What does everyone think of Wrenn and Six? Cut down to 23 land maybe, and run 2-3 of him? The retrace late game could be great if you have him on the field, pitch a land to cast a spell from grave, get the land back to play it for turn. Or do it the other way if you have no land to pitch, get a land then pitch it to cast a spell. Seems like he could be pretty decent. Biggest problem I see is there are already a lot of 2-drops that we want to play. Overall though, I see some potential in him.
Well, I am headed to GP Calgary, and thought I would post up the list I will be bringing, and get some feedback on it to make any last minute changes. I feel pretty good about the deck as is though, but the hive mind is always good for pointing out my mistakes.
This will be my first GP, and I plan on looking for 2 more Scalding Tarns to borrow for the day, but as of now, I only have 1. I really think the only oddball card in the main deck is very obviously the Talisman of Progress. I just really liked in when I was playing UW control. It turbos out T3 Cryptic on the play, with Spell Snare, Opt, or Path up if I feel I need it and can spare the 1 life. I also know that my board looks messed up, and probably not the greatest, but I feel like all the cards in it are good, and hopefully not too narrow. I like having at least 1 Timely in the 75 for burn. I hate losing to Burn, so I like to pack as much hate for them as reasonably possible. CoP Red is great in Burn, and Phoenix which is expected in droves, which can possibly leave my paths for the bigger blue creatures in a perfect world. Runed Halo is also a card I enjoy against Burn naming Eidolon and then watching them hurt themselves while I counter there stuff as per normal, and I bring it in against Valakut decks. Alpine Moon is also for Valakut and Tron to hopefully squeeze out some wins over Tron if I can't surgical a land fast enough.
As I said though, I am not set in stone on the list, so if anyone brings up some good points I will likely change some cards around. All in all though, I feel pretty confident in the list.
Just a "small" write-up about my 3rd time playing the deck yesterday. Went 3-0-1, which was good enough to take 1st due to strange circumstances. I don't have the deck in front of me, so this is a rough list from memory, I will update this with the full list later tonight. (I actually think I remembered it fully)
Since I am new to the deck, I am not too sure how most matches would go, and I hadn't played against BG with any deck yet. I had played Jund and lost, so I was a little worried, but without BBE I think the match is fairly straight forward. Can't really think of anything in specific that was good or bad about the match, pretty uneventful, other than the fact we finished in turns.
Round 2 (2-1) vs Hollow One
The one thing I don't overly like about UW control, is it typically goes to time, so I don't get to check out what other people are playing to have a bit of an idea on opening hands, but oh well. Game 1 I lost the roll and was on the draw. So, naturally they did their thing and turned a great hand into a garbage hand, but I luckily picked their 2 hollows ones with the random discard, but he ended up getting game 1 with a turn 2 hollow one and flame bird. Game 2 was a bit better as he didn't have a turn 1 discard spell, so he just played a flamewake adept, or was setting up a T2 attack, either way T2 we both drew and he didn't hit anything good from my hand other than a RiP to deal with his recursive threats. From there on though, I managed to just control the game and eventually won. Game 3 was more or less the same, the discards on my end were uneventful, but I hit his hollow ones for his discards.
Round 3 (1-1) vs UR Breach
At this point, there were 3 2-0 players, and I was paired against one of them. I had never really seen this deck in person before, but knew what he was on due to someone telling me what he was playing. They were basically long control games, nothing major that I can recall doing wrong. Game 1 my opponent was making a lot of misplays that would have cost him game losses, but it is pretty casual where we are, so I just let it go and told him to try to be better with triggers and board state. We hit time on the 3rd turn game 3, so there was no time for anyone to win. If we had more time, both me and my opponent said I likely would have had the game, but we just drew it out since the other 2-0 lost, this way we were both in the running for first place.
