I have the delvers and all the basic mana leaks/cancel/force spikes. I can get nimble mongoose, and dark confidant, maybe add deathrite shaman in stead of gofys for now? I am working on a basic playable set of lands, ill probably go ravnica for costs. i do have a couple underground seas though. no wastelands.
What are the basics for this deck?
brainstorm
ponder
peer into depths?
nimble mongoose
delver
dark confidant
deathrite shaman
The problem with cheap delver is... Force of Will, Wasteland and blue duals. Except for those elements, some of the Grixis/4c Delver lists are relatively affordable (pretty much all the spells are commons). Sub in some shocks and you'll still be able to play the game. Force of Will and Wasteland is the big problem for you though. You can play Misdirection a lot of the time to protect your creature threats though, but it's tricky.
I'd try something like the following. Some of these lists also choose to run 1-2 True-name Nemesis for the late game threat, and some do still run Stifle like more traditional Rug/Canadian Threshold.
1) Fetchlands don't need to be expensive. Get some Moderately Played Polluted Delta from Khans block, instead of shelling out for Scalding Tarn. If you don't have any basic Mountains it won't make a difference.
2) I think you're asking the wrong question. You can easily play Delver without playing _UG Delver (or "ugh" Delver... you say UGH because you need to shell out for Goyf). The only reason to play green is Goyf. If you don't have Goyf, it's optimal to just play one of the non-green Delver decks instead of playing green and trying to replace Goyf. Just play U/R Delver or RUB Delver. No need to play either BUG or RUG.
For UR, you can get away with playing a 16-land build without Wastelands and with more burn. You can also play a similar list splashing black for Gurmag Angler (as your Tarmogoyf replacement for cheap ground fatty), like posted above. The only expensive card left is Force of Will, which can be replaced by some Misdirection (don't run 4 though).
If you want to make use of the cards you have, you could try to run 2 copies of Counterspell in there as a budget option. However, Cancel, Mana Leak, and Force Spike are all not Legacy playable at all. Don't even try to play those cards. They do too little for their mana cost. Stick to Misdirection, Daze, Spell Pierce and maybe 0-2 Counterspell.
Honestly, I don't think you can build Delver with budget land replacements. The fact that you need to pick up and replay your lands repeatedly with Daze and that Wasteland is key to the mana-denial plan, you're just handicapping yourself too much. You're better off brewing from scratch than trying to de-price decks that rely on expensive cards.
In that line, one potential option might be a mono-blue delver build such as this one from last year:
I can tell you off the bat that the above looks nothing like what I would be trying if I built mono-blue delver, but there's a lot of room there and I think you are best off building from the ground up rather than try to strip down something else.
EDIT: here's another one. This one is a bit older though (first half of 2013) and skips on the card Delver itself.
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I don't think you can play RUG/BUG Delver without Wasteland and Daze. Many other cards are negotiable but what exactly are RUG and BUG doing early on if they're not on the mana-jamming plan?
If you wanted to try BUG with Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach you'd have some active disruption going early on, however you really want Daze with either of the discard spells so you can tap out and still have some play.
True, Daze is worse with shocks and not being able to fetch non-blue basics certainly hurts your resilience against Wasteland.
OP: Why don't you just play Pauper? There are some great Pauper decks with Delver. It's a very budget friendly format. Even if you do find a way to throw together budget Legacy Delver, it won't be competitive. It will just so you can have fun playing with Delver (a card that you like I guess?) in Legacy. But you won't even have fun playing it because people will drop Goblin Charbelcher on turn 1 and kill you and you won't get to do anything at all and it won't be fun. That's what happens when you play Legacy without the proper cards. So if you just want to play Delver with the Legacy card pool, play Pauper. It's a very fun format and it's much more accessible with budget.
I like the deck you put together. The Young Pyromancer seems like a good play,
what about a Goblin Fireslinger for a potential switch?
What about running a Vendilion Clique main deck, I like the flashing?
Here's What I'm thinking.
You should check out some of the main related delver threads and see why they run some of the cards they run. Also other posters have a good point about damage taken from shocklands when playing daze, and if you are set on playing tempo Mono Blue might be a an ok option, but isn't super cheap either. If you're going to complete the deck at some point, having even 1 of the dual lands you need makes a huge difference, and will feel like a huge upgrade. Again though, it depends on fetchlands which are already climbing and if you want them you should get them now.
