Hi everyone! Recently I saw Jeff Hoogland's videos about Grixis Delver and surprisingly enough he doesn't run any Visions in favor of a full playset of Opt. He also affirm that Serum Visions is a bad card compared to Opt cause it makes you draw before scrying and it doens't enhance so much the chance to flip the delver. In this thread I have seen many people doing the opposite (4 Serum and no Opt) so I'd like to know what's your thought about what Hoogland said.
I did another one of my video series with Grixis Delver today with my preferred list. Deck was sweet as always. Link below! Trimmed the hand disruption. I don't like it very much in an aggressive meta and Inquisition of Kozilek, the preferred disruption to maindeck, doesn't even hit the key cards in Jeskai/UW. Instead I have 2 Thoughtseize in the SB to bring in accordingly.
I play a very similar list and I think it's pretty functional, most of the MU are 50/50 and if the pilot is experienced enough it is not so difficult to win those games. However nice videos ParadoxOmega, very happy to see Grixis Delver on screen!
Gonna be playing Grixis Delver at a pptq this weekend. I think this is the list I'm going to play but if anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it!
Similar to what Jeff Hoogland has been playing except for the land. I'm not running Scalding Tarns due to budget but I'm also running more basics. I'm expecting to run into a lot of Field of Ruin and Path to Exile. Also I feel like being able to fetch tons of basics might help in shoring up some of the more painful MU's like Humans and Spirits. On that note, does anyone have any pointers on the Spirits MU? Been annihilated a few times by it recently. Any input is appreciated!
Personally I don't like too much Jeff's list, too many Brutality and Kolaghan and very few spot removal and counters are not the best IMHO. Besides this I play with an identical land base (for budget reason) and even if it's not the best configuration it saved me a lot of life and expecially against Burn is very important.
However Good Luck and I hope you'll enjoy playing this deck at the pptq!
What's the general consensus on whether playing or not hand disruption among the 75? I was thinking about replacing a Dispel and a Young Peezy for 2 IoK MB, cause Dispel is such a situational card and also I'd like to increase the delver flips taking instant/sorcery count to 28. Can it be a good solution?
Well done! I have a few questions about your deck: How it felt playing with 12 cantrips? Those remand were useful? Do you recommend Alpine Moon against Tron and decks with Cavern of Souls?
12 cantrips felt amazing, looting imho is a kind of an upgrade of scour, several times i cast a scour to mill 2 spells/threaths and draw a land... Opt and serum are just the best 2 blue cantrips available and not playing them is just an error for me. As said in the previous quote i want to dig into my deck and 12 cantrips are amazing.
Remand is a card that i love and hate at the same time: i hate remand because is not an "answer", u just gain 1 turn before the same spell will be cast again but i really want it in a meta full of terminus to annihilate their miracle ability. It is also extreamely good with YP cause it let you draw into new spell to cast with her on the board. Remand is also quite good against tron to gain enough time to kill them.
Alpine moon is one of the greatest addiction they gave to us: damping sphere is simply bad if you run YP! Yestarday i played another tournament (ended 3-1 only lose to bant spirits) and won twice against amulet thanks to alpine moon. An uncounterable titan is GG so cavern is a good target
I want to apologize if my english is not the best you can find into this forum but i'm an Italian guy
Thank you I'll definetely try alpine moon, it seems really good!
However don't worry about your english because mine is not really too good (I'm Italian too)
Well done! I have a few questions about your deck: How it felt playing with 12 cantrips? Those remand were useful? Do you recommend Alpine Moon against Tron and decks with Cavern of Souls?
What do you think about the new Guilds of Ravnica mechanics: Jump-Start and Surveil?
They seem very interesting to me and I think Grixis can really benefit from these new spells. Personally my wet dream would be a cantrip with: "Surveil 1; Draw a card", or also "Draw a card; Surveil 2" like a pseudo Serum Visions.
Round 1 I was against a guy with a Sliver deck and I won 2-1:
G1: I kept a bad hand with few cantrips and only 2 Islands and I couldn't find the other colors that I needed so I conceded.
G2: I kept a risky hand with a Anger of the Gods and I've waited until the boards was full of slivers. Once the board was clear a flipped Delver and a Gurmag took the game.
G3: I simply killed every creature he casted and killed him with Tasigur.
Round 2 was against Infect and it was an easy 2-0:
G1: He took me to 8 Infect damage but then he run out of protection spells and I was able to outvalue him with Electrolize and I took the game with few Gurmag swings.
G2: Pretty same as G1 but I won the game without any Infect damage.
Round 3 was against Burn, a pretty tough matchup I must say even if I went 2-0.
G1: Fastlands saved me from losing too much life so I could take the game with well timed counterspells and delve creatures. Collective Brutality was a powerhouse.
G2: It was pretty awkward, he was at 10 life while I was at 3, at EOT I shoot 2 bolts to his face taking him to 4. In his turn he was at the topdeck and drew a land and passed; I draw a snapcaster and passed; he topdecked a bolt and he cast it, in response I played the snap and flashback a countersquall taking him to 2 life then swing with the snap to take the victory.
Ok so I dropped all the main deck discard in favor of more cantrips and removal/counters I've got a couple questions on my #'s first is 10 cantrips to many ? Should I drop the two opts for more removal/ counters? second are the counters the best thing for this deck should I drop them to add inquisition back in so that in being proactive rather than reactive? Also would it be better to just run 4 rune snag instead of a split between remand and mana leak because if I mill 1 with thought scour it just helps the ones I draw later in the game. I like remand a lot but sometimes it's just really bad same as mana leak. I'm liking the nimble obstructionist having an uncouterable way to deal with storm is cool not to mention stifling planeswalker abilities and a lot of other things is really good not to mention it can be gotten back with k_command or just played as a 3/1 flyer with flash to help with beats. Has anyone else tried her?
I think that 10 cantrips are way too many, maybe you can add a Murderous Cut, since you don't rely too much on your graveyard, and a Collective Brutality which is really powerful in this deck. I'd also cut Remands to 1 or even replace them at all in favour of another Spell Snare and/or another Mana Leak.
Talking about maindeck discard spells it really depends on which kind of style you wanna adopt, I've tried the deck with and without them and I still trying to figure out which is the best version, sometimes discarding felt great and sometimes felt pretty bad.
Nice and interesting Wizard deck but definetely not a Delver deck, with 22 lands and only 19 spells
It's definitely a Delver deck focused on the wizard spells and plays Kiran in the sideboard, you can tune it to your liking.
But this version got a good result, making almost top 8 and already getting 5-0 in MTGO.
And is rising in MTG goldfish.
For "Delver deck" I meant a deck which focuses on flipping delver asap and then plays the "protect the queen" style, I was just saying that this deck clearly has a different playstyle. However I really like it but I'd make some changes like replacing Mana Leak or Remand with a playset of Wizard's Retort
I personally don't think that would be a nice add to our deck, it feels like a nonbo with Snaps and with cards like Serum Visions that allow deck manipulation.
It could be a tempting card when you have zero cards in hand or when they're useless, but you don't know what cards you are going to draw with the Courier.
However maybe you could test it and report here your results
Thank you so much MarcWizard and caesar_16 for your suggestions, unfortunately I haven't got any JVP nor clique nor daredevil at the moment but I'll try to get 2 of them. Thank you once again!
Hi everyone! I was thinking about replacing 2 Swiftspears (which are very awful in this deck) with 2 Death's Shadows in my "semi-budget" list, since I can't afford for now Snapcasters but I'll buy Kolaghans in these days. I think that those will improve the deck a bit, surely more than Swiftspears, because I am often on low life due to the greedy manabase and also I could replace Spell Pierce with Stubborn Denial. Is it a worth replacement or do I have to leave the spears?
I must say that I don't like GDS plan and that's why I'm not running any Thoughtsize and a full playset of DS, I just wanted a 1 drop threat that can fit this deck and DS seemed to me a good answer. Since I'm not going to lowering my life on purpose my opponent may not expect it.
Hi everyone! I was thinking about replacing 2 Swiftspears (which are very awful in this deck) with 2 Death's Shadows in my "semi-budget" list, since I can't afford for now Snapcasters but I'll buy Kolaghans in these days. I think that those will improve the deck a bit, surely more than Swiftspears, because I am often on low life due to the greedy manabase and also I could replace Spell Pierce with Stubborn Denial. Is it a worth replacement or do I have to leave the spears?
As a tempo deck deck i think sphere is the only one to really consider. If it holds off tron or storm long enough for us to crack in for lethal i think its worth it. It can be played a turn earlier than fulminator as well and has no color constraint
Yes, you're probabily right but I think that we have to bear in mind the last sentence of that card: "Each spell a player casts costs {1} more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.". This, at the very end, can make our chained cheap spells much less efficient.
