Thanks CurdBros, it was a great tournament. I have top-8ed once or twice before but this was the best finish I have ever had.
Chart a Course looks interesting, but I have not tested it yet. I think it is OK on the play, but probably not what you want on the draw. It makes me sad that it doesn't play well with Prowess.
Hi everyone. I asked my viewers which deck they'd like to see next (http://www.strawpoll.me/14242602), and I am hoping to get some feedback from this thread on which Jeskai Delver build to focus on. The main benefit I see to running a delver list over the popular Tempo lists, is tjat you have an earlier clock, and in theory the matchups like RG Valakut should be better.
What do you think?
youtube.com/c/GreatNate
**I saw another Delver thread and posted this there as well.
Nate,
I think this deck is a great choice right now. Opt is strong. I did pretty well at a PPTQ recently, going 5-0-2 in swiss (only one ID) to take the top seed with the deck. Think there were 68 people at the tournament. If you look at my post history you can see my tournament report and some of the justification for the cards I am running. Here is my decklist, would love to hear what you think of it.
I thought Opt was spectacular. It plays really well with the delver trigger. For example, you can keep a one lander, T1 delver, T2 reveal Cryptic to flip delver and opt it away in your upkeep to help you hit your land drops. It feels great to opt end of turn and it is easy to cast it and still keep shields up.
uh how do you cast opt with only 1 land (and tapped to cast delver) during the upkeep of turn 2?
Opt costs U, it's an instant so you can cast it during your Upkeep, and the Untap step comes before the Upkeep step.
Yes exactly.
Go to your turn
Untap
Upkeep
Delver of Secrets trigger goes on the stack
Resolve the trigger
You have priority after the trigger resolves because you are active player
Cast Opt, scry to the bottom, and draw.
Go to your draw step and draw for the turn.
This is very similar to the "delver scry" sequence in which you crack a fetchland to shuffle away whatever you see with the delver trigger if you do not want it. Also if you have two delvers out and miss the first flip, crack a fetch in between the triggers to try again for the second. This is one of the few modern decks where it is not always correct to fetch end of turn.
Hey guys! Yesterday I came in 3rd/4th at a 67 person PPTQ at Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge, MA with Jeskai Delver. I went 5-0-2 in Swiss, taking an intentional draw in the last round to secure the #1 seed. My game record was 14-7-1 including the top 8 rounds.
I chose this deck because I wanted to play with Opt and I thought this would be the best shell for it. I am happy with how the card performed - it is nice to be able to hold up counter magic and then cast opt in the end step.
Disrupting shoal was great. I played it with the intention of being able to protect a T1 delver against push, path, and bolt. That situation never ended up happening but it was still an all-star and won me the game multiple times. It is nice to be able to tap out and still have some interaction available, plus it is still active in the face of blood moon. I cast it with mana about 50% of the time. You really have to be judicious about using this card because if you make a mistake you are probably going to lose.
I played Stormchaser Mage mainly because I was playing disrupting shoal and wanted to keep the blue card count as high as possible. Without Gitaxian Probe, I was not terribly interested in playing Young Pyromancer in this slot. I considered Monastery Swiftspear, but Stormchaser matches up better against bolt (especially since I'm playing Opt) and is better on defense.
Match Results:
It was all a bit of a blur, so apologies if these are light on details.
R1 vs RG Valakut
Win 2-1
G1 I play a T3 Geist and am tapped out. He is having trouble fixing for his second green, so he pacts for Sakura Tribe-Elder. I shoal the elder and he loses to the trigger! Got 'em!
G2 Through the breach - Prime Time smashes my face.
G3 A well-timed Molten Rain takes away his double green and he dies to delver & burn with a whole bunch of fatties in hand.
I think this is a tough matchup. You need early pressure - the longer the game goes the worse it is for you. If you get into topdeck mode you are almost certainly going to lose.
R2 vs Affinity
Win 2-1
G1 I flip delver revealing electrolyze and shoot down both his signal pest, firmly swinging the game in my direction. Counters/removal for all his follow up plays and I ride the insect to victory.
G2 He vomits his hand onto the battlefield. I play T1 delver T2 stony silence, but he manages to get 3 arcbound ravager counters on a blinkmoth nexus which eventually kills me.
