History:
Mono U Ninja-Bear-Delver is a mono colored tempo deck originally piloted by Channelfireball’s Travis Woo and Luis Scott-Vargas on MTGO with impressive initial results. The deck is comprised of basic tempo deck elements as well as synergy between Snapcaster Mage and Ninja of the Deep Hours. Ninja-Bear-Delver has been handed to the Magic community to continue its development through testing and discussion. The deck relies heavily on redundancy to draw the cards it needs to handle situations even when behind in card advantage. Side boarding is full of silver bullet spells that attack certain decks with stunning power and precision, allowing the delver deck to exploit weaknesses of a well-defined format with a consistent mana base and tools to shut down prevalent strategies.
The Creatures: Delver of Secrets:
Being the best aggressive 1cmc creature in blue goes quite a long way. Delver allows this deck to put a reasonable clock on the opponent. With multiple cantrips and a few scrying options, the deck can consistently flip a turn 1-2 Delver and use multiple soft counters and combat tricks to keep the pressure on the opponent’s life total. Delver of Secrets also CAN also enable a Ninja of The Deep Hours, though this is not always the optimal line of play. Play 4.
Ninja of the Deep Hours:
Want to draw cards? Want to reuse a Snapcaster Mage? Ninja of the Deep Hours is the creature you’re looking for. With the best synergy in the deck, this card allows you to rebuy your Snapcaster Mage, allowing you to cast even more all-important spells from your graveyard, and draw cards when your opponent isn’t keeping their blockers up. Also very important for Ninja, is the ability to mask its CMC. You will almost never hard cast this card; always trying to use its ability to play it. To Disrupting Shoal it will Count as a 4 CMC, but to play it you only see it as 2 CMC. Play 3-4
Phantasmal Bear:
There isn’t much to say about Phantasmal Bear except that is the second most aggressive one drop for blue and by far the most disputed card in the deck. Some prefer Judge’s Familiar over Bear but in a tempo deck Bear helps so much just by having an additional power and toughness. There are many situations that Bear is your optimal first turn creature allowing both a second turn delver and cantrip to help a flip, or a second turn Ninja. Play 0 or 4
Snapcaster Mage:
A whole primer could be written on how powerful Snapcaster Mage can be in any matchup. The most powerful thing this deck can do is chain together Snapcaster Mage and Cryptic Command. The ability to flashback cantrips and counter spells is invaluable to a tempo style deck. Snapcaster also synergizes with Ninja of the Deep Hours to act as if you had 5-8 while keeping a threat on the board much like Restoration Angel in Avacyn Restored standard format. This allows you to play very aggressive while still retaining control as long as you keep mana available. Play 4
The Spells: Gitaxian Probe:
Probe is considered by some (myself included) to be the most powerful single card in the deck for one reason. Information. The ability to see what cards to expect from an opponent is one of the most valuable in Magic. Being able to do so without spending any mana is extremely powerful. Gitaxian Probe being a free cantrip is also quite important for a tempo deck. A turn one, first play is usual a probe casted for 2 life. This play gives the pilot valuable information on what to expect in the coming turns and what cards to play, and what to hold back to either counter an opponent’s play or to prevent overextending. Play 3-4
Serum Visions:
With no Ponder or Preordain to smooth draws, Serum Visions is the next best option in modern. Allowing you to correctly hit lands drops, or move unwanted cards to the bottom of the deck Serum Visions is also a one mana cantrip which is always at home in a Delver based deck. It is personal preference between Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand. In any case, Play 4
Vapor Snag:
While Vapor Snag is not as powerful as some other 1 CMC removal spells, it does fit very well in a tempo deck. The one damage clause is also quite helpful when you play to cast this card 1-3 times per game from the hand and graveyard. There are many times when a threat and 1-2 Vapor Snag can win the game outright; especially when that threat is a Snapcaster Mage to reuse the snag. Play 3-4
Remand: Remand is a special card in Ninja-Bear-Delver. Fully countering a card for 1U is powerful. Sending the card back to the opponent’s hand is not a problem because of two attributes. 1. The deck is full of spells counter or bounce threats. 2. Remand helps keep drawing those answers. Given these two abilities, Remand is at home in a very soft control shell like this. Play 2-4
Disrupting Shoal:
One of the best reasons to keep this deck mono colored is Disrupting Shoal. The ability to pitch any non-land card to counter something with the same CMC is amazing. Having many low cost cards means you can stop early pushes by the opponent while still setting up your own plan of action using Shoal and Remand as hard and soft counters. Late game it is reasonable to consider hard casting Shoal to save not only card advantage but to keep a well-stocked hand of counters for other finishers. Play 4.
Cryptic Command:
The only other 4 CMC card than Ninja of the Deep Hours. Cryptic Command is one of the most powerful Blue cards in the modern format. In this particular deck, every single function of Command will be useful. There will be many times where casting a Command and then flashing it back with a Snapcaster Mage will be the defining factor and win you the game. Tapping down blockers or attackers allows you to either survive another turn, or push for massive damage with cheap efficient threats. Many times you will be casting command for X, and the drawing a card as well, either drawing into another answer, or drawing another threat to push the tempo even further into your favor. Play 3-4
The Lands: Island: Island is the most OP card in all of Magic: The Gathering. Having an all basic mana base is one of the many tricks you have at your disposal. Even if you didn’t know it was doing any work. Having all Islands allows you to never stumble on which colors of mana you have, and allows you to run minimal to no fetchlands, so less self-damage, and furthermore, it allows you to fight off Deathrite Shaman. Making your opponent only use their own discarded lands for extra acceleration is a key to defeating decks that rely on turn one mana dork to power out combos early. Play 16-20
Mutavault:
The only non-basic land in the original versions of the deck, Mutavault allows you to have more threats in the deck without cutting cantrips or lands. Often allowing a Ninja to come into play off an unblocked attack it has extreme merit. Play 0-4
Hibernation:
Any deck playing lots of green permanents will feat this card. Whether it is a single Tarmogoyf causing trouble or a full cast of green creatures and a Birthing Pod, Hibernation is an all-star in multiple matchups that can easily act to set up a win out of a dire situation. Play 2-4
Hurkyl’s Recall:
Against a deck with many artifacts like Affinity, this card gives the Delver player a Time Walk for 1-2 turns while the Affinity player has to rebuild their field position. Much like how Hibernation works, Hurkyl’s Recall can set up stunning wins in conjunction with Snapcaster Mage. Play 1-3
Vedalken Shackles:
An all-star in almost any matchup, this card allows the Delver player to dominate control match ups while still keeping aggression on the board. This card will get boarded in quite a lot. Being able to take control of key creatures in any matchup is nothing to shrug off. If you take a man-land, you will be able to keep the card even after it is not counted as a creature. Vedalken Shackles is a powerhouse card and will win many games. Play 2-4
Vendilion Clique:
Clique is a card many consider a staple of the side deck, while others prefer to main 1-2 copies for a few different reasons. First, Clique provides a 3 CMC blue card to pitch for Disrupting Shoal. This helps greatly verses Liliana of the Veil, which seems to be the major villain of a tempo deck along with other nasty 3 drops of the format. Secondly, Clique is disruption and information in a single card, which can be very helpful against many decks. Some prefer to main deck Vendilion Clique and others choose to side it. I suggest playing 2-3 somewhere in your 75
Wurmcoil Engine:
The massive Wurm is very good in conjunction with Vedalken Shackles in games that go long or grindy. It’s pretty common late game for this deck to be able to cast a Wurmcoil even with only 20 lands due to so many cantrips that will be drawing many cards. Play 1-2
Echoing Truth:
Nina-Bear-Delver hates seeing Lingering Souls. That single card can be a huge crux in trading with many of our creatures and the only real main deck answer we have is a counter spell and then a Remandon the flashback. Echoing truth allows a little breathing room in matches that create lots of tokens like Soul-sisters and Storm. Truth is useful in many other matchups but primarily an answer to token based decks. Play 1-2
Psionic Blast:
Blast is yet another spell that allows itself to be pitched for Disrupting Shoal in that ever-wanted 3 CMC slot. Psionic Blast also allows players to have a little bit of damaged based removal that can also be pointed at a player or Planeswalker. Some have chosen to run a single copy in their main deck for added variety and the small percentage of being able to blow an opponent out by resolving a Blast then using Snapcaster Mage to flash it back as soon as possible for 8 points of damage at instant speed. I would not run more than one, but a single copy does have appeal.
Judge’s Familiar:
This nice little owl has been seen by some as a replacement for the non-evasive Phantasmal Bear. Coming down on turn one like the bear, the owl can allow some tricky control/tempo plays in the same way Cursecatcher does in Merfolk. The biggest point of difference between the two comes down to its actual power and toughness. While Judge’s Familiar is evasive and has a nice control ability attached, it can only put the opponent on a 20 turn clock. Phantasmal Bear although non-evasive has twice the body and can speed up a clock by double; a factor to always remember when choosing between the two. The choice is primarily personal preference and some bit of meta-analysis.
Matchups:
Thank you to user TkDodo for some of the matchup analysis.
Slightly positive pre-board, Strong post-board
If you know how to play this matchup it can be quite easy. Do not over commit to the board with your threats; only play 1-2 at a time. This line of play allows you to render most of their sweepers irrelevant. You should be drawing more cards than they are, and making your land drops easier due to Path to Exile. You can easily stop a Sphinx’s Revelation to never resolve due to them tapping out for it and no longer having the mana to have a counter war. Use Remand to counter their flashback spells and you should come out on top. This matchup will probably take a while so prepare for a grind and be ready to gain any advantage you can in small bits. Shackles are really good in this matchup while Bear is quite terrible.
Slightly negative pre-board, even post-board
The match can honestly go either direction depending on their list. Pre-board can be very tough and always like an uphill battle, especially on the draw. The lists playing white are even more dangerous because of the inclusion of Lingering Souls. A turn three Liliana is devastating to our game plan but can sometimes be fought around. A key in winning this match is to counter their turn one Deathrite Shaman with shoal. Most lists do not play a full set of Abrupt Decay so Shackles can be game winning. Hibernation or Echoing Truth will help this matchup a lot depending on if you see Treetop Village or Lingering Souls.
Hard pre-board, slightly positive post-board
Affinty is a hard match since the deck is so fast; it’s an aggro deck that plays a lot like a combo deck by vomiting out its hand in the first couple of turns. On the draw and with them having the right hand, the deck is near unbeatable, even on the play it can be very difficult, but in this game you want to be doing the traditional tempo style plays and stick a threat and protect it. Keeping them off creatures can also keep them off some mana since Glimmervoid will not survive. Post sideboarding this match becomes considerably easier if you are playing Hurkyl’s Recall. A flashbacked Recall can win the game very easily. Plan your actions accordingly.
Even pre-board, even post-board
A turn three Urzatron is hard to beat, but doesn’t happen as often as one might think. Countering tutor spells is critical for this match up. Probe will help you know when to over extend your threats and if they have a sweeper and Snag can handle Wurmcoil if they get a chance to play him. This fairly simple match up, tempo them out and be mindful of how much mana they can create.
Great pre-board, great post-board
One of, if not the single best match up for this deck.Living End is devastated by almost any of our counter spells. This deck plays a lot of high CMC cards, so don’t expect much trouble until after turn 3-4. Remember that a Shoal where X=0 can counter a living end, and a Remand can set the opponent back many turns. Their best backup plan is to hard cast fatties and hope to beat us down. This line of play is particularly bad for the opponent since at this point we will have dealt quite a lot of damage and would have multiple ways to deal with any creature we actually let hit the board.
