Quote Originally Posted by sawatarix View Post
So you try to transform the tempodeck into a midrange deck with a low landcount?
Hm...Why? ;D
Because it wins? Because it's unexpected, and that itself is an advantage?

It seems like a lot of MtG players are opposed to experimentation. Deathrite Shaman was met with initial opposition by some people on this thread since it was viewed as a "midrange" card. I think Agent's power is obvious given how well BUG Cascade is doing. The only thing required to make it work is cutting Daze, which you are often doing against decks you'd like to bring him in against.

Transforming into a more midrange-y style of play has pretty much *always* been the case in post-board games with Team America when you're faced against midrange or control. TA has perhaps the *best* combo matchup, even game 1, so the sideboard should be geared towards winning the more troublesome matchups.

Some lists run bombs to win these kind of matchups, e.g. Jace TMS, additional Sylvan Library, or Notion Thief. While this is a perfectly valid approach, I am finding that Agent is a great way of keeping pressure up. With UWr Miracles being so prevalent, having some method of consistently winning this matchup is pretty important. Agent + Liliana are partly why BUG Cascade does so well against Miracles. It also gives you a better fighting chance against other BUG decks.

Example sideboard:

4 Shardless Agent
2 Disfigure
2 Golgari Charm
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Null Rod
1 Umezawa's Jitte OR Night of Soul's Betrayal (Jitte is better with the high creature count, but NoSB is really great against the format right now)
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Envelop

3 mana is pretty easy to reach with the help of DRS, and against many of the decks you'd be bringing him in against, your mana-base isn't usually under as much pressure.

I've actually tested Baleful Strix in the past, but I think Agent is the more explosive card.

I am not trying to argue that this is 'the future of BUG Delver', merely a valid option in a metagame full of midrange and control matchups.