Round 4 (2-1) vs Tron
Tron is a weird match, and I have no idea if I did everything right or not, but I won, so I couldn't have done that bad of a job. The biggest thing I can think of was in game 3. Op had an O. Stone on the table with 5 lands, and I had cycled a Nimble Obstructionist in game 1 stopping an O. Stone to win the game, so he was scared that I had it again, so instead of blowing O. Stone he just played things like Relic and Chromatic pieces to cycle through his deck. Then when he finally did decide to blow up his O. Stone, I had just drawn the Obstructionist and countered the ability. Next turn he played another O. Stone but couldn't crack it, so I D. Sphered it and basically just took over the game from there. After the game, I had asked him if he had the second stone the entire time, and he confirmed that he did. I also told him that I drew the Obstructionist the turn he decided to crack the stone, and that he should have been more aggressive with the first stone if he knew he had a back-up one if I had the bird.
All in all, it was a good day though. Not sure about the tron match though, because it was pretty scary to face them, and I am sure I made some mistakes along the way in some matches (hollow one especially, I could have countered more of their draw cards, but for some reason didn't.) Also, as a side note, since I am sure that someone will ask, or at least wonder about it, but the Talisman are in there to try out, and see if I like them or not. Saw an article from Joel Larsson saying he was going to try them out, so I figured if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. I found them a little awkward at times, but they were really helpful when going from 2-4 mana on turn 3 turning on all of the big spells in the deck. T3 Cryptic probably saved my hide at least 1 time throughout the day, but I can definitely see them not being for everyone.
My list is a little weird, but I have been playing a slower, more controlling version of the deck lately, running 1 Cryptic, 2 Search for Azcanta, and 1 Risk Factor main board (and a second risk factor side.) I feel that the risk factor is really nice. It is instant which is great for holding up counter magic or removal, and is always a tough decision for the opponent. You could run Search, or Risk Factor instead of painful truths for sure I feel. I think that Risk is strictly better than Painful as well. At worst it is 8 damage for 6 mana and a dead card the majority of the time (Or your OP burns 2 counterspells to stop you from drawing a few cards.) At best it's 6 mana for 6 cards. Perhaps I am "wrong" with my choices, but it works for me, and I enjoy playing the list I have haha. Never hurts to try something new.
As for Azcanta, there is rarely a time I don't cast it T2 if able. About the only time I don't is if I am expecting something big from my OP so I need to hold a counter, or if I can cast a delve fatty. It's great for digging for lands and/or answers.
How does everyone feel about assure that was just spoiled. G/W G/W for a +1/+1 counter and indestructible. I like that it is a permanent boost, but the cost is a little high for only indestructible. My opinion is it's pretty meh, especially with U/W being a pretty high played deck where indestructible doesn't stop their Paths.
Just thought I would pop in and say I've had some pretty good luck the past couple of tournaments that I have been to. Last monday I went 3-0 vs Mill (I think), Burn, and UB control. Don't remember much about the games other than Burn was stuck on 1 land basically the entire time games 1 and 3. Then yesterday, I went 4-0 at a different store vs Burn, Goblins, Burn, Grixis Shadow. First 3 rounds I felt could have gone either way. I was usually finishing the games off with 3-4 life at most. I felt that Shadow was a really good match-up for me. Game 1 I kept 3 land, 1 Delver, 1 Peezy, 2 Bolt vs an unknown deck on the play, 10/10 would keep that every time I think. I played Delver, he fetch shock and thoughtseized me taking a minute to deliberate over my hand and decided on taking Peezy. Basically just countered what I could, until I drew a couple snaps and bolt-snap-bolted the win after he dropped himself low enough. Game 2 I kept my hand based on a Nihil Spellbomb to slow down his delve threats. I was tapped out going into his T3 where I blew up his graveyard without the draw to prevent the possibility of a delve creature. From there nothing really happened for a few turns which leads me to believe that he was planning on playing something that turn. I wasn't drawing super well, I had a Bolt and 2 snaps in hand though, so was mostly just playing a waiting game. He eventually filled his grave enough again to cast a Gurmag, which I remanded. A couple turns later he played a 5/5 shadow. EoT I attempted to Push it, which drew out his counterspell. I Bolt-Snap-Bolted after that. Went to my turn and snap-bolted with a second bolt already in the grave from earlier.
