Esper Delver (UWB Tempo)

[Final Fortune]

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

Huh, I was running almost the same list except - Vindicate for + Ponder, why aren't you running Vendilion Clique in any of your SB slots?

[TheArchitect]

Huh, I was running almost the same list except - Vindicate for + Ponder, why aren't you running Vendilion Clique in any of your SB slots?

I tried 2 clique, it was great, especially against show and tell and miracles. No one in my area plays those decks though. I ultimately put 3 MM (up from 2) and a duress in their slots to be more versatile, coming in agains combo, but also random stuff like Team America (MM) or burn (duress).

[bbogdon]

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

Hello again,

I will be going to the Detoit SCG Open next weekend, and this is what I am going to be running. Pretty much the same list as before except I have made some changes to the sideboard. I've also gone up to a 4th deathrite main cutting my delver flip count down to 25 which is probably the bare minimum. The deck still features the 10 piece mana denial package in 4 wasteland 4 stifle and 2 vindicate. Also, Main deck 6 removal spells with the ability to go as high as 11 from the sideboard with a wide array of diversity. Also main deck 8 counters + 4 stifle including daze which can be a blow out in conjunction with the mana denial strategy, post board I can go up to 10 counters +4 stifle which can be quite strong vs combo decks, not to mention the other combo hate cards in the board. Overall I feel like the deck has a nice 2 dimensional ability to be either very defensive with counter magic or aggressive and very removal heavy. I've been playing this deck for several months now and have a nice winning record plus a lot of experience playing it vs almost every deck in the meta. Please have a look at the list, Would love to hear any comments or suggestions

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

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vindicate
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

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

Sideboard:
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt decay
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Rest in Peace
1 Humility
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Snare
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

I will be sure to post a tournament report when I get back, Cheers!

[bbogdon]

Hello again,

I will be going to the Detoit SCG Open next weekend, and this is what I am going to be running. Pretty much the same list as before except I have made some changes to the sideboard. I've also gone up to a 4th deathrite main cutting my delver flip count down to 25 which is probably the bare minimum. The deck still features the 10 piece mana denial package in 4 wasteland 4 stifle and 2 vindicate. Also, Main deck 6 removal spells with the ability to go as high as 11 from the sideboard with a wide array of diversity. Also main deck 8 counters + 4 stifle including daze which can be a blow out in conjunction with the mana denial strategy, post board I can go up to 10 counters +4 stifle which can be quite strong vs combo decks, not to mention the other combo hate cards in the board. Overall I feel like the deck has a nice 2 dimensional ability to be either very defensive with counter magic or aggressive and very removal heavy. I've been playing this deck for several months now and have a nice winning record plus a lot of experience playing it vs almost every deck in the meta. Please have a look at the list, Would love to hear any comments or suggestions

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

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vindicate
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

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

Sideboard:
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt decay
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Rest in Peace
1 Humility
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Snare
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

I will be sure to post a tournament report when I get back, Cheers!

Hello all,

So Detriot didn't go quite as well as I hoped but it was still fun and a good learning experience. The tournament started off well as I was paired against 2 storm players in round 1 and 2. My first opponent comboed off quickly in game 1, then before game 2 he called himself for playing a 58 card deck and concede game 2. Game 3 I dropped a canonist and it was over. Round 2 I dropped a turn 2 geist and turn 3 attack stifle the angel, and killed him promptly on turn 4 before he could get anything going. Game 2 I tutored for canonist turn 1 and he was shut out of the game. Round 3 I lost a close match in 3 to Bant Stoneblade Exalted, his pridemages really swung the equipment war. Round 4 vs. MUD my opponent leads city of traitors chalice on 1 (yuck) I'm on land-go for 2 turns and he gets stuck on 1 land. Turn 3 I draw a vindicate and get the chalice then follow up with TNN and delver on turn 4 and got him before he could stabilize. Game 2, I can't remember the exact series of events but I won the game with a flipped delver equipped with Jitte as my only permanants in play. So I'm 3-1 and get chosen to play at one of the feature tables against a very good Miracles player. Game 1 i got a quick TNN out and grinded him down to about 6 before he stabilized and Jace/Clique/Karakas locked me out of the game, game 2 he quickly got the counter/top lock on me and I couldn't find my abrupt decay and lost to clique swings. Next I lost a super tight match vs. Punishing Jund in 3 after I stifle/wasted him out of game 1. After going 3-3 and out of prize contention I basically scooped to my opponent after mulling to 5 and didn't bother playing the last round.

What I took away from the event was that the deck was overall weak as I tried to jam an aggro-control style deck into a delver shell and it just didn't work. It wasn't explosive enough to contest RUG delver type openings and the late game vs any mid-range style deck wasn't good enough either. I think it's just straight up inferior to BUG delver. So I'm putting the deck on the shelf for now and going to get some reps in with Shardless BUG and Esper Deathblade. Good luck to those of you who are going to press ahead with the deck, theres gotta be some sort of configuration which is effective. I will check back in periodically to see if there is anything new.

Cheers,

[Megadeus]

That mana base looks terribad trying to play decay. Why even play the card?

[bbogdon]

That mana base looks terribad trying to play decay. Why even play the card?

Basically it was in the board specifically for Miracles, I wouldn't bring it in against any wasteland deck as yes the manabase is too "terribad"

[ziggy_stardust]

Is Lingering Souls too slow for this kind of deck? It is basically like a creature that flips Delver and provides resilience to sweepers

[catmint]

Personally I think Esper is not strongest in delver colors but its always nice to try things out.

Looking at other successful delver decks in different colors I think you have to ask what are their strengths/weaknesses and then either find a way to do it better/different ... or ...and this is the most interesting: go into a new direction.

canadian: best "tempo" deck to leave 1 mana open; weak to ground stall: nemesis
BUG: best utilizing deathrite manaboost by tap-out & ignoring nemesis; some specific weaknesses (no cheap removal; "more all-in style")
UWR: best removal, but antisynergistic/mana intensive and threat light
BURG: stifle/deathrite as tempo boost -> threatlight/awkward mana and similar problems with ground creatures.

Now with Esper if you play stoneforge you automatically go into the "trump" direction which leads to nemesis and a low instant/sorcery count for delver. The question is why not just play esperblade/deathblade instead of delver....

I would approach this more in the direction of "ignore ground creatures" like BUG, but keep mana open for blue disruption in the RUG sense. The color W gives also another disruption element with Aven Mindcensor, which would definitely require deathrite as boost. I think the deck should play out nicely if you try to keep sorcery speed spells to 1CMC, but not playing a "power 2 drop" might just not be enough.

So creature brainstorming:
4 Delver
4 Deathrite
Disruptive flash threats on cmc3:
2-3 Aven Mindcensor
1-2 Clique
Optional expensive sorcery threats providing more resilience/punch):
1-2 Tombstalker
1-2 lingering souls
4 Confidant.. (does not really fit into the keep mana open/ignore ground creature plan).

Removal
4 Swords
2 more slots on 1 mana like disfigure/dismember are necessary I think from my canadian experience.

Disruption
4 Force
3-4 Daze
4 Stifle
2-3 Spell Pierce (Spells more problematic than 2 drop creatures so pierce over snare)

19 lands is probably right. BURG players know how bad it it is to play a non-blue land so scrubland not a good idea I think (which has an impact on tombstalker/liliana in the 75).

The sideboard totally depends on what this deck is weak against and the build, but obvious choices are:
3 Zealous persecution (elves, dnt, TNN)
Thoughtseize for combo/control
meddling mage...
Maybe some more resilient threats for control matchups
RIP is awkward, but might be necessary.


If I would have time I would try it out. No idea if it's any good.

[Juice11]

I've been playing around with an Esper Delver list that has tested pretty well. I built it mainly because I had a playset of bobs lying around and I have yet to put them in a deck.

4 Delver of Secrets
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Dark Confidant
2 Judge's Familiar
1 True Name Nemesis

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

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Fluuded Strand
3 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
1 Scrubland
3 Wasteland

Sideboard:

2 Rest in Peace
3 Meddling Mage
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Flusterstorm
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Creeping Tarpit
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Disenchant
1 Pithing Needle


I am testing out Judge's Familiars right now, and they have been pretty good. They do well with early disruption while adding board pressure along with delver, they also can carry equipment pretty well.

Bob has been an all star as usual, he seems made for a Delver deck. I am really intrigued by this archetype, there are so many directions you could take it in. I think there is a definite argument for finding a place for disfigure in the main deck. I will stick with swords for now though. I am not sure about vindicate, but I just feel comfortable having 1 catch all in the deck. You could also cut bobs, and add tombstalkers/ and extra TNN if you want to go more aggro. You could cut familiars and add Baleful Strix. You could go with more discard and less permission. You can cut the stoneforge package, and go much more tempo oriented with stifles and more spell pierce.


I feel like this deck is very solid against most combo decks. There is all forms of disruption in Discard, permission, and Meddling mage/familiars. I feel like bob gives it an edge against control that other delver decks don't have answers to. It also can answer the ground decks with TNN (thinking about adding a second one), batterskull, and swords for goyfs.

[bbogdon]

Greetings,

In light of the new set release i have been retesting this shell with the hope that monastery mentor could fit into the deck, i have been testing the below list with 2 TNN, 3 SFM instead of 2 SFM and 3 MM, also i have been playing 1 batterskull and 1 dimir charm over gprobe 3-4. The deck has been performing very well against combo, and oddly out of the 12 rounds ive played with it only was matched agaist another delver deck (ur) once, lost in a close 3. The deck has alot of surprise factor which has been nice, tundra-mother-daze has been pretty fun. The hate bear sideboard under mother has been pretty back breaking in the storm and ascendancy matches. Im interested to see how MM will perform, people have been criticizing that he dies too easily but i think this mother package will shore up that issue. Also ive been dying to cast zealous persecution with this guy, lol. Considering playing a cavern of souls too, Check it out and let me know what you think. Cheers,

4 delver of secrets
3 mother of runes
3 monastery mentor
2 stoneforge mystic

4 brainstorm
4 ponder
4 gitaxian probe
2 treasure cruise
1 dig through time
4 force of will
4 daze
4 swords to plowshares
1 darkblast (this card has been huge)
1 umezawas jitte

4 polluted delta
4 flooded strand
4 wasteland
3 tundra
2 underground sea
1 island
1 plains

2 meddling mage
2 ethersworn canonist
2 containment priest
2 zealous persecution
2 cabal therapy (currently thoughtseize)
2 flusterstorm
2 disenchant
1 sword of fire and ice

[Deckerator]

@bbogdon
I like your list. It looks really interesting. Im anxious in which deck MM will find a home.

To your list. If i were you i would not play the 2x Stoneforge for only a Jitte in the MB and a SoFaI in th SB. If you wanna do sth like that, drop 2x Stoneforge and add a second Jitte or up the Stoneforge count and add a Batterskull.

[bbogdon]

@bbogdon
I like your list. It looks really interesting. Im anxious in which deck MM will find a home.

To your list. If i were you i would not play the 2x Stoneforge for only a Jitte in the MB and a SoFaI in th SB. If you wanna do sth like that, drop 2x Stoneforge and add a second Jitte or up the Stoneforge count and add a Batterskull.

Interesting, I didn't consider just playing 2 Jitte's. That would open up another slot in the MB and even hardcasting the Jitte can be beneficial since it triggers prowess and the mentor as well. maybe I will stick the dimir charm back in and add a 3rd Meddling Mage or a Vendilion CLique to the SB in place of SOFI.

To your second point, upping the SFM count and adding batterskull puts the dever flip count down to 26 assuming i keep 3 mentors. In the first scenario with only 2 Jitte's I get to put the delver flip count up to 29...I think 27 is about as low as you want to go, and I'm not sure 2 Mentors will be enough as the threat density is quite low considering mother is on defense duties

I'm going to run the TNN/batterskull version again this week and hopefully i can get my hands on 3 mentors for the following week. Casting SFM under mother into batterskull the following turn has won me a couple games and I'm having a hard time giving that element up, but I guess I will have to wait and see how much of a threat Mentor can be.

