@ian-mars I agree. Pyroblast which is Bugs bane was largely margenalised with Karn Forge and Pitch dredge. Jeskai and RUG will get a major boost by effectively being able to replace Misstep with Pyro which is a net zero gain vs shops but is a huge tempo swing vs BUG

I played Jund in the challenge to a 3-3.

I think one of the things that gets lost is how much better Narset is compared to Dack Fayden or Jace. My deck is loaded with Abrupt Decays, Lightning Bolts, Tarmogoyfs, SB pyroblasts, Assassin's Trophy, other creatures. Removing a planeswalker isn't difficult except when I'm in a losing position already. Narset comes down, digs four cards deep, recoups the card invested, and I have to kill it or it does it again. Dack is a faithless looting in a deck without many graveyard interactions. I had a hellbent opponent slam Dack, mill 2, and then I Pithing Needled the Dack. Jace sees less cards, costs 1 more mana, and can leave the opponent brainstorm locked the next turn.

The Jund deck works because on average your opponent isn't going to find Ancestral, Treasure Cruise, Dig, and all those broken Blue cards every game or the right answers to your threats (nice pyroblasts and flusters). So they have to start trading at a disadvantage for your threats and you can eventually grind them out with Cindervines pressuring their life total or Dark Confidant. Narset is much more effective at chaining those broken Blue cards together or finding the few pieces of relevant removal like Swords to Plowshares.

This was how the challenge felt to me and I went 1-2 against Xerox, where before that felt like a favorable match up.

Current build.

Moved away from Consecrated Sphinx, it was fun but i wasn't playing enough lands to get there, even with Drain.

Speaking of, took out Drain and added a couple lands (blue duals). Still have Bayou and Badlands. They just feel so flexible, having 4 colors on 2 lands, and being able to Abrupt Decay or Abrade if i want both open on turn 2.

3 Dacks right now, but thinking about making one a Mind Sculptor again, or another Notion Thief. I do like where i am at, and not having too many dead cards against shops Game 1.

Still not on the Preordain train. I like having extra power cards. I don't know necessarily that my thinking is right, but sometimes it just feels like not enough win cards, even if you see them on time sometimes they just get blasted away. So i have a little more raw power "do something" spells that don't simply filter. And i am also on 3 Dacks right now.

Playing with a Life From the Loam in the sideboard, i got to toy around with that against white eldrazi hatebears.

Has anyone experimented with any card similar to Izzet Charm? I don't know what else exists, and i don't necessarily think Charm is superb. But i love the flexibility, and i would love a card that can counter a spell or remove a permanent. Seems like it rocks with Kess, too, but at the moment i am not going to test this.

Murderous Cut over Dismember? Was hesitant about 3 delve spells, but.

Sideboard is still the most confusing part of my life.

Lands (16) 1 Library of Alexandria 3 Underground Sea 2 Tropical Island 2 Volcanic Island 1 Bayou 1 Badlands 4 Polluted Delta 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Scalding Tarn Restricted Mana (5) 1 Black Lotus 4 Moxes Creatures (8) 4 Deathrite Shaman 2 Leovold 2 Notion Thief 1 Kess Planeswalker (5) 3 Dack Fayden 1 Jace TMS 1 Jace VP Removal (6) 2 Abrupt Decay 1 Dismember 1 Abrade 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Ancient Grudge Card Draw/Selection (8) 1 Painful Truths 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 1 Ponder 1 Dig Through Time 1 Treasure Cruise 1 Gush 1 Gitaxian Probe Counters (10) 4 Force of Will 3 Mental Misstep 1 Flusterstorm 1 Mindbreak Trap 1 Red Elemental Blast Good Stuff (2) 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Time Walk Sideboard (10 1 Pyroblast 2 Energy Flux 2 Null Rod 1 Ancient Grudge 2 Subterranean Tremors 1 By Force 1 Meltdown 1 Flusterstorm 2 Toxic Deluge 2 Grafdigger's Cage

@lordeng1ish I'm actually at a loss for what to do here. DRS is very important for the deck, and spyglass really does a number on it, making it a better 'thorn' to fight the decks mana production. Fewer thorns = fewer eldrazi, so strix is not as important either. I still really like Leovold's position in the meta and many have pivoted back to BUG, but having access to REB/Pyro is the natural progression there to fight other Leo's on the stack. The deck might actually move into a more keeper/4-5CC direction and utilize a City/Mana Confluence mana base to sidestep spyglass (since most current 3+ color decks rely on fetches quite heavily).

I've been playing BUG for the past few weeks and am overall happy with the performance.

I have made adjustments with included the removal of Dark Confidant. I love this card but he was not good enough and was doing far too much damage to me.

The two all stars in the deck are Leovold and Ramunap Excavator. Ramunap works best if you plan on building a mana control build like I have built. This with null rod and recuring wasteland/strip mine/ghost quarter works great. If you land a fastbond, you really can take over the game with this guy.

Your list looks more aggressive which is not a bad route. I have 2 delvers in my list that really come in handy when you need to have quick or flying damage. Your list might make good use of this if you are looking for speed.

Dismember has not been very impressive for me. I have one in my sideboard for the eldrazi matches but otherwise, abrupt decay is almost always better.

I personally don't like having more than one Sylvan Library. I would replace the second one with gush.

For me, BUG lists play the aggressor. As such, I rarely get good use out of Library of Alexandria as I play my spells quickly. This is a tempo deck so I think you would get more out of a wasteland (or 4).

That's my BUG philosophy. Hope it helps.

Played my first games with BUG today into shops. Still heavily proxied but went 2-3 in all games. Playing with Trygon Predator main was a goal of mine. Still a ton to learn.

Changed Cruise to Mana Drain, sideboard changed Dread to Spitters and cut third Leyline for another Mana Drain. Went 4-3 in P9 challenge. Losses to Dredge, Esper Mentor, and Montolio (Tks Shops). Beat Dredge, UW Standstill, Blue Moon, and UWR Mentor. Main deck feels pretty good at this point. I might want to change 1 of the colorless lands or the basic swamp to some other land (Bayou or Trop). Sideboard is very tough to figure out. You need certain cards like Cage to not auto lose to Oath but maybe Oath is so small a % it is worth skipping? They would just be more Leyline anyways though. Spitters are great against White Eldrazi and Grixis but suck against TKShops and Mentor. Idk what to do with the board from here.

I saw Sylvan Library in one of Rich Shay's decks from a while ago and gave it a try. I haven't been impressed so far but I've only played about 4 events with it. Most of the time it is too slow. Sometimes I can't afford the life. When I get an extra 3 cards out of it it's incredible but that doesn't seem to happen all that often.