Hi, why are you saying that Anticipate is a good adittion?? It seems like a different Telling Time and noone is talking about it.
Anticipate it incredible and better than Telling Time in most situations.
If you play TT, and there are two cards that are good, then it is better. BUT, if that is the case you are likely already ahead on board.
Example: It is mid game (turn 6 or 7), you EOT Telling Time. You have a Goyf and an Ashiok in play, and your opponent has been grinded with our counters and hand disruption (which is pretty much certain to happen in any game except for Burn and Affinity). You find a Cryptic Command (YAY!), a Goyf, and a Land. You don't need the land so you take the CC and draw the Goyf. This is basically 'win-more'. It's nice, but it isn't going to save your butt like Anticipate can. If you are ahead on board and you use Anticipate, then you shouldn't care about bottom-ing a good card, because you are picking the 'best' one and you are ahead in the game.
Now for Anticipate: Yet again mid game, but this time you have been flooding. Maybe you have a Jace or an Ashiok in play but no creatures besides a Tar Pit. Turn 6 you draw an Anticipate. EOT you Anticipate and find 3 lands. With Telling Time you have to take a land and then draw another freaking land. That would likely be game. Anticipate gives you a chance to clear all the BS and draw gas.
It is also great for bottom-ing Thoughtseize or IoK when you are in top deck mode.
So far in my testing I love this card. I am running 2 in the main and could move to 3.
Also, how necessary do you all think Jace is to this list? Whenever I drew him I wished he was something else, but my LGS has a weird meta. I might take this to States on Sunday, and there will probably be some Twin and more GP type decks there.
I am currently running 3 Cryptics in the main, along with 4 IoK and 2 Thoughtseize, with no Jace, and it is running pretty smooth.
EDIT: Even though I just spent the above post pronouncing the virtues of Anticipate, I might have to go to 1 to get Jace. They both offer card selection and Anticipate is one of my flex spots. I think there is going to be a good amount of Lingering Souls at States, and Jace shuts those down pretty well.
You probably want between two and three depending on your meta and how many creature decks you will see. The damnations can be used even to kill one creature if problematic so anytime you kill multiple creatures you are getting ahead. They work very well for creatures that are too large to abrupt decay or token strategies.
I actually played a black Suns zenith for a while as I was missing the extra damnation and it was a pretty good proxy. It was a little bit of a nombo with tasigur Snapcaster and goyf but it being scalable helped a lot against lingering souls while keeping your guys alive.
Hey guys, just recently picked up sultai for modern, having spent the past few years playing scapeshift and affinity I finally decided to play a G/B/x deck. I've palyed this deck a couple of weeks at my lgs (they have modern available 3 times a week so I can get testing in a lot) and I have made a few changes on Gerard's list.
I decided to include a pack rat in the main. After testing it out, as a 1 of, it shows serious power against fair decks. Turning the late game into an inevitable win for us as every card drawn is a pack rat (making the late game flooding unlikely).
As well with my local meta I up'd the quantity of compulsive research to 2 and dropped the amount of thragtusk to 1 (as there's a lot of jund, fair decks and tron) and I find that having access to more cards earlier is just better than a late game finisher.
As well I added an extra vendilion clique to the main, for hand disruption against scapeshift and twin
I've decided to include an obstinate baloth in the sideboard because it has such a good interaction against jund and abzan (which is a thing in my local meta).
Given my local meta has a lot of g/b/x decks, along with more fair lists and few unfair decks (twin, amulet) I was wondering what you guys would suggest for my sideboard and main to help better my performance.
I've been playing around with the idea of putting in a gifts ungiven, just for raw card advantage and snapcaster synergy as well I've been considering delver of secrets
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Agreed - there's no reason for Delver. Yes, there are those auto win games where it flips on turn 2 and the other team just can't deal win it, but if Delver is our gameplan, we are vastly inferior to the RUG and Grixis versions - and probably the less explosive Jeskai builds as well - because we don't have access to Lightning Bolt for late gsme-ending ability.
Played in a PPTQ yesterday and didn't do so hot, but wanted to share a couple of notes.
Played a single copy of Jace and was always happy to see it. His -2 ability got me out of a lot of holes.
I had cut my Spell Snares and wasn't using Damnation main. All my losses came down to either a 2cmc creature going all the way, or the opponent flooding the board (with cards or tokens) and I wasn't able to answer with my 1 for 1 removal.
I am now considering a version without discard, utilizing Stubborn Denials in their place to protect our guys or disrupt the other team. Any thoughts on this? I know Caleb Durward posted a list on CFB that was focused on this interaction.
Agreed - there's no reason for Delver. Yes, there are those auto win games where it flips on turn 2 and the other team just can't deal win it, but if Delver is our gameplan, we are vastly inferior to the RUG and Grixis versions - and probably the less explosive Jeskai builds as well - because we don't have access to Lightning Bolt for late gsme-ending ability.
Played in a PPTQ yesterday and didn't do so hot, but wanted to share a couple of notes.
Played a single copy of Jace and was always happy to see it. His -2 ability got me out of a lot of holes.
I had cut my Spell Snares and wasn't using Damnation main. All my losses came down to either a 2cmc creature going all the way, or the opponent flooding the board (with cards or tokens) and I wasn't able to answer with my 1 for 1 removal.
I am now considering a version without discard, utilizing Stubborn Denials in their place to protect our guys or disrupt the other team. Any thoughts on this? I know Caleb Durward posted a list on CFB that was focused on this interaction.
I think Discard is one of the main reasons to run Black in this build. I won't give up Iok and Thoughtseize, not with 4x Goyfs, 2x Tasigurs, and whatnot. We can apply pressure to back up our discard, which makes this deck better for targeted discard than Esper Control and the like.
Damnation wins me a lot of games. I wouldn't run less than 2 in the main. Spell Snare is good but I don't know what I would cut for it. Given that I have Goyfs and Tasigurs, along with discard and removal, I am not too concerned about most two drops (Pyromancer being an exception maybe).
I made one change this last week and that is that I sideboarded one of my Thoughtsiezes (I was on 2 in the main) for a Murderous Cut in the main. I lost a match because I can't deal with Inkmoth Nexus in the main. I was initially going to drop Maelstrom Pulse but it saved my butt against Soul Sisters last week, hitting both of their Honor of the Pures.
Also I am running 3x Cryptics in this deck, as that is my main reason for running BUG over Junk.
Agreed as well will the above comment about Iok and thoughtseize. The game plan should be discard spell and take whatever you can't counter and destroy and wait for a window to drop a threat with counter back up. The damnations have also been awesome for me as we need a way to get card advantage and pull ahead after one for one'ing our opponents.
I don't mind putting in a couple stubborn denials as I did test them and once your opponent sees it once they will play around it which is exactly what we want.
As for the manlands I think the deck can handle main deck Tec edges or another singleton removal card like murderous cut or dismember would work.
I think the key to this deck to understanding what answers you have so when you have the option for discard you choose the card that you will have the most difficulty answering.
Side note Gerard mentioned siding out a land in some matches and I found that the deck can run off 23 lands without too much trouble especially in long Grindy match ups.
Side note Gerard mentioned siding out a land in some matches and I found that the deck can run off 23 lands without too much trouble especially in long Grindy match ups.
If I remeber correctly he also said he would probably cut one land and add a Quicken. The deck does run lots of sorceries, and at worst it would be another cantrip...did anyone test it yet?
Side note Gerard mentioned siding out a land in some matches and I found that the deck can run off 23 lands without too much trouble especially in long Grindy match ups.
If I remeber correctly he also said he would probably cut one land and add a Quicken. The deck does run lots of sorceries, and at worst it would be another cantrip...did anyone test it yet?
I am not sold on it but I think it is worth testing. I figure the main thing you will want to Quicken is Damnation, and if that is the case just run Consume the Meek. I used 23 lands for a while but have gone up to 24. I usually need that key 5th land drop on curve so that I can drop Tasigur/Iok/Serum with Cryptic up, and it wasn't happening on curve with 23.
Quicken is interesting with IoK or TS on their draw step, and it does make Maelstrom Pulse much better.
Notably he made adjustments to the deck that makes it less weak to manlands with the inclusion of 2 Tectonic Edge and a Dismember. The Clever Impersonator in the sideboard is interesting. I'm not sure what you would bring it in against besides Tron.
I'll be giving this newer version of the deck a try at my LGS this week.
This part is quite standard: I run Thrun over 1 Thragtusk just for have more inevitabilty in control match up and deck that are running path.
Spell (24)
4 Quicken
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Mana Leak
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Damnation
2 Black Sun's Zenit
2 Cryptic Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
This come out after alot of testing: 2 Black Sun can sweep the board on turn 3, cut regeneration they are save from yard hate, they stop persisting creature (just watch yourself from melira, but we have 3 decay for her).
Quicken over Serum Vision. in most of my testing vision was just a cantrip, because the board state changed and i had to act in sorsery speed. so this means fetch a land or your previous decision become really worst. Vision is performing at maximum in my opinion in combo and delver deck. We are fair and we don't run any delver. Quicken in the first turn can be a cantrip for your land drop in middle-advanced speed up a lot your sorcery speed spells.
enclose your deck in [?deck] and [?/deck] tags (ignore the leading question marks). This hyperlinks all the cards for the sanity of everyone reading your post.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Is it viable to run liliana of the veil as a 2 or 3 of in this deck in place of Ashiok? Can someone please tell me why Ashiok is preferred?
Well...At some point it tosses a creature into play for free and your opponent has to deal with the creature AND the Ashiok, effectively gaining you a card or 2 and some life.
That's mainly against creature decks though.
Both Gerrard and Ari Lax stated they didn't really like Ashiok any more.
Liliana probably not as good in this deck though, because this deck wants to have cards in hand (Snapcaster, Cryptic, Abrupt Decay, Thragtusk, Jace Piles), where other decks just want to slam rhinos and kill whatevers on the board. Those decks dont need to hold up removal becuase your opponent has no cards left in hand at that point when theyre playing 6-7 discard + 4 lilis and opponent HAS to kill their early Goyf.
Posting my list for critique and assistance. Please offer either if you feel you have anything constructive to offer.
After trying out and tweaking Fabiano's list, I've found that it doesn't fit my playstyle and will be going to something I have had more success with in the past. Here it is -
The deck plays out in a similar manner to UR Delver when Treasure Cruise was available - but instead of chaining cantrips, threats, and answers to power out a Treasure Cruise, this deck aims to attack the opponent's hand and board presence, then resolve a fatty and protect it with counters to mop up the game.
Maindeck Stubborn Denials give the deck some great Game 1 action against traditionally tough matchups like Burn and Tron - unlike traditional BGx shells which struggle in this pairing. It also protects your big Delve dudes (Tasigur and Tombstalker) from Path/Terminate/Go for the Throat/Dismember.
I'm not sold on Tombstalker as a threat, but I do love that he flies over a lot of bad guys. Unlike Grixis Delve(r), I'm not aiming to rush out a 5 power guy on turn 2, but rather grind out advantage then drop a bomb.
A couple things I would like some help with -
I want to run another Compulsive Research. Every time I resolve it, it has been fantastic - especially since I aim to make 1 for 1 trades for the first 3-4 turns of the game - the ability to pull ahead in cards after exhausting all my opponent's resources should help this deck achieve a little more late game 'reach.' Towards the end of the game, it allows me to trade a land (or two irrelevant discard spells) and a card for 3 fresh cards. What should I cut for it?
Is 12 threats too little? What if I cut the third Tasigur for the 2nd Compulsive Research? I am thinking I can scrape by with 11 since I have ways to protect the big dudes.
Is there a way to fit some number of Squelch in here? Is Squelch even worth playing? Among other things, being able to capitalize on fetchland/Tectonic Edge/planeswalker/Expedition Map activations on top of replacing itself seems nice, and it yields another card in the bin to delve with.
Thanks for your help and I'm looking forward to reading some of your insights!
Posting my list for critique and assistance. Please offer either if you feel you have anything constructive to offer.
After trying out and tweaking Fabiano's list, I've found that it doesn't fit my playstyle and will be going to something I have had more success with in the past. Here it is -
The deck plays out in a similar manner to UR Delver when Treasure Cruise was available - but instead of chaining cantrips, threats, and answers to power out a Treasure Cruise, this deck aims to attack the opponent's hand and board presence, then resolve a fatty and protect it with counters to mop up the game.
Maindeck Stubborn Denials give the deck some great Game 1 action against traditionally tough matchups like Burn and Tron - unlike traditional BGx shells which struggle in this pairing. It also protects your big Delve dudes (Tasigur and Tombstalker) from Path/Terminate/Go for the Throat/Dismember.
I'm not sold on Tombstalker as a threat, but I do love that he flies over a lot of bad guys. Unlike Grixis Delve(r), I'm not aiming to rush out a 5 power guy on turn 2, but rather grind out advantage then drop a bomb.
A couple things I would like some help with -
I want to run another Compulsive Research. Every time I resolve it, it has been fantastic - especially since I aim to make 1 for 1 trades for the first 3-4 turns of the game - the ability to pull ahead in cards after exhausting all my opponent's resources should help this deck achieve a little more late game 'reach.' Towards the end of the game, it allows me to trade a land (or two irrelevant discard spells) and a card for 3 fresh cards. What should I cut for it?
Is 12 threats too little? What if I cut the third Tasigur for the 2nd Compulsive Research? I am thinking I can scrape by with 11 since I have ways to protect the big dudes.
Is there a way to fit some number of Squelch in here? Is Squelch even worth playing? Among other things, being able to capitalize on fetchland/Tectonic Edge/planeswalker/Expedition Map activations on top of replacing itself seems nice, and it yields another card in the bin to delve with.
Thanks for your help and I'm looking forward to reading some of your insights!
I run a similar build and utilize Hooting Mandrills as trample is great to have and they're another Stubborn Denial enabler. Little easier to cast than Tombstalker as well. I haven't played with Tombstalker, so dont have any feedback on using it over mandrils specifically though.
Anticipate it incredible and better than Telling Time in most situations.
If you play TT, and there are two cards that are good, then it is better. BUT, if that is the case you are likely already ahead on board.
Example: It is mid game (turn 6 or 7), you EOT Telling Time. You have a Goyf and an Ashiok in play, and your opponent has been grinded with our counters and hand disruption (which is pretty much certain to happen in any game except for Burn and Affinity). You find a Cryptic Command (YAY!), a Goyf, and a Land. You don't need the land so you take the CC and draw the Goyf. This is basically 'win-more'. It's nice, but it isn't going to save your butt like Anticipate can. If you are ahead on board and you use Anticipate, then you shouldn't care about bottom-ing a good card, because you are picking the 'best' one and you are ahead in the game.
Now for Anticipate: Yet again mid game, but this time you have been flooding. Maybe you have a Jace or an Ashiok in play but no creatures besides a Tar Pit. Turn 6 you draw an Anticipate. EOT you Anticipate and find 3 lands. With Telling Time you have to take a land and then draw another freaking land. That would likely be game. Anticipate gives you a chance to clear all the BS and draw gas.
It is also great for bottom-ing Thoughtseize or IoK when you are in top deck mode.
So far in my testing I love this card. I am running 2 in the main and could move to 3.
I am currently running 3 Cryptics in the main, along with 4 IoK and 2 Thoughtseize, with no Jace, and it is running pretty smooth.
EDIT: Even though I just spent the above post pronouncing the virtues of Anticipate, I might have to go to 1 to get Jace. They both offer card selection and Anticipate is one of my flex spots. I think there is going to be a good amount of Lingering Souls at States, and Jace shuts those down pretty well.
I actually played a black Suns zenith for a while as I was missing the extra damnation and it was a pretty good proxy. It was a little bit of a nombo with tasigur Snapcaster and goyf but it being scalable helped a lot against lingering souls while keeping your guys alive.
I decided to include a pack rat in the main. After testing it out, as a 1 of, it shows serious power against fair decks. Turning the late game into an inevitable win for us as every card drawn is a pack rat (making the late game flooding unlikely).
As well with my local meta I up'd the quantity of compulsive research to 2 and dropped the amount of thragtusk to 1 (as there's a lot of jund, fair decks and tron) and I find that having access to more cards earlier is just better than a late game finisher.
As well I added an extra vendilion clique to the main, for hand disruption against scapeshift and twin
I've decided to include an obstinate baloth in the sideboard because it has such a good interaction against jund and abzan (which is a thing in my local meta).
Given my local meta has a lot of g/b/x decks, along with more fair lists and few unfair decks (twin, amulet) I was wondering what you guys would suggest for my sideboard and main to help better my performance.
I've been playing around with the idea of putting in a gifts ungiven, just for raw card advantage and snapcaster synergy as well I've been considering delver of secrets
4x tarmogoyf
3x snapcaster mage
1x pack rat
1x vendilion clique
2x tasigur, the golden fang
1x thragtusk
Instants and sorceries:
2x mana leak
2x spell snare
2x cryptic command
3x Abrupt Decay
1x golgari charm
4x inquisition of kozilek
1x thoughtseize
1x go for the throat
2x damnation
1x maelstrom pulse
1x thragtusk
2x compulsive research
2x ashiok, nightmare weaver
1x jace, architect of thought
Lands:
3x darkslick shores
2x sunken ruins
1x island
1x swamp
1x forest
2x creeping tar pit
2x misty rainforest
3x verdant catacombs
3x polluted delta
1x overgrown tomb
2x breeding pool
1x watery grave
2x spellskite
2x feed the clan
1x sower of temption
1x thrun, the last troll
3x disfigure
2x rain of tears (although, even with the snapcaster interaction,
1x vendilion clique
1x scavenging ooze
1x obstinate baloth
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Played in a PPTQ yesterday and didn't do so hot, but wanted to share a couple of notes.
Played a single copy of Jace and was always happy to see it. His -2 ability got me out of a lot of holes.
I had cut my Spell Snares and wasn't using Damnation main. All my losses came down to either a 2cmc creature going all the way, or the opponent flooding the board (with cards or tokens) and I wasn't able to answer with my 1 for 1 removal.
I am now considering a version without discard, utilizing Stubborn Denials in their place to protect our guys or disrupt the other team. Any thoughts on this? I know Caleb Durward posted a list on CFB that was focused on this interaction.
Sales Thread
I think Discard is one of the main reasons to run Black in this build. I won't give up Iok and Thoughtseize, not with 4x Goyfs, 2x Tasigurs, and whatnot. We can apply pressure to back up our discard, which makes this deck better for targeted discard than Esper Control and the like.
Damnation wins me a lot of games. I wouldn't run less than 2 in the main. Spell Snare is good but I don't know what I would cut for it. Given that I have Goyfs and Tasigurs, along with discard and removal, I am not too concerned about most two drops (Pyromancer being an exception maybe).
I made one change this last week and that is that I sideboarded one of my Thoughtsiezes (I was on 2 in the main) for a Murderous Cut in the main. I lost a match because I can't deal with Inkmoth Nexus in the main. I was initially going to drop Maelstrom Pulse but it saved my butt against Soul Sisters last week, hitting both of their Honor of the Pures.
Also I am running 3x Cryptics in this deck, as that is my main reason for running BUG over Junk.
I don't mind putting in a couple stubborn denials as I did test them and once your opponent sees it once they will play around it which is exactly what we want.
As for the manlands I think the deck can handle main deck Tec edges or another singleton removal card like murderous cut or dismember would work.
I think the key to this deck to understanding what answers you have so when you have the option for discard you choose the card that you will have the most difficulty answering.
Side note Gerard mentioned siding out a land in some matches and I found that the deck can run off 23 lands without too much trouble especially in long Grindy match ups.
If I remeber correctly he also said he would probably cut one land and add a Quicken. The deck does run lots of sorceries, and at worst it would be another cantrip...did anyone test it yet?
My Modern Decks:
BGWAbzan MidrangeWGB
UWRJeskai NahiriRWU
BRUGrixis ControlURB
I am not sold on it but I think it is worth testing. I figure the main thing you will want to Quicken is Damnation, and if that is the case just run Consume the Meek. I used 23 lands for a while but have gone up to 24. I usually need that key 5th land drop on curve so that I can drop Tasigur/Iok/Serum with Cryptic up, and it wasn't happening on curve with 23.
Quicken is interesting with IoK or TS on their draw step, and it does make Maelstrom Pulse much better.
Notably he made adjustments to the deck that makes it less weak to manlands with the inclusion of 2 Tectonic Edge and a Dismember. The Clever Impersonator in the sideboard is interesting. I'm not sure what you would bring it in against besides Tron.
I'll be giving this newer version of the deck a try at my LGS this week.
Edit: I hadn't noticed until later that Gerard Fabiano wrote an article explaining his choices for the second version of his deck: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30670_Jund-Sultai-and-UR-Merfolk.html. As I had suspected, the Clever Impersonator was indeed for Tron.
WURUWr Stoneblade
Modern
WRGNaya Zoo Company
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30502_Video-Sultai-In-Modern.html
i would like to present my list and asking you your valutation
creature (12)
4 tarmogoyf
3 snapcaster mage
2 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the last troll
This part is quite standard: I run Thrun over 1 Thragtusk just for have more inevitabilty in control match up and deck that are running path.
