Team Grixis (UBr tempo)

Went to a yearly tournament with some bigger prizes. There was a relatively small turn out considering this. 37 had shown up. There were prizes to top 8 consisting of duals and fetches. I ended up going 4-2 missing out on the top 8, finishing 10th.

I had made some slight changes, deciding to completely drop the 2 Snapcaster Mages replacing them with 1 Nivmagus Elemental and 1 Stifle.

Here's a walk through of the match ups:

Vs BUG tempo (or Team America if you prefer) LOSE 1-2:
Won G1 getting an early foothold by getting a Bob and a lavamancer down early on. G2 he took, getting a lot of removal to take care of my threats and finally dropping a Tombstalker for which I had no answer. G3 was a suckerpunch and I lost everything in one fell swoop. I started to get a slight hold of the game. Getting a Delver down turn 1 and flipping it turn 2. By turn 4 or 5 my Delver had tucked him down to around 10 life, I had 1 Underground Sea and 2 fetchlands on the board. I had 2 Daze, a Flusterstorm and a Lightning Bolt in hand having just Pondered I passed the turn. He draws, Wastelands my tapped Underground Sea and Ghastly Demises my flipped Delver, he then passes the turn. I fetch in response, which he Stifles, I crack my second fetch and he has another damn Stifle. I never recover.

Vs UW Stax WIN 2-0:
Bad match up for him, I take G1 with relative ease, getting good mileage out of an early Thoughtseize and getting enough action on the board to finish him. G2 he starts with a turn one Mox Diamond, Ancient Tomb into Trinisphere. Luckily I've kept a hand with 3 lands and during my next five turns I draw 2 more lands ensuring I make every land drop. I also manage to Wasteland his Ancient Tomb. I get a Delver down which flips on the second atttempt. Eventually he Intuitions after 2x Humility and 1x Crucible of Worlds. I'm packing a Surgical Extraction and gives him one Humility. He passes the turn and I untap and play the extraction targeting Humility. He doesn't recover and I take it.

Vs Merfolk WIN 2-0:
I'm on the play in G1. We both mulligan once and keep hands of six. I lead out with a Thoughtseize. It resolves and I see a Force of Will, Merrow Reejerey, Cursecatcher, Ponder, Island, Wasteland. Having a strong hand of Delver, Force, Daze and 2 lands I take his Force and end up taking it home with a flipped delver. G2 he mulls to 5 and, on the draw, I open with another Thoughtseize. He doesn't recover and I take it home.

Vs Sneak and Show LOSE 0-2:
G1 I mull to 5 keeping a hand that's Delver, Delver, Lavamancer, Gigadrowse, U. Sea. I decide to keep and end up drawing another Delver having 3 flipped Delvers by turn 5 or 6. By this time, however, has had all the time he needs to set up a Show and Tell -> Griselbrand. He's at 13 or so life. I never recover. Between G1 and G2 I struggle a bit to sideboard. I don't really have anything that specifically targets this match up. I side in 2 Pyroblast and 3 Surgical Extraction. I lead out with the following hand: U. Sea, fetchland, wasteland, Force, Stifle, Inquisition, Surgical. I play the U. Sea and cast Inquisition. He thinks about it for a long time finally deciding to Force it, pitching an Intuition. I get excited, wanting to see a SnT and I force back pitching my stifle. Inquisition resolves. I see: fetchland, sneak attack, brainstorm, intuition and pyroclasm. It's between brainstorm and intuition and I decide on brainstorm, duly extracting it afterwards. I feel somewhat underwhelmed as I'm now left with 1 land on the board and 2 in my hand holding nothing else. I pass the turn. During my subsequent draws I don't really get anything. During his turn 1 or 2 he draws another fetchland and doesn't miss a land drop. He fetches for mountain, island to play around the wasteland I'm holding. He keeps getting mana when he needs it and is finally able to go off.

Vs BUG tempo (Team America) WIN 2-1:
Very close. I win G1 and G3 very narrowly, losing G2 quite clearly. In both my victorious games I win with Bob on the table potentially killing me the round I win, but dodge the Force of Will bullets on both occasions.

Vs Monoblue Faeries WIN 2-1:
This felt like a fairly decent match up for us. The pilot seemed like a very skillful, tight player but in all the games he had no play but 1 Ponder for his first three turns. The game he won I misplayed, taking a Jace with my turn 1 Thoughtseize when I should have taken Vedalken Shackles... I was holding a Lightning Bolt and a Grim Lavamancer. He ended up winning with 2 V. Shackles on the board, but the first one (the one I didn't take) really won it for him, taking my Bob, getting an extra cards for 4-5 turns. I must admit that I hadn't played with or against V. Shackles before and I read it, but didn't really fathom how exactly it would be able to screw me up. I got him quite comfortably in the other games.

All in all I felt like the deck did well enough. I'm certain now I'm going to yank out the singleton Gigadrowse. It doesn't do enough, it's always the first cards that I side out and the Nivmagus Elementals are quite good even without it. Will replace it with either a 4th bolt or perhaps a singleton Fire/Ice. My SB did okay, except against the Sneak and Show where I felt like I had too little to work with. Possible answers to this might be a singleton Gilded Drake and 1 or 2 Pithing Needles. I ended up bringing 2x Pyroclasm for any Goblins, Merfolk or Lingering Souls match ups. Didn't really face much of this but feel like it's a good choice because I had gotten destroyed by my friend in play testing, playing Dead Guy Ale the other night. I had NO way to answer his recurring token machines in Elspeth, Sorin and most of all Lingering Souls so here the Pyroclasms should do well. Just need to be conservative with our own drops.

Here's the list I played:
Creatures:
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Dark Confidant
3x Nivmagus Elemental
2x Grim Lavamancer

Spells:
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
2x Flusterstorm
1x Spell Pierce
3x Stifle
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
1x Gigadrowse
2x Thoughtseize
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Lightning Bolt

Lands:
3x Underground Sea
3x Volcanic Island
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
4x Wasteland

Sideboard:
3x Surgical Extraction
3x Submerge
2x Perish
2x Dread of Night
2x Pyroblast
2x Pyroclasm
1x Shattering Spree

I've been playing with this deck and I really feel like it needs to run 20 lands and on top of that 4 thought scour may be all this deck is really looking for. Thought Scour was added to RUG to turn the Goose loose more consistently, I think the same thing can be done to make Tombstalker into a reliable threat that we could drop early and often.

I modified the opening post to reflect what I think is currently the best use of Grixis: as a streamlined anti-combo monstrosity. Obviously the deck can be constructed to be more middling and address other matchups in the main, but I feel that RUG and BUG do a better job of that... so why not push the deck to its extreme? I suppose if the next few sets throw some more options for R/B/U I'd reconsider.

Nice I just found this topic after I made my deck. So here is my list: updated 11.1.13

Grixis tempo:

Creatures: 15

4x Dark Confidant
3x Deathrite Shaman
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique

Spells: 26

4x Brainstorm
4x Daze
1x Fire // Ice
3x Force of Will
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Ponder
2x Stifle

Land: 19

1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Swamp
1x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
3x Wasteland

Side: 15

2x Ancient Grudge
1x Force of Will
2x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Perish
2x Pyroblast
1x Rakdos Charm
1x Red Elemental Blast
2x Sulfur Elemental
1x Umezawa's Jitte

I count this Grixis but I have some green mana sources as you can see for Deathrite Shaman and Ancient Grudge. Opinions?

I'm currently testing a more burn heavy version of grixis. I'm mainly just using the black for drs which act as extra lavamancers.

This is what I have so far--its been decent versus a lot of things. I decided to cut down on the counterspells a bit to make more room for burn spells. I could add in a couple more dazes to smooth things out. I'm also unsure about the mana base--I suppose if I cut the PoP, I could add in wastelands and put dazes in those slots. Up in the air about it right now.

This is my current list

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Grim Lavamancer

2 Price of Progress
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Thunderous Wrath
4 Force of Will

4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

SB: 2 Sulfuric Vortex
SB: 2 Dread of Night
SB: 4 Force of Will
SB: 3 Rakdos Charm
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Blood Moon

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by somethingdotdotdot

I'm currently testing a more burn heavy version of grixis. I'm mainly just using the black for drs which act as extra lavamancers.