Overall I am really enjoying Delver right now and will try to post my list later, but it is pretty standard without much spice in it. I am thinking of adding another land as I felt pretty light on lands yesterday. I am thinking of maybe throwing in a man-land or 2 to help in board stall situations. I think a Creeping Tar Pit could be a nice addition. After the tournament tonight if I am not too tired I will post my list up.
Updating with my list and last nights report. I'll start with the list.
Last night I cut out 2 Serum Vision for 2 Search for Azcanta (borrowed), and cut the Vendillion Clique for a Creeping Tar Pit. Unfortunately the Tar Pit was never needed, and it also didn't mess up landfalls in any significant way that I can recall. The Azcanta were nice, but I think I would rather cut something else instead of the Visions as I felt I missed them quite a bit. Thinking if I get my own Azcantas I would cut a remand the V. Clique for them. Also, Tron isn't really that big in my meta, so I am thinking of cutting the Ghost Quarters from the board for something else to help my Humans match. Maybe a Damnation, and Kalitas. Anyways, off to the matches last night...
Round 1 Humans 0-2
Pretty much just got wiped. T1 Cavern really shuts down a major avenue of attack, and I didn't draw into any good removal to slow him down. Game 2 went a little better, the game went to about turn 12 or so, there was a lot of removal on my end, but just not enough mass disruption.
Round 2 Mono black Vampires 2-1
Wasn't sure what my OP was on so I didn't know what kind of a hand to keep. Kept a decent hand that had a little of everything, but didn't draw into removal again, so they flooded the board with vampires and just took game 1. Games 2 and 3 I saw early threats, with removal and counter back-up and didn't have much trouble getting there. Nothing really exciting round 1 or 2.
Round 3 Allies 2-0
Like humans, but allies. Not nearly as strong as Humans though. Both games he had the mill ally on turn 2. I am OK with this. Just helps me fill my yard for delve threats and snaps. Overall nothing exciting really happened in these games either. Mostly just controlled the flow of the game and made him play my game instead of his own.
Overall I am still happy with the deck, and am not sure if I need that 20th land or not yet so I will still play around with that, and will also try to borrow some Azcanta until I figure out if I want them or not. Don't really feel like dropping $60 on 2 cards I might not ever play. Chances are I will pick them up though because I am planning on slowly buying into UW control as well. I am good with the 9-1 record from the last 3 tournaments I've been to. I might sleeve this up for a PPTQ on the 29 and see how I do in a wider meta.
So, I am designing a Commander deck, and have run into a weird rules junction that I am not 100% sure of. Basically, the concern comes from having Combat Celebrant equipped with Helm of the Host, while there is a Mycosynth Lattice and Stony Silence on the field. In this scenario, the main question would be, can I still make infinite combats by exerting the new Combat Celebrant created by the Helm of the Host with each iteration of combat, or does something along the way (exert?) get interrupted by Stony Silence?
Thanks for all the advice Fae, you explained everything really well and put things into perspective a bit better for me. I've put some thought into things, and this is what I came up with.
I chose to put in Drowned Catacombs in place of the Darkslick Shores as I feel they would be less likely to be in my opening hand as a 2 of instead of the 3 it used to be, and less likely to enter tapped later in the game, unlike the Shores which are guaranteed tapped after land #3. Perhaps I am wrong, and will change my mind later after I get the deck and play it. I have cut down my counters a little in favor of adding a pair of Opts. I think I might have too many 1 mana spells now though, and am not sure if I should cut something out of there for something else, or if it should be fine. I cut the Godless Shrine for one of the Colonnades and the other came from the cut darkslick shores.
Ordered the last few pieces for my rendition of Faeries, and they should be here either today or tomorrow. I will be playing either tonight if they arrive, and/or for FNM this week in preparation for back to back PPTQs this weekend that I will be attending. I will try to keep good notes on the rounds, but I am usually pretty bad at that kind of thing. I will try to report all at once on how I find my UBw version works either Sunday evening or Monday after work. I can't wait to try out Faeries, it looks like a lot of fun
That's fair reasoning. I think it's one of those cards that is good in theory, but not really in practice. I'd probably still try it out, just because I like playing weird things that don't usually work out.
Does anyone play 20 lands? I was a fan of grixis ds but dropping your life total just isnt as good in such a fastmeta with so many decks that go wide. It got me thinking about delver since i already had all the cards lying around. Anyway back to my question. 19 lands hurts and i seem to be having mana trouble more than anything. I have been practicing on xmage and seem to be losing to my mana more than anything. Im running the azcanta version btw
I've always played with 19 lands and it was fine IMHO, I think that Thije is correct it depends on the number of cantrips. Personally I run 9 cantrips.
It also depends on the number of cantrips. I like running 19 lands in most lists.
What I was wondering.
Are these Dominaria cards something we want in GS Delver?
- Wizard's retort
- Wizard's lightning
- Cast Down
- Damping Sphere
And can we consider Mishra's Bauble, to fuel delve? Or is it impacting Delver of Secrets too much in a negative way (of course it can be helpful also).
Well I don't think that those cards are useful for us: wizard's spells really need a dedicated creature base in order to play them always with the reduced cost; Cast Down is just a worse version of Terminate and the Sphere might be tempting against tron or storm but I think it could reveal itself as a double-edged blade.
Also the Bauble may be good but I fear that would reduce the Delver's flip dramatically, and I rather flip a Delver than look at the top card of our opponent and then draw a card.
I think that Bauble might actually be OK, and could potentially help Delver flip if played correctly. The way I see it, T1 play Bauble + Delver. On opponents turn, crack the bauble to look at the top of your own deck, and stack your upkeep triggers according to what's on top. If it is an instant/sorcery do Delver first, otherwise draw first, and have a second chance to hit an instant/sorcery off the delver. I'm not sure what I would want to cut for it though, but it is something that could possibly work out in your favor under the right circumstances. Could be a fun little spice card that people don't see coming if you can find room for it.
I suppose the flip side of the coin is you will likely be cutting something that would normally flip the Delver and could just see a bauble instead on a blind flip. It's tough to say for sure, I'd try it out to see what happens. I do like the idea of it potentially running out a delve fattie a turn earlier.
I've only brought it to one local tournament so far, which was on Monday night. I went 3-1 beating GB Elves, WG CoCo, RWG Burn, and I lost to Goblins. The games against the Goblins player were close, brought him to 3 games. I made a couple poor decisions that ended up costing me the game. I could have cast Collective Brutality to drain him bringing me to 6 life, and look at his hand taking his Goblin Grenade (2 cards in hand at the time), but I chose to play a threat instead since his board was clear, and he then drew a creature he could cast and grenaded me for game 3. Lesson learned. I also bolted a Goblin Guide then tried to block with tokens when he had a legion loyalist out, not being familiar enough with the card while playing a token deck. All in all, I think I could have played better against the Goblins match and probably 4-0ed the night, but that's magic.
Anyways, as I said above, mostly just looking for feedback on the list. First priority for me is to get the other 3 Scalding Tarns that I need to round out the lands. As for working with what I have, I want to add in a basic mountain, as there were many times that I wished I could have fetched a mountain instead of having to shock (including against the Goblin player.) Otherwise I don't think there was too much I didn't like about the list. Maybe missed having a Kalitas somewhere in the 75 like I normally would in Jund, but not sure if I would want it main or in the board, or what I would cut to make it happen. Any advice on other cards that might make me stumble in the future would be helpful.
Been running a new take on Jund. I just kinda said 'to hell with conventions' and started running the deck to my own preferences as a player despite what other people play. I'm sorry Reid.
I felt like when testing different builds of this deck on cockatrice I was boarding out scooze and some number of LotV out in a loooooot of matchups. I think I want to play about these 75 cards, but I'm just shuffling the cards around the maindeck and sideboard. For me, I felt like scooze and 4x LotV accentuated wrong half problems of this deck severely and contributed to clunky draws more than any other card. I know LotV is one of the best planeswalkers in modern, but I feel like she doesn't line up super well against a lot of decks in the format. I want 4 for sure in my 75, but I'm not sure she's as universally useful as she once was. I donlt really want to draw one or more in every game all the time.
As for scooze, he's basically just a grizzly bear in a looooooot of matchups and I think in game 1 it's more important to be proactive and close games out since you may not have many answers pre-board to your opponents strategy (ie like tron). Flayer puts way more pressure on non-creature decks than scooze and helps get out of wrong half problems by fixing draws. Because of the lack of maindeck lifegain in the absence of scooze, I moved brutality into the maindeck.
All in all, this deck looks different for the sake of being different, but I promise there's a logic behind every card. Thoughts? I don't expect to convert anyone, but curious what you guys think.
I like the deck list, and the idea of changing things up. The only thing that I see that I might change, is to possibly go up to 25 lands, which is something I don't overly like the idea of normally, just to make sure that you can utilize the Trackers more effectively. I think it is easy enough to cut a land for match-ups that you don't want to run trackers/that many lands and would probably be what I would do. I would probably cut the second brutality to the board and go down to 2 Damping spheres. (Mostly personal preference for my meta.) I would add a 9th fetch land most likely, or a filter land.
I've go to say, that I am enjoying this deck list a lot. I have only managed to bring it out 2 times so far, but it has performed well both times. It may just be because Infect is not very prevalent right now, I'm not too sure. Sunday I took it to a 3-1 record, losing to Jund in round 2, but beating Sultai control, Scapeshift, and Jund in rounds 1, 3, and 4 respectively. Then last night I took it out for a 3-0 record beating Grixis Death Shadow, Grixis Delver, and Jund. I am beginning to feel fairly confident in the deck already, and will probably make a slight change by cutting the Sylvan Scrying for a MB Shaper's Sanctuary maybe, and then putting a second Abrupt Decay in the board. I am also debating cutting the Island in favour of a second Forest since I have a lot more blue sources in the deck, I don't feel the basic island is necessary and I think the second Forest is quite important. I am kind of on the fence about the Predator's Strike though. I didn't think the 2 mana would be a huge issue, but it has really cut down on my possible plays in some instances, but won me games against the Sultai control deck when they single blocked with a spirit token. I need to keep trying it out I suppose. Anyways, happy infecting people.
4 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (24)
2 Spell Snare
3 Cryptic Command
2 Logic Knot
1 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Settle the Wreckage
4 Opt
Sorcery (1)
1 Supreme Verdict
Enchantments (2)
2 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalkers (3)
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Talisman of Progress
Lands (25)
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Celestial Colonnade
3 Island
3 Arid Mesa
1 Plains
3 Field of Ruin
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Runed Halo
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Alpine Moon
This will be my first GP, and I plan on looking for 2 more Scalding Tarns to borrow for the day, but as of now, I only have 1. I really think the only oddball card in the main deck is very obviously the Talisman of Progress. I just really liked in when I was playing UW control. It turbos out T3 Cryptic on the play, with Spell Snare, Opt, or Path up if I feel I need it and can spare the 1 life. I also know that my board looks messed up, and probably not the greatest, but I feel like all the cards in it are good, and hopefully not too narrow. I like having at least 1 Timely in the 75 for burn. I hate losing to Burn, so I like to pack as much hate for them as reasonably possible. CoP Red is great in Burn, and Phoenix which is expected in droves, which can possibly leave my paths for the bigger blue creatures in a perfect world. Runed Halo is also a card I enjoy against Burn naming Eidolon and then watching them hurt themselves while I counter there stuff as per normal, and I bring it in against Valakut decks. Alpine Moon is also for Valakut and Tron to hopefully squeeze out some wins over Tron if I can't surgical a land fast enough.
As I said though, I am not set in stone on the list, so if anyone brings up some good points I will likely change some cards around. All in all though, I feel pretty confident in the list.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Field of Ruin
6 Island
2 Plains
Artifacts (2)
2 Talisman of Progress
Creatures (5)
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Nimble Obstructionist
Draw Effects (8)
4 Opt
1 Serum Visions
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Ancestral Vision
Removal (9)
3 terminus
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Supremem Verdict
4 Path to Exile
3 Cryptic Command
1 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
1 Negate
Planeswalkers (5)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Dispel
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
2 Spell Queller
1 Terminus
2 Damping Sphere
1 Detention Sphere
Round 1 (2-0) vs BG midrange
Since I am new to the deck, I am not too sure how most matches would go, and I hadn't played against BG with any deck yet. I had played Jund and lost, so I was a little worried, but without BBE I think the match is fairly straight forward. Can't really think of anything in specific that was good or bad about the match, pretty uneventful, other than the fact we finished in turns.
Round 2 (2-1) vs Hollow One
The one thing I don't overly like about UW control, is it typically goes to time, so I don't get to check out what other people are playing to have a bit of an idea on opening hands, but oh well. Game 1 I lost the roll and was on the draw. So, naturally they did their thing and turned a great hand into a garbage hand, but I luckily picked their 2 hollows ones with the random discard, but he ended up getting game 1 with a turn 2 hollow one and flame bird. Game 2 was a bit better as he didn't have a turn 1 discard spell, so he just played a flamewake adept, or was setting up a T2 attack, either way T2 we both drew and he didn't hit anything good from my hand other than a RiP to deal with his recursive threats. From there on though, I managed to just control the game and eventually won. Game 3 was more or less the same, the discards on my end were uneventful, but I hit his hollow ones for his discards.
Round 3 (1-1) vs UR Breach
At this point, there were 3 2-0 players, and I was paired against one of them. I had never really seen this deck in person before, but knew what he was on due to someone telling me what he was playing. They were basically long control games, nothing major that I can recall doing wrong. Game 1 my opponent was making a lot of misplays that would have cost him game losses, but it is pretty casual where we are, so I just let it go and told him to try to be better with triggers and board state. We hit time on the 3rd turn game 3, so there was no time for anyone to win. If we had more time, both me and my opponent said I likely would have had the game, but we just drew it out since the other 2-0 lost, this way we were both in the running for first place.
Round 4 (2-1) vs Tron
Tron is a weird match, and I have no idea if I did everything right or not, but I won, so I couldn't have done that bad of a job. The biggest thing I can think of was in game 3. Op had an O. Stone on the table with 5 lands, and I had cycled a Nimble Obstructionist in game 1 stopping an O. Stone to win the game, so he was scared that I had it again, so instead of blowing O. Stone he just played things like Relic and Chromatic pieces to cycle through his deck. Then when he finally did decide to blow up his O. Stone, I had just drawn the Obstructionist and countered the ability. Next turn he played another O. Stone but couldn't crack it, so I D. Sphered it and basically just took over the game from there. After the game, I had asked him if he had the second stone the entire time, and he confirmed that he did. I also told him that I drew the Obstructionist the turn he decided to crack the stone, and that he should have been more aggressive with the first stone if he knew he had a back-up one if I had the bird.
All in all, it was a good day though. Not sure about the tron match though, because it was pretty scary to face them, and I am sure I made some mistakes along the way in some matches (hollow one especially, I could have countered more of their draw cards, but for some reason didn't.) Also, as a side note, since I am sure that someone will ask, or at least wonder about it, but the Talisman are in there to try out, and see if I like them or not. Saw an article from Joel Larsson saying he was going to try them out, so I figured if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. I found them a little awkward at times, but they were really helpful when going from 2-4 mana on turn 3 turning on all of the big spells in the deck. T3 Cryptic probably saved my hide at least 1 time throughout the day, but I can definitely see them not being for everyone.
As for Azcanta, there is rarely a time I don't cast it T2 if able. About the only time I don't is if I am expecting something big from my OP so I need to hold a counter, or if I can cast a delve fatty. It's great for digging for lands and/or answers.
