Quick question before I go to the Modern tournament tomorrow, but has anyone tested Wrenn and Six? I was debating if they would be a better fit than Young Pyromancer out of the sideboard, but I don't want to sink the money into the card until it either settles down in price or if it is a massive upgrade to our deck.
4 Color Delver decks have never perked my interests because of the severe life loss that comes along with it as well as the clumsy mana base. I love Ice-Fang Coatl, but not in a Delver build as it's too defensive, as mentioned by MikePemulis above. Yes, you get access to a wide variety of removal spells with the addition of black/white mana, but I feel the deck itself becomes too diluted and less focused because of it. If we ever need black mana for removal because the meta has shifted so drastically towards it then possibly going BUG would be an option?
Played in my local Saturday Modern tournament to a successful 4-0 finish. Same list as I posted before except I replaced the 2 Grafdigger's Cage in the SB with a Gut Shot and an Destructive Revelry. I don't have time to post a full report, but the matches were 2-0 UW Tron, 2-1 UR Phoenix, 2-0 GW Devoted Devastation, and 2-0 RUG Scapeshift. All I can say is that Nimble Mongoose and Hexdrinker have over preformed for me the last two weeks. Thinking about taking Ashton's advice, however, and give Fry a try out of the SB as I can see it being powerful in certain match ups.
Guys I'm running into an issue, how the hell do we beat jund?
Jund is a rough match up and the only way I've been able to beat GBx (this is before the additions of Nimble Mongoose and Hexdrinker mind you) is by Blood Mooning them with Huntmaster of the Fells as backup. I haven't played against a Rock deck since the addition of the new cards so I'm still waiting to see how they preform here.
@CatParty I'm sorry to hear that Nimble Mongoose under preformed for you at the tournament, but it seems that we had different results surrounding the goose when facing Grixis Shadow. It's possible that the makeup of our decks breed different results such as the presence of Hexdrinker and more copies of Vapor Snag present in my own. On the topic of Hexdrinker I fully recommend trying out the snake because that card alone has won me games I had no business winning while also being a solid threat on its own.
Just my two cents, I think magmatic sinkhole could save you some life points in place of dismember. And if you don't like the flusterstorms we seem to be settling on 3 shoals, 2 FoN main. You could add a FoN side
I debated Magmatic Sinkhole as the card to replace Dismember, but I thought that the delve on the card would conflict too much with the threshold on Nimble Mongoose. The life loss can be hard, and the alternative ability to hit planeswalkers can be very useful at times, but the conflict between the mongoose and the removal spell worried me. It's definitely worth testing to see if the two can work together though.
As for Force of Negation and Disrupting Shoal numbers I'm staying with the current list's numbers just for testing purposes. I want to jam out a few more games with the new counter spell to get a feel for how it interacts with the format. The exile clause can be a huge advantage when countering certain spells such as Faithless Looting or Life From the Loam. Just like the removal spells above I'll be testing both Force of Negation and Magmatic Sinkhole over the coming weeks.
interesting write up and build, i'm curious what's your opinion of ptermander in this style of build?
Definitely worth testing! Not sure if it's better than Nimble Mongoose or Hexdrinker as each has their own advantages and disadvantages, but it's worth considering.
Hello everyone! I'm, I believe, a new poster to this forum, but have been a lurker for some time. With the release of Nimble Mongoose, Hexdrinker, and Force of Negation into the Modern format I decided to return to the RUG colors after dabbling in UR and Jeskai Delver variants. What I wanted to test was to run all one drop creatures that I can always drop on turn one or turn two with protection backup instead of cards like Tarmogoyf or Hooting Mandrills. After playing in a local tournament this past Saturday I'm pleased to say that I went 4-1. I'll type in a report below the deck list.
Match 1 vs. Bant Spirits 2-0:
Game one was a very close match with me bolting as many of his lords as possible and trading away Delver of Secrets until finally leveling up a Hexdrinker to level eight. After three hits the snake won the race with me at one life. Game two played out diffrently with me playing two Nimble Mongoose turns one and two before gaining threshold on turn 3. Vapor Snag was an allstar here as it managed to bounce a lord to enable the two Lightning Bolts in my hand.
