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    Vintage deck help - BUG

    BUG
    bug control
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    • D
      dragoscar last edited by Brass Man

      What is your opinion on this deck, and what do you think could make it better? Thanks in advance.

      Creatures:
      4x Dark Confidant
      2x Snapcaster Mage
      4x Tarmogoyf

      Spells:
      2x Abrupt Decay
      1x Ancestral Recall
      1x Brainstorm
      1x Dismember
      2x Flusterstorm
      4x Force of Will
      1x Mana Drain
      4x Mental Misstep
      1x Steel Sabotage
      1x Demonic Tutor
      1x Ponder
      4x Preordain
      1x Time Walk
      2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
      2x Sylvan Library

      Mana sources:
      1x Island
      1x Library of Alexandria
      4x Misty Rainforest
      1x Polluted Delta
      2x Scalding Tarn
      1x Strip Mine
      2x Tropical Island
      3x Underground Sea
      1x Black Lotus
      1x Mox Emerald
      1x Mox Jet
      1x Mox Pearl
      1x Mox Ruby
      1x Mox Sapphire
      1x Sol Ring

      Sideboard:
      1x Abrupt Decay
      1x Dread of Night
      1x Energy Flux
      1x Forest
      3x Grafdigger's Cage
      3x Nature's Claim
      2x Nihil Spellbomb
      2x Null Rod
      1x Thrun, the Last Troll

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      • rbartlet
        rbartlet last edited by

        Run monastery mentor!

        This deck is very fair, and I think that it would struggle as a result. Given that it is bug, I would expect to see some Leovald, or deathrite shaman. The mana base feels very tight too. Dark Confidant versus delve spells is a very hard choice. I love Bob, but the delve spells are really good.

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        • Brass Man
          Brass Man last edited by

          I'm not sure Mentor makes a lot of sense as a suggestion here.

          The list you have is very similar to the BUG or BugFish archetype in Vintage. BUG runs a lot of the same cards you are, and usually leverages:

          • [[Deathrite Shaman]] (which is very useful against the mana denial strategies which are common in vintage)
          • [[Leovold, Emissary of Trest]] (which is a strong hoser against blue decks centered around cantrips and draw spells)
          • Some BUG lists also take advantage of the one-two punch of [[Wasteland]] + [[Null Rod]], but that's not entirely necessary

          I'd highly reccomend you check out this excellent primer by @JonHammack http://themanadrain.com/topic/1323/dr-shaman-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bug-r

          That's a version of the deck with a red splash. You don't need the red splash to compete, but it's worth reading just to get an idea for some of the other cards people have played in similar decks

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          • D
            dragoscar last edited by

            I was running 4 deathrite, but they honestly felt like a waste of space. I don't think this deck runs enough instant + sorcery to make use of his, and he just feel like a mana dork that could potentially have no lands in the grave, and mana dorks don't seem great in modern to begin with. Maybe I'm just wrong, but it feels better without them. Leovold could be good, what would come out for him?

            rbartlet 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • rbartlet
              rbartlet @dragoscar last edited by

              -2 goyf
              +2 leovald

              I'd also suggest a toxic deluge in the board.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • studderingdave
                studderingdave last edited by

                I built BUG as a side project in Vintage. 15 proxies makes the venture rather easy. I find the deck rewarding, and while I normally play Shops, I would describe BUG as a more interactive build that has a small but interesting fanbase. The natural idea evolved from legacy builds, but I really didn't pull the trigger until I was Jeremy beaver pilot a BUG build with Managorger Hydra in it into a T8 at a recent EE Vintage event. Managorger is interesting because it has natural applications against shops, which have a hard time removing one, and other blue decks, who often churn out enough CA to make the Hydra huge really quickly. In all of this I understand that Hydra is a fringe choice at best, and if you are still reading this you are probably scoffing at the idea of even considering the card. This is fine, it is just how I like playing the deck, you will find several deviations from the norm in my deck, but I enjoy it. Some takeaway you can gather regardless of build:

                1-2 Null Rods Main
                2-3 Leovold
                2+ DRS

                My build:

                3 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
                3 Managorger Hydra
                3 Deathrite Shaman
                2 Trygon Predator
                1 Notion Thief
                4 Force of Will
                3 Preordain
                3 Mental Misstep
                1 Ancestral Recall
                1 Stifle
                1 Misdirection
                1 Mindbreak Trap
                1 Time Walk
                1 Treasure Cruise
                1 Gush
                1 Ponder
                1 Brainstorm
                1 Dig Through Time
                3 Abrupt Decay
                1 Demonic Tutor
                1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
                2 Null Rod
                1 Black Lotus
                1 Mox Emerald
                1 Mox Sapphire
                1 Mox Jet
                4 Misty Rainforest
                3 Polluted Delta
                3 Tropical Island
                3 Underground Sea
                2 Island
                1 Forest
                1 Strip Mine

                SB

                3 Nature's Claim
                2 Tormod's Crypt
                2 Yixlid Jailer
                2 Virulent Plague
                1 Snuff Out
                1 Dismember
                1 Mindbreak Trap
                1 Flusterstorm
                1 Grafdigger's Cage
                1 Ravenous Trap

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                • John Cox
                  John Cox last edited by John Cox

                  I think that if you cut [[Dark Confidant]] for delve spells you should have some number of [[jace, vryn's prodigy]].
                  I really like the [[sylvan library]]s though. I am never sad to see that card.
                  Edit: Also throw in 1 [[gitaxian probe]] for good measure

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                  • Brass Man
                    Brass Man last edited by

                    A minor nitpick – I think you're going to be pretty disappointed by the Thrun in the sideboard. The uncounterability doesn't really matter, as most decks with counters wouldn't really consider a 4/4 with no evasion a threat worth dealing with. Workshop and Eldrazi decks might have trouble dealing with a large regenerating blocker, but at that mana cost it might be very difficult to cast it against them. That's the only card in your list that immediately stands out as underwhelming.

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                    • T
                      Trius last edited by

                      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.

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