes card disadvantage but is needed to counter must answer spells of the opponent - especially versus combo. These both counter spells are the bread and butter of tempo decks and should always be played in playsets.

    Spell Snare is a great meta call. Spell Snare is a hard counter that can interact with all key spells of all decks to beat. Spell Pierce is more flexible and can protect our creatures from removal. Spell Pierce also hits many key spells and is useable versus Sneak Attack whereas Snare is a blank. I would recommend running 3 Spell Snare as it helps us in the close matchups. In the matchups where Spell Pierce is better than Snare we can afford to lose game 1 as we are clearly superior after boarding.

    One potential one-off in the counter suite is Izzet Charm. It is a real flexible card as it is a Spell Pierce, creature removal and careful study in one card. It helps our Mongeese to reach Thresh faster, can answer a Shaman or Young Pyromancer and counter really relevant cards. It is cc2 so keep in mind how many clunky cards your list can afford. You should not play that many cc2 spells.

    One new secret tech is Counterspell. Yes good old Counterspell. It hits everything and is a hard counter versus TNN. As the matches versus the meta defining TNN.decs tend to go long and are grindy Counterspell is also a late game bomb. The card is always a worthy consideration.

    To sum it up you have 11-12 slots for counter magic and 8 slots are fix (FoW and Daze). The other 3-4 slots are up to you personal playstyle. Whether you use all of the four slots for countermagic or have three pieces of countermagic and one extra removal is up to you. Speaking of Removal...


    Removal

    We need some cards that can remove permanents. You clearly cannot counter everything.

    Lighnting Bolt: It is the best removal legacy has to offer. It gives our deck reach and can remove most creatures in the format. Bolt is not as clunky as the two mana spell Abrupt Decay. Lightning Bolt gives us a virtual card advantage. As the opponent knows that we play with Bolts he must decide if he blocks a creature or not. Many times I attack with a Mongoose and no Bolt in hand versus bigger creatures if I need the damage points. Nearly all times Mongoose does not get blocked as the opponent fears a bolt and therefore 6 damage to the blocker. And if the opponent is on low life he must always play versus a virtual bolt, as he can always be dead. That forces bad plays. A clear must-include as a playset.

    Abrupt Decay: Abrupt Decay is our swiss army knife versus nearly all relevant permanents in legacy. More than two Decays main deck is not the right move. With the comeback of Miracles decks two Decays can be reasonable. But I already suggest playing Spell Snares and that helbs for that matchup. I would move Decay to the sideboard as the meta has adapted and most threats are Decay-proof.

    Dismember: Dismember is also a great option as a removal. Two Decays often feels clunky and Dismember is a card that can be cast of an Wasteland. It removes every creature in the format - except of Griselbrand, True-Name Nemesis and Emrakul - on turn one on the draw. The life loss is not relevant as you have the life gain ability of Shaman to make up for it. Versus Midrange decks you can get greedy as your life is only a resource and it is enough to win at 1 life. In the tempo mirror however you have to use Dismember carefully, especially if the opponent plays Bolts and has reach. Versus combo Dismember gets boarded out but it can also destroy a Griselbrand in game 1 with the help of another of your creatures or a bolt. If you run three Spell Snares than many non-creature targets that Decay can answer are covered with these counter spells. That is why it is highly understandable to run 1-2 Dismembers.

    Golgari Charm: Meet the newest main deck tech. If you look at the decks to beat - Grixis, Mircales. Czech Pile, Lands, Stompy and Sneak and Show -, Golgari Charm can solve many problems. It kills Young Pyromancer and its Tokens, True-Name Nemesis and is therefore real good versus Grixis Delver. It is a surprise for Miracles Players as it can destroy Search for Azcanta and Counterbalance. Versus Czech Pile it gets rid of all Strix that can ruin your day if the opponent happens to have more than one in play. That happens more often than you think. It can save your creaturs from Decay. However, the card is dead versus Eldrazi Stompy. Versus Lands it kills 60 % of their search engine (Manabond and Exploration). Versus Sneak and Show the card is not that good as a good player will not let you destroy the Sneak Attack before activation. If you consider all matchups versus the decks to beat and take into consideration that Grixis Delver is THE most played and successful deck, Golgari Charm gets the nod and is included as a one-off in the maindeck. Note that the dissynergy with True-Name Nemesis is not really relevant as we only play 1-2 Nemesis and if we are ahead we do not cast Charm. It is our comeback-tool versus Grixis and can win matches that seem to be lost.

    Where the question if you play 2 Decays, a split between the latter and Dismember or only Dismembers or even my crazy Golgari Charm/Dismember split is a highly controversial one, one thing is certain: 4 Lightning Bolts are a must!