Match 2 vs. Rakdos Goblins 2-0:
This was by far my favorite match of the day with swings on both sides in game one until finally I was able to stabilze with a level four Hexdrinker, which I was constanly scared to level up due to the presence of Munitions Expert. I managed to work my opponent down to 10 life before going all in on the snake and kicking a Burst Lightning in conjuction with the attack. Game two I used a Force of Negation to counter an Aether Vial on the draw and proceeded to play defence with a Nimble Mongoose until I flipped a Delver of Secrets that I protected. While fairly one sided in the second game the first came down to the wire while we traded resources back and forth. Very cool deck and only getting stronger with M20!
Match 3 vs. Burn 2-0:
So Burn is, in my expeirience, a fairly simple matchup where if we find our free/cheap counter magic with an early threat then we are likely to win. Nimble Mongoose was the ideal threat in this matchup for obvious reasons while Hexdrinker played the role of being thrown in front of any creature swung my way. After killing their early threats a mongoose and a level three snake took the game home for me with the second game playing out much the same way except instead of a Hexdrinker it was a Delver of Secrets. I found my counter magic at the right time which led me to win the game.
A tough match for sure, but one that Nimble Mongoose and Vapor Snag shine in. Game one I keep a risky six card hand with a single land, a Delver of Secrets, and a Serum Visions as the important cards. Since I was on the draw he managed to Thoughtsieze me and after some thought he took my cantrip. I never drew another land. Game two I used a Spell Pierce on his discard spell and slammed a Hexdrinker with multiple ways to protect it. After countering a removal spell I proceeded to level it up to three where the only card I was worried about was Liliana of the Veil out of his side board. The final match came down to the two Nimble Mongoose that managed to get around his Liliana, the Last Hope. With a hand full of removal and his single Death's Shadow getting snagged several times I successfully managed to tempo him out on the turn that the LtLH was going to ultimate.
Match 5 vs. Humans 0-2: Not much to say here. I as rolled so hard that I barely remember the match. Games one and two he had Cavern of Souls into Aether Vial and I was never able to recover both games. I had a fleeting chance game one when I used a free counter to stop the vial, but it was all for naught. Nimble Mongoose tried its best to stop the onslaught.
Conclusion: I loved the feel of the deck with all one drop creatures with Force of Negation as my backup counter spell. The new green creatures have overpreformed for me in both the tournament and the few online games I've managed to play. To this end I wanted to test Flusterstorm in the side board, but I feel it would be better as Dispel. Sorry for the long write up, but please tell me what you think! It has certainly been a while since I've done a report like this.
Sorry for the VERY late reply, but I've been traveling a lot and haven't had the time to get on a computer. Deprive was amazing when I needed it most because it's the only counterspell that is for sure countering something when you need to go late. It definitely proved itself as a solid supplementary counterspell in this list.
Hello fellow Delver friends! So I played a UR Delver list last Saturday to a successful undefeated record of 6-0! I've been lurking this forum for a little bit, but never found a list that suited my play style until now. Here's the list.
This list utilizes Disrupting Shoal to tap out for its threats and still be able to defend them against kill spells or possible combo kills. The decks I played against would be(in order) Abzan Company, Affinity, Grixis Shadow, 4 Color Midrange, Grixis Shadow, and Living End. The deck I struggled against the most was 4 Color Midrange, but timely Blood Moons managed to steal several games. It was four rounds and a cut to top 4 so I'm happy that it preformed as well as it did. Let me know what you all think!
@MrTzoulis I guess I've always felt like the underdog against the removal heavy decks such as Jeskai Control, BGx, and Mardu. Delver dies to everything and so my plan was to take them out and sidestep their removal by moving towards a more planeswalker/enchantment game plan. Against the combo decks like Storm and Ad Nauseam I feel like we had a massive advantage with our low cost threats and plentiful counterspells. GW Company was a strange match up, but they run a very low number of flyers so Delver of Secrets and Spell Queller can put enough pressure on them early so our burn spells can finish them off. Our experiences seem to be different somewhat and I would love to see your build of Jeskai Delver that gives you an advantage over these fair decks.
@CurdBros I've been fiddling with Bedlam Reveler in UR Delver, but haven't pulled the trigger on him in a Jeskai build yet. Definitely worth exploring! Jace, the Mind Sculptor, on the other hand, has been very unimpressive for me when it comes to a viable sideboard slot. He isn't a bad card, but it doesn't provide a resilient game plan on his own that Nahiri, the Harbinger provides to the context of why we're bringing them in. It's still a protect the queen strategy, much like Geist of Saint Traft, but can be used in different functions other than 'attack their face'.
Not sure if I explained it correctly, but little and big mama has been great when backed up Search for Azcanta. To that end I feel that, at least in this VERY reactive version of Delver, we can support Nahiri, the Harbinger along with everything she provides.
Thanks for the advice @CurbBros and @StevomatUWR. Boros Charm and Grim Lavamancer have always been on my radar if I ever wanted to play a more aggressive game, but what I was trying to do with this list is play the most reactive delver deck I could think of. A low to the ground Jeskai Flash list is what I was aiming for with a Nahiri, the Harbinger sideboard plan. I was surprised by how effective the planeswalker sideboard plan worked and am now (probably) always gong to keep those four slots for them.
Hello fellow Jeskai friends! This is my first time posting on this thread and I'm glad to see people still active on it. I'm not sure about anyone else but I recently played at the SCG Regional last Saturday. After a good start I ended 5-4 with Jeskai Delver.
The deck felt great and if I had kept my energy up and not played as sloppy then I feel like I could have been 7-2 by the end of the day. I could write up a report, but it would have to be a later date when I have more time. Please, tell me what you think! I would love to get some feedback and see what everyone thinks.
This is the list I've testing on MTGO for the last couple of days with fairly good results. The deck is mostly an experiment to see if Enigma Drake could be a suitable follow creature to Delver of Secrets and to my surprise it has preformed very well.
Again, this is a test to see if the new cards can give UR Delver some game, and while the drake makes the deck very aggressive in the air, the Cryptic Serpents give us a massive beater that can fend off the ground. Although I think running four of him would be too much. Two is the sweet spot that I've found for the 6/5. If you haven't tested Enigma Drake out then I recommend giving him a spin and letting me know how he's preformed for you. I'm curious to see if anyone else has tested out our new flying friend.
So I've been brewing Sultai for a while now (since Gerard won the SCG Open forever ago), but have always come up short. Once I found this page, and with the addition of Fatal Push, it has made my brewing gears start turning once again. This is the list that I've been testing in paper with surprisingly good results.
I started this list with four Snapcaster Mage and two Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, but I slowly started flipping the two as I continued testing. JVP is an actual threat, and plays better with the hand disruption package I'm trying to run. Still, a few Snapcaster Mages are definitely required and I've found that two is the correct number for this list in particular. He's not something you want to see in an overabundance, but nice to have when we need to flashback a Fatal Push or a Cryptic Command every once in a while.
Liliana, the Last Hope acts as our Kolaghan's Command and an alternate win condition. If you haven't tried running her then I definitely recommend testing a few to see how she feels because she has been nothing but impressive in testing.
The mana has been great, and I've never had much trouble casting Liliana, the Last Hope on turn three then Cryptic Command on turn four. My mana base is similar to a Jund list, but with a few differences.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this build of Sultai because I could go into more detail on each and every card choice, but that would require time that I don't have at the moment (maybe later on this evening?). There's so many ways to build this deck that you can really tune it to your specific play style. Depending on your local meta I could easily see a more counter heavy version backed up by more Snapcaster Mages, or even some Thought Scours and a few Tasigur, the Golden Fangs if you wanted to go down that route. Sultai can be anything you tune it to be, and that's why I love this color combination.
So I've been playing around with a list of Sultai Delver that makes use of of the new card Fatal Push. I'm not sure if it's good enough, but this is what I've been brewing. It kind of reminds me of the the old Monkey Grow list, but with a few updates and personal twists.
Jund is a rough match up and the only way I've been able to beat GBx (this is before the additions of Nimble Mongoose and Hexdrinker mind you) is by Blood Mooning them with Huntmaster of the Fells as backup. I haven't played against a Rock deck since the addition of the new cards so I'm still waiting to see how they preform here.
I debated Magmatic Sinkhole as the card to replace Dismember, but I thought that the delve on the card would conflict too much with the threshold on Nimble Mongoose. The life loss can be hard, and the alternative ability to hit planeswalkers can be very useful at times, but the conflict between the mongoose and the removal spell worried me. It's definitely worth testing to see if the two can work together though.
As for Force of Negation and Disrupting Shoal numbers I'm staying with the current list's numbers just for testing purposes. I want to jam out a few more games with the new counter spell to get a feel for how it interacts with the format. The exile clause can be a huge advantage when countering certain spells such as Faithless Looting or Life From the Loam. Just like the removal spells above I'll be testing both Force of Negation and Magmatic Sinkhole over the coming weeks.
