Serious Hogaak (Retired)

Modern* BRG (Jund)

clayperce

Core Slots (32)

• 4x Bloodghast
• 4x Carrion Feeder
• 4x Faithless Looting
• 4x Gravecrawler
• 4x Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
• 4x Satyr Wayfinder
• 4x Stitcher's Supplier
• 4x Vengevine

Lands (19)

• 2x Blood Crypt
• 3x Bloodstained Mire
• 3x Blooming Marsh
• 2x Gemstone Mine
• 2x Overgrown Tomb
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 1x Swamp
• 2x Verdant Catacombs

Flex Slots (9)

• 2x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 3x Collective Brutality
• 3x Golgari Thug

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Sideboard

Other (15)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 3x Force of Vigor
• 2x Leyline of Sanctity
• 3x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Lightning Axe
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Plague Engineer
• 1x Thoughtseize

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He protec. He attac. But mostly ...
He hogaac .

:-)

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Card Choices

#NOCRABS VS. #TEAMCRAB

• I'm personally not a fan of Hedron Crab in the deck, since the four-color manabase is less reliable and more painful (a factor vs. Humans and Phoenix decks).
• However, Crab decks have put up solid results too, and many people prefer them. Notably, they are generally better in the mirror ... Crabs can mill an almost absurd number of cards, which allows a #TEAMCRAB pilot to more easily attack with Hogaak and then recast another one as a blocker.

MANABASE

Using Frank Karsten's classic article as reference, the deck needs:

• 20x Black sources for on Turn 1 ( Stitcher's Supplier ) and on Turn 2 ( Bloodghast )
• 13x Red sources, for on Turn 1 ( Faithless Looting )
• 18x Green sources for on Turn 1 ( Caustic Caterpillar and post-board Nature's Claim ), and on Turn 4 ( Vengevine and post-board Force of Vigor )

The current manabase (with Blooming Marsh instead of the more typical Blackcleave Cliffs ) includes:

• 19x Black sources
• 15x Red sources
• 18x Green sources.

FLEX SLOTS

• Caustic Caterpillar : 1-drop that Convokes for Hogaak's Hybrid cost and provides a mainboard answer to Ensnaring Bridge and many maindeck gravehate cards. I personally like it better than Insolent Neonate (a useful 1-drop with a higher ceiling, but a lower floor) and Abrupt Decay / Assassin's Trophy (answers Bridge and others, but does not Convoke)
• Collective Brutality : On-plan and just amazingly versatile.

SIDEBOARD

• Assassin's Trophy : Perhaps the best all-purpose answer in the Format.
• Collector Ouphe : For Urza Sword, Tron, and other Artifact-centric decks.
• Force of Vigor : For our opponents' Gravehate.
• Lightning Axe : My preferred Creaturehate, since it's on-plan and can kill almost anything that needs killin' (notable exceptions are Awoken Horror or a late-game Champion of the Parish , Death's Shadow , Scavenging Ooze , or Tarmogoyf ).
• Leyline of Sanctity : For our opponents' targeted Gravehate (e.g., Bojuka Bog , Nihil Spellbomb , Ravenous Trap , and Tormod's Crypt ), and to prevent non-combat damage.
• Leyline of the Void : Gravehate for the mirror and Urza Sword decks.
• Nature's Claim : For our opponents' Gravehate.
• Plague Engineer : For Urza Sword (naming Thopter), Humans, and other tribal decks. Also worth considering vs. Dredge, Jund, Hardened Scales, Pyromancer, Storm, Infect, Affinity, Druid combo, any Birds or Hierarch deck, etc.
• Thoughtseize : A solid all-purpose answer, especially for Combo decks.

Maybeboard

Other proven options:

• Abrupt Decay (2x side): Great vs. almost everything ... except Leyline of the Void :-/
• Altar of Dementia (1-3x main): Great in the mirror, as it allows easy recasts of Hogaak.
• Ancient Grudge (1x side): Perhaps the best Artifact hate in the format.
• Ceremonious Rejection (1x side): Solid vs. Artifact and Tron decks, though obviously only in a Hedron Crab build.
• Claim / Fame (1x main): People have had competitive success with the card, but I've found it to be quite meh.
• Creeping Chill (4x main): On-plan, and solid vs. Burn, Mono-R Phoenix, and Mono-R Prowess.
• Cryptbreaker (1-3x main): People have had competitive success with the card, but I've found it to be quite meh.
• Darkblast (2x main): On-plan, and superb vs. many Creature decks.
• Elves of Deep Shadow (4x main): Another solid 1-drop enabler; the extra mana is sometimes useful.
• Engineered Explosives (1-2x side): One of the few tools we have to kill Auriok Champion .
• Fatal Push (1-2x main and 1-3x side): Great vs. most huge creatures.
• Glowspore Shaman (4x main): Another solid 2-drop enabler.
• Hedron Crab (4x main): Great in the mirror, as it can mill an almost absurd number of cards, which makes it very easy to attack with Hogaak and then recast another as a blocker.
• Lotleth Troll (2-4x main): Another solid 2-drop enabler.
• Ravenous Trap (1-2x side): Another gravehate option.
• Rotting Regisaur (1-2x side): Hogaak "replacement", especially vs. Meddling Mage and Surgical Extraction .
• Shenanigans (1x side): People have had competitive success with the card, but I've found it to be quite meh.

Unproven options:

• Alpine Moon : Naming Urza's Tower , Bojuka Bog , Valaut, the Molten Pinnacle|Valakut, Lotus Field , Inkmoth Nexus , and others.
• Bontu's Last Reckoning : Kind of a desperation move, but generally hurts our opponents MUCH more than it hurts us.
• Scavenging Ooze : Considering 2x main, for the mirror and Urza Sword.
• Surgical Extraction : Considering 2x main, for the mirror and Urza Sword.

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HUGE shout-outs to ...

• Everyone who piloted successful Hogaak decks from 29 Jul-13 Aug, while I was prepping for GP Las Vegas.
• Piotr Głogowski (kanister on MTGO), who won the 20 Jul Modern Challenge (#1 of 216 players) with this post-ban Jund deck.
• @Kizaru (kanguello on MTGO), who won the 15 Jun Modern Challenge (#1 of 195 players) with this pre-ban deck.
• Mirko DeVito (2vito on MTGO), who was the first (AFAIK, anyways) to write publicly about Hogaak in Bridgevine.
• All the helpful people on the Bridgevine Discord and Facebook Group.

Please don't forget to +1 Upvote if you find anything useful here.

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 12 Rares 11 - 1 Uncommons 9 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.27
Folders	Hogaak Dredgevine, Modern Decks, Possible Modern Decks?, Modern, Bra decks, Cool decks, >> Modern Archive <<