I've replaced 2 Magmaquake with 2 Bonfire. I'll see how that shakes out.
I'm also considering Jace, AoT for some repeatable draw, Ral Zarek for some repeatable removal, and Evil Twin as a way to have an additional threat.
Another card I found in my stash that feels like it could have some value is Soul Ransom. Against an aggressive deck, they could be low enough on cards that if we grab a guy, they don't have the 2 cards to get it back.
18 spells is a little low for trying to flip a Delver, but with Geist and Obzedat, you're basically just running a tempo deck with Delver in the 1-drop slot, not so much a "Delver deck."
That's all fine, by the way, the tempo tools and new shocklands make a Delver tempo deck pretty viable, and probably underrated. Your removal/counter package plus Blind Obedience will definitely punch a RDW player in a gut a bit when their haste creatures still have to wait a turn (a turn where you can kill/bounce them).
This was the problem I ran into with Spell Rupture, Supreme Verdict and Abrupt Decay really ruin your day. Once you don't have board presence your Spell Rupture ends up dead and can't be used to help catch up.
It's bad if we get wiped, but it's not the end of the world. We can play a Snapcaster pretty much whenever, and we could play an Orzhov Charm (even off of the Snapcaster...) to bring back a Delver out of the Graveyard, immediately reestablishing presence.
Jace's Phantasm comes into play as a 1/1, then gets +4/+4 as a continuous ability if the graveyard requirement is met. It would evolve Cloudfin Raptor, but just once (since 1/1 is "bigger" than 0/1).
Dimir adds a ton of nice cards that mill while also doing something else.
Consider Psychic Strike as a counterspell that also mills, and maybe things like whispering madness (windfall that's repeatable), balustrade spy (creature that mills on ETB), or Sage's Row Denizen (creature that mills on other creatures ETB).
You have to be careful with cards like Mind Sculpt that don't do anything besides mill. They don't improve your board state, and they don't really slow down your opponent's tempo. You might also want some tempo spells like hands of binding, gridlock, or aetherize.
If we're using the opponent's graveyard to buff up Phatasm and Aberration, exiling the yard and keeping more cards from hitting it takes away our damage potential.
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I'm also considering Jace, AoT for some repeatable draw, Ral Zarek for some repeatable removal, and Evil Twin as a way to have an additional threat.
Another card I found in my stash that feels like it could have some value is Soul Ransom. Against an aggressive deck, they could be low enough on cards that if we grab a guy, they don't have the 2 cards to get it back.
There's also Feeling of Dread that'll tap down two creatures, and then two again on the flashback, and Gridlock that's XU to tap down X.
That's all fine, by the way, the tempo tools and new shocklands make a Delver tempo deck pretty viable, and probably underrated. Your removal/counter package plus Blind Obedience will definitely punch a RDW player in a gut a bit when their haste creatures still have to wait a turn (a turn where you can kill/bounce them).
It's bad if we get wiped, but it's not the end of the world. We can play a Snapcaster pretty much whenever, and we could play an Orzhov Charm (even off of the Snapcaster...) to bring back a Delver out of the Graveyard, immediately reestablishing presence.
Consider Psychic Strike as a counterspell that also mills, and maybe things like whispering madness (windfall that's repeatable), balustrade spy (creature that mills on ETB), or Sage's Row Denizen (creature that mills on other creatures ETB).
You have to be careful with cards like Mind Sculpt that don't do anything besides mill. They don't improve your board state, and they don't really slow down your opponent's tempo. You might also want some tempo spells like hands of binding, gridlock, or aetherize.