I'm surprised that this deck is still alive. Don't get me wrong, I love this deck and still have my altered Kor Spiritdancer, but with the meta right now (or even prior DS), this deck will really struggle. Good luck guys!
It was 1 Spirit Link, 1 Unflinching Courage, 1 Kor Spiritdancer, 1 Gryff's Boon and 2 Spirit Mantle I think. It didn't look like he was siding out Path to Exile and I knew he would have one if I had Spiritdancer, so I wanted fewer of them (probably not the best play) I know some Bogle players who are scared of Bant Eldrazi. I'm not. We should win game 1. The other 2 games will be tougher, but we have to do some guessing and get the right cards for the right situations.
They have Engineered Explosives, Blessed Alliance, maybe a singleton Fracturing Gust, and Negate or Stubborn Denial. Engineered Explosives is very good against us, so I feel like Stony Silence coming in for 3-4 copies of EE and Spellskite is good. But they also have Blessed Alliance as a 2 of, so if you side in Leyline of Sanctity, it will cover the "target player sacrifices a creature" and Thought-Knot Seer's best ability. I'm not sure if this is the best strategy here, but it worked for me and won me the match, so I'm going with it for now. Fracturing Gust is tougher to play around, but it helps us understand that hands with Spiritdancer and Rancor will be easier to rebuild. Negate and Stubborn Denial are not the best against us because they lose most of their power after turn 3, but they are still good and I expect my opponent to side some of those in, depending on their play style. So in this matchup, more than any other matchup, I look at the number of cards my opponent is siding in. Most opponents don't hide this unless you make it super obvious. They I side accordingly. The player who is on the play must side firstly.
My first day with Gryff's Boon didn't go too well, but it was not the Aura's fault. 44 person FNM for 6 rounds.
Round 1 vs. 8 Whack. In the first game, he nearly had the turn 3 kill. I made a mistake of not leaving my suited Bogle for blocking 1 turn and he exploded with damage. I'm not sure if the next card was lifelink, but it was a mistake. I win the next 2 games with Daybreak Coronet, despite some quick hands by him. I actually thought that his last 2 cards in hand were 2 Goblin Grenade for lethal in game 3, but it turned out to be just some more Goblins. 2-1.
Round 2 vs. Bant Eldrazi. This was the reason I played this deck for the first time since winning a PPTQ with it. This guy has beaten me twice - once when I was on Eternal Command and once on Grishoalbrand. I wanted to have a plan for what he did. I get a big Bogle in the first game and don't have to worry about Engineered Explosives and Fracturing Gust yet. I side in all of my Stony Silences for EE and 2 Nature's Claim for Spellskite. I end up losing to a Blessed Alliance. In the final game, I decide to take out the Stonys for 4 Leyline of Sanctity to blank Blessed Alliance and Thought-Knot Seer. My opening Leyline does both and he doesn't have answers, losing to a big Bogle. First win against this guy in 3 tries now! 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Bogles. This is where it falls apart. He mulls to 5 and with FOIL Merfolk usually being his deck of choice, I have the hand that beats anything Merfolk can do with 5 cards, outside of Chalice of the Void. Nope, he suits up a Kor Spiritdancer and although my good draw gets him low on life, he recoups with Spirit Link and Daybreak Coronet, going from 2 life to 44 life in 1 swing. I had time to sacrifice 3 Horizon Canopy, but couldn't find Path to Exile, nor would it matter after that many cards drawn. I win the next game, going all-in on Kor Spiritdancer myself. The final game comes down to a quick draw by him, which is matched by me, but he plays out enough Bogles and Gaddock Teeg to have 1 lethal damage, but draws and plays Rancor to make sure. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Dredge. In the first game, I get Daybreak Coronet and he scoops. In the next game, he has Abrupt Decay and Nature's Claim in combat, leaving me barely unable to stabilize after getting 7 power on turn 2. In the final game, I go Bogle, then Kor Spiritdancer, then I mistakenly spread out Auras, despite the fact that he only had 1 land in play that couldn't have him do Abrupt Decay next turn (Steam Vents). I gave him an extra turn to live. 2-1.
Round 5 vs. Bogles. It's really fun to play the mirror twice, which all 3 of us ended up doing. In the first game, he has 2 Ethereal Armor after I keep a 0 land hand on a mull to 6. I had a feeling that he had Ethereal Armor, so I didn't try hard to mull to oblivion. In the next game, I get a big Kor Spiritdancer and his Bogle can't keep up. I basically drew a bunch of Auras and faded Path to Exile. In the last game, he got me with double Ethereal Armor again, going Bogle into Rancor/Ethereal Armor and I nearly stabilized, despite 2 Nature's Claim on 2 Daybreak Coronet on consecutive turns. But he drew Daybreak Coronet and I scooped. 1-2.
I dropped. I was pretty disappointed and usually don't drop because I'd rather play, but I could see where the night was heading. 3-2 drop
May I ask what you boarded out for the Bant Eldrazi? Thanks.
It's actually a pretty smart pick. If your meta is dominated by Scapeshift/Eldrazi/RG Tron, Geist could really save your bacon! When decks are dropping a turn 3 or 4 Titan or Oblivion Sower, then you can itemize to swing wide without straying too far from your gameplan.
So i'm guessing he removes either Kor or Unflinching Courage? and i'm not sure if it's worth it to remove 2x Leyline just to make room for it, especially if the meta would BGx and Burn meta. @_@
I feel like it's probably due to the increasing prevalence of Affinity in the format. Earlier this year, when Bogles was actually INCLUDED in Modern's second tier, most decks started running common counters to it. From Jund being Jund to everything and the Kitchen Fink (pun intended) running Spellskites in the main, Bogles was kicked out of Modern. Since then, less and less lists (that I've seen) are mainboarding Chalice of the Void, Engineered Explosives, and Spellskite. Bogles has a good matchup against most strategies that intend to swing wide, so that may be why Dredge's revival (pun intended) has caused Bogles to come back as well.
Honestly? Bogles is always good, as long as the meta allows it to be. As soon as a bunch of people start running it, so to will people start playing more Jund and running enchant-wipes in their sideboard. Don't forget that Gryff's Boon and Open the Armory are two cards that have significantly buffed our deck.
I actually have given up on the deck but seeing it do well in the recent tournaments decided to sleeve them up again. I still hate the Tron player in our LGS though. Hahahaha. And a bit irritating that I sold my 2x Horizon Canopy to build Abzan Coco but all is good, will just wait for it to be reprinted to have a full playset again. LOL.
I've been noticing an increase in Bogles being able to place in the Top 8, and some even winning the tournament. Is it because of Dredge? Just when I was going to retire my Bogles deck. lol. @_@
I currently have 3x Suppression Field in my MB since my meta are full of Jund and Coco, the 2 tax really delays them especially the if you drop it T2 (on the play) and they only have fetces on hand. Hahahaha.
Here is my loose guide, sometimes things change on the fly, for whatever reason. In general, i dont like to side out too many Auras, and almost always side out some number of Kors and Paths. My main deck has 25 Auras (if you count Open the Armory, which lets just say we count it), which means that by turn 5 we should have seen about 4-5 Auras. I dont like to make that % too much lower, but you obviously need to side out some Auras sometimes. In regards to Paths (creature removal), i think 3 is a good number. Our creatures should be bigger, and hopefully with lifelink, which beats any race. One Path a game is usually enough to keep other creature decks in check.
VS Burn: +4 Leyline, +2 Nature Claim, -4 Kor, -1 Path, -1 Spider Umbra. They have way too much direct damage to even try to get there with Kor, dont do it. I side in a few Claims to either hit my own Rancor or kill their Eidolon of the Great Revel, which is the only threat I am worried about. The goal here is to get a Coronet or Spirit Link ASAP, then you auto win.
VS Jund/Junk/BUG/BGx: +4 Leyline, +1 Dryad Arbor, -2 Kor, -1 Path, -1 Spirit Link, -1 Spider Umbra. Kor with an Umbra is really good in the Jund matchup, but i still side out a few. However, i'm more than happy to keep a hand with a Fetchland, a Kor, and an Umbra, unless youre against Junk who play Paths. Leyline is pretty clutch here to stop discard effects, Liliana's sac effect, and Lili's ultimate. Almost any deck can potentially run Spellskite, so if you see one, add in Paths or Claims for game 3. They will keep in some number of Bolts, so if you go in on an Arbor, try and get an umbra on it right away while they are tapped out. These decks are the hardest for us to beat, but i did get lucky and beat 3 BGx decks on my way to winning Colorado States.
VS Abzan Company: +2 Grafdigger's Cage, +1 Rest in Peace, +1 Dryad Arbor, -1 Kor, -1 Spirit Link, -1 Spider Umbra, -1 Bogle. This plays no main deck kill spells, but will side in Abrupt Decay. They dont bring in Path, which means Arbor is basically hexproof and you can afford to shave a Bogle. They will try to combo, so either kill them fast or hope to hit one of your sideboard cards. Cage is great, so they cant Chord for Pridemage.
VS Affinity: +3 Nature's Claim, +2 Stony Silence, -2 Path, -2 Kor, -1 Hyena Umbra. Claim is just better than Path here, but i still dont want too many kill spells because the goal is to get a bigger creature than they have. An opening hand of 3 kill spells isnt really that great. Like any aggro match, you are looking for a Coronet and some evasion.
VS Zoo and Merfolk: I dont do sh|t unless they have Spellskites or something weird. I could see bringing in a few Claims against fish since it hits Spreading Seas and Vial, but really both of these decks cant beat a Coronet. Mono blue fish cant handle a huge Kor, feel free to go all in on her. EDIT: i see mono-U fish are playing some Vapor Snags now, so maybe be cautious on the Kor plan. I dont think i've seen Snags in my local meta, though.
VS Scapeshift: +4 Leyline, +2 Gaddock Teeg, -3 Path, -1 Spider Umbra, -1 Hyena Umbra, -1 Kor. This is another matchup where you can usually rely on Kor if you need to, but i still shave 1 because its better to have a good density of Auras. Teeg stops Scape, Bring to Light, and Crpytics, which is a big deal. They simply cant kill you if you have Leyline out, which buys you a turn since they have to Cryptic bounce it before they can combo. Still, bringing in Leyline's is dubious here, i'm not sure if it is right. You dont need Path at all, even if they use their 'creature package' out of the board, i'm not afraid of Obstinate Baloths. This deck is the most likely to have a Spellskite in the board, but usually only 1, and they have to hit it.
VS Tron: +2 Stony Silence, +2 Gaddock Teeg, -2 Kor, -1 Path, -1 Spirit Link. This matchup can be kind of tough, but Teeg stops Karn and Ugin. Stony is really annoying for them to not be able to crack maps, spheres, and stars. You need to keep a few Paths for Wurmcoil. Stony stops Spellskites, too.
VS Jeskai/Grixis/UW Control: +1 Rest in Peace, -1 Path. It depends on what kind of deck we are facing, but usually we are faster than they can handle. Teeg might be a consideration here as it stop sweepers and Planeswalkers, but he doesnt stop Kiki/Angel combo. I think you just want to stay dense in Auras and present a fast clock. Dont attack into Snapcaster mana if your creature cant handle it. I see a lot of people attack with a Bogle with only a Rancor on it, only to have it get ambush viper'd.
I guess thats all i can think about for now. Like i've said before, we just lose to decks like Infect and Living End and i'm not going to waste a slot in the board for a one-of Melira that is very unlikely for me to draw. Even if you get a Rest in Peace out against Living End, they can still cascade into sweepers until they can hard cast their dudes, its rough.
Instead of another Dryad Arbor in the side, what are your thoughts on 1xBeckon Apparition in the side. It serves the same purpose against Jund, but also gives evasion and can be used as graveyard hate (can be used against CoCo Finks/Snapcaster/scavenging ooze/goyf/etc).
The token can be Abrupt Decay'd, which is a very good side effect for Arbor. Also, like Noobin pointed out, being able to fetch Arbor makes it feel like you have 6/7/8 Arbors.
After winning my SCG States with Bogles, i'm going to stay on it for an upcoming SCG IQ and then GP LA. I tweaked things a little bit, though, but think this is a sweet final build. I've been doing very well online against the current meta in my testing:
I upped my Open the Armory count to 2, at the expense of a Spirit Mantle. While i love Spirit Mantle, OtA counts as evasion. It can grab the singleton SM, or anything else, and it has been awesome. Most of the time, i'm using it at 3 mana for a Rancor or Ethereal Armor to finish out a game/apply crazy pressure. Rarely, it seems, do i go get a Coronet, surprisingly enough, but that option is there, too. Having access to Boon, SM, and Rancor make for great evasion targets. This mix of tutors and enchantments has been working out real well for me.
I like one Arbor in the main, i go all in on Arbor a lot, or as a last resort. Obviously, it is particularly good against BGx decks, to the point where i was really considering a second Arbor in the main. I tested it, and didnt like it, though. One in the side, however, for those BGx matches, has been great.
Speaking of the sideboard, I dropped down in count on Stony Silences, got rid of Suppression Field (which is a shame, i like this card), and added Grafdigger's Cages to fight against CoCo/Chord decks. Against Abzan Company, i'm only bringing in the 2 Cages and 1 RIP, which is usually enough to stop the combo.
All in all, i still think this deck is very well positioned and it is getting even smoother with Oopen the Armory. Yes, you still need to find a creature and protect it, but getting your mix of auras out there has never been easier.
Yes, this deck punts to Infect and Living End, but you cant beat them all, many people feel the same way towards Bogles with their deck. This is Modern, after all.
May I ask for a sideboard guide of your deck? We have almost the same deck list, except for the 1x Dryad Arbor in the side which is +1 Rest In Peace for me. Thanks. Still struggling sometimes what to remove from the main deck against the other decks. lol.
Played my Bogles last night at our LGS and Open the Armory helped me won a lot of games! First time playing with it though but i'm very much impressed.
I will consider playing Open the Arms. I have seen the discussion here about it before. The main thing is that I wasn't even going to play Bogles this day. I was going to play Grishoalbrand, but since I remembered a lot of Zoo last time, I felt like running a deck that nearly autowins against Zoo. (UR Delver is nearly an autowin as well, but unfortunately I don't remember anyone on that. Sorry, I had to throw this one in.) I didn't want to flounder with Grishoalbrand and lose to Zoo. With Bogles, I could afford to flounder a little bit and still win easily. Not to mention, Bogles has an amazing Control matchup and I expected an uptick with Ancestral Vision and Sword of the Meek legal.
Against BGx - In, 2 Rest in Peace, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, Out, 2 Spirit Mantle, 1 Spirit Link, 1 Unflinching Courage, 1 Spider Umbra, and one flex spot. Against Burn - In, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 3 Nature's Claim, Out, 1 Unflinching Courage (on the draw), 2 Spirit Mantle, 1 Dryad Arbor, 1 Kor Spiritdancer and 2 Spider Umbra. Against Infect - In 3-4 Nature's Claim, 2 Gaddock Teeg, Out, 1 Spirit Link, 3 Spirit Mantle, 1 Unflinching Courage, 1 Kor Spiritdancer. Against various Control - Out, Not much if any. 3 Stony Silence vs. Thopter/Sword decks.
I know my sideboarding can definitely improve. I don't sideboard the same stuff against the same decks. Sometimes I read into what I perceive the propensity is for someone to draw a certain way. Right now vs. Infect, I assume that they will draw 1-2 Blighted Agent every game and I try to have a game plan for it.
Sidenote - Do you want to know how I sided vs. BUG Thopter/Sword? I put in 3 Stony Silence, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, and 4 Nature's Claim. I probably should have put in Gaddock Teeg as well and maybe even RIP just for the Sword, but I felt Stony was enough. My game plan was to use my mainboard Path to Exile for multiple Spellskite and save all 4 Nature's Claim for his Ensnaring Bridges. Leyline was to protect my Nature's Claims from being discarded and protect against 2 of Lily's abilities. I sided out 1 Spirit Link, 1 Unflinching Courage, 3 Spirit Mantle, 1 Daybreak Coronet, 1 Ethereal Armor, 1 Gladecover Scout, 1 Rancor, 1 Kor Spiritdancer, and 2 Hyena Umbra. It was so weird.
Round 1 vs. BW Death and Taxes. I keep a hand with some fetches and a Kor Spiritdancer. He does Path to Exile on both while getting turn 2 Thalia and some other creatures. I get a Bogle eventually and slap Spider Umbra and Daybreak Coronet, stonewalling his Thalia, Leonin Arbiter, and Flickerwisp. But he draws, plays a 4th land to satisfy Thalia, and casts Anguished Unmaking on my Spider Umbra and we're on to game 2. In game 2, I keep a similar hand to game 1, but 2 Kor Spiritdancer. Unfortunately I flood out badly, losing with 3 land in hand still. 0-2.
Round 2 vs. Grishoalbrand. Honestly, this is a poor matchup, but we can get lucky and draw our 2 ofs. Game 1, he draws and draws. He doesn't get there and I win on turn 5 or 6. In the next game, I play a Bogle on turn 1, which was a mistake since I had Gaddock Teeg and 2 Path to Exile in hand. I shouldn't expose too many creatures to Pyroclasm, so I should have saved the Bogle. But he turn 2 Through the Breach/Wurm and I can't handle all 3 Wurms the next turn. Technically I can pay life for a land and Path 2 of them, but the 3rd kills me. In the final game, I draw the nuts. Turn 2 Rest in Peace. Turn 3, instead of playing Gaddock Teeg, I go all in on Daybreak Coronet because I can gain enough life to possibly survive. Then I cast Gaddock Teeg next turn and it's over from there. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. RW Burn. I make a stupid mistake of blocking with my Rancor/Daybreak Coronet Bogle and I lose it to double strike from Boros Charm. I have a backup Kor Spiritdancer, but that was literally my only backup. In the next game, I nearly get Blood Mooned out, but he didn't end up having it. I make my guy huge next turn with Daybreak Coronet and at 30 life for me, he scoops. 2-0.
Round 4 vs. Infect. He mulled to 5. Turn 2 Blighted Agent is Path to Exiled immediately. In the next game, he beats me with Blighted Agent when I don't have anything. I had 2 Nature's Claim in hand. In the final game, I made a mistake, doing PAth to Exile EoT, to which he did Vines of Vastwood. I should have waited for my turn, but I felt like he probably would just cast another next turn, so I was trying to feel out his hand. He beats me with that Blighted Agent with Might of Old Krosa into exactly Mutagenic Growth while he's at 1 life. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. BUG Thopter/Sword Glissa. This is Frank Lepore's brew and he admitted that he wasn't sure if it was good or not. This was one of my toughest matchups ever. He played turns 2 and 3 Spellskite and I do 2 Path to Exile. He lands Ensnaring Bridge and I scoop a turn later. In the next game, I end up drawing nearly my whole deck with 2 Kor Spiritdancer in play until I draw 2 of my 4 sided Nature's Claim for his 2 Ensnaring Bridges. In the final game, it is grindy as hell. I have turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity for his Lily and discard. I play Stony Silence, which dies 5 turns later to Abrupt Decay. He has a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas for a bit since I can't attack it with anything but a Dryad Arbor after Engineered Explosives. Eventually I topdeck some good Auras and he has 1 turn with an empty hand to draw Bridge. He doesn't and I get there. 2-1.
Top 8 vs. BW Death and Taxes. I draw turn 1 Bogles in both games and he flooded a bit in the first game. Pretty easy wins when we do this, especially since my Kor Spiritdancer lived and netted me cards while I loaded up a Bogle. 2-0.
Top 4 vs. Storm. Game 1, he gives me 1 turn to guarantee that he wins on turn 5. Big mistake, as I load up my Spiritdancer and swing for lethal on turn 4. In the next game, I just have a really good hand. Rest in Peace into big Bogle and it's pretty much over. Even if he does get off Empty the Warrens, my creature was 6/2 first strike. Admittedly I didn't have a backup at the time, but it's tough to kill. 2-0.
Finals vs. RG Breach. In the first game, he ramps. I goldfish. He does an early Scapeshift and wins. I win the next game with turn 0 double Leyline of Sanctity. This gives me time to slowly build a Bogle to win. In the final game, he gets Chalice of the Void on 1 the turn after I do Rancor/Ethereal Armor. From there, I cast 2 Daybreak Coronet and win. 2-1.
I see. Thanks.
May I ask what you boarded out for the Bant Eldrazi? Thanks.
So i'm guessing he removes either Kor or Unflinching Courage? and i'm not sure if it's worth it to remove 2x Leyline just to make room for it, especially if the meta would BGx and Burn meta. @_@
Thoughts on it? In what MU does GoST come in?
I actually have given up on the deck but seeing it do well in the recent tournaments decided to sleeve them up again. I still hate the Tron player in our LGS though. Hahahaha. And a bit irritating that I sold my 2x Horizon Canopy to build Abzan Coco but all is good, will just wait for it to be reprinted to have a full playset again. LOL.
Thanks man.
May I ask for your sideboard guide dude. Thanks
May I ask for a sideboard guide of your deck? We have almost the same deck list, except for the 1x Dryad Arbor in the side which is +1 Rest In Peace for me. Thanks. Still struggling sometimes what to remove from the main deck against the other decks. lol.
Thanks for the list.
Could you tell us on what you board out vs Tier 1 decks? Am still having a hard time boarding out. lol. Thanks a bunch.