[Deck] Canadian Threshold (aka RUG Delver, Tempo Thresh)

[Jonathan Alexander]

From what I have seen, Nimble Mongoose is definitely not something I want to cut. I'm not sure if I want to cut my Orbs; there's a decent amount of Swords + Snapcaster decks still. There is a lot of Storm, so room should likely be made for sideboard Null Rod. Grixis appears to be the second most common deck; so I'm not opposed to playing all creatures that don't die to Bolt. I have not played against Decay and Push a lot, maybe Tarmogoyf is reasonable. Elves seems to be common, but I have only faced it once in 7 leagues, whereas others have report a bigger presence. Maybe you want sweepers vs. them, maybe LoamPit is good enough. If Maverick is making a comeback, I want Submerges again. Adding an extra removal spell to the maindeck is not unreasonable (7 total, maybe also LoamRing).

(I have not played Canadian yet in this format because it's not proactive enough to play at this point.)

[Lockeid]

Hey,
I'm a Maverick player, with the deck mosty finished, but I also have almost no expensive staples outside of Maverick like FoW or duals.
Canadian Threshold is a deck that I've been eyeing for quite some time, and that I'd like to buy over time.

Given that I have no U dual land, cards like Daze don't work quite as well, so buying the core of the deck without the duals doesn't seem like a great idea.
How would you suggest I buy over time, and do you think that a version without duals is playable ?

[Hanni]

Hey,
I'm a Maverick player, with the deck mosty finished, but I also have almost no expensive staples outside of Maverick like FoW or duals.
Canadian Threshold is a deck that I've been eyeing for quite some time, and that I'd like to buy over time.

Given that I have no U dual land, cards like Daze don't work quite as well, so buying the core of the deck without the duals doesn't seem like a great idea.
How would you suggest I buy over time, and do you think that a version without duals is playable ?

Get the manabase first. The lands open you up to be able to play tons of other decks should things change in the future. You also can't go wrong with staples like Force of Will.

[Shoe555]

Update on the theory post from yesterday: I ran a version of this through a league and managed to go 3-2, beating three decks containing DRS (4c Delver, Elves, and Food Chain), and losing to Manaless Dredge and RB Reanimator. Some numbers still need some tinkering, but if anyone is interested, the full list and stream archive can be found here.

Any thoughts on dropping Mongoose entirely and going toward a build closer to Gianluca Gazzola's top 8 list from Prague last year?
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/430198#online

Don't get me wrong, I love Goose. It WAS the reason to play the deck - but is it still? It was our trump card against Miracles, and yes, with Terminus gone, it's even harder to kill now than before. But is it worth it if we're just going to sit down across from DRS piles for the foreseeable future?

What if we sideline Goose entirely and put in some combination of resilient late game threats (which was always the goal with Goose anyway) and maindeck Grim Lavamancers (which no longer needs to fight for graveyard fuel AND is superb at killing DRS and other small creatures).

Lastly - because we no longer run Mongoose, can we maybe justify putting a Jitte in the sideboard? A 4 mana sorcery speed investment that gets blanked by removal isn't great, but we all know how well a Jitte can run away with a game, especially if we say, strap it to a TNN. Just a thought.

Here's a rough draft of a decklist:

4 Delver
4 Goyf
2 Grim
2 TNN/Mandrills

4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Bolt
2 Flex removal
4 Daze
4 Force
4 Stifle
2 Pierce
2 Snare

18 lands

Meta-dependent sideboard, but worth testing Jitte here I think.

[Lockeid]

Sadly that was what I was expecting, and it probably means not playing it for quite a while since I'd probably be needing at the very least one of each (and likely more than that) which is quite an investment, which I wanted to do over time while still being able to play the deck a bit.

[Jonathan Alexander]

Yo, 'sup guys? I've had an itch to play Canadian again in the new format and I quite enjoyed it. I'm back to recording videos and the second league I played was with an updated, unusual version of Canadian. The YouTube playlist will be updated with new matches each day for the rest of week. If you'd like to see more content with Canadian or Dark Thresh, definitely let me know and I might just record another batch of videos.

In case you just want the list, this is what I played:

1 Engineered Explosives

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Hooting Mandrills

4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
4 Daze
1 Dismember
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Stifle

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

1 Life from the Loam
4 Ponder

//Sideboard:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Null Rod
2 Trygon Predator
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Invasive Surgery
1 Spell Pierce
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Barbarian Ring
2 Duress

[ptahetep]

Nice

This looks interesting can't wait to watch this in action!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JackaBo]

I like that trygon predator

[keys]

Update on the theory post from yesterday: I ran a version of this through a league and managed to go 3-2, beating three decks containing DRS (4c Delver, Elves, and Food Chain), and losing to Manaless Dredge and RB Reanimator. Some numbers still need some tinkering, but if anyone is interested, the full list and stream archive can be found here.

Lavamancer does seem really good in the new metagame. When Innistrad first came out I played a standard Canadian Thresh list subbing Delver for Mongoose, plus 2 Lavamen in the old flex slots that used to be Cliques. I'd probably add 1 or 2 TNN to the creature suite as well, now.

[Zombie]

Trygon Predator? What is this, Vintage? :D

[keys]

Trygon Predator? What is this, Vintage? :D

I suppose it's good at sniping equipment and Chalices while getting in for some extra points of damage, but I'm not sure it's better than Grudge when you don't have Moxen and shops pieces to eat.

[gotchadanno]

im confused why mongoose is being cut now?

[MrFrowny_]

im confused why mongoose is being cut now?

People don't want to run Mongoose because Deathrite Shaman is running rampant now and it becomes hard for players to achieve threshold when DRS is eating your graveyard the whole game.

[Malakai]

People don't want to run Mongoose because Deathrite Shaman is running rampant now and it becomes hard for players to achieve threshold when DRS is eating your graveyard the whole game.

Indeed, this is why people are doing it, but it's not a good reason to cut Nimble Mongoose. Instead, it's a good reason to play more removal. Our mana denial deck does not want a mana dork in play. You're not likely to win games where they have a Deathrite active the entire time.

[Jonathan Alexander]

That is not why I cut them.

[tescrin]

I was debating testing with Harsh Mentor in Gooses' place. trying it in stifle grixis at the moment, but I think the forcing of fetching/DRS activations will get some damage through (and it frees your own removal up if you want them to keep activating DRS, though I don't know if that's wise..)

I do like the Grim plan, and could also see it if the deck moved to 2-3 Grim, 2 Snap, and just started burning people/players a bit more. Mandrills seems fine since it dodges everything but Plow; but I'm just not big on a dude who is smaller than Goyf being a non-evasive on-the-ground beater. he gets around TNN, which is nice, but that almost makes him a sideboard card.

Swiftspear has mild potential too I think; given that she gets passed 70% of the format with a single spell.

[rlesko]

It's not solely because of deathrite. It's because of deathrite, true name, baleful strix, leovold, eldrazi, etc., but most importantly, lack of miracles in the format. Just not the right meta for the goose.

[Jonathan Alexander]

All these cards are in decks Mongoose is great against, it's more about the stupid combo decks that you want Deathrite and fast beatz against.

[rlesko]

I'm not sure if it is a play style thing or not (or perhaps a metagame thing), but my win rate is significantly lower with mongoose (post miracles banning). Without miracles I have been having greater success playing a full suite of goyfs (which strix pumps to be 5 power) and true names.

[Jonathan Alexander]

Interesting that you say you like Goyf, first time I've heard that in a while. I'm gonna try a Delver/Mandrills/True-Name split when I find the time, that looks promising in the current metagame as you get fast beats, evasion and hard to kill creatures all at the same time.

In other news, my YouTube playlist playing the Deathrite version is now complete: Click.