    Cantrips

    Brainstorm is the best Spell in Legacy. Brainstorm is played wrong even by the best players. Here are general rules: Do not waste your Brainstorm. It is not a card for the first turns. If you have a bad start hand, just mulligan and not hope to have a better one with Brainstorm. If you are ahead on the board just hold back your Brainstorm. Play it as late as possible. And do not try to play as much lands. Play two lands and hold all other lands in hand. When it is time to cast Brainstorm - please please only during your turn in sorcery speed - play one fetchland, cast Brainstorm, draw three cards, lay down two lands that sit in your hand (at least one extra land should be there besides the fetchland that you have laid this turn), crack the fetchland and voila: You have just had an Ancestral Recall. You have to play that card as a playset.

    Ponder is our second cantrip. It gives us extra knowledge of our next cards, you can rearrange them and plan your next steps. Ponder makes unplayable hands playable. Ponder + land + 4 Spells is playable, witout Ponder the hand is garbage. Note that you can play Ponder during the first turns actively. It is not comparable to Brainstorm. But please do not try to play ponder to flip a Delver. You need it for better occassions. Delver will flip automatically due to our high spell count. Running four Ponder is a must because tempo decks need at least 8 real cantrips - Gitaxian Probe for example only replaces itself and is therefore a semi-cantrip and not a real one.

    I run 0 Gitaxian Probes unlike the Grixis Delver lists that include 3-4. The perfect information Probe provides is not necessary if you are a skilled player and have a deck that can answer everything like bUrg. We do not play Cabal Therapy so Probe is not necessary in bUrg. As But if you want to play more agressively Probe is a good way to boost your Mongeese. You can run 2 Probes if you run only 2 Spell Pierces/Spell Snares/Izzet Charms in the counter flex slots.

    Sylvan Library has been discussed in the creature department.

    Mana Base

    We play 14 lands - Wasteland is not a land, it is a sorcery (see above). The deck is hungry for blue mana (Delver, Cantrips, Daze) but also wants to cast most spells with only two lands in play.


    That is especially the case if you run two main deck Decays. Then you want to havea land configuration that can cast a Decay and every other spell in the deck at only 2 mana. That is why you need a Taiga then. Taiga and Underground Sea are all that we need. A third Undergroud Sea cannot reach that. We need the Taiga to play our Ancestral Recall aka Brainstorm like described above.

    The debate whether to play Taiga or Bayou or even Badlands is a tricky one:

    We assume that we want to be able cast all spells with just two lands. Then we have three options:

    1. Taiga and Underground Sea,
    2. Badlands and Tropical Island,
    3. Bayou and Volcanic Island. Note: For Decay we need another extra green land in play.

    With Taiga you can cast all 15 non-blue spells. With Badlands only 9. With Bayou 11. All three duals are bad, as they do not produce blue mana but Taiga is the least bad choice.

    Bayou is out of question as you need a three land configuration to cast Decay and all other spells.

    Taiga wins versus Badlands due to the following additional reasons: With Taiga and Underground Sea every third land can cast our crucial sideboard spell Fire Covenant. Badlands/Tropical has not this ability. Playing badlands makes you dependent on Tropical Island and therefore you always have to choose whether to cast a threat with Tropical Island or hold up blue mana for Stifle/Counterspells/Cantrips. With Taiga in play you can cast your threats with the non-blue source and have a blue one open for your instants/sorceries. Although Lightning Bolt is the exception from that rule, the choice between casting a threat or bolting is not as hard as the choice of threat casting versus holding blue mana open.


    But what if you only play one oder zero Decay main deck? Then there is no need for Taiga. You fetch for Tropical and Volanic first like in RUG Delver and cast every spell in the deck with these two lands. If you happen to draw the one-off Decay or Charm or Gurmag Angler you can then fetch for one USea. But most of the time you will not need the Underground Sea. Deathrite Shaman serves as a mana dork in the first turns so the ping ability is only relevant late game. That is why USea is far less relevant in a built with only one/zero main deck Decays. But we still need two Underground Seas as we have powerful black sideboard cards. Without Taiga you have a all-blue mana base and that is a huge plus as you will never have hands with Taiga/Wasteland so the mulligan rate decreases drastically. The opponent cannot cut you off colors that easy without Taiga because you have nearly always blue for your cantrips. If you play the One/Zero-Decay list and therefore with only blue duals then you can run 3 Tropical Islands as green is your most important color. If you want to reach Thresh faster you can run 8 fetches. But beware that you cannot run sideboard cards with GG casting costs (like Thrun) if you only have two Tropical Islands. As the meta does not force us to play Decays in the main deck we can have a solid mana base with only blue duals.



    After the main deck has been discussed - and it is fix without flex slots, we come to the diverse Sideboard that makes clear that we can have an answer against everything. That is the reason that bUrg will always be good, even if the meta changes. We can play the best cards due to our 4 color approach.


    Sideboard

    Fix Slots

    Fire Covenant: It is one of the All-Stars of the sideboard. Fire Covenant is a one-sided Wrath of God with instant speed. Life loss is not important, as we want to play the aggro role against all decks where we board the card in. We only board it in versus decks, that have creatures as a win condition and have not heavy counter magic - so it is not against the RUG Delver matchup. Fire Covenant is a real unfair card and I do not know why the card is only worth a few pennies. Not a sinlge tempo deck can achieve what we can with Fire Covenant: Reset a bad board state. One of the main reasons to play bUrg. Play at least one. Two is also highly advised if you find the room in your Sideboard.

    Golgari Charm: Meet the second reason in the sideboard to play bUrg. It is a one-time Dread of Night versus Death and Taxes/Maverick, can kill Argothian Enchantress or all Empty the Warren tokens, save our creatures from Decay, kill many Goblins. It is a blowout versus Elves. It is a beast versus Young Pyromancer, too. Certainly a really strong card in today's True-Name Nemesis days - note that you harm your own one-off Nemesis with Golgari Charm. But that lacking synergy is not a problem at all. If you are ahead in the damage race with your own Nemesis do not cast Golgari Charm. If you are far behind, just cast it. As you want to have that deal-breaking sideboard card in every game you board it in, you need to play two copies if you do not have already one in the main deck.

    Submerge: It is a free spell and fits perfect in our tempo plan. But there are not that many Tropical Islands in the meta right now. Grixis only plays one. Submerge is therefore not that good anymore.

    5 Anti-Como cards including 2 Pyroblasts: We have the best combo matchup of all fair decks. We want to keep that good matchup even after boarding when the other decks bring in their hate. It has been tested a million times and believe me that 5 anti-combo sideboard cards is the right number. Do not go down from these numbers. You are free to choose which ones you need. But Pyroblast is a must in the True-Name Nemesis meta. Pyroblast has so many other applications than combo - that is why it is needed. Note: Pyroblast is superior to REB as the former has more synergy with Shaman - it can target anything. Flusterstorms are our combo breakers. Spell Pierce has more applications. Counter Spell is a suprising hard Counter versus all fair decks and good versus combo. Whether you decide to play with Spell Pierce, Flusterstorms, a on-Off Counterspell to round up your anti-combo-package is up to you.

    Life from the Loam: As we have a greedy mana base, we can use Loam to stablize it. As many midrangde decks in the Format cannot answer a wasteland lock, Loam is also a good card versus the opponent. That is why a one off Loam - think of it as the 19th land or as extra hate versus midrange decks - is great thing in the current meta game. A real powerful one-off as it can end games if drawn. That is what you want from a singleton.

    Ancient Grudge/Artifact Mutation: Hits all Equipemts and is great versus Eldrazi. As equipping a Nemesis seems to be cool these days Ancient Grudge is a must-include now. Grixi often plays with Jittes in the sideboard. One Grudge is sufficient if you have two main deck Decays. The Decays can hit nearly the same targets as Grudge - concerning Batterskull Decay can at least hit the token. If you only run one/zero Decay main deck you need another artifact destroying card. It can be another Grudge or the new secret tech - courtesy of Kai Thiele - Artifact Mutation. The card can give us an advantage in close games. Where Grudge is the better artifact removal, Artifact Mutation is an ideal companion if you need a second piece of artifact removal from the board.

    Abrupt Decay: A flexible sideboard card that is our swiss-army knive. Play one if you have zero main deck Decays. It helps versus many obscure matchups.

    Grave Hate: All good decks and some nasty combo decks need the grave. I think at least two-three piece of gravehate (Nihil Spellbomb, Grafdiggers Cage, Surgical Extraction) may be needed to complete the main deck hate of shamans. Nihil Spellbomb is the best choice vs the mirror RUG Del Delver. It shrinks the opponents' Mongeese. Great Stuff!



    Flex Slots

    That leaves us not much flex slots. There are many playable cards there.

    Here is a list of playable cards:


    -Green Sun's Zenith: The card is another Mongoose or Deathrite Shaman. It is great versus removal heavy and control decks. It is also another grave hate (=Shaman).

    -Reanimate: Think of it as another Mongoose that can trick the opponent and steal a Griselbrand for example.

    -Dread of Night: Byebye Death and Taxes and Maverick.

    -Sulfuric Vortrex: Great versus Miracles and all sorts of control decks. You need sometimes a way to push through the last points of damage.

    -Compost: Another secret tech of the deck. It is another piece of grave hate versus Dredge - you can draw 10-12 cards per turn so that you can find multiple Delvers and your main grave hate - and helps a lot Czech Pile. It wins the game for us.

