So I've been playi-testing Dan Signorigni's 4C Delver list from the last US Grand Prix (with a few minor SB tweaks) and it seems
*really* amazing. I'm actually quite surprised to not see his list catching on more and posting results on Top 8 deck-list aggregator websites -- perhaps if his tiebreakers at GP Columbus were just a single percentage point-or-two better and he made the cut top 8, things would be different and more Delver pilots would be net-decking
his list instead of the latest SCG Open Top 8 Grixis list at their local events and SCG Opens.
Regarding Eldritch Moon: I don't think the new set has introduced anything that will significantly impact or influence the Legacy metagame at large, so the deck lists from the Columbus GP are still extremely relevant despite already being a few months old at this point. The only thing that really seems worth testing is
Bedlam Reveler -- which I think perhaps could take 1 slot of the Gurmag Angler or a Goyf if the deck incorporated a a copy of
Badlands in its land-base... but the mana reduction aspect is actually harder to achieve than it might seem at first glance, *especially* in a Delver deck not running 4 copies of Gitaxian Probe.
link to Dan's GP tournament report and deck list:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...th-BURG-Delver
I'm trying not to come across as a fanboy, but I've been a fan of Dan's approach to deck building for awhile now and I think he and his local playgroup manage to come up with some great ideas. I think when good Legacy players and innovative deck builders such as the Hatfield brothers, Lejay, and of course Dan Signorigni post impressive results with a new deck, it's definitely worth paying attention to. Even if you don't agree with all of their card choices, it's often worth incorporating some aspects of their innovation in your own decks (e.g. Lejay splashing White in BUG Cascade for access to cards like Meddling Mage -- a worthwhile inclusion that patches up some of the weakness that deck has to combo).
Needless to say, all of the following discussion about the deck is just in
my opinion and based on my personal perspective and impression of my local Legacy metagame (which is IRL paper Legacy tournaments and FNMs located in and around the NorthEast US). The perspectives might not be as applicable in a different metagame, e.g. MODO or European metagames. Thus, some of the analysis might come across as hyperbolic or even outright
wrong based on the decks being played elsewhere. Anyways:
The main 60 is basically as close to
Perfection you can get within the Delver archetype, especially given the current card pool and opposing DTBs in the current Legacy metagame. The mixture of spells -- the disruptive and efficient Blue counterspells that have synergy with each other and the 4 Wastelands; the versatile, efficient and powerful removal package of 4 Bolts + 3 Decay that cleans up basically every major and common threat in the format (and is further backed up by the SB removal options); the 13 most efficiently-costed and aggressively-minded aggro/control creatures in the format (with additional pressure provided by SB 3-CMC utility threats); the maximized consistency of the deck's role as the aggressor while disrupting the opponent's gameplan (whatever it may be), achieved with 8 copies of the format's best Blue cantrips... These elements all come together to provide a TON of strategic versatility and raw power. By running 4 Colors, the deck has access to all of the tools necessary to win against basically any Legacy deck -- and the cost of running 4 colors is mitigated by the color-fixing provided by DRS, a fetch/dual mana base, and the simplistic nature of most of the spells only requiring a single color of mana and/or the Duals all providing Blue mana*.
*perhaps it might be worth dropping the 9th fetchland or something else for a Bayou or a Badlands to have better color coverage, at the cost of occasionally awkward hands lacking a Blue source. So far though, the deck as-is with 6 Blue duals + 9 fetches hasn't had much trouble with getting timely access to the color needed for the current game's scenario.
With the deck's power all said, you still need to play very tightly to win. As Dan pointed out in his tournament report, this build needs every turn to be played optimally and turns need to planned out several moves ahead; otherwise you can lose due to a seemingly minor incremental advantage that your opponent achieved. This is different from how other Delver builds often achieve victory: Dan's 4C list often wins in what might seem like "close" games, whereas other Delver decks frequently win in an incredibly lop-sided fashion. The thing is, those same Delver decks frequently *lose* in a similarly lop-sided fashion and lack the cards necessary to come back from a losing board position (e.g. Grixis can lose to a resolved CB or Chalice on 1, and without Decay has a much tougher time getting back into the game). The 4C build has a chance of coming back in practically every game thanks to the mixture of spells (obviously ignoring instances of extreme luck for your opponent or massive misfortune on your part, which are simply a frustrating aspect of MtG -- randomness makes it so that those 80-20 matchups still end up as a loss 20% of the time).