G3 Early pressure with Delver and Stormchaser. He lands a ghirapur aether grid which I should have killed, but didn't. I have enough burn to cross the finish line.
The affinity matchup feels favorable, especially post-board.
R3 vs UR Storm
Win 2-1
G1 I keep a fast hand and play aggressively with flipped delver, stormchaser, and burn spells
G2 I stupidly tapped out for Geist on the draw and just died
G3 I play the control game and eventually cast Geist with counterspells to support it
You have to play tight vs storm, but I think it is a favorable matchup. Sided out 4x path and 1x electrolyze, sided in dispel, negate, counterflux, clique, and relic against all storm matchups today.
R4 vs. Grixis Death's Shadow
Unintentional Draw 1-1-1
G1 Very grindy, he wins
G2 Play a T1 relic. Very grindy, but I win
G3 The first two games took a long time, we are almost out of time in the round. My opponent mulligans to 4 and takes a long time shuffling after each mulligan. We basically start the game in turns and there isn't enough time for me to win, but I almost certainly would have.
This matchup feels very close. Path to exile is the best card in your deck here. They will do lots of damage to themselves in order to get DS online, but that leaves them open to dying to burn. Side out Geist on the draw.
R5 vs Jeskai Midrange
Win 2-1
G1 I play a T1 delver on the play. He main phase paths it. I play a T2 Geist and he realizes the mistake he has made.
G2 He spell quellers a key spell and I die to that + colonnade
G3 Relic of progenitus works wonders vs. logic knot. Eventually he taps low and in his end step I crack relic to draw a clique I previously scryed to the top. Clique him to see the coast is clear, and then untap and a clique attack + burn ends the match.
Again a very close matchup. My opponent made some mistakes and I was able to capitalize.
R6 vs UR Storm
Win 2-0
G1 I out tempo him and have answers to all his action.
G2 he gets mana screwed so I remand everything he tries to do and win quickly
We were at the top table, but I couldn't draw because X-0-3 is the same as X-2, which is not guaranteed to top 8.
R7 - Intentional Draw
Think my opponent was on the abzan toolbox combo deck, which I presume is a favorable matchup. We draw into the top 8, and I secure the #1 seed. Woo hoo!
Top 8
T8 vs Skred Red
Win 2-0
G1 I am on the play due to my seed, and play a geist on curve. He has no answer for it and quickly dies.
G2 I immediately fetch an island to play around blood moon and play delver. T2 I play delver #2 and serum visions, he plays anger of the gods. I play Geist, he plays blood moon. He takes one hit from Geist, then tries to play ensnaring bridge. Disrupting shoal (pitch Geist #2) to the rescue! I get a second Geist hit in, but he plays an anger. I have enough permission to counter everything he plays that matters, and it is only a matter of time until I draw a plains to turn on bolt-bolt-helix for the win.
T4 vs UR Storm (Same opponent as in round 6)
Loss 1 to 2
G1 is very, very close. I get him down to 4 and I'm at 14. I counter his baral, and he responds with a mini-grapeshot to kill flipped delver. I have a few draw steps to draw some action, but don't get there. Eventually he gets to grapeshot for 7 followed by grapeshot #2 for 8 and I lose with a couple lands in hand. That's how magic goes sometimes.
G2 I put some early pressure on and choose the right time to disrupt his combo with counter magic.
G3 I play a delver but it doesnt flip. He combos early and makes 10 goblins off empty the warrens. I snapcaster serum visions looking for an answer, but don't have any outs in my deck to that many goblins. GG WP!
Overall, I was very pleased with the deck. It is fun and interactive. Permission gives you a chance in lots of matchups. If I had to make any changes, I would gear my sideboard more towards storm but hindsight is 20/20. I think I was lucky to dodge Eldrazi. Hope this helps!
I played at good ol' monday modern last night with this deck.
R1 Beat Ad Nauseam
R2 Beat RG Titanshift
R3 Beat RG Ponza
R4 Paired down and lost to RG Titanshift
I thought Opt was spectacular. It plays really well with the delver trigger. For example, you can keep a one lander, T1 delver, T2 reveal Cryptic to flip delver and opt it away in your upkeep to help you hit your land drops. It feels great to opt end of turn and it is easy to cast it and still keep shields up.
Disrupting shoal is my secret sauce to help protect a T1 delver against bolt, path, and push. So far I like it, but you have to be more judicious about when to use it and what to pitch than you do with force of will. Don't 2-for-1 yourself if you are not ahead on board. In the late game, shoal can be hard cast.
I chose Stormchaser over young pyro for a few reasons. First, I think pyro gets a lot worse without probe. Second, stormchaser will very rarely die to bolt in this deck. Third, it pitches to shoal. It is also much better on defense and matches up well vs. lingering souls or similar. I am not entirely convinced it is worthwhile, but after playing with it yesterday I feel better about it.
I do not like any number of spell pierce, mana leak, etc. in this deck. I plan to move the cryptic to the SB (maybe maindeck elspeth or another cheaper hard counter (counterflux?)) and add more hate for titanshift. Considering crumble to dust or spreading seas.
Overall I felt like I had some good matchups by chance, but was not terribly pleased with the deck choice. Grixis shadow is tough; it is well known that Living End has a bad matchup against blue. Getting remanded blows hard.
3x Living End
4x Violent Outburst
3x Demonic dread
1x Kari Zev's expertise
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Street wraith
4x Desert Cerodon
4x Horror of the Broken Lands
2x Archfiend of Ifnir
Looking through the spoilers I couldn't help but think of anakin skywalker running around on his pod racer on tatooine lol. Hope the set turns out better than episode one and I also hope vehicles don't suck as much as I think they do.
I have returned with a deck list... Planning to give this a shot this weekend if I get the chance. Any thoughts?
If I had the cards, I would run a playset of either tar pits or Celestial Colonnade. If I had lilianas, I would play those and cut counter magic for discard.
I have been asking this exact same question. Keep in mind Abzan midrange builds will run him as well. I was playing mardu with bobs and young pyromancer for a while - it was a strong deck, but I would get blown out by cards that can trade with multiple x/1s more often than I would like.
I think there are lots of potential homes for this card that just haven't been fully explored yet. Personally, I think esper is a great example. Play Bob on T2 and if your opponent doesn't deal with it, they will quickly find that you have all the right answers. Maybe I will come back later today and post a decklist. I have also wondered why more people don't play Bob + counterbalance + sensei's divining top in legacy... seems like straight value.
The ultimate answer is that Jund is a well tested deck that has been around for a long time. People consider other decks and ask "why not just play Jund?" Spike plays to win, we need some Johnny/Spike types to brew decks and also put in the testing and tweaking to find the truly competitive lists.
Just piloted UR delver to an astounding 1-4-1 finish at my last PPTQ, so I'm looking to switch it up. Here is what I am considering:
1) Temur Midrange - something along these lines, with some tweaks to the creature package and no ancestral visions. Probably would play hooting mandrills + thought scour.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=12894&d=274986&f=MO
2) Esper Midrange - Maybe something with Geist of Saint Traft or Monastery Mentor. It would be a bit of a brew but I'm envisioning something along the lines of a UWr Geist shell but cut red for black for lingering souls, zealous persecution, and hand disruption.
I would also consider UWr geist, but I don't have colonnades or restoration angels. Also one of my buddies plays jeskai decks all the time and I can only tolerate the mirror match so many times.
Hi there, I have a question about shortcutting the knightfall combo with Courser of Kruphix.
Say I have a Courser of Kruphix and a Knight of the Reliquary that is not summoning sick on the battlefield. I cast Retreat to Coralhelm and it resolves. Assuming my opponent has no responses, I activate knight, sac a forest or plains, search for a land, and put it onto the battlefield. Then Courser triggers (gain a life) and Retreat triggers (untap the knight).
At this point I now have a fresh card on top of my library and normally would have to shuffle, present my deck, and then reveal to courser. However, obviously I'm just going to repeat this process and I don't want to waste precious time on the clock. Would it be a valid shortcut to suggest that I skip the shuffle effects and each time courser would reveal a new card, ask my opponent to select a card at random out of my library to reveal instead?
Sometimes I like to pull all the lands to the bottom of my deck so I can loop through the combo faster. Would it be an issue if I do this with the proposed shortcut? I would know the location of some card in my library, but my opponent would not.