    -Vendillion Clique: It has evasion, can come turn two with Shaman, is great versus combo. He can destroy all planeswalkers. It can fly over Nemesis. It pushes through the last points of damage, blanks equipment and cannot be stalled by Nemesis. Being a 3-drop is never a problem as the flash ability makes it possible to cast it EOT.

    -Grim Lavamancer: He can eliminate all creatures. Grim + Bolt = byebye Gurmag Angler. He has a anti-synergy with Mongoose and Deatrite, so it can only played as a one off in the sideboard.

    -Gurmag Angler: A Gurmag from the board helps versus creature decks like Goblins that are not played that much anymore.

    -Mind Harness: Beat the opponent with his own Goyf or Knight? Sounds good. A bit mana intense. And not right in the current meta.

    -Thoughtseize: A card that should not be boarded in versus fair decks. The concept of tempo decks is to generate an advantage by by countering a spell for which mana has been tapped. Thoughtseize cannot reach that goal. Versus combo the card can help a lot by attacking the combo player from two angles: counters and discard spells. But beware that you will still need a good amount of counterspells in your sideboard besides at least two copies of Thoughtseize. As bUrg has already a really good combo matchup without Thoughtseizes, my advice is to save sideboard slots for the more difficult matchups and not to include Thoughtseize. Beware that other discard spells (Hymn, Therapy, Duress etc) are unplayable in bUrg.

    -True-Name Nemesis and Troll Ascetic: True-Name Nemesis is highly castable as it only requires U and can come down on turn 2 with Shaman. It is brillant versus removal heavy midrange decks. The control matchup is far better with a resolved Nemesis. A real good sideboard card. But remember that you often play 2 Golgari Charms. That is why you can harm your own Nemesis. Do not play more than one in your sideboard for that reason or just play Troll Ascetic. Another good hard-to-kill creature that dodges all removal.

    -Ashiok: A highly underplayed Planeswalker. Its main application is to break the tempo mirror. Ruining the opponent's brainstorms and grabbing creatures is strong. Versus midrange or control decks with strong creatues Ashiok is the real deal, too. With 5 loyality counters when it hits, it is hard to remove. Nemesis needs 3 full turns to kill an Ashiok. That is why Ashiok reads in these cases: You gain 9 life. It stalls the board versus Nemesis and makes it possible to attack through it. And in the course of the three turns the chances are good that we can steal a useful creature with him. Ashiok is therefore perhaps the best planeswalker to fight Nemesis. Versus Miracles it rather often hits ultimate or can grab Snapcasters. Just try the card before dismissing it. A good card in today's meta.

    -Another Dual land or even a basic island: And now we come to an innovation. I must admit it: bUrg can have some moments where the mana base does not work out - especially versus opponents playing Wastelands AND Stifles/Ports. But that is not common these days. RUG is not played that much anymore and Grixis barely plays Stifles. Feel free to run blue duals in that spot or even a basic island. But do not run a fetch land as we need a Stifle-proof option here. The land is boarded in versus tempo mirrors. Those matchups come down to the question who has more lands in play. It is also boarded in versus matchups where I board out our protection suite - aka Stifle. It is awkard to know that Stifle does not have value in a matchup but needs to stay in to protect your mana base from opposing wastelands.


    -Thrun, the last Troll: If you run 3 Tropical Islands Thrun is a valid choice as it is game ending versus control and tempo decks. My secret star versus all fair decks to beat in the meta. Try it!

    - Bitterblossom: It is a great control card for grindy matchups. After all the removal has been spent Bitterblossom comes and gives you a huge board advantage. It is also great versus Terminus. A new secret tech that was introduced by Carsten Linden during GP Paris 2014.

    Here is a list of tested cards that do not work:

    -All Planeswalkers: Four Mana is too intense for this deck. Exception: Ashiok (which only costs 3).

    -Young Pyromancer: We need at least 4 copies of him to abuse him, but we do not want to cut Mongooses and he has no synergy with Mongoose. YP belongs to Grixis Delver.

    -Entomb: A good way to have a virtual extra copy of Ancient Grudge and Loam. But it makes card disadvantage. We do not need more than one Loam in the board and Grudge is only a flex slot card.

    -Ooze: He is too slow to make an impact. Play with another Gurmag/True-Name if you want more creeatures from the board. Ooze is only playable as a main deck creature instead of Goyfs. Goyfs are the more all around creatures. That is why Ooze did not make the cut. But it is understandable if a bUrg player chooses to play two main deck Oozes in a combo heavy meta.


    How to play the deck


    There are three main types of matchups: The combo ones, the midrange ones and the tempo mirrors.