Definitely worth testing! Not sure if it's better than Nimble Mongoose or Hexdrinker as each has their own advantages and disadvantages, but it's worth considering.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Hexdrinker
Spells(31)
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Burst Lightning
3 Vapor Snag
4 Serum Visions
2 Opt
4 Thought Scour
3 Spell Pierce
3 Mana Leak
2 Disrupting Shoal
1 Dismember
4 Force of Negation
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
3 Island
1 Forest
2 Flusterstorm
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Abrade
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Alpine Moon
2 Young Pyromancer
Match 1 vs. Bant Spirits 2-0:
Game one was a very close match with me bolting as many of his lords as possible and trading away Delver of Secrets until finally leveling up a Hexdrinker to level eight. After three hits the snake won the race with me at one life. Game two played out diffrently with me playing two Nimble Mongoose turns one and two before gaining threshold on turn 3. Vapor Snag was an allstar here as it managed to bounce a lord to enable the two Lightning Bolts in my hand.
SB changes: -3 Spell Pierce -1 Force of Negation, +2 Abrade +2 Young Pyromancer
Match 2 vs. Rakdos Goblins 2-0:
This was by far my favorite match of the day with swings on both sides in game one until finally I was able to stabilze with a level four Hexdrinker, which I was constanly scared to level up due to the presence of Munitions Expert. I managed to work my opponent down to 10 life before going all in on the snake and kicking a Burst Lightning in conjuction with the attack. Game two I used a Force of Negation to counter an Aether Vial on the draw and proceeded to play defence with a Nimble Mongoose until I flipped a Delver of Secrets that I protected. While fairly one sided in the second game the first came down to the wire while we traded resources back and forth. Very cool deck and only getting stronger with M20!
SB changes: -3 Spell Pierce -1 Force of Negation, +2 Abrade +2 Young Pyromancer
Match 3 vs. Burn 2-0:
So Burn is, in my expeirience, a fairly simple matchup where if we find our free/cheap counter magic with an early threat then we are likely to win. Nimble Mongoose was the ideal threat in this matchup for obvious reasons while Hexdrinker played the role of being thrown in front of any creature swung my way. After killing their early threats a mongoose and a level three snake took the game home for me with the second game playing out much the same way except instead of a Hexdrinker it was a Delver of Secrets. I found my counter magic at the right time which led me to win the game.
SB changes: -1 Dismember -3 Vapor Snag, +2 Flusterstorm +2 Abrade
Match 4 vs. Grixis Shadow 2-1:
A tough match for sure, but one that Nimble Mongoose and Vapor Snag shine in. Game one I keep a risky six card hand with a single land, a Delver of Secrets, and a Serum Visions as the important cards. Since I was on the draw he managed to Thoughtsieze me and after some thought he took my cantrip. I never drew another land. Game two I used a Spell Pierce on his discard spell and slammed a Hexdrinker with multiple ways to protect it. After countering a removal spell I proceeded to level it up to three where the only card I was worried about was Liliana of the Veil out of his side board. The final match came down to the two Nimble Mongoose that managed to get around his Liliana, the Last Hope. With a hand full of removal and his single Death's Shadow getting snagged several times I successfully managed to tempo him out on the turn that the LtLH was going to ultimate.
SB changes: -1 Lightning Bolt -1 Burst Lightning -2 Force of Negation, +2 Young Pyromancer +2 Flusterstorm
Match 5 vs. Humans 0-2: Not much to say here. I as rolled so hard that I barely remember the match. Games one and two he had Cavern of Souls into Aether Vial and I was never able to recover both games. I had a fleeting chance game one when I used a free counter to stop the vial, but it was all for naught. Nimble Mongoose tried its best to stop the onslaught.
SB Changes: -3 Spell Pierce -1 Force of Negation, +2 Abrade +2 Young Pyromancer
Conclusion: I loved the feel of the deck with all one drop creatures with Force of Negation as my backup counter spell. The new green creatures have overpreformed for me in both the tournament and the few online games I've managed to play. To this end I wanted to test Flusterstorm in the side board, but I feel it would be better as Dispel. Sorry for the long write up, but please tell me what you think! It has certainly been a while since I've done a report like this.
