RUG Monsters In Standard

Today I’m trying out my take on RUG Monsters to see if I want to play it in the SCG Invitational in Charlotte this weekend.

RUG Monsters

Sam Black

Test deck on 03-28-2014

Standard

Creatures (26)

• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 4 Polukranos, World Eater
• 3 Sylvan Caryatid
• 4 Stormbreath Dragon
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 4 Kiora's Follower
• 4 Courser of Kruphix

Planeswalkers (7)

• 4 Domri Rade
• 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1 Xenagos, the Reveler
• 1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Lands (21)

• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 4 Temple of Abandon
• 4 Temple of Mystery

Spells (6)

• 1 Forest
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Island
• 2 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Bident of Thassa

Sideboard

• 2 Shock
• 2 Negate
• 1 Domestication
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 2 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 3 Mistcutter Hydra
• 1 Nylea's Disciple
• 1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave

That first game was pretty amazing. It looked terrible for me at several points, but Prophet of Kruphix was absolutely huge in letting me come back from way behind. In the second game, I just got stuck behind against Pain Seer. It’s worth noting that that can happen. Game 3 my draw was just terrible.

The first game was totally uninteresting. I thought I was going to win the second game, but Boros Reckoner + Purphoros, God of the Forge proved to be a huge problem. Gods are really amazing against R/G. The third game really ended when they played Mizzium Mortars, but it was very fun to almost win after that.

Bident of Thassa was disappointing in that first game, but I think my opponent just had the right mix of removal and high-toughness creatures. I still expect it to generally perform better than that. I didn’t sideboard right in this matchup, but I didn’t quite get punished in game 2 so I didn’t change anything for the third game. I need to be much more threat heavy against a deck like this. I have no idea why I was so interested in ramping.

In the first game, my opponent was a turn behind playing Pack Rat and then wasted their next turn trading with my Kiora’s Follower. That exchanged left them way too far behind when I drew Cyclonic Rift. The second game was less dramatic; again, they spent an early turn doing something ineffective (casting Underworld Connections), and then Cyclonic Rifting their Desecration Demon put them too far behind.

While the deck is capable of some very sweet plays, especially when you get multiple planeswalkers or Kruphix cards into play, I don’t think it’s the deck for me. It feels close, and I could have sideboarded better. But ultimately I think it’s just a little too inconsistent.