I play a very similar list and I think it's pretty functional, most of the MU are 50/50 and if the pilot is experienced enough it is not so difficult to win those games. However nice videos ParadoxOmega, very happy to see Grixis Delver on screen!
Personally I don't like too much Jeff's list, too many Brutality and Kolaghan and very few spot removal and counters are not the best IMHO. Besides this I play with an identical land base (for budget reason) and even if it's not the best configuration it saved me a lot of life and expecially against Burn is very important.
However Good Luck and I hope you'll enjoy playing this deck at the pptq!
Thank you I'll definetely try alpine moon, it seems really good!
However don't worry about your english because mine is not really too good (I'm Italian too)
They seem very interesting to me and I think Grixis can really benefit from these new spells. Personally my wet dream would be a cantrip with: "Surveil 1; Draw a card", or also "Draw a card; Surveil 2" like a pseudo Serum Visions.
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
2 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
//Instants
1 Dispel
1 Electrolyze
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
2 Terminate
4 Thought Scour
1 Collective Brutality
4 Serum Visions
//Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Gurmag Angler
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Anger of the Gods
2 By Force
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Countersquall
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dispel
2 Echoing Truth
1 Electrolyze
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Tormod's Crypt
Round 1 I was against a guy with a Sliver deck and I won 2-1:
G1: I kept a bad hand with few cantrips and only 2 Islands and I couldn't find the other colors that I needed so I conceded.
G2: I kept a risky hand with a Anger of the Gods and I've waited until the boards was full of slivers. Once the board was clear a flipped Delver and a Gurmag took the game.
G3: I simply killed every creature he casted and killed him with Tasigur.
Round 2 was against Infect and it was an easy 2-0:
G1: He took me to 8 Infect damage but then he run out of protection spells and I was able to outvalue him with Electrolize and I took the game with few Gurmag swings.
G2: Pretty same as G1 but I won the game without any Infect damage.
Round 3 was against Burn, a pretty tough matchup I must say even if I went 2-0.
G1: Fastlands saved me from losing too much life so I could take the game with well timed counterspells and delve creatures. Collective Brutality was a powerhouse.
G2: It was pretty awkward, he was at 10 life while I was at 3, at EOT I shoot 2 bolts to his face taking him to 4. In his turn he was at the topdeck and drew a land and passed; I draw a snapcaster and passed; he topdecked a bolt and he cast it, in response I played the snap and flashback a countersquall taking him to 2 life then swing with the snap to take the victory.
I think that 10 cantrips are way too many, maybe you can add a Murderous Cut, since you don't rely too much on your graveyard, and a Collective Brutality which is really powerful in this deck. I'd also cut Remands to 1 or even replace them at all in favour of another Spell Snare and/or another Mana Leak.
Talking about maindeck discard spells it really depends on which kind of style you wanna adopt, I've tried the deck with and without them and I still trying to figure out which is the best version, sometimes discarding felt great and sometimes felt pretty bad.
If I put 4 Matter Reshaper in Grixis Delver does it become an Eldrazi deck or a deck with 4 cards that don't really fit in it?
For "Delver deck" I meant a deck which focuses on flipping delver asap and then plays the "protect the queen" style, I was just saying that this deck clearly has a different playstyle. However I really like it but I'd make some changes like replacing Mana Leak or Remand with a playset of Wizard's Retort
Nice and interesting Wizard deck but definetely not a Delver deck, with 22 lands and only 19 spells
It could be a tempting card when you have zero cards in hand or when they're useless, but you don't know what cards you are going to draw with the Courier.
However maybe you could test it and report here your results
The resulting list would be like this:
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Flooded Strand
2x Island
2x Mountain
2x Polluted Delta
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Swamp
2x Steam Vents
1x Watery Grave
2x Dispel
1x Electrolyze
3x Fatal Push
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
4x Serum Visions
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Grim Lavamancer
2x Gurmag Angler
2x Death's Shadow
3x Young Pyromancer
I must say that I don't like GDS plan and that's why I'm not running any Thoughtsize and a full playset of DS, I just wanted a 1 drop threat that can fit this deck and DS seemed to me a good answer. Since I'm not going to lowering my life on purpose my opponent may not expect it.
Yes, you're probabily right but I think that we have to bear in mind the last sentence of that card: "Each spell a player casts costs {1} more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.". This, at the very end, can make our chained cheap spells much less efficient.
No sorry that was a typo, I run 8 cantrips, 4 Serum and 4 Thoughtscour. 9 if only you consider Electrolyze as a "pseudo-cantrip/card advantage"