I think if I ever get into this board state at a Competitive REL event I am going to call a judge when I propose the shortcut just to be safe, but I want to make sure what I propose is kosher.
Hey all, quick tournament report for you. I ended up starting out 3-0, double drawing in the top 8, and losing in the first round of the top 8. There were 32 people in the event.
I ordered a yawg will and demonic tutor last weekend, but unfortunately they didn't arrive in time for the tourney which made proxies a problem. So I had to cut 1x Flusterstorm for 1x Pyroblast and ended up playing 3x Young Pyromancer in the sideboard. I was afraid I would play *****ty and fizzle a lot and want to sideboard into a pyromancer deck, but I didn't end up needing to do that. Here's the list I played. I also would have played a 4th Force over duress if I had a proxy available for it (I'm waiting for sweet eternal masters forces to come out).
Game 1 - I win the die roll. He gets a bunch of nonsense out as shops tends to do, but I have a bunch of moxen in play. He forgets to activate Mishra's Factory, and misses a lethal attack. I'm able to resolve a Hurkyl's Recall, untap, and go off.
Game 2 - He resolves a turn 1 chalice, then plays a bunch of tax effects and locks me out of the game pretty solidly. I scoop to a lodestone golem.
Game 3 - He opens with 2x leyline of sanctity in play. I play out a fastbond and gush 3x during the game, once to save a land from strip mine. I resolve a trygon predator and pass. He trys to play lodestone golem, which I am happy to mana drain, then I kill one leyline with trygon, bounce the second one with Merchant's Scroll into Repeal using mana drain mana, and tendrils ftw.
Match 2 vs. Humans
Game 1 - I forget who wins the roll. Opponent is playing dark confidant, thalia, and mantis rider among other various humans. I think there is some sort of favorable interaction with mayor of avasbruck that the deck is built around. I try to go off, dont get there, but keep a mystical tutor up to grab yawg will. He took enough damage off mana confluence/city of brass/bob that I get there off the yawg will next turn.
Game 2 - I two-for-one him with toxic deluge and combo off without incident. Storm is definitely a bad matchup for him.
Match 3 vs. Oath of Druids
Dont remember all the details, but it was a very tight 3-game match with some very critical decisions for both of us. Tendrils of agony prevails.
Match 4 & 5 - Intentional draws.
Top 8 Match 1 vs. Shops
Game 1 - I'm seeded 5 and he is 4, so he gets to play. He goes turn 1 workshop trinisphere. I play an underground sea and pass. He plays workshop lodestone golem. I draw a Library of Alexandria, but decide he's just too far ahead and scoop so that he doesn't know how to sideboard. In hindsight, this was maybe a mistake, since he did know I was on storm.
Game 2 - Being on the play is awesome. I go tropical island > black lotus, crack for blue > trygon predator > preordain. The dirtiest dirt. He dies to predator beats and his own mana crypt.
Game 3 - Suuuuper close. One mistake I made, which was to tutor for hurkyl's recall instead of ancestral recall. I had one draw step to peel a mana source to be able to get the recall off, but bricked. He casts a tangle wire and taps enough stuff that it's game over.
Overall I had a lot of fun and I was very happy with my deck choice. Thanks for the advice! Trygon predator did work
I've changed the list up a fair bit. I think I am going to cut the pyromancers and lotus cobras entirely... I just felt I had a real hard time getting to 10 storm when I goldfish if I don't have dark ritual. Will post a new decklist with a sideboard when I get home. I think it will be closer to this:
Chart a Course looks interesting, but I have not tested it yet. I think it is OK on the play, but probably not what you want on the draw. It makes me sad that it doesn't play well with Prowess.
Nate,
I think this deck is a great choice right now. Opt is strong. I did pretty well at a PPTQ recently, going 5-0-2 in swiss (only one ID) to take the top seed with the deck. Think there were 68 people at the tournament. If you look at my post history you can see my tournament report and some of the justification for the cards I am running. Here is my decklist, would love to hear what you think of it.
4x Delver of Secrets
1x Deprive
2x Disrupting Shoal
1x Electrolyze
4x Flooded Strand
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
1x Mountain
4x Opt
4x Path to Exile
1x Plains
3x Remand
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Serum Visions
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Snare
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
2x Stormchaser Mage
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Counterflux
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Molten Rain
1x Negate
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Stony Silence
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Wear
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Yes exactly.
