Does Tameshi, Reality Architect's XāŖļø allow you to circumvent (sirsumvrent?) targeting restrictions with an aura, such as hexproof/shroud, protection, etc? On a larger scale, could this allow an aura to attach to the "wrong kind" of permanent?
When an aura enters the battlefield and it wasn't cast, and if there's nothing saying where it attaches in the effect that's bringing it onto the battlefield, then its controller chooses what it enters the battlefield attached to. It has to be able to legally enchant that permanent as per its enchant ability, and it has to be able to become attached to that permanent, so it can't get around protection. It doesn't care about shroud or hexproof, though, since an aura only targets when it's on the stack.
For example, if you bring back Arrest with Tameshi's ability, you couldn't attach it to Tibalt or Black Knight, but you could attach it to Nimble Mongoose.
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Welcome to what I hope will be an ongoing series looking at different decks and archetypes in the format. I wanted to start strong so today weāll be looking at a deck archetype that holds a special place in my heart and was the first deck I made in paper, Bogles.
Bogles, also known as Hexproof can be a powerful aggressive deck. The core of the deck is Green/White, but many builds splash one-off cards in other colours. The main aim of the deck is to get a single hexproof creature onto the battlefield, and then attach an increasing amount of enchantments to it, to attack for large amounts of damage. If you enjoy combat and giant creatures, this may well be the deck for you. A word of warning though, while itās a great deck to pick up and an easy one to start with, it does come with some baggage. Ā Some players actively dislike hexproof decks and will be very vocal in this opinion, so be careful.
If you are a player who dislikes Hexproof, scroll to the bottom of the article for a guide on how to beat Bogles.
Hexproof?
Hexproof is a keyword that is found mostly on creatures, though there are the odd exceptions. Hexproof means that the creature canāt be targeted by spells or abilities an opponent controls. This means that your hexproof creature canāt be targeted by a lot of your opponentās removal spells.
Core Cards
Letās take a look at the core spells of the deck
First up we have the mainstay creatures of the deck. Thereās the deckās namesake, Slippery Bogle, and Gladecover Scout at 1 mana, and Silhana Ledgewalker at 2. These are your hexproof threats, you need to get one of these on the battlefield as early as possible. In fact, these are so important, that when you play the deck youāll often find yourself mulliganing aggressively to make sure you start the game with one in hand.
Next up are your Land enchantments, Abundant Growth and Utopia Sprawl. These are crucial for fixing your colours and drawing some colours. Utopia Sprawl also helps ramp you, which can be vital if youāre racing towards being able to play multiple spells per turn.
Finally, we have the core creature enchantments. Ethereal Armor and Ancestral Mask can both make your creatures extremely large very quickly. Ancestral Mask also has the benefit of counting your opponentās enchantments too. Rancor is vital as it can be recurred if your opponent does manage to remove your creature, ensuring you have an enchantment back in hand for a new creature. It also provides trample which prevents your opponent from sticking small creatures in the way of your massive attacks. Armadillo Cloak also provides trample, but it also helps you win a race by gaining life when the creature deals damage.Ā
An important note here, Armadillo Cloak does not give lifelink, it has a triggered ability. This means that you gain life for each Cloak on the creature.
Flex Slots
So thatās the core of the deck. But we have some flexible slots available to play about with. A couple of options that are very good in the main deck are Cartouche of Solidarity which gives you a 1/1 warrior token as sacrifice fodder for removal spells like Chainerās Edict. Fling gives the deck a way to win against Stonehorn Dignitary decks, which look to take away all of your combat steps leaving you with a giant Bogle that does nothing. Heliodās Pilgrim lets you search for a specific enchantment to help you in a certain situation. Kor Skyfisher has been included in builds of the deck for a while, it can pick up your land enchantments to let you draw more cards or reset your fixing, for a while it had faded out of use but has seen an increase in play recently.
The current builds of Bogles have begun to leverage the powerful artifact Arcumās Astrolabe. Switching to a mana base of Snow Lands allows for Astrolabe to act as another Abundant Growth, drawing you cards and fixing your mana to make sure you can hit your splash colours. Astrolabe is also the main reason that many decks are running 4 Kor Skyfisher in the main again, as the Astrolabe/Skyfisher package is a powerful one.
Sample Decks
Hereās an example of a recent 5-0 Bogles deck from the Magic Online Pauper League.Ā https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2362944#paper
As you can see to make room for the Astrolabe package, theyāve had to trim down the creature numbers, dropping to just 2 Ledgewalkers. Astrolabe also provides sideboard flexibility, allowing the deck to run 4 colours. This decklist is a great example of a good sideboard for an unknown meta. With some common staples in the list. Iām not going to go too in-depth on the sideboard here as Iād like to try to write up a sideboarding guide as a bonus article.
In case youāre interested my personal paper build of Bogles can be found here:Ā https://deckstats.net/decks/129277/1291932-bogles
Aura Gnarlid has been a favourite pet card of mine, often acting as a massive unblockable threat in the late-game. In fact, Iām so attached to the fuzzy critter that I didnāt have the heart to break up the deck to convert it to the snow version, which Iām lobbying to be referred to as āSnowglesā. That means that Iāve just finished putting together a second copy of the deck with all the Astrolabe goodness, you can find that here:Ā https://deckstats.net/decks/129277/1406459-snowgles
How to beat Bogles?
Hello Bogle-haters, hereās the section where we look at how to beat the deck. Bogles players, itās always useful to know how your strategy can be stopped, it helps you play smarter.
There are a few ways to stop a Bogles deck. You can bring in enchantment removal to get rid of key enchantments, Leave No Trace is a very good example of such a card. Another option is to use counterspells to try to stop them from getting a creature big enough to threaten you. There are also some specific cards that work very well to shut down the deckās whole plan.
I mentioned Stonehorn Dignitary earlier, big mana decks like Tron will use their mana to flicker it multiple times preventing Bogles from ever attacking again. With the recent prevalence of this deck, they do run two copies of Fling to counter this strategy, but hopefully by the time theyāve found a Fling youāve got counter magic in hand.
Gethās Verdict and Chainerās Edict donāt target a creature, so they can be used to force the Bogles player to sacrifice a creature. Often youāll find that a Bogles player will look to spend as much mana as possible on enchantments, so you can often find a hole where they only have one creature on their side of the board opening them up a being very disappointed as they have to sacrifice it.
Standard Bearer is a fantastic anti-Bogle card for white decks. If youāve paid attention to most of the core enchantments in the deck, youāll notice they all say āenchant creatureā. This means they can enchant your creatures as well. Standard Bearer will force those enchantments to target it, effectively preventing the Bogles player from casting any more enchantments until they find a way to remove it.
Aura Flux is not a card you want to add to your sideboard against an unknown field, but if your Local Game Store meta has a known Bogles player, this can be a very powerful way to prevent them from keeping a lot of auras on the board.
Summary
So there you have it, thatās Bogles. Iāve not gone too deep on strategies for this deck because the deck itself is fairly linear. Itās easy to pick up and play if youāre new to the format, or just enjoy smashing in with giant creatures. There are more complex lines to be found as you begin to learn the deck and the metagame around it, so itās a deck that will grow with you. It may not be a top-tier deck right now, but itās a tonne of fun to play and I know that Iām almost always likely going to have a build lurking in paper for when I have the urge to suit up a 1/1 and get attacking.
In the meantime I hope this has been useful for you, please donāt hesitate to get in touch with feedback or questions, either here on Tumblr or on Twitter atĀ http://twitter.com/PauperPlanes
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My opponent casts Banefire, targeting me for lethal damage. In response, I cast Aegis of the Gods (with flash due to some other effect). I am now hexproof. After it resolves, my opponent kills Aegis with a Lightning Bolt. Am I still being targeted by Banefire? Is the legality of targets checked continually, or just when the spell goes to resolve?
You're still a legal target for Banefire and will be roasted to a crisp soon enough.
The legality of a spell or ability's targets are only checked twice:
The first time is during the casting process, where they must all be legal for the spell to be able to be cast / the ability to be activated. The second time is when the spell or ability is about to resolve.
They aren't checked at any point in the interim, so even though you wouldn't have been a legal target for Banefire had it resolved while Aegis was still on the battlefield, that doesn't matter because neither of its legality checks happened in that window of time.
Would you be able to counter spells if the controller of the spells has hexproof
Yes.
Hexproof just stops the player from being targeted by spells such as Duress or Shock. Counterspells target the spell, not the player, so they work just fine against a hexproof opponent.
