Took UR Prowess to a 9th place finish at a 61 person TJ Collectibles event this weekend. Lost my win and in in Round 6 - deck was great. Will put together a tournament report this week if people are interested.
TJ's Titanium Weekend
Legacy Challenge
March 5, 2017
61 Players
9th Place
List:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Stormchaser Mage
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Fireblast
3 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Price of Progress
1 Thunderous Wrath
4 Chain Lightning
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
SB
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Force of Will
1 Price of Progress
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Spell Pierce
1 Submerge
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
Round 1 Grixis 2-1 (1-0)
I played against Mike, on Grixis. Lost game one on the back of an early Gurmag Angler, was not able to get much of a board presence. G2 and G3 went smoothly. Matchup felt fine, as his mana base punishes him with PoP. I didn’t see any Fatal Push in his list (could be a card availability issue), and his main removal was Abrupt Decay which didn’t match up well vs UR.I know Thunderous Wrath caught him very off guard in G2 (which I used to great effect to take out an Angler that was clogging the board). It is likely he was unaware that the card is considered a 1-of in many lists now. I didn’t sideboard too much in these games, as Daze was too good vs his aggressive casting of Gurmag Anglers. I believe I brought in a 3rd PoP for Force of Will.
Round 2 Sneak and Show 2-0 (2-0)
I played against Bryan on Sneak and Show. Game 1 he actually resolved Sneak Attack because I kept a hand with no real permission, just creatures and burn. He hit with Griselbrand on consecutive turns, but did not use the draw 7 activation. After that, he basically was out of gas and I aggro’d him out with Swiftspears and a Delver. G2 I was able to keep him off his Omniscience plan with a grip of REB, FOW, and Spell Pierce and won handily. The SnS matchup feels pretty good in general, and this match was pretty standard. I believe the SB here was pretty light here too. REB for counter wars and a resolved Omniscience, and a Spell Pierce. I think I shaved a Chain Lightning and the Bedlam Revelers, as I felt I wouldn’t get a chance to cast them.
Round 3 Feature Match 2-1 (3-0)
I played against John (he eventually took down the event) and he was on BUG. Game one was over quickly with an early Delver which was killed after 2 attacks, but a pair of Swiftspears and removal for Deathrites and Dark Confidants won it. He ran away with Game 2 on the back of a beefy Tarmogoyf and enough Stifles to keep me of mana for a few turns. Game 3 was on camera and ended up being pretty one sided. I had enough pressure and he flooded pretty hard. I think the final turn was PoP for 6, then Fireblast with a Stormchaser on the board that could attack for lethal had Fireblast been countered. John was a very nice dude from the Boston area and I was happy to see him win out in Top 8. SB here was pretty basic as well, bring in PoP and a Submerge and side out Reveler, I think that was about it.
Round 4 Feature Match 1-2 (3-1)
Played against Jason. He was also on SnS with Cunning Wish, and was able to Show and Tell an Emrakul into play when he was at 5 life, and I quickly lost that game. Game 2 was very much in my favor, as he had all the action in hand (a Probe revealed Sneak Attack, Griselbrand, Emrakul, and Omniscience) but I had plenty of counters, a Swiftspear, Stormchaser Mage, and PoP to carry me through the game. Game 3 was again a story of a resolved Omniscience and Emrakul. I remember having to mulligan both G2 and G3, and especially in G3 when I had a 6 card opener of 3 lands, a couple creatures/cantrips, and a REB as my only permission. This was likely a bad keep, but I wasn’t convinced I’d get a better 5 card hand. Was kinda bummed to lose in Round 4 because it made getting into T8 harder, but we still had a chance.
Round 5 Sneak and Show 2-1 (4-1)
This was against our friend and fellow podcaster Peter, also on Sneak and Show. Peter lost G1 to us getting deck checked and he failed to de-sideboard properly, which sucks. He took G2 on the back of Show and Tell + Emrakul, but Game 3 was pretty one sided, as I was able to get on the beatdown pretty quickly with 3 Swiftspears. Early Probe revealed Emrakul, Ancient Tomb, Griselbrand, Spell Pierce, Sneak Attack, Sneak Attack, Flooded Strand. I kept up enough countermagic to fight the Sneak Attack.
Round 6 Feautre Match 0-2 (4-2)
Round 6 was against Noah Walker. Looking at breakers there were too many 12 points to draw into Top 8 so we had to play it out. As we were walking to the feature match area he noted I was on UR and was doing pretty well, I asked if he was on Grixis and he said no. Found out he was running a BUG list with Deathrite, Snapcaster, Strix, Clique, Fatal Push, and Kolaghan’s Command. G1 was pretty close, but after losing my opening threat to a Fatal Push and my second to a Snapcaster + Fatal Push, it was tough to get back up to speed. Game 2 I had an early Probe and he was sitting on Push, Brainstorm, Flusterstorm, Counterspell, Kolaghans Command, and Engineered Explosives. I had a hand of 2 Swiftspears and Delver of Secrets for threats, so those weren’t great against his opener. Later in the game I played into his Flusterstorm too easily, completely failing to check my notes. I have a Monastery Swiftspear online, and he’s got 3 duals out and no creatures to block, he’s at 12. I know if I don’t kill him this turn I’ll die on the crack back, as he is playing really flawlessly, using Jace and Clique to card advantage me out of the game. So I PoP, he goes to Kolaghan Command my Stormchaser in response. Knowing I need to keep the SCM online to win this turn, I sac my 2 red sources to play fireblast, but he played Flusterstorm and puts 2 copies on each of my burn spells. With only 1 open mana and REB in hand, it was game over. It was rough and a lesson learned.
Overall, the deck was great. Playing Sneak and Show 3 times was an excellent streak of luck, as that matchup is definitely favored for the UR Delver player. I had to mulligan only a few times which was also nice. I loved only running 3 FOW in the main, because the deck has a very hard time recovering from 2 for 1-ing itself. I had more than a few listeners ask me about running Young Pyromancer in this build, and I have a lot of thoughts on that subject which will be turning into an article soon. I would likely make a couple changes based on what I saw, including adding a Flusterstorm to the SB (I don’t own one) and maybe trading a Reveler for a Clique. Also, I ended up playing 3 of the Top 8 players during the Swiss, so it was definitely a slog of a day to come in 9th, but 10/10 would jam again.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to hit me up!
Last edited by pateuglow; 03-13-2017 at 08:36 AM.
Really nice report, thanks! I like the list a lot. Some questions:
- You never felt 'naked' with only 7 counters?
- Thunderous Wrath: did you cast it consistently for its Miracle-cost?
Cheers.
EDIT: could you tell me where to find your feature-MU's?
Nice result pateuglow! Awesome to see the report of such a successful run with the deck. My questions are the same as Chatto's :). I'm also curious to hear more about your experiences against Sneak and Show - it's been unfavored 40/60 for me, not sure if there are tricks you've found to make it more positive.
In other content, I noticed that the second half of this article has some interesting discussion of how to play UR Delver against a resolved Griselbrand.
Not at all. I think UR has a very hard time dealing with the FoW 2 for 1, so cutting one of those made sense. I didn't see a need for a MD Spell Pierce or Spell Snare, etc. I think I hit matchups (Sneak and Show) where the counters are important, and I didn't feel like g1 was out of reach ever.
As far as Thunderous Wrath, I did get it stuck in my hand once versus Sneak and Show, which sucked. I still think the upside of the card outweighs the possibility of it being dead. We do have 4 Brainstorms to put it back, and 4 Ponders to ensure it is the first card we draw when appropriate. The 'gotcha' factor of the card is pretty fun, and because many aren't familiar with UR in it's current state, it is often a surprise, especially since mine are Japanese.
Also, I believe the TO is still working on getting the videos up of the FM. Sadly, even though 3 rounds of mine were in the feature match area, only G3 of my match vs John Hogan was on camera.
Thank you, it was a lot of fun to play. UR is my favorite deck in Legacy, so I look for opportunities to jam it always.
As far as Sneak and Show, I feel the keys to the matchup are (if this comes across as obvious, I apologize)
1) Have a beater or two. A flipped Delver and a Swiftspear with Burn spells are enough to put them on a 3-4 turn clock
2) Have counterspells. Often Sneak and Show players are trying to jam the combo quickly, and will sometimes play into Daze. Otherwise, FOW is your target.
3) Assess their gameplan. If they are digging and digging, they are clearly missing pieces and will play into your countermagic.
4) It's never over til it's over. I've been able to kill an opponent because I Stifled Griselbrand's activation and killed them on the swing back.
One other point comes to mind after re-reading your report: Fatal Push. It shows in your mu vs Noah Walker. I can't help but think that this card will be pretty hard for us to deal with. Still, it could be we are fast enough.
Great read! I also have questions.
Do you believe that Thunderous Wrath is better than Dismember? (putting asside the 'gotcha' factor)
How can Kolaghan's Command kill Stormchaser mage? I am sorry I am missing something I don't get it.
I am playing a similar list and also want to replace the second Reveler but I want to try Nemesis instead...
Yes, Fatal Push was rough. If we see it as a 3 or 4 of in decks, I think UR will take a sizable hit. I don't know if that card will become quite that ubiquitous.
I think TNN or Clique are both worth testing in place of the second Reveler.
I do think Thunderous Wrath is better than Dismember, especially since Eldrazi has slipped with the uptick of BGx decks.
I may be recalling the match incorrectly. It was likely a Swiftspear he intended to kill. Will fix the OP
Long-time lurker here, thanks a lot for this primer.
Been playing Legacy for about a year doing various budget combo decks like sac-land storm and dredge but have been building up to U/R delver so this thread has been great for tips.
Going to be playing the deck in a proxy-allowed monthly tournament in London at the end of the month so I'll share my tournament report.
In my meta, there is lot's of removal present, including multiple Pushes
The best action is probably to change a deck to play. However, I was thinking - when playing UR in removal heavy meta, is it a correct move to side out Delvers and try to deal massive damage using hasty prowess and direct damage?
That's a good question. Personally, if the removal is in the form of Bolt, Push, and Swords, I'd be more inclined to bring in Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, and any other counters you have in the SB in place of FOW. Creature threat density is low, and the deck can't win without threats. My gut tells me that Delver is a major target for removal, and if you side out your Delvers then nearly all remaining creatures you run still die to the same removal, save Bedlam Reveler.
I'm not sure Push massively changes things, it's just a black bolt in most instances and is not as good as swords and was far more damaging to decks running Goyf. You can usually daze a t1 push on your delver and I feel the creature and cantrip density of the deck means even if they remove it, you'll be able to get something else on the board pretty quickly. Even having a hasted prowess creature on the board for a couple of turns can do quite a bit of damage so they need to keep finding more push or other removal to keep up.
I wouldn't worry too much about Fatal Push as an addition to some decks. It is mostly replacing some removal spells in some decks instead of just adding more removal spells. As an example Disfigure in Shardless BUG sideboards has now become Fatal Push. Good ways to combat Fatal Push are just to blank it with big creatures like Bedlam Reveler or resilient creatures like True-Name Nemesis. I am not advocating trying to out grind them but these are options to help you in these inevitable games.
This said I would recommend putting the 3rd and 4th Price of Progress in the sideboard for these matchups.
Another note, BGx decks often play a lot of removal and can be tough matchups sometimes because we are a deck that relies heavily on dealing damage through creatures instead of spells, and being quite removal heavy they can kill a lot of our creatures and leave us to burn them out from high life totals.
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