Type: Deck Idea
Format (invalid) vinVintage
Approx. Value:
$5,224.82

0 Likes 0 Comments
Avg. CMC 2.57
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 60 cards, 21 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (14)
4 Deathrite Shaman
$4.12 Creature - Elf Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
$3.52 Legendary Creature - Elf Advisor
3 Tarmogoyf
$29.18 Creature - Lhurgoyf
1 Tombstalker
$0.41 Creature - Demon
3 True-Name Nemesis
$2.84 Creature - Merfolk Rogue
1 Vendilion Clique
$4.32 Legendary Creature - Faerie Wizard
Instant (19)
3 Abrupt Decay
$2.82 Instant
4 Brainstorm
$1.09 Instant
4 Daze
$2.50 Instant
4 Fatal Push
$1.75 Instant
4 Force of Will
$68.27 Instant
Sorcery (6)
4 Hymn to Tourach
$0.50 Sorcery
2 Ponder
$2.73 Sorcery
Enchantment (1)
1 Sylvan Library
$20.59 Enchantment
Land (20)
2 Bayou
$382.00 Land - Swamp Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
$20.45 Land
4 Polluted Delta
$31.14 Land
1 Tropical Island
$515.73 Land - Forest Island
4 Underground Sea
$739.39 Land - Island Swamp
2 Verdant Catacombs
$15.92 Land
4 Wasteland
$23.46 Land
Sideboard - 15 cards, 12 distinct
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Instant (7)
1 Flusterstorm
$26.00 Instant
2 Golgari Charm
$1.19 Instant
2 Invasive Surgery
$0.12 Instant
1 Spell Pierce
$0.19 Instant
1 Surgical Extraction
$2.55 Instant
Sorcery (1)
1 Toxic Deluge
$8.07 Sorcery
Artifact (4)
1 Grafdigger's Cage
$2.59 Artifact
1 Null Rod
$110.57 Artifact
1 Pithing Needle
$0.54 Artifact
1 Umezawa's Jitte
$9.32 Legendary Artifact - Equipment
Planeswalker (3)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
$19.60 Legendary Planeswalker - Jace
1 Liliana of the Veil
$19.03 Legendary Planeswalker - Liliana

Notes
 
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23429-DTB-Team-America-(Midrange-Control-Thread)&p=991601&viewfull=1#post991601

Notes on card choices:
20 Lands in tandem with DRS seems more than enough to reliably cast the deck's spells on time. While the number of 3-drops might seem like it'd make the deck want more lands, this hasn't really been the case for me, especially since you can use the Cantrips/Library to help search for additional lands as needed. Generally speaking, this deck only wants to have 1 of each Dual Land out in an end-game state, so any more beyond that isn't needed.

I opted to not play any Basics. Blood Moons decks are just something that you're going to be soft too, and running a couple Basics actually tends to be worse in more matchups than just running all dual lands. Your best hope against those sort of strategies is to keep mana open to cast Abrupt Decay or Golgari Charm.

This list started with a stock Team America list, and the variations started after dropping Delver of Secrets. What I found is that BUG's lack of Lightning Bolt makes it much worse at playing that sort of hyper-aggressive tempo-game in comparison to the Delver decks running the Red splash. However, the trade off in speed is a much, much better mid and late-game while still retaining the necessary elements to function as a powerful aggro-control deck. You lose maybe a little bit of percentage points against fast combo decks with this configuration in comparison to more typical TA lists, but make up for it by having superior bombs that are much, MUCH better against the rest of the field. And anyways, you still have a great sideboard to compensate. The other bonus is not having to play as many Sorceries or Instants, and can instead run more permanents.

I still feel that the mixture of 4 Daze, 4 FoW and 4 Hymn is the strongest and most versatile mixture of disruption available to BUG. The free counterspells enable the deck to play a 'tap-out' mode of sequencing, making it so that the most moves are completed on each turn. I don't think BUG is the type of deck to best utilize situational counterspells in its main 60, particularly because it has access to Hymn to Tourach. Hymn is just savage against basically every archetype aside from a few graveyard-centric decks, and it plays really well with the other cards. I would not exchange it for 1-for-1 discard spells, because besides the card advantage aspect, it being able to hit Lands in the opponent's hand makes it so that your Wastelands and Dazes are much better.

The creature mix previously had the 4th Tarmogoyf instead of the 3rd TNN, but what I've found is that TNN is just so good at beating UWx control and midrange decks. I think Tarmogoyf is still important, as it's still a fantastic under-costed Wall/Finisher and is an important element in beating decks like Eldrazi. It also survives -1/-1 spells (which your opponent will need to bring in if they want to not die to TNN) and isn't countered by Pyroblast. 4 DRS is obvious; 2 Leovold is because the card is BUSTED but as a Legend you don't really want to run more (though perhaps a 3rd copy is warranted..) 1 Tombstalker because the Delve cost is too excessive to run more, but being a flyer and 8-CMC has a ton of advantages against the format. 1 Vendilion Clique is there, taking the spot previously occupied by the 4th copy of Ponder. Since we don't need to run a critical mass of spells for Delver, cutting a few cantrips in favor of Clique and Sylvan Library (taking the slot of the 3rd Ponder) is fine as a method of increasing the threat density while still maintaining a requisite Blue count for Force of Will and sorceries for Goyf and DRS.

4 Fatal Push -- the card just makes TA so much stronger against any deck leaning on creatures. I could see the argument to cutting the 4th copy for the 4th Decay in certain metagames, but being able to kill a T1 DRS is just so important. It's also made it so that previously difficult matchups like Elves or DnT are much easier to handle even before sideboarding.

I run 2 Jace in the sideboard, because the main 60 doesn't really want to run a 4-drop except in certain matchups -- but when he's good, he's great. The sideboard is designed to be versatile against the major archetypes of the format, though some slots could be swapped for more targeted options as needed. The reason I want Golgari Charm instead of Marsh Casualties despite the presence of TNN is because its Instant-speed nature is important against certain decks, it can hit Enchantments (very useful in a fair number of matchups), and generally you can sequence your plays to avoid killing your own creatures. 2 copies of Invasive Surgery as it hits some of the most problematic cards (e.g. Terminus, Ancestral Vision, Show and Tell, Reanimate, Life from the Loam, etc.) with the potential upside of exiling the remaining copies. 1/1 split of Flusterstorm and Spell Pierce because sometimes you want to hit artifacts/enchantments/etc. There's an argument for just running 2 copies of Pierce, but Flusterstorm is still quite nice to have against combo.
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