This is what I have so far--its been decent versus a lot of things. I decided to cut down on the counterspells a bit to make more room for burn spells. I could add in a couple more dazes to smooth things out. I'm also unsure about the mana base--I suppose if I cut the PoP, I could add in wastelands and put dazes in those slots. Up in the air about it right now.

This is my current list

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Grim Lavamancer

2 Price of Progress
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Thunderous Wrath
4 Force of Will

4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp

SB: 2 Sulfuric Vortex
SB: 2 Dread of Night
SB: 4 Force of Will
SB: 3 Rakdos Charm
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Blood Moon

---

I tryed Lavamancer and Shaman in same deck and conclusion was that they didn't have enough fuel. But this might be different because more stuff going in graveyard. Also Snapcaster eats graveyard. I would add some fancy creatures like Vendilion Clique or Nivmagus Elemental. I wouldn't play basic mountain unless you have very back to basic heavy meta. Maybe some wastelands or Tropical Island/Taiga for enabling dr. shaman creature removal.

I'm currently testing U/R Delver Nivmagus, but I'm interested in the Grixis version.

Countersquall would be fun in this deck.

I played at 19 player local legacy tournament two days ago 4-0 with my list witch is few posts up. Matchups were: UWR Miracles 2-0, TES 2-1, Jund Spanish Inquisition 2-1, manaless dredge 2-1. Deck seems very solid and versatile maybe I try again tomorrow don't know yet.

Again played with this build today at 18 player tournament. 5 rounds I was 3-1-1 draw was very well count to get in top 4. To win whole tournament. Matchups were BUG 2-0, Reanimator 2-1, TES 1-2, UWR Miracles 2-1, Jund Zombies Draw 1-1-1. Top 4: Jund Zombies 2-1, TES 2-0.

My third tournament behind now placing 2nd. Mus were mono blue aggro 2-0, uwr miracles 1-1-1, esper stoneblade 2-1, big red 2-1.

4th tournament played and this sucked very much. 1-3-1. Ill do some changes for next.

Hi, I'm actually playing this list:

Main Deck
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Tombstalker
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Dismember
4 Daze
3 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Stifle
2 Forked Bolt
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Ponder
1 Badlands
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wasteland

Sideboard
3 Submerge
2 Energy Flux
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 leyline of the void


I played a local 21 players torunament last weekend with a 4-1 result: aluren 2-0, Ant 0-2, high tide 2-0, eva green 2-0 and combo elves 2-1.
The deck is very consistent and in a meta with a lot of combo is a good choice. It's the same game plan than canadian but changing tarmogoyf with tombstalker, more difficult to kill and with evasion, and some discard. Snapcaster mage maybe can be a good choice to add, but i need to test it.

I updated the opening post.

Updated list 02/26/2013:

19 Lands:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland

16 Creatures:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Dark Confidant
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Deathrite Shaman

25 Spells:
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chain Lightning
4 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize
3 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce

Sideboad
2 REB
2 Spell Pierce
3 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Diabolic Edict
1 Darkblast
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Engineered Plague
2 Surgical Extraction

edit: It may be correct to cut a Snapcaster for another spell of some sort. Maybe also fit in a Spell Snare or two.

Pondering the inclusion of Young Pyromancer... I think he might be better than Snapcaster in this sort of deck, because it generates more offensive potential without being as awkward to play with Deathrite Shaman or requiring access to 3 mana.

19 Lands:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland

15 Creatures:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Dark Confidant
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Deathrite Shaman

26 Spells:
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize (or, potentially Cabal Therapy or Hymn to Tourach)
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Spell Pierce
1 Hard Removal (GftT, Diabolic Edict, maybe even Ghastly Demise or Dismember or potentially Abrupt Decay)

Sideboard would be something like this to start with:
3 REB/Pyroblast
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Jitte (especially now with a ton of potential bodies, as well as changes to legend rule)
2 Surgical Extraction / Nihil Spellbomb
2 Engineered Plague
2 Winter Orb
1 Life from the Loam
2 Diabolic Edict // Liliana otV // some other removal that kills big creatures

Why Grixis:
+ much easier time dealing with Jace than BUG Tempo
+ further improved combo matchup over RUG (counters AND discard AND Confidant. Pyromancer quickly becomes a potent threat like Goyf)
+ biggest array of sideboard options
+ more resilient mana than RUG (19th land and DRS)
+ doesn't get hosed by graveyard hate as hard as RUG
+ access to REB/Pyroblast, the best sideboard card in Legacy
+ Shaman is the best one-drop creature in Legacy imho
+ Pyromancer needs more real testing, but I think this card might end up being a true powerhouse

