I actually added it to my list in place of forked bolt which I don't really need in my meta and I wanted an instant. It's either at worse a better Shock thats just one extra piece of burn or a desperate finisher if you have the mana for it. Once my game was really grindy and I snapped it back for the kill. Pretty nifty
Check out the "blue jund" thread that uses abbot. Typically abbot doesn't play well with counterspells but he's a good card.
i know this thread, but it seems the decks there have another strategy than delver. Abbot of keral keep is in my list because i see it as a more budget friendly snapcaster mage and i wouldn't mind replacing it, if there is another replacement for snapcaster. But have someone tested abbot of keral keep in grixis delver?
I don't want to turn this into a budget discussion but as someone who's had budget issues and looked for a snapcaster replacment for years it simply doesn't exist. Like you I only have 2.Abbots a good card but not in any version that uses counters. I hear good things about the new Jace though. I'm also testing Oona's Prowler but that's more of a delver 5-8 and the jury's still out on that. My suggestion is put in more burn, hard removal or counters. depending on your playstyle and meta. I've also been enjoying Rise//Fall you can get the max calue from the two snaps you have by snagging one on the field and/or grabbing one from the grave yard. Along with Kommand that leads to fun shenanigans.
Im playing the fast variant of the deck, hoping to dump 3 cards in the yard by turn 3 for a t3 soulflayer. Tainted strike has just been doing nothing, I prefer a simple aggro varient getting in with combat damage, seeing as with the elementals ill be chipping away at life totals in the early game. however, I don't like Prophetic Flamespeaker because he is really a do nothing card on his own. I want cards that I can play in case I don't draw soulflayer. Nighthawk is just an awesome card on its own so ill find room for that. Crypt Champion can reanimate almost anything for us.
Although the deck is aggro based, I still do like including Command and Inquisition, because they are simply catch-all type cards.
Haven't had much opportunity to play Darkblast, so i can't tell if its good. I tend to board it out often.
Faithless Looting and Lightning Axe are such efficient delve enablers that i'm seriously thinking of just throwing in a single Chromanticore (despite what i said earlier about wanted cards that can do stuff alone). EDIT: as fun as that would be, all the relevant abilities chromanticore gives Soulflayer can be found on better stuff for the deck, so scratch that idea.
Any ideas for sideboard cards?
I'm liking this version a lot and I run something similar to it. It may lack the versatility of the 3 colored versions but it's just what I'm looking for personally. The only thing I miss is having a hexproof creature Oona's Prowler is an all star for all versions of the deck.
Has anyone tried any playtesting with Nihilith yet? It seems like an interesting idea. Fact is, I've never liked Gitaxian probe and YP continues to disappoint me. I feel like I win from Tasigur/Angler most of the time. It made me try Grixis control for a hot second but it just wasn't my style and Delver still gets the job done.
Just tried him. Didn't like him. The idea of having a suspend creature is cool since you could prep for him with counters but I was never able to get the right set up for it. I never got him when I had a hand full of removal or vice versa. Or I needed to Thought Scour myself for Tas. I only got him in "win more" situations. Oh well, it was nice idea.
I'm using a similar list. Ultimately I want to phase young peezy I'm just not happy to see him anymore, I usually win through early delvers or fatties. If I get rid of yp I van get rid of most of my gitaxian probes which also never liked having a lot of. That's why I was interested in these suspend creatures but they don't seem up to par.
Has anyone tried any playtesting with Nihilith yet? It seems like an interesting idea. Fact is, I've never liked Gitaxian probe and YP continues to disappoint me. I feel like I win from Tasigur/Angler most of the time. It made me try Grixis control for a hot second but it just wasn't my style and Delver still gets the job done.
Would Monastery Swiftspear have a place in this deck again? She wouldn't be the powerhouse she was in the TC days but she's a good early game creature that can be protected/pumped.
I did some test with 3. It required retweeking my spells a bit but he gets the job done. I run a full set of boros reckoners so him exiling one of them is my nightmare scenario but pretty much everything else can be used easily.
It's pretty solid and I'm pretty much grinding the SP right now to get enough for some decent cards. But some of the design decision are terrible. The quest archtypes as already mentioned where you HAVE to use the preset decks and basically rely on luck. The fact that you can't alter the Storyline decks and get rid of most of the garbage cards it makes the the whole single player experience very tedious.
Yeah I'm guessing this should be in the budget section. Either way 4 Swiftspears are must have ASAP. They aren't expensive and are a burn staple. Most of those expensive creatures need to go.
Okay, so I'm working on creating a Grixis Delver deck because I've been loving Tasigur and the fishes. But I just don't have the money for a proper manabase, especially for a 3 color deck that needs very specific lands. So I'd like some help in creating a temporary budget B/U control deck that replaces all of the red staples (Young Pyro, and bolt basically).
So I'm leaning towards discard spells to replace the burn but nothing really can stand in for young p or snaps and I'm apprehensive about relying on delved fatties.
Is replacing the 3 Snapcaster Mage with a pair of Grim Lavamancer viable? I don't have the mages, and while I have a feeling they'll be reprinted in MM2, I'm impatient but don't want to spend the cash to get them now.
I'm using Call to Mind as very bad very budget replacement for Snapcaster. Sorcery speed sucks but it gets the job done of giving you stuff back from your graveyard and works well with Tasigur since it doesn't exile spells and you can keep the graveyard full and more sorceries mean a higher chance to flip delver. Nothing really compares to snaps though.
I originally planned to use Gurmag Angler as my budget alternative to Tasigur but bit the bullet and bought a second. I kept one of the Gurmags is since it's possible that both of them might end up on the battlefield at the same time.
My main issue is not having fetch lands and I hate evolving wilds, but it helps set up for delving for Tasigur so it gets the job done but I have to have a few extra lands to compensate which puts me at more than the usual 19 lands.
Also, no Snapcaster so I'm sticking with Swiftspear until further notice. I also added a Pestermite but I might get rid of it.
I don't want to turn this into a budget discussion but as someone who's had budget issues and looked for a snapcaster replacment for years it simply doesn't exist. Like you I only have 2.Abbots a good card but not in any version that uses counters. I hear good things about the new Jace though. I'm also testing Oona's Prowler but that's more of a delver 5-8 and the jury's still out on that. My suggestion is put in more burn, hard removal or counters. depending on your playstyle and meta. I've also been enjoying Rise//Fall you can get the max calue from the two snaps you have by snagging one on the field and/or grabbing one from the grave yard. Along with Kommand that leads to fun shenanigans.
I'm liking this version a lot and I run something similar to it. It may lack the versatility of the 3 colored versions but it's just what I'm looking for personally. The only thing I miss is having a hexproof creature Oona's Prowler is an all star for all versions of the deck.
Just tried him. Didn't like him. The idea of having a suspend creature is cool since you could prep for him with counters but I was never able to get the right set up for it. I never got him when I had a hand full of removal or vice versa. Or I needed to Thought Scour myself for Tas. I only got him in "win more" situations. Oh well, it was nice idea.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Gurmag Angler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
//Instant (18)
3 Deprive
2 Dismember
3 Mana Leak
2 Murderous Cut
4 Piracy Charm
4 Thought Scour
2 Despise
2 Duress
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
//Land (20)
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
6 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
So I'm leaning towards discard spells to replace the burn but nothing really can stand in for young p or snaps and I'm apprehensive about relying on delved fatties.
I'm using Call to Mind as very bad very budget replacement for Snapcaster. Sorcery speed sucks but it gets the job done of giving you stuff back from your graveyard and works well with Tasigur since it doesn't exile spells and you can keep the graveyard full and more sorceries mean a higher chance to flip delver. Nothing really compares to snaps though.
So, I hopped aboard the Tasigur train and threw together a budget version.
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Gurmag Angler
3 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Pestermite
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Young Pyromancer
//Instant (16)
1 Deprive
2 Doom Blade
1 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Thought Scour
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
//Land (21)
1 Dragonskull Summit
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
4 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I originally planned to use Gurmag Angler as my budget alternative to Tasigur but bit the bullet and bought a second. I kept one of the Gurmags is since it's possible that both of them might end up on the battlefield at the same time.
My main issue is not having fetch lands and I hate evolving wilds, but it helps set up for delving for Tasigur so it gets the job done but I have to have a few extra lands to compensate which puts me at more than the usual 19 lands.
Also, no Snapcaster so I'm sticking with Swiftspear until further notice. I also added a Pestermite but I might get rid of it.