Just thought I would pop in and say I've had some pretty good luck the past couple of tournaments that I have been to. Last monday I went 3-0 vs Mill (I think), Burn, and UB control. Don't remember much about the games other than Burn was stuck on 1 land basically the entire time games 1 and 3. Then yesterday, I went 4-0 at a different store vs Burn, Goblins, Burn, Grixis Shadow. First 3 rounds I felt could have gone either way. I was usually finishing the games off with 3-4 life at most. I felt that Shadow was a really good match-up for me. Game 1 I kept 3 land, 1 Delver, 1 Peezy, 2 Bolt vs an unknown deck on the play, 10/10 would keep that every time I think. I played Delver, he fetch shock and thoughtseized me taking a minute to deliberate over my hand and decided on taking Peezy. Basically just countered what I could, until I drew a couple snaps and bolt-snap-bolted the win after he dropped himself low enough. Game 2 I kept my hand based on a Nihil Spellbomb to slow down his delve threats. I was tapped out going into his T3 where I blew up his graveyard without the draw to prevent the possibility of a delve creature. From there nothing really happened for a few turns which leads me to believe that he was planning on playing something that turn. I wasn't drawing super well, I had a Bolt and 2 snaps in hand though, so was mostly just playing a waiting game. He eventually filled his grave enough again to cast a Gurmag, which I remanded. A couple turns later he played a 5/5 shadow. EoT I attempted to Push it, which drew out his counterspell. I Bolt-Snap-Bolted after that. Went to my turn and snap-bolted with a second bolt already in the grave from earlier.
Overall I am really enjoying Delver right now and will try to post my list later, but it is pretty standard without much spice in it. I am thinking of adding another land as I felt pretty light on lands yesterday. I am thinking of maybe throwing in a man-land or 2 to help in board stall situations. I think a Creeping Tar Pit could be a nice addition. After the tournament tonight if I am not too tired I will post my list up.
Updating with my list and last nights report. I'll start with the list.
4x Polluted Delta
3x Bloodstained Mire
1x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Watery Grave
1x Blood Crypt
2x Spirebluff Canal
1x Darkslick Shores
2x Island
1x Swamp
1x Mountain
Creatures (14)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Young Pyromancer
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Gurmag Angler
1x Vendilion Clique
4x Thoughtscour
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
2x Terminate
2x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Remand
1x Collective Brutality
1x Electrolyze
1x Cryptic Command
1x Spell Snare
1x Painful Truths
1x Shatterstorm
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Countersquall
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Collective Brutality
1x Izzet Staticaster
Last night I cut out 2 Serum Vision for 2 Search for Azcanta (borrowed), and cut the Vendillion Clique for a Creeping Tar Pit. Unfortunately the Tar Pit was never needed, and it also didn't mess up landfalls in any significant way that I can recall. The Azcanta were nice, but I think I would rather cut something else instead of the Visions as I felt I missed them quite a bit. Thinking if I get my own Azcantas I would cut a remand the V. Clique for them. Also, Tron isn't really that big in my meta, so I am thinking of cutting the Ghost Quarters from the board for something else to help my Humans match. Maybe a Damnation, and Kalitas. Anyways, off to the matches last night...
Round 1 Humans 0-2
Pretty much just got wiped. T1 Cavern really shuts down a major avenue of attack, and I didn't draw into any good removal to slow him down. Game 2 went a little better, the game went to about turn 12 or so, there was a lot of removal on my end, but just not enough mass disruption.
Round 2 Mono black Vampires 2-1
Wasn't sure what my OP was on so I didn't know what kind of a hand to keep. Kept a decent hand that had a little of everything, but didn't draw into removal again, so they flooded the board with vampires and just took game 1. Games 2 and 3 I saw early threats, with removal and counter back-up and didn't have much trouble getting there. Nothing really exciting round 1 or 2.
Round 3 Allies 2-0
Like humans, but allies. Not nearly as strong as Humans though. Both games he had the mill ally on turn 2. I am OK with this. Just helps me fill my yard for delve threats and snaps. Overall nothing exciting really happened in these games either. Mostly just controlled the flow of the game and made him play my game instead of his own.
Overall I am still happy with the deck, and am not sure if I need that 20th land or not yet so I will still play around with that, and will also try to borrow some Azcanta until I figure out if I want them or not. Don't really feel like dropping $60 on 2 cards I might not ever play. Chances are I will pick them up though because I am planning on slowly buying into UW control as well. I am good with the 9-1 record from the last 3 tournaments I've been to. I might sleeve this up for a PPTQ on the 29 and see how I do in a wider meta.
Ordered the last few pieces for my rendition of Faeries, and they should be here either today or tomorrow. I will be playing either tonight if they arrive, and/or for FNM this week in preparation for back to back PPTQs this weekend that I will be attending. I will try to keep good notes on the rounds, but I am usually pretty bad at that kind of thing. I will try to report all at once on how I find my UBw version works either Sunday evening or Monday after work. I can't wait to try out Faeries, it looks like a lot of fun
I think that Bauble might actually be OK, and could potentially help Delver flip if played correctly. The way I see it, T1 play Bauble + Delver. On opponents turn, crack the bauble to look at the top of your own deck, and stack your upkeep triggers according to what's on top. If it is an instant/sorcery do Delver first, otherwise draw first, and have a second chance to hit an instant/sorcery off the delver. I'm not sure what I would want to cut for it though, but it is something that could possibly work out in your favor under the right circumstances. Could be a fun little spice card that people don't see coming if you can find room for it.
I suppose the flip side of the coin is you will likely be cutting something that would normally flip the Delver and could just see a bauble instead on a blind flip. It's tough to say for sure, I'd try it out to see what happens. I do like the idea of it potentially running out a delve fattie a turn earlier.
3x Bloodstained Mire
2x Watery Grave
2x Island
2x Steam Vents
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
1x Blood Crypt
1x Darkslick Shores
1x Scalding Tarn
2x Spirebluff Canal
Creatures (14)
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Gurmag Angler
2x Young Pyromancer
1x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Terminate
2x Remand
2x Spell Snare
3x Mana Leak
4x Thought Scour
Sorceries (5)
1x Collective Brutality
4x Serum Visions
1x Painful Truths
1x Shatterstorm
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
2x Ghost Quarter
I've only brought it to one local tournament so far, which was on Monday night. I went 3-1 beating GB Elves, WG CoCo, RWG Burn, and I lost to Goblins. The games against the Goblins player were close, brought him to 3 games. I made a couple poor decisions that ended up costing me the game. I could have cast Collective Brutality to drain him bringing me to 6 life, and look at his hand taking his Goblin Grenade (2 cards in hand at the time), but I chose to play a threat instead since his board was clear, and he then drew a creature he could cast and grenaded me for game 3. Lesson learned. I also bolted a Goblin Guide then tried to block with tokens when he had a legion loyalist out, not being familiar enough with the card while playing a token deck. All in all, I think I could have played better against the Goblins match and probably 4-0ed the night, but that's magic.
Anyways, as I said above, mostly just looking for feedback on the list. First priority for me is to get the other 3 Scalding Tarns that I need to round out the lands. As for working with what I have, I want to add in a basic mountain, as there were many times that I wished I could have fetched a mountain instead of having to shock (including against the Goblin player.) Otherwise I don't think there was too much I didn't like about the list. Maybe missed having a Kalitas somewhere in the 75 like I normally would in Jund, but not sure if I would want it main or in the board, or what I would cut to make it happen. Any advice on other cards that might make me stumble in the future would be helpful.
I like the deck list, and the idea of changing things up. The only thing that I see that I might change, is to possibly go up to 25 lands, which is something I don't overly like the idea of normally, just to make sure that you can utilize the Trackers more effectively. I think it is easy enough to cut a land for match-ups that you don't want to run trackers/that many lands and would probably be what I would do. I would probably cut the second brutality to the board and go down to 2 Damping spheres. (Mostly personal preference for my meta.) I would add a 9th fetch land most likely, or a filter land.