Obviously, 4C Delver has some difficulty against decks that are traditionally good versus Delver.dec, but that's expected. However, and despite the archetype's softness to some strategies (e.g. RG Lands, D&T, Elves, and UWr Miracles to some extent), Dan's 4C list addresses these problematic matchups with its well-thought out card selection, and perhaps more importantly, it does this
*without* giving up much power against the decks that Delver is traditionally favored against. Compare this to Brainstorm Brewery's "Miracles Slayer" Delver list (which among other changes, drops Goyf in favor of 4 Nimble Mongoose) -- while that build certainly *does* have a good Miracles matchup, it achieves that by weakening itself against a significant number of other decks that still need to be considered going into a tournament. I don't really think super heavy meta-gaming is an ideal approach in Legacy, as the format simply has so many decks that you're not at all guaranteed to even face the deck you've metagamed against, or at least enough times to justify it. This variety is also partially why I love the format so much.
In contrast, lot of the other Delver decks that only run 2-3 colors generally have a glaring weakness that can be easily exploited by other decks -- e.g. by running mostly 1-drops and not running Decay, you become vulnerable to CounterBalance and Chalice of the Void; conversely running ONLY Decay but not Bolt makes it harder to close out a game and also make it hard to deal with must-answer 1-drops such as opposing DRS or Mother of Runes.
The 4C list's mana base obviously ends up being a bit worse by the nature of running 4 colors, but generally speaking I've not had too many instances of losing to Mana screw.
Deathrite Shaman is definitely broken. Despite my fondness for playing RUG Delver, I think the lack of DRS (and also general weakness to the shaman) makes the deck overall worse in comparison to Delver decks that *do* run DRS. He's a 1-mana planeswalker that does everything and more, and also helps patch up the weaknesses inherent to the archetype -- he provides mana, reach, life-gain, and graveyard disruption. A swiss army creature.
I think a noteworthy aspect of this list is how it's running 5 large threats. I appreciate how running 5 biggies (the 4 Tarmos + 1 Angler) + 4 DRS gives us a huge advantage against other Delver decks, particularly if they are only running Bolts as removal. Even YPyromancer isn't that big of a deal if you can answer him earlier enough, as the 1/1s are little more than temporary speed bumps against a massive Goyf.
Additionally, having Decay to clean up anything that manages to make it on board is a big advantage of playing this deck instead of Grixis. You don't just lose to a resolved permanent, and you also have a removal spell that WILL resolve.
The 15 sideboard cards: I think the GP's sideboard could use a few tweaks, and my changes are mostly based on my local metagame. I dropped Painful Truths entirely -- I'm not as enamored with the card as some people seem to be, but am running 1 Sylvan Library as a method of CA/selection. I also shifted around the removal selections to attack the decks I see locally, so now I am running:
1 Forked Bolt
1 Dark Blast (alternatively, could be a copy of something such as
Fire Covenant or
Toxic Deluge -- basically another card to beat D&T, UG Infect and Elves. Dark Blast is just really really good in general right now, even against Grixis Delver.)
1 U. JITTE (amazing if you get it running -- Life gain is relevant as well against UR and mono-Burn. I would probably not run it if not playing TNN though.)
1 TNN (this + Jitte = gg. Not really the best threat ever but has a lot of utility against current Tier decks. Seems a bit too narrow for this archetype to run MD though).
1 VClique (could instead be another Flusterstorm if you see more Combo than Miracles.)
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Pithing Needle (alternatives to this and Grudge: Null Rod;
Kolaghan's Command)
1 Sylvan Library
2 Pyroblast
2 S.Extraction (a 1/1 split with Grafdigger's Cage is alright in a meta with lots of GY decks; however Surgical is better against RG Lands, most forms of combo, and actually is sometimes worth bringing in against certain Miracles builds by functioning similarly to Stifle)
2 G. Charm -- versatile and necessary to beat decks packing lots of small creatures
Another card that could likely find its way in the list is
Winter Orb. I am not sure which card would be best to cut, but given the prevalence of RG Lands, Miracles and Chalice midrange decks, this card is likely worth running -- perhaps a cut to consider is Darkblast if the local trend skews towards decks that are soft to this effect.
I also agree with Dan's comment re:
Sulfur Elemental and/or
Dread of Night. White creatures (particularly those in D&T, but also Monastery Mentor and the occasionally-encountered Lingering Souls, etc.) make this sort of hate worth considering. Again, not sure which card to cut, possibly Darkblast or Jitte if you consider it to be too slow/un-wieldly. I like running a bunch of cards that can be brought in against a wider range of decks, so at the moment I haven't really felt like these cards are necessary. But then again, I seem to ALWAYS face Death and frickin' Taxes at EVERY event I play, often multiple times within the same event. So perhaps I should over-board to help fight them.
Anyways, hope you're all well! Good luck to my fellow Delver players with whatever tournaments you're playing in this weekend!