Go to your turn
Untap
Upkeep
Delver of Secrets trigger goes on the stack
Resolve the trigger
You have priority after the trigger resolves because you are active player
Cast Opt, scry to the bottom, and draw.
Go to your draw step and draw for the turn.
This is very similar to the "delver scry" sequence in which you crack a fetchland to shuffle away whatever you see with the delver trigger if you do not want it. Also if you have two delvers out and miss the first flip, crack a fetch in between the triggers to try again for the second. This is one of the few modern decks where it is not always correct to fetch end of turn.
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Stormchaser Mage
Sorcery
4x Serum Visions
Instant
4x Opt
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Disrupting Shoal
1x Deprive
1x Spell Snare
1x Electrolyze
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Arid Mesa
2x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
2x Wear//Tear
2x Stony Silence
2x Molten Rain
1x Dispel
1x Negate
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Counterflux
1x Vendilion Clique
I chose this deck because I wanted to play with Opt and I thought this would be the best shell for it. I am happy with how the card performed - it is nice to be able to hold up counter magic and then cast opt in the end step.
Disrupting shoal was great. I played it with the intention of being able to protect a T1 delver against push, path, and bolt. That situation never ended up happening but it was still an all-star and won me the game multiple times. It is nice to be able to tap out and still have some interaction available, plus it is still active in the face of blood moon. I cast it with mana about 50% of the time. You really have to be judicious about using this card because if you make a mistake you are probably going to lose.
I played Stormchaser Mage mainly because I was playing disrupting shoal and wanted to keep the blue card count as high as possible. Without Gitaxian Probe, I was not terribly interested in playing Young Pyromancer in this slot. I considered Monastery Swiftspear, but Stormchaser matches up better against bolt (especially since I'm playing Opt) and is better on defense.
Match Results:
It was all a bit of a blur, so apologies if these are light on details.
R1 vs RG Valakut
Win 2-1
G1 I play a T3 Geist and am tapped out. He is having trouble fixing for his second green, so he pacts for Sakura Tribe-Elder. I shoal the elder and he loses to the trigger! Got 'em!
G2 Through the breach - Prime Time smashes my face.
G3 A well-timed Molten Rain takes away his double green and he dies to delver & burn with a whole bunch of fatties in hand.
I think this is a tough matchup. You need early pressure - the longer the game goes the worse it is for you. If you get into topdeck mode you are almost certainly going to lose.
R2 vs Affinity
Win 2-1
G1 I flip delver revealing electrolyze and shoot down both his signal pest, firmly swinging the game in my direction. Counters/removal for all his follow up plays and I ride the insect to victory.
G2 He vomits his hand onto the battlefield. I play T1 delver T2 stony silence, but he manages to get 3 arcbound ravager counters on a blinkmoth nexus which eventually kills me.
G3 Early pressure with Delver and Stormchaser. He lands a ghirapur aether grid which I should have killed, but didn't. I have enough burn to cross the finish line.
The affinity matchup feels favorable, especially post-board.
R3 vs UR Storm
Win 2-1
G1 I keep a fast hand and play aggressively with flipped delver, stormchaser, and burn spells
G2 I stupidly tapped out for Geist on the draw and just died
G3 I play the control game and eventually cast Geist with counterspells to support it
You have to play tight vs storm, but I think it is a favorable matchup. Sided out 4x path and 1x electrolyze, sided in dispel, negate, counterflux, clique, and relic against all storm matchups today.
R4 vs. Grixis Death's Shadow
Unintentional Draw 1-1-1
G1 Very grindy, he wins
G2 Play a T1 relic. Very grindy, but I win
G3 The first two games took a long time, we are almost out of time in the round. My opponent mulligans to 4 and takes a long time shuffling after each mulligan. We basically start the game in turns and there isn't enough time for me to win, but I almost certainly would have.
This matchup feels very close. Path to exile is the best card in your deck here. They will do lots of damage to themselves in order to get DS online, but that leaves them open to dying to burn. Side out Geist on the draw.
R5 vs Jeskai Midrange
Win 2-1
G1 I play a T1 delver on the play. He main phase paths it. I play a T2 Geist and he realizes the mistake he has made.
G2 He spell quellers a key spell and I die to that + colonnade
G3 Relic of progenitus works wonders vs. logic knot. Eventually he taps low and in his end step I crack relic to draw a clique I previously scryed to the top. Clique him to see the coast is clear, and then untap and a clique attack + burn ends the match.
Again a very close matchup. My opponent made some mistakes and I was able to capitalize.
R6 vs UR Storm
Win 2-0
G1 I out tempo him and have answers to all his action.
G2 he gets mana screwed so I remand everything he tries to do and win quickly
We were at the top table, but I couldn't draw because X-0-3 is the same as X-2, which is not guaranteed to top 8.
R7 - Intentional Draw
Think my opponent was on the abzan toolbox combo deck, which I presume is a favorable matchup. We draw into the top 8, and I secure the #1 seed. Woo hoo!
Top 8
T8 vs Skred Red
Win 2-0
G1 I am on the play due to my seed, and play a geist on curve. He has no answer for it and quickly dies.
G2 I immediately fetch an island to play around blood moon and play delver. T2 I play delver #2 and serum visions, he plays anger of the gods. I play Geist, he plays blood moon. He takes one hit from Geist, then tries to play ensnaring bridge. Disrupting shoal (pitch Geist #2) to the rescue! I get a second Geist hit in, but he plays an anger. I have enough permission to counter everything he plays that matters, and it is only a matter of time until I draw a plains to turn on bolt-bolt-helix for the win.
T4 vs UR Storm (Same opponent as in round 6)
Loss 1 to 2
G1 is very, very close. I get him down to 4 and I'm at 14. I counter his baral, and he responds with a mini-grapeshot to kill flipped delver. I have a few draw steps to draw some action, but don't get there. Eventually he gets to grapeshot for 7 followed by grapeshot #2 for 8 and I lose with a couple lands in hand. That's how magic goes sometimes.
G2 I put some early pressure on and choose the right time to disrupt his combo with counter magic.
G3 I play a delver but it doesnt flip. He combos early and makes 10 goblins off empty the warrens. I snapcaster serum visions looking for an answer, but don't have any outs in my deck to that many goblins. GG WP!
Overall, I was very pleased with the deck. It is fun and interactive. Permission gives you a chance in lots of matchups. If I had to make any changes, I would gear my sideboard more towards storm but hindsight is 20/20. I think I was lucky to dodge Eldrazi. Hope this helps!
R1 Beat Ad Nauseam
R2 Beat RG Titanshift
R3 Beat RG Ponza
R4 Paired down and lost to RG Titanshift
I thought Opt was spectacular. It plays really well with the delver trigger. For example, you can keep a one lander, T1 delver, T2 reveal Cryptic to flip delver and opt it away in your upkeep to help you hit your land drops. It feels great to opt end of turn and it is easy to cast it and still keep shields up.
Disrupting shoal is my secret sauce to help protect a T1 delver against bolt, path, and push. So far I like it, but you have to be more judicious about when to use it and what to pitch than you do with force of will. Don't 2-for-1 yourself if you are not ahead on board. In the late game, shoal can be hard cast.
I chose Stormchaser over young pyro for a few reasons. First, I think pyro gets a lot worse without probe. Second, stormchaser will very rarely die to bolt in this deck. Third, it pitches to shoal. It is also much better on defense and matches up well vs. lingering souls or similar. I am not entirely convinced it is worthwhile, but after playing with it yesterday I feel better about it.
I do not like any number of spell pierce, mana leak, etc. in this deck. I plan to move the cryptic to the SB (maybe maindeck elspeth or another cheaper hard counter (counterflux?)) and add more hate for titanshift. Considering crumble to dust or spreading seas.
1x Cryptic Command
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Disrupting Shoal
1x Electrolyze
4x Flooded Strand
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
1x Mountain
4x Opt
4x Path to Exile
1x Plains
3x Remand
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Serum Visions
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Snare
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
2x Stormchaser Mage
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Detention Sphere
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Meddling Mage
1x Molten Rain
1x Negate
2x Stony Silence
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Wear
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
rd 1 lost to grixis shadow
rd 2 beat burn
rd 3 beat ub mill
rd 4 lost to bant eldrazi
rd 5 beat a no-show
Overall I felt like I had some good matchups by chance, but was not terribly pleased with the deck choice. Grixis shadow is tough; it is well known that Living End has a bad matchup against blue. Getting remanded blows hard.
3x Living End
4x Violent Outburst
3x Demonic dread
1x Kari Zev's expertise
4x Monstrous Carabid
4x Street wraith
4x Desert Cerodon
4x Horror of the Broken Lands
2x Archfiend of Ifnir
4x Fulminator mage
3x Beast Within
3x Simian Spirit Guide
2x Faerie macabre
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Bloodstained Mire
2x Blackcleave cliff
2x Copperline Gorge
1x blooming marsh
2x blood crypt
1x stomping ground
1x overgrown tomb
2x swamp
1x forest
1x mountain
sb:
3x Ingot Chewer
3x Ricochet trap
1x boil
1x choke
2x slaughter games
1x brindle boar
1x pulse of murasa
2x anger of the gods
1x crumble to dust
If I had the cards, I would run a playset of either tar pits or Celestial Colonnade. If I had lilianas, I would play those and cut counter magic for discard.
1x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Cryptic Command
4x Dark Confidant
1x Dismember
1x Esper Charm
4x Flooded Strand
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Godless Shrine
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Island
4x Lingering Souls
2x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
2x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
3x Remand
4x Serum Visions
1x Shambling Vent
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Swamp
2x Think Twice
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Watery Grave
2x Dispel
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Pithing Needle
2x Stony Silence
2x Supreme Verdict
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
I think there are lots of potential homes for this card that just haven't been fully explored yet. Personally, I think esper is a great example. Play Bob on T2 and if your opponent doesn't deal with it, they will quickly find that you have all the right answers. Maybe I will come back later today and post a decklist. I have also wondered why more people don't play Bob + counterbalance + sensei's divining top in legacy... seems like straight value.
The ultimate answer is that Jund is a well tested deck that has been around for a long time. People consider other decks and ask "why not just play Jund?" Spike plays to win, we need some Johnny/Spike types to brew decks and also put in the testing and tweaking to find the truly competitive lists.
I'll check out some of the old esper mentor lists, that's a good tip.
Just piloted UR delver to an astounding 1-4-1 finish at my last PPTQ, so I'm looking to switch it up. Here is what I am considering:
1) Temur Midrange - something along these lines, with some tweaks to the creature package and no ancestral visions. Probably would play hooting mandrills + thought scour.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=12894&d=274986&f=MO
2) Esper Midrange - Maybe something with Geist of Saint Traft or Monastery Mentor. It would be a bit of a brew but I'm envisioning something along the lines of a UWr Geist shell but cut red for black for lingering souls, zealous persecution, and hand disruption.
I would also consider UWr geist, but I don't have colonnades or restoration angels. Also one of my buddies plays jeskai decks all the time and I can only tolerate the mirror match so many times.
Any thoughts?
Say I have a Courser of Kruphix and a Knight of the Reliquary that is not summoning sick on the battlefield. I cast Retreat to Coralhelm and it resolves. Assuming my opponent has no responses, I activate knight, sac a forest or plains, search for a land, and put it onto the battlefield. Then Courser triggers (gain a life) and Retreat triggers (untap the knight).
At this point I now have a fresh card on top of my library and normally would have to shuffle, present my deck, and then reveal to courser. However, obviously I'm just going to repeat this process and I don't want to waste precious time on the clock. Would it be a valid shortcut to suggest that I skip the shuffle effects and each time courser would reveal a new card, ask my opponent to select a card at random out of my library to reveal instead?
Sometimes I like to pull all the lands to the bottom of my deck so I can loop through the combo faster. Would it be an issue if I do this with the proposed shortcut? I would know the location of some card in my library, but my opponent would not.
I think if I ever get into this board state at a Competitive REL event I am going to call a judge when I propose the shortcut just to be safe, but I want to make sure what I propose is kosher.
I ordered a yawg will and demonic tutor last weekend, but unfortunately they didn't arrive in time for the tourney which made proxies a problem. So I had to cut 1x Flusterstorm for 1x Pyroblast and ended up playing 3x Young Pyromancer in the sideboard. I was afraid I would play *****ty and fizzle a lot and want to sideboard into a pyromancer deck, but I didn't end up needing to do that. Here's the list I played. I also would have played a 4th Force over duress if I had a proxy available for it (I'm waiting for sweet eternal masters forces to come out).
