[DECK] Mono Blue Delver

[tarmogoat]

After doing a search in titles for 'Delver' I found no MonoU Delver thread. So I've decided to create this one:

The list:

1Drops: (20)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Stifle
2x Spell Snare
1x Spell Pierce
1x Sensei's Divining Top

2Drops: (9)
2x Counterspell
4x Daze
1x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Snapcaster Mage

3Drops: (6)
2x Vendilion Clique
1x True-Name Nemesis
1x Back to Basics
2x Dismember

4Drops: (2)
2x Jace the Mind Sculptor

5Drops: (5)
4x Force of Will

Lands: (18)
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
4x Wasteland
6x Island

Sideboard: (15)
1x Pithing Needle
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Flusterstorm
2x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Chain of Vapor
1x Null Rod
2x Arcane Laboratory
2x Misdirection
2x Ravenous Trap

It's basically a budget deck (not that it needed to be said), but it appeals me to play it while I build both my tiered legacy deck and my knowledge and playout of the format itself. It obviously not gonna be a monster deck that will rock it at the top tables, but seems to have a decent chance of fighting games.

Pros:

• Good against Wasteland and other non basic land hate
• Good against multicolored decks, in the sense it can fight with Wastelands, Back to Basics and Stifle
• Good chance of fighting against Combo decks, especially with sideboard help

Cons:

• Bad against fast creature decks
• Lacks 'real' threats/answers that can only be found outside of blue
• Subpar deck, in the sense that is not as explosive/resilient as other Delver decks

Has anyone played a Mono blue delver/tempo strategy that can provide some insight or advise? I feel like this could be the door to understanding the most fun format in magic, and I want to give it a go while I wait till I get my own duals. I believe the first step I will make when I can will be splashing for a SFM package and StP.

I'd love to sneak in 1 or 2 Hibernation for Elves and Maverick.

[Lyle Hopkins]

Bryant Cook wrote a couple articles discussing Mono-Blue Delver. I hope this helps. Best of luck with the brew.

http://jupitergames.info/articles/20...ono-blue-tempo

http://jupitergames.info/articles/20...-blue-pet-deck

[tarmogoat]

Bryant Cook wrote a couple articles discussing Mono-Blue Delver. I hope this helps. Best of luck with the brew.

http://jupitergames.info/articles/20...ono-blue-tempo

http://jupitergames.info/articles/20...-blue-pet-deck

Well thanks for that! Apparently I was on the right track about the Pros of playing the deck, and made some similar choices. Still, those articles from 2012 when TNN wasn't a thing to consider. After reading those 2 articles I feel like I could be cutting Top from the deck and Jaces from main, opening slots for 3 Chain of Vapor main, which sound awesome while combined with Stifle, Wasteland and BtB (In the sense that they can bounce my stuff too but have to tax themselves more to achieve it, entering a chain of tempo that the deck should win).

I think I will be making these changes:

Mainboard:
-2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Sensei's Divining Top

+3 Chain of Vapor

Sideboard:
-1 Pithing Needle
-2 Chain of Vapor
-2 Arcane Laboratory
-2 Ravenous Trap
+2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+2 Submerge
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Relic of Progenitus

[Ralf]

You should look at MUC (mono blue control) decklists to get a lot more ideas (even if you are playing a tempo oriented build).

Here are some food for thoughts:

- some number of Veldaken shackles (at least 1) should be in your 75
- consider "telekinesis" (at least 1), could be great in a tempo shell like yours and can be snapcasted...
- "Repeal" can also be interesting but might not be that great in a tempo shell. Nevertheless, protecting an "aberration" from a decay/bolt/STP for U while netting a card advantage seems pretty bonker.
- Trinket mage can be a great addition as a sideboard material (getting cage, pithing, relic, what have you)
- Shadow of Doubt might also be interesting (stifle n°5 + hozes GSZ, NO, Infernal Tutor, SFM)
- Snapcaster should not be a 3-of in a tempo shell / or your mana curve is too high for what your are trying to accomplish and must be adapted (at least +1 island considering you are wasteland proof but you have a lot of 2/3 CMC cards).

[tarmogoat]

You should look at MUC (mono blue control) decklists to get a lot more ideas (even if you are playing a tempo oriented build).

