[Deck] U/R Delver

[blindspotxxx]

Izzet Staticaster that's genius! I'll try those out :)

[Exardus]

Izzet Staticaster that's genius! I'll try those out :)

I am glad I gave you a hint :D

[FANAttIC]

I was also thinking about Staticaster but it is harder to get 3rd land in time (for me, 18 lands), doesn't kill Nimble, Argothian, Mother of Runes is a problem for another turn and so on, when Electrickery efficiently deals with everything, sooner, with flashback if necessary and flips Delver.

[blindspotxxx]

With the rise of BUG and Esper and fair decks, Do you guys think moving the 3 Force of Wills from the Main to the side is a correct move? It will get replaced with more burn spells :)

[JDK]

As long as there are combo decks in the DtB section this isn't the wisest thing to do. It's also a good card against the various threats that must be handled, like Knight, Tombstalker, Goyf etc.

[CabalTherapy]

Just a question but I wonder why don't you guys just play a straight burn deck?
Why drawspells when you can play Lava Spike, Flame Rift and others...?

If I get paired with my burn agains DelverBurn my deck is always agressive part of the game.
I ve won all matches against UR Delver so far.

I just ask myself what are the criteria to play this deck. The few counter or the carddraw?
(I know this deck runs duallands and that is way more cooler than just Mountains...)

[Bobmans]

Just a question but I wonder why don't you guys just play a straight burn deck?
Why drawspells when you can play Lava Spike, Flame Rift and others?
If I get paired with my burn agains DelverBurn my deck is always agressive part of the game.
I ve won all matches against UR Delver so far.

This is from another primer. Just wanted to make you aware of this info as it covers all your worries.

In the current legacy metagame burn is truly a force to be reckoned with. Many of the thresh decks and stoneforge decks simply have no way to stop the fast combo engine of burn. However there are a few things that a burn deck either cannot deal with or has a hard time with game one.
1) An attacking batterskull (or anything else that gains a ton of life a turn)
2) Fast combo decks
3) Running out of steam against powerful control and prison decks such as counter-top and enchantress
UR delver-burn attempts to recreate the power of the burn engine but sacrifices some of the speed for protection and consistency.

Why should I play this deck?
1) If you want the power that comes with the ability to trade one mana for three life but you don’t want to auto-lose to combo.
2) If you like the idea of playing a flying wild nacatl but have no interest in playing tarmogoyf or just don’t own them.
3)Because it’s a cool deck that is a ton of fun to play! (and still wins games)


Why shouldn’t I play this deck?
1) If your meta is full of decks that beat burn (faster combos, counter-top) you will just kinda lost a lot. It wont be fun.
2) if your meta is full of burn. This deck’s critical turn is usually about one turn behind burn’s. it is a very hard match up to win (but completely possible if you play right)
3) If you hate fun.

[CabalTherapy]

This is from another primer. Just wanted to make you aware of this info as it covers all your worries.

Thx. I should read the primer first and then ask questions.
Nevertheless, I am not convinced that this deck can beat a good storm deck.
(Not just smash one FoW against Belcher.)

[syfilisx]

I play 3 daze and 4 Force of Wills and also 4 flusterstorms maindeck because of playing Nivmagus version, that helps a lot against storm. As does having a fast clock, but matchup is far away from sure win still.

[JDK]

Just a question but I wonder why don't you guys just play a straight burn deck?
Why drawspells when you can play Lava Spike, Flame Rift and others...?

If I get paired with my burn agains DelverBurn my deck is always agressive part of the game.
I ve won all matches against UR Delver so far.

I just ask myself what are the criteria to play this deck. The few counter or the carddraw?
(I know this deck runs duallands and that is way more cooler than just Mountains...)

Burn and UR Delver are not the only decks in the format and therefor "A beats B, so A is better" is an invalid conclusion. As mentioned by bobmans UR Delver tries to overcome certain problems of the classical Burn.dec by adding cantrips to always get the cards you actually want and counter-spells to deal with threats. Burn almost always comes down to racing, whereas UR Delver can find itself in the control-role, which leaves space for different playstyles.