    Versus combo you play reactively and try to answer every key spell and daze all cantrips of the opponent aggressively. If you have at least two lands, cast a one drop creature and swing with it while you continue your reactive play.

    Against midrange decks you try to make a perfect tempo start with Shaman, Stifle/Waste or Delver - at least one of those starts should be granted as you have a great chance to get a starting hand with at least one those things. You can easily make some serious damage with your tempo plan. Then you switch to the control role: Try to counter the opponent's plays. After the opponent has found his way in the game, try to play your removal. The board position gets even during that time. Then try to find Gurmag/True-Name- aggro mode again - with your cantrips. Cast it. Win.

    Versus the tempo mirror, try to keep a hand with 3 lands. Try to play reactively without greedy all-in starts. We need to play the control role. We have anwers for everything and have so much good creatures that must be answered by the opponent so that we will win the game in the long run. Grixis has to play the aggressive role due to their sheer amount of creatures. We do not want to race them, we want to dsirupt them.


    Why Play bUrg?


    Grixis Delver has proven that it has the potential to win every tournament. bUrg is the better version of it. We can do everything Grixis Delver does, but in a more crazy way. The problematic matchups become good ones and we have anwers to everything pre-board. Our sideboard is fantastic and will help us to be always a meta factor. Just go and play the deck and win some tournaments.


    I hope you enjoyed the primer.
    Last edited by Sasan; 02-13-2018 at 04:08 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Believers in bUrg

    Here I present some statements of the users why they play bUrg.


    Quote Originally Posted by personalbackfire View Post
    You would play RUGB over Rug or BUG for access to all 4 colors, to say it simple.

    It is my experience that tempo decks really want Bolt to have reach. Granted, I haven't played a ton of games with BUG Delver, but I've always liked having Bolt in the deck as a way to close out games.

    The reason you would want BURG over RUG is because of Deathrite Shaman and Decay.

    Deathrite Shaman really is just that good. It is good against Rug, it's good against opposing Shamans, it is good against graveyard strategies. He just does a lot of work. In addition, you are playing less 2 drops, which makes holding up one mana situational counters/stifle more easy.

    Decay also deals with some problem cards that RUG struggles with, like Counterbalance. In addition, it kills opposing creatures, it is versatile. In a pinch you might be able to float mana or use your Shamans to kill a Bloon Moon.

    Decay is a better "flex" slot than RUG has access too.

    ....
    Quote Originally Posted by TheKingslayer View Post
    I agree with Personalbackfire. I would like to add...

    Honestly, the mana base isn't really that "shaky." It's a blue deck at its core, and every spell costs one (except for abrupt decay.) Every once in a while I find myself being tilted off of mana, but very rarely, and for the most part, being a tempo deck, the opponent is likely putting themselves behind with all of our stifles and wastelands and shamans. As well, Deathrite really is the adhesive that makes the deck possible. He keeps ANT off of threshold, negates past in flames, keeps RUG off of threshold. He's a swiss army knife that allows for more explosive mana in the early game to use for more disruption (our combo matchup is more definitively better than other tempo decks), deploying threats, and cantripping. Near the end of the game, he circumvents copious amounts of blockers to end the game quickly. As well, he allows a lot of tempo can be had even while on the draw when playing a shaman and following it up with a wasteland and stifle, while still actively deploying threats and leaving counter mana up. Deathrite makes it much more difficult for other tempo decks to just run away with the game off of a wasteland.

    Bolt allows for tighter play and it can be used to close out games, rather than running 4 abrupt decays (which is clunky and would force us to run more lands instead of spells.) like BUG. Having access to both allows for tighter play and powerful options in dealing with permanents RUG normally can't deal with.

    The mana base is initially very difficult to navigate, but becomes much easier with plenty of practice.

    Also, having access to sideboard cards like Fire Convenant is powerfully rewarding and it works to shore up those troublesome mid range matchups. Our matchup against Jund is significantly better than RUG's.


    p.s. Spell Snare is the tits. It stops nearly every game ending two drop for us at all points in the game. I don't care to know for certain that my opponent has a stone forge in their hand. It is in my best interest to assume it is there, and I'm much more comfortable knowing that I can counter it when they play it.


    I used to play RUG. After making the switch, I tried to go back to RUG, but I was disappointed in it's lack of relative explosiveness, utility, and clunkiness in tapping out for tarmogoyf. I returned to BURG with more spell snares and I haven't looked back, nor have I ever been disappointed.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tormod View Post
    I don't want to rehash what everyone else has already said, because I couldn't say it any better myself.

    What i will say is that I wanted to play a deck with the best 1 drops in the format.

    Delver =/= not fooling around and we're putting you on a clock
    Deathrite is "brainstrom" it fixes your draws, it fixes your mana, its a clock, its defensive, its control it simply is what you need it to be
    Brainstorm is Brainstorm' nuff said
    Bolt, if you're playing tempo without red you're doing it wrong
    Mongoose, so much better than Geist of Saint Traft. Faster, comes out easier.

    The deck has a lot of play, the ability to clock with delver AND deathrite in the goyf mirror is huge.
    Abrupt decay fixes the problems of counterbalance and chalice of the void presents to RUG
    Abrupt decay, Spell Snare and Golgari Charm answers Rest in Peace, which RUG has no answers

    It's RUG with better technology, better suited for today's Legacy threats
    Quote Originally Posted by mog View Post
    Lots of proponents of the deck ; ) I'd just like to add that the combination of Abrupt Decay, Deathrite Shaman, Spell Snare, Lightning Bolt, and ALL of the good sideboard cards really gives the deck a lot of play and many options in any single game. It feels great to have multiple outs to equipment, Tarmogoyf, and all of the other troublesome permanents in the field. Except for Wurmcoil Engine and Sundering Titan. Those cards are a real beating.

    I think I like the new sideboard, too. I was confused at cutting Spell Pierce at first but now that I think about it, that card's never been very good for me. Combo decks play around it all day and we have better options against planeswalkers. The only time I miss it is against MUD, but I think my strategy against that deck is to wake up on the winning side of the fluctuation curve each morning. Clique is still really good against Sneak Show and combo but I think that having better cards against Death and Taxes, Patriot, and the midrange decks is worth it. Ashiok is interesting. So far, he just eats Abrupt Decay and gets attacked by Nemesis. I haven't managed to steal a creature yet but there is time ; )
    Quote Originally Posted by mog View Post
    This just in, Ashiok can steal Grave Titan. I'm sold.
    Quote Originally Posted by sherko7 View Post
    That's it, I'm sold. I'm getting Ashiok in.

    Anyway, for the bUrg VS the world argument:

    Deathrite Shaman has warped Legacy into a format wherein there are only 2 types of "decks to beat" right now - those that play Deathrite Shaman (Jund, BUG Shardless, Elves, hell even Maverick plays them now), and those that try to beat Deathrite Shaman (faster combo decks like ANT, Sneak Show, white decks like UWR, DnT that pack RiP). OK so maybe except RUG... RUG's still in there primarily because of its consistency and the amount of followers the deck has accumulated since its conception.

    With that, why the hell not pack DRS into RUG? Honestly, the tempo mirror feels almost 1 sided sometimes. We can shrink their Goose, they can't. We can get rid of their Goyf, they can't rid us of ours. I've almost never encountered mana issues with the deck, primarily and ironically because of DRS himself - the very reason to splash black.

    Why play bUrg instead of just plain BUG? Simple - Lightning Bolt.
    Quote Originally Posted by gluedstamps View Post

    I've played A LOT with both Nic Fit and RUG and it's more or less impossible for RUG to win unless they draw perfect or the Nic Fit player is bad (something that usually seems to be the case). bUrg has a way better matchup thanks to Fire Covenant. Pre-board the mu is hard but afterwards it's more of less impossible to loose, unless you make horrible play mistakes. Suddenly their bombs can be unarmoured. Sure, I've lost games when I've drawn dead and didn't manage to flip Delver for like five turns, etc but that's rather unlikely..

    Haven't played bUrg that much BUT it feels way better then RUG over all. Sure, it's harder to navigate but with the right decisions you've (at least) the possibility to beat any deck, even the hard matchups for RUG.
    Last edited by Sasan; 11-07-2013 at 03:11 AM.

  3. #3

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Ressources

    Here are some articles about the bUrg if you need other perspectives on the archetype.


    Carsten Kotter: http://www.starcitygames.com/article...iumvirate.html

    Glenn Jones: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/s...e-You-Bub.html

    Florian Koch: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/burg-delver/

    Max Schultze: http://blog.magiccardmarket.eu/legacy-of-a-burg/

    Carsten Linden (in German): http://www.planetmtg.de/articles/artikel.html?id=6499

    Jonathan Alexander Kurz (cirticizing bUrg): http://theweeklywars.wordpress.com/2...rt-2-burg-bug/
    Last edited by Sasan; 11-20-2013 at 04:03 AM.

  4. #4
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Thread hijacking? For what?
    www.theepicstorm.com - Your Source for The Epic Storm - Articles, Reports, Decktech and more!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

  5. #5

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Thread hijacking? For what?
    What do you mean? I stated clearly why we need a better primer and have named obvious reasons. It was not my intention to offend the starter of the other thread, but come on, we need a good effort on a primer and not just a list.

