[Deck] Team America (Midrange/Control Thread)

[sdematt]

Tim Hortons is the best. #GoCanada

[Ricardio]

His point was that the surgery really only hits terminus of note and it doesn't go with the board plan i went with of cutting goyfs and going more for walker dominance. And yeah his point with deluge was that i have to wait until he goes ham with mentor and just sandbag it until then. Several times i could not plus liliana because he had 3 cards one of which i know is mentor and i only had deluge. I wanted it to be pernicious deed sooooooooo bad. Btw I'm preeeety sure my board plan was shit, i cut 4 goyf, 4 strix, 4 force and added 2 surgery, 2 surgical, negate, garruk, clique, library, deluge, charm, needle, and null rod

Boarding out goyfs is wrong. surgicals isn't really where you wanna be against miracles. I could see taking out the forest, 4 force, 2 seize, 3 strix for 2 surgery 1 negate, 1 garruk, 1 clique, charm, deluge, needle, null rod, library. Hymn is still good against him and abrupt decay as well so maybe charm and deluge aren't necessary. I board on the fly so its weird. I don't think goyfs come out unless its against a White deck you assume is running more than 1 rip. Thoughts on illness in the ranks?

[Tom4ik]

I have been testing the Garruk maindeck just so I can see how it plays. I was pleasantly surprised. That card is actually very useful and while even just a wolfblossum is good in many cases if it flips and starts morphing strix and snaps into goyfs/Tnns its amazing. Good call on this card.

[Ricardio]

I have been testing the Garruk maindeck just so I can see how it plays. I was pleasantly surprised. That card is actually very useful and while even just a wolfblossum is good in many cases if it flips and starts morphing strix and snaps into goyfs/Tnns its amazing. Good call on this card.

I am glad it has worked out for you. Definitely much stronger since the rules change and just another hard to deal with threat. Wolves transforming into goyfs in pretty great. Like some kind of new age animorphs haha

[BigV54]

Reason i cut goyfs was that i know my opponent will bring in rip and if i don't need to remove it that's more decays for counterbalance and a tapped top. Plus if their rip sticks their snaps are turned off. I basically wanted it to hurt them more without them realizing it. Still probably wrong but that was the thought process.

[Ricardio]

Reason i cut goyfs was that i know my opponent will bring in rip and if i don't need to remove it that's more decays for counterbalance and a tapped top. Plus if their rip sticks their snaps are turned off. I basically wanted it to hurt them more without them realizing it. Still probably wrong but that was the thought process.

Yes. In rip matchups you cut some goyfs but my list has planeswalkers and such to go through. 9 cards my effected means little effect. Good miracle pilots take out counterbalance against bug deck.

[Ricardio]

so the list I plan on trying next:

4 drs
4 strix
4 goyf

3 lotv
3 jtms

4 force
4 bstorm
4 ponder
3 decay
1 pulse
1 loam
3 seize

4 verdant
4 delta
3 sea
2 trop
2 bayou
3 wasteland
1 CTP
1 forest
1 island
1 swamp

SB:

2 surgical
2 disfigure
1 null rod
1 needle
1 vclique
1 g relentless
1 deluge
1 negate
1 invasive S
1 g charm
1 s library
1 G cage
1 massacre

notable mb change is -2 hymn, +1 island +1 seize albeit that may be wrong and I will likely miss hymn.
SB seems more diverse and covers more bases. Felt like I previous had too much storm hate for so little of the meta so that shifted.
Strix continue to be insane even in unfair matchups - pitching to force and clock slowly.
island as the 22nd land may not stay but being able to play basics will always come at a price.
Decay seems fine at 3 with pulse as the pseudo 4th.

[maharis]

Hi, I have been tinkering with a BUG Zenith deck because I find the Shardless deck a little boring but enjoy having access to DRS and Abrupt Decay. I also think Zenith is worth a look with the new Leovold, Emissary of Trest, since one-sided cantrip hate can be very strong. (Also, you draw a card if you are Wastelanded with it out).

The idea is to ramp on turn 1 and leverage the mana advantage with Daze, Zenith, and Jace. A virtual 7 Deathrites and 5 Goyfs helps you find strong finishers. Strix is a great defender and works well with Volrath's Stronghold and Tarmogoyf.

Today I took this 75 to the SCG classic.

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 True-Name Nemesis
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Trygon Predator
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Ponder
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Sylvan Library
1 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Volrath's Stronghold

3 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
1 Life from the Loam
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Engineered Plague
1 Krosan Grip
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Dread of Night

R1: W 2-1 Infect
R2: D 1-1-1 Nic Fit
R3: W 2-1 Miracles (Garruk Relentless was really good here, as was Dread of Night in shutting down his mentor win)
R4: L 1-2 4C Delver (Close. Really needed Wastelands to support Dazes)
R5: L 0-2 Elves
R6: W 2-1 Pox
R7: W 2-1 Reanimator
R8: L 0-2 Death & Taxes (A little fluky. I kept 4 lands + DRS, Zenith, Maelstrom Pulse game 2 and drew 3 lands in a row, then Loam)
R9: L 0-2 Infect

I'd like to continue iterating, any ideas?

[H]

I'd like to continue iterating, any ideas?

My intial reaction is that Daze and Zenith don't seem like a real good combo, since you want your lands in play. GSZ makes this an even more mana-hungry BUG deck, which we already usually are.

[maharis]

My intial reaction is that Daze and Zenith don't seem like a real good combo, since you want your lands in play. GSZ makes this an even more mana-hungry BUG deck, which we already usually are.

Well, with 7 pieces of acceleration and 7 2-drops the curve is lower. GSZ isn't really there to find huge bombs but to serve as additional copies of our most efficient creatures while also being a piece of acceleration itself. With Wasteland backup an early Daze with acceleration in play can be devastating. This is the premise a lot of the successful Bant decks have operated under.

I built this deck to be resilient against Miracles and it has done that -- I beat it at the classic and again last night in a weekly -- but it is a little slow/weak to faster decks, so I am considering tilting the sideboard more to that.

Leovold intrigues me for a few reasons: It's both GSZable and Force-pitchable, it's an asymmetric effect, and it's probably a little better against the combo decks of the format than True-Name Nemesis. TNN is great when it lands, but I have found that I can't dig one up when I want (usually when a RIP is in play) and sometimes it can be played around (either by comboing off or having a counter or -1/-1 effect.)

I can see this card taking some of the slots currently held by Strix, TNN, and Sylvan Library in my deck and being a staple for a non-Shardless BUG archetype. The fact that it's not protection from everything is mitigated by the fact that if it is targeted you get a card back -- and almost any cantrip deck has to nuke this before it can move on. There is nothing commonly played in Legacy that kills Leovold "for free" that doesn't also kill True-Name (and in fact he gets around the -1/-1 effects that come up at times. This includes Terminus, Toxic Deluge, Council's Judgment, EE for 3, Deed for 3, REB on the stack. It should also be noted that "target player sacrifices a creature" effects DO trigger this card thus replacing itself in a situation where TNN would just die. Also this thing triggers off Rishadan Port, how insane is that? Their port becomes your Library of Alexandria. Anyway, the card is sick.

[H]

Well, with 7 pieces of acceleration and 7 2-drops the curve is lower. GSZ isn't really there to find huge bombs but to serve as additional copies of our most efficient creatures while also being a piece of acceleration itself. With Wasteland backup an early Daze with acceleration in play can be devastating. This is the premise a lot of the successful Bant decks have operated under.

I built this deck to be resilient against Miracles and it has done that -- I beat it at the classic and again last night in a weekly -- but it is a little slow/weak to faster decks, so I am considering tilting the sideboard more to that.

Fair points. I'm biased, because I really don't like Daze in BUG lists. Also, it nearly always feels like a total brick versus Miracles. Frankly that is probably more so about how I am approaching the match up rather than anything else. However, one reason I got away from Delver is because I simply did not want to run Daze, because bother Delver and Daze always seemed to cost me more games versus Miracles than they ever win me.

In my mind, GSZ sets you in more the mid to late game, attrition through always having more threats available. Daze really only shines in the early game. I don't know, I know some Bant decks seem to be using it to decent effect, but I simply don't get it. Perhaps they are using Daze to get to the midgame? I really don't know, but I know on turn 6 I'd love to see GSZ and would hate to see Daze.

Leovold intrigues me for a few reasons: It's both GSZable and Force-pitchable, it's an asymmetric effect, and it's probably a little better against the combo decks of the format than True-Name Nemesis. TNN is great when it lands, but I have found that I can't dig one up when I want (usually when a RIP is in play) and sometimes it can be played around (either by comboing off or having a counter or -1/-1 effect.)

I can see this card taking some of the slots currently held by Strix, TNN, and Sylvan Library in my deck and being a staple for a non-Shardless BUG archetype. The fact that it's not protection from everything is mitigated by the fact that if it is targeted you get a card back -- and almost any cantrip deck has to nuke this before it can move on. There is nothing commonly played in Legacy that kills Leovold "for free" that doesn't also kill True-Name (and in fact he gets around the -1/-1 effects that come up at times. This includes Terminus, Toxic Deluge, Council's Judgment, EE for 3, Deed for 3, REB on the stack. It should also be noted that "target player sacrifices a creature" effects DO trigger this card thus replacing itself in a situation where TNN would just die. Also this thing triggers off Rishadan Port, how insane is that? Their port becomes your Library of Alexandria. Anyway, the card is sick.

Indeed, I think he is a great card, the question is how many to try to fit in. One thing I like is that if they don't remove him and aim at your "bigger" threats, he is going to draw you cards. So he basically passively nerfs your opponent's cantrips until they -1 removal spell for him. I preordered two and I'll probably start there and see how he goes.

[maharis]

Fair points. I'm biased, because I really don't like Daze in BUG lists. Also, it nearly always feels like a total brick versus Miracles. Frankly that is probably more so about how I am approaching the match up rather than anything else. However, one reason I got away from Delver is because I simply did not want to run Daze, because bother Delver and Daze always seemed to cost me more games versus Miracles than they ever win me.

In my mind, GSZ sets you in more the mid to late game, attrition through always having more threats available. Daze really only shines in the early game. I don't know, I know some Bant decks seem to be using it to decent effect, but I simply don't get it. Perhaps they are using Daze to get to the midgame? I really don't know, but I know on turn 6 I'd love to see GSZ and would hate to see Daze.

Daze is a mixed bag but it does a few things. One, it pitches to Force, and having extra blue cards in these Uxx midrange decks is always good because so many of your most powerful cards are non-U, but Force is your only line of defense at times. Second, the mana curve of legacy is creeping up a bit. Eldrazi and Show & Tell decks definitely don't want you landing consistent pressure with Daze backup.

Even Miracles can be open to Daze if they try to squeeze in an inopportune Mentor or Jace. Also against Miracles, if you have Abrupt Decay in your deck, you're more open to countering Top since you have a way to nuke CB and don't have to hold your counters for that. So if you are on the play and can daze their Top while holding up Decay and patiently answering their threats, they get put on their back foot, and they hate that. Postboard, I took out almost all the free counterspells anyway -- I may have still had 1-2 Force in there but I prefer to fight them on the board anyway, especially with non-creature permanents.

Indeed, I think he is a great card, the question is how many to try to fit in. One thing I like is that if they don't remove him and aim at your "bigger" threats, he is going to draw you cards. So he basically passively nerfs your opponent's cantrips until they -1 removal spell for him. I preordered two and I'll probably start there and see how he goes.

