RUG

Modern* Midrange RUG (Temur)

Thegreengod

Land (22)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Forest
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Island
• 4x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 4x Scalding Tarn
• 2x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 2x Wooded Foothills

Creature (16)

• 2x Bounding Krasis
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 2x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 3x Snapcaster Mage
• 4x Tarmogoyf
• 1x Vendilion Clique
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nissa, Steward of Elements

Instant (11)

• 3x Condescend
• 3x Cryptic Command
• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Tarfire

Sorcery (7)

• 4x Serum Visions
• 3x Traverse the Ulvenwald

Artifact (3)

• 3x Engineered Explosives

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Sideboard

Creature (9)

• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 1x Keranos, God of Storms
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Obstinate Baloth
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x Thragtusk

Artifact (4)

• 1x Engineered Explosives
• 3x Tormod's Crypt

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Anger of the Gods

Instant (2)

• 2x Ancient Grudge

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Maybeboard

Instant (15)

• 1x Back to Nature
• 2x Burst Lightning
• 2x Electrolyze
• 3x Mana Leak
• 3x Remand
• 2x Shadow of Doubt
• 2x Spell Snare

Enchantment (3)

• 2x Spreading Seas
• 1x Threads of Disloyalty

Sorcery (10)

• 4x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Firespout
• 2x Flame Slash
• 1x Pyroclasm
• 2x Roast

Creature (4)

• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• 1x Grim Lavamancer
• 1x Spellskite

Artifact (6)

• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind
• 1x Sword of War and Peace
• 2x Vedalken Shackles

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk Relentless  ^Flip

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Currently testing [Condescend] and debating how to fight Bant Eldrazi properly. (Day 2 9/18/2016 SCG Orlando Metagame Breakdown) I feel my matchups against Infect and Affinity are favored but Eldrazi and burn not so much. Roast and Dismember look good here

Brainstorming

Cut the two Spell Snare s from the list due to meta changes. It's one of those cards that goes from okay to fantastic based on your meta.

The Wooded Foothills should probably be Flooded Strand or Polluted Delta but those are currently in other decks. Because of that I'm playing a second Breeding Pool . Until it loses me a game I'll probably make due without ruining another decks manabase.

The Core

The Core:

Reid Dukes article Temur Midrange April 8th

Pretty much a pile of RUG staples this deck is extremely flexible and can be built in so many different ways. For starters here's a classic core with the recently unbanned Ancestral Vision :

3x Serum Visions

4x Ancestral Vision

4x Lightning Bolt

3x Mana Leak

2x Electrolyze

3x Cryptic Command

2x Huntmaster of the Fells  

4x Snapcaster Mage

4x Tarmogoyf

2x Vendilion Clique

2x Spell Snare

22-24 Lands ( 16-20+ Islands for shackles )

RUG is so versatile you can build it in other ways that you enjoy more. Make changes based off strengths, if you like aggro try monkey-grow or delver, if you like combo try out kiki-RUG or go big and combo with scapeshift. If you don't know where to go I'd suggest this midrange version or a RUG/Blue moon style to and go from there.

Suggestions

Spell Snare - Completely changes games when on the draw, allows you to stop a t2 threat that could get past your t2 countermagic and red removal. This card is so strong I advocate it for use in the mainboard if it isn't already. However this isn't always true, if there aren't that many targets to snare in your meta it's not staple.

Flame Slash - Efficient, sometimes kills goyf, deals with those pesky x/4's and can't be dispelled. The main downsides is that it's a red spell with no reach against players and can't hit manlands.

Burst Lightning -5th/6th red spell like tarfire, but instead provides some game against x/4 creatures and great reach late game.

Vedalken Shackles - Requires an island centric manabase similar to Reid Dukes in his article. Also keep in mind while deckbuilding that Vedalken shackles sometimes operates as a 5 drop.

Roast - Kills x/5 creatures that flame slash otherwise couldn't, like Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler

[Big 5 Drop]- Goblin Dark-Dwellers , Keranos, God of Storms , Thragtusk , Stormbreath Dragon , Thundermaw Hellkite , Sarkhan Unbroken , Surrak Dragonclaw , Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir , Batterskull .

Delver of Secrets  - Delver is a solid option for RUG but is built much more aggressively with a higher density of spells.

Remand - Staple for tempo shells like Delver/iGrow

Hooting Mandrills -5th/6th Tarmogoyf, great in tempo shells that cast more spells faster. (iGrow,delver, etc)

Slagstorm - Works with manabases that can support red well, a really nice niche to this card opposed to other red sweepers is its ability to hit planeswalkers and provide reach making it very viable in the mainboard. For example Anger of the Gods and Volcanic Fallout seem more attractive in the sideboard. If Abzan company is popular in your meta however run Anger main.

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   - I have yet to test with this card but he's a turn 2 permanent that RUG has access to but I feel he's much better suited in grixis builds where your sorcery cast spells are much better, like Kolaghan's Command , Terminate , and Inquisition of Kozilek .

Some other favorites:

Seal of Fire - I think between this, tarfire and burst lightning, seal is the the worst for RUG mostly because it can't be snapped.

Tarfire - 5th/6th red spell + tarmo-fuel. Helps with Delerium if you're playing Traverse the Ulvenwald

Vapor Snag - Great in aggressive strategies like Delver or Monkey-Grow.

Simic Charm - Very good in a BG/x metagame and matchups where the unsummon can be OK. I think this card is suited for aggressive RUG decks where the pump or bounce can be a big advantage.

Izzet Charm - Highly recommended for academy ruins play, but I think its also a very powerful spell especially in a meta where the 2 damage to creature is frequently KO'ing creatures.

Packages

Delver(No hoots given)- Todd Anderson's SCG Classic Atlanta - 1st Place 1/24/2016

"Blue Moon"(RUG Edition) - Blood Moon 's mainboard, four of them.

"Kiki-Lizard" : This has been a package I've been testing with recently. Add 3-4 Bounding Krasis 2-3 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and change the manabase accordingly by increasing the number of red sources and such. Some number of Deceiver Exarch should probably be used as well considering Traverse the Ulvenwald to fetch up the combo and be more resilient. (Big fan of Tarfire here)

Shackles - 2-3x Vedalken Shackles and 16+ sources for islands based on your meta.

Academy Ruins : Suggested for meta's afflicted with too much mainboard hatred for shackles while also providing an EE soft lock. Run 1-2 Ruins as well as 2-4 EE's mainboard, and cards like Tormod's Crypt in the side. Sounds janky but sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes to play RUG shackles.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 2 Mythic Rares 34 - 10 Rares 10 - 2 Uncommons 4 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.08
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Wolf 2/2 G, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink