I am going to sleeve this deck up for SCG Baltimore
Although I am still debating about a few cards in my main and my sideboard, here is the list:
Creatures :14
4 deathrites
4 shardless agents
4 tarmogoyfs
2 baleful strixes
instant sorceries : 19
4 Ancestal visions
4 brainstorms
4 abrupt decays
3 FoWs
3 hymns
1 Toxic Deluge
other: 5
3 Liliana
2 Jaces
Lands 22
3 seas
3 wastes
2 bayous
2 trops
4 catacombs
4 mistys
1 Delta
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 creeping tarpit
Sideboard
1 FoW
3 Thoughtseizes
2 Golgari charms
1 Nihil spell bomb
2 Graftdigger cages
1 Vendillion clique (surgical extraction?)
2 disfigures
1 toxic deluge
2 flusterstorms (1 null rod 1 flusterstorm?)
I was thinking about cutting the Baleful strixes for 1 tombstalker and another FOW in the mainboard. Also How has Clique been performing? I haven't play tested too much combo in my area and if I were to cut it from my Sideboard what should I include instead?
Againsts Combo I have included the 2 flusterstorms- How has flusterstorm performed? I am debating cutting it down to one and playing either a Null Rod or a swan song?
My general siding stragegy for these more difficult matchups is as follows (again, I haven't played much combo in my meta so I need some sideboarding advice)
ANT-
- 1 deluge, -4 shardless agents, -3 AD +2 flusterstorms +3 thought seizes +1 Force, +1 spellbomb +1 Clique
Elves-
-3 Lili -2 Jace -2 Strixes -1 visions -1 agent +1 deluge +2 charms +2 disfigures +2 cages + 2 thoughtseizes
Sneak and Show-
-4 decays -4 visions - 1 Deluge / +2 charms +3 thoughtseizes +2 flusterstorms +1 FOW +1 Clique
After 3 Tournaments scrubbing out, this baby brought me to the top tables again :)
Main Deck:
4 Shardless Agent
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Tombstalker
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Toxic Deluge
4 Brainstorm
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Force of Will
1 Sylvan Library
4 Wasteland
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
Sideboard:
1 Null Rod
1 Golgari Charm
1 Engineered Plague (Couldn't get my hands on a Night of Soul's Betrayal)
2 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Meddling Mage
1 Savannah
Brief Report:
Round 1 Elves: Teammate gave me the match lol lame getting paired early!
Round 2 Burn:
Game 1: Turn 1 Deathrite, Turn 2 Shardless Agent, Turn 3 Double Goyf. He couldn't race me and it didn't help that
he flooded.
Game 2: I wasn't even in the game. Liliana helped but I had no threats to kill him before a resolved
Sulfuric Vortex killed me at 4 Life.
Game 3: Early DRS, Early Goyf... A few turns later I had 2 DRS eating at Creatures in the yard. His triple Goblin
Guide draw got Maelstrom Pulse'd
Round 3: Esper Stoneblade
Game 1: 4 Wasteland wins games... He got screwed and couldn't keep with the Tempo Loss.
Game 2: He missed land drops again and double Wasteland takes me to victory. His double equipment and
single creature coulnd't handle a top decked Liliana leaving him with 0 blockers.
Round 4: RUG Delver
Game 1: Drew 3 Force of Wills and got controlled pretty hard with a single large Goyf killing me
Game 2: Kept a 2 land hand with Brainstorm... Failed to get more lands. DRS dies and I scoop.
Round 5: UWR Miracles
Game 1: Finally a very good match up. He stabilizes at 4 Life but I resolve a Visions. It doesn't help that
everytime he draws a Counterbalance I draw the Decay to kill it. A Liliana Ultimates killing all his White mana
and Jace.
Game 2: Meddling Mage makes his life harder as I have more threats in the deck. Kept 2 Force of Wills for
back up. Liliana and Jace give me the win and time was called. He also missed a Land Drop turn 2 and when he drew the
fetches he needed I was able to kill his Top. It's pretty hard to lose when you have Liliana, JTMS, Sylvan and
Null Rod all in play with him on 4 lands.
Round 6: ID
Top 8: Shardless BUG (Mirror)
Matched up against a friend. We talked about getting him to top 4 because his sideboard and main deck are better suited for the
semi's and decide to split the prize.
Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee
What did you board in/out for meddling mages against miracles?
-2 Toxic Deluge
-1 Force of Will
-1 Tombstalker
-1 Underground Sea
for the package:
I forgot if I boarded in the Golgari Charm but I boarded out another Force of Will
for Null Rod.
What do you guys think of the shardless bant list that placed 10th. I'm posting here because it's closest to this and SCG named it shard less bug
Shardless BUG
Paul Lynch
10th Place at StarCityGames.com Legacy Open on 7/20/2014
Legacy
Creatures (9)
4 Shardless Agent
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands (22)
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
2 Windswept Heath
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
Spells (27)
1 Batterskull
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Detention Sphere
4 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Ancestral Vision
Sideboard
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Meddling Mage
1 Humility
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Flusterstorm
1 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
Totally Different Deck :) It's more of a Thopter Sword deck with Shardless Agent. I'd still prefer the BUG Version.
Fair enough I'll go sort it out in the new and developmental decks then.
This is card for card the list I've got sitting in my backpack and am running tonight =) Thanks for the report! Any more details you can give on how you sideboarded / what you feel worked and didn't work?
They banned Top, so now I play Grixis Delver.
Wouldn't boarding out the forest be better than the u.sea?
I guess but I'm afraid of the random Blood Moon that Miracles can use.
I almost sideboarded every card and every things seems to work well. What matchups do you have difficulty on?
I realized once I got there I actually have -1 duress +1 strix, but that seems not quite good, as it weakens what is already a bit of a weak combo matchup G2.
Last night I played Death & Taxes, Bug Delver, and UR Delver. The deck (shardless) seems to be able to just run over the Delver decks, generating so much card advantage.
VS Death and Taxes, Crusader is very problematic, as your only answers to it are Jace (temporary) and Toxic Deluge.
I also ran this list at a Legacy Premiere event at a local store, and didn't do so well. I think the deck has a bit of a weakness to burn,
but perhaps I just sideboarded incorrectly (I played 2 burn decks in 4 rounds and lost both games).
Generally, combo decks with this deck game 1 are very rough. Game 2 gets better but you do need to be casting proactive spells and getting threats on the table.
They banned Top, so now I play Grixis Delver.
YO, I just got 3rd-4th place last weekend at a decent sized event!
SCG IQ, 46 players
6 rounds of Swiss and cut to top 8
Shardless Sultai: 60 cards
Creatures: 14
4 Shardless Agent
4 Tarmagoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Baleful Strix
Spells: 18
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Brainstorm
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Force of Will
2 Toxic Deluge
PlanesWalkers: 5
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Lands: 23
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
1 Swamp
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
Sideboard: 15
3 Thoughtseize
1 Surgical Etraction
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Golgari Charm
2 Chill
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
1 Notion Thief
1 Submerge
Let me explain some choices. My meta is mostly fair decks with a plethora of Delver, Deathblade, DnT, Maverick, and Miracles archetypes running wild. I chose this deck because I believe Shardless (with it's gluttony of removal and capability to run bombs like Toxic Deluge maindeck) is especially equipped to handle any creature based strategies. In my testing I noticed that I just won so many games on the back of Liliana of the Veil, and I really didn't like discard spells with Lili. I much preferred to be creating board control, possibly get hellbent before my opponent, use her +1 on a controlled board to gain straight card advantage, and wait for a suspended Ancestral to resolve or a topdeck Shardless or Jace to leap way ahead in the game. Force of will also supported this plan, hence the 4 of main. It controls early threats until I can get my card advantage bombs online. The fact that it also hedges slightly against combo was nice as well. I knew there was a decent chance I would run into some combo along the way, so I dedicated large portions of my board to help even up some of those matchups.
report (from memory):
0-0-0
Round 1 vs Imperial Bomberman:
This is a pretty fantastic and fun rogue deck that this guy plays around town. It's based on the Auriok Salvagers/LED combo and it runs tutors in the form or Trinket Mage and Imperial Recruiter. I'm lucky to know his deck pretty well before the match begins, as it's a beating if you're not ready. I'm not so scared of his combo since I can remove all the creatures, but he does run Magus of the Moon maindeck and tutors for it so I have to be careful.
Game 1 - I have a nice hand of removal, visions, shardless, and mana. He derps around with top and developes mana as I drop threats, waste his lands, and make planeswalkers on the board. Suddenly, around turn 5 or 6, he drops LED, then drops Imperial Recruiter, it resolves (I have no force), cracks LED in response to trigger, finds Salvagers, has enough mana to play salvagers and activate getting LED and infinite mana, and with Pyrite spellbomb in the graveyard he combos me out that turn.
Sideboard: yay a combo deck, time to board in a bunch of cards!
-1 Volrath's Stronghold
-2 Baleful Strix
-2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Abrupt Decay
+3 Thoughseize
+1 Surgical Extraction
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Null Rod
+1 Pithing Needle
Game 2 - My hand is spicy with disruption. Null Rod, Pithing Needle, Thoughtseize, and who cares that else. I thoughtseize turn 1, taking something pretty scary like a Magus or a recruiter, then he plays top off of an ancient tomb on his turn. I'm pretty sure he's hurting for land so I waste his land and pass. He manages to find another land to drop and passes. I drop the Null Rod which turns off at least half of his deck. He drops another sol land and plays imperial recruiter and searches up Mangara of condor. I know have time before that will be active so I get some threats going. He drops Mangara, I drop needle naming him, and then proceed to beat face in quickly to end the game.
Game 3 - My hand has both nihil and surgical, which will break up his combo, and an abrupt decay, which I am determined to hold up mana and use for a bloodmoon effect. He gets some tutors going, I get the spellbomb down and still hold up decay mana. He drops an LED on an early turn, and I consider abrupt decaying it and surgical to just remove the combo from deck, but I think better of it as I still want the decay for bloodmoon and I can just surgical when he tries to combo. A few turns later He attempts to combo off with salvagers in play and he has lots of mana going, I spellbomb his graveyard in response to the salvagers activation, he responds with spending the rest of his mana on salvager activations trying to get as much of his yard back as possible, i respond with surgical on LED, and end his chance of comboing. Unfortunately, he still has utility artifacts like spellbomb going with salvagers so I can't seem to stick a threat for long. We draw due to time because I can't do the last point of damage for like 10 minutes. Oh well.
0-0-1
Round 2 vs Elves!
This is a buddy of mine. He is a young player but a very competent elves pilot. I've tested with him and feel great after board, and probably close to 50/50 game 1 due to the 2x Deluge.
Game 1 - I lose the die roll, and he mulls to 6. This has got to be my biggest misplay of the tourney, as I keep what figures to be a good hand against an unknown deck, but his deck is known and my hand was bad against it: Visions, visions, deathrite, decay, wasteland, lands. He starts off doing his elf thing, with quirion ranger and Elvish Visionary and friends. I decay a symbiote I think on my 2nd turn. On his third turn he glimpses and drops a heritage druid makes like 5 more creatures keeping his hand full. I desperately drop a liliana on my next turn and 3 mana edict him for something irrelevant. He drops cradle and casts behemoth and attacks me for about 30 damage on his next turn.
Sideboard: I am forced to board in a shit ton of cards.
-1 Volrath's Stronghold
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
-2 Baleful Strix
-2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Ancestral Visions
+3 Thoughtseize
+2 Grafdigger's Cage
+2 Golgari Charm
+1 Submerge
Game 2 - I'm giddy as I spread an opener with Grafdigger's, thoughtseize, deluge, and stuff. I drop the cage turn 1 (turning of GSZ), he playes deathrite. I thoughtseize turn 2 and I believe I took something like a thoughtsieze. He doesn't like the implication of that at all. I drop threats as he drops elves. I land a pretty nice deluge and easily coast with goyfs.
Game 3 - A medicre opener but not too shabby, especially with him on the play and a mull to 5. I have double grafdiggers, thoughtseize, goyf, brainstorm, and lands. He drops quirion, I do a cage. He drops visionary, I brainstorm, make it "perfect" by throwing away the extra cage and fetch a land to thoughtseize. His hand is kindof scary, as he has NO, GSZ, and a few of the good elves, including that hot new reclamation sage that will kill my precious single cage! So ofcourse I take that. He starts making great things happen with mana elves, visionary, and symbiote. I'm throwing removal at the scariest threats, but I haven't drawn any sweepers, and I notice he's got a full grip and I'm down to nothing but a goyf on board (at least I've been swinging for a few each turn, and he's been missing land drops), but i'm getting scared. This is from his mull to 5 on the play remember. So I realize I'm probably dead real soon as he can continue to draw several each turn from the visionary tricks with a druid and nettle in play. But my deck loves me, as I topdeck toxic deluge with no cards in hand, sweep his board (except a bounced visionary ofcourse), and swing with a weakened goyf for 3 damage dropping him to 5 life. He misses a land drop again on his next turn and plays visionary and passes. I topdeck an abrupt decay on the next turn and remove his dude to swing for exactsies with my goyf. He reminded me the rest of the day how lucky I was to topdeck that deluge.
1-0-1
Round 3 vs UWR Delver:
This is a regular at my LGS and I know what he's on. Finally one of the good matchups I've mainboarded for. The least threatening of the delver decks. I basically get to keep any hand with lands and spells.
Game 1 - I win the die roll and lead with a suspended visions. He leads with Delver. Delver doesn't flip for a few turns so I feel no pressure. I play a goyf, then it get's swordsed and I'm thinking sarcastically "Oh noes the aggro deck has me down to 21 on turn 4 and I have a visions about to resolve, what will I ever do ?" I believe I then get a Lili pierced. Next turn We have a force of will war over the ancestral which I win and get to draw some cards, then I just have all the things as he bricks on topdecked lands. He finally gets an SFM going but it's too late I can just do stuff like decay things, Force the batterskull when it gets hardcasted and win shortly after.
Sideboard:
-4 Force of Will
+2 Golgari Charm
+1 Null Rod
+1 Pithing Needle
Game 2 - He leads with Grim Lavamancer this time and I follow up with a suspended visions. He then plays delver, and on my next turn I land Golgari charm to blow him out. I have more gas and he can't keep up, easy win.
2-0-1
Round 4 vs RUG Delver:
At this point I'm very happy I've dodged the spellbased combo decks around the room and the burn, omg so much burn. Multiple burn players at my same table this round and I'm so happy I'm not playing against one of them.
Game 1 - He wins the die roll and lead with Tropical into Ponder. I kindof recognize this guy and I have a read that he's on Canadian thresh, so I'm mindful to fetch all my lands when he's tapped out for the rest of the match and it really pays off, I don't think he lands a single stifle on one of my fetches. I believe I get a deathrite going turn 1. He is unable to kill it but plays out delver with wasteland. I land goyf and eventually get abrupt decay for his goyf. I somehow resolve a Jace and he gets way behind. I felt almost no pressure and I drew enough lands to withstand his wastelands. Easy win.
Sideboard: this is one of the only fair decks I don't board out Forces for, I need the help against early pressure and denial. If I can survive to mid-late game I should definitely win.
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+1 Submerge
Game 2 - He plays fetchland go. And i feel so lucky that I just happen to have 2 actual dual lands in my hand, so I will be able to evade stifle. I drop underground and suspend visions. He fetches tropical and plays out a mongoose and passes without playing land. I play a Baleful strix which he refuses to attack into for several turns. Next turn he wastelands underground and surgical extractions it. Now, I ended up getting surgicaled twice in the tourney, and I feel like it's a terrible card against us, is it pure desperation that people are boarding it in against me? Anyway, he hits the two other undergrounds in my deck, but it's not like he's taking me off of anything there, so I'm really not worried about it. So, he has tapped trop and mongoose in play, I draw a wasteland. I wasteland targeting his trop, and in response he submerges my strix only to respond by dazing his own submerge to pick up the trop. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose, but overall I still feel great about the situation. He drops another mongoose and passes. I drop a goyf and pass. He plays some cantrips to dig for land, finally drops one, and then he walks away to talk to a judge for a long time I'm guessing to ask if he can stifle my visions. Meanwhile I'm just looking at the board state and the cards in my hand (I believe it was double decay, deluge, and shardless, and lands) and I was pretty sure he could not win this game. Sure enough he passes, stifles my visions, and then I proceed to crush him with goyfs and card advantage and mana advantage
3-0-1
Round 5 vs Belcher:
I tested a bunch with him but not with Belcher, but I know what he's on. I think its' a bad matchup for me, but at least I have forces and deluge so let's see.
Game 1 - I win the die roll, and pretty much snap keep with Deluge in hand an the mana to cast it. I'd rather have a force ofcourse, but with deluge at least I blank 60% of his win conditions. He has to mull twice. There is a bit of mindgames here because he knows that I know what he's on, and he's gotta figure if I snap keep there's a good chance I have force of will, so he's a little afraid to go all in on Belcher (if he even has it). I suspend visions turn 1, he makes 12 goblins, I drop goyf, he swings, I block one, and go to 8. I deluge his everything on my next turn, and win with goyfs 2 turns later.
Sideboard:
-1 Volrath's Stronghold
-1 Creeping Tar Pit
-2 Baleful Strix
-2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Ancestral Visions
-1 Abrupt Decay
+3 Thoughtsieze
+2 Golgari Charm
+1 Null Rod
+1 Pithing Needle
+2 Chill
Game 2 - He mulls twice, and I mull twice since I get two hands with no disruption at all. I don't love it but I keep a 5 hand with a lone golgari charm for disruption and no draw spells, but at least his mulls are always terrible for him. He gitaxian probes and passes, I drop a land and play something irrelevant like a deathrite shaman. He just draws and passes, I do something irrelevant again on turn 2. His turn three he topdecks an initial mana source in Elvish spirit guide, plays it and goes off with tinder walls and LED with enough mana to cast Belcher and then LED to activate Belcher to naturally belch me and flips like 50 cards before hitting his land.
Game 3 - Neither of us mull, but I get to keep a 7 card hand with Force of will, blue card, and Null rod, fantastic! I play fetchland go. He probes on his turn to see all the hate, groans, moans, and then just plays a lotus petal and passes. I drop my null rod turn 2 and I'm feeling very confidant. He draws and plays a Land grant for taiga and plays tinder wall and passes. I rip a thoughtseize, and see that he's a got a just a bunch of mana and goblin charbelcher. He ends up doing nothing the whole game and by the time its over I've got 2 Forces and blue cards just in case. I was his only match loss of the day.
4-0-1
Round 6 vs top seed and we ID
Top 8
I get paired vs a local player that is on U/G Turbo Eldrazi. I haven't really tested this matchup at all but I can tell he's very confidant as he knows my exact list.
Game 1 - I'm on the play from being the 4th seed. I like my hand with a wasteland, a couple visions, and Lili. I suspend some visions, wasteland a cloudpost and develop my board with Lili and Jace. He gets top down, spins it around a lot and makes land drops but doesnt accelerate. By late game he's stayed alive but at reasonably low health due to tarmagoyf, and I've been Jacestorming for like 4 turns which enables me to find all 3 of my wastelands over the course of the game. Eventually he is able to show and tell in a Primeval Titan and I have nothing to drop. Because of his low health he's forced to get a glacial chasm and Cloudpost. I'm able to lili edict his big dude and just keep brainstorming with jace. He bricks out and chasm alone cannot save him. If i didn't have the jace he could just primeval out a Dryad arbor but he knows with double planesalkers creatures alone won't save him.
sideboard:
-2 Baleful Strix
-2 Toxic Deluge
-1 Abrupt Decay
+3 Thoughtseize
+1 Null Rod
+1 Pithing Needle
Game 2 - He drops glimmerpost into Top, THen I thoughtseize to see a cloudpost, trinket mage, brainstorm, Glimmerpost, and pithing needle. I grab pithing needle as I happen to get the double wasteland opener and I realize he doesn't currently have any colored mana. He spins top and gets some colors of mana but I waste his cloudposts and get a reasonably early lili. I'm like plus plus plus with lili and there's not too much else going on. On some mid game turn I have lili at 6, and a tarmagoyf in play and he has about 2 or 3 cards in hand. His board is glimmerpost, cloudpost, Tropical, Tropical, Island, Top. I decide that if I just ultimate Liliana I should be able to just win with the goyf in a few turns no matter what, as I plan to leave him with the colorless mana or the colored mana, so I do it. He responds by spinning top but does not flip. I stick top in with the colorless mana and do my piles. He tanks for a long time but eventually realizes he just needs the colors too bad. He is unable to find an answer for goyf within the next few turns and that's gg.
Top 4
I'm paired against the top seed, the guy I IDed with in the final round of Swiss, and he says he's on some kind of BUG midrange deck. So I naturally assume (somewhat incorrectly) that it's one of the popular BUG control lists you see placing at the big events.
Game 1 - I keep an opener on the draw of 2x Force of Will, Deathrite, Tarmagoyf, and lands. He turn one plays a deathrite and I force of willed it pitching force. I really wanted to be king of the deathrites this game and I had no removal in hand, but in hindsight I really questions this play as it may have been very bad. I play deathrite on my first turn. He decays my deathrite. I play goyf. He plays TNN. I play shardless into Ancestral Visions but stil can't find an answer for TNN. He plays goyf. We each end up with a couple deathrites in play but he's still swinging with TNN. I find no answers in time and lose.
Sideboard:
-4 Force of Will
+2 Golgari Charm
+1 Notion Thief
+1 Submerge
Game 2 - I have decent opener with Deathrite, visions, jace, Golgari charm, and lands. I open with suspended visions, he opens with land go, I play a deathrite, he plays another land go. I decide to tap out for a Jace, probably walking into a pierce, but instead he hard casts a Daze, very unexpected. but hey I've got visions about to resolve soon and I'm sure he boarded out the forces. Nothing else really happens and then I attempt to cast Visions, and them BAM, Misdirection! Totally out of left field, this guy is just getting me at all the right times and I'm left with no gas. I was so hoping I had drawn that Notion thief at any point during this game. He gets a Jace online and I'm unable to do anything about it for way way too long. He's not really pressuring me at all, I have the answer for his eventual TNN, but it just doesn't matter as I can't draw enough gas to get anything going. At some point he surgicaled my Jace as he had said it's the only topdeck he feared, but again I really didn't think it was that good since all he really did was spend a card to get a card out of my deck. But the guy had the right plays at the right time and deserved the win even though I think that just looking at the lists I may have been favored.
I felt really comfortable with this deck all day, and I gone back and read this entire thread over the last few weeks in preparation for this tournament so I really appreciate the posts! I realize this post is very long but I wanted to include as many details as I could remember.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as I plan to continue running this awesome deck!
Last edited by hobart; 08-01-2014 at 02:40 PM.
Nice report I'll probably fit in some Baleful Strixs again. Why no Tombstalker? It's basically same with my main deck except for 1 less land and Tombstalker for Baleful Strix. :)
As much as I love Tombstalker, I found that Baleful Strix did the job just as well on the defensive end, and I'm rarely hurting for a beater to close out the game once I have board control. Also, Baleful is easier to cast early when you need a blocker.Nice report I'll probably fit in some Baleful Strixs again. Why no Tombstalker? It's basically same with my main deck except for 1 less land and Tombstalker for Baleful Strix. :)
I tend to bounce between Shardless and the BUG control lists for different events, but I tend to go for either only Strixes or only Deluges. Did having both ever make your deck feel too removal heavy or light on other disruption?
Too much removal can be a problem, and I did find myself often brainstorming or Liliana +1'ing away additional removal in my hand, which never seemed that awful against fair decks (since it meant I probably had board control). But yes it can lead to many hands which are too light on other disruption to stand a chance against combo. At least post board these hands are far less likely.
Hi Guys,
New to the source, but not to legacy. I've decided to work on BUG as my new deck, but am struggling to decide on my sideboard slots.
I started with your list from Portland James, and have made minimal changes. Here's what i'm currently playing:
4 visions
2 thoughtseize
2 hymn
4 abrupt
3 force
1 toxic deluge
4 Brainstorm
4 goyf
4 agent
4 deathrite
2 strix
2 jace
2 lili
3 UG Sea
2 Bayou
2 Trop
1 Swamp
4 Misty
4 Verdant
3 Polluted Delta
2 Wasteland
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Sideboard is a bit of a mess right now, but here's the list so far:
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Liliana
1 Disfigure
1 Venser
2 Golgari Charm
1 Jitte
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Hymn to tourach
1 Duress
1 Force of Will
1 Null Rod
I'd like to know what cards you guys are playing and why. I haven't had enough reps against different decks to know major weaknesses. obv burn, storm, and show and tell are tough. Also, if anyone has feedback on the meddling mage plan, i'd like to hear what you think. I'm not too partial to this strategy at the gut level, but haven't tested it yet.
Thanks!
Hello guys, this is the tournament report for SCG Dallas.I placed 39th out of around 270(?). Shardless is so much fun! Great deck and great day, by and large. StarCity ean a great event, very smooth all day and all my opponents were great guys, so kudos to the DFW Legacy community. The only thing that sucked is that now SCG Legacy apparently starts at 09:00AM vs 10:00 so I arrived an hour late and gave away round 1. I'll include all the sideboarding that I can remember and I may be off in the round order. first off the list I brought.
Mana-22-
Verdant Catacombs X4
Polluted Delta X3
Misty Rainforest X2
Wasteland X4
Underground Sea X4
Bayou X1
Tropical Island X1
Creeping Tarpit X1
Forest X1
Swamp X1
Green
Tarmogoyf X4
Black
Hymn X2
Thoughtseize X2
Lilli X2
Blue
Brainstorm X4
Ancestral Vision X4
Force of Will X4
True Name Nemesis X2
Jace the Mind Sculptor X2
Gold
DRS X4
Ad X4
Shardless X4
Sideboard-15-
Hymn X2
Sower of Temptation x1
Disfigure X2
Golgari Charm X2
Grafdiggers X2
Life from the Loam X1
Liliana of the Veil X1
Blue Elemental Blast X1
Null Rod X1
Vendillion Clique X2
Star City Dallas Nine Round Swiss
Round 1: Loss showed up late.
Round 2: I don't really remember, I think this was a SFM deck, Hymn was good.
Round 3: Leylines. This deck has a very weak mana base and I just brainstormed around for some wastelands and got there. My opponent had some terrible draws here as well, and never really got a strong hand. I boarded out AD and boarded in Cliques and Hymns.
Round 4: RUG: Three very tight games against a very dangerous opponent. -4 FoW -2 Jace, +2 Hymn +1 Loam +1 Lilli +2 Disfigure. I won game 3 off loam and g1 off of runner runner goys vs mongeese.
Round 5: Dredge: G1 was LED and Faithless, which really failed him, but I draw lands so it's good and then I'm dead. G2 DRS closes out some awkward goofyness that I should have lost, I flashed a clique in as a blocker to get rid of some bridges. Game 3 I have cage in my seven and my opponet therapies me or DRS which misses and cage comes down. That Blue Elemental Blast should be a third GY disrupt, these games were very close.
Round 6: I've worked my way up to seat 6 and a feature match against Merfolk which completely destroys me. I get ruined game 1 on a fast draw and keep a shaky hand to start g2 and get mana screwed.
Round 7: I beat Jund barely. A Visions game 1 gets me too far ahead and I waste him down to just groves and he never sees a P Fire, Game 2 Bob beats my ass and Game 3 Life from the Loam forces a concession. That deck needs a better mana base, its tough. I am behind in that MU and was able to steal one there.
Round 8: Burn: This was extremely close. I think I only won because I went first in Game 1, get killed game 2 and in Game 3 I disfigure my own Shardless at one life to avoid searing blood and win on the crack back. Very very tight, Burn is a legit deck in legacy and a bit of a BUG killer.
Round 9: DnT This deck is tough. Lose Game 1, win G2 on 2 True Names and G3 Lilli puts a Wilt Leaf Leige into play which I can beat,, and when double mom joins the party then I'm not the one celebrating.
All in all a great day, great deck, SCG runs a great event and all my opponents were very nice guys, good people all around.
cheers
defector
Great results and thanks for the report!
I notice you went with the popular 2/2/2 discard package instead of additional non-abrupt decay removal. This figures to be a safe choice against an unknown meta with a balanced mix of combo and fair, and I would probably make a similiar choice for that situation. I do think that your lack of sweepers (specifically toxic deluge) in the maindeck and board hurt you in at least two matchups (DnT and Merfolk) .Did you ever want to board out any discard in a matchup? Did you get many late game draws or cascades into discard that weren't that great? Also, how often did you have to blind shardless with possible dead cascades such as disfigure or blue blast? I try to avoid sideboarding into more bad cascades, since I'm pretty much never boarding out shardless, but that may not come up often enough to worry about.
Thanks!!!
@hobart: In retrospect TNN was a little underwhelming and 2 Toxic Deluge in the main would have been huge. That would be 18 maindeck blue cards which is my absolute min for FoW. I boarded the TS out pretty often as either I felt like life total was too threatened(RUG/Jund/Burn/DnT) or stupid Dredge. The Hymns usually swapped in their place. If we had an adequate amount of Turn 1 plays I would drop the TS altogether. The Blue Blast went in once vs Burn and was never seen again. I blind threw Shardless all day as only 4 braainstorms makes it togh to guarantee a set up and I got screwed here and there, but I also hit A Visions a few times and one Goyf that I desperately needed. It's got a high variance card for a midrange control strategy and sometimes you spin the wheel of fish and get a red snapper and other times you get whats in the box. I definitely hit some of the most underwhelming Brainstorms in the history of tournament play. I think the Disfigures are too important in the mirror and RUG to not have 2 in the board. Anyway, I hope I covered all your questions and thanks again for the congrats:)
cheers
defector
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