Snake Butts?

Standard Budget BUG (Sultai) Control Theme/Gimmick

TrailMixer

Creature (16)

• 3x Abzan Beastmaster
• 2x Bounding Krasis
• 3x Disowned Ancestor
• 2x Dragon's Eye Savants
• 1x Profaner of the Dead
• 2x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 3x Sidisi's Faithful

Land (23)

• 3x Dismal Backwater
• 3x Forest
• 3x Island
• 3x Llanowar Wastes
• 4x Opulent Palace
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 3x Swamp
• 3x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Assault Formation

Instant (11)

• 3x Anticipate
• 2x Murderous Cut
• 2x Negate
• 2x Shape the Sands
• 2x Sultai Charm

Sorcery (6)

• 3x Kin-Tree Invocation
• 3x Taigam's Scheming

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Sideboard

Creature (5)

• 2x Profaner of the Dead
• 1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
• 2x Sultai Flayer

Instant (8)

• 2x Grim Contest
• 2x Negate
• 2x Reality Shift
• 1x Sultai Charm
• 1x Ultimate Price

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Duress

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Maybeboard

Creature (6)

• 1x Benthic Infiltrator
• 1x Bounding Krasis
• 1x Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
• 1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 1x Tide Drifter

Land (1)

• 1x Lumbering Falls

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Fruit of the First Tree
• 1x Monastery Siege

Instant (3)

• 1x Dispel
• 1x Feed the Clan
• 1x Glint

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A BUG / Sultai deck based on Assault Formation

INTRO:

This is a Sultai deck built around the card Assault Formation. It is full of low cost high toughness blockers that clog the board early game and become threats when Assault Formation comes down. It also uses cards like Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Anticipate to get either Assault Formation or Kin-Tree Invocation

PROBLEMS:

The biggest issue with the deck is that it is a bit too slow. Sometimes it can be an explosive blowout turn 4 (T1: Disowned ancestor, T2: Assault Formation, Swing for 4, T3: Shape the Sands, Swing for 9, Kin-Tree Invocation for a 9/9, T4: Swing for game) but others it just holds off until the late game without doing anything. I often find that I am not doing anything proactively (it is seemingly difficult to find the right pieces to combo off, despite so much card draw) and can't outclass many decks (especially Mardu / Temur dragons, which seem to be everywhere on XMage). I am not aggressive enough to kill them early, and I don't have a strong enough midrange to beat them. Any advise or ideas for additions and cuts would be awesome. This is a budget deck, so I would like to keep the total cost under $50, but I will consider any and all suggestions that make it faster and more powerful, as this is my pet deck, and I want to to be good enough to win a few FNMs post-rotation.

SIDEBOARD:

• Duress: gets rid of removal like sacrifice effects, counter spells and board wipes that are harder to deal with

• Grim Contest: gets rid of creatures I can't block like fliers and ones they don't attack with (like Anafenza, Kin Tree Spirit)

• Negate: a hard counter against the removal of my enchantments and creatures

• Profaner of the Dead: wrecks tokens and can be a big blowout in certain matchups

• Reality Shift: exiles pesky creatures I can't deal with

• Silumgar, the drifting death: this could probably be replaced with Tasigur but I like Silumgar for being a Hexproof flier with high toughness that can still attack without assault formation, and can sometimes be a one sided board wipe

• Sultai charm: good against (mono coloured) creatures, artifacts and enchantments, and can draw cards. The extra copy in the board helps in matchups with more of these.

• Sultai flayer: sideboard tech against burn and aggro

• Ultimate price: an extra measure against creatures, but with so many Sultai Charms this is a lot more of a flex slot

NOTES ON MAYBEBOARD:

• Feed the Clan is there in case Sultai Flayer is too slow for aggro.

• Lumbering falls may help my late game by giving me a hard to answer threat, but I don't know how much tempo this would cost me so I'd want to test it first

• Dragonlord Silumgar has OK stats, and is fine with or without Assault formation on the field, plus it snags their best thing, but its mana cost may be too high for this deck.

• Glint may be great in this deck, as it provides a toughness boost and can blank removal, though I think I might just prefer a hard counter like negate or dispel that works on things targeting me (such as foul tongue invocation)

• Dispel may be better in the board than negate but it depends on the meta. Lots of kill spells, counter spells and instant speed enchantment removal (ex. Dromoka's Command) and this is great, but with lots of sorcery speed board wipes it is less effective. Needs testing in the new meta.

• Foul Renewal is a neat card that can be a two for one in some cases, but it doesn't play nice with delve.

• Fruit of the First Tree may be good in a removal heavy meta, but it is a big investment and doesn't do anything on its own.

• Monastery Siege is good as both card selection and stops removal, but it doesn't fit in. Should be tested.

• Tasigur is pretty sweet. I end up with a lot of cards in the GY due to Taigam's Scheming and other card selection, so this is another way to use it (aside from Murderous Cut). It has decent stats and has the bonus of getting stuff back, so that's nice. I just don't know where to slot it in and what to replace for it. Another issue is that it is pretty expensive right now ($7 each) and is a bit high for the budget, but hopefully the BFZ Event Deck lowers its price enough for me to snag two.

POSSIBLE SIDEBOARD CHANGES: (to be based on the new meta game and from testing)

• 2 Duress > 2 monastery siege

• 2 Negate > 2 Dispel

• 2 Sultai Flayer > 2 Feed the Clan

• 2 Grim Contest > 2 Glint

Date added	9 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 3 Rares 18 - 6 Uncommons 16 - 6 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.35
Tokens	Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Spirit Warrior */* BG
Folders	Standard