Nevertheless, I am not convinced that this deck can beat a good storm deck.

It sure can, although most storm matchups are not favorable. Calling them 'unwinnable' or even 'horrible' would be wrong though.

[CabalTherapy]

Burn and UR Delver are not the only decks in the format and therefor "A beats B, so A is better" is an invalid conclusion. As mentioned by bobmans UR Delver tries to overcome certain problems of the classical Burn.dec by adding cantrips to always get the cards you actually want and counter-spells to deal with threats. Burn almost always comes down to racing, whereas UR Delver can find itself in the control-role, which leaves space for different playstyles.


It sure can, although most storm matchups are not favorable. Calling them 'unwinnable' or even 'horrible' would be wrong though.

Thanks for the answers.

[blindspotxxx]

Just a question but I wonder why don't you guys just play a straight burn deck?
Why drawspells when you can play Lava Spike, Flame Rift and others...?

If I get paired with my burn agains DelverBurn my deck is always agressive part of the game.
I ve won all matches against UR Delver so far.

I just ask myself what are the criteria to play this deck. The few counter or the carddraw?
(I know this deck runs duallands and that is way more cooler than just Mountains...)

In a weird way, I've never lost to Burn in a tournament. Maybe just once due to a misplay of fetching and my opponent packing Thunderous Wrath lol. UR Delver can beat burn, you just have to play controlish.

[somethingdotdotdot]

So i was playing a version of this deck with goblin guides and I was wondering if you guys have tried spell snare (instead of pierce) in this deck. From playing, it seems like the only threats that the deck cares about are opposing 2 drops (outside of combo): goyfs, sfm, jitte, counterbalance, ooze, counterspell.

[JDK]

In a weird way, I've never lost to Burn in a tournament. Maybe just once due to a misplay of fetching and my opponent packing Thunderous Wrath lol. UR Delver can beat burn, you just have to play controlish.

It's still a bad matchup, despite your experience. ;)

So i was playing a version of this deck with goblin guides and I was wondering if you guys have tried spell snare (instead of pierce) in this deck. From playing, it seems like the only threats that the deck cares about are opposing 2 drops (outside of combo): goyfs, sfm, jitte, counterbalance, ooze, counterspell.

Fear the counterspell! On a serious note: Counterspell is not a threat and there are way more things we want to hit with our countermagic. Think about removal (Swords, EE), combopieces (Show and Tell says hi), locks (Ensnaring Bridge) and even counter-wars. Burn and our SB can deal with the mentioned cards very effectively. Submerge/Vapor Snag for Fatties, Vortex for the equipments and CB etc.

[Rocco111]

I for myself have never lost either vs Burn.deck...
On the other hand (please don't get offended there, burn-players) Burn.deck is often the starting deck for many Legacy players as it is cheaper to assemble (myself included). As a matter of fact, there are quite a number of Burn.deck players who are lacking experience. And in this situation, UR Delver.deck is better because countering one or two spells is often enough to outrace Burn, as we have access to a gas-pedal via Brainstorm and Ponder... Even though, against an evenly experienced player, Burn is not a really good match-up.

Regarding Staticaster, I have some doubts too. Maybe this is a meta-orientated solution. As far as I am concerned, the only 3mana-spell am packing is Sulfuric Vortex and God sometimes I really have others things to cast before this one. 2 colors-spell makes it food for FoW, ok but this is it. Or I miss sthg.

[blindspotxxx]

It's a choice between Electrickery or Izzet Staticaster for Weenie Deck metas. I'd rather have the creature as it avoids Thalia :) It's also reusable and is a problem until they kill it. I've seen the meta of Germany and their recent Major Legacy tournament, it seems that the decks there are well developed and the 7 U/R Delver players that joined failed to reach top 8 which makes me sad. I guess the power of Legacy is moving on as Black and Green are now powered to be tier 1. I hope Wizards realizes this, that Red is really lacking in Legacy power level, no power 2 drop equivalent and no strong Planeswalker. As a result U/R Delver is falling behind in power as well. Return to Ravnica was a disappointment for us, no cards to fit in the deck and we now have to waste a burn spell on Deathrite Shaman! We'll see if burn can still compete with the new meta but I'm not optimistic.

Legacy Metagame Breakdown

BUG 38
Stoneblade 17
Tendrils Stormkombo 15
Canadian 11
GW Maverick 10
Junk 9
UW Miracle 8
Goblins 7
Jund 7
UR Delver 7
Dredge 6
Mono Rot 6
OmniTell 6
High Tide 5
Komboelfen 4
SneakShow 4
Rogue 34

Legacy Top8 Decklisten

1. Perbet, Guillaume

3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Umezawa's Jitte

4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Bayou
1 Forest
2 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
1 Savannah
2 Scrubland
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
3 Windswept Heath

4 Cabal Therapy
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls

Sideboard:
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Engineered Plague
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Diabolic Edict
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Thoughtseize

2. Steinecke, Michael

4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
3 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
4 High Tide
1 Intuition
3 Meditate
1 Pact of Negation
4 Turnabout

2 Flooded Strand
12 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn

4 Merchant Scroll
3 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Time Spiral

Sideboard:
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Disrupt
1 Flusterstorm
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Meditate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Snap
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wipe Away

3. Ninznansky, Milan

4 AEther Vial

3 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Goblin Matron
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
3 Mogg War Marshal
2 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
2 Sparksmith

1 Tarfire

1 Karakas
14 Mountain
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Angel of Despair
2 Blood Moon
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Pyroblast
2 Pyrokinesis
2 Shattering Spree

4. Marx, Florian

1 Umezawa's Jitte

4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
1 Dismember
3 Spell Pierce

1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

1 Liliana of the Veil

4 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Darkblast
2 Divert
2 Flusterstorm
2 Golgari Charm
1 Life from the Loam

5. Müller, Andreas

4 Lion's Eye Diamond

4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp

4 Bridge from Below

4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine

3 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
1 Dread Return
4 Faithless Looting

Sideboard:
2 Ashen Ghoul
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Ancient Grudge
4 Nature's Claim
1 Tarnished Citadel
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Breakthrough

6. Hittel, Matthias

4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Pierce

2 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Liliana of the Veil

1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Life from the Loam
2 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Engineered Plague
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Darkblast
4 Force of Will
1 Duress
1 Maelstrom Pulse

7. Portleroy, Jan

2 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Tarmogoyf

1 Pernicious Deed

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Lightning Bolt

3 Badlands
4 Bayou
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Taiga
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland

3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Life from the Loam

Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Engineered Plague
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Thoughtseize

8. Riedel, Tim

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf

1 Sylvan Library

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Lightning Bolt

2 Badlands
3 Bayou
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Raging Ravine
2 Swamp
1 Taiga
1 Treetop Village
1 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills

3 Liliana of the Veil

2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Duress
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Slaughter Games

[JDK]

I am the one who made fancy diagrams for this tournament's metagame and I am just stunned by the lack of UR Delver in the Top 8. The Deck is well suited against BUG, so they either have had unlucky matchups, bad lists or a lack of skill.

With so much Burn, killing Shaman is not a problem, especially thanks to Lavamancer. PoP is the greatest fear of a BUG player as well. Just adapt your list and SB - UR is a strong choice with so much BUG around.

[Artlee]

I am the one who made fancy diagrams for this tournament's metagame and I am just stunned by the lack of UR Delver in the Top 8. The Deck is well suited against BUG, so they either have had unlucky matchups, bad lists or a lack of skill.

With so much Burn, killing Shaman is not a problem, especially thanks to Lavamancer. PoP is the greatest fear of a BUG player as well. Just adapt your list and SB - UR is a strong choice with so much BUG around.

My experience vs BUG is limited but does we want to use burn on Deathrite? If you burn the first Shaman you have to burn the next, because otherwise they are gaining life. So unless you used Lavamancer on burning the shamans you just wasted 6 dmg to the dome. Of course they could be gaining life from our creatures but if the opponent is using time on abrupt decay and deathrite we should be winning the race, right?

[JDK]

It doesn't matter what we want. Sometimes we HAVE TO burn creatures. We should still be able to race them, especially after sideboarding. Price of Progress is insane in this matchup and so is Lavamancer. Going back to at least 3 PoP in the 75 seems like the obvious choice to me

Vapor Snag also gets better and better with so much BUG around and it also helps keeping Shaman off the table.

[blindspotxxx]

Quick Tournament Report

Legacy Wars Battle Royale (Was down-scaled due to players not showing up because of the mechanics. Some had 3 byes for the tournament and the entrance fee was expensive, in the end since only 40-50 players showed up, the prize pool was halved and the entrance fee was reduced by 60%)

U/R Delver

Creatures:

4 Goblin Guide
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Grim Lavamancer

Spells:

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
2 Price of Progress
1 Thunderous Wrath
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Spell Pierce
2 Daze
3 Force of Will

Lands:

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Arid Mesa

Sideboard:

2 Sulfuric Vortex
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Red Elemental Blase
2 Lava Spike
1 Fireblast
1 Force of Will
1 Spell Pierce
4 Surgical Extraction

Round 1 Bye (When Worlds Collide Tournament Top 8)

Round 2 U/R Delver Mirror (Draw)

Game 1: I get punished by my lose keep but I usually just keep a hand with a turn 1 Delver and a bunch of spells. My hand consisted of Thunderous Wrath, Price of Progress, Ponder, Delver and Lands. My opponent goes 1st and gets the nuts with turn 1 Delver and turn 2 Goblin Guide. I draw a lot of land from his Goblin Guide but then he plays too many 1 drops for me to compete and I draw 0 Bolts and Chains.

Out: 2 Force of Will, 2 Price of Progress. In: 2 Pyroblast, 1 Spell Pierce, 1 Fireblast

Game 2: I go 1st with a turn 1 Delver and we kill creatures back and forth which consumes a lot of time. The mirror is really a long game of attrition. We eventually play Snapcaster Mages and somehow I go on top because I managed to draw more spells than lands as compared to him.

Game 3: Don't remember but I'm down to 6 life and he is down to 9 life with me having an Insectile Aberration just as time was called.

Round 3: RUG Delver (Win?!)

Game 1: All my dudes are killed with him drawing 3 Lightning Bolts and He beats me with a Nimble Mongoose.

Out: 3 Force of Will, In: 1 Fireblast, 2 Lava Spike

Game 2: He beats me with another Nimble Mongoose and I get to damage him a bit with a Goblin Guide. When I was down to 2 Life, I have a Fireblast and a Price of Progress in my hand and he is sitting at 12 life. He only has 2 lands in play and if all the burn gets through he will still be 4 life. Last turn to live I guess, I float mana from my 2 Volcanic Islands and Cast a Fireblast, he rolls the life counter to 8 then I proceed to cast Price of Progress. At this point, I just keep quiet and lay the cards and he suddenly says he misplayed and then he scoops up his cards. Way to go for a miscount! lol

Game 3: He mulls to 4 and almost beats me because of my lose keep of 5 Lands 1 Delver and 1 Spell Pierce. Of course I have so many cards and burn and i kill him before his turn 2 Tarmogoyf Kills me.

Round 4: Esper Stoneblade (Win)

Game 1: We trade cards and I get him to like 6-8 Life and he plays a Stoneforge Mystic, I play my only removal which is Chain Lightning which gets countered and I can't keep up with Batterskull

Out: 3 Force of Will, 2 Daze, In: 2 Sulfuric Vortex, 2 Smash to Smithereens, 1 Fireblast

Game 2: Don't remember much but he gets beat by Goblin Guides and he kills my turn 1 Delver. I have a lot of burn and he didn't have much counters. Umezawa's Jitte gets hit by a Smash to Smithereens and he had 0 creatures in play.

Game 3: I draw only 3 lands and have a lot of burn with 3 Lightning Bolts, 1 Chain Lightning, 2 Price of Progress and 1 Smash to Smithereens. He had 3 Non-basics in play so that was game. Goblin Guide also lays the early beats and he skips 2 Land Drops turn 3-4 which is very big.

Round 5: UW Miracles (Lose)

Game 1: I get controlled pretty bad with him sitting at 5 Life. There was a turning point where he had 3 Non-basics and a fetch land and I play 2 Price of Progress but he Forces the other one, it could have been Lethal.

Out: 2 Price of Progress, 2 Daze, 1 Force of Will In: 2 Sulfuric Vortex, 1 Fireblast, 2 Pyroblast
(Took out my Banefire!!! Argh!!! Went with a Spell Pierce should have left it alone!!!)

Game 2: Turn 0 Leyline! Wow! and he draw 4 Swords to Plowshares and I can't even get the damage started.

Round 6: RUG Delver (Win)

Game 1: I manage to burn him out before I die. Goblin Guide does the heavy lifting this game.

Out: 3 Force of Will, In: 2 Lava Spike, 1 Fireblast

Game 2: I only have 3 Lands this game, Mountain, Mountain and Island. Most of my dudes die but I stick a Grim Lavamancer. He was on the defensive all game and Tarmogoyf came in too late as I have too much Burn. Drawn 2 Lava Spikes and a lot of Lightning Bolts!

Round 7: UW Miracles (Lose)

Game 1: Horrible matchup and I was paired with a good player. We managed to consumes out hands during the 1st few turns and me ending up with no board and him at 9 life and a Sensei's Top. I Miracle Draw a Thunderous Wrath which resolves and a Price of Progress for 4 deals lethal.

Out: 4 Goblin Guide, 2 Daze. In: 1 Force of Will, 2 Pyroblast, 2 Sulfuric Vortex, 1 Spell Pierce

Game 2: I figured I can stall this game because the match-up is really bad and I'm favored. Stall meaning I will play defensive and counter his Win Cons not slow play by the way. This doesn't work as I draw super aggressive hands with 2 Delvers, 1 Chain Lightning and 2 Lightning Bolts and some Cantrips and a Spell Pierce. He has both Counterbalance and Top which I couldn't stop because I drew my counters late. Due to lack of sleep from Diablo 3 the night before I was very fatigued and exhausted and didn't simulate the play. I should have won this game but I made a crucial misplay.

Here is the scenario: He is at 6 Life, I have a flipped Delver in play. He has 4 lands, Top and Counterbalance. I swing with my Delver, my hand was (Spell Pierce, Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt) I also had 4 Lands in play. He plays a Snapcastermage and he has a Swords to Plowshares in his Graveyard. In my mind I thought that Snapcaster Mage was flying or was able to block my Delver. So before he casts the Swords to Plowshares, I respond with a Brainstorm. He responds by paying 1 to look at Top. I was afraid of a 1 cost on the top 3 so I responded with 2 Lightning Bolts. 1 resolves and the other one gets countered because he puts Top on Top of his library. This also counters my Brainstorm and my Spell Pierce can't be played due to top being on Top and Delver bites the bin. Later on it was revealed by some bystanders that he didn't have a 1 cost card on the top 3 and I should have won. He also is smart enough to leave a Terminus on the top 3 for my Fireblast and a lone Snapcaster Mage kills me from 19-0.

Game 3: Time was called, we were both unable to kill each other and he has 2 4/4 Angels and I have a Fireblast, a flipped Delver and a Goblin Guide with 17 life and him at 14 Life. It was a win and in match and I gave him the win because he gave me the win to some former tournaments and we know each other anyway.

Overall deck went 4-2-1. Didn't face a single combo deck and I feel that Burn is better positioned than us at the moment. 1 burn deck made it to the top tables.