I think he could be really good in the matchups where I've had trouble (which are the faster Delver decks mostly), since he makes their removal into a 1 for 0 and blanks a decent portion of their deck (including Wasteland!) I'm ordering a few today.

[H]

I think he could be really good in the matchups where I've had trouble (which are the faster Delver decks mostly), since he makes their removal into a 1 for 0 and blanks a decent portion of their deck (including Wasteland!) I'm ordering a few today.

Small possibility I can make FNM this week. Highly experimental build with Leo:

2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 DRS
4 Goyf
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Scavenging Ooze
13

2 Jace TMS
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Liliana
5

2 Painful Truths
4 Brainstorm
1 Sylvan Library
3 Force of Will
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Green Sun's Zenith
21

4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Wasteland
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
21 lands

Sideboard:
1 Krosan Grip
2 Baleful Strix
2 Dread of Night
1 Virtue's Ruin
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Flusterstorm
2 Golgari Charm
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Maelstrom Pulse

Just a start of brainstorming some updates to my old list. Sideboard is a mess, I want some extra hate versus Death and Taxes, there is often quite a bit of that in our small local group (but this is probably too much). The Strixes were for Eldrazi, but I think people have been moving away from that lately, but still is good versus Angler, if you can dodge Forked Bolts.

Sanitarium is no doubt bad, but I'd like to try it. I don't want too many GSZs though, deck is already mana-hungry as hell. Might try to goldfish this and see how it feels if I get a chance.

[Agrippa91]

Hi guys!

Didn't really know a deck besides BUG Delver and Shardless BUG existed, so I made an own one in the brew portion. I was wrong so here I am now, presenting you the list I've been working on:

It plays a bit like BUG Delver, but without Delvers. The main similarity is the curve that doesn't go over 3, only 20 lands and 4 dazes with 4 wastelands.

Daze offers BUG early game interaction that helps gaining an early advantage. The thing with BUG Delver I fear most are its card advantage cards paired with disruption: A t2 Hymn to Tourach or Dark Confidant that gets paired with a t1 thoughtseize or backed up by a Daze can gain an early lead. Also Liliana helps a lot with a deck that plays her as a top curve and has no problem dumping its hand. But there's a new 3-drop on the block:

The new card Leovold, Emissary of Trest helps a lot with the disruption plan. Here's why:
Against fair decks he's good when your opponent doesn't have removal. We play already creatures at 1 and 2 that are "have to be removed" material. Now Leovold makes finding additional removal extremely difficult. Not does he stop the opponent's cantripping, he also trades 2-for-1, drawing a card as soon as he gets targeted by removal.
Against combo Leovold pitches to FoW, prevents the opponent from cantripping and draws a card every time we get targeted with Discard.
Things he does include:
- preventing Jace from using any ability profitably except fatesealing oneself.
- preventing Griselbrand from drawing cards
- drawing you a card any time the opponent uses targeted abilities like Jitte, Rishadan Port, Wasteland or Maze of Ith, effectively shutting these abilities off most of the time.
- drawing a card every single time a copy of Tendrils of Agony targets you. Note that we have 2 Mindbreak Traps in the sideboard.
- Prevents draws from Glimpse of Nature and Elvish Visionary, shutting down 2 of the 3 avenues from Elf players to win (third being Natural Order)
- draws a card any time a burn player plays a burn spell.


The relatively high 3 toughness offer offensive as well as defensive potential against Thalia, Young Pyromancer, Shardless Agent, Snapcaster Mage and other utility creatures.


So here's the plan: We have 10 "payoff" cards that give us card advantage: 2 Hymn to Tourach, 2 Baleful Strix, 2 Dark Confidant, 2 Liliana of the Veil and 2 Leovold. Sticking one of these early is really important with this deck. We ensure this with Thoughtseize and Daze as early interaction and Ponder to dig for it backed up by FoW.

Of course we can't play a tempo oriented BUG list without 4 DRS, 4 Goyfs (push through damage) and 4 Abrupt Decay (since this deck is more midrange we'd rather play this than Lightning Bolt, even if we had the choice). Note that these goyfs tend to be biggere than "Delver-Goyfs" at 4/5 because we have 2 Artifacts and 2 Planeswalkers in the deck. Getting it up to 5/6 is quite important since this can block the opponent's Angler and Reality Smasher which are pretty big players in the metagame (we have a healthy distribution otherwise and e.g. have enough sorceries in the gy).

I tried out Jace, but having to go up to like 22 lands made Daze very weird (we got stuck with too much lands in hand and had to delayJace because we kept bouncing back lands with Daze). Daze is really at its best when you can use the land drop because you have no other land in hand. I also overestimated the difference between 3 and 4 mana. So I went back to 20 lands and smoothed out the early game.

You don't really want to Daze anything with only 1 land out that doesn't lose you the game. Dazing with 2+ mana sources is fine since then next turn we can just play something for 2 mana again.

This deck plays pretty much like a Delver deck only that it's not damage you're trying to gain early on and leverage to the end game but card advantage. Similar decks would be Stoneblade of any flavor. I have the feeling though that we're better against combo than they are.

Enough talk, here's the list I've been working on:

Lands (20):
4 Underground Sea
3 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
4 Wasteland

Creatures (14):
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Dark Confidant
2 Baleful Strix
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

Instants and Sorceries (24):
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
2 Hymn to Tourach
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Daze
4 Force of Will

Planeswalkers (2):
2 Liliana of the Veil

Sideboard (15):
2 Pithing Needle
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Invasive Surgery
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Disfigure
2 Marsh Casualties
1 True-Name-Nemesis
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor


The matchups should be rather 50/50 across the board, here's some boarding plans for the most common matchups:

Miracles (going full midrange):
-4 Daze
-4 Wasteland
+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
+2 Invasive Surgery
+1 True-Name-Nemesis
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (though we're cutting Wastelands we also pitch Dazes, getting to 4 mana in time is not that much of a problem, plus he pitches to FoW)

Shardless BUG (grinding, but with more tempo):
-2 Thoughtseize
-4 Force of Will
+2 Invasive Surgery ( against Hymn, Visions and Deluge most importantly)
+2 Disfigure
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Eldrazi:
-2 Thoughtseize otp/-2 Hymn otd
-2 Leovold, Spymaster of Trest (one of the only matchups he's actually bad in)
+2 Disfigure
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 True-Name-Nemesis

Grixis Delver:
-2 Thoughtseize otp/ -2 Hymn otd
-2 Liliana of the Veil
-2 Force of Will
+2 Disfigure
+2 Marsh Casualties
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 True-Name-Nemesis

RUG Delver:
-2 Thoughtseize otp/ -2 Hymn otd
-2 Force of Will
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
+2 Disfigure
+1 True-Name-Nemesis

Death & Taxes:
-2 Hymn to Tourach (Wiltleaf Liege, hard to cast with Thalia out)
-2 Daze
-2 Liliana of the Veil (Wiltleaf Liege, hard to cast with Thalia out)
-2 Force of Will
+2 Pithing Needle
+2 Disfigure
+2 Marsh Casualties
+1 True-Name-Nemesis
+1 Maelstrom Pulse

Lands:
-2 Thoughtseize
-2 Hymn
-2 Abrupt Decay
-2 Baleful Strix
+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Surgical Extraction
+2 Invasive Surgery
+1 True-Name-Nemesis
+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Elves:
-2 Baleful Strix
-2 Liliana of the Veil (clunky, just eats a 1/1)
-2 Force of Will (we have 2 Surgeries to counter Glimpse and NO, GSZ if need be)
+2 Invasive Surgery
+2 Disfigure
+2 Marsh Casualties

Infect:
-2 Hymn to Tourach (we'd rather affect the board or pick/see with Thoughtseize)
-2 Liliana of the Veil (too clunky, just runs into Spell Pierce and Daze)
-2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest (too clunky, abilities don't matter that much against aggro)
+2 Pithing Needle (Inkmoth is especially hard to hit with Decay as standard removal)
+2 Disfigure
+2 Marsh Casualties

Burn (thoughtseize for assured t1 interaction needed I think):
-4 Wasteland
-2 Dark Confidant
+2 Disfigure
+2 Invasive Surgery
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 True-Name-Nemesis

Matchups in general:
I hope this deck provides an approach to tempo that allows to play more midrange against Miracles (4 Decays help a lot) with having the chance to grind out the games post-sideboard. It also seems rather good against Aggro thanks to the huge goyfs, Lilianas and Strixes, at least as far as I've tested against Delver. Leovold is just insane against lands as I had to witness just the other day.
I think this deck might be bad against other grindy decks that go "bigger" like Esper Deathblade and Shardless BUG, I'm not too sure though because I haven't tested these matchups yet.

I switched to MtGO a while ago and only play casually with Proxies in paper so unfortunately I don't get to test as much with this deck as I'd love to. I'll eventually build this deck online though once Conspiracy is out there. So far (playing paper with a friend) it has really impressed me and is a blast to play.
This deck wrecks lands more than you might think (Daze to protect early Punishing Fires, 4 Wastelands, Leovold is just insane).

I can imagine this deck having problems against super grindy midrange decks, e.g. Shardless, perhaps even the new BIG Eldrazi deck with Oblivion Sowers etc. It should be rather good against Miracles though tbh. It's definitely good against delver and lands as far as I've tested. I also can't imagine the storm matchup to be unfavorable, also because this deck plays rather similar to Shardless BUG.

[H]

Well, I think your list is decent. It's hard for me to evaluate, but it's not far from the 20 Land Delver lists I used to run (complete with 2 Liliana). However, Leovold didn't exist at the time, so I am not sure about now having four 3 drops, which doesn't sound like much, but that is double what I was running. One thing is that I am absolutely biased against Daze in this kind of deck. You have no real Tempo plays once you cut Delver and Daze is pretty poor outside the Tempo plan. Does it have some utility? Sure. But on the balance of things, it just seems at odds with 3 Bayou and all the three drops.

My idea in the post above is to go a very different direction, by cutting Daze and moving to a more tap-out base, to maximize you chances to out-'Goyf your opponent through Green Sun's Zenith. I honestly hate Daze in BUG decks, because I find that we are far more mana hungry than we are built for Tempo.

Again, I haven't been able to test but I look forward to seeing what your results might be.

[H]

Well, I tried out my GSZ-Leovold deck above a couple weeks ago. First off, I totally misbuilt it, had only 59 cards when I went to play, somehow had 3 maindeck Toxic Deluge, and was generally rusty as all hell. Even so, I think the idea has merit, even though the list was misconstrued as could be. I got nut-drawn by UWR Blade, beat Miracles handily (Leovold was a total house) and lost a very close match to Burn (Price of Progress OP). (Only 3 rounds, just 8 of us.)

This is an interesting list that it seems won the 216 person Ovino over the weekend (splashing Red):

Tomáš Már
Deck (60)
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster mage
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Dismember
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Kolaghan’s Command
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Painful Truths
3 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island

Sideboard (15)
1 Flusterstorm
1 Invasive Surgery
2 Pyrobalst
1 Thoughtseize
1 Life from the Loam
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Forked Bolt
1 Marsh Casualties
3 Diabolic Edict

[theMonster]

@H, thanks for posting the Már list. I tried something similar last night.

3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
1 Swamp
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Wasteland

4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Baleful Strix
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Kolaghan’s Command

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder

2 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
1 Counterspell
3 Daze
4 Force of Will

// sideboard //

2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pyroblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Duress
1 Unearth
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Darkblast
1 Go for the Throat
1 Fire Covenant
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vendilion Clique

I went 2-2, beating Shardless in a three-game slugfest, losing to Painter (though I almost won game 1 on a mull to 4; drew five lands in a row and ran out of steam), beat Burn (Collective Brutality was insane, especially when I got to flash it back), and got rolled by Lands (having combo in hand when I keep a two-Deathrite hand stung a bit).

Cards that were great:
- Snapcaster Mage. I always wanted to draw it, so I think three felt good. Granted I faced no Rest in Peaces.
- Vendilion Clique. It was nice to add another threat against Shardless that dodged Liliana and have a meaningful, disruptive clock against combo.
- True-Name Nemesis. Pretty self-explanatory.
- Kolaghan's Command. I only saw it once, killing a Deathrite and getting back a Goyf. But even then, it was nuts.

Cards that weren't so hot:
- Baleful Strix. I didn't see Eldrazi, but I felt like it had little impact in my games. Small sample size, certainly, but I almost always wished it were a Delver for a faster clock. Plus with a glut of removal, thanks to Snapcaster, I think I'd rather use spells to kill creatures and put pressure on my opponent.

Cards I'm unsure about:
- Collective Brutality. Man, so good against Burn. And I could see scenarios where I, say, kill a Delver or Deathrite and take a removal spell. Getting it countered hurts a bit, though. But I don't have enough reps with the card to know for sure if it's better than something like Hymn to Tourach, a fourth one-mana discard spell, or removal. I'm gonna leave it in for now, but I'm on the fence.
- Counterspell. Since the games go longer in this build, I think it's better than running taxing countermagic like Spell Pierce. The extra is real concern, as sometimes T1 interaction is necessary. Not sure about this one.
- Swamp. I'm glad I had it in my deck against Painter and Lands, so maybe it's worth it. Not being able to run more fetches that find it isn't great, though; I don't want to play Bloodstained Mire because it doesn't find my two Tropical Islands, but maybe the fifth black fetchland is better than the ninth blue one.

I think a strategy like this has a lot of promise. There wasn't any Miracles in the room, so I didn't play cards like Painful Truths and tried to get my card advantage with stuff like Unearth and the third Snapcaster. Maybe I should skew more towards the Már list for better results next time. I'm open to any and all feedback.

Thanks!

[limbo]

I have been playing Bant stoneblade a ton (including a classic top 2 and top 16). I experimented with Leovold a bit, but bant wasn't the right deck for it. This ports over a lot of the things that were great about the Bant deck into a more stable shell. I am a lover of 7 dorks. Noble is an outstanding magic card. I have often heard Jund and BUG players talk about how much better their deck is and their games are when they have T1 Deathrite. Noble fills that role well, moving all of the overpowered cards in the deck slightly down curve and pushing ahead of your opponent. The Bant deck works because it jumps curve so well, and there is no reason not to do that in BUG. I have worked this deck up and really like it. Delver matchup is playing much better than the Bant deck and mana is far better (Bant has to play a black splash). Curious what others think.
(Of note, the sideboard is a disaster, as is often true of early versions). I like the 1 of Tombstalker I have been testing with but it is probably better as the 4rth TNN, like the bant deck.

Main Deck
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Baleful Strix
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 True-Name Nemesis
1 Tombstalker

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
2 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
1 Murderous Cut
2 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Sylvan Library

4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
4 Wasteland

Sideboard
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
1 Disfigure
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dread of Night
1 Hyrdoblast
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Krosan Grip
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

[limbo]

Updating after a bunch of testing.

Main Deck
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Baleful Strix
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 True-Name Nemesis

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
2 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
2 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Sylvan Library

4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
4 Wasteland

Sideboard
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Disfigure
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Hyrdoblast
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Krosan Grip
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

Other cards on my sideboard radar: chill, dread of night.

[Ricardio]

Hierarch is seriously a playable card in bug midrange?

No jtms mb? 8 mana dorks and no real pay off?