Hey guys!
Welcome to my new column. A few weeks ago, I had an epiphany. I realized I wasn’t producing written content much because I was pigeonholing myself into thinking I should only produce two types of articles: deck techs or boring ass tournament reports that nobody really cared about. Instead, my new column will focus on my road towards becoming a better player and hopefully a Pro Tour player someday.
Originally, I had planned my first column to be the Mana Deprived origin story. Even though I have talked about it on numerous podcasts, friends of mine have told me that Mana Deprived has grown significantly since then and that I should write a new one discussing why I started Mana Deprived and where I would want to take it from here. That will have to be a future column as I managed to top 4 a PTQ this past weekend with my Bogle deck in Modern.
Bogle Bogle
I have been on a decent run lately. I strung 5 Grand Prix Day 2s in a row (T64ed my last two) and I top 4ed my last two PTQs. A year ago, I would have been impressed with these results. Nowadays, I don’t think they mean anything. I’ve made my share of misplays during this run but fell on the right side of variance to finish each time with an above average result. Just a reminder that results never tell the full story.
Anyways, let’s get down to the Bogling.
I wrote an article a few weeks ago on the deck and for easy reference, the list I played at the first PTQ was the following:
[deck title=Bogle Bogle by KYT]
[Lands]
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Gladecover Scout
3 Kor Spiritdancer
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Slippery Bogle
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
2 Hyena Umbra
3 Path to Exile
4 Rancor
4 Spider Umbra
3 Spirit Mantle
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Path to Exile
2 Rest in Peace
2 Rule of Law
2 Stony Silence
4 Suppression Field
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
For this past weekend, I decided to run with this:
[deck title=Bogle Bogle, Take 2 by KYT]
[Lands]
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Slippery Bogle
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
2 Hyena Umbra
3 Path to Exile
4 Rancor
4 Spider Umbra
3 Spirit Mantle
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Spirit Link
1 Pithing Needle
2 Spellskite
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Path to Exile
3 Stony Silence
4 Suppression Field
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
As I mentioned in my previous article, the main deck was as solid as it could be. After playing a bunch of games online, I thought the hot new deck was going to be the RG Aggro deck that Gabe Carleton-Barnes piloted to a PTQ win. You can check out that decklist here.
I felt that the metagame for my PTQ was going to consist of that deck, UWR, and Jund. That’s a lot of [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s. Heck, RG Aggro even runs [card]Seal of Fire[/card]. With that thought, I decided to cut the Noble Hiearchs. Of course, I still wanted to keep the creature count high, so I replaced them with [card]Silhana Ledgewalker[/card]s. Having a high enough creature count is insanely important against Jund because you absolutely want to have two creatures on board for their Liliana.
As for my new sideboard, I added 2 [card]Spirit Link[/card]s out of respect for the new RG and Zoo decks. My matchup against those decks always hinge on whether I draw [card]Daybreak Coronet[/card] or not. [card]Spirit Link[/card]s are for the times that I don’t.
What I did discover during the tournament was that the [card]Spirit Link[/card]s were also good against Jund. In all the games I have played, the game turns into a very close race with me. Their life total is being clocked by my one creature and their Bob, while I am getting hammered by [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s and [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]s.
[card]Pithing Needle[/card] was included because as discussed in my previous article, I thought it was a superior answer to [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card] than the 2nd [card]Dryad Arbor[/card] that just always bit the dust. Needle ended up being key in my top 8 match as it stranded two Lilianas in my opponent’s hand. I also used it against an Eggs opponent naming [card]Ghost Quarter[/card] to lock him up along with [card]Stony Silence[/card], so the singleton Needle was definitely doing a lot of work for me.
I added in [card]Spellskite[/card] because I thought maybe Infect was going to be a presence and without Noble Hiearchs to get my nut draws with [card]Kor Spiritdancer[/card], my current decklist is a huge dog in that matchup and I guess what pushed my decision was once again the fear of the hot new RG Rampager that ultimately didn’t show up. I didn’t see a single copy at the PTQ.
You will also notice that I have zero [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] this time around, which seems to be a staple in every other Bogle player’s sideboard. I just don’t picture it ever being very good against anything. Okay, except for a Burn deck that plays [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card], because my current list would have zero outs to that.
Tournament Report
No, no, I’m not going to bore you with the details. In the whole tournament, I was able to dispatch the following decks: 2x Jund, UWR, Junk, [card]Splinter Twin[/card], Eggs, Mono Red. My two losses were to Pod and [card]Scapeshift[/card].
The highlight of my tournament was my second to last round against Eggs. We were going to Game 3 and I almost wanted to throw up in my mouth as I shipped back my hand of 5. People who know me know that I’m very good with my emotions but I really didn’t want my tournament run to end because I had to mull to 4.
“[card]Verdant Catacombs[/card], [card]Stony Silence[/card], [card]Kor Spiritdancer[/card], [card]Rancor[/card]”
Probably the best 4 I could hope for. My opponent actually kept a slow hand that involved [card]Serum Visions[/card] on his first two turns, so I managed to steal that one.
This story does make me want to point out that you have to mulligan aggressively with the deck. Remember, the deck only requires 2 lands to cast all of its spells. An opening 7 of 3 [card]Slippery Bogle[/card]s and 4 lands is probably not going to get you there. If you guys have had close mulligan decisions with the deck, post them in the comments section and I will chime in on what I would do in your spot.
At the end of Swiss, I managed to finish 1st after Swiss to collect 56 boosters. My day ended losing to Andrew Noworaj playing [card]Scapeshift[/card]. My unopened box of Gatecrash wasn’t much consolation as I knew once I got home, I was just going to put it next to the unopened box of Return to Ravnica I won from the last PTQ. To me, I didn’t win anything, but my fire burns bright as I plan to play at the Quebec City PTQ next Saturday. Bogle is on my VERY short list of considerations.
Sideboard
A few Twitter followers have asked for my list, but I have to say that I hope you guys build the sideboard your way. The format is ridiculously diverse. During the tournament, I was hoping to dodge the [card]Living End[/card] player in my bracket because I had removed my [card]Rest in Peace[/card], thinking that no one was going to play that deck.
If you have a good gauge of what’s being played, then by all means, tailor your sideboard to beat your local metagame. Of course, as my friend Justin Richardson would tell you, metagaming can be pointless. I saw NO ONE playing the RG Rampager deck and yet I over-prepared myself for it.
Between my last article and this one, I hope I have been giving you guys enough sideboard options to consider for you to build a good 15.
Changes
Of course, some of you will be curious to know what I would do. I was very happy with my main deck and the only change I could see myself making is reducing the number of [card]Silhana Ledgewalker[/card]s. They are the worst creatures in the deck but their evasion did win me at least two games. If I did cut some, it would be to increase the Umbra count.
Sideboard-wise, I think I was happy with most of the cards. [card]Spellskite[/card]s were the most underutilized because I didn’t face any Infect or the mirror (I was likely the only Bogle player in the room).
Part of me wants to shore up the [card]Scapeshift[/card] matchup because I lost to it in the top 4, but I actually think it’s fine. You just desperately need an Umbra to survive the sweepers. If you get an Umbra on a Teeg, you are probably sitting pretty.
Ideas From Beyond
It turns out I am not the only Bogle lover in the world as James Grendell took down one of the PTQs with the deck. Here’s his list:
[deck title=Bogle by James Grendell]
[Lands]
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Temple Garden
1 Forest
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Dryad Arbor
4 Horizon Canopy
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Slippery Bogle
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Fists of Ironwood
4 Spirit Mantle
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
3 Hyena Umbra
4 Spider Umbra
4 Rancor
3 Path to Exile
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Rest in Peace
2 Nevermore
3 Spellskite
3 Nature’s Claim
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Path to Exile
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The saucy tech was [card]Fists of Ironwood[/card], courtesy of Adam Prosak. I definitely think this is a better answer to Liliana than [card]Dryad Arbor[/card]. If you expect a ton of Jund, I can see arguments for its inclusion. However, I think the format is just extremely diverse and I opted not to run the card because the 1/1 tokens just seem irrelevant in every other matchup.
I want to end this first article by giving a shout-out to one of my readers Avery (@Kerrydan‘s son) who wants to play my updated list. If you want to beat your dad’s Loam deck, pack a healthy amount of [card]Rest in Peace[/card]. I recommend 4 if you want to piss him off. Heck, maybe even add some [card]Surgical Extraction[/card]s in there. Let me know how it goes, Avery!
Until next time,
KYT
@kytmagic
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites.