I think Snapcaster Mage is pretty much a must in the more controlling builds. If you absolutely can't buy them, then perhaps you should stick with the UR Prowess build.
Just a note - Snapcaster Mage will only go up, not down from here. If another URx deck breaks (such as through a new brew or an unban), his price will skyrocket back to $80 each.
Path to Exile is at its core an anti-tempo card and it is also a nonbo with cards like Spell Pierce, Mana Leak and Izzet Charm. I like it because it helps against midrange fatties, which is traditionally a weakness of UR Delver, but I don't feel a need to run 3 main board. I have one in the sideboard just in case.
I'm not sure what I'd cut for more Lightning Helix as I feel countermagic is necessary in order to protect Monastery Mentor. I suppose Forked Bolt could be cut for it, although I'm trying to stay low to the ground to ensure cheap prowess triggers on Mentor.
I currently like Monastery Mentor more because in my testing of Geist of Saint Traft, he was just stonewalled by *everything.* Even a Snapcaster Mage is enough to stonewall Geist. Mentor doesn't have this problem and is capable for more explosive turns. The only downside is keeping him alive, which isn't impossible if you refrain from jamming him T3.
That said, I wouldn't be against trying Geist again.
Here is an idea I had. While this isn't, strictly speaking, a UR deck, it is a UR deck at heart as the W splash is extremely light. It plays only 2 main board Path to Exile as white cards but has access to all the big white hosers (Leyline of Sanctity, Stony Silence, enchantment hate etc). Here's the list:
I've got Dragon's Claw in the board as well as a few Dispel. Spellskite is also quite good. Seems to have good game against Tron, Affinity, Scapeshift and Zoo (the decks I tried it against). Blood Moon plus the tempo plan is great against big mana and the cheap removal and artifact hate in the board is strong against Affinity. I'm not sure what the worst match up would be, but I do know getting board wiped stings a lot. Supreme Verdict would probably be a beating.
Here is my overall decklist. Wouldn't mind some feedback:
I too have theorized that a WUR Delver list may be well positioned. I have thrown together a UR Delver list that is very similar to the one that LSV posted on Channel Fireball recently, and it's quite good. The sideboard options as well as main deck removal, such as Path to Exile seem strong enough that splashing W may be useful. Here is my current list:
The sideboard is a huge flex spot right now and the Restoration Angel is also one. I like it because it's a solid evasive beater that also offers utility and good synergy with Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique.
How are you liking affinity? Im tempted to sell my mtgo collection for this and infect since they both share inkmoths as a big chunk of their price, and I would love an aggressive deck that can "go wide" with its threats.
I agree with the other who said that it's an "all in" deck. The deck generally top decks poorly and you're usually done for once you're out of gas. Some run Thoughtcast to mitigate against this, and others run more threats to reduce the odds of running out of gas.
It is favored against most decks game one and faces an uphill battle post-boast against a vast majority of decks. The artifact hate out there is extensive. That said, we have sideboard answers of our own and can often play around such hate. It's definitely a lot harder than it looks at first glance and is far more interactive than people give it credit for. Just belching your hand and hoping for the best is often not the best play - I learned that the hard way. It is a deck that rewards good play and has a high skill ceiling, if that's what you're into.
This is my first modern deck though I tested many decks before deciding on Affinity. Other decks I tried were Twin, Tron, Abzan and Grixis Delver. Abzan was out of my budget, Tron was too linear for my tastes and Grixis Delver felt a bit inconsistent. Twin was another deck that I enjoyed, and I may decide to build it in the future. Affinity is a very fun deck to play and the different lines of play can make each game feel unique as it can approach each game from many different directions.
Hey guys, I just won a local event with Affinity. I'm relatively new to the deck (finished it a couple of weeks ago) but I managed to pull it out today. Here's my decklist:
Went up against Merfolk, Slivers and Grixis Delver. Not a perfect build by any means, and I'm open to suggestions but just figured I'd post a my list that managed to get some wins.
Aggro and combo are very common in my meta. Given the prevalence of Affinity, Bogles, Bloom and Twin in my meta I have opted use mainboard Spellskites. The rest should be self explanatory.
I have a question. How would 3 Voice of Resurgence and 1 Tasigur work in place of Tarmogoyf? I do not currently own any nor do I have the money to buy them.
Perhaps a creature base like:
4 Siege Rhino
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Card Master in Taipei. The tournaments sometimes fluctuate in terms of how many people attend. We've had bigger tournaments with 16+ players, and we've had small ones with only 6 or so. They probably average more around 10 people or so. It's not nearly as big as it is in the US, but Magic tends to lag behind Yugioh and Vanguard here in terms of popularity. From what I've heard, it's been growing a lot over the past few years.
If you play modern, a couple of friends and I tend to play a weekly modern event there on Thursdays.
The store I play in is probably one of the biggest in Taiwan and has a pretty competitive playerbase. A vast majority of the people show up with fully built Tier 1 decks, the meta being similar to a much larger tournament. Today alone 6/12 of the players were on Jeskai Black decks and 3 others were on fully built Abzan decks. My deck is far from perfect, and I'm interested in getting 2 more Wooded Foothills and 4 Flooded Strands to finish out the manabase. The creature and noncreature base seemed solid. I drew well overall, but I felt I had answers to most situations provided I drew them.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells (27):
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Forked Bolt
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Deprive
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Plains
3 Stony Silence
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Spellskite
2 Crumble to Dust
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Wear // Tear
2 Dispel
Seems promising so far.
