Esper Delver (UWB Tempo)

[Sturtzilla]

So I have been playing RUG Delver for a bit now and have been wondering if other color combinations could be competitive. I would like to present the following, Esper colored delver shell.

Maindeck
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Baleful Strix
3 Tombstalker
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
2 Vindicate
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
4 Wasteland

Sideboard
3 Jotan Grunt
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Path to Exile
2 Gilded Drake
4 Submerge

The sideboard can obviously change depending on meta. What do you guys think?

[Q 221]

This list was being tossed around in the Stoneblade thread around the time the Lingering Souls control build was really popular. I found it to be pretty resilient, but I just didn't get enough testing with it to be confident that I could pilot it well. I think Stoneforge is a really good call for a W-based Delver shell, since Jitte gives it a great edge against a lot of creature-based stuff. Now that Miracle Control seems to be edging in on Stoneblade's territory, the hate for Stoneforge and Lingering Souls may be less prevalent, allowing this deck to be stronger.

Land (19)
3x Island
4x Flooded Strand
1x Plains
3x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
4x Wasteland

Artifact (3)
1x Runechanter's Pike
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Instant (23)
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
3x Spell Snare
4x Stifle
4x Swords to Plowshares

Creature (10)
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic

Sorcery (5)
3x Lingering Souls
2x Ponder

Sideboard (15)
2x Back to Basics
2x Disenchant
2x Meddling Mage
2x Perish
3x Spell Pierce
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Zealous Persecution

[Sturtzilla]

I like the look of that list. Maybe with some tweaking to the creature base and meta-ing the equipment, it could be pretty awesome. I think that maybe I would tweak it so that it was the following:

Land (19)
2x Island
4x Flooded Strand
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
4x Wasteland

Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Instant (22)
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
3x Spell Pierce
3x Stifle
4x Swords to Plowshares

Creature (11)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Stoneforge Mystic

Sorcery (5)
3x Lingering Souls
2x Ponder

This seems fairly powerful, while keeping to a tempo oriented shell. It also seems like it could play a long game with the Batterskull/other equipment and the Lingering Souls. I really don't know if SFM is the way that I would want this deck to be going, but it does seem pretty powerful. Thoughts on the revision?

[menace13]

Esper Blade took a top 8 spot at Bazaar of Moxen.

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Stifle
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
3 Lingering Souls
Mana Sources (20)
Lands (20)
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats
2 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
2 Disenchant
3 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Perish
1 Darkblast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Relic of Progenitus

[Q 221]

I like the look of that list. Maybe with some tweaking to the creature base and meta-ing the equipment, it could be pretty awesome. I think that maybe I would tweak it so that it was the following:

Land (19)
2x Island
4x Flooded Strand
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
4x Wasteland

Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte

Instant (22)
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
3x Spell Pierce
3x Stifle
4x Swords to Plowshares

Creature (11)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Stoneforge Mystic

Sorcery (5)
3x Lingering Souls
2x Ponder

This seems fairly powerful, while keeping to a tempo oriented shell. It also seems like it could play a long game with the Batterskull/other equipment and the Lingering Souls. I really don't know if SFM is the way that I would want this deck to be going, but it does seem pretty powerful. Thoughts on the revision?

As much as I like the ability to run Batterskull for the long game, this really doesn't seem to be the deck for it. Unlike the classic Stoneblade lists, you really don't have a chance of hardcasting it, forcing you to rely on Stoneforge activation to drop it. And practically any deck can shut off that play, leaving you with a useless 5-drop stranded in your hand. It ends up being a highly conditional threat, not something you necessarily want in a deck that needs to play pretty tightly.

That said, the Bazaar of Moxen list menace posted is kind of an effective argument that it does indeed belong in this deck. I'm surprised Back to Basics didn't make it into that list's SB: it's a really powerful card in certain matchups, especially since the deck isn't particularly color-intensive.

[Sturtzilla]

I know this thread hasn't seen much activity recently but there was an interesting configuration that Top 16ed the most recent SCG Open. Check out the list!

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=56520

[Praeses]

I think its better to stick to the geist of st. traft version on the starcity legacy open

The ability to stifle the angel's exile trigger is very powerful.

I also would recommend deathrites to help your acceleration. Turn two geist is awesome.

[Sturtzilla]

This thread hasn't seen much activity lately but I would to point out that this deck might be able to be a thing with the new arrival of True-Name Nemesis. Especially with the Stoneforge package. Maybe something like:

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Dark Confidant
3 True-Name Nemesis
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
3 Stifle
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Force of Will
4 Wasteland
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand

It could basically be a UW Tempo shell with Confidant and some black cards in the sideboard. I think the numbers would need some dialing in, but it looks pretty legit to me. Thoughts?

[Juice11]

I've been running a UW version that I've been working on, there's no thread so I figured I'd post it here.



4 Delver of secrets
4 TNN/Geist of saint traft
4 Stoneforge Mystic

2 Supreme Verdict
4 Force of Will
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
3 Stifle
2 Spell pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Daze

3 Island
1 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding tarn
2 Marsh Flats
3 Tundra


sideboard

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Meddling Mage
2 Submerge
1 Spell pierce
2 Vendilon clique
2 rest in peace
1 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Manriki Gusari
1 Flusterstorm


I'm not sure weather I like 4 TNN or 4 Geists or a 2/2 split. I have also tried the 3 TNN/1 Geist split. I feel like stifle gets a lot worse if geist is not in there. So, in a full TNN list, I would probably trade the 3 stifles for a spell snare, a MB SoFaI, and a 4th Ponder.

[Sturtzilla]

I've been running a UW version that I've been working on, there's no thread so I figured I'd post it here.

I'm not sure weather I like 4 TNN or 4 Geists or a 2/2 split. I have also tried the 3 TNN/1 Geist split. I feel like stifle gets a lot worse if geist is not in there. So, in a full TNN list, I would probably trade the 3 stifles for a spell snare, a MB SoFaI, and a 4th Ponder.

So there is a UW Tempo thread. You can find it here:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Deck-UW-Tempo

As for the list, I think it looks like a pretty good starting point. I think I would do some minor tweaks to make it a bit more tempo oriented.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Force of Will
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Stifle
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Daze
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Marsh Flats
4 Tundra

Sideboard
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Meddling Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Manriki-Gusari
2 Flusterstorm

Basically I don't like the maindeck Supreme Verdicts. It is possible that shaving a land would be good too. 19 lands with 8 cantrips seems totally fine to me. Some other things to consider depending on your meta game might be Holy Light for opposing Nemeses, Sapphire Charm for all of these Lands decks making 20/20 tokens and opposing Batterskulls. 4 Meddling Mage might be a bit heavy, but I have found that playing one is good, but two basically shuts most opponents down.

[Water_Wizard]

I've been giving a lot of thought to this type of deck. Over in the Deathblade thread (DTB), there was discussion of a Deathblade version w/ Delver.

I've toyed a lot with the creature combination and I considered the following:

Delver of Secrets
Deathrite Shaman
Snapcaster Mage
Stoneforge Mystic
Dark Confidant
True-Name Nemesis
Vendilion Clique

I ended up settling on:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 True-Name Nemesis

4 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
2 Tropical Island

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle

Sideboard
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Pithing Needle

I decided not to include Stoneforge Mystics because SFM's require at least 2 main deck equipment, which lowered the spell count (and ability to flip Delver) down to 24, which isn't horrible with 8 cantrips, but also isn't ideal (I consider 28 spells ideal and I'm running 26 spells).

Dark Confidant is another consideration and if I were to run Dark Confidant, I would move the main deck Force of Wills to the sideboard.

I really like Snapcaster Mage as it has flash and allows Stifle and Thoughtseize to be replayed. This deck runs 20 lands and wants to hit 3 mana for TTN & V. Clique, so SCM is a good fit. In more tempo-oriented decks, like BUG and RUG (that want to max out at 2 mana and run 18-19 lands), SFM is a bit too slow to compliment their tempo plan.

This deck is highly susceptible to -1/-1 effects like Golgari Charm, but I haven't encountered that yet.

I also considered 2x Liliana in either the Clique or True-Name spots, but I wasn't ready to commit to double-black with only 3 UGS and I did not want to lower the spell count below 26.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Happy Valentine's Day!

[bbogdon]

Hello all,

I as well have been toying with Esper Delver for some time now and below is my most recent version which led me to a 4-0 finish at my LGS playing against ANT (2-0), Reanimator (2-1), Jund Depths (2-1), Junk (2-0).

With this version I really wanted to focus on a mana denial strategy and decided to go with a package of 4 Stifle, 2 Vindicate and 4 Wasteland, I found it really helped my counters and often turned a Daze or a Pierce into a hard counter as opponents were often tapping out to try to regain board position if I was already ahead. I also chose Geist over TNN as it is a faster clock, less vulnerable to -1/-1 effects and I can also take advantage of Stifle to keep my angel token in play.

The deck features 27 delver flippers which i find has an optimal blind flip rate, and with 7 cantrips i can set it up fairly often if i want. In this brew i also pushed it up to a 20 land count from 19 which i had been running before and had little mana issues and mulled less frequently than before, i find having a full 7 card hand to be pretty important with this deck.

4 Delver of secrets
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Geist of Saint Traft

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Sword to plowshares
4 Stifle
3 Ponder
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vindicate
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

4 Flooded Starand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland

Sideboard (with rationale)
2 Zealous Persecution (TNN, death and taxes)
2 Rest in Peace (Graveyard decks and RUG)
2 Thoughtseize (its just good)
2 Flusterstorm (storm or vs other blue decks to help in counter wars)
1 Vendilion Clique (show and tell..not much experience using it but I know its good)
1 Ethersworn Canonist (storm, omni-tell - its pretty fun to beat someone to death with this)
1 Humility (show and tell and any of the tribal decks)
1 Enlightened tutor (utility card to get Humility, RIP and canonist)
1 Toxic Deluge (tribal decks and TNN)
1 Supreme Verdict (this is a new edition since i'm up to 4 tundra, not sure if i need it)
1 Sword of Feast and Famine (all-star vs JUNK, JUND and BUG as long as it dodges decay)

Please let me know what you think!

[Sturtzilla]

Please let me know what you think!

I think the list looks pretty interesting. I find the total of 12 threats with a 2/2 split between Stoneforge Mystic and Geist of Saint Traft hard to reconcile. SFM and GoST are both strong but in their own ways. SFM is a little more midrange oriented while GoST plays more toward an aggressive slant. I really do like the inclusion of Deathrite Shaman and Vindicate. Vindicate give the deck a good way to deal with tough permanents that say Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay cannot take care of. The fact that is ties in well with the Stifle and Wasteland package is also pretty awesome. Deathrite actually makes the casting of Vindicate possible on turn two which is also pretty scary. I think start testing with the creature base as follows:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic

I would also considering trying to cut a land for the 4th Ponder. I have been running a deck with a similar curve for some time and have been liking 18 land. So it is likely that 18-20 are all fine so long as you know the deck.

[bbogdon]

I think start testing with the creature base as follows:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic

I would also considering trying to cut a land for the 4th Ponder. I have been running a deck with a similar curve for some time and have been liking 18 land. So it is likely that 18-20 are all fine so long as you know the deck.

That was the original creature configuration i came up with when I first played it and found that it was too threat light as it relies so heavily on delver to get through for the whole 20, having the GoST to crash in for 6 a turn vs a deck that doesnt run many/any creatures its a pretty stiff clock esp if i can drop it turn 2 off a deathrite. I also played a 1 TNN 1 GoST variation which worked well since i can have both of them in play. Maybe I'll try that again

As for ponder, I've run only 3 in every variation of the deck that I've tried and haven't felt the need to go up to 4. As I mentioned before I had run 19 lands prior and had some inconsistency issues which led to mulligans that really hurt the deck. On 20, I found that I was getting to the point where I could hard cast force of will, batterskull, sfm + cast jitte more frequently than i was off 19 since i was hitting my land drops pretty much every turn. Maybe this week it will be a different story and I flood out like crazy or get too many 3-4 land openers. Other than that, I'm not too set on cutting anything else form the deck other than spell pierce and running one seems wrong, maybe i cut both and slam in a 3rd vindicate? its probably my favorite card in the deck.

another idea I'm going to test this week is putting in a Karakas main over a tundra or just in the board over the Toxic Deluge. I've had a few matches against reanimator where they drop an Iona on white and all of my removal and threats are shut off. Having an uncounterable answer that will stick since it doesn't run wasteland seems like a good idea, also works well in the show and tell match. I'm leaning towards sideboard for now since having an opener of Wastland, karakas + 5 spells seems really awful.

I will post a tournament report this week after my weekly event on Wednesday,

thanks for the comments!

[Sturtzilla]

thanks for the comments!

Well building a new and archetype that is competitive is what I am interested in here. It sounds like you are doing well with your list. I am skeptical of GoST as it quickly trades (with Confidant, flipped Delvers, etc.) or just dies (TNN, Goyf, etc.) to many of the creatures in the format. I guess with Karakas you can attack and replay him but this binds up a lot of your mana. I the slow and steady beats of Batterskull seem like that they would be more consistent although a bit slower. I am not a fan of splitting the threats up. At any rate, I am interested in hearing how your next event goes!

[Esper3k]

I fiddled around with an Esper Delver list in one of our recent local tournaments. It looked great on paper, but it just didn't play out the way I wanted combined with some pretty good topdecks from my opponents.

I essentially just cut the green from the stock Team America lists and shoved white into it:

// Lands
2 [U] Scrubland
3 [R] Underground Sea
2 [U] Tundra
4 [MPR] Wasteland
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
1 [A] Tropical Island

// Creatures
4 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
4 [ISD] Delver of Secrets
4 [RTR] Deathrite Shaman
2 [FUT] Tombstalker

// Spells
4 [5E] Brainstorm
4 [M12] Ponder
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [DD2] Daze
4 [OV] Swords to Plowshares
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [NPH] Batterskull
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOK] Manriki-Gusari
SB: 1 [AP] Vindicate
SB: 1 [ARC] Path to Exile
SB: 1 [WWK] Creeping Tar Pit
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [PS] Meddling Mage
SB: 2 [RTR] Rest in Peace
SB: 1 [MOR] Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 [TE] Perish
SB: 2 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
SB: 2 [ARB] Zealous Persecution

Some thoughts:
-I believe Thoughtseize is needed here over Hymn because unlike Team America, we actually care quite a bit about opposing equipments and don't have Abrupt Decay to deal with it.

-Being able to play Tombstalker and not get Submerged is awesome!

-I love me some Perish and it made me really happy to be able to play it without wrecking myself (yes, yes, DRS dies too).

-Compared to Team America, I really missed the flexibility of Abrupt Decay & Golgari Charm. On top of that, while SFM is awesome, it just isn't the fast clock that Tarmogoyf often is.

[bbogdon]

I am not a fan of splitting the threats up. At any rate, I am interested in hearing how your next event goes![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE= At any rate, I am interested in hearing how your next event goes![/QUOTE]

Hey everyone,

I went pretty hard this week and played 2 events (tues and wed), although one i wouldn't really call an event since there was only 4 of us, but it was still good testing nonetheless. The other was my regular Wednesday legacy event which had 14 people (fairly low). I was running almost exactly the same list as I was previously except for going with a 1 GoST 1 TNN split in my 3-drop creature slot and putting in a Karakas over a Toxic Deluge in the board.

So on Tuesday I found out my Miracles and Death and taxes matches need some work. Of the 3 other players 2 were on URW Miracles and the other was on death and taxes, my results were as follows Miracles (1-2), DnT (0-5) we had a lot of time when it was Miracles vs. Miracles. Miracles (1-1) I had enough. With Miracles recent performance at the GP, and the following price spikes in the decks staples I have a feeling that i will be seeing it more when I go play in some larger events and ultimately at the Detroit SCG Open which I am working towards.

The miracles matches were extremely grindy as I tried to get a clock out as quickly as possible and try to stop them from setting top-counterbalance-jace all while dodging plows, terminus and REB's after board. All 5 games I was able to hammer them down into at least the ~5 life range and 2 of which I managed to get through on the back of a hard cast batterskull that they couldn't counterbalance, and a quick delver-deathrite tandem cracking for 5 a turn. In the other 3 matches I basically couldn't draw enough answers to their threats and once they setup their counter-top-jace package, theres basically nothing I can do. The sideboard in its current configuration has very little interaction with Miracles and to top it off i straight up forgot to bring my 2 thoughtseizes with me and played a 13 card board. I wish I would have as I think it may be enough to get in for an extra swing if I were able to draw one. As another note, I didn't see a GoST or a TNN in any of the games.

As for the Death and taxes matches I'm going to chalk up a lot of credit to my opponent who was extremely good at playing the deck, I've played it myself (poorly) and against it on several occasions and was really impressed with the way he piloted the deck, playing around daze, baiting out counters and removal, not over committing his board and porting/wasting very well. Of the five games I had him on the ropes once and it slipped away in a top deck battle where he kept vialing in creatures and I drew lands. I was probably also ramming and jamming a bit too hard against him due to frustration and the fact that it was a four person "tournament", I could have done better. Nonetheless I do want to get more practice against this deck and would love to hear some comments on combatting it as I feel (hope) that it shouldn't be a whitewash.

On to Wednesday, I was hoping to avenge my poor showing from the day before and was able to do so. Playing the exact same variation as above (with thoughtseizes this time) I was able to go 3-1, Belcher (2-1), 4c Delver (1-2), Reanimator (2-1), Sneak and Show (2-1)

The Belcher match was quite interesting. Since I didn't know what he was playing game 1 I kept an aggressive hand (which i normally do) with no FoW and sure enough he drew the nuts chrome mox-dark ritual-spirit guide-Belcher-LED-win game. (board in thoughtseize, flusterstorm, clique, plows +something out) Game 2 he mulled to 5 and couldn't get anything going fast enough before i bashed him down with the delver-deathrite tandem and a few counters to stop chrome mox and dark ritual from getting him moving. Game 3 was quite the nail biter, as he fought through double daze-pierce to empty his hand casting belcher with only 1 chrome mox and an empty hand, I managed to draw a pierce for a lotus petal just in time and polished him off with a delver.

My 4c delver opponent was on a BRUG variation with deathrite and bob instead of mongoose, and these matches were EXTREMELY tight, they didnt start the clock and I'm pretty sure we went WAY over time, game 1 we almost emptied both of our libraries in a delver deathrite counter wasteland standoff and he basically got there with bolt. (board in RIP, flusterstorm, sword of F&F - jitte, pierce, something out) Again it was a super grind and I managed to mana deny him to slowly overwhelm him with an array of creatures. Game 3 I'm at 4 he's at 5 I have TNN and GoST in play, and he has a tapped Bob from a swing i let through and a deathrite, i think I'm about to win, swing with everyone he blocks geist with deathrite and 2's me to 2 and abrupt decays my angel token (fow in hand) taking 3 from TNN to go to 2, I pass he flips a ponder off bob to stay at 1 and swing with bob for the win. Yuck

Somehow manage to compose myself after that marathon to take on reanimator (same player and deck as i beat last week) game 1 he quickly gets Elesh into play and I only find one vindicate which is lost in a counter battle. Board in 2 RIP, etutor, 2 flusterstorm - 1 SFM, jitte and 3 plows out) manage to stick a RIP turn 2 after double daze force holds up, drop delver next turn and got most of the way there before casting geist shortly after. Game 3 turn 1 I fetch trop cast deathrite and we both double FoW to make it stick emptying our hands, i proceed to top deck a land and 2 delvers, flip them, keep green open, and get in for the win.

Show and Tell was pretty interesting as well. Game 1 I decide to keep an aggressive hand not knowing what my opponent was playing (he usually doesn't play blue) and he sticks a turn 2 Griselbrand and I scoop since i have no answers. Bring in the sideboard :) (1 Humility, 1 Karakas, 1 Clique, 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Flusterstorm, 1 Etutor - 1 tundra, 1 SFM, 1 Jitte, 3 plow, 2 stifle out) For some reason he doesn't board in his 2 blood moons against me (oops!) and I proceed to wreak havoc on him with thoughtseize, clique-karakas and added counter support to beat him down with delver-deathrite game 2 and SFM-batterskull game 3.

Wow, this getting rather long.

my take-aways quickly, I feel like the deck runs very well against combo, especially post-board. I think it is slightly favoured in the delver mirror with the mana denial package, but goddamn that lightning bolt is good, which makes me want something to that effect. Call me sick, but I think I'm going to try out 2 psi-blasts over pierces main and take them out for flusterstorm when unnecessary, I have had a lot of games slip away where my opponent is able to stabilize and neutralize my threats when they are on life support, also part of me wants to see the look on someones face when i cast it for a win. I understand it is over-costed/bad/"unplayable" but as a mid/late game finisher on colour which i have the mana to cast and usually a counter to back it up, albeit 2 pierces short, Im going to give it a go. Lastly, I think Miracles needs to be addressed and I'm thinking about 1-2 abrupt decays in the sideboard, they don't play waste so I can reliably cast it off 1 trop if not deathrite. Also, I think I will go to 2 TNN as I did have a few situations where Geist dies on the swing/block

Ok, I'm out of gas. interested to hear any comments, questions or suggestions.

[TheArchitect]

I posted this a while ago in the deathblade thread, probably the wrong place for it.

I took first at a local 5$ event for a box of born of the gods with this list:

4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True-Name Nemesis

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder

4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vindicate

3 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil

3 Daze
4 Force of Will

#60
Sideboard:

1 Duress
2 Flusterstorm
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Disenchant
3 Meddling Mage
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Carry Away


Matches:
2-1 Super Budget Goblins - Lost one game to greed
2-1 Dark Maverick
2-1 Esper Deathblade with Jaces and stuff
2-1 Team America

MD vindicate was bad. I was envisioning vindicating a lot of lilys and basic lands, and I just love vindicate, but it was never really good. PW are not a problem for this deck and wasteland is enough.

Carry away I didnt get to cast, but I unknowingly shuffled it away with a fetch in a board state where it would have won me the game against deathblade.

Pontiff, was just my "fun-of" it should probably be another persecution.

The sideboard was super solid. Boarding against most decks is super easy. Against BUG, on the draw I took out 3 daze for MM and they won me the game. MM naming decay did work against TA.

Relic was also perfect. Its actual graveyard against reanimtor/dredge without neutering DRS completely, and against any goyf or DRS mirror it is amazing. It won me another game against TA. They want to exile your GY with DRS, so you just relic whatever they target and exile them, and then if you fear a goyf or tombstalker, you just nuke the GY without losing a card.

The deck felt very solid and will likely play something more refined in the future.

[bbogdon]

I am not a fan of splitting the threats up. At any rate, I am interested in hearing how your next event goes!

Ok, I'm out of gas. interested to hear any comments, questions or suggestions.[/QUOTE]

Hey everyone,

Another Wednesday Event in the books, ended up going 2-1 and prize split with my round 4 opponent after having only 2 mins to complete game 3. Results: Jund Depths (2-0) Deadguy ale (0-2) Jund (2-1) Deadguy ale (1-1), putting my recent Wednesday night event streak to 9-2-1, not too shabby.

I'm not going to write 10,000 paragraphs this time. But my main take away again is it seems that the deadguy ale and death and taxes matches are not too favourable. I regretted taking the toxic deluge out of my sideboard, and I will be putting it back in and cutting a zealous persecution. I boarded in abrupt decay in most of my matches to see how it played and I only drew it once and didn't need to cast it as i finished off my Jund opponent with a Clique, I think I'm going to keep it in for the time being as their was 4 Miracles players out of the 30 man event. I'm trying to think what else could be helpful in the 75 to make the death and taxes/dead guy/hate-bear style deck better, thoughts?

[Pattycake]

I have been considering abusing the two toughness of our creature base and fully utilize toxic deluge. This is the current list I am testing.

4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Snapcaster Mage

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

2 Thoughtseize
2 Toxic Deluge
4 Ponder

4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce

Sideboard:

1 Duress
2 Flusterstorm
1 Graffdiggers Cage
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Disenchant
4 Meddling Mage
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Rest in Peace
1 Spell Pierce


I have been piloting UWR delver for awhile so I wanted this deck to have a similar feel. So far I really like this list but haven't had much practice on it.