Good pre-board, good post-board
We have the ability to put massive early pressure on the storm player and keep Electromancer off the field. This line of play not only makes the opponents plays slower, but allows us to build up a mass of counters for Ascension, or any other ritual they might play. Post-board they may bring in sweepers but these can be played around. If they happen to play the token swarm strategy, we have side board cards in waiting for such a case. Overall this is not a terrible matchup and can be easily managed.
Even pre-board, even post-board
This matchup can be quite tricky. An uncontested Birthing Pod can simple win them the game. Even without Pod, the deck has many small tricks to get out of many situations and pull out a win. Post-board, we have a super strong card against the deck in the form of. Hibernation.. This one card can hit so many of their best options all for 3 mana. Keep time walking the opponent with effects and then flashing them back with Snapcaster and you should be okay. This is a very even match so tight play will be greatly rewarded.
Even pre-board, good post-board
Travis Woo claims to have never lost a full match to this deck, but only individual games. This should serve as a good omen of the matchup. Twin has a hard time getting a combo kill on us since we can keep off most of their combo is ruined by our ultra-efficient disruption. Bear and Ninja are particularly bad after game one since their tap creatures make one die instantly and the other not be able to connect. Shackles is a great card to bring in since it allows them not to be able to push much damage through and further increases our clock.
I see absolutely nothing special about the deck. In fact I see a glaring anti-synergy aspect between Delver of Secrets and Ninja of the Deep Hours. The idea with Delver is to flip it and protect it. Not flip it and then send it back to your hand just to have to put it back out and try to flip it again.
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Modern xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW UWGBantUWG GWRNaya ZooRWG
I see absolutely nothing special about the deck. In fact I see a glaring anti-synergy aspect between Delver of Secrets and Ninja of the Deep Hours. The idea with Delver is to flip it and protect it. Not flip it and then send it back to your hand just to have to put it back out and try to flip it again.
It obviously has something going for it, or it wouldn't have gone 3-1 twice at the Daily 2 yesterday.
People should not bash this deck based on theory alone. You should play it and witness how it works for yourself. Twoo has put in many hours into this deck. I personally have played this deck and seen it in action and it is amazing. It has almost no bad matchups.
I can say from experience that ninjutsu'ing a Snapcaster Mage is absolutely disgusting.
I think people are being misled by the Delver of Secrets--this deck has a lot of control elements despise its threat composition, and can easily and comfortably go into the late game with the CA from the Ninja.
lsv didn't lose a single game because he had amazing draws
they don't call him luck sack vargas for nothing
thats ur excuse? luck? haha. isnt that what all magic is about. every single match ever won has been due to luck then? thats not a valid excuse. his deck just outplayed his opponents. plus its not "luck" when you run full playsets of all 10 cards in the deck. its more high probability than anything
Shoal is strong in this deck, because against the combo decks where it's OK for 2-for-1 yourself, you usually need to Shoal for X=4 (e.g. Pod, Scapeshift, Twin). This deck can do it because of the 4 Cryptics and Ninjas. The Ninja is able to disguise its mana cost; effectively he's a 2-drop, but he counts as 4 for Shoal.
In fact I think Ninja does a lot of work in this deck; he pitches to Shoal, draws for free after a Cryptic tapout, rebuys Snaps just like Restoration Angel, etc. He also dodges Abrupt Decay. Remember that you aren't forced to ninjutsu him in at every possible opportunity; if you're attacking with a flipped Delver, you don't have to ninjutsu him in if you think Delver will be better in the long run.
The only thing I dislike about this deck is that the creatures do pretty low damage by themselves, so the game drags out longer than if you had burn. If you draw poorly (i.e. you don't draw into stuff that removes blockers), you just lose. Then again, if you splash red for burn this deck just turns into UR Delver.
thats ur excuse? luck? haha. isnt that what all magic is about. every single match ever won has been due to luck then? thats not a valid excuse. his deck just outplayed his opponents. plus its not "luck" when you run full playsets of all 10 cards in the deck. its more high probability than anything
>plus its not "luck" when you run full playsets of all 10 cards in the deck. its more high probability than anything
Hahahahaha.
Anyway, when LSV says "I need X card or I lose" and then he draws X card, that's luck.
So yes in LSVs videos luck was a large factor in winning some of those games. However, you're right in that it's high probability (which is still luck) which is why Twoo likes the deck in the first place. It's consistent. Very consistent.
I gotta agree that LSV was extremely lucky. However, this does not discount the fact that twoo has won consistently with the deck as well and twoo was much less lucky. It is a good deck.
FWIW, I may be the world's worst Delver player and I managed to do well with this deck on my first outing with it, beating Soul Sisters, Melira Pod and Scapeshift. It's surprisingly forgiving to mistakes because of the sheer consistency and the insane card draw and value you get. Many other decks I've played in Modern are less forgiving.
This deck is a beast when it draws well. You feel totally unstoppable. But this is the definition of a pure tempo deck, if you fall behind or key cards are resolved (e.g., Liliana), there's no coming back.
Another surprising thing about this deck is how well it deals with creature based aggro. My friend and I have beaten Soul Sisters from insane board states. I beat Soul Sisters when they were at 34 life and it felt easy. My friend beat them with 2 6/6 Ascendents in play.
The deck doesn't do well against burn. Maybe Spellskites in the sideboard can fix that.
I think this deck should do about as well as UR Delver. I'm currently testing 3 Snapcaster Mages main instead of 4, and adding 1 Vendilion Clique instead. Having no 3cmc cards in the main deck has hurt me in my tests and with so many DRS and Oozes around, 4 Snaps does seem too much. Ninjutsu on Snaps feels downright dirty, but Ninjitsu on Clique isn't too bad either, trading a point of damage for another card from their hand.
lsv didn't lose a single game because he had amazing draws
they don't call him luck sack vargas for nothing
Haha, I watched the 3 rounds, I can sum it up for anyone who didn't see it...
