RUG Moon (Modern MTG Deck)

Blue Moon decks are on the rise in popularity in the current meta. Rather than having a finishing combo (nothing can recreate the combo joy of Splinter Twin), this decks trades the option for an explosive finish to strengthen the "beat 'em down and burn 'em out" strategy that Blue Moon decks resort to if the combo is disrupted.

Huntmaster of the Fells is fantastic at out-valuing opponents and burning them out. Tarmogoyf is fantastic at applying pressure while keeping up disruption. Details follow below.

General deck strategy

This list wins by applying pressure in combination with removal and disruption. Specifically, Tarmogoyf serves as an fantastic early game wall against aggro decks before switching to massive beater in late game, while being cheap enough to sneak in against control and combo to pressure them while keeping up disruption. The deck uses burn flexibly to either kill creatures or race the opponent to close out the game (aided by the size of creatures). Essentially, the deck can morph its playing style to best counter the opponent, choosing between being a draw-go, fog/block/stall, or tempo deck. The massive value in the list from Huntmaster of the Fells , Snapcaster Mage, Cryptic Command, and Electrolyze give this deck gas well into any game. The greatest boost in power that this deck has seen since it's inception was the printing of Opt in Modern. With the extra cantrip in conjunction with Serum Visions, this deck excels at digging to find threats and answers.

"If I'm playing a Tarmogoyf deck, why would I support it with instead of its usual x shell?"

Well, for starters this deck really has the post-board tempo/control feel that Twin decks had, so it's fun for those players.

Secondly, and most importantly, the Snapcaster Mages really give this deck the kind of reach that can steal games and I think the difference of 1-5 life points make up the majority of Jund/Junk losses (mind you this deck trades that for other weaknesses).

Thirdly, Jund/Junk creates a winning situation by devolving the game into topdecks with a strong board state. On the otherhand, this deck likes to win by out-valuing the opponent while having a strong board state. Huntmaster of the Fells

and Snapcaster Mage, Tireless Tracker are major contributors leading to this state, topped with Jace, the Mind Sculptor as a very powerful finisher that can be protected with your blockers. Additionally, offers cantrips and deck filtering, which help improve draws (e.g. I can get away with running only 2x Blood Moon and can reliably find it while avoiding having multiple copies in hand that are often dead draws) and avoid mana floods/droughts.

Lastly, this deck operates at 90+% full capacity under Blood Moon, which can give you free wins. Even other x decks suffer compared to this deck, as 1 source enables only 1 counterspell per turn. The SIX basic islands also make the mana base extremely pain-free for a Modern deck and give you an edge if you're racing an opponent to close out the game.

BONUS: Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This deck's creatures do a good job protecting him while doing double duty as anti-Jace attackers (with help from burn).

"Why would I splash instead of or in a deck ?"

loses out to Jeskai or Grixis mainly by not having access to unconditional removal. To make up for that, it has a much higher threat density than either other x variant by having non-legendary threats... no Tasigur, the Golden Fang, no Nahiri, the Harbinger, no Geist of Saint Traft... just good ol' Tarmogoyf! This can be extremely important in games where the opponent is off balance and threats need to be found quickly to finish him/her off before he/she can stabilize, or if we're off balance and need to stabilize or race to close the game. Plus, Tarmogoyf on the field essentially shuts down Geist of Saint Traft, and usually matches if not exceeds Tasigur, the Golden Fang in P/T stats.

EDIT: With the advent of Grixis shells running Death's Shadow, now has non-legendary beaters as well. Please note that although the condition of putting themselves at low life totals beat your Tarmogoyfs in the P/T contest, it also puts them within striking range of burn, whether it comes from Lightning Bolt, Snapcaster Mage, or Ravager of the Fells. Protip: let Grixis Shadow do most of the work for you.

Regarding unconditional removal... this deck demands that you be clever when dealing with large creatures through careful application of Blood Moon, counterspells, and burn. Don't forget, Snapcaster Mage + Lightning Bolt or Ravager of the Fells + Lightning Bolt are also a reliable ways to deal with large creatures without losing out on card advantage. Other times you'll get lucky enough to end a creature with a simple Dismember.

Lastly, note that 's removal unconditional removal is in the form of Path to Exile... which is a very serious and sad nombo with Blood Moon.

NOTES on potentially controversial card choices:

Huntmaster of the Fells

really excels in this list. I run 3 copies because honestly at 2 copies I just wanted to see more of him (plus the first copy tends to get removed quickly). He stabilizes the board and your life total when you're behind and generates card advantage to close the game when you're ahead. He's most stellar in blue decks over other builds because the large amount of instant speed gives the controller maximum control over his transformations. On top of all that, he has great synergy with Blood Moon... which in of itself is a major flavor win. He is my favorite card in this deck, by far. EDIT: I trimmed down one copy of Huntmaster of the Fells

to slot in one copy of Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the main deck. I decided to favor Huntmaster over Jace in terms of numbers because lifegain and putting bodies on the board is super relevant against creature based and control matchups. Tapping out midgame for a Huntmaster isn't unreasonable, which is not the case with Jace. The planeswalker is more of a finisher and I wouldn't cast him per say unless I was desperate for Brainstorm or if I knew that he'd stick.

Spreading Seas provides some disruption against our worst matchups (read: Tron and Eldrazi) without being a dead draw due to its cantrip. The main reason it is included, however, is that it can help colour screw an opponent even if they have a basic or two with Blood Moon in play.

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

may seem odd at 2 copies MD while only running one Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the main deck. Basically, Flip Jace is still good, and fits on curve better while still looting to grow the Tarmogoyf, giving value with his -3, and weakening large opposing creatures with his +1 to keep my blockers live. As a plus, he serves as removal bait. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sideboard guide

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Casual

91% Competitive

Date added	8 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	WB
Splash colors	G
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 22 - 6 Rares 7 - 7 Uncommons 14 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.97
Tokens	Clue, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	3-party, Tabletop, Jace, Day 2
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