Tropical Naught: Spicy Brew
Tropical Naught is Stiflenought in blue, red and green: the one-mana Phyrexian Dreadnought combo, plus threshold creatures, burn and Fling. The most played deck in Premodern is mono-blue so that seventeen Islands make every Daze and Gush free; this one gives that up on purpose. Dreadnought is a 12/12 with trample whose enters trigger sacrifices it unless you sacrifice twelve power of other creatures, and the red splash adds a third answer to that trigger. Stifle counters it, and the 12/12 stays. Vision Charm phases it out in response: a phased-out permanent is treated as though it does not exist, so there is nothing to sacrifice, and it phases back in before you untap on your next turn, ready to attack. And Fling sacrifices it as the cost of the spell for 12 damage to any target, which also works in response to Swords to Plowshares or Smother. One Dreadnought hit plus a Fling is 24 damage.
Green brings a second plan. Nimble Mongoose has shroud and becomes a 3/3 once seven cards are in your graveyard, Werebear becomes a 4/4 and taps for mana, and the same Vision Charm that saves Dreadnought has a mode that mills four cards from any player, including you. Fetchlands, Portent, Lightning Bolt and every counter fill the graveyard too, and Cephalid Coliseum turns threshold into draw three, discard three. On top sit two Winter Orb, which let each player untap only one land a turn. The deck is built for it: Werebear untaps as a creature, Daze costs nothing, the threats cost one or two, and Undiscovered Paradise returns to hand every untap step, so it can be replayed untapped under the Orb. Memory Lapse puts the opponent's spell back on top of their library, and under Winter Orb that costs them a whole turn.
The price is the mana. City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, fetchlands, painlands and Reflecting Pool make three colors but hand Wasteland, Price of Progress and Armageddon a target that mono-blue never offers, and Humility turns every creature here into a 1/1 without shroud or threshold. The sideboard splashes Swords to Plowshares off the same lands, and brings Tranquil Domain for enchantment decks, Pyroclasm for small creatures and Tormod's Crypt for graveyards. This list took Iván Luke to second place at the VIII Jornada of the Liga de Premodern Altsasu on September 26, 2026, and nearly the same main deck finished second of 22 at the Mensual Premodern Valencia in July. MTGDecks files it under Stiflenought, where nine of 378 lists in the last 60 days add Nimble Mongoose and Werebear; players also call it RUG Naught, Temur Naught or Threshnaught.
Mainboard
- 4× Nimble Mongoose
- 4× Phyrexian Dreadnought
- 3× Werebear
- 4× Lightning Bolt
- 4× Vision Charm
- 3× Counterspell
- 3× Memory Lapse
- 3× Stifle
- 2× Daze
- 2× Fling
- 1× Fire // Ice
- 4× Portent
- 1× Sylvan Library
- 2× Winter Orb
- 3× City of Brass
- 3× Gemstone Mine
- 3× Polluted Delta
- 3× Island
- 1× Wooded Foothills
- 1× Reflecting Pool
- 1× Undiscovered Paradise
- 1× Shivan Reef
- 1× Yavimaya Coast
- 1× Cephalid Coliseum
- 1× Forest
- 1× Mountain
Sideboard
- 3× Swords to Plowshares
- 2× Tranquil Domain
- 1× Naturalize
- 1× Pyroclasm
- 1× Pyroblast
- 1× Annul
- 1× Blastoderm
- 1× Compost
- 1× Pernicious Deed
- 1× Phyrexian Furnace
- 1× Tormod's Crypt
- 1× Tsabo's Web