Just a note - Snapcaster Mage will only go up, not down from here. If another URx deck breaks (such as through a new brew or an unban), his price will skyrocket back to $80 each.
I'm not sure what I'd cut for more Lightning Helix as I feel countermagic is necessary in order to protect Monastery Mentor. I suppose Forked Bolt could be cut for it, although I'm trying to stay low to the ground to ensure cheap prowess triggers on Mentor.
I currently like Monastery Mentor more because in my testing of Geist of Saint Traft, he was just stonewalled by *everything.* Even a Snapcaster Mage is enough to stonewall Geist. Mentor doesn't have this problem and is capable for more explosive turns. The only downside is keeping him alive, which isn't impossible if you refrain from jamming him T3.
That said, I wouldn't be against trying Geist again.
This is my new decklist. Testing so far has been good and it seems to have game against everything.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells (27):
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Blood Moon
3 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
2 Path to Exile
2 Electrolyze
1 Deprive
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Stony Silence
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Path to Exile
2 Dispel
2 Wear // Tear
2 Lightning Helix
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Spellskite
The W splash is small enough that the main deck Blood Moon hasn't been an issue. Thoughts?
Here is my overall decklist. Wouldn't mind some feedback:
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells (27):
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Deprive
2 Electrolyze
2 Blood Moon
2 Vapor Snag
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
4 Island
1 Mountain
2 Vandalblast
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Dispel
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Roast
1 Spellskite
1 Negate
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Relic of Progenitus
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Restoration Angel
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells (28):
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Electrolyze
3 Path to Exile
3 Lightning Helix
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Deprive
2 Mana Leak
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Crumble to Dust
3 Wear // Tear
2 Spellskite
2 Dispel
1 Path to Exile
The sideboard is a huge flex spot right now and the Restoration Angel is also one. I like it because it's a solid evasive beater that also offers utility and good synergy with Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique.
Thoughts?
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-lsv-modern-ur-delver-5/
Here is my decklist that is very similar to his (swapped out the Scalding Tarns because I don't own them and don't want to buy them at $100 a pop).
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Young Pyromancer
Spells (27):
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
2 Electrolyze
2 Blood Moon
2 Vapor Snag
2 Mana Leak
3 Remand
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Deprive
4 Polluted Delta
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Island
1 Mountain
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Steam Vents
2 Spellskite
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Dispel
2 Vandalblast
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Roast
1 Grafdigger's Cage
I agree with the other who said that it's an "all in" deck. The deck generally top decks poorly and you're usually done for once you're out of gas. Some run Thoughtcast to mitigate against this, and others run more threats to reduce the odds of running out of gas.
It is favored against most decks game one and faces an uphill battle post-boast against a vast majority of decks. The artifact hate out there is extensive. That said, we have sideboard answers of our own and can often play around such hate. It's definitely a lot harder than it looks at first glance and is far more interactive than people give it credit for. Just belching your hand and hoping for the best is often not the best play - I learned that the hard way. It is a deck that rewards good play and has a high skill ceiling, if that's what you're into.
This is my first modern deck though I tested many decks before deciding on Affinity. Other decks I tried were Twin, Tron, Abzan and Grixis Delver. Abzan was out of my budget, Tron was too linear for my tastes and Grixis Delver felt a bit inconsistent. Twin was another deck that I enjoyed, and I may decide to build it in the future. Affinity is a very fun deck to play and the different lines of play can make each game feel unique as it can approach each game from many different directions.
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
2 Spellskite
3 Steel Overseer
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
Lands (16):
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
1 Mountain
2 Thoughtseize
2 Blood Moon
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Ghirapur Æther Grid
2 Spell Pierce
2 Whipflare
1 Wear // Tear
Went up against Merfolk, Slivers and Grixis Delver. Not a perfect build by any means, and I'm open to suggestions but just figured I'd post a my list that managed to get some wins.
Aggro and combo are very common in my meta. Given the prevalence of Affinity, Bogles, Bloom and Twin in my meta I have opted use mainboard Spellskites. The rest should be self explanatory.
Perhaps a creature base like:
4 Siege Rhino
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Etched Champion
3 Steel Overseer
2 Spellskite
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Mox Opal
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
Lands (16):
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
1 Mountain
2 Thoughtseize
2 Blood Moon
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Ghirapur Æther Grid
3 Spell Pierce
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wear // Tear
If you play modern, a couple of friends and I tend to play a weekly modern event there on Thursdays.
4 Siege Rhino
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Den Protector
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Wingmate Roc
Noncreatures (12)
4 Abzan Charm
3 Dromoka's Command
1 Murderous Cut
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Canopy Vista
1 Smoldering Marsh
4 Shambling Vent
3 Forest
2 Plains
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Caves of Koilos
2 Ultimate Price
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Ruinous Path
3 Duress
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Complete Disregard
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Self-Inflicted Wound
The store I play in is probably one of the biggest in Taiwan and has a pretty competitive playerbase. A vast majority of the people show up with fully built Tier 1 decks, the meta being similar to a much larger tournament. Today alone 6/12 of the players were on Jeskai Black decks and 3 others were on fully built Abzan decks. My deck is far from perfect, and I'm interested in getting 2 more Wooded Foothills and 4 Flooded Strands to finish out the manabase. The creature and noncreature base seemed solid. I drew well overall, but I felt I had answers to most situations provided I drew them.