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    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    [Deck] Grixis Tempo



    I. Overview
    II. History
    III. Card Choices
    IV. Sample Decklists
    V. Sideboarding/Matchups
    VI. Additional Info/Resources


    I. Overview

    Link to old thread here.

    Grixis Delver is a tempo deck, and like all other tempo decks, it seeks to get ahead on board early while simultaneously disrupting the opponent using cheap/free spells. Your creatures are the most mana efficient in the game and they reward deck construction that is based around instants and sorceries, which occupy about half of the deck. The spells are either countermagic which hinder your opponent's game plan by stopping their early/key spells, burn/removal to destroy opposing creatures and/or deal damage to your opponent, cantrips to find what you need when you need it, or discard spells to attack your opponent's hand to further restrict their resources. Ideally you will win the game by keeping your opponent off balance long enough for your creatures and burn to seal the deal.

    II. History

    Grixis Tempo has been around for a long time, but its current form began with the printing of Young Pyromancer. If not immediately answered, Young Pyromancer spirals out of control by producing too many elemental tokens for the opponent to deal with. Most deckbuilders opted to compliment Pyromancer with Deathrite Shaman, Delver of Secrets, and either Dark Confidant or Snapcaster Mage. With the release of Khans of Tarkir, Treasure Cruise gave the deck a nice Ancestral Recall effect, but that was banned shortly after being introduced into the format. Dig Through Time gave the deck a nice way to find what it needed as the game dragged on, but that too was banned. Finally, when Gurmag Angler was printed in Fate Reforged, the deck gained a nice large creature. The deck now has a very well rounded creature base without any singular weakness. Some people play either True-Name Nemesis or Vendilion Clique as an additional threat, but not usually more than 1-2 of either. With the April 24th 2017 banned and restricted update, the most commonly played predator of Grixis Delver (Miracles) has left the format. In the current metagame, Grixis Delver appears to be one of the strongest contenders. It has great cards for almost every matchup in the format, and can be tailored to most metagames.

    III. Card Choices

    Creatures:

    Delver of Secrets: We play enough instants and sorceries to flip this guy about 46% of the time naturally, which is second only to RUG Delver in terms of flipping consistency (50% natural). Of course with Brainstorm and Ponder this becomes much higher. A 3/2 evasive flier for 1 U mana is just about the best aggressive creature ever printed.

    Young Pyromancer: The card that really made this deck possible back when phazonmutant was testing the original version. It is basically like a Tarmogoyf, but red and weak to mass removal instead of Swords to Plowshares/grave hate. With the high spell count you are encouraged to play to be able flip Delver of Secrets, this guy naturally fits into the deck's strategy.

    Deathrite Shaman: Fixes your mana, accelerates into playing more spells per turn, lessens your weakness to an early Wasteland, drains the opponent for life, gains life in a pinch, and lastly disrupts opposing graveyards. Deathrite Shaman truly is the workhorse of this deck. The acceleration is particularly great because you will usually want to cast a Young Pyromancer and a spell in the same turn, or at least have mana up after casting him.

    Gurmag Angler: A 1 mana 5/5. generally good against things that Pyromancer is weak against, such as -1/-1 effects or large creatures. A great bonus to the Delve mechanic is being able to shrink opposing Tarmogoyfs, so delve wisely! Backed up by at least 1 other creature, the only things that get rid of him are Swords to Plowshares/Jace bounce/sweepers.

    True-Name Nemesis: Usually only a 1 of if it is included. Resilient threat that has been warping legacy since it came out, and makes life especially hard for opposing fair decks.

    Vendilion Clique: Some people play Clique instead of the True-Name Nemesis or int he slot of the 4th Young Pyromancer. Clique is great vs Miracles, Show and Tell, and generally solid vs most fair decks (though not quite as resilient in combat or against removal as True-Name Nemesis).

    Dark Confidant: Used to be the primary source of card advantage, but his body is fragile and you can't really play him with Gurmag Angler. If you do choose to play him, try to keep your curve as low as possible.


    Spells:

    Brainstorm: Crucial cantrip and possibly best card in Legacy. Filter into the cards you need at the moment, whether that is creatures, removal, discard, counterspells, or lands, and put two cards back on top of your library to shuffle away with a fetchland.

    Ponder: 2nd only to Brainstorm. Provides the same sort of effect, without the added bonus of being able to shuffle cards from your hand away.

    Daze: Free countermagic, keeps your opponent from being able to cast stuff in the early game. This is your bread and butter in tons of matchups since early interaction is key in legacy.

    Force of Will: More free countermagic. Can safely be boarded out in many fair matchups as the cost of a card is quite large.

    Stifle: Mainly used on opposing fetchlands, but great vs many of the common effects in legacy like enter the battlefield triggers or planeswalker abilities. Can also counter an opposing Wasteland activation to protect your own lands.

    Spell Pierce/Spell Snare: If you want to play more countermagic, you can play either of these or both in some combination, but they do not go as well with Young Pyromancer as more proactive spells like Cabal Therapy.

    Gitaxian Probe: Viewing the opponent's hand is always good, and you will get a free token if you have a Pyromancer in play. Enables the awesome combo with Cabal Therapy to shred your opponent's hand.

    Cabal Therapy: Most lists that play Stifle play this in the sideboard instead, but most non-Stifle lists include 2 in their maindeck and 1 in the sideboard.

    Lightning Bolt: The removal spell of choice. Can also be aimed at opponent's dome.

    Forked Bolt: Usually the next go to when you need more removal. Often a 2 for 1. Usually most lists play 1-2 if they play it.

    Fatal Push: Usually used as supplemental removal in addition to bolt. Sometimes played in the sideboard as well.

    Dismember: With Eldrazi in the format many people have chosen to play this over Forked Bolt. Great against opposing Anglers, Goyfs, Reality Smasher.

    Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast: Depending on how blue your metagame is, you can play 1 in your maindeck and the rest in your sideboard. If you play 1 maindeck, make sure it is Pyroblast, as you can cast that at any time as long as there is a permanent in play to target to make a Pyromancer token. Between 2-3 of these is a good start.


    Lands:

    Volcanic Island: The most important land in the deck because it casts your blue spells and Bolt/Young Pyromancer/sideboard cards. Most lists play 3.

    Underground Sea: Necessary to cast Deathrite Shaman & activate Deathrite Shaman's ability as well as cast Cabal Therapy/Gurmag Angler. Most lists play 2.

    Tropical Island: If playing Deathrite Shaman, you will want 1 to be able to use all of his abilities.

    Wasteland: 0 mana non-basic stone rain most of the time, colorless mana source when card casting spells.

    Flooded Strand/Polluted Delta/Misty Rainforest/Scalding Tarn: Play some combination of these. Usually you will want 7-9 to be able to find your other lands and use Deathrite Shaman's mana producing ability.


    Common Sideboard Choices:

    Painful Truths: A nice Ancestral Recall effect that many play for grindy matchups. Pretty solid vs Miracles.

    Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast: You will want some combination of these in your sideboard to combat blue decks.

    Cabal Therapy/Thoughtseize: Additional combo hate. Usually 1-4 in sideboards depending on maindeck configuration.

    Flusterstorm: Great countermagic to have vs combo decks and decks with their own counterspells.

    Invasive Surgery: Great against most combo decks. Some of the targets include Show and Tell, Reanimate, Exhume, Life from the Loam, Glimpse of Nature, Natural Order. Also good vs Miracles to counter Terminus, Entreat the Angels, or Council's Judgment.

    Surgical Extraction/Grafdigger's Cage/Nihil Spellbomb/Tormods's Crypt: You will need graveyard hate, so play some combination of these. Cage also has the bonus of stopping Green Sun's Zenith and Natural Order.

    Disfigure/Dismember/Darkblast/Forked Bolt/Fatal Push: You will want some targeted removal spells in your sideboard for decks with creatures.

    Electrickery/Marsh Casualties/Fire Covenant: You may want some "mass removal" that can take care of True-Name Nemesis, opposing Young Pyromancers, Elves, and a myriad of other small creatures.

    Perish/Dread of Night/Virtue's Ruin/Deathmark/Submerge/Sulfur Elemental: White and Green creatures can be particularly annoying because they often do not die to lightning bolt and outclass many of our creatures in combat. You can play these cards to mitigate that weakness.

    Null Rod/Ancient Grudge/Krosan Grip/Smash to Smithereens/Shattering Spree/Smelt: You need to be able to beat equipment and Chalice of the Void. Batterskull can spell doom for even the largest Elemental token army, and Young Pyromancer flinches at the thought of Jitte. Shattering Spree gets an honorable mention as the copies get around Chalice of the Void.

    Kolaghan's Command/Rakdos Charm/Dimir Charm: Versatility is awesome to have, and if you don't mind the somewhat steeper mana requirements, these cards are great.

    Diabolic Edict/Innocent Blood: You will possibly want to supplement your removal with some of these for creature decks/TNN, with Diabolic also having some use in Sneak and Show and Reanimator matchups.

    Pithing Needle: Generic hate. Mainly used for Sneak attack, Mother of Runes, Thespian's Stage, Aether Vial, Equipment, with many many other applications.

    Izzet Staticaster: This card is particularly powerful in the mirror match by letting you catch up to an opponent who has already produced some Elemenal Tokens, but also great vs Elves, Death and Taxes, Maverick, etc.

    Liliana, the Last Hope: Good card vs small creature decks and control decks (due to the threat of her ultimate).

    Sulfuric Vortex: A very powerful card against slow decks like Miracles, as well as decks with Lifegain effects like Stoneblade or MUD.

    Baleful Strix: Good against Eldrazi and Gurmag Angler/Tarmogoyf/Opposing Delvers.



    IV. Sample Decklist

    Updated 3/7/2018

    Bob Huang's list:


    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Delver of Secrets
    3 Young Pyromancer
    2 Gurmag Angler
    2 True-Name Nemesis

    4 Ponder
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Gitaxian Probe

    4 Daze
    4 Force of Will
    2 Spell Pierce

    4 Lightning Bolt
    1 Forked Bolt

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

    Sideboard
    3 Cabal Therapy
    2 Ancient Grudge
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Pyroblast
    2 Diabolic Edict
    2 Marsh Casualties
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Liliana, the Last Hope


    V. Sideboarding/Matchups (with help from LewisCBR and Bob Huang aka Griselpuff)

    Vs. Grixis Delver

    In the mirror match, being on the play is a very real advantage as it is difficult to ‘break serve’ in the mirror and win on the draw. However, you can gain edges with the mana denial plan, trading threats one for one until you land the last threat, or simply keeping your DRS around while killing your opponents DRSs. Taking your opponent off their two/three black sources with Wastelands can be a killing blow. Having hard to answer threats, like True-Name Nemesis, can often make the difference as well.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Forked Bolt, Pyroblast, Electrickery, Flusterstorm, True-Name Nemesis, Grim Lavamancer, Marsh Casualties, Diabolic Edict

    Vs. Storm

    Like against many combo decks, Grixis Delver plays best by deploying an early threat and then disrupting your opponent to victory. Young Pyromancer and Delver of Secrets are your most potent threats and other creatures often get sided out. Countermagic, discard, and Stifle provide disruption that your Storm opponent usually must remove from your hand before combo'ing off. Stifle, in particular, can hit the Storm trigger, acting as additional countermagic that needs to be Thoughtseized, Duressed, or Cabal Therpy’d away. DRS can eat away at the opponent's graveyard, keeping them off threshold and preventing them from replaying important spells with Past in Flames.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Cabal Therapy, Thoughtseize, Null Rod, Surgical Extraction, Grafdigger’s Cage, Flusterstorm

    Vs. Sneak and Show

    Sneak and Show can be a very fast combo deck which results in a threat that Grixis Delver is almost incapable of dealing with. We don’t play Swords to Plowshares, or other hard removal spells, so the best way to beat this deck is to prevent their fatty from ever entering the battlefield. It’s important to side out clunky threats and to bring in additional countermagic and discard. Turn 2 can be pivotal as you want to be able to get a threat down, but also not lose while tapped out if that play happens to be a Young Pyromancer, choose your time to be aggressive carefully, but do not wait too long as they can cantrip into a well sculpted hand.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Pyroblast, Pithing Needle, Flusterstorm, Cabal Therapy, Thoughtseize, Diabolic Edict

    Vs. Death and Taxes

    Death and Taxes is a hatebear deck with mana denial. Their threats seem small and easy to deal with, but the innate disruption they provide, along with a strong mana denial plan, can make this matchup frustrating when your opponent if firing on all cylinders. The best opener for DnT is a turn 1 Aether Vial, followed up by Wastelands or Rishadan Port to attack your mana. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben further taxes your ability to play Magic. The best way to combat this deck is to shut off Vial and bring in as much removal as possible. Delver of Secrets and True Name Nemisis can be difficult for them to answer. Death and Taxes only usually plays 4 removal spells in the form of Swords to Plowshares, so if you kill their threats and shut down Vial you can often overwhelm them.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Forked Bolt, Fatal Push, Ancient Grudge, Dread of Night, Sudden Demise, Kolaghan’s Command, Fire Covenant, Pithing Needle, Null Rod, Marsh Casualties, Edicts, Liliana, the Last Hope

    Vs. BUG Delver

    The newest iteration of Delver is BUG Delver. While in the same colors as its older cousin, Team America, it is not the same deck. This ‘Delver Deck’ uses the term ‘Delver Deck’ loosely. It is more of a midrange deck that happens to also be playing Delver of Secrets. Due to that, Grixis Delver feels half a turn to a full turn faster, your best angle is to try to get under BUG Delver with mana disruption and counterspells for their expensive Liliana of the Veil’s. Multiple Hymn to Tourach can be back breaking and Tarmogoyf is a difficult to answer threat. Like all Deathrite Shaman mirrors, it is important to try and keep this card off the table for your opponent.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Forked Bolt, Fatal Push, Pyroblast, Flusterstorm, Diabolic Edict

    Vs. Elves

    Elves is a creature based combo deck with a backup plan of simply running over you with a plethora of small green dudes. Ideally, this deck starts their combo with a Glimpse of Nature, plays endless elves, then finishes the job with a Natural Order for Craterhoof Behemoth. This plan can be difficult for Grixis Delver to stop. Countering one mana creatures, or a one mana Glimpse of Nature, doesn’t feel ideal, however you must control their board if you are to win. Removal spells are your best bet to keep them on their back foot, while you clock them with Delver of Secrets or True Name Nemisis. Gurmag Angler often is easily chump blocked or neutralized for no damage with a Wirewood Symbiote bouncing their blocker.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Forked Bolt, Fatal Push, Grafdigger’s Cage, Sudden Demise, Electrickery, Fire Covenant, Marsh Casualties, Diabolic Edict

    Vs. New Miracles

    Miracles is back and more control oriented than ever. The deck has eschewed finishing cards like Monastery Mentor for more copies of Jace, The Mindsculptor and Entreat the Angels. While less consistent without Sensei's Divining Top, New Miracles has even more cantrip spells like Porent to try and find and cast their Miracle cards. At its core, the deck is still a removal deck. Swords to Plowshares, Snapcaster re-casting Swords to Plowshares, and Terminus remain the heart of the deck and the reason why Grixis Delver can have a hard time beating it. All of our threats are creature based, which New Miracles is very good at cleaning up. It is important to strike hard and fast, while disrupting their mana, if possible, and attempting to get through the first Swords and/or Terminus. Your opponent will need double white and double blue to function well, which you can try to prevent. You cannot out grind this deck, the accepted best strategy is to try and get under them before they have time to get setup with a Jace.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Flusterstorm, Sulfuric Vortex, Pyroblast, Winter Orb, True-Name Nemesis, Painful Truths, Liliana, the Last Hope, Invasive Surgery, Surgical Extraction (though don't rely too much on these).

    Vs. Bant Deathblade

    The latest version of Deathblade is four colors with up to 8 mana dorks that will ramp your opponent into big three drops, such as True-Name Nemesis and Leovold, Emissary of Trest. In addition, this deck plays Stone Forge Mystic and the typical package of equipment. Equipment, historically, has always been tough for Delver decks to handle. It’s important to kill the mana dorks on sight, to force your opponent to cast their three drop bombs into your Dazes. I like attacking the mana base with Stifles, too, as opposed to stripping away equipment with Cabal Therapy. Pyroblast hits both TNN and Leovold.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Pyroblast, Forked Bolt, Fatal Push, Ancient Grudge, Pithing Needle, Dismember, Marsh Casualties

    Vs. Czech Pile/4c Control

    This midrange frankenstein of a deck is like the love-child of Grixis and Sultai control. If they are allowed to develop their mana, they will often come out ahead with their superior card quality. It is our job to keep them off balance with mana-denial and close out the game with our harder-to-answer threats like Young Pyromancer, Gurmag Angler, and True-Name Nemesis. For the sideboarded games, I think you wan to cut Forces to minimize card disadvantage, and maximize your potential for 2-for-1s. Pyroblast cleanly deals with Strix and Leovold on the stack. Casualties can x-for-1 vs Strixes and Snapcasters, and if you get to 5 mana hits Deathrite Shaman too. Edict can be good vs Deathrite or Baleful Strix situationally. Ancient Grudge can deal with 2 Baleful Strixes, Liliana, the Last Hope can machine gun Strixes and Snapcasters all day, as well as possibly regrowing a fallen TNN. Spell Pierce can be a real backbreaker when countering a 3 or 4 mana spell.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Pyroblast, Marsh Casualties, Liliana, the Last Hope, Ancient Grudge, Surgical Extraction (though don't rely too heavily on these).

    Vs. Eldrazi Stompy

    Hopefully you can avoid an early Chalice of the Void, as it can lock out much of your deck. You will want to deny their mana and ride your early pressure to victory. Sometimes they will have Cavern of Souls draws that you can't really beat, but this doesn't happen all that often. Ancient Grudge and Diabolic Edict out of the board are all-stars. Countermagic and/or Probes can be shaved to make room.

    Suggested sideboard cards: Diabolic Edict, Baleful Strix, Ancient Grudge.

    Here are some matchup notes from Bob Huang after the most recent large tournament (SCG Wor), which featured 4 Grixis Delver decks in the top 8

    Out of the non-Grixis Delver Top 8 decks, here's how I feel about their match-up vs Grixis Delver. This is all assuming I'm playing against a top caliber player

    1) Miracles - bad match-up, game 1 is unfavored and post sb is 50/50. Overall 45%
    2) Eldrazi - depends a lot on their build. 45-50%
    3) Elves - Stop them from untapping with anything and their deck doesn't function. 50%
    4) Lands - Play Edicts/Surgicals, you are quite favored post sb. 55-60%

    Overall, Grixis Delver can adapt to beat anything pretty much, even more so than Miracles. The blue control decks that beat Grixis Delver are a small favorite against it, but they suffer a lot in other match-ups.

    Other various decks people play that "beat Grixis Delver"
    D&T - 55% (and that's only if you're quite good, otherwise 60%+ vs D&T)
    BUG Delver, Czech Pile - 50%, depends on list
    Bant DeathBlade - 50% if Grixis has Marsh Casualties
    4C Loam - 50% (only if they're good, otherwise 55%)
    ANT - 50%, would be more if we tried to beat it, but they care more about beating us than vice versa with current builds
    Turbo Depths - 50-55%
    Moon Stompy - 45% right now, would be more if I cared about beating it

    So overall I was pretty conservative with my estimates, and again they are against "top caliber" players, which is like 5% or less of players. So against weaker players add like ~10% to those numbers. My own win rate is about 80% of matches in the past few months.

    VI. Additional Info/Resources

    Streamers/Videos:

    Bob Huang - https://www.twitch.tv/griselpuff/videos/all

    Andrea Mengucci - https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...ixis-delver-3/

    TC Decks Video Library (Tournament Footage) - http://tcdecks.net/results_videos.ph...&format=Legacy

    Articles:

    Jeff Hoogland - Building Grixis Delver

    Jeff Hoogland - Playing Grixis Delver

    Pat Chapin - Grixis In Modern and Legacy (DTT era, but much of the tech remains)

    Eric Froelich - Deck of the day
    Last edited by ironclad8690; 03-17-2018 at 03:26 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Grixis Tempo

    Nobody's talking about this deck? Well here's the list I'm playing on MTGO. Pretty much Noah Walker's list, but I cut his one-ofs in favor of Stifles and swapped a couple cards from the sideboard. Been pretty happy with it; makes me feel good alternating between this and PSI since coming back to the game. I picked this up because I used to play New Horizons, and a high-placing tempo deck just called for me.

    4 Delver of Secrets
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    3 Young Pyromancer
    2 Gurmag Angler

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Daze
    4 Force of Will
    4 Stifle
    4 Lightning Bolt
    3 Gitaxian Probe
    2 Dig Through Time

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

    // Sideboard
    2 Cabal Therapy
    2 Submerge
    2 Pyroblast
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ancient Grudge
    1 Darkblast
    1 Dismember

    Some notes while testing this:

    I started with his build, but missed Stifle and bought them. I played this with -1 DTT and +1 TNN, and rarely ever ended up casting the TNN. I think I pitched it more to FOW than actually playing it. Went back up to 2 DTT and been satisfied ever since.

    I tried a couple Charms in the sideboard and found I never really wanted them. I think I board in Clique every game; one of my favorite cards but I feel like the main is so tuned that there's not any room for Game 1. Once you know what you're facing though Clique just feels better to me. Same thing with Therapy.

    Noah's build ran 2 Cages and 1 Submerge. I accidentally bought 2 Submerges and 1 Cage when I made this, and I've been totally happy with it. Not a lot of Dredge players on MTGO (or I've just avoided them); I think I only ran into it once. Part of me also feels bad accidentally investing $17 into a card I'm not running. It's a stupid reason, but whatever. It's helped me blow out some of the green decks. Seems good against Lands/Aggro Loam, but I haven't seen either of those decks on MTGO yet. Probably a price concern. Cage isn't good against them either, so if they pop up, maybe a Tormod's Crypt or Surgical would be better.

    I'm not sure on Darkblast/Electrickery. Neither one of them have come up very often for me. I've been blown out by equipment before, so another artifact hate might come in useful. Kolaghan's Command looks interesting, and they come down late game so 3 mana isn't a huge issue. Plus it kills the equipment AND the target. There's a decent amount of Show and Tell online, so I'm thinking Edict would be useful too. The first couple lists I played were Ug, so I thought Submerge would do the trick, but then I realized most of them are mono-U or Ur.

  3. #3
    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    Re: Grixis Tempo

    I like your deck. Stifle is certainly attractive with all of the miracles online. Kolaghan's command has been pretty good for me so far, but I have to test it more.

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    Re: Grixis Tempo

    Maybe for the primer:
    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...(Grixis-Green)
    It's the old thread for this deck.

