[Deck] bUrg Tempo

[AfroSmile]

Jarvis Yu is currently 7:0 with the 4c Snapcaster Ben Friedman list at Eternal Weekend in Columbus

That is really nice! :-)

[HSCK]

He's into the Top 8. Looks like the deck can easily become a control or midrange deck postboard too.

[Manipulato]

He's into the Top 8. Looks like the deck can easily become a control or midrange deck postboard too.

Vs non-combo decks you just board out FoW and bring in all your good stuff from the SB (Painful Truths, more removal etc.) and just play a 4c good stuff midrange deck.
But he plays 3 SCM and 2 Angler instead of a couple Goyfs which I'm peronally not a big fan of it

[Manipulato]

Here's the Top 8 list from the Eternal Weekend Columbus.

7th - Jarvis Yu

DECK
2 Gurmag Angler
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
4 Daze
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
2 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta

SIDEBOARD
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Painful Truths

Sadly he lost his 1st Top 8 match 0:2 to DnT
Maybe a couple of Golgari Charms would have helped

[jarvisyu]

Here's the Top 8 list from the Eternal Weekend Columbus.

7th - Jarvis Yu

DECK
2 Gurmag Angler
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
4 Daze
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
2 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta

SIDEBOARD
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Painful Truths

Sadly he lost his 1st Top 8 match 0:2 to DnT
Maybe a couple of Golgari Charms would have helped

I mulled to 4 in game 2. It happens.

[eldub]

Jarvis,

How has 3x Spell Pierce performed?
Did you find that Gurmag over-taxed you GY resources with DRS and Snapcaster being hungry for spells to use?

Well done on another top 8!

[theMonster]

Congrats to Jarvis on a great finish! How'd you like the Sulfur Elemental in the sideboard? And was the second Dismember better than the second Jitte for you?

On a lesser note, I split the top8 of a 52-man $2K today with a similar maindeck but a different sideboard, beating RUG Delver, DnT, Miracles (w/ Stoneforge Mystic and TNN), and Grixis Delver, then double-drawing into the top8. Here was the list:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
2 Gurmag Angler

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Terminate

2 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Force of Will

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

// sideboard //

3 Surgical Extraction
2 Pithing Needle
2 Thoughtseize
1 Pyroblast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dread of Night
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Painful Truths

The Terminate was fine. Since I'm playing Ancient Grudge and K-Command, I thought I could shave on a Decay, but maybe that's wrong because of Miracles's prevalence. I expected lots of DnT, hence the Dread of Night and Marsh Casualties (which I'm not sure is even that great). I figured the latter hit opposing Pyromancers and the occasional Elves player, too. Pyroblast single-handedly won me my Miracles match, casting the same copy twice with Snapcaster in games 2 and 3. K-Command got to destroy a Stoneforge and a SoFI on turn 3, which felt great.

I'd again love some help on my sideboarding decisions.

Round 1: RUG Delver

-1 Force of Will, -1 Daze, -1 Counterspell
+1 Pyroblast, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Umezawa's Jitte

I was scared of Stifle, so I left in lots of the free countermagic and cut the clunkier Counterspell. Jitte might be too slow, and I can't target Nimble Mongoose with it. Maybe I should've cut two Dazes on the draw and left in the fourth Force, too.

Round 2: Death and Taxes

-4 Daze, -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Counterspell
+2 Pithing Needle, +1 Ancient Grudge, +1 Dread of Night, +1 Marsh Casualties, +1 Umezawa's Jitte, +1 Kolaghan's Command

I probably overboarded for this matchup, but I would've hated drawing those cards late-game.

Round 3: Miracles (w/ Stoneforge and TNN, no Mentors)

-4 Daze, -2 Force of Will, -1 Terminate, -1 Gurmag Angler
+2 Pithing Needle, +1 Pyroblast, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Ancient Grudge, +1 Painful Truths, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Marsh Casualties

I probably overboarded for this matchup, too. Should I leave both Anglers in? It's so bad against Swords, Terminus, and Jace's -1, and I thought he might play Rest in Peace. (I saw one Snapcaster, so maybe I should've assumed he was on Surgical instead.) The TNN in game 1 compelled me to bring in Casualties, but maybe I just have to try to fight TNN on the stack instead and not bother with the sweeper.

Round 4: Grixis Delver

-2 Daze, -2 Force of Will
+1 Pyroblast, +1 Flusterstorm, +1 Marsh Casualties, +1 Umezawa's Jitte

Should I cut all the Dazes on the draw and leave in the Forces? I thought it would be a card advantage game, which is why I shaved on Forces.

Thanks, y'all, and big ups again to Jarvis!

[Manipulato]

I mulled to 4 in game 2. It happens.

Sure, bad luck is not preventable in Magic. But I would be interested how you liked the 3 Pierce MD, I´m playing 3 Thoughtseize in those slots because Pierce underperformed for a long time especially in a cc3 heavy build...
Is there anything you did not like in the list or you would change?

[jarvisyu]

Sure, bad luck is not preventable in Magic. But I would be interested how you liked the 3 Pierce MD, I´m playing 3 Thoughtseize in those slots because Pierce underperformed for a long time especially in a cc3 heavy build...
Is there anything you did not like in the list or you would change?

I like Spell Pierce more for these reasons:

Just having a 'wall' of counters versus a certain subset of decks (miracles/combo) is a big deal. It's your 20-22nd blue cards for Force of Will (this is relevant!)

[jarvisyu]

here were the matchups I played briefly:
R1: Infect 2-0 Win
R2: Eldrazi 2-0 Win
R3: Miracles 2-1 Win
R4: Big Red 2-1 Win
R5: Eldrazi 2-1 Win
R6: Belcher 2-0 Win
R7: Death and Taxes 2-1 Win
R8: Grixis Delver with Pyromancer 1-2 Loss
R9: Dredge 2-1 Win
R10: Draw

R1 of T8: Death and Taxes 0-2 Loss

Going forward, I'd want access to a second Sulfur Elemental, given how popular D+T is now.

[Manipulato]

I like Spell Pierce more for these reasons:

Just having a 'wall' of counters versus a certain subset of decks (miracles/combo) is a big deal. It's your 20-22nd blue cards for Force of Will (this is relevant!)

Your list has 28 blue cards not 20-22in the MD? Loosing 3 blue cards would still leave you with 25 cards for FoW which is still solid. But I see your point.

[jarvisyu]

Your list has 28 blue cards not 20-22in the MD? Loosing 3 blue cards would still leave you with 25 cards for FoW which is still solid. But I see your point.

sorry, you're correct. I'm a bit sleep-deprived at the moment.

[eldub]

Jarvis,

Agree that we want (blue) interaction for the stack in these spots, just wondering how 3x Pierce played vs some mixture of Pierce, Snare, Fluterstorm, Counterspell, etc. It seems like variation/variety of interaction on the stack may be more useful with access to Snapcaster (and scale better late-game, especially for post-board games?).

[jarvisyu]

Jarvis,

Agree that we want (blue) interaction for the stack in these spots, just wondering how 3x Pierce played vs some mixture of Pierce, Snare, Fluterstorm, Counterspell, etc. It seems like variation/variety of interaction on the stack may be more useful with access to Snapcaster (and scale better late-game, especially for post-board games?).

Spell Snare seems like a metagame call and Counterspell costs too much blue mana.

I did have Flusterstorms in my sideboard, so there is that.

[MXG]

I finally bought into MTGO, and have been playing some Leagues with what's essentially Jarvis' version of the Friedman list. I'm on Hydroblast instead of the Sulfur Elemental in the SB, and doing fairly well. I've played 4 leagues so far, going 4-1 3 times, and 3-2 once.

The decks that I'm struggling against are some of the more "fringe" strategies, like the Hex Depths list that took down Eternal Weekend, and Blood Moon decks like Big Red. While not fringe, Eldrazi has been very 50/50, depending on the die roll and how our draws line up.

What I want to crowdsource is a way to improve these matchups without giving up ground against Miracles & Grixis Delver, against both of which I have a pretty insane winrate. To people who feel good with the rougher matchups, how are you approaching them? Are there any particular sideboard cards you're using?

Also, as an aside, I've noticed, with this deck far more than other Delver decks, there are draws where it feels right to actually delay deploying the Delver for a Turn, leaving up a fetchland to Bolt or Pierce my opponent's turn 1 play, or protect the Delver on Turn 2 after it lands. While this is essentially blasphemy in RUG Delver, has anyone else noticed it being more reasonable in this deck?

[Jonny Tempel]

Hey Guys!

I'm playing with the idea of upgrading my UR Delver build to 4c because this deck just looks like so much fun and seems to have a few different lines of play instead of "PoP/Bolt you to death".

What would you guys say are the reasons to run this over other delver builds and how viable is the deck vs. the commonly played tier decks? Would be cool if someone could say a few words about some of the spicy cards this deck is running (SCM, maindeck TNN etc)

I think i will use jarvis yu's list as a starting point. Looks very strong and funny. And congrats to your t8 finish!


Greetings, Jonny

[Ltj999]

hey so quick question, long time grixis player trying to figure out what to play at a tournament this weekend. What benefits vs traditional grixis does this 4c have? I can make my own general assumptions, but I wont have the chance to play the 4c deck before this weekend, so having some succinct pro/con vs traditional grixis would be really helpful.

Thanks!

[MXG]

hey so quick question, long time grixis player trying to figure out what to play at a tournament this weekend. What benefits vs traditional grixis does this 4c have? I can make my own general assumptions, but I wont have the chance to play the 4c deck before this weekend, so having some succinct pro/con vs traditional grixis would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Short answer:

* While YP is insane early, it's not as good in late-game topdeck wars.

* Snapcaster, while clunkier than YP, is what enables you to have such a flexible gameplan. They increase your removal density against creature decks, counter density against combo, Abrupt Decay density against Miracles, etc. And when you're ready to turn aggressive, Bolt-Snap-Bolt is one hell of a clock.

* Without YP, you have more maindeck slots open since you dont have to run Git Probe. This allows you to run more Spell Pierces, Abrupt Decays, etc.

* YP gives you a threat to cast through Blood Moon. This deck is cold to a resolved Blood Moon, unless you can float BG to Decay it.

* The most general downside is that the deck is less lean, and needs 3 mana sources to fully function, which is one more than Grixis really requires. This makes you more vulnerable to aggressive mana-denial, such as DnT.

[crush]

Hey Guys!

I'm playing with the idea of upgrading my UR Delver build to 4c because this deck just looks like so much fun and seems to have a few different lines of play instead of "PoP/Bolt you to death".

What would you guys say are the reasons to run this over other delver builds and how viable is the deck vs. the commonly played tier decks? Would be cool if someone could say a few words about some of the spicy cards this deck is running (SCM, maindeck TNN etc)

I think i will use jarvis yu's list as a starting point. Looks very strong and funny. And congrats to your t8 finish!


Greetings, Jonny

Snapcaster is for card advantage and reach (Bolt, SCM->Bolt is brutal). TNN is awesome vs D&T, Punishing Fire.Dec and Miracles.
What makes this build (the one Jarvis is playing) unique is IMO the diversification of threats, which makes SBing vs us quite difficult (you kill them with TNN game 1, they board in Toxic Deluge and you lay down a Gurmag Angler..).

hey so quick question, long time grixis player trying to figure out what to play at a tournament this weekend. What benefits vs traditional grixis does this 4c have? I can make my own general assumptions, but I wont have the chance to play the 4c deck before this weekend, so having some succinct pro/con vs traditional grixis would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Not a Grixis expert, but I would say this version is less explosive and more controlling. The good thing is that you are less often dead to something you cant handle preboard ( mainly thanks to MD Abrupt Decays), the bad is that you will get less free wins.

[Manipulato]

@ Ltj999 & Jonny Tempel:
Well the biggest advantage you get from the g splash are Goyf, AD & Golgari Charm. Your just way more flexible than any other Delver deck out there and the build feels just well prepared and well rounded.

But there are different build out there, the 4 Goyf Version for example feels like RUG Delver just with AD & DS MD which gives you a better midgame/lategame and more powerful spells in General.
The Friedmann/Jarvis list is a really midrangey build and plays more like 4c goodstuff than a traditional Delver deck, especially if you miss those fast Delver openings.

I played both Grixis Delver & 4c and the 4c Version just feels way more powerful and flexible than Grixis for example.
The downside is that you Need all 4 Colors to work perfectly which can be more difficult vs Wasteland decks like DnT, Delver etc. but if you learn how to pilot the deck and really think about your outs and landdrops it´s just fine in my experience.
MU´s like Eldrazi & Miracles get way better than with Grixis for example because AD gives you 3 MD Outs to Chalice and Counterbalance, 2 cards which you see very often atm.