Some thoughts though if you are set on the multicolored type of tempo deck.
Land - 22 land is too many. Don't run Evolving Wilds, it's too slow. You need fetches! Brainstorm sucks without fetches. Again, if you play this deck you need fetches! The one of Breeding Pool for example to use Deathrite's green ability is never going to show up when you need it without searching for it via fetchlands.
Young Pyromancer/Goblin Fireslinger - Don't play the goblin. Young Pyro rewards you for everything your deck does anyway, casting cheap spells. Fireslinger is just not strong enough. Also Young Pyro is very affordable for a legacy card. Between Lightning Bolt and Forked Bolt, if you end up feeling like you still need more creature removal, try a couple of Grim Lavamancer. Again though, fetchlands make Lavamancer a lot better.
Dark Confidant - Sure it's a good card, but it ups your curve, you take even more damage in addition to the fetches and you loose beaters, play Angler instead. Bob is also expensive, so running something else frees up at least $70-$80 for other cards (like fetchlands and/or Wasteland). If you really want to play Dark Confidant (maybe you have them already), maybe you want to play a Death's Shadow deck? It would make the shocklands and life loss from fetches and Dark Confidant into a sorta good thing? More black and Bob might make playing Hymn to Tourach more attractive as well since you will be trying to grind a little more into the mid-late game. Would make 3 Dig Through Time more attractive as well. I suppose you could try a UB tempo deck.
Deathrite Shaman - If you're not running fetchlands (and you need to be to ensure you get the correct 2 lands to cast all your spells), you shouldn't run Deathrite.
Peer Through Depths - Don't play this, play Dig Through Time. DTT is the payoff that can let you pull through in the midgame, makes running so many cantrips better, the cantrips and DTT makes Young Pyromancer better...
Snapcaster Mage - Great card obviously, but pretty hard on the manabase of this super lean style deck to run 4 of. Run 1-2 max.
Anyhow, the list I described initially runs $500 on TCG (heavy play), and honestly would still need another $700-800 to be competitive by adding 4 Force of Will, 1 Volcanic Island and 1 Underground Sea.
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Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
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What are the basics for this deck?
brainstorm
ponder
peer into depths?
nimble mongoose
delver
dark confidant
deathrite shaman
what else are NEEDED?
im trying to avoid the wastelands/tarmagoyfs...
(luckily, I played standard when snaps came around. I had some fun with him)
I'd try something like the following. Some of these lists also choose to run 1-2 True-name Nemesis for the late game threat, and some do still run Stifle like more traditional Rug/Canadian Threshold.
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Young Pyromancer
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
2 Watery Grave
3 Steam Vents
4 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
2 Dig Through Time
3 Misdirection
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
1 Forked Bolt
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
1 Pithing Needle
1 Dread of Night
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dismember
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Cabal Therapy
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
1) Fetchlands don't need to be expensive. Get some Moderately Played Polluted Delta from Khans block, instead of shelling out for Scalding Tarn. If you don't have any basic Mountains it won't make a difference.
2) I think you're asking the wrong question. You can easily play Delver without playing _UG Delver (or "ugh" Delver... you say UGH because you need to shell out for Goyf). The only reason to play green is Goyf. If you don't have Goyf, it's optimal to just play one of the non-green Delver decks instead of playing green and trying to replace Goyf. Just play U/R Delver or RUB Delver. No need to play either BUG or RUG.
For UR, you can get away with playing a 16-land build without Wastelands and with more burn. You can also play a similar list splashing black for Gurmag Angler (as your Tarmogoyf replacement for cheap ground fatty), like posted above. The only expensive card left is Force of Will, which can be replaced by some Misdirection (don't run 4 though).
If you want to make use of the cards you have, you could try to run 2 copies of Counterspell in there as a budget option. However, Cancel, Mana Leak, and Force Spike are all not Legacy playable at all. Don't even try to play those cards. They do too little for their mana cost. Stick to Misdirection, Daze, Spell Pierce and maybe 0-2 Counterspell.
In that line, one potential option might be a mono-blue delver build such as this one from last year:
11 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
Creatures (10)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Spells (29)
2 Back to Basics
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
1 Dismember
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Force of Will
1 Gut Shot
3 Spell Pierce
1 Thought Scour
1 Vapor Snag
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
1 Vedalken Shackles
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Force of Will
1 Gut Shot
1 Hydroblast
1 Sapphire Charm
3 Submerge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique
I can tell you off the bat that the above looks nothing like what I would be trying if I built mono-blue delver, but there's a lot of room there and I think you are best off building from the ground up rather than try to strip down something else.
