RUG Control

[SFL-Brainstorm]

Hey All,

I'm beginning to test a new Legacy brew that I've been tossing ideas around for. It is based on a vintage deck I saw LSV pilot in the Vintage Super League. The basic premise is to be extremely high velocity and one for one the opponent until you can chain multiple Dig Through Time or set up a loop with Dack Fayden and Punishing Fire.

Any feedback or ideas are welcome. This is very much a ground floor idea, however I have been playing Legacy competitively for 3+ years so I am going into this with more than a basic understanding of Legacy deck design. I will update the thread as I test the deck.


// Lands
2 Flooded Strand
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island

// Creatures
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Young Pyromancer

// Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
2 Dack Fayden
4 Dig Through Time
4 Force of Will
4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Punishing Fire
1 Pyroblast

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique

[SFL-Brainstorm]

Got done jamming the brew for the night, and the results were encouraging. All games played were done pre-board as I'm just trying to get a feel for the main deck right now.
3-2 vs miracles
2-1 vs maverick
2-0 vs grixis delver
2-0 vs grixis control

Dack + punishing fire was absolutely nuts in any long game. I think I want to cut a fetchland for a third volcanic as I ran out of fetchable lands a few times. Other than that the main deck felt pretty tight.

The fair creature matchups felt insane, miracles was much tougher. I'm anxious to test against combo, as preboard I suspect I am a decent dog.

Changes I want to try:
-2 young pyromancer, -1 flooded strand
+1 jace the mind sculptor, +1 izzet charm, +1 volcanic island

I found that I didn't really need to land the Young Pyro on turn two, as I was much better suited to waiting to take over the game first. I wanted Jace in some of the long games, and Izzet charm seems super sweet as a versatile game one answer as well as synergizing with P.fire and DTT.

[btm10]

I tried something similar to this when Treasure Cruise was legal and ended up cutting Pyromancer altogether. He's not a greay finisher for a 'hard' control deck as at some point you just want to shift gears, make a bunch of tokens, and kill your opponent. I actually found that Garruk Wildspeaker was insane against Miracles because he let you hold up countermagic while still casting your spells, has huge synergy with Punishing Fire/Grove, and can make beasts to push the beatdown plan even in the face of Terminus.

[Undomian]

Have you considered going to less than 4 Punishing Fire a-la-Jund? You're far more likely to find one when you need it with the filtering in this deck, and I can't imagine you'll ever want to be casting that many of them in a single turn. I'd also question how valuable 4 Gitaxian Probe are without the full 4 copies of Pyromancer in your deck. Maybe try out some copies of Ponder?

[SFL-Brainstorm]

I tried something similar to this when Treasure Cruise was legal and ended up cutting Pyromancer altogether. He's not a greay finisher for a 'hard' control deck as at some point you just want to shift gears, make a bunch of tokens, and kill your opponent. I actually found that Garruk Wildspeaker was insane against Miracles because he let you hold up countermagic while still casting your spells, has huge synergy with Punishing Fire/Grove, and can make beasts to push the beatdown plan even in the face of Terminus.

Thanks for the insight. Garruk Wildspeaker is certainly a spicy one, I will be sure to put it in the que for testing. I suspect that his double green might cause some problems however, and might necessitate some tweaks to the mana base.

[SFL-Brainstorm]

Have you considered going to less than 4 Punishing Fire a-la-Jund? You're far more likely to find one when you need it with the filtering in this deck, and I can't imagine you'll ever want to be casting that many of them in a single turn. I'd also question how valuable 4 Gitaxian Probe are without the full 4 copies of Pyromancer in your deck. Maybe try out some copies of Ponder?

I have considered cutting a PunishingFire, but so far 4 has felt right. The synergy with Dack Fayden feels so unfair, and the 4 Dig Through Times mean that sometimes I have to exile a copy. If you were to cut a Punishing Fire, what would you add?

Gitaxian Probe has been sweet, and even with less than 4 Young Pyromancer I wouldn't cut any. The information gained is super valuable in a deck with so many diverse answers and draw spells, and the card draw allows me to play so few lands. Essentially I get to play a 56 card deck in a 60 card format.

I'm already running the full 4 Ponders.