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Bedlam Reveler
Spells(31)
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
1 Burst Lightning
4 Serum Visions
3 Opt
2 Thought Scour
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
3 Mana Leak
2 Deprive
4 Disrupting Shoal
2 Dismember
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
2 Spirebluff Canal
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Dispel
1 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Abrade
1 Roast
3 Thing in the Ice
3 Blood Moon
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Izzet Staticaster
This list utilizes Disrupting Shoal to tap out for its threats and still be able to defend them against kill spells or possible combo kills. The decks I played against would be(in order) Abzan Company, Affinity, Grixis Shadow, 4 Color Midrange, Grixis Shadow, and Living End. The deck I struggled against the most was 4 Color Midrange, but timely Blood Moons managed to steal several games. It was four rounds and a cut to top 4 so I'm happy that it preformed as well as it did. Let me know what you all think!
@CurdBros I've been fiddling with Bedlam Reveler in UR Delver, but haven't pulled the trigger on him in a Jeskai build yet. Definitely worth exploring! Jace, the Mind Sculptor, on the other hand, has been very unimpressive for me when it comes to a viable sideboard slot. He isn't a bad card, but it doesn't provide a resilient game plan on his own that Nahiri, the Harbinger provides to the context of why we're bringing them in. It's still a protect the queen strategy, much like Geist of Saint Traft, but can be used in different functions other than 'attack their face'.
Not sure if I explained it correctly, but little and big mama has been great when backed up Search for Azcanta. To that end I feel that, at least in this VERY reactive version of Delver, we can support Nahiri, the Harbinger along with everything she provides.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Spell Queller
Spells(28)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Opt
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Snare
3 Lightning Helix
3 Logic Knot
2 Mana Leak
1 Electrolyze
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Wear // Tear
2 Damping Sphere
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
The deck felt great and if I had kept my energy up and not played as sloppy then I feel like I could have been 7-2 by the end of the day. I could write up a report, but it would have to be a later date when I have more time. Please, tell me what you think! I would love to get some feedback and see what everyone thinks.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Enigma Drake
2 Cryptic Serpent
Spells(27)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
1 Spite of Mogis
4 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
2 Vapor Snag
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Spirebluff Canal
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Bedlam Reveler
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Destructive Revelry
3 Blood Moon
1 Threads of Disloyalty
Again, this is a test to see if the new cards can give UR Delver some game, and while the drake makes the deck very aggressive in the air, the Cryptic Serpents give us a massive beater that can fend off the ground. Although I think running four of him would be too much. Two is the sweet spot that I've found for the 6/5. If you haven't tested Enigma Drake out then I recommend giving him a spin and letting me know how he's preformed for you. I'm curious to see if anyone else has tested out our new flying friend.
4 Grim Flayer
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Snapcaster Mage
Spells(24)
4 Fatal Push
2 Serum Visions
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Cryptic Command
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Sunken Ruins
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Dispel
2 Bitterblossom
2 Collective Brutality
3 Countersquall
3 Spreading Seas
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Damnation
I started this list with four Snapcaster Mage and two Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, but I slowly started flipping the two as I continued testing. JVP is an actual threat, and plays better with the hand disruption package I'm trying to run. Still, a few Snapcaster Mages are definitely required and I've found that two is the correct number for this list in particular. He's not something you want to see in an overabundance, but nice to have when we need to flashback a Fatal Push or a Cryptic Command every once in a while.
Liliana, the Last Hope acts as our Kolaghan's Command and an alternate win condition. If you haven't tried running her then I definitely recommend testing a few to see how she feels because she has been nothing but impressive in testing.
The mana has been great, and I've never had much trouble casting Liliana, the Last Hope on turn three then Cryptic Command on turn four. My mana base is similar to a Jund list, but with a few differences.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this build of Sultai because I could go into more detail on each and every card choice, but that would require time that I don't have at the moment (maybe later on this evening?). There's so many ways to build this deck that you can really tune it to your specific play style. Depending on your local meta I could easily see a more counter heavy version backed up by more Snapcaster Mages, or even some Thought Scours and a few Tasigur, the Golden Fangs if you wanted to go down that route. Sultai can be anything you tune it to be, and that's why I love this color combination.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Hooting Mandrills
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells(30)
4 Fatal Push
4 Serum Visions
2 Sleight of Hand
4 Stubborn Denial
4 Thought Scour
4 Disrupting Shoal
4 Mana Leak
2 Simic Charm
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest