[Article]Eternal Europe: Dissecting Delver

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

You kind of have to thank Koby for this one again - the inner workings of Tempo:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27112_Eternal-Europe-Dissecting-Delver.html

Let me know what you think :)

[Valtrix]

Read it before you got a chance to post! I enjoyed this article very much because of the focus on discussing the general gameplan of an archetype, and then delving (no pun intended) into how the subtle modifications on the archetype affect its playstyle. Looking at the mindset behind deciding on the splash colors to play, and how the new cards open up lets the deck play a similar, yet slightly different, game was particularly insightful for me. I think this type of thinking is something I'll try and apply for decks in general when trying to consider various build options.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Good job!
The one thing I would enjoy is to delve into the tempo mindset. I quite often sb into a more controllish deck (not that it's always bad), and I found esp. Daze quite often underwhelming in G2 on draw, namely when I need space.
Otoh, keeping the tempo is necessary, we're not going to win with 1/1s if the opponents get a chance to play their bg spells, so how should we keep the tempo mindset (and decklist) even in the postboard games?
How many Tempo-dedicated articles do you plan?

[kingsey]

Great read.

I'm unsure why Team America or BUG delver has disappeared..... But i'll keep playing it and keep beating RUG delver :tongue:

[Dzra]

Good read like usual. <3


I'm unsure why Team America or BUG delver has disappeared..... But i'll keep playing it and keep beating RUG delver :tongue:

Probably because it's worse than RUG against combo and worse than Shardless BUG against fair decks. It's also interesting to note that all the top tempo decks have a full set of Bolts, presumably because not only the removal but the reach is very significant to the archtype. Maybe BUG Delver is lacking too much in the reach department (relying entirely on Deathrite to get those last points of damage).

[Hardcore]

It occurs to me that black mirrors blue in the Meta; it can be found in many decks of various types. Anyone who need discard based disruption, or just have room for good cards like Bob and thoughtseize.
Then we also got control, prison and tempo based on black. These later are bunched together under the 'Pox' designation.

[KobeBryan]

Great read.

I'm unsure why Team America or BUG delver has disappeared..... But i'll keep playing it and keep beating RUG delver :tongue:

DRS is a midrange card. Team america plays tempo and it just doesn't synergize as well as RUG.

BUG delver doesn't have the reach as RUG. same creatures base, but you become more midrange than RUG

[HammafistRoob]

Since when is getting essentially two land drops ahead on turn 2 not a tempo play? Deathrite is a lot more than just a midrange card.

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

@Valtrix: Thanks :) These more fundamental thought processes are something I try to get into a lot of my articles as I feel they keep their value better than something that just discuss current top decks and card choices. Nice to know they're being appreciated!

@Bed Decks Player: No fixed plan on any tempo articles, though I think I'll be doing something similar to the Storm recorded games with a Delver variant rather soonish :)

@kingsey: good choice *g*

@Dzra: Thanks :) As to RUG vs TA, I always suspect Team America should be better against combo than RUG because the discard is ridiculously good. Maybe Deathrite cutting into the Stifle plan has changed that? I can totally see the point about Bolt being more central to the deck than it looks on first sight.

@hardcore: Interesting observation, makes a lot of sense. Seeing the power level of Legacy, you'd expect the two best disruption colors to form the core of most decks, right?

@KobeBryan: From experience with/against BURG (more the latter, admittedly) I can tell you that Deathrite is an incredible Tempo card. The mana is even more powerful here than in the midrange decks because instead of making a different plan (drop powerful stuff) a little quicker, it actually fuels your main gameplan of getting ahead on mana and, as a result, spells used.

@HammafistRoob: Yep, pretty much.

[Hardcore]

@ Mon, goblin chief,
Well, I would not say the two best disruption colors. It is been a long time since blue was feared for it's abilities to counter spells.
Btw, if blue and black mirror each other then we can see blue is clearly the strongest color of the two; card filter and draw is better than pure destruction.
This is probably why black decks like the Gate and Pox decks, even with splash, struggle.