Greetings! Welcome to the new Esper Delver primer. This deck doesn’t have a vast amount of history to it, Delver decks exist in modern in a variety of colours but as of yet Esper Delver hasn’t seen much success (at least to my knowledge). At its heart this is a tempo deck, trying to beat down quickly whilst using creature removal, counterspells and discard to keep your opponent depleted of resources.
The Core
This leaves you with 24 open spaces in the deck. These numbers are just very rough guides at the moment as I haven’t got much to compare against. Here is a brief explanation of why these cards are here: Delver of Secrets – It can be a 3/2 flyer on turn two from a blind flip, gets the beats in early and if unanswered can be a massive pain for the other player, auto 4 of. Geist of Saint Traft – One of the most efficient creatures this deck has available to it on the attack. I think at least 2 of these is a must, personally I play 3 but it is legendary and hard to remove so you probably don’t want to run a full four. Lingering Souls – Provides four evasive bodies for five mana which can be paid over two turns, on top of this it can flip Delver. I’d play at least 3 and personally I’m very happy with 4 copies. Serum Visions – Without Ponder or Preordain this is the best the Delver decks in Modern have as a way to flip their namesake card. Don’t play any less than 4 if you want to keep Delver as a 3/2 reliably. Remand – This is a great tempo counter, it’s been compared to Time Walk in the right situations, stopping the other player doing anything with their turn whilst drawing a card. I play 3 which I think is probably the minimum, a 4th could defiantly be correct if you have room for it
Lands – Following examples from other Delver decks I think 20 lands is perfectly fine if you keep your curve nice and low, preferably below 3. For the selection of lands available to us see the card choices section below…….
Card Choices
As mentioned above you have about 24 free spots in the deck after you’ve put in the core cards. This gives you lots of flexibility to make the deck run the way you want it to. The key thing to remember is that you need to keep a high number of Instants and Sorceries if you want to be able to flip Delver easily. Personally I wouldn’t advocate anything lower than 20 total and my actual deck plays 31 (including Serum Visions, Remand and Lingering Souls). So without further ado onto what else you can run! Creatures:
As I said above, I don’t like adding too many permanents to the deck but all of the following could have reasons to join your design. Snapcaster Mage – Delver’s old buddy from standard is a modern staple card, I don’t actually play him in my basic list but I could see very good arguments for him. He is extra copies of any spell in your yard for just an extra 2cmc. Dark Confidant – Another great incentive to run black, provides a lot of draw power and given that you are often trying to “be the beatdown” the life loss shouldn’t cost you games. He does mean that you should keep your curve low if possible though, or else you’ll be bolting yourself every turn. Vendillion Clique – A good solid tempo beater, 3 power and evasion make this an attractive prospect and the added hand disruption can put them over the edge in terms of playability. Worth thinking about when you want to flash him in, can synergise quite nicely with your discard to check if there’s anything to take. Restoration Angel – Saves your Geists and allows you to re-use both Snapcaster Mage and Vendillion Clique but has a negative synergy with Delver itself and your lingering souls tokens. Worth considering in more creature-centric builds. Squadron Hawks(aka Ancestral Bird Call) – if you choose to run Swords then these guys can be great, you get evasive creatures which are easily replaced. They can also be looped with Mistveil Plains and can provide fodder for Liliana of the Veil, just remember that on their own they aren’t much of a threat and are more expensive for 4 bodies than Lingering Souls Tidehollow Sculler – A creature which drains your opponent’s hand, generally pretty neat but you might want to consider sorcery discard instead. Brain Maggot – He’s Tidehollow Sculler 5-8… Tombstalker – Getting outside of known territory here… he has a negative synergy with Snappy and I wouldn’t include him in a deck with Dark Confidant. That said he is a potential 5/5 for 2 which isn’t bad going! Batterskull – If you have a higher curve and support for equipment then this guy can be quite good but if you are sticking to 20 lands then 5cmc can be a bit too demanding. Dakra Mystic – Can help you flip Delver (by removing permanents from the top of your library) and can soft lock an opponent out of drawing lands/threats. Still untested but could be quite nice! Sage of Epityr – Pushing it a bit but if you really wanted another 1 drop to set up Delver I guess you could use this, just not all that great…. Aven Mindsensor - Useful if you're running a fetchless mana base and want to skrew around with other people: thanks to 0evil_overlord0 for the suggestion!
Counterspells
I am of the opinion that you want at least 6 counters in your deck (including Remand) but to be honest you probably want even more than that. 1 CMC – I would also say that you want at least 1 slot dedicated to a 1 cmc counter, just because they can be very easy to cast which is handy if you aren’t running many lands! Spell Snare – Modern’s standard 1cmc counter, the format is full of good targets for this and despite it being quite narrow it’s rarely totally dead in any match up. Spell Pierce – I quite like this card at the moment, it again has a lot of targets and is normally not played around (unlike Mana Leak which people sometimes expect). Mana Tithe – My personal 1cmc counter of choice. It is unconditional, works well with your plan to stay fast (in that it should be relevant for a lot of your games) and most importantly no one ever expects it. Turn 1 Godless Shrine into Mana Tithe can really mess around with people, and afterwards people tend to go over the top on trying to avoid it. Dispel – Another narrow counter, probably better in your sideboard but it hits most spot removal and wins counter wars outright.
2 CMC – These are your bread and butter counterspells, less narrow than 1 cmc and with a bit more application. Mana Leak – Modern’s Counterspell of choice, most of the time it should be a hard counter, end of story. Rune Snag – Without Deathrite Shaman in the format any more this might be a better option again, if your graveyard isn’t being hated out this can be a better Mana Leak in the late game. However, it starts out worse and has anti-synergy with both Snapcaster Mage and Tombstalker. Only ever run as a 4 of. Spell Rupture – Another Mana Leak variant, has potential to be strong in some builds (such as with Tombstalker) but I would only ever run it after you’ve used all your Mana Leak slots. Delay – An interesting alternative, quite good against other counterspells (they just fizzle when they resolve) and can keep stuff off the field until it’s far too late for it to be of use to your opponent, but generally I’d rather have a permanent counter. Countersquall – Works quite nicely with the theme of getting life totals shrunk fast. Personally I play 1 and am quite happy with it, not always live but when it is it can be great. Hindering Light – This is another one which is a bit of a stretch, might be good against 8rack or Burn but generally only used against removal for which you might as well use something else.
3 CMC plus – Arguments can be made for any of these 3 cmc plus counters but they are quite mana intensive and I would only run them with a few more lands in my deck. Render Silent – Anti-storm/combo card, it is also a hard counter for anything and everything. I don’t play it but it might be worth thinking about. Cryptic Command – Cryptic is one of the big cards that I’m not including in my deck. It is very strong but the requirement for three blue mana is pretty heavy and at 4 cmc with my mana base it will rarely be online fast enough to be reliable. That said if you can support it then play it. Condescend – A flexible counter that can help you flip Delvers. It’s quite mana intensive but again might be playable in decks with more lands Logic Knot – This one is interesting, it is a 2 cmc variable counter that you can play and use from turn 2. It doesn’t play nicely with Snapcaster Mage or Tombstalker because it eats their fodder but it could still be worth thinking about in some builds.
Removal
You are playing a deck that wins by connecting with its creatures. If your creatures can’t make it through then you can’t win. Play some spot removal. Path to Exile – Another modern staple card, efficient removal which avoids any graveyard shenanigans. Hopefully the other player should be at 0 life before the extra land come back to haunt you too much. Doom Blade, Smother, Go for the Throat and Ultimate Price – I’ve lumped these all together because I think they should be played as a package. That way 3/4 of your removal will always be relevant (hitting black creatures, 4 cmc+ creatures, artifact creatures or multi coloured creatures). Victim of Night – Almost lumped in with the previous cards, it’s mana cost is a little more tricky. A solid card, but probably not for a three colour deck. Mortify – the 3 cmc isn’t great but the flexibility can be quite nice, especially if you have a lot of Bitterblossom or Splinter Twin in your meta. Dismember – Kills most things in the format dead. Very flexible but painful to cast, I would play it in the board for matches where you really need more removal. Slaughter Pact – Much like Dismember this is probably more of a sideboard card but it is definitely worth considering as a “free” bit of spot removal can be vital against, say, Splinter Twin. Darkblast – This card serves two purposes, if you are playing Snapcaster mage, Tombstalker or Logic Knot it provides fodder, and on top of that it’s pretty good against some affinity builds and the ever increasing numbers of X/1 utility creatures in the format.
A word on permanent based removal: This deck could play Oblivion Ring or even better Detention Sphere but they suffer from not being able to flip Delver. Again these might be options for a sideboard with more removal in it.
Discard
Unlike 8rack or even Jund discard isn’t a really crucial way to victory with this deck, that said it is probably correct to run a couple of slots of it just in case. Thoughtsieze – A very good spell, probably the best choice for this deck. However, it is worth remembering that turn 1 fetchland into shockland into Thoughtsieze will put you on 15 very fast indeed leaving you quite vulnerable to aggro or burn. Inquisition of Kozilek – This will still hit a lot of relevant targets without the life loss. Just be aware that against twin or tron this is not going to be as good at keeping you alive. Duress – Mostly a card for playing on a budget. Still able to stop quite a number of relevant cards and, backed up by enough creature removal, can still keep the other player struggling to keep up. Castigate – No one really plays Castigate. This is probably because of the 2 cmc cost which is a bit much for what you get. If you find it works for you then great, I just wouldn’t normally recommend it.
Delver Flippers
At the moment Serum Visions is the card which flips Delver, that said, you never know what will happen, maybe I’ll be able to add more to this section soon….. Telling Time – This isn’t a bad card, you leave up mana for a counter, nothing happens which is a threat, you cast it and flip delver next turn. I just wish it could have been 1 cmc (even if that would be broken!)
This is other things which fit ok into the deck but don’t necessarily contribute to the Delver plan by directly flipping it, or helping you cast it. I wouldn’t take up too many slots with these kind of things, just enough to provide some more reach for your deck. Planeswalkers – I am of the opinion that a planeswalker or two fits quite nicely in this deck, however, they are not strictly necessary. Liliana of the Veil – Probably the best walker for this deck. Turns your junk into discard, removes Hexproof creatures and has a back breaking ultimate. Also remember the synergy with both Lingering Souls, and then, less obviously, with Squadron Hawks and Mistveil Plains. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad – A perfectly reasonable back up token plan which can help your Delvers push through more damage. Elspeth, Knight Errant – Similar to Sorin but possibly a better self-contained win condition? Jace, Architect of Thought – The +1 effect is useful in aggro match ups, the -2 can keep your hand fuelled, the ultimate is good but probably never relevant. Ajani, Caller of the Pride – Another Sorin/Elspeth type of effect, not sure he’s worth playing but maybe something to think about? Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver – Pretty much un-played in modern. Might be worth a little bit of testing, could be nice to steal some off colour creatures like Tarmogoyf! Swords – These are basically for the “Delver-Blade” version of the deck, although having 1 or 2 can provide you some extra reach in any build and Geist carries swords like a champ.
Swords of X and Y – Of these my personal favourites are Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow although all these swords are probably justifiable if you have them. Godsend – A brand new piece of equipment for us to look at. It’s probably a little slow but the exile effect is crazily strong. Runechanter's Pike - a good shout from the grixis thread, nice and cheap and can hit like a truck! Thanks to hate_bear_foil_hunter for this one Steelshaper’s Gift – Only really for the dedicated equipment build. Since we don’t have Stoneforge Mystic this is the next best thing, plus it flips delver Moar Cantrips – Just in case you needed more fuel… Gitaxian Probe – Some people love this in Delver decks, I’m not a huge fan myself because I think our mana is already painful enough but run it if you like. Sleight of Hand – A 1 cmc cantrip that can’t set up delver isn’t all that amazing but again, play it if you like it. Shadow of Doubt – Normally a sideboard card, I actually run this in the main, I just love the feeling of stopping the other player’s fetch land if they are on the draw. Creature theft – Arguably better than spot removal… Vedalken Shackles – If you play a very blue heavy version of the deck this is probably actually worth looking at. Easy to steal whatever you want from the board. Threads of Disloyalty – Again, a bit blue heavy and restrictive but some decks will hate this card. Sower of Temptation – I’ve been told this is playable, I’m not sure myself, again I don’t like the 4 cmc but who knows… Charms – I separated these guys out because they aren’t quite like anything else in the deck. They can all play multiple roles and I really like having a couple of them around. Azorius Charm – Probably my favourite charm at the moment. Removal/top of deck skrewing (which works really well with Dakra Mystic!), a bit of life gain against other aggro decks and if it’s not useful you can just cycle it. Dimir Charm – Narrow counterspell, relevant removal and the ability to set up Delver flips means this is probably worth playing, just perhaps not in huge numbers. Orzhov Charm – Protection for one of your creatures/reusing Snapcaster Mage, painful but effective removal or revive a Delver. This is probably my least favourite of our two colour charms but I guess could still be useful if you ran more 1 drops. Esper Charm – More discard, more card draw and some enchantment removal. The only problem is the mana cost is a little prohibitive at some early points of the game. Midnight Charm – This to me is basically a really flexible removal spell. Can be used to win a combat, to gain a little life and remove a threat or just to power through a big blocker. Funeral Charm and Piracy Charm – Instant speed discard, removal, pump spell and evasion. That’s a lot for one card! Possibly worth considering if you have space. Randoms – I just wasn’t sure where else to put these! Zealous Persecution – Works well with Lingering Souls and can act as removal in some match ups and it flips Delver, I like it!
Deck Lists
From my quick google searches I can’t really find many other people playing this deck at the moment so here’s my list for now.
I'm happy someone else is pursuing this! I've been quite interested in this deck archetype for a while, both due to wanting to run Geist and Delver in the same tempo deck and also get some of the versatility white and black add.
I'd been tinkering around with ( well, mostly a proxied up version, but still ):
I'm thinking at least 20 land to make sure we can reach 3 mana for Traft. Actually, using Traft will send us slightly more midrange than other Delver decks.
I'm happy someone else is pursuing this! I've been quite interested in this deck archetype for a while, both due to wanting to run Geist and Delver in the same tempo deck and also get some of the versatility white and black add.
I'd been tinkering around with ( well, mostly a proxied up version, but still ):
I'm thinking at least 20 land to make sure we can reach 3 mana for Traft. Actually, using Traft will send us slightly more midrange than other Delver decks.
I don't think I'd be comfortable with less than 20 lands but at the same time I'm not sure I really want to go much over it either.
How's Bob working out for you? I tried him in my list a few times but my mana base hurts quite a lot sometimes as it is and I've had a few games against Tarmo-Twin which have ended with me on one or two life so I'm a bit nervous about adding him.
Last question; why no Lingering Souls? To me they were one of the reasons to play the deck!
Lingering Souls is great but I've tended to feel that outside of tokens decks and Soul Sisters ( where they're rarely just 1/1 fliers by the time they swing ), Lingering Souls is more of defensive play and we're agro/tempo most of the time. Plus, keeping the curve as low as possible with Bob around for draw. I'd definitely put it in my sideboard against other Delver decks, though!
I love Bob and Delver together ( some interesting commentary on the Grixis Delver thread in regard to this ), as he can make us just that bit more harder to handle. None the less, the lifeloss does add up, especially with the Thoughtseizes being so key, as well.
Is what I'd run. That also lets you play with Aven Mindcensor. Fastlands are great for this deck; you don't want the fourth land most of the time anyway.
Edit: Forgot basic lands.
Edit again: Did some math and realized I had an unecessary amount of blue sources and not enough W/B
Neither deck is running much black, so I Gould say that WUR Delver is probably better than this.
Thanks for the comment but can we try and keep this positively focused? Why is WUR Delver better than this? We don't run much black but the bit we do run I like. This deck without thoughtsieze would be a very different build.
The two main reasons to run red are Lightning Bolt and Young Pyromancer. Black removal takes over bolt's slot, and if you want tokens just run Lingering Souls. You only lose the reach from bolt, but you get hand disruption to make up for it.
The two main reasons to run red are Lightning Bolt and Young Pyromancer. Black removal takes over bolt's slot, and if you want tokens just run Lingering Souls. You only lose the reach from bolt, but you get hand disruption to moke up for it.
My opinion more or less exactly! I'm not saying that there aren't reasons to run red (obviously) but rather that I want to explore Esper.
I like this idea! I'm playing Grixis right now, and I feel that the main benefit of playing Esper would be for Geist, Path and some possibility of life gain. The lifegain could be critical, especially when playing Bob. Stealing an idea from the Grixis thread, I like the idea of adding in a Runechanter's Pike with all these spells in the deck.
Neither deck is running much black, so I Gould say that WUR Delver is probably better than this.
Thanks for the comment but can we try and keep this positively focused? Why is WUR Delver better than this? We don't run much black but the bit we do run I like. This deck without thoughtsieze would be a very different build.
Blue counterspells can interact just as effectively, and in some cases more effectively, as black discard. In addition, red gives Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix, which have the advantage of not being completely dead in noncreature matchups like most black removal.
Blue counterspells can interact just as effectively, and in some cases more effectively, as black discard. In addition, red gives Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix, which have the advantage of not being completely dead in noncreature matchups like most black removal.
Discard is proactive, counterspells are reactive. Having to leave mana up every turn on the chance you can counter something versus stripping a threat from their hand and knowing exactly what they have makes discard just as effective as counterspells. They work best together, when you can get rid of a spell to give yourself an opportunity to tap out while knowing what to counter. Bolt and helix do nothing versus any creature with more than three toughness, which is especially relevant against tarmogoyf. Jund is currently #4 in the metagame, and twin, the #1 deck, is playing goyfs too now. Pod has all kinds of creatures that bolt and helix are bad against, such as resto angel, kitchen finks, and spellskite.
Ok so I've been exploring this a bit more and I've got a couple of findings:
1) Shizo, Death's Storehouse + Geist of Saint Traft can be totally back breaking against some decks in the format, I'd never noticed how few black creatures there are in the top decks, basically just bob!
2) I've been trying out a very tokens heavy build lately, basically just take BW tokens and add delver, geist and a couple of counters, it seems to do really well against a lot of things but does get kinda crushed by Jund
3) The discard in the deck seems very very relevant to me at the moment, there is quite a lot of combo around with pod and twin and I'm never sorry to be able to rip their hand apart, if only we had Hymn in this format
Ok, done a little bit of an update to the primer adding a couple of the suggestions. I'm now back in my home country so hopefully I'll be able to put some more work into this soon! Has anyone else gotten any real results with this in my absence?
Death's Shadow and Spellskite belongs in the list of creatures as well as the full suite of hand disruption.
I ran into a guy playing this at the last PTQ I,went to. He put up better results than I did with his list. Lots of times he'd just dump a Deaths Shadow and go to town.
He said he would have likely ran more Spell Snare to protect his guys and to win counter wars a little more. His whole plan was just suicide his life total for the first half of the game.
I watched him crack a fetch right into a Watery Grave untapped just to Thoughtseize an opponent and follow it up with a Duress into a Delver, then followed by a flip and a Spellskite. The game was nuts. He was super fast and loose with the life totals. Ended up beating the guy down with a flipped Delver and a Death's Shadow.
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My Modern decks: B/R/G Living End G/R/B G/R Tron R/G U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
I think this is one of the rare cases where I think [c]dash hopes[\c] could work. It doesn't really care if it burns or counters typically. Also justifies the black well :p. Have you guys tested that? I really would like to see an esper deck work. I had moderate success with esper delver in rav inn standard running pike with whispering madness, so I have fond memories haha.
He said he would have likely ran more Spell Snare to protect his guys and to win counter wars a little more. His whole plan was just suicide his life total for the first half of the game.
I watched him crack a fetch right into a Watery Grave untapped just to Thoughtseize an opponent and follow it up with a Duress into a Delver, then followed by a flip and a Spellskite. The game was nuts. He was super fast and loose with the life totals. Ended up beating the guy down with a flipped Delver and a Death's Shadow.
Now that is a very cool looking list! The whole suicide aspect could add quite a twist, did he say why he wasn't running Bob? Seems like he'd be an auto-include in a list that wants to drop it's life total and gain more cards to fuel an aggressive plan.
He said he would have likely ran more Spell Snare to protect his guys and to win counter wars a little more. His whole plan was just suicide his life total for the first half of the game.
I watched him crack a fetch right into a Watery Grave untapped just to Thoughtseize an opponent and follow it up with a Duress into a Delver, then followed by a flip and a Spellskite. The game was nuts. He was super fast and loose with the life totals. Ended up beating the guy down with a flipped Delver and a Death's Shadow.
I was talking about Death's Shadow in the grixis delver three and really enjoyed him in my list. The mana bases for grixis and Esper are pretty life draining. I like Death's Shadow because when you're on the life loss plan, it can get pretty crazy. I was thinking about running Esper to run Phyrexian Unlife in the deck mixed with Deaths Shadow.
I had one game with my grixis build where I was down to 8 life in 2 turns and dropped 2 deaths shadow. Made for a quick game.
He wasn't running Bob because you have no control over how much life you lose and it's not on curve for a suicide deck. With Spellskite you can activate the ability in response to virtually anything (even though it won't resolve, the life payment happens).
Basically you want to stick one threat, ride it with removal and counter backup. There is enough cantrip there to keep the draw engine rolling too.
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My Modern decks: B/R/G Living End G/R/B G/R Tron R/G U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
I've been trying out the suicide list on Cockatrice, it has some crazy draws but is a nightmare to pilot sometimes. It's very hard to actually be conservative with your life in some situations (e.g. your only removal for the resolved Goyf thats trying to kill you is dismember) but I think with practice and work it could be a very cool direction for the deck!
As I said a few posts back I've also tried running a tokens based version of the delver deck:
It obviously needs some polishing but I've found it can be a really nice way for the deck to go. You get a lot of air power and it can be a nightmare for a some of the "fair" decks whilst still having a game against combo. That said, this build is very rough and could use some fresh eyes....
Yes, for most matchups the magic number for life totals is usually 11, 7 or 5. The best part about the way the deck is built is that a 2/2 Death's Shadow can chump a Goyf and then become so huge it crushes the Goyf easily and then swing for lethal the next turn.
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My Modern decks: B/R/G Living End G/R/B G/R Tron R/G U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
Yes, for most matchups the magic number for life totals is usually 11, 7 or 5. The best part about the way the deck is built is that a 2/2 Death's Shadow can chump a Goyf and then become so huge it crushes the Goyf easily and then swing for lethal the next turn.
The thing about Death's Shadow is that it forces your opponent to decide if it is worth it to attack or better to block the following turn. If they choose to attack your life is being reduced, and it only makes Death's Shadow stronger.
The Core
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Lingering Souls
This leaves you with 24 open spaces in the deck. These numbers are just very rough guides at the moment as I haven’t got much to compare against. Here is a brief explanation of why these cards are here:
Delver of Secrets – It can be a 3/2 flyer on turn two from a blind flip, gets the beats in early and if unanswered can be a massive pain for the other player, auto 4 of.
Geist of Saint Traft – One of the most efficient creatures this deck has available to it on the attack. I think at least 2 of these is a must, personally I play 3 but it is legendary and hard to remove so you probably don’t want to run a full four.
Lingering Souls – Provides four evasive bodies for five mana which can be paid over two turns, on top of this it can flip Delver. I’d play at least 3 and personally I’m very happy with 4 copies.
Serum Visions – Without Ponder or Preordain this is the best the Delver decks in Modern have as a way to flip their namesake card. Don’t play any less than 4 if you want to keep Delver as a 3/2 reliably.
Remand – This is a great tempo counter, it’s been compared to Time Walk in the right situations, stopping the other player doing anything with their turn whilst drawing a card. I play 3 which I think is probably the minimum, a 4th could defiantly be correct if you have room for it
Lands – Following examples from other Delver decks I think 20 lands is perfectly fine if you keep your curve nice and low, preferably below 3. For the selection of lands available to us see the card choices section below…….
Card Choices
Creatures:
Snapcaster Mage – Delver’s old buddy from standard is a modern staple card, I don’t actually play him in my basic list but I could see very good arguments for him. He is extra copies of any spell in your yard for just an extra 2cmc.
Dark Confidant – Another great incentive to run black, provides a lot of draw power and given that you are often trying to “be the beatdown” the life loss shouldn’t cost you games. He does mean that you should keep your curve low if possible though, or else you’ll be bolting yourself every turn.
Vendillion Clique – A good solid tempo beater, 3 power and evasion make this an attractive prospect and the added hand disruption can put them over the edge in terms of playability. Worth thinking about when you want to flash him in, can synergise quite nicely with your discard to check if there’s anything to take.
Restoration Angel – Saves your Geists and allows you to re-use both Snapcaster Mage and Vendillion Clique but has a negative synergy with Delver itself and your lingering souls tokens. Worth considering in more creature-centric builds.
Squadron Hawks(aka Ancestral Bird Call) – if you choose to run Swords then these guys can be great, you get evasive creatures which are easily replaced. They can also be looped with Mistveil Plains and can provide fodder for Liliana of the Veil, just remember that on their own they aren’t much of a threat and are more expensive for 4 bodies than Lingering Souls
Tidehollow Sculler – A creature which drains your opponent’s hand, generally pretty neat but you might want to consider sorcery discard instead.
Brain Maggot – He’s Tidehollow Sculler 5-8…
Tombstalker – Getting outside of known territory here… he has a negative synergy with Snappy and I wouldn’t include him in a deck with Dark Confidant. That said he is a potential 5/5 for 2 which isn’t bad going!
Batterskull – If you have a higher curve and support for equipment then this guy can be quite good but if you are sticking to 20 lands then 5cmc can be a bit too demanding.
Dakra Mystic – Can help you flip Delver (by removing permanents from the top of your library) and can soft lock an opponent out of drawing lands/threats. Still untested but could be quite nice!
Sage of Epityr – Pushing it a bit but if you really wanted another 1 drop to set up Delver I guess you could use this, just not all that great….
Aven Mindsensor - Useful if you're running a fetchless mana base and want to skrew around with other people: thanks to 0evil_overlord0 for the suggestion!
Counterspells
1 CMC – I would also say that you want at least 1 slot dedicated to a 1 cmc counter, just because they can be very easy to cast which is handy if you aren’t running many lands!
Spell Snare – Modern’s standard 1cmc counter, the format is full of good targets for this and despite it being quite narrow it’s rarely totally dead in any match up.
Spell Pierce – I quite like this card at the moment, it again has a lot of targets and is normally not played around (unlike Mana Leak which people sometimes expect).
Mana Tithe – My personal 1cmc counter of choice. It is unconditional, works well with your plan to stay fast (in that it should be relevant for a lot of your games) and most importantly no one ever expects it. Turn 1 Godless Shrine into Mana Tithe can really mess around with people, and afterwards people tend to go over the top on trying to avoid it.
Dispel – Another narrow counter, probably better in your sideboard but it hits most spot removal and wins counter wars outright.
2 CMC – These are your bread and butter counterspells, less narrow than 1 cmc and with a bit more application.
Mana Leak – Modern’s Counterspell of choice, most of the time it should be a hard counter, end of story.
Rune Snag – Without Deathrite Shaman in the format any more this might be a better option again, if your graveyard isn’t being hated out this can be a better Mana Leak in the late game. However, it starts out worse and has anti-synergy with both Snapcaster Mage and Tombstalker. Only ever run as a 4 of.
Spell Rupture – Another Mana Leak variant, has potential to be strong in some builds (such as with Tombstalker) but I would only ever run it after you’ve used all your Mana Leak slots.
Delay – An interesting alternative, quite good against other counterspells (they just fizzle when they resolve) and can keep stuff off the field until it’s far too late for it to be of use to your opponent, but generally I’d rather have a permanent counter.
Countersquall – Works quite nicely with the theme of getting life totals shrunk fast. Personally I play 1 and am quite happy with it, not always live but when it is it can be great.
Hindering Light – This is another one which is a bit of a stretch, might be good against 8rack or Burn but generally only used against removal for which you might as well use something else.
3 CMC plus – Arguments can be made for any of these 3 cmc plus counters but they are quite mana intensive and I would only run them with a few more lands in my deck.
Render Silent – Anti-storm/combo card, it is also a hard counter for anything and everything. I don’t play it but it might be worth thinking about.
Cryptic Command – Cryptic is one of the big cards that I’m not including in my deck. It is very strong but the requirement for three blue mana is pretty heavy and at 4 cmc with my mana base it will rarely be online fast enough to be reliable. That said if you can support it then play it.
Condescend – A flexible counter that can help you flip Delvers. It’s quite mana intensive but again might be playable in decks with more lands
Logic Knot – This one is interesting, it is a 2 cmc variable counter that you can play and use from turn 2. It doesn’t play nicely with Snapcaster Mage or Tombstalker because it eats their fodder but it could still be worth thinking about in some builds.
Removal
Path to Exile – Another modern staple card, efficient removal which avoids any graveyard shenanigans. Hopefully the other player should be at 0 life before the extra land come back to haunt you too much.
Doom Blade, Smother, Go for the Throat and Ultimate Price – I’ve lumped these all together because I think they should be played as a package. That way 3/4 of your removal will always be relevant (hitting black creatures, 4 cmc+ creatures, artifact creatures or multi coloured creatures).
Victim of Night – Almost lumped in with the previous cards, it’s mana cost is a little more tricky. A solid card, but probably not for a three colour deck.
Mortify – the 3 cmc isn’t great but the flexibility can be quite nice, especially if you have a lot of Bitterblossom or Splinter Twin in your meta.
Dismember – Kills most things in the format dead. Very flexible but painful to cast, I would play it in the board for matches where you really need more removal.
Slaughter Pact – Much like Dismember this is probably more of a sideboard card but it is definitely worth considering as a “free” bit of spot removal can be vital against, say, Splinter Twin.
Darkblast – This card serves two purposes, if you are playing Snapcaster mage, Tombstalker or Logic Knot it provides fodder, and on top of that it’s pretty good against some affinity builds and the ever increasing numbers of X/1 utility creatures in the format.
A word on permanent based removal: This deck could play Oblivion Ring or even better Detention Sphere but they suffer from not being able to flip Delver. Again these might be options for a sideboard with more removal in it.
Discard
Thoughtsieze – A very good spell, probably the best choice for this deck. However, it is worth remembering that turn 1 fetchland into shockland into Thoughtsieze will put you on 15 very fast indeed leaving you quite vulnerable to aggro or burn.
Inquisition of Kozilek – This will still hit a lot of relevant targets without the life loss. Just be aware that against twin or tron this is not going to be as good at keeping you alive.
Duress – Mostly a card for playing on a budget. Still able to stop quite a number of relevant cards and, backed up by enough creature removal, can still keep the other player struggling to keep up.
Castigate – No one really plays Castigate. This is probably because of the 2 cmc cost which is a bit much for what you get. If you find it works for you then great, I just wouldn’t normally recommend it.
Delver Flippers
Telling Time – This isn’t a bad card, you leave up mana for a counter, nothing happens which is a threat, you cast it and flip delver next turn. I just wish it could have been 1 cmc (even if that would be broken!)
Lands
Fetch Lands – These serve a double purpose here, mana fixing and thinning the deck for Delver. Marsh Flats is probably the best for us but I also like some way to search for Islands.
Marsh Flats, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn and Verdant Catacombs.
Shock Lands – Work wonders with fetch lands, play a few of each.
Godless Shrine, Watery Grave and Hallowed Fountain
Check Lands – These work nicely with the shocks, I wouldn’t play too many as coming into play tapped is killer. Maybe 1 or 2 in your most used colours.
Isolated Chapel, Drowned Catacombs and Glacial Fortress
Fast Lands – These do what they say on the tin, again, not too many needed but one or two can be good.
Darkslick Shores and Seachrome Coast
Man Lands – A couple more threats for your deck, I don’t really like Celestial Colonade here but it might be a necessary evil
Creeping Tar Pit, Celestial Colonade and Faerie Conclave.
Utility Lands – Run a few of these, they don’t take up spell slots but can still be quite useful. It’s up to your build what will work best.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Tectonic Edge, Ghost Quater, Eiganjo Castle, Mistveil Plains, Moorland Haunt, Shizo, Death's Storehouse and Vault of the Archangel.
Basics! – Sometimes you get hit by Path to Exile, sometimes you just want a pain free fetch land, run a few!
Plains, Island and Swamp
And the rest…
Planeswalkers – I am of the opinion that a planeswalker or two fits quite nicely in this deck, however, they are not strictly necessary.
Liliana of the Veil – Probably the best walker for this deck. Turns your junk into discard, removes Hexproof creatures and has a back breaking ultimate. Also remember the synergy with both Lingering Souls, and then, less obviously, with Squadron Hawks and Mistveil Plains.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad – A perfectly reasonable back up token plan which can help your Delvers push through more damage.
Elspeth, Knight Errant – Similar to Sorin but possibly a better self-contained win condition?
Jace, Architect of Thought – The +1 effect is useful in aggro match ups, the -2 can keep your hand fuelled, the ultimate is good but probably never relevant.
Ajani, Caller of the Pride – Another Sorin/Elspeth type of effect, not sure he’s worth playing but maybe something to think about?
Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver – Pretty much un-played in modern. Might be worth a little bit of testing, could be nice to steal some off colour creatures like Tarmogoyf!
Swords – These are basically for the “Delver-Blade” version of the deck, although having 1 or 2 can provide you some extra reach in any build and Geist carries swords like a champ.
Swords of X and Y – Of these my personal favourites are Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow although all these swords are probably justifiable if you have them.
Godsend – A brand new piece of equipment for us to look at. It’s probably a little slow but the exile effect is crazily strong.
Runechanter's Pike - a good shout from the grixis thread, nice and cheap and can hit like a truck! Thanks to hate_bear_foil_hunter for this one
Steelshaper’s Gift – Only really for the dedicated equipment build. Since we don’t have Stoneforge Mystic this is the next best thing, plus it flips delver
Moar Cantrips – Just in case you needed more fuel…
Gitaxian Probe – Some people love this in Delver decks, I’m not a huge fan myself because I think our mana is already painful enough but run it if you like.
Sleight of Hand – A 1 cmc cantrip that can’t set up delver isn’t all that amazing but again, play it if you like it.
Shadow of Doubt – Normally a sideboard card, I actually run this in the main, I just love the feeling of stopping the other player’s fetch land if they are on the draw.
Creature theft – Arguably better than spot removal…
Vedalken Shackles – If you play a very blue heavy version of the deck this is probably actually worth looking at. Easy to steal whatever you want from the board.
Threads of Disloyalty – Again, a bit blue heavy and restrictive but some decks will hate this card.
Sower of Temptation – I’ve been told this is playable, I’m not sure myself, again I don’t like the 4 cmc but who knows…
Charms – I separated these guys out because they aren’t quite like anything else in the deck. They can all play multiple roles and I really like having a couple of them around.
Azorius Charm – Probably my favourite charm at the moment. Removal/top of deck skrewing (which works really well with Dakra Mystic!), a bit of life gain against other aggro decks and if it’s not useful you can just cycle it.
Dimir Charm – Narrow counterspell, relevant removal and the ability to set up Delver flips means this is probably worth playing, just perhaps not in huge numbers.
Orzhov Charm – Protection for one of your creatures/reusing Snapcaster Mage, painful but effective removal or revive a Delver. This is probably my least favourite of our two colour charms but I guess could still be useful if you ran more 1 drops.
Esper Charm – More discard, more card draw and some enchantment removal. The only problem is the mana cost is a little prohibitive at some early points of the game.
Midnight Charm – This to me is basically a really flexible removal spell. Can be used to win a combat, to gain a little life and remove a threat or just to power through a big blocker.
Funeral Charm and Piracy Charm – Instant speed discard, removal, pump spell and evasion. That’s a lot for one card! Possibly worth considering if you have space.
Randoms – I just wasn’t sure where else to put these!
Zealous Persecution – Works well with Lingering Souls and can act as removal in some match ups and it flips Delver, I like it!
Deck Lists
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Lingering Souls
3x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Remand
2x Mana Tithe
2x Mana Leak
1x Countersquall
4x Serum Visions
2x Telling Time
3x Path to Exile
1x Mortify
2x Liliana of the Veil
2x Azorius Charm
2x Zealous Persecution
2x Shadow of Doubt
1x Dimir Charm
4x Marsh Flats
3x Misty Rainforest
2x Godless Shrine
1x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Darkslick Shores
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Celestial Colonnade
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Island
1x Plains
Matchups – Coming Soon!
Sideboarding – Coming Soon!
I'm happy someone else is pursuing this! I've been quite interested in this deck archetype for a while, both due to wanting to run Geist and Delver in the same tempo deck and also get some of the versatility white and black add.
I'd been tinkering around with ( well, mostly a proxied up version, but still ):
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Dark Confidant
4 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Remand
3 Mana Leak
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Still figuring out the mana base and sideboard.
I'm thinking at least 20 land to make sure we can reach 3 mana for Traft. Actually, using Traft will send us slightly more midrange than other Delver decks.
UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU's prison: blue is the new orange is the new black.
Mizzix Of The Izmagnus : wheels on fire... rolling down the road...
BSidisi, Undead VizierB: Bis zum Erbrechen
GTitiania, Protector Of ArgothG: Protecting Argoth, by blowing it up!
GYisan, The Wanderer BardG: Gradus Ad Elfball.