  6. #6
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    I've been playtesting the deck for quite a while on Cockatrice, and it seems like it has quite an issue against DnT, Maverick and other Stoneblade decks especially pre-board. A resolved Batterskull is more often than not GG. P. Fires also proves to be quite an issue. But other than those scenarios, the deck feels pretty solid. It has good game against most of the decks in the field, especially post-board. Merfolks can sometimes give the deck quite a beating if your Fire Covenant comes in a bit late, Goblins too!

    Unfortunately, the deck almost auto-loses to RiP... But whatever, at least we have main deck answers to it.

  7. #7

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by sherko7 View Post
    I've been playtesting the deck for quite a while on Cockatrice, and it seems like it has quite an issue against DnT, Maverick and other Stoneblade decks especially pre-board. A resolved Batterskull is more often than not GG. P. Fires also proves to be quite an issue. But other than those scenarios, the deck feels pretty solid. It has good game against most of the decks in the field, especially post-board. Merfolks can sometimes give the deck quite a beating if your Fire Covenant comes in a bit late, Goblins too!

    Unfortunately, the deck almost auto-loses to RiP... But whatever, at least we have main deck answers to it.
    Have you tried my two Goyf version? I did not find DNT to be a hard matchup. With Grudge, Fire Covenant, Loam and Dread of Night from the board, the matchup is clearly winnable.

    Esper Blade is a good matchup. Our Spell Snare/Decay/Stifle package combined with Mongoose is always a game winner.

    After boarding Maverick is not losable, please try my boarding advice and see how it goes.

    The Punishing Fire weakness is compensated with the inclusion of the second Goyf. Now half of our creatures are Pfire proof. Jund is a good matchup.

    You can PM me, if you need some basic playing advice as I think that with some play style improvents you will see that the mentioned matchups are good ones.

    Side Note: RUG Delver has the same problems versus RIP. yet it continues to be the most successful deck. We have Decay and 3 Spell Snares, so we lose far less times versus RIP than RUG Delver.

  8. #8

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasan View Post
    After boarding Maverick is not losable, please try my boarding advice and see how it goes.
    As a bUrg and Maverick Player and after hundreds of games on both sides I disagree fiercely!

    Away from that, n1 primer!

  9. #9

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by Lennard View Post
    As a bUrg and Maverick Player and after hundreds of games on both sides I disagree fiercely!

    Away from that, n1 primer!

    Thanks :)

    Ok it was a bit exaggerated but let me make clear that the maverick matchup is not bad. That is perhaps due to the fact that I know many many Maverick players that cannot play the deck. Against a skilled Maverick pilot it should be an interesting match, around 50-50. But bUrg has clearly a better matchup versus Maverick than RUG Delver.

    BTW, I asked the mods if we can have this thread in the established section.

  10. #10
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasan View Post
    Have you tried my two Goyf version? I did not find DNT to be a hard matchup. With Grudge, Fire Covenant, Loam and Dread of Night from the board, the matchup is clearly winnable.

    Esper Blade is a good matchup. Our Spell Snare/Decay/Stifle package combined with Mongoose is always a game winner.

    After boarding Maverick is not losable, please try my boarding advice and see how it goes.

    The Punishing Fire weakness is compensated with the inclusion of the second Goyf. Now half of our creatures are Pfire proof. Jund is a good matchup.

    You can PM me, if you need some basic playing advice as I think that with some play style improvents you will see that the mentioned matchups are good ones.

    Side Note: RUG Delver has the same problems versus RIP. yet it continues to be the most successful deck. We have Decay and 3 Spell Snares, so we lose far less times versus RIP than RUG Delver.
    Esperblade is a lot easier than Deathblade. There's just too much bombs that need answers against Deathblade.

    I have not tried the 2 Goyf list, as I am planning to build it on paper (just need the Trops, Seas and Stifles now) but I am still contemplating on cashing in on Goyfs. I'm using 1 Clique as my 12th creature at the moment.

    Also, what do you think of playing Golgari Charm as a one-off in the SB instead of Dread of Night? Golgari Charm seems a bit more flexible and kills nothing from our side other than unflipped Delvers and tamed Geese.

    Do PM me for some basic playing advice.

  11. #11

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by sherko7 View Post
    Esperblade is a lot easier than Deathblade. There's just too much bombs that need answers against Deathblade.

    I have not tried the 2 Goyf list, as I am planning to build it on paper (just need the Trops, Seas and Stifles now) but I am still contemplating on cashing in on Goyfs. I'm using 1 Clique as my 12th creature at the moment.

    Also, what do you think of playing Golgari Charm as a one-off in the SB instead of Dread of Night? Golgari Charm seems a bit more flexible and kills nothing from our side other than unflipped Delvers and tamed Geese.

    Do PM me for some basic playing advice.
    Golgari Charm is a card that can be interesting if Theros with its enchantments has real good ones. Fire Covenant is strictly better for mass removal, the regenerate and enchantment part is not needed for now. Dread of Night is also better versus DNT than Golgari Charm as Dread is a permanent and therefore has a staying effect.

  12. #12

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Why do you even side in Fire Covenant against Storm ?

    And no, RUG Delver isn't the most sucessful at the moment, it's BUG and that's why decks like Painter, which destroy BUG are performing well atm.

    Imho (without testing) you should have the same issues against UW Miracles than RUG.

  13. #13

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by DreAmiN View Post
    Why do you even side in Fire Covenant against Storm ?

    And no, RUG Delver isn't the most sucessful at the moment, it's BUG and that's why decks like Painter, which destroy BUG are performing well atm.

    Imho (without testing) you should have the same issues against UW Miracles than RUG.
    Sometimes we can eliminate his goblin tokens if he goes for the empty the warrens path. Three Mana are no problem with Shaman if you are on the play. There are times where the opponent can only cast 10-12 Tokens so I happily pay 12 Life and win the game.

    You are wrong concerning UW Miracles my friend: Decay crushes Counterbalance. We alsso have 3 Spell Snares Main Deck. I see no reason that we lose to UW Miracles.

    I think the RUG Delver players and TC Decks would insist on your statement that RUG is not the most scucessful deck - according to the numbers RUG certainly has always been and will perhaps always be a good choice for a open meta with nearly even matchups. bUrg is Canadian on acid, so yeah I really love the deck :).

  14. #14
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by Sasan View Post
    Golgari Charm is a card that can be interesting if Theros with its enchantments has real good ones. Fire Covenant is strictly better for mass removal, the regenerate and enchantment part is not needed for now. Dread of Night is also better versus DNT than Golgari Charm as Dread is a permanent and therefore has a staying effect.
    I agree that Dread of Night is (obviously) better versus DNT and Maverick, but Golgari Charm is definitely more flexible. And in a deck that already has Fire Covenant, I'm thinking Golgari Charm should fit the board better.

  15. #15

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    I can see where you are coming from. It is the old flexible card versus more post-board-impact card debate. If I would run dedicated DNT/Maverick hate, then Dread of Night would be the right call. We have already a flexible main deck and sideboard. I believe Golgari Charm is not worth cutting Compost. He does not fit in the only two flex slots of the whole deck. But again, your rationate seems not bad ;-)

  16. #16
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Your sideboarding is screwed up, e.g. leaving in Abrupt Decays and siding out creatures against some of the combo matchups. Fix this at some point. Otherwise, great primer.

  17. #17

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by wcm8 View Post
    Your sideboarding is screwed up, e.g. leaving in Abrupt Decays and siding out creatures against some of the combo matchups. Fix this at some point. Otherwise, great primer.
    Thanks :-)


    Concerning the boarding versus combo:

    That is due to the fact that more and more combo decks play defense grids or xantid swarms.
    Therefore Decay is occasionally needed. But if you do not expect that kind of hate, you can board decays out and leave some creatures in. You must read the opponent. The sideboard guide should also be comprehensive for the starter so that I did not write much about grids and xantid.

    I have no problem going down to 9 creatures versus combo.

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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Also, I have to disagree with the inclusion of Taiga after having tested it for a while. I feel like this is really better as the 3rd Tropical Island. You *always* want a Blue source in order to fuel your disruption and cantrips, and Tropical happens to be the one that can cast all of your creatures. Daze is enough to enable efficient Brainstorms, and I think the Taiga often ends up being more of a hinderance than a help. Alternatively, you can just run the 8th fetch, but I do think you want at least 7 Duals.

  19. #19

    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Quote Originally Posted by wcm8 View Post
    Also, I have to disagree with the inclusion of Taiga after having tested it for a while. I feel like this is really better as the 3rd Tropical Island. You *always* want a Blue source in order to fuel your disruption and cantrips, and Tropical happens to be the one that can cast all of your creatures. Daze is enough to enable efficient Brainstorms, and I think the Taiga often ends up being more of a hinderance than a help. Alternatively, you can just run the 8th fetch, but I do think you want at least 7 Duals.
    We have tested and played the deck thousands of thousands of
    times and there is no way a third
    tropical is good. Taiga is superior. We need the ability to operate with two lands. If we rely on casting all of our spells with three lands, then our deck becomes a slow, always screwed, not flexible tempo deck. Taiga is a must.But I understand your opinion and the discussion is welcomed.

  20. #20
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    Re: bUrg Reloaded *New and Official Thread*

    Why would you board out Daze against the mirror/RUG matchups? I feel it is invaluable in holding lands away from wastelands until you need them.

    Also, I stand by the belief that 8 Fetchlands is the best number of fetches, and that one volcanic should be removed to fit in a Badlands.
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