EDIT: here's another one. This one is a bit older though (first half of 2013) and skips on the card Delver itself.
16 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
Creatures (8)
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Talrand, Sky Summoner
3 Vendilion Clique
Spells (30)
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Vedalken Shackles
2 Back to Basics
3 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
3 Curfew
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Devastation Tide
2 Ponder
1 Culling Scales
2 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Back to Basics
2 Energy Field
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Devastation Tide
1 Cavern of Souls
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
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If you wanted to try BUG with Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach you'd have some active disruption going early on, however you really want Daze with either of the discard spells so you can tap out and still have some play.
OP: Why don't you just play Pauper? There are some great Pauper decks with Delver. It's a very budget friendly format. Even if you do find a way to throw together budget Legacy Delver, it won't be competitive. It will just so you can have fun playing with Delver (a card that you like I guess?) in Legacy. But you won't even have fun playing it because people will drop Goblin Charbelcher on turn 1 and kill you and you won't get to do anything at all and it won't be fun. That's what happens when you play Legacy without the proper cards. So if you just want to play Delver with the Legacy card pool, play Pauper. It's a very fun format and it's much more accessible with budget.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Nivix Cyclops
//Spells: 30
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Assault Strobe
4 Artful Dodge
3 Spell Pierce
3 Apostle's Blessing
4 Izzet Guildgate
8 Island
6 Mountain
Or Mono U Delver is a thing too.
I like the deck you put together. The Young Pyromancer seems like a good play,
what about a Goblin Fireslinger for a potential switch?
What about running a Vendilion Clique main deck, I like the flashing?
Here's What I'm thinking.
2 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Goblin Fireslinger / Young Pyromancer
2 Dark Confidant / Gurmag Angler
Lands(I don't have the cash for the lands needed...):
4 Steam Vents
4 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
3 Watery Grave
3 Whats the Cheap Red/Black? Thanks!
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
2 Peer through Depths
2 Misdirection
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
4 Forked Bolt
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
Didn't do an exact count, but land ~22, creatures ~16, the rest spells.
What do you think of this simple build?
Some thoughts though if you are set on the multicolored type of tempo deck.
Land - 22 land is too many. Don't run Evolving Wilds, it's too slow. You need fetches! Brainstorm sucks without fetches. Again, if you play this deck you need fetches! The one of Breeding Pool for example to use Deathrite's green ability is never going to show up when you need it without searching for it via fetchlands.
Young Pyromancer/Goblin Fireslinger - Don't play the goblin. Young Pyro rewards you for everything your deck does anyway, casting cheap spells. Fireslinger is just not strong enough. Also Young Pyro is very affordable for a legacy card. Between Lightning Bolt and Forked Bolt, if you end up feeling like you still need more creature removal, try a couple of Grim Lavamancer. Again though, fetchlands make Lavamancer a lot better.
Dark Confidant - Sure it's a good card, but it ups your curve, you take even more damage in addition to the fetches and you loose beaters, play Angler instead. Bob is also expensive, so running something else frees up at least $70-$80 for other cards (like fetchlands and/or Wasteland). If you really want to play Dark Confidant (maybe you have them already), maybe you want to play a Death's Shadow deck? It would make the shocklands and life loss from fetches and Dark Confidant into a sorta good thing? More black and Bob might make playing Hymn to Tourach more attractive as well since you will be trying to grind a little more into the mid-late game. Would make 3 Dig Through Time more attractive as well. I suppose you could try a UB tempo deck.
Deathrite Shaman - If you're not running fetchlands (and you need to be to ensure you get the correct 2 lands to cast all your spells), you shouldn't run Deathrite.
Peer Through Depths - Don't play this, play Dig Through Time. DTT is the payoff that can let you pull through in the midgame, makes running so many cantrips better, the cantrips and DTT makes Young Pyromancer better...
Snapcaster Mage - Great card obviously, but pretty hard on the manabase of this super lean style deck to run 4 of. Run 1-2 max.
Anyhow, the list I described initially runs $500 on TCG (heavy play), and honestly would still need another $700-800 to be competitive by adding 4 Force of Will, 1 Volcanic Island and 1 Underground Sea.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes