Thanks! You're probably right about the necessary pace of the deck under DTT era. I'm not sure Deathrite was any less/more common than now, but there certainly were more Young Pyros running around to clog up your normal Lackey game. That said, we're in a different meta again. I'm curious what'll happen to the Instigator builds now.
Chalice on 0 really is the most compelling use. As far as Delver variants, aren't we pretty far ahead without boarding? I haven't played all the flavors of Delver, but none of them feel like it's worth having dedicated board slots. And if you buy that, it means Storm is the best use of Chalice, but perhaps Thalia is better? Or maybe diversifying would be best?
I settled on a board I'm really happy with, and it answers some of these questions.
2 Containment Priest
1 Pithing Needle
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Wear // Tear
Containment Priest gives me a lot of game vs Sneak and Show and Reanimator. I'm not concerned about the nombo of Vial and Lackey in these matchups. I also swapped a Wear // Tear in my former list for a Pithing Needle. Wear // Tear was traditionally used to hit Jitte, but Pithing Needle does just as good of a job while also allowing me to name Sneak Attack as well as a bunch of other random threats. I still don't want to go below 3 Relic or 3 Pyrokinesis. They're both amazing in the deck. Thalia is still my Storm solution. I dislike that it's so narrow, but I don't know of a more versatile answer that is also as potent against Storm. Except, finally, for Red Blast. I bring Red Blast in against almost every unfair matchup as well as some fair. It's great against Sneak and Show and also does fine against Reanimator, Storm, and even Miracles for attacking cantrips. Vs RUG Delver, it's probably right to swap a Tarfire or two out for Red Blasts too.