1x Black Lotus
1x Brainstorm
2x Dark Ritual
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Dig Through Time
1x Duress
1x Fastbond
4x Flooded Strand
1x Flusterstorm
3x Force of Will
4x Gush
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Island
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Drain
3x Mental Misstep
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Necropotence
1x Polluted Delta
1x Ponder
4x Preordain
1x Pyroblast
1x Regrowth
1x Repeal
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Time Walk
2x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Volcanic Island
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Ingot Chewer
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Pithing Needle
2x Ravenous Trap
1x Toxic Deluge
2x Trygon Predator
3x Young Pyromancer
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Round 1 vs. Workshops
Game 1 - I win the die roll. He gets a bunch of nonsense out as shops tends to do, but I have a bunch of moxen in play. He forgets to activate Mishra's Factory, and misses a lethal attack. I'm able to resolve a Hurkyl's Recall, untap, and go off.
Game 2 - He resolves a turn 1 chalice, then plays a bunch of tax effects and locks me out of the game pretty solidly. I scoop to a lodestone golem.
Game 3 - He opens with 2x leyline of sanctity in play. I play out a fastbond and gush 3x during the game, once to save a land from strip mine. I resolve a trygon predator and pass. He trys to play lodestone golem, which I am happy to mana drain, then I kill one leyline with trygon, bounce the second one with Merchant's Scroll into Repeal using mana drain mana, and tendrils ftw.
Match 2 vs. Humans
Game 1 - I forget who wins the roll. Opponent is playing dark confidant, thalia, and mantis rider among other various humans. I think there is some sort of favorable interaction with mayor of avasbruck that the deck is built around. I try to go off, dont get there, but keep a mystical tutor up to grab yawg will. He took enough damage off mana confluence/city of brass/bob that I get there off the yawg will next turn.
Game 2 - I two-for-one him with toxic deluge and combo off without incident. Storm is definitely a bad matchup for him.
Match 3 vs. Oath of Druids
Dont remember all the details, but it was a very tight 3-game match with some very critical decisions for both of us. Tendrils of agony prevails.
Match 4 & 5 - Intentional draws.
Top 8 Match 1 vs. Shops
Game 1 - I'm seeded 5 and he is 4, so he gets to play. He goes turn 1 workshop trinisphere. I play an underground sea and pass. He plays workshop lodestone golem. I draw a Library of Alexandria, but decide he's just too far ahead and scoop so that he doesn't know how to sideboard. In hindsight, this was maybe a mistake, since he did know I was on storm.
Game 2 - Being on the play is awesome. I go tropical island > black lotus, crack for blue > trygon predator > preordain. The dirtiest dirt. He dies to predator beats and his own mana crypt.
Game 3 - Suuuuper close. One mistake I made, which was to tutor for hurkyl's recall instead of ancestral recall. I had one draw step to peel a mana source to be able to get the recall off, but bricked. He casts a tangle wire and taps enough stuff that it's game over.
Overall I had a lot of fun and I was very happy with my deck choice. Thanks for the advice! Trygon predator did work
1x Time Walk
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
2x Dark Ritual
1x Lotus Petal
1x Sol Ring
1x Fastbond
1x Duress
2x Flusterstorm
3x Force of Will
1x Mana Drain
3x Mental Misstep
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Dig Through Time
1x Brainstorm
1x Ponder
4x Preordain
4x Gush
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Regrowth
1x Repeal
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Flooded Strand
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Polluted Delta
2x Tropical Island
2x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x Island
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Gifts Ungiven
1x Hurkyl's Recall
3x Ingot Chewer
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Pithing Needle
2x Ravenous Trap
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Tinker
1x Toxic Deluge
2x Trygon Predator
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Thinking about cutting tinker and sphinx for 2x young pyro. This would give me a proxy and I could cut 1x duress for 1x force of will.
http://www.archive.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=47797.0
My buddy who usually lends me forces and flusterstorms is out of town, so that puts some big constraints on the deck as it eats 5-6 proxies.
I was planning to put sphinx of the steel wind/tinker in the SB, but maybe young pyro is a better backup win con?