Bogles Revisited

Last time we looked at Bogles, Jouney into Nyx had been released the previous week. I had also been working on the deck for more than two months to perfect a deck that could work with what I had.

In order to save you time, here's the deck at the end of the previous article:

G/W Bogles

Creatures x4 Slippery Bogles x4 Gladecover Scout x4 Silhana Ledgewalker x3 Kor Spiritdancer Land x4 Temple Garden x1 Sunpetal Grove x1 Temple of Plenty x2 Razorverge Thicket x1 Stirring Wildwood x2 Tectonic Edge x1 Dryad Arbor x4 Plains x4 Forest	Other Spells x2 Path to Exile Enchantments x4 Ethereal Armor x4 Hyena Umbra x4 Rancor x4 Spider Umbra x4 Spirit Mantle x1 Gift of Orzhova x2 Unflinching Courage
Sideboard x2 Pithing Needle x2 Glaring Spotlight x2 Silence x1 Torpor Orb x1 Rest in Peace x1 Stony Silence x2 Nevermore x2 Dismember x2 Leyline of Sanctity

This deck is not entirely consistent, and it has a ton of things it really doesn't need, but mainly in the Creature, Land, and Sideboard departments. Meet the improvements:

  

Well, those aren't ALL the improvements, just the major ones. Everything else is a shift in number or total removal.

Keen Sense is just a colorshifted Curiosity (which is blue and was in the Bant Auras version of this back in March). It's just another cheap enchantment. And then we have our fetchlands. They've been a staple in Modern for a long time for being able to fetch your shocklands, but now the allied color fetchlands are Modern legal, allowing us to add these guys in here. Before we didn't have fetchlands in the deck, and if we want to have Dryad Arbor or mana fix ourselves, we need these. Let's look at the updated deck:

Improved G/W Bogles

Creatures x4 Slippery Bogles x4 Gladecover Scout x4 Kor Spiritdancer Land x4 Temple Garden x4 Windswept Heath x3 Razorverge Thicket x1 Dryad Arbor x4 Plains x4 Forest

Enchantments x4 Ethereal Armor x4 Hyena Umbra x4 Keen Sense x4 Rancor x4 Spider Umbra x4 Spirit Mantle x2 Unflinching Courage Other Spells x2 Path to Exile

At this stage of deck designing, I'm leaving the sideboard out. We'll get there, but first, an evaluation of the deck.

    

So looking at what we cut... Tectonic Edge just had to go. There was no purpose for it being in the main deck. We'll stuff it in the sideboard shortly... Also in the Land, Stirring Wildwood, Sunpetal Grove, and Temple of Plenty had to go. We need lands that start off untapped. That cut us down five lands already. Stuff in four Windswept Heaths and a third Razorverge Thicket and we're good to go.

Next up is Silhana Ledgewalker. By turn two, we either want Kor Spiritdancer or we want our one drop creatures getting enchantments. It's too slow so it's out. I replaced al four copies with Keen Sense. I also cut the single Gift of Orzhova (lifelink and flying is great, but not important. This is fast aggro. Win in four turns or fewer or die trying) and replaced it with a fourth Kor Spiritdancer so we have a better chance of seeing it or one of the other creatures.

That should clean up the deck pretty well. There are still some improvements to get to, but we'll do that now. It's pretty much just the sideboard. Let's consider the various decks you'll see and what cards to include in the sideboard to combat them.

TRON

    

When facing off with TRON decks, you have to worry about mana coming to them fast. By turn 3, they can get 7 mana, so Pithing Needle should be applied liberally to Expedition Map, Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere, Karn Liberated, and Oblivion Stone. You also want to stop lands. Without red, that's pretty hard, but we do have Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter. In this case, Ghost Quarter is actually tons better because you don't have to wait for them to get to four lands (which if their deck goes off without a hitch, they have 7 mana by turn three). Modern games can actually end by turn three or four depending on the decks involved, so Ghost Quarter is the one we want.

Short version: Pithing Needle and Ghost Quarter

Bogles

    

Got yourself a mirror match? You've got two options... Race and hope you get the better draws or... slow them down. Glaring Spotlight allows you to use Path to Exile on their creatures. A well timed Silence on their second or third upkeep locks them out of getting their enchantments on the field. Nature's Claim will help get rid of your opponent's enchantments and slow them down, like Ethereal Armor.

Short version: Glaring Spotlight, Silence, Nature's Claim

Affinity

  

Affinity has been a pain for me since I started playing Modern. They're ridiculous decks and it makes me hate the format. However, you have options! Pithing Needle locks down Cranial Plating and Arcbound Ravager which will be your biggest problems. Stony Silence is there to be more of a global Pithing Needle. It stops everything your opponent throws at you

Short version: Pithing Needle and Stony Silence

Red Deck Wins/Storm

  

Anything that involves dealing damage directly to you, there is only one answer: Leyline of Sanctity. A lot of decks include 4, and that's more of a metagame issue, but I don't really have to worry about it, plus between the one I pulled from a $30 M11 fat pack and the foil one I bought off my friend for $10 back in 2011, I'm not spending any more to get a third or fourth. Two is fine for me... Nature's Claim, on the other hand, deals exclusively with Blood Moon in Red Deck Wins.

Short version: Leyline of Sanctity, Nature's Claim

Birthing Pod

    

Birthing Pod decks thrive on having creatures enter the battlefield doing something. Stony Silence locks down the Birthing Pods from actually being able to activate. Nevermore is a possible option since you can prevent Birthing Pod from ever being played, but that cuts it close. I think Pithing Needle would work out better, and we already have two decks you need to use Pithing Needle against.

Short version: Torpor Orb, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle

Living End

  

I personally love watching Living End happen. Maybe not in a tournament against me, but it just seems so much fun to play or watch. Granted it's like a Jund control deck so you're really only playing by yourself, but it's powerful. Your options are Rest in Peace which knocks out Living End from even being useful, and Nevermore is once again a possibility because you can lock down Living End. It can't be cast (which if you've never seen the deck played, it's a 0 cost spell when cascading into it, and when you cascade, you cast the next smallest spell you find, and this prevents it from happening).

Short version: Rest in Peace

Faeries

    

Faeries are fast and powerful. They're also Blue/Black, so there are options here. Witchstalker is hexproof and grows when spells are cast during your turn (which Faeries sometimes have Flash), but the sight will keep an opponent from casting spells during your turn. Path to Exile takes care of more Faeries and with two in the main deck, more could be useful. Nevermore prevents certain spells from being cast. So I guess it will actually make it in as a possibility.

Short version: Path to Exile, Nevermore

Splinter Twin

  

You have two options here: Destroy Splinter Twin, or slow it down by making the copy ability cost more. I think both would work well in this case.

Short version: Nature's Claim, Suppression Field

Now, crafting the sideboard will be difficult, especially when we have 12 unique cards to include. I'm cutting Suppression Field and Silence. Suppression Field made the short list for Splinter Twin only, and then Silence is only used for Bogles in these examples. Nevermore is also not making the cut. Pithing Needle and Rest in Peace are better at taking care of things.

So the sideboard? Here:

Sideboard x2 Ghost Quarter x2 Glaring Spotlight x2 Nature's Claim x2 Pithing Needle x1 Path to Exile x2 Rest in Peace x2 Stony Silence x2 Leyline of Sanctity

If possible, I would have dropped in the fourth Path to Exile, but that's not a option here. But what about my ideal Bogles deck if I had all the money I wanted to complete it? I'm glad you asked!

Eric's Ideal G/W Bogles

Creatures x4 Slippery Bogles x4 Gladecover Scout x4 Kor Spiritdancer Land x4 Temple Garden x4 Windswept Heath x4 Razorverge Thicket x1 Dryad Arbor x3 Plains x4 Forest	Enchantments x4 Ethereal Armor x4 Hyena Umbra x1 Keen Sense x4 Rancor x4 Spider Umbra x3 Daybreak Coronet x4 Spirit Mantle Other Spells x4 Path to Exile
Sideboard x2 Ghost Quarter x2 Glaring Spotlight x2 Nature's Claim x2 Pithing Needle x2 Rest in Peace x2 Stony Silence x3 Leyline of Sanctity

Not much changed with this version, except I made Path to Exile 4 copies main board, I wiped out most of Keen Sense, I took away a Plains for a fourth Razorverge Thicket, and I dropped in 3 copies of Daybreak Coronet. I also upped the number of Leylines by one, just in case.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest in-depth look at Bogles. Perhaps we'll revisit them again soon.