[bbogdon]

Interesting, I didn't consider just playing 2 Jitte's. That would open up another slot in the MB and even hardcasting the Jitte can be beneficial since it triggers prowess and the mentor as well. maybe I will stick the dimir charm back in and add a 3rd Meddling Mage or a Vendilion CLique to the SB in place of SOFI.

To your second point, upping the SFM count and adding batterskull puts the dever flip count down to 26 assuming i keep 3 mentors. In the first scenario with only 2 Jitte's I get to put the delver flip count up to 29...I think 27 is about as low as you want to go, and I'm not sure 2 Mentors will be enough as the threat density is quite low considering mother is on defense duties

I'm going to run the TNN/batterskull version again this week and hopefully i can get my hands on 3 mentors for the following week. Casting SFM under mother into batterskull the following turn has won me a couple games and I'm having a hard time giving that element up, but I guess I will have to wait and see how much of a threat Mentor can be.

Me again,

I'm back on the Esper Delver train for the last couple months now and have had some pretty good success going 31-13 in my last 11 4-round weekly's and 3-3 in a larger tourny losing my last round for potential win-in to top 8. I've been running the below list, and I can't believe i wasn't playing lingering souls from the beginning, it is the perfect card for this deck. Since you lose 2 non-delver flippers to batterskull and jitte it allows you to shore up your flip count while still maintaining threat density. I was having problems getting 1-1'ed all day and getting hosed by Terminus that i decided to make the change and I don't think I will look back. Also, the other MVP latley has been Ethersworn Canonist, I'm currently 9-1 vs Omni-tell and Storm and he is the main reason. The canonist-counterspell soft lock is just way too good against decks without blockers and limited removal. The deck has also been performing very well against other Delver decks, as I usually have a better top end with the stoneforge package. However I have had some problems, Lands in particular is quite bad. Game 1 there is alot of dead cards and if u can't get deathrite online to control punishing fire or recurring wastelands, its over. Miracles also not great, but having the abrupt decays in the side board has let me wiggle out of the lock a couple times. All in all, not a lot has changed, just cut Vindicates for lingering souls, abrupt decay has been easier to board since wastelands are not as popular as they used to be. Currently I'm trying out 2 Leyline of the Void in the board specifically to shore up the Lands match (very popular in my meta) as well as hate on Dig Through Time, Tarmogoyf and Young Pyromancer/Mentor-Cabal therapy. Also acts as collateral hate for Dredge, Reanimator and RUG delver without interfering with Lingering Souls and Deathrite. Interested to hear if anyone else has been brewing. Cheers,


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

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Daze
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Force of Will
3 Stifle
2 Spell Pierce
2 Lingering Souls
1 Counterspell
1 Jitte
1 Batterskull

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

2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Darkblast - (meta call, has been Cage, Divert, Flusterstorm #2, Vindicate and Vendilion Clique)
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Pithing Needle
1 Force of Will
1 Flusterstorm

[Pattycake]

Hello Everyone! Time to revive this thread.

A bit background on myself, I have been playing legacy since 2012 and have spent the vast majority of that time with SFM in my decks.
The series of decks I have played since then include but are not limited to:

Death & Taxes, UW Stoneblade, Deathblade, Esper Mentor, American Delver, Patriot (BUG) Delver, Grixis Delver, Miracles (pre and post top ban), and now finally Esper Delver.

So now the question is, why play Esper delver when you have options to play all these other better known SFM or Delver Variants.

Lets start with the Pros:

1. Swords to Plowshares is the best removal in the game, Fatal push backs it up nicely.

Its value has been ever increasing with the increase in Gurmag Angler and other delver creatures.
This is the one card I missed most from my runs with BUG delver, which included a X-4 finish at GP Vegas. Fatal push + Decay is good, but doesn't answer everything.

2. SFM + TNN gives the deck inevitability most delver decks do not have.

While every delver deck can play TNN, the one with the equipment will always avail.

3. It still has the generic "good delver draw" vs combo.

After feeling a bit disipointed with other delver decks I tried to go back to Deathblade to put the hurt on the 3/2 flier.
The issue was I started losing to a ton of random combo decks, and relized I couldn't leave home without Delver + Daze + FOW again.

4. It is THE most flexibile Delver deck, and will move from control to aggro many times a game depending on the draws. It has unconditional removal, discard, and countermagic so it can play many different styles of games.


Cons:

1. It is slower than other delver variants.

2. It does have a '4' color mana base with the trop so can have difficulties similar to grixis delver.

3. It can have a few dead draws if you find your equipment before SFM or SFM after you have already tutored your equipment.

4. It has issue answering artifacts and enchantments due to lacking abrupt decay.

5. STP can sometimes damper the aggro plan, and therefore you need to contantly revaluate your role in the game.


So if this sounds like your kind of deck, without further ado here is the list.



Creatures (14)

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

Spells (25)

4 Brainstorm
1 Fatal Push
4 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Daze
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Force of Will

Artifacts (2)

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

Lands (19)

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

Sideboard (15)

1 Fatal Push
2 Flusterstorm
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
1 Baleful Strix
1 Containment Priest
1 Disenchant
2 Meddling Mage
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Lingering Souls
1 Painful Truths

75 Cards Total

[Nicklas]

Hey, up until now I didn't even know there was an Esper Delver thread. Nice!
I like your list!
Do you like the Hymn so far?
Esper Delver already has a rather high curve and needing BB (3x Hymn, 1x Tombstalker) is rough, so I am not quite sure it's worth it. I am also not the biggest fan of investing two mana without affecting the board at all. We are already not the most tempo-ish tempo deck and I am not sure we can afford this. BUG Delver can, because they have a strong cc2 drop (Goyf) that can win the game without the need to invest further resources. SfM on it's own is rather underwhelming...

To me Esper Delver is a fast Stoneblade deck instead of a slow Delver deck. At least the Blade-version obviously. There are people having success with the blade-less version (4x Thought Scour, 4x Gurmag Angler instead).

I've been toying with this archetype for years now. It used to be my default "I don't know what to play at this local tournament and don't have time to build any other 'real' deck"-deck. Apart from local tournaments and a Nebraska's War Trial (Italian tournament) I've only played it at two bigger tournaments, but finished in the Top8 in both of them, which makes me think I am incredibly lucky and the archetype is underrated.

I've played the following list at the MKM Prague 2016 tournament when CB was still legal and Fatal Push not printed yet:

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

//Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Gurmag Angler
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 True-Name Nemesis

//Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

//Instants & Sorceries
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Lingering Souls
4 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares

//Sideboard
SB: 1 Baleful Strix
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Life from the Loam
SB: 1 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Snapcaster Mage
SB: 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Zealous Persecution

2-1 DnT
2-0 DnT
2-0 ANT
1-2 Elves
2-1 Shardless BUG
2-1 Eldrazi
2-0 DnT
2-0 Sneak & Show
2-1 Miracles

1-2 Lands

Played an updated version at the MKM Prague 2017 tournament:

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

//Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Gurmag Angler
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 True-Name Nemesis

//Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

//Instants & Sorceries
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
2 Fatal Push
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Thoughtseize

//Sideboard
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Invasive Surgery
SB: 1 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Snapcaster Mage
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 2 Zealous Persecution

0-2 Czech Pile
2-0 Eldrazi
2-0 Deathblade
2-0 Infect
2-1 Shardless BUG
2-0 Food Chain
2-1 BUG Delver
2-0 Grixis Delver
2-0 Big Eldrazi Ramp

1-2 Miracles

Moving forward I need to fine-tune the SB. The MD felt amazing so far. Lands, Elves and Czech Pile are rough. We've got a couple of good MUs in DnT, Infect and some Delver variants (highly depending on the list). Most MUs are 50-50 though and that's an asset: We can beat all the decks by playing tighter and getting lucky in the right spots. :P
In the MD the disruption split of 2 TS/1 Snare/1 Pierce is up for debate. I like diversifying the disruption package to make it harder for opponents to play around. The first Snare always felt amazing, but often-times you don't want a second one. I don't want to play a Snare just so it has done SOMETHING. Playing multiples often forces you to throw it at the first cc2-spell you see just so it won't rot in your hand.
The 3/2 split of StP and Push is also far from set in stone. I played 2/3 for a while, thought of cutting StP entirely and adding a Dismember/Murderous Cut instead and also thought of playing the playset StP. I did not play enough matches to be certain about the perfect removal package, but I believe it contains some number of StP, because it does deal with Marit Lage, Angler, Eldrazi and reliably removes cc3 creatures (and cc4 ones too, which doesn't come up too often though) whereas Fatal Push needs set-up. Even if I have a fetchland I don't want to be forced to crack it just so that I can deal with a KotR or whatever it is my opponent has sitting around on his side of the board...
Last but not least I am not certain about the Scrubland in my most recent list. You obviously have to play it! :D

[iostream]

This archetype did well in a recent Legacy Challenge by leaning harder on Souls and completely dropping the SFM package:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/737209#paper

Looks pretty interesting!

[Nicklas]

Not too long ago he wrote an interesting article about nonbos in general and StP in Delver decks in particular: https://thesaltminesite.com/2017/07/...nti-synergies/

I think his version of Esper Delver is tuned to beat the inbred MODO meta: Tons of Grixis Delver and even more decks trying to beat delver (Grixis Control, Czech Pile/4c Leovold aka the KCommand decks). Czech Pile is one of the harder MUs my version can possibly face and Grixis Control with it's heavy Therapy-Package is also more than decent against SfM finding cluncky equipments, but having access to 3 Lingering Souls MD and mulitple Gurmag Angler instead makes the MU ten times easier (at least...).

[MXG]

This is Maxtortion. A few days ago my primer on the Lingering Souls / Gurmag Angler version was posted up on The Salt Mine.

https://thesaltminesite.com/2017/08/...delver-primer/

Since then, I know of a few people who've sleeved up the deck for the first time and said it's performed very well. (CFB 1.5k, MTGO 5-0s, and LGS undefeated runs). Obviously I think the deck is very good, and I'd be happy to field questions or hear feedback.

[Andreas_Mueller]

Hello first time poster here,

I wanted first of all say thank you to Maxtortion for the primer about his take on Esper Delver.
I did play that deck in yesterdays Legacy Challenge to a top 8 finish.

Here is a small report and some thoughts:

I played the exact 75 from the primer linked above.

Round 1: Against UB Control
He had a really interesting build with Vedalken Shakles and Ancestral Vision. The games though were not really spectacular.
His draws were quite lackluster und the deck did just delver things.
1-0

Round 2: Death n Taxes
Game 1 my opponent had a slow start (no Vial) which got run over by a Delver paired with a Deathrite and double Daze for his threats.
Game 2 is where things got interesting. My opponnent mulled to 6 and started with a Turn 1 Vial. On the draw my Hand contained:
Thoughtseize, Delver, Angler, Thoughtscour, Liliana Last Hope, USEA, Delta, Wasteland. After thinking i decided to lead with Thoughtseize
instead of Delver. My reasoning was that the hand gets slow downed a lot by a turn 2 Thalia. Opponents hand was: Chalice, Thalia, Jitte and Stoneforge.
I took the Chalice before it can wreck me. On the opponents Turn 2 he found a second Plains and slammed Jitte. I drew Deathrite and played it together with Delver.
On his third turn he found a second Chalice (on 1) and vialed in Thalia. My Turn 3 was playing Liliana and eat Thalia (Definitly a feel good moment). From there on
the game turned into a grind with my Liliana and threads vs his Stoneforge, Batterskull, Jitte Flickerwisp and Serra Avenger which i won close.
2-0

Round 3: Miracles (2 Gideon main)
Game 1 I have a slow start and get killed by Gideon
Game 2 I also have a slow start with Deathrite and a lot of disruption though which makes his Snapcasters awkward. Around turn 5 i Spell Pierce a Gideon. After that i find two threats
and he has to hardcast Terminus which i can Daze.
Game 3 On the draw i sideboarded out 2 daze for 1 Force and 1 Extraction (I know it is considered bad, but i wanted to surprise him and maybe setup a play with it.)Another slow start on my side. I can Daze a Predict and Thoughtseize a Snapcaster afterwards. The next few turns he cantrips and i flood out a little. I have Lingering Souls flashbacked though, which starts to attack his ressources. After his Terminus i have another Lingering Souls and draw an Angler. By the time I also have drawn my Extraction, which i use to remove all his Terminus. Then i play my Angler into a Swords to Plowshares and Liliana (eat a Snappy) . Unfortunatly he brought in a Pyroclasm, which can clear my board. Next turn he plays Jace but i can hardcast FOW and Liliana Ultimate gets him.
3-0
Round 4: Czech Pile
Here i dont want to write a lot. Game 1 i mull to 6 and he to 5 (He never plays a land and discards Reanimate).
Game 2: He is not on Reanimator and i lose :D
Game 3: I double-Wasteland him and counter his Ponder. He can still cast 2 or 3 other Cantrips but doesnt find Lands.
4-0

Round 5: Czech Pile
Games are really close. I nearly had him Game 3, but he stabilized and killed me.
4-1

Round 6: Lands
First of all i think i could have won both games, but played really poorly.
Game 1: I have 2 Deathrites, 3 Lands (1 of which is a Wasteland). He has Stage, Taiga, 2 Burnwillows and a Crop Rotation in hand. My problem here is that i really dont know what my gameplan really is. I randomly waste his Stage, which is wrong i think, as i should just wait for something relevant to happen. On the other hand my clock was really slow. I would love to hand some insight :D
Game 2: Here i punt hard, i should just win that game. I have a flipped Delver and Punishing Fires are Surgicaled. My Opponent has Rishadan Port. I Crack my Fetch (my only untapped land), then attack with Delver. In the moment i do that i realize my mistake and my opponent taps my land in combat and i cannot play Angler. The game goes on for some time, but my clock was to slow to win that after my mistake.
4-2

I reach 8th place luckily.

Quarters: Czech pile (Same opponent as Round 5)
The games are again really grindy and close. Game 3 he is on 1 life and he wins maybe a little bit lucky in the end with drawing Marsh Casulties, Diabolic Edict to my Angler and Souls tokens. On the other hand he saw a lot of cards inbetween.


Random thoughts:

1) Vindicate did not feel good. I had it in hand sometimes, but never really wanted to cast it. I try a Bitterblossom now.
2) The Lands matchup in confusing.
3) Maxtortion do you ignore Blood Moons and try to get under it? For example vs Miracles or Grixis.

Cheers

[MXG]

1) Vindicate did not feel good. I had it in hand sometimes, but never really wanted to cast it. I try a Bitterblossom now.
2) The Lands matchup in confusing.
3) Maxtortion do you ignore Blood Moons and try to get under it? For example vs Miracles or Grixis.

Cheers

Congrats on Top 8ing the Challenge! I'm glad you enjoyed the deck. Do try a Bitterblossom in that slot - it might be good. It can't blow up Chalices, Jittes, or anything, but maybe having the extra Faeries is worth it. I'm sticking with Vindicate as I think I like it more than most.

The Lands MU is confusing, and difficult. It plays like the Grixis Delver vs Lands MU, except you can't Bolt them out, but you can remove Marit Lage (or just block forever with Souls).

In the non-Mono-Red Stompy matchups, I generally ignore Blood Moon, or try to nab it with Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce if I have to. For UWR Blade, I already have Disenchant boarded in, so that's one more way to pop a Blood Moon. That said, Blood Moon is very good against this deck, and that's a legitimate weakness.

By the way, try playing the 4th StP in the side over the Edict. I've really been liking the swap.