Here are some food for thoughts:

- some number of Veldaken shackles (at least 1) should be in your 75
- consider "telekinesis" (at least 1), could be great in a tempo shell like yours and can be snapcasted...
- "Repeal" can also be interesting but might not be that great in a tempo shell. Nevertheless, protecting an "aberration" from a decay/bolt/STP for U while netting a card advantage seems pretty bonker.
- Trinket mage can be a great addition as a sideboard material (getting cage, pithing, relic, what have you)
- Shadow of Doubt might also be interesting (stifle n°5 + hozes GSZ, NO, Infernal Tutor, SFM)
- Snapcaster should not be a 3-of in a tempo shell / or your mana curve is too high for what your are trying to accomplish and must be adapted (at least +1 island considering you are wasteland proof but you have a lot of 2/3 CMC cards).

Thanks for the feedback, made me think a few things.

- Vedalken Shackles seems really interesting but I think I would be stealing a Tarmogoyf or a Young Pyromancer most of the times so I believe Mind Harness could be better, otherwise the idea would be to counter or bounce with Chain of Vapor.

- Telekinesis seems like it could be a thing, but it would be eating a Submerge or Chain of Vapor slot, and those are better answers I believe.

- Repeal is nice, but again I prefer the Chain, as it allows me to ged rid of anything no matter the cost. Cantripping is nice though, but I don't think I have the slots for that. Chain of Vapor also allows plays like Bounce my Creature/Jace sac a land bounce yours.

- I don't think I run enough targets for a Trinket Mage to be valuable, and at 3 I rather be casting a TNN or a Clique.

- Shadow of Doubt could work, as it cycles at worst. Don't know what slot that would take though. I'll keep it in my mind. Maybe a grave hate card.

- Snapcaster Mage has only 2 3drop targets (and those are actually 1CMC as they are Dismember) and 2 2drop targets (Counterspell, as I will never target a Daze with it). Snapcaster is not a problem, I'd love to play the 4, but I only have so many slots.

Updated List:

1Drops: (22)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Stifle
3x Chain of Vapor
2x Spell Snare
1x Spell Pierce

2Drops: (10)
2x Counterspell
4x Daze
1x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Snapcaster Mage

3Drops: (6)
2x Vendilion Clique
1x True-Name Nemesis
1x Back to Basics
2x Dismember

5Drops: (4)
4x Force of Will

Lands: (18)
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
4x Wasteland
6x Island

Sideboard: (15)
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Flusterstorm
2x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Null Rod
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2x Misdirection
2x Submerge

[Megadeus]

I would think that Vapor Snag > Chain of Vapor. Them bouncing your delver at no cost seems pretty bad. The life loss is pretty nice and with snapcaster it gets pretty nuts. Dunno. I think if I were on Mono U I'd go with Dreadnoughts and maybe some standstill.

[tarmogoat]

I would think that Vapor Snag > Chain of Vapor. Them bouncing your delver at no cost seems pretty bad. The life loss is pretty nice and with snapcaster it gets pretty nuts. Dunno. I think if I were on Mono U I'd go with Dreadnoughts and maybe some standstill.

I've thought of several things before going with this list. 2 of the most interesting other ideas were a Countertop package, and a Dreadstill package. The countertop becomes a subpar Miracles deck (which happens to be worse than a subpar delver) and Dreadstill would be way to fragile as it becomes a control-combo deck in monocolor, which is not where I want to be to be honest.

Vapor Snag slots are used by Dismember, as in monoblue I NEED to have an out from Enchantments/Artifacts/Planeswalkers and that is only achieved by Chain. Them bouncing a delver costs them a land, which against the Wasteland/Stifle pack is probably good for me anyway, as I will drop it again and continue out-tempoing them. I still have the Vapor Snags sleeved and will test them too. But my meta is largely Miracles and combo, and Snag is not that good there.

[Seraphix]

I've thought of several things before going with this list. 2 of the most interesting other ideas were a Countertop package, and a Dreadstill package. The countertop becomes a subpar Miracles deck (which happens to be worse than a subpar delver) and Dreadstill would be way to fragile as it becomes a control-combo deck in monocolor, which is not where I want to be to be honest.