    Grixis-Green Delver => GG Delver

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    Re: Grixis Tempo

    This is likely what I'm going to be running this upcoming weekend at a local Legacy event, taking a break from Pox to get some real interaction going. I am undecided on Stifle's in the main or Cabal Therapy, though. Also, Anglers vs TNN. Both are good, I'm just not sure which is better.

    As for the SB, I'm leaning toward this:
    3 Cabal Therapy (if I run them in the main, this slot will likely be 1 Null Rod, 1 Tsabo's Web, 1 Engineered Plague)
    2 Submerge
    2 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Hydroblast
    2 Pithing Needle
    1 Dack Fayden (This or Kolaghan's Command is the current question)
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (Or +1 Clique)

    The meta here is pretty diverse and not many people are stuck on pet decks, so variety has to be prepared for.

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    Re: Grixis Tempo

    Stifle has so much utility that it's rarely disappointing game 1. I tested against Stoneblade last night and that card gave me such an upper hand. Hitting fetches early, and then hitting Stoneforge ETB late game so he couldn't recover. It's also blue for FOW, which is relevant.

    I usually side out FOWs and some amount of Stifles games 2/3. If they're expecting it, just playing around it might slow them down or throw them off a bit. Games 2/3 Therapy is better than game 1 since you know what they're playing for sure. However, in a small local, you'll likely know before the match, but I play on MTGO so YMMV.

    Angler has been total BOSS for me. TNN is cute but when I had him as a 1-of I was never really impressed. Sometimes game 1 Angler wins will get people to side in Relics/Crypts, and those are wasted spots against us IMO. 4/5 Delve cards and a couple Therapies is a rather fair usage of the graveyard; I'm happy to see them water down their deck for a marginal advantage against a couple of our cards.

    How's Dack been for you? Been thinking about that guy a lot.

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Hello all,

    I usually play Esper Stoneblade (ironclad reported playing me in a daily a couple of posts back) and this matchup has been giving me some trouble, lately. I'm just looking for some insight as to cards that are good in the match up so I can try to formulate a game plan.

    Thanks guys/gals! Any insight is much appreciated.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    This advice may seem too generic, but the best ways to beat us are getting batterskull in play (we have very few answers once this hits the table), playing around Daze/fetching basic lands when you can, and post board -1/-1 effects are rough for us. Lingering souls is already great against delver, and supreme verdict is really powerful too. You can board out Jace TMS and Council's Judgment for cheaper answers. Rest in Peace is also worth its salt in this matchup. Be prepared to deal with Sulfuric Vortex post board.

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by ironclad8690 View Post
    This advice may seem too generic, but the best ways to beat us are getting batterskull in play (we have very few answers once this hits the table), playing around Daze/fetching basic lands when you can, and post board -1/-1 effects are rough for us. Lingering souls is already great against delver, and supreme verdict is really powerful too. You can board out Jace TMS and Council's Judgment for cheaper answers. Rest in Peace is also worth its salt in this matchup. Be prepared to deal with Sulfuric Vortex post board.
    It is a tad generic, but it's a stable strategy. Batterskull is pretty great vs. Delver strategies. One of the issues in this matchups is how many angles Grixis can attack from, but it is still a Delver deck, in the end.

    Thanks man!

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    hey how do you guys and or girls think about having 1-2engineered plague in the board. i was thinking for a solution for merfolk but it should not be half bad for miracles naming monk?

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Hey guys I'm a little new to legacy and this forum. Hoping to get some help

    I'm playing bob Huangs list minus a cabal and adding a dark blast for mirror in the board

    I know merfolk is a hard match up even with 3 pyro blast post board how should I board and how can I beat a turn one challace. I have been thinking of adding abrupt decay in the board.

    In addition I play in a small town we all know each other's decks field composed of 3-4 miracles 3-4 delver decks one omni show and merfolk that just kill all our blue decks, one mud pilot,then random jank decks. What should a board look like for this type of meta

  12. #12
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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by Jo4source View Post
    Hey guys I'm a little new to legacy and this forum. Hoping to get some help

    I'm playing bob Huangs list minus a cabal and adding a dark blast for mirror in the board

    I know merfolk is a hard match up even with 3 pyro blast post board how should I board and how can I beat a turn one challace. I have been thinking of adding abrupt decay in the board.

    In addition I play in a small town we all know each other's decks field composed of 3-4 miracles 3-4 delver decks one omni show and merfolk that just kill all our blue decks, one mud pilot,then random jank decks. What should a board look like for this type of meta
    Merfolk is pretty tough. They shouldn't be able to chalice you turn 1 though unless their build is really unconventional. I would just bring in some number of pyroblasts and ancient grudge. Try to focus on killing their lords. If you want to go really deep here you could play rending volley in your board. I might even go up to 4 pyroblasts in your board, your meta is pretty blue.

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Has anyone being trying Stifle? Perhaps in the Daze slot?

  14. #14

    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Not in Grixis but I have been playing a deck with 4 Wasteland, 4 Stifle, 4 Deathrite, 4 Delver 4 Pyromancer and 4 Stone Rain and it worked quite fine.

    Greedy mana base are so fun to disrupt and Shaman allows you to play Blood Moon also with 1 single Island on the board

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by Poron View Post
    Not in Grixis but I have been playing a deck with 4 Wasteland, 4 Stifle, 4 Deathrite, 4 Delver 4 Pyromancer and 4 Stone Rain and it worked quite fine.

    Greedy mana base are so fun to disrupt and Shaman allows you to play Blood Moon also with 1 single Island on the board
    The old DRS - Island combo, love it. And surely there are better cards to play than Stone Rain!? If you're playing B for DRS, why not Sinkhole?
    Quote Originally Posted by CutthroatCasual View Post
    Storm was killed by Leovold
    Quote Originally Posted by LegacyIsAnEternalFormat View Post
    The power of blue is overrated...I personally play Jund and I consistently top 4 FNMs with it.

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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by Dissection View Post
    The old DRS - Island combo, love it. And surely there are better cards to play than Stone Rain!? If you're playing B for DRS, why not Sinkhole?
    Double black is quite taxing on the mana. I remember playing BUG Delver and thinking double black plus all the green cards forced the deck to play a later game than it wanted. Though Sinkhole is a blow out.

  17. #17
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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by Dissection View Post
    The old DRS - Island combo, love it. And surely there are better cards to play than Stone Rain!? If you're playing B for DRS, why not Sinkhole?
    Because Sinkhole can't bait out those Hydroblasts when you need Pyromancer to stick.

  18. #18
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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Quote Originally Posted by cdnza View Post
    Has anyone being trying Stifle? Perhaps in the Daze slot?
    Stifle and daze play very well with each other (mana denial and soft countermagic tend to). I would cut anglers, spell pierce, and forked bolt to play stifle.

  19. #19
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    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    Just got completely shut out for the first time ever in a daily event. 12 post 1-2, Miracles 1-2, Miracles 1-2.

    I don't know exactly why I did so poorly, but oh well.

    I am going to give this a try:

    4 Delver of Secrets
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Young Pyromancer
    3 Dark Confidant

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Daze
    4 Force of Will
    4 Gitaxian Probe
    4 Lightning Bolt
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Forked Bolt
    1 Pyroblast

    2 Volcanic Island
    2 Underground Sea
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Badlands
    4 Wasteland
    4 Flooded Strand
    4 Polluted Delta

    Sideboard:
    4 Cabal Therapy
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Pyroblast
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Dread of Night
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Ancient Grudge
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Sulfuric Vortex
    1 Dismember

    The idea is that Dark Confidant will help in the Miracles matchup and provide more card advantage while overloading the opponent's removal. The issue is that Delver won't flip as often, but with the added mid-game power that shouldn't be an issue.

  20. #20

    Re: [DTB] Grixis Tempo

    I think engineered explosives is better on both counts.

    From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

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