Spell (24)
4 Quicken
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Mana Leak
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Damnation
2 Black Sun's Zenit
2 Cryptic Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
This come out after alot of testing: 2 Black Sun can sweep the board on turn 3, cut regeneration they are save from yard hate, they stop persisting creature (just watch yourself from melira, but we have 3 decay for her).
Quicken over Serum Vision. in most of my testing vision was just a cantrip, because the board state changed and i had to act in sorsery speed. so this means fetch a land or your previous decision become really worst. Vision is performing at maximum in my opinion in combo and delver deck. We are fair and we don't run any delver. Quicken in the first turn can be a cantrip for your land drop in middle-advanced speed up a lot your sorcery speed spells.
Land (24)
3 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Ghost Quarter
I thought priority is not to take a lot of damage and to be protected from blood moons. Ghost over Tectonic because in some match up i just wanna kill one land when i want.
Side
3 Rain of Tears (I prefered over fulminator mage because are re castable with snapcaster)
3 Disfigure
1 Dismember
2 Feed the Clan
2 Thoughtseize
1 Memoricide
2 Golgari Charm
1 Creeping Corrosion
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Well...At some point it tosses a creature into play for free and your opponent has to deal with the creature AND the Ashiok, effectively gaining you a card or 2 and some life.
That's mainly against creature decks though.
Both Gerrard and Ari Lax stated they didn't really like Ashiok any more.
Liliana probably not as good in this deck though, because this deck wants to have cards in hand (Snapcaster, Cryptic, Abrupt Decay, Thragtusk, Jace Piles), where other decks just want to slam rhinos and kill whatevers on the board. Those decks dont need to hold up removal becuase your opponent has no cards left in hand at that point when theyre playing 6-7 discard + 4 lilis and opponent HAS to kill their early Goyf.
Posting my list for critique and assistance. Please offer either if you feel you have anything constructive to offer.
After trying out and tweaking Fabiano's list, I've found that it doesn't fit my playstyle and will be going to something I have had more success with in the past. Here it is -
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Breeding Pool
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Creature
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Tombstalker
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Compulsive Research
4 Serum Vision
Instant
3 Deprive
3 Spell Snare
3 Stubborn Denial
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
2 Feed the Clan
2 Spellskite
2 Nature's Claim
3 Disfigure
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Golgari Charm
1 Duress
1 Negate
1 Extirpate
The deck plays out in a similar manner to UR Delver when Treasure Cruise was available - but instead of chaining cantrips, threats, and answers to power out a Treasure Cruise, this deck aims to attack the opponent's hand and board presence, then resolve a fatty and protect it with counters to mop up the game.
Maindeck Stubborn Denials give the deck some great Game 1 action against traditionally tough matchups like Burn and Tron - unlike traditional BGx shells which struggle in this pairing. It also protects your big Delve dudes (Tasigur and Tombstalker) from Path/Terminate/Go for the Throat/Dismember.
I'm not sold on Tombstalker as a threat, but I do love that he flies over a lot of bad guys. Unlike Grixis Delve(r), I'm not aiming to rush out a 5 power guy on turn 2, but rather grind out advantage then drop a bomb.
A couple things I would like some help with -
I want to run another Compulsive Research. Every time I resolve it, it has been fantastic - especially since I aim to make 1 for 1 trades for the first 3-4 turns of the game - the ability to pull ahead in cards after exhausting all my opponent's resources should help this deck achieve a little more late game 'reach.' Towards the end of the game, it allows me to trade a land (or two irrelevant discard spells) and a card for 3 fresh cards. What should I cut for it?
Is 12 threats too little? What if I cut the third Tasigur for the 2nd Compulsive Research? I am thinking I can scrape by with 11 since I have ways to protect the big dudes.
Is there a way to fit some number of Squelch in here? Is Squelch even worth playing? Among other things, being able to capitalize on fetchland/Tectonic Edge/planeswalker/Expedition Map activations on top of replacing itself seems nice, and it yields another card in the bin to delve with.
Thanks for your help and I'm looking forward to reading some of your insights!
Sales Thread
I run a similar build and utilize Hooting Mandrills as trample is great to have and they're another Stubborn Denial enabler. Little easier to cast than Tombstalker as well. I haven't played with Tombstalker, so dont have any feedback on using it over mandrils specifically though.
Grave Titan is kinda expensive manawise, but it is very good in that matchup indeed.
Batterskull is the most common threat you'll see people using for grindy and control matchups.