Why not:
- dealing with huge creatures... this can be addressed with the sideboard or perhaps altering maindeck removal slots
- no Mongoose vs. control. However, Dark Confidant is a huge bomb here if you can get him to stick
- no Tombstalker vs. creature decks. He could be added in though. The creature base could definitely be adjusted
- no Tarmgoyf. Alright. He's good. I admit. But he's quickly becoming more and more overshadowed. Against an empty board, Pyromancer becomes just as dangerous, and against a stalled board the tokens are potentially better.
- Plague seems to be the best 'sweeper' available since red options would be bad for us as well (maybe Electrickery is an option?)

I don't understand why these lists don't pack some Jittes or equipment of any kind..
you are full of cheap (even flashy) creatures...

now with young pyromancer, even more.
Basilisk Collar + Grim Lavamancer.. well you know that

I don't think equipments are good for this kind of decks. It eats all mana and denies our countering ability (no daze, force). My version have very hard times to get for 4 mana for jace. I think young pyromancer is worth of testing. Also want to say that atleast second best sideboard card which red allows to this deck after pyroblast/reb is rakdos charm. It have won me many games.

Creatures: 14

4x Dark Confidant
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Delver of Secrets
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique

Spells: 27

1x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
3x Daze
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Fire // Ice
3x Force of Will
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Ponder
1x Spell Pierce

Land: 19

1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Tropical Island
3x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
3x Wasteland

Side: 15

1x Abrupt Decay
1x Flusterstorm
1x Force of Will
1x Golgari Charm
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Life from the Loam
2x Perish
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Pyroblast
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Red Elemental Blast

I have very hard times against rug (tarmo, mongoose), and sometimes problems with the rocks too big creatures for lightning bolt (scavenging ooze even eats everything that shaman is trying to eat) also RDW gives problems and painter's grindstone with moon effects. Anyone think its good for play some basic lands?

Today I was in 8-man trial tournament single elimination. Beat team america and lost for omni/halls (Inquisition is not very good against this I only saw his hand with dreamhalls, enter the infinite and omniscience and next turn he cast dreamhalls gg).

So here's an absurd list I've been testing with the new Young Pyromancer (1R 2/1 whenever you play an Instant/Sorcery put a 1/1 into play)


Creatures: 14
4 Delver
4 Young Pyro
3 Snapcaster
1 V. Clique
2 Tombstalker

Disruption: 20
4 Stifle
4 Daze
4 Force
4 Bolt
4 Hymn

Draw: 8
4 BS
4 Ponder

Lands: 18
4 Waste
8 fetches
6 Duals

I really wonder why Grixis tempo isn't as popular as Team America or RUG?

It seems to me like this color combination offers the most reach and the hardest disruption available. Turning Mongoose into Deathrite and Goyf into Clique/Tombstalker feels like a winning move. Black also offers superior sideboard options than green by a mile.

As SirTylerGalt pointed out, Countersquall is very appealing for this kind of strategy as it combines disruption with reach at a reasonable cost. However, I am not entirely convinced that it is better than Spell Pierce. Countersquall is definitely better at countering small relevant spells like StP, Bolts, Terminus, while Pierce tends to be easier to combine with other spells overall.

Here is a Grixis Tempo list that I have been using with success:


Creatures (12)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Tombstalker

Spells (29)
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fire // Ice
2 Countersquall / Spell Pierce
1 Dismember / Terminate

Lands (19)
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island

Sideboard (15)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Envelop / Flusterstorm
2 Snuff Out
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Fire Covenant / Terminate
1 Engineered Plague
1 Sulfur Elemental / Dread of Night


I am tempted to add a 3rd Clique when the new ruling comes to be, Clique is simply one of the best card you can couple with 1-2 cmc disruption like Countersquall, Stifle, Fire//Ice, Bolts and Deathrite activations. It adds a dimension to the inventory of instant speed disruption available.

I elected to include Jace in the SB for the grindy control matchups, especialy those packing Rest in Peace.

Any opinions on how I should build this deck?