[Deck] bUrg Tempo

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Originally Posted by mog

Thanks Sasan! This is Edman, I just registered ; )

I've been away from the game for about four years and I just started playing again this spring with some prodding (and cards!) from a good friend. I was active in the Vintage scene from about 2003 through 2009 but I've never really played much Legacy so this was an excellent result for me. I've been testing with your version of BURG tempo (great deck!) for several weeks in preparation for SCG Milwaukee and it definitely paid off. I ran Vendilion Clique over Dread of Night or Compost because the hate cards seemed excessive to me. I felt that Vendilion Clique's versatility was more relevant than the dedicated hate since Fire Covenant is already so strong against Maverick and Death and Taxes. Though I used your sideboarding plan as a guide (Stifle out against aggro, removal/creatures out for combo, and Daze out for slow combo/control) I ended up running my sideboarding based mostly on instinct throughout the day.

I did not take any notes or life totals during the tournament (MTG Familiar FTW!!!) so any tournament report would be from memory and generally lacking in detail but I did play against almost the entire Legacy metagame over the course of the Saturday Trial and the Sunday Main Event. My only match loss over 11 rounds of play was to Dredge in the top eight of the main event. Frankly, one piece of dedicated grave hate and three Deathrite Shaman are not enough to beat that deck with any consistency. I decided to make that concession before the tournament and I paid for it. Such is life.

There is quite a lot of play to the deck and there were several absolutely critical decisions (not Stifling fetchlands, not using a fetchland to pump Mongoose, etc.) that won me games throughout Saturday and Sunday. I think that I played very well throughout and that I was rewarded by the deck. Since I don't own cards, I don't know how much Legacy I'll play in the future (I do get an invite to the SCG Invitational...) but I think I will stick with this deck for the near future. Spell Snare is incredible, fooling the opponent on your color and card combos is incredible, Deathrite Shaman is incredible, Abrupt Decay is incredible, etc.

Big thank you to the Germans for developing such a powerful and fun deck!

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We are all honored that you registered and joined the discussion here :-) we now have two recent impressive SCG finishes with the deck :-) Really good job :-)

Thanks Edman for giving the primer such a good review :-P

And concerning my sideboard guides: They are meant as a starting point. But you should adapt them always to the play style and the deck list of the opponent. If the opponent is not experienced I keep some Dazes on the Draw for example as he will most likely run to a Daze in the game. So Edman was right to alter the guides for the real matches :-)

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Originally Posted by mog

Hey,

You can check against the standings to confirm my game records, but this is what I remember:

Saturday Trial
Round 1: 2-0 against RUG Delver. He played well but waited too long with a Submerge on my Tarmogoyf (he wanted me to fetch/pump Mongoose and Submerge in response).
Round 2: 2-1 against Merfolk. Tidebinder blows me out game one but I won games two and three with creatures and counters.
Round 3: 2-1 against Omnishow. He killed me with Emrakul game one but put me on BUG and boarded in Leyline against me. His draws weren't great games two and three.
Round 4: ID against Big Red. I beat him in the fun games 2-1. Kept a bad hand game one (didn't know what he was playing) but get him with counters and Ancient Grudge games two and three.

Sunday Main Event
Round 1: 2-0 against Jund. He walks into Stifle four times. Too many habits from playing modern.
Round 2: 2-1 against Grixis Delver. I got a game loss on deck registration error. He plays double Force of Will to protect Bob and kill Delver and I get there with Deathrite and Tarmogoyf.
Round 3: 2-1 against Jund. He beat me game one with four Tarmogoyf. We each had two active Deathrite in game two but mine come out on top. Game three had a lot of Wastelands on both sides. At the end, he has Deathrite, Bob, and Tarmogoyf but I ramp to five mana and Hardcastle Submerge on Bob two times to lock his draw. His only mana were Deathrite and a Wasteland.
Round 4: 2-1 against Sneak Show. He kills me with Emrakul game one but he has slow hands games two and three. Game three he had answers to my Delver but they are red and he only has blue. I think a greedy fetch for red early in the game would have beat me.
Round 5: 2-0 against Death and Taxes. Game one is close since he has Spellskite, Thalia, and active Mangara with Karakas. I flood the board with creatures and just attack through. Game 2 had lots of Mom but I again just flood the board and attack through. Flying is amazing.
Round 6: 2-0 against Shardless BUG. I beat him game one with Deathrite, Mongoose, Wasteland, and Stifle. Game two I had three Wastelands and he had two Wastelands so we stare at each other for a while and discard cards. I draw out of it faster and get Delver on the table and some Stifles on his fetches, Spell Snares on his guys, etc. He really did not like Spell Snare after trying so hard to play around Daze.
Round 7: 2-0 against Patriot Delver. This is recorded at SCG. Game one I just have all the cards. Game two, I sandbagged a Stifle to use with Force on his Geist and Cliqued a Batterskull. That feels so good.
Round 8: ID against Reanimator.
Round 9: ID against Pod Fit.
Quarterfinal: 0-2 against Dredge. I counter his first two plays, Wasteland him, and get Deathrite active, but he draws Careful Study into Breakthrough and chain dredges three Stinkweed and he hits a Narcomoeba and three Bridge. He gives me an out when he Flayers my Deathrite exiting all his Bridges. Of course, he hits his last Bridge on the next draw. Game 2 I Waste him twice and counter his play but he has more lands and more plays.