Vapor Snag slots are used by Dismember, as in monoblue I NEED to have an out from Enchantments/Artifacts/Planeswalkers and that is only achieved by Chain. Them bouncing a delver costs them a land, which against the Wasteland/Stifle pack is probably good for me anyway, as I will drop it again and continue out-tempoing them. I still have the Vapor Snags sleeved and will test them too. But my meta is largely Miracles and combo, and Snag is not that good there.

SB Counterbalance enabling you to board into Countertop seems like an interesting option. I don't think it will be good against aggro since you actually have to answer their board but it can lock out some combo decks.

Could Engineered Explosives be worth running? It is still a hard answer to plenty of 0-1 CMC things.

Also, what about working some Factories into the manabase?

[ozimek]

Back to basics seems like the best card in the deck. I would run at least two, and maybe three copies.

[TooOld4Magic]

With your current list, you’re just running the weakest of the Delver decks. Are any of your threats better than Tarmogoyf, Gurmag Angler, Young Pyromancer, or Deathrite Shaman? Is chain of vapor better than lightning bolt or swords to plowshares?You’re running a jitte, but no tutor for it. Since you’re already running stifle, you could change your list a little to include the phyrexian dreadnaught/stifle combo, which gives you a must answer threat. If you don’t have duals, shocks would be fine I think since you’d only be searching for them for your sideboard cards, and an unanswered dreadnaught can end the game with two swings. Trinket mage helps find dreadnaught and your sideboard artifact cards. You could also stick with mono-blue and try the back-to-basics, chain of vapor thing.

CheaperishDread Delverstill


1 Trinket Mage
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 delver of secrets

2 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm

2 Trickbind
4 Stifle

4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
3 Spell Snare
2 spell pierce

1 Watery Grave
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Island
1 steam vents
4 Wasteland
2 Flooded Strand
2 polluted delta
2 Scalding Tarn

SIDEBOARD
1 Pithing Needle
1 vendillion clique
2 pyroblast
1 spell pierce
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 engineered explosives
1 Flusterstorm
1 Trinket Mage
1 pyroclasm
2 perish
2 sulfur elemental

[tarmogoat]

Could this become thing after SOI?

I'll rephrase this, could Mono Blue Delver become a Thing in the Ice after SOI?

It seems promising with this package:

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Stifle
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Wasteland
3 Back to Basics

Lotsa cantrips, lotsa free disruption, nonbasic hate and a threat that bounces every other threat back to hand, making it harder to recast, giving back value to dazes even more. Maybe even fits Day's undoing?

Thoughts?

[Fox]

You really, really don't want to run Stifle without a flashback target in your own deck (Dreadnought). Thing in the Ice is a fine 2-drop for the mono-U shell without using Stifle.

[tarmogoat]

You really, really don't want to run Stifle without a flashback target in your own deck (Dreadnought). Thing in the Ice is a fine 2-drop for the mono-U shell without using Stifle.

Sorry, but english is not my native tongue and I don't understand what you mean by 'flashback', could you explain?
You mean a way of casting it even if the other person doesn't run any targets for it? It pitches to FoW and Misdirection, and the main targets are fetchland activations to compliment the wasteland hate package a la RUG delver.

This is what I am thinking of:


4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Stifle
2 Spell Pierce
1 Vapor Snag
1 Dismember
4 Delver of Secrets

4 Thing in the Ice
4 Daze

2 Back to Basics
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Day's Undoing

4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection

2 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
6 Island
4 Wasteland

2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rebuild
2 Submerge


Edit: If Day's Undoing and or Misdirections MB prove cute, can be replaced by more Cantrip/Snag/Dismember/Needles.
The deck should be pure hatred against greedy manabases and creature decks, while disrupting enough for combo/control.

[Fox]

Flashback referring to Snapcaster Mage allowing you to cast Stifle twice. There are lots of people who like RUG Delver, but it's one of the worst Delver variants in terms of tournament results - I think it's pretty safe to say that Stifle not advancing their route to victory has a lot to do with that. Maybe playing a Goyf deck vs Decay/Goyf decks is more responsible for where RUG Delver is at right now in an increasingly fair meta, but Stifle is still kind of a 'winmore' card in their deck. In your mono-U Delver you can run higher impact cards that pitch to FoW like JTMS - Back to Basics and Wasteland should be more than enough for the mana denial package.