1. LSV: Man I'm pretty screwed right now, but things would change massively if I happened to draw an 'insert card name here'.
2. **draw required card***
3. Repeat
The deck does look pretty sweet though, and it certainly provides the ability to keep drawing out answers. It's not like his opponents had garbage draws either. Someone swooped in and bought out all the cheap Disrupting Shoals online. So that card is going to see a huge price spike regardless, at least in the short term. There's definitely some hype surrounding this build, and I don;t suspect it to go away soon. Looks like it's got more to it than a simple Woo Brew Flavor of the Week.
It seems crazy, but this 20 land deck frequently ends up with 6-8 lands in the late game. The card draw is insane. I bring in Wurmcoil against fair decks (e.g., Jund, UWR control) and when I expect games to go long (e.g., Soul Sisters).
been playing a little online, man this deck is unforgiving.
I've gone 3-5 vs jund and 2-5-1 vs UWR, in about half of the games I lost it was a result of a painfully minor misplay. I honestly feel this deck has some serious potential but it is probably the hardest modern deck I have ever played.
I also really don't like serum visions, sometimes it sets up a delver flip or helps hit land drops, which is sweet, but more often than not it provides too little value. I could see cutting 1-2 for some maindeck shackles. The sideboard needs work too.
I would be surprised if this deck could ever become a tier 1 deck because it has no auto-win matchups (outside of glass-cannon combo decks) but really suffers the same problems that UR delver faces, it face-plants to a resolved pyroclasm/AoG, just has no game vs any real lifegain (i.e. GW Hatebears, DnT, Pod, Soul Sisters), and can't match Jund for value, all without the reach that the red splash gives.
Having said that I love that there's a real tempo deck in modern again (mono U too!!!!)
The deck is very rewarding. Piloted it to 5-1 finishing 2nd at my LGS last night. Lost to AEther Vial and Flickerwisp but it has incredible matchups against UWR, combo, RG Tron, and RG Aggro. It definitely shook the local meta game. Overall I was impressed.
the only thing is, if a trump resolves and isnt promptly delt with, then the game is almost immediately over
Totally. That's why I've been considering maindecking at least one 3 cmc card. Sometimes, those Lilianas do slip by, and then you are screwed.
I just had an extensive test session against Melira Pod for a few hours. Games pre-board were not even close, I won all of them. Post-board the matchup became closer but still, this deck beats the crap out of Melira Pod.
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Modern:
Bant | U Tron | GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Scapeshift | UW Tron | UW Midrange
been playing a little online, man this deck is unforgiving.
I've gone 3-5 vs jund and 2-5-1 vs UWR, in about half of the games I lost it was a result of a painfully minor misplay. I honestly feel this deck has some serious potential but it is probably the hardest modern deck I have ever played.
I also really don't like serum visions, sometimes it sets up a delver flip or helps hit land drops, which is sweet, but more often than not it provides too little value. I could see cutting 1-2 for some maindeck shackles. The sideboard needs work too.
I would be surprised if this deck could ever become a tier 1 deck because it has no auto-win matchups (outside of glass-cannon combo decks) but really suffers the same problems that UR delver faces, it face-plants to a resolved pyroclasm/AoG, just has no game vs any real lifegain (i.e. GW Hatebears, DnT, Pod, Soul Sisters), and can't match Jund for value, all without the reach that the red splash gives.
Having said that I love that there's a real tempo deck in modern again (mono U too!!!!)
I agree with a lot of this. It seems hard to beat soul sisters on the draw. they have a ton of 1-2 casting cost blockers, and snag does nothing vs them since they gain the life back replaying their guy. good luck beating spectral procession with honor of the pure. you need multiple cryptics and/or snapcasters to kill them from a high life total. I also played a game vs the genesis chamber version of soul sisters, crushed it on the play, got crushed by it on the draw.
yeah sweepers wreck it, I got owned by jund charm and anger of the gods (living end). there's no 3 cmc card to pitch to shoal to counter those. also it seems living end match up in unwinnable unless you have remand followed by another one or a cryptic/snapcaster. I thought about adding tormod's crypt, but that does nothing for delver or snapcaster, and your board still gets wrathed. I think the sideboard should be mostly cards that work with snapcaster or delver
I like visions in this deck since it gives you more turn 1 plays. The curve is pretty low that paying 1 mana for that weak affect doesn't stop you from casting other spells in the same turn. There's also thought scour that works better with snapcaster, but that's a much worse turn 1 play.
I don't particularly think the deck is very powerful, I think its just unexpected. The only really strong thing it has going for it is the ninja and snapcaster synergy, otherwise it doesn't have enough reach I think. The reason the deck does well as its set up to basically cast cryptic command 4+ times a game. And if you can cast 4 or more cryptics, you should win the game.
I wouldn't personally play with delver. The deck doesn't close out games quickly so there's very little point. Raptor and familiar seem stronger because it hurts less to return them with ninja, well judges familiar definitely seems stronger here.
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Currently Playing:
Modern: UWUW TronUW
Legacy: WDeath N TaxesW CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Delver feels like the wrong card to play here because of anti ninja synergy.
I wouldn't personally play with delver. The deck doesn't close out games quickly so there's very little point. Raptor and familiar seem stronger because it hurts less to return them with ninja, well judges familiar definitely seems stronger here.
Delver is the biggest threat in this deck. Turn two flipped delver backed up by remands and cryptics wins games. Generally i don't ninja a flipped delver. Raptor is bad because it only has the possibility of being a 2/3. Plus it's slower if u ninja it over delver.
I've been trying faerie impostor in this deck and it works well bouncing ninja and snapcaster.
Delver is the biggest threat in this deck. Turn two flipped delver backed up by remands and cryptics wins games. Generally i don't ninja a flipped delver. Raptor is bad because it only has the possibility of being a 2/3. Plus it's slower if u ninja it over delver.
I've been trying faerie impostor in this deck and it works well bouncing ninja and snapcaster.
Cloudfin raptor? Even worse with ninja since all those counters get lost and your creatures stop at 2/2.
Judges Familiar is not bad but I think one of the decks weaknesses is only having 2/2 creatures so the extra power of delver is quite necessary.
EDIT: Oh someone already commented before me.
I'm not sure about this one since you can play this cards only if you played ninja or snappy otherwise you would only exchange bear & faerie and adding earlie pressure in form of delver + bear seems better imo.
Okay, so Raptor isn't the best, but delver still feels wrong. its not something you want to flip and its not quick enough to close out games extremely quickly. I very rarely see this deck close out games before something like turn 8. If you aren't going to win much before that, why play with delver?
Ninja is the strongest synergy in the deck. Its not wrong to play cards that play up that synergy, its just wrong to over rely on it. You want to play cards that are good by itself and don't anti synergy with it.
Delver does not feel like that card to me, because the deck isn't quick enough to end the game. It wins by drowning the opponent in CA and value. That's why I think Judges Familiar is better in that spot. Wingcrafter has synergy with Ninja, but it seems too cute.
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Currently Playing:
Modern: UWUW TronUW
Legacy: WDeath N TaxesW CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
I'm not sure about this one since you can play this cards only if you played ninja or snappy otherwise you would only exchange bear & faerie and adding earlie pressure in form of delver + bear seems better imo.
Well yea that's what I meant. Reusing your snapcasters and ninjas. Ninja has no evasion and easily blocked most of the times it's played. The faerie's cheap and has flying. But idk needs more testing
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History:
Mono U Ninja-Bear-Delver is a mono colored tempo deck originally piloted by Channelfireball’s Travis Woo and Luis Scott-Vargas on MTGO with impressive initial results. The deck is comprised of basic tempo deck elements as well as synergy between Snapcaster Mage and Ninja of the Deep Hours. Ninja-Bear-Delver has been handed to the Magic community to continue its development through testing and discussion. The deck relies heavily on redundancy to draw the cards it needs to handle situations even when behind in card advantage. Side boarding is full of silver bullet spells that attack certain decks with stunning power and precision, allowing the delver deck to exploit weaknesses of a well-defined format with a consistent mana base and tools to shut down prevalent strategies.
Travis Woo’s original article can be found here:
www.channelfireball.com/articles/woo-brews-ninja-bear-delver/
The Deck
This is the deck I pilot with great success and I believe the same list Travis still uses as well.
18 Island
2 Mutavault
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
Instants
4 Vapor Snag
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
4 Disrupting Shoal
4 Hibernation
4 Vedalken Shackles
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Echoing Truth
The Creatures:
Delver of Secrets:
Being the best aggressive 1cmc creature in blue goes quite a long way. Delver allows this deck to put a reasonable clock on the opponent. With multiple cantrips and a few scrying options, the deck can consistently flip a turn 1-2 Delver and use multiple soft counters and combat tricks to keep the pressure on the opponent’s life total. Delver of Secrets also CAN also enable a Ninja of The Deep Hours, though this is not always the optimal line of play. Play 4.
Ninja of the Deep Hours:
Want to draw cards? Want to reuse a Snapcaster Mage? Ninja of the Deep Hours is the creature you’re looking for. With the best synergy in the deck, this card allows you to rebuy your Snapcaster Mage, allowing you to cast even more all-important spells from your graveyard, and draw cards when your opponent isn’t keeping their blockers up. Also very important for Ninja, is the ability to mask its CMC. You will almost never hard cast this card; always trying to use its ability to play it. To Disrupting Shoal it will Count as a 4 CMC, but to play it you only see it as 2 CMC. Play 3-4
Phantasmal Bear:
There isn’t much to say about Phantasmal Bear except that is the second most aggressive one drop for blue and by far the most disputed card in the deck. Some prefer Judge’s Familiar over Bear but in a tempo deck Bear helps so much just by having an additional power and toughness. There are many situations that Bear is your optimal first turn creature allowing both a second turn delver and cantrip to help a flip, or a second turn Ninja. Play 0 or 4
Snapcaster Mage:
A whole primer could be written on how powerful Snapcaster Mage can be in any matchup. The most powerful thing this deck can do is chain together Snapcaster Mage and Cryptic Command. The ability to flashback cantrips and counter spells is invaluable to a tempo style deck. Snapcaster also synergizes with Ninja of the Deep Hours to act as if you had 5-8 while keeping a threat on the board much like Restoration Angel in Avacyn Restored standard format. This allows you to play very aggressive while still retaining control as long as you keep mana available. Play 4
The Spells:
Gitaxian Probe:
Probe is considered by some (myself included) to be the most powerful single card in the deck for one reason. Information. The ability to see what cards to expect from an opponent is one of the most valuable in Magic. Being able to do so without spending any mana is extremely powerful. Gitaxian Probe being a free cantrip is also quite important for a tempo deck. A turn one, first play is usual a probe casted for 2 life. This play gives the pilot valuable information on what to expect in the coming turns and what cards to play, and what to hold back to either counter an opponent’s play or to prevent overextending. Play 3-4
Serum Visions:
With no Ponder or Preordain to smooth draws, Serum Visions is the next best option in modern. Allowing you to correctly hit lands drops, or move unwanted cards to the bottom of the deck Serum Visions is also a one mana cantrip which is always at home in a Delver based deck. It is personal preference between Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand. In any case, Play 4
Vapor Snag:
While Vapor Snag is not as powerful as some other 1 CMC removal spells, it does fit very well in a tempo deck. The one damage clause is also quite helpful when you play to cast this card 1-3 times per game from the hand and graveyard. There are many times when a threat and 1-2 Vapor Snag can win the game outright; especially when that threat is a Snapcaster Mage to reuse the snag. Play 3-4
Remand:
Remand is a special card in Ninja-Bear-Delver. Fully countering a card for 1U is powerful. Sending the card back to the opponent’s hand is not a problem because of two attributes. 1. The deck is full of spells counter or bounce threats. 2. Remand helps keep drawing those answers. Given these two abilities, Remand is at home in a very soft control shell like this. Play 2-4
Disrupting Shoal:
One of the best reasons to keep this deck mono colored is Disrupting Shoal. The ability to pitch any non-land card to counter something with the same CMC is amazing. Having many low cost cards means you can stop early pushes by the opponent while still setting up your own plan of action using Shoal and Remand as hard and soft counters. Late game it is reasonable to consider hard casting Shoal to save not only card advantage but to keep a well-stocked hand of counters for other finishers. Play 4.
Cryptic Command:
The only other 4 CMC card than Ninja of the Deep Hours. Cryptic Command is one of the most powerful Blue cards in the modern format. In this particular deck, every single function of Command will be useful. There will be many times where casting a Command and then flashing it back with a Snapcaster Mage will be the defining factor and win you the game. Tapping down blockers or attackers allows you to either survive another turn, or push for massive damage with cheap efficient threats. Many times you will be casting command for X, and the drawing a card as well, either drawing into another answer, or drawing another threat to push the tempo even further into your favor. Play 3-4
The Lands:
Island:
Island is the most OP card in all of Magic: The Gathering. Having an all basic mana base is one of the many tricks you have at your disposal. Even if you didn’t know it was doing any work. Having all Islands allows you to never stumble on which colors of mana you have, and allows you to run minimal to no fetchlands, so less self-damage, and furthermore, it allows you to fight off Deathrite Shaman. Making your opponent only use their own discarded lands for extra acceleration is a key to defeating decks that rely on turn one mana dork to power out combos early. Play 16-20
Mutavault:
The only non-basic land in the original versions of the deck, Mutavault allows you to have more threats in the deck without cutting cantrips or lands. Often allowing a Ninja to come into play off an unblocked attack it has extreme merit. Play 0-4
Hibernation:
Any deck playing lots of green permanents will feat this card. Whether it is a single Tarmogoyf causing trouble or a full cast of green creatures and a Birthing Pod, Hibernation is an all-star in multiple matchups that can easily act to set up a win out of a dire situation. Play 2-4
Hurkyl’s Recall:
Against a deck with many artifacts like Affinity, this card gives the Delver player a Time Walk for 1-2 turns while the Affinity player has to rebuild their field position. Much like how Hibernation works, Hurkyl’s Recall can set up stunning wins in conjunction with Snapcaster Mage. Play 1-3
Vedalken Shackles:
An all-star in almost any matchup, this card allows the Delver player to dominate control match ups while still keeping aggression on the board. This card will get boarded in quite a lot. Being able to take control of key creatures in any matchup is nothing to shrug off. If you take a man-land, you will be able to keep the card even after it is not counted as a creature. Vedalken Shackles is a powerhouse card and will win many games. Play 2-4
Vendilion Clique:
Clique is a card many consider a staple of the side deck, while others prefer to main 1-2 copies for a few different reasons. First, Clique provides a 3 CMC blue card to pitch for Disrupting Shoal. This helps greatly verses Liliana of the Veil, which seems to be the major villain of a tempo deck along with other nasty 3 drops of the format. Secondly, Clique is disruption and information in a single card, which can be very helpful against many decks. Some prefer to main deck Vendilion Clique and others choose to side it. I suggest playing 2-3 somewhere in your 75
Wurmcoil Engine:
The massive Wurm is very good in conjunction with Vedalken Shackles in games that go long or grindy. It’s pretty common late game for this deck to be able to cast a Wurmcoil even with only 20 lands due to so many cantrips that will be drawing many cards. Play 1-2
Echoing Truth:
Nina-Bear-Delver hates seeing Lingering Souls. That single card can be a huge crux in trading with many of our creatures and the only real main deck answer we have is a counter spell and then a Remandon the flashback. Echoing truth allows a little breathing room in matches that create lots of tokens like Soul-sisters and Storm. Truth is useful in many other matchups but primarily an answer to token based decks. Play 1-2
Psionic Blast:
Blast is yet another spell that allows itself to be pitched for Disrupting Shoal in that ever-wanted 3 CMC slot. Psionic Blast also allows players to have a little bit of damaged based removal that can also be pointed at a player or Planeswalker. Some have chosen to run a single copy in their main deck for added variety and the small percentage of being able to blow an opponent out by resolving a Blast then using Snapcaster Mage to flash it back as soon as possible for 8 points of damage at instant speed. I would not run more than one, but a single copy does have appeal.
Judge’s Familiar:
This nice little owl has been seen by some as a replacement for the non-evasive Phantasmal Bear. Coming down on turn one like the bear, the owl can allow some tricky control/tempo plays in the same way Cursecatcher does in Merfolk. The biggest point of difference between the two comes down to its actual power and toughness. While Judge’s Familiar is evasive and has a nice control ability attached, it can only put the opponent on a 20 turn clock. Phantasmal Bear although non-evasive has twice the body and can speed up a clock by double; a factor to always remember when choosing between the two. The choice is primarily personal preference and some bit of meta-analysis.
Matchups:
Thank you to user TkDodo for some of the matchup analysis.
Slightly positive pre-board, Strong post-board
If you know how to play this matchup it can be quite easy. Do not over commit to the board with your threats; only play 1-2 at a time. This line of play allows you to render most of their sweepers irrelevant. You should be drawing more cards than they are, and making your land drops easier due to Path to Exile. You can easily stop a Sphinx’s Revelation to never resolve due to them tapping out for it and no longer having the mana to have a counter war. Use Remand to counter their flashback spells and you should come out on top. This matchup will probably take a while so prepare for a grind and be ready to gain any advantage you can in small bits. Shackles are really good in this matchup while Bear is quite terrible.
Slightly negative pre-board, even post-board
The match can honestly go either direction depending on their list. Pre-board can be very tough and always like an uphill battle, especially on the draw. The lists playing white are even more dangerous because of the inclusion of Lingering Souls. A turn three Liliana is devastating to our game plan but can sometimes be fought around. A key in winning this match is to counter their turn one Deathrite Shaman with shoal. Most lists do not play a full set of Abrupt Decay so Shackles can be game winning. Hibernation or Echoing Truth will help this matchup a lot depending on if you see Treetop Village or Lingering Souls.
Hard pre-board, slightly positive post-board
Affinty is a hard match since the deck is so fast; it’s an aggro deck that plays a lot like a combo deck by vomiting out its hand in the first couple of turns. On the draw and with them having the right hand, the deck is near unbeatable, even on the play it can be very difficult, but in this game you want to be doing the traditional tempo style plays and stick a threat and protect it. Keeping them off creatures can also keep them off some mana since Glimmervoid will not survive. Post sideboarding this match becomes considerably easier if you are playing Hurkyl’s Recall. A flashbacked Recall can win the game very easily. Plan your actions accordingly.
Even pre-board, even post-board
A turn three Urzatron is hard to beat, but doesn’t happen as often as one might think. Countering tutor spells is critical for this match up. Probe will help you know when to over extend your threats and if they have a sweeper and Snag can handle Wurmcoil if they get a chance to play him. This fairly simple match up, tempo them out and be mindful of how much mana they can create.
Great pre-board, great post-board
One of, if not the single best match up for this deck.Living End is devastated by almost any of our counter spells. This deck plays a lot of high CMC cards, so don’t expect much trouble until after turn 3-4. Remember that a Shoal where X=0 can counter a living end, and a Remand can set the opponent back many turns. Their best backup plan is to hard cast fatties and hope to beat us down. This line of play is particularly bad for the opponent since at this point we will have dealt quite a lot of damage and would have multiple ways to deal with any creature we actually let hit the board.
Good pre-board, good post-board
We have the ability to put massive early pressure on the storm player and keep Electromancer off the field. This line of play not only makes the opponents plays slower, but allows us to build up a mass of counters for Ascension, or any other ritual they might play. Post-board they may bring in sweepers but these can be played around. If they happen to play the token swarm strategy, we have side board cards in waiting for such a case. Overall this is not a terrible matchup and can be easily managed.
Even pre-board, even post-board
This matchup can be quite tricky. An uncontested Birthing Pod can simple win them the game. Even without Pod, the deck has many small tricks to get out of many situations and pull out a win. Post-board, we have a super strong card against the deck in the form of. Hibernation.. This one card can hit so many of their best options all for 3 mana. Keep time walking the opponent with effects and then flashing them back with Snapcaster and you should be okay. This is a very even match so tight play will be greatly rewarded.
Even pre-board, good post-board
Travis Woo claims to have never lost a full match to this deck, but only individual games. This should serve as a good omen of the matchup. Twin has a hard time getting a combo kill on us since we can keep off most of their combo is ruined by our ultra-efficient disruption. Bear and Ninja are particularly bad after game one since their tap creatures make one die instantly and the other not be able to connect. Shackles is a great card to bring in since it allows them not to be able to push much damage through and further increases our clock.
Modern
xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW
UWGBantUWG
GWRNaya ZooRWG
It obviously has something going for it, or it wouldn't have gone 3-1 twice at the Daily 2 yesterday.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
It has some good nut draws. But it is pretty threat light.
I don't know if you can keep hands without delver, bear or serum visions.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
wafo tapas original deck did that, but he was playing 4 colors
they don't call him luck sack vargas for nothing
I think people are being misled by the Delver of Secrets--this deck has a lot of control elements despise its threat composition, and can easily and comfortably go into the late game with the CA from the Ninja.
GW Tokens GW || UB UB Control UB || BRG Jund Aggro BRG || UR Wee Dragonauts Tempo UR || BG Fungus/Saproling BG || W Soldiers W ||
GWU Bant Flicker Gun GWU
Under Construction
U Wizards Tribal Control U || RG MLD Trolling RG
thats ur excuse? luck? haha. isnt that what all magic is about. every single match ever won has been due to luck then? thats not a valid excuse. his deck just outplayed his opponents. plus its not "luck" when you run full playsets of all 10 cards in the deck. its more high probability than anything
In fact I think Ninja does a lot of work in this deck; he pitches to Shoal, draws for free after a Cryptic tapout, rebuys Snaps just like Restoration Angel, etc. He also dodges Abrupt Decay. Remember that you aren't forced to ninjutsu him in at every possible opportunity; if you're attacking with a flipped Delver, you don't have to ninjutsu him in if you think Delver will be better in the long run.
The only thing I dislike about this deck is that the creatures do pretty low damage by themselves, so the game drags out longer than if you had burn. If you draw poorly (i.e. you don't draw into stuff that removes blockers), you just lose. Then again, if you splash red for burn this deck just turns into UR Delver.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
>plus its not "luck" when you run full playsets of all 10 cards in the deck. its more high probability than anything
Hahahahaha.
Anyway, when LSV says "I need X card or I lose" and then he draws X card, that's luck.
So yes in LSVs videos luck was a large factor in winning some of those games. However, you're right in that it's high probability (which is still luck) which is why Twoo likes the deck in the first place. It's consistent. Very consistent.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
This deck is a beast when it draws well. You feel totally unstoppable. But this is the definition of a pure tempo deck, if you fall behind or key cards are resolved (e.g., Liliana), there's no coming back.