Except for Dredge, I had a great tournament. It is a terrible feeling to lose to a bad solitaire player.

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Super awesome report. Good deck, good plays and good guy ;)

First of all: great primer Sasan! Really like this thread overall due to all good replays and answers!

Sleeved up bUrg (list in the primer) yesterday. The deck certainly lived up to my expectations being both fun and challenging! Overall I felt rather pleased with my decisions and the mistakes that I noticed was easy to spot (I've played a lot of RUG previously).

Played a few games vs Deathblade and UG Infect (approximately 10 each, without sb) afterwards. Viewed both match ups as something like 50/50, but guess it might depend on my inexperience with the deck.

I'll play the deck on a small tournament this upcoming Monday and would really appreciate sb suggestions. The decks that are likely to turn up:
2 ANT
1 TES
1 Sneak & Show
1 OmniTell
1 Reanimator
1 TinFins
1 Dredge
2 Pox
1 RUG Delver
1 UW Blade
1 Deathblade
2 Patriot
1 UG Infect
2 Jund (w/ Punishing Fire)
2 Elves
2 Enchantress (one "classic”, one UG)
2 Maveric (one GW, one w/ Punishing Fire)
1 D&T

Thanks in advance!

Hey Edman! Congrats! Thank you for the report.

Nice to see that you win vs RUG, Patriot and Grixis! Tempo mirror is all about player skill imho. But bUrg have something more than those decks :P

I read that you had some problems vs S&T decks, maybe in a combo heavy field would be nice to have 3 pierce MD or to do a split 2/1.

Dredge is not a good matchup, but from my experience the game change drammaticaly if we are on the play and start with DRS. DRS and counter or DRS and wasteland on turn 2 are gamebreaking. We also have stifle for narcomoeba's trigger. Snares are bad here.

My 2 cents

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Originally Posted by gluedstamps

First of all: great primer Sasan! Really like this thread overall due to all good replays and answers!

Sleeved up bUrg (list in the primer) yesterday. The deck certainly lived up to my expectations being both fun and challenging! Overall I felt rather pleased with my decisions and the mistakes that I noticed was easy to spot (I've played a lot of RUG previously).

Played a few games vs Deathblade and UG Infect (approximately 10 each, without sb) afterwards. Viewed both match ups as something like 50/50, but guess it might depend on my inexperience with the deck.

I'll play the deck on a small tournament this upcoming Monday and would really appreciate sb suggestions. The decks that are likely to turn up:
2 ANT
1 TES
1 Sneak & Show
1 OmniTell
1 Reanimator
1 TinFins
1 Dredge
2 Pox
1 RUG Delver
1 UW Blade
1 Deathblade
2 Patriot
1 UG Infect
2 Jund (w/ Punishing Fire)
2 Elves
2 Enchantress (one "classic”, one UG)
2 Maveric (one GW, one w/ Punishing Fire)
1 D&T

Thanks in advance!

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Thanks a lot :)

Ok with this specific meta, we can brew a good sb.

It seems that it is very combo orientated. I mean nearly 40 % of the decks are combo decks.

With that in mind we need 5 pieces of counter magic. I would suggest 3 Flusterstorms, 2 Pyroblasts.

Ok You have two Pox decks and a dredge player there. Really awful matchups. I do not want you to lose these ones. So we need 2 Grafdiggers Cages (versus Dredge) and 2 Composts (versus Pox and Dredge). The latter is a complete blowout.

With that much midrange decks we certainly need 1 Fire Covenant and one Golgari Charm. The latter is a surprise tech for your meta. Versus Elves it is complete nuts. Versus DNT/Maverick it can kill Mother and is just like a one-time dread of night. Versus enchantress it kills Argothian Enchantress. Do not use the enchantment kill ability in that matchup if you have the chance to kill that crucial creature ;-) Golgari Charm works well versus Empty the Warrens, too. The removal package is rounded up with 2 Submerges. 3 is better but 2 will get the job done in that meta, too.


1 Life from the Loam is granted as it protects our mana bases and punishes the greedy mana bases of nearly all fair decks in your meta.
I am surprised that Blade decks are not so much played in your area, but with two main deck decays, 3 Snares and 1 Grudge we can seal the deal.

Versus the tempo mirror only experience matters.

To sum it up we have this sideboard:

2 x Pyroblast
3 x Flusterstorm
2 x Cage
2 x Compost
1 x Grudge
1 x Fire Covenant
1 x Golgari Charm
1 x Loam
2x Submerge.

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Originally Posted by Jax-

Hey Edman! Congrats! Thank you for the report.

Nice to see that you win vs RUG, Patriot and Grixis! Tempo mirror is all about player skill imho. But bUrg have something more than those decks :P

I read that you had some problems vs S&T decks, maybe in a combo heavy field would be nice to have 3 pierce MD or to do a split 2/1.

Dredge is not a good matchup, but from my experience the game change drammaticaly if we are on the play and start with DRS. DRS and counter or DRS and wasteland on turn 2 are gamebreaking. We also have stifle for narcomoeba's trigger. Snares are bad here.

My 2 cents

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I fully agree. I am glad that Dredge is nearly a dead deck. We have more grave hate than RUG Delver ever has seen. So we have a bit of a fighting chance versus Dredge. Versus Reanimator our counter magic suite is enough to win on a regular base.

In a very combo heavy meta, I would change the list dramatically. I will post such a list later.

I updated the primer with two playable sideboard cards:

-Golgari Charm: 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. It is a blowout versus Elves. Certainly a card to think about in a creature heavy meta.

-Troll Ascetic: The little brother of Thrun is castable in this deck whereas the latter has too high mana requirements. Troll Ascetic is an all star versus control decks and midrange decks that have a heavy removal suite (Punishing Fire, Decay). The regeneration ability makes him awesome versus Death Blade: Once Troll Ascetic hits the board Death Blade cannot win anymore, the batterskull can be chump blocked forever. The game will most likely end in a draw then.

Thanks for the suggestions and your reasoning behind. It's really appreciated! I'll see something will be changed but spontaniously I'll see something will be changed but spontaneously that will be the sb. What's the reason to play Pyroblast over REB? Guess it could help reaching threshold but giving the Sneak & Show player the opportunity to Misdirect it doesn't seem worth it. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but got a Hymn misdirected the previous tournament, when I played boring no-brainer Jund (went 4-0 and won). Actually played Fire Covenant in the sb and boarded it in vs Reanimator and won a game due to it :smile:

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Originally Posted by gluedstamps

Thanks for the suggestions and your reasoning behind. It's really appreciated! I'll see something will be changed but spontaniously I'll see something will be changed but spontaneously that will be the sb. What's the reason to play Pyroblast over REB? Guess it could help reaching threshold but giving the Sneak & Show player the opportunity to Misdirect it doesn't seem worth it. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but got a Hymn misdirected the previous tournament, when I played boring no-brainer Jund (went 4-0 and won). Actually played Fire Covenant in the sb and boarded it in vs Reanimator and won a game due to it :smile:

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When used as a counterspell, REB can also be misdirected. They just change its target to the Misdirection that's still on the stack. Apart from a sideboarded Jace, I don't see when you would play a REB targeting a permanent against Sneak&Show.

Pyroblast can let you get faster threshold, and can kill a Phantasmal Image that's copying a non-blue creature.

I usually play 2 Pyroblast. If I need 3, I go with a split of 2 Pyroblast and 1 REB, to mitigate Cabal Therapy / Surgical Extraction / Meddling Mage effects.

Pyroblast is especially good in Shaman decks as it can be used for the ping ability of the Shaman without needing to target a blue permanent. Otherwise I fully agree with SirTylerGalt. If someone does not have any Pyroblasts and has no time to get some before a tournament, the world will not crash if REBs are played.

Grats to mog for the great finish! I recently just finished building the deck and will probably be playing the original list (the one with Goyfs instead of YPs as I previously endorsed) tomorrow at an LGS in preparation for one of the bigger tournies in our country 2 weeks from now. I'm glad to see mog had managed to beat through some of the deck's harder matchups (DnT, BUG). I am just plain terrible at the DnT matchup! Maverick is also a pain, even with the boarding plan proposed in the primer.

Not sure if any of you noticed the other 4 color Delver list in the top 16 of SCG, the one running white instead of red. I know its different, but what do you think about that as compared to bUrg? :tongue:

I had a question about the manabase. I have all the duals and 9 blue fetches, but only 3 misty and 1 tarn. In this instance would I be better off running an additional dual or fetch instead of the Taiga?

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Originally Posted by sherko7

Grats to mog for the great finish! I recently just finished building the deck and will probably be playing the original list (the one with Goyfs instead of YPs as I previously endorsed) tomorrow at an LGS in preparation for one of the bigger tournies in our country 2 weeks from now. I'm glad to see mog had managed to beat through some of the deck's harder matchups (DnT, BUG). I am just plain terrible at the DnT matchup! Maverick is also a pain, even with the boarding plan proposed in the primer.

Not sure if any of you noticed the other 4 color Delver list in the top 16 of SCG, the one running white instead of red. I know its different, but what do you think about that as compared to bUrg? :tongue:

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You mean UWR Delver/Patriot? It is only 3 coloured but I can honestly say that bUrg is superior as playing Swords to Plowshares instead of Lightning Bolts is a contradiction of the nature of a tempo deck. Swords gives the opponent more time due to the life gain. You have less reach without Bolts. The mana curve is higher (that is why they play more lands). All these things let me come to the conclusion that Patriot is not as good as bUrg from the perspective of pure tempo and efficency. It is lacking the awesome Shaman, too. Without Decays the removal suite is not flexible enough.


But as Patriot as had good finishs recently, it is a viable tempo deck. But not the best one in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Star|Scream

I had a question about the manabase. I have all the duals and 9 blue fetches, but only 3 misty and 1 tarn. In this instance would I be better off running an additional dual or fetch instead of the Taiga?

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Well in this case running Taiga does not make any sense as you do not have enough fetches that can get you Taiga.

You can try this mana base configuration:
3 x Tropical Island
2 x Volcanic Island
2 x Underground Sea
7 x Blue Fetches
(4 x Wasteland = Not mana, only a spell)

This configuration was the first one Carsten Linden had when he invented the deck and before we began our testings. It felt good and solid. But as we missed the oppurtunity to cast everything with only 2 lands in play, the Taiga idea was born (kudos to Florian Koch for that idea). So try to get your playset Mistys and 3 Tarns and play with the above configuration until then :).

Identity Nemesis {1}{U}{U}

Creature - Merfolk Rogue

As Identity Nemesis enters the battlefield, choose a player.

Identity Nemesis has protection from that player. (This creature cannot be blocked, targeted, damaged or enchanted by a source controlled by that player.)



Thoughts? I had a hard time against the folk last night. I guess Golgari Charm kills it as long as it's not pumped by a lord.

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Originally Posted by Star|Scream

Identity Nemesis {1}{U}{U}

Creature - Merfolk Rogue

As Identity Nemesis enters the battlefield, choose a player.

Identity Nemesis has protection from that player. (This creature cannot be blocked, targeted, damaged or enchanted by a source controlled by that player.)



Thoughts? I had a hard time against the folk last night. I guess Golgari Charm kills it as long as it's not pumped by a lord.

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You are right that Golgari Charm is the only option to kill this creature. Forcing or Dazing this beast is also highly advised. Let us see how this creature will shake up the format. Really bad desigend card by Wizards. C13 can shake things up so that Merfolk becomes a deck again.

But don't panic: We can replace our Goyfs and perhaps one Nimble Mongoose with that creature, too. So yeah we can benefit from that. Let us see what happens when C13 is released.

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Originally Posted by Sasan

You are right that Golgari Charm is the only option to kill this creature. Stifling the comes to play trigger is also an option. Forcing or Dazing is also highly advised. Let us see how this creature will shake up the format. Really bad desigend card by Wizards. C13 can shake things up so that Merfolk becomes a deck again.

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Isn't the ability a replacement effect, and not triggered?

You are right. The spoiler is not out in English so we must see how it translates on the real card but if it begins with "as" instead of "when" you cannot stifle it.

SirTylerGalt and Sasan: Good points, didn't think about the things mentioned. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by gluedstamps

SirTylerGalt and Sasan: Good points, didn't think about the things mentioned. Thanks!

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You are welcome.