Legacy Bogles

Posted on May 26, 2017

When it comes to playing Magic, there are two things that I truly love: trolling people and romping about with my outrageous Jenny (Johnny) brews. Usually this involves assembling some kind of Rube Goldberg-esque deck and running it through a Magic Online Legacy or Modern league. I win a few games — maybe even a match or two — and successfully exchange money for laughter. But rarely, tantalizingly rarely, the forces of evil prevail and I find myself in possession of a deck that is both terrible and mighty.

Bogles (Bant Auras) ? Legacy | April King

To be honest, I don't like playing Modern Bogles, otherwise known as Hexproof or Auras. It's a highly linear deck and its ability to win is dependent on your opponent not having answers to its unusual combination of threats. Admittedly, this is a fine strategy in Modern, where decks often sail past each other, unconcerned about their opponent's gameplan.

Furthermore, Bogles is a huge beneficiary of Wizard's policy of not letting combo decks consistently win before turn four. This allows Bogles to play a higher density of threats while skimping on ways to interact with its opponent. Unfortunately, that's a dubious strategy in Legacy where your opponents might be casting this motley assortment of “fair” spells in the first few turns of the game:

To add insult to injury, not only are the combo decks faster, but almost every deck has at least some maindeck answer to the Bogles' gameplan:

Deck Construction

So how did I take a linear Modern deck and bring it into Legacy, where the combos are faster and the answers broader? I dug deep into my bag of tricks and came up with a brilliant solution previously unexplored by any other Legacy deck: I added Blue cards.

Feel free to take a few moments to catch your breath at the majestic brilliance of adding Brainstorm . . . or not. After all, it's no surprise to anyone who plays Legacy that Brainstorm is an extremely powerful card, allowing you to draw relevant cards while shuffling away the cards you don't need. It's even more powerful in Bogles, which desperately wants to draw no more than one or two creatures and two or three lands. In addition to Brainstorm, Blue lets you to interact with the fast combo decks, through the combined power of Daze and Force of Will:

I made a couple other changes to further Blue-ify it, starting with the addition of four Unstable Mutation. Dating back to the glory days of Arabian Nights, this Blue Aura adds a lot of velocity, allowing you to be frequently attacking for six on turn two.

You may have also noticed that I've cut Kor Spiritdancer for Invisible Stalker. Although Kor Spiritdancer provides excellent card advantage and quickly becomes an unmanageable threat, it was cut for a couple of reasons. First, this blanks all your opponent's removal, stranding them with pointless and tawdry spells such as Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares. Secondly, like Rancor, it lets you fight through True-Name Nemesis — a card that otherwise stonewalls the entire deck.

Finally — and my apologies for burying the lead here — both Invisible Stalker and Unstable Mutation pitch to Force of Will.

“Hey kiddo, this Force don't pay for itself.” — April's Mom, probably

Other than Brainstorm and Friends, the deck shouldn't look entirely unfamiliar to those who have played Modern Bogles. Most of the cards are ported straight over or are replaced with their Legacy equivalents. Path to Exile becomes Swords to Plowshares, Temple Garden becomes Savannah, and Rancor regains its sweet flavor text:

Hatred outlives the hateful, the Official Motto of Legacy Bogles

Gameplay

When I first built the deck, I assumed that it would play out in relatively straightforward manner. Cast an early creature, suit it up with Auras, and turn it sideways. Counter with Daze and Force when the opponent casts a spell I can't beat. But with an A+B deck like Bogles, you have to be extremely careful with your sequencing.

In Modern, you can slam a turn one Bogle, confident there aren't any cards your opponents can use to counter it. In Legacy, having that same Bogle get Daze'd can mean that you are left with a threatless hand containing no creatures. Even playing around Daze, it's important to always be aware that your opponent can and will Force of Will spells that they can't deal with. With Bogles, that's essentially the entire deck.

“Is this even Magic?” — You

Other than that, there are just a few easy Do's and Dont's you need to be aware of:

If your opponent is playing a deck with Liliana of the Veil, do run out a second creature.

If not, don't over-commit the board. Getting 4-for-1'd off of Supreme Verdict, Terminus, or Engineered Explosives can and will cost you the game.

Do cast Brainstorm to rid yourself of superfluous creatures. Trade them for spicy Auras like Ethereal Armor.

If you're playing against an Abrupt Decay deck, don't cast Unstable Mutation alone on a creature. They'll Decay it during your upkeep and your 1/1 will die.

Do be extremely careful to put yourself in a position to resolve Daybreak Coronet. Decks that win by attacking can't possibly beat it.

Don't sideboard too heavily. Rest in Peace, Pithing Needle, and Leyline of Sanctity are all fine silver bullets, but Bogles is a critical mass deck and overly sideboarding can leave you unable to function.

Do be aggressive against the combo decks. A turn one Bogle with essentially any trio of Auras can win the game on turn four, while still letting you hold up countermagic.

Most importantly, do take lots of screenshots and post them on Twitter. You're not playing Bogles to sit at home alone and win games in obscurity.

“This is probably Photoshopped.” — Also You

Other than that, sit back, play Magic and have a great time. Remember, you have to be having enough fun for two.

“uh hey u guys did u just see a tricorne hat float by?” — Still You

Videos

If this article wasn't stomach curdling enough, thanks to Magic the Amateuring, I've recorded myself playing through a Legacy League. It's a slightly earlier version of the deck, but nevertheless you can still sense the agony of my opponents. Enjoy!