Another surprising thing about this deck is how well it deals with creature based aggro. My friend and I have beaten Soul Sisters from insane board states. I beat Soul Sisters when they were at 34 life and it felt easy. My friend beat them with 2 6/6 Ascendents in play.
The deck doesn't do well against burn. Maybe Spellskites in the sideboard can fix that.
I think this deck should do about as well as UR Delver. I'm currently testing 3 Snapcaster Mages main instead of 4, and adding 1 Vendilion Clique instead. Having no 3cmc cards in the main deck has hurt me in my tests and with so many DRS and Oozes around, 4 Snaps does seem too much. Ninjutsu on Snaps feels downright dirty, but Ninjitsu on Clique isn't too bad either, trading a point of damage for another card from their hand.
Bant | U Tron | GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Scapeshift | UW Tron | UW Midrange
Haha, I watched the 3 rounds, I can sum it up for anyone who didn't see it...
1. LSV: Man I'm pretty screwed right now, but things would change massively if I happened to draw an 'insert card name here'.
2. **draw required card***
3. Repeat
The deck does look pretty sweet though, and it certainly provides the ability to keep drawing out answers. It's not like his opponents had garbage draws either. Someone swooped in and bought out all the cheap Disrupting Shoals online. So that card is going to see a huge price spike regardless, at least in the short term. There's definitely some hype surrounding this build, and I don;t suspect it to go away soon. Looks like it's got more to it than a simple Woo Brew Flavor of the Week.
Bant | U Tron | GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Scapeshift | UW Tron | UW Midrange
I've gone 3-5 vs jund and 2-5-1 vs UWR, in about half of the games I lost it was a result of a painfully minor misplay. I honestly feel this deck has some serious potential but it is probably the hardest modern deck I have ever played.
I also really don't like serum visions, sometimes it sets up a delver flip or helps hit land drops, which is sweet, but more often than not it provides too little value. I could see cutting 1-2 for some maindeck shackles. The sideboard needs work too.
I would be surprised if this deck could ever become a tier 1 deck because it has no auto-win matchups (outside of glass-cannon combo decks) but really suffers the same problems that UR delver faces, it face-plants to a resolved pyroclasm/AoG, just has no game vs any real lifegain (i.e. GW Hatebears, DnT, Pod, Soul Sisters), and can't match Jund for value, all without the reach that the red splash gives.
Having said that I love that there's a real tempo deck in modern again (mono U too!!!!)
:symb::symr::symg: Living End
Delver
RDW
the only thing is, if a trump resolves and isnt promptly delt with, then the game is almost immediately over
Totally. That's why I've been considering maindecking at least one 3 cmc card. Sometimes, those Lilianas do slip by, and then you are screwed.
I just had an extensive test session against Melira Pod for a few hours. Games pre-board were not even close, I won all of them. Post-board the matchup became closer but still, this deck beats the crap out of Melira Pod.
Bant | U Tron | GW Hatebears | Death and Taxes | Scapeshift | UW Tron | UW Midrange
I agree with a lot of this. It seems hard to beat soul sisters on the draw. they have a ton of 1-2 casting cost blockers, and snag does nothing vs them since they gain the life back replaying their guy. good luck beating spectral procession with honor of the pure. you need multiple cryptics and/or snapcasters to kill them from a high life total. I also played a game vs the genesis chamber version of soul sisters, crushed it on the play, got crushed by it on the draw.
yeah sweepers wreck it, I got owned by jund charm and anger of the gods (living end). there's no 3 cmc card to pitch to shoal to counter those. also it seems living end match up in unwinnable unless you have remand followed by another one or a cryptic/snapcaster. I thought about adding tormod's crypt, but that does nothing for delver or snapcaster, and your board still gets wrathed. I think the sideboard should be mostly cards that work with snapcaster or delver
I like visions in this deck since it gives you more turn 1 plays. The curve is pretty low that paying 1 mana for that weak affect doesn't stop you from casting other spells in the same turn. There's also thought scour that works better with snapcaster, but that's a much worse turn 1 play.
Cloudfin raptor, Judges Familiar feel like better cards in the slot.
I don't particularly think the deck is very powerful, I think its just unexpected. The only really strong thing it has going for it is the ninja and snapcaster synergy, otherwise it doesn't have enough reach I think. The reason the deck does well as its set up to basically cast cryptic command 4+ times a game. And if you can cast 4 or more cryptics, you should win the game.
I wouldn't personally play with delver. The deck doesn't close out games quickly so there's very little point. Raptor and familiar seem stronger because it hurts less to return them with ninja, well judges familiar definitely seems stronger here.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Delver is the biggest threat in this deck. Turn two flipped delver backed up by remands and cryptics wins games. Generally i don't ninja a flipped delver. Raptor is bad because it only has the possibility of being a 2/3. Plus it's slower if u ninja it over delver.
I've been trying faerie impostor in this deck and it works well bouncing ninja and snapcaster.
EVERYONE RUN AWAY FROM THE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ITS SO TERRIFYING.
Okay, so Raptor isn't the best, but delver still feels wrong. its not something you want to flip and its not quick enough to close out games extremely quickly. I very rarely see this deck close out games before something like turn 8. If you aren't going to win much before that, why play with delver?
Ninja is the strongest synergy in the deck. Its not wrong to play cards that play up that synergy, its just wrong to over rely on it. You want to play cards that are good by itself and don't anti synergy with it.
Delver does not feel like that card to me, because the deck isn't quick enough to end the game. It wins by drowning the opponent in CA and value. That's why I think Judges Familiar is better in that spot. Wingcrafter has synergy with Ninja, but it seems too cute.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Well yea that's what I meant. Reusing your snapcasters and ninjas. Ninja has no evasion and easily blocked most of the times it's played. The faerie's cheap and has flying. But idk needs more testing