[Deck] BUg Aggro Control

[LaphroaigFan]

I actually put this deck together in short order. After some recent testing -- though just against Landstill-type deck and Survival -- I think this list could have potential.

So here's the list.

60 Cards

9 Creatures
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Lorescale Coatl
2 Tombstalker

12 Permission
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Spell Snare

11 Disruption
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Extirpate

4 Creature Kill
4 Snuff Out

4 Utility
4 Brainstorm

20 Land
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
3 Bayou
2 Island
2 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Krosan Grip
4 Hydroblast
1 Extirpate
4 Engineered Plague


The general idea is to disrupt the hand early, stop early threats with Snuff Out while playing a beater, and Extirpate whatever is going to cause the most problems should your opponent draw another. If an StP is in the yard, I might Extirpate that to protect my dudes. If I'm not too worried about their spells, I might get rid of all their goyfs (or if I hymned away a Tombstalker, then I'd extirpate that due to Snuff Out's limitation).

The counterspell suite is pretty self-explanatory.

I am considering dropping the coatl down to 2 and bumping the tombstalker to 3. He lands beefier and has evasion.

I have yet to confirm, but I am guessing Goblins would be the worst matchup for this, so an E.Plague seems like a good sideboard choice.

Plenty of SB graveyard hate. It's not just for dredge, which shows up in my meta. As I found out when I played against Survival with Zoo, removing the squee/survival engine is extremely strong. For plenty of other decks as well.

Hydroblast is for general defense against Goblins, Burn, and Zoo.

Krosan Grip for any of a number of troublesome artifacts.

As much as I have wanted to make use of Chains of Mephistopheles in the SB, I think I will keep my Brainstorms. (CofM, for 1B, makes Standstill pointless, Brainstorm suicide, SDT weaker, and Ponder almost pointless)

Interested in hearing some comments.

[eq.firemind]

Your deck looks similar to Team America (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11605).

And Extirpate is not very good card...

[LaphroaigFan]

Your deck looks similar to Team America.
So there's no differences? Unlike TA, I'm not doing much land destruction.


Actually, I like Extirpate. It's not meant to be graveyard hate. It's meant to remove all copies of a threat.
It seems like most people in my meta have a favorable opinion of it. Removing all copies of one win condition or all copies of something that can take out your own win condition doesn't seem like a bad thing.
And there are situations where making your opponent shuffle might be quite helpful.

[Elfrago]

Extrpate shines in the long game, where this deck really doesn't want to be.

After you already dealt with 1 copy of a card it (usually) takes a while before your opponent draws the second.
And even more before he finds the third.At this point extirpade paid for itself.
Also, it's way too conditional.

[Aggro_zombies]

Actually, I like Extirpate. It's not meant to be graveyard hate. It's meant to remove all copies of a threat.
That doesn't stop it from being a bad card.

It seems like most people in my meta have a favorable opinion of it.
That still doesn't stop it from being a bad card.

Removing all copies of one win condition or all copies of something that can take out your own win condition doesn't seem like a bad thing.
Well, for starters, it doesn't help you win the game at all (although, if we accept your use of it as being the optimal use, it seems fairly decent at helping you not lose). If your opponent is so threat-light that a single Extirpate ruins his day, that's more of an indication of faulty deck design on his part than of the actual utility of Extirpate.

And there are situations where making your opponent shuffle might be quite helpful.
Why? Because you know what's on top because of his Counterbalance? Other than that, there's not very many situations where you should know what your opponent's next card or cards are. Not only that, given the fact that you're running Lorescale Coatl, it seems almost better to run Predict and draw cards while milling whatever dangerous something your opponent has. Also, if you're using this as a trick to reset Counterbalance, do yourself a favor and run EE or Grip main to just get rid of it. Cute tricks are cute, but that doesn't mean they're good.

Speaking of which, you don't have enough draw to make Lorescale Coatl actually worthwhile. Giant Brainstorming Growth is nice, but most of the time in your deck Coatl is going to only be getting one counter a turn, meaning it'll take at least three turns before it can rumble with Tarmogoyfs and not die. This is just incredibly bad (and Coatl is bad even when you're running lots of draw), so if you're going to insist on running it, run more draw. Also, "But I have 4 Brainstorm so it hasn't been a problem" isn't a legitimate excuse in a deck with no reliable way to Brainstorm right after playing Coatl.

[LaphroaigFan]

Elfrago
Extrpate shines in the long game, where this deck really doesn't want to be.

Fair enough.



Also, if you're using this as a trick to reset Counterbalance, do yourself a favor and run EE or Grip main to just get rid of it. Cute tricks are cute, but that doesn't mean they're good.

Nah. I could just see shuffling away the mystical tutor object as an extra side benefit. Extirpate to reset counterbalance? I can assure that wasn't the reason I included Extirpate. Last couple local tournaments I went to, I've been running into high creature hate - low win condition or combo decks.

It's not like I'm on a time crunch. If it ends up being as bad as you all say after I test the deck more, it won't take me much time to unsleeve the 3 copies and trade them to the people who have been asking for more copies.


(and Coatl is bad even when you're running lots of draw)
That's disheartening. This is the first time I've put it in a deck. I'm already considering dropping 1 of them. I might end up dropping them altogether.


Back to extirpate briefly. Has anyone tried using Extirpate in tandem with land destruction? Pop a dual land, then remove all copies of it. Or is that just overboard and pointless?

[GGoober]

Something tells me that the OP is my buddy friend from Houston (asgardgames) :P Landstill/Survival?

I like the deck, keep working on it :) I would run Thoughtseize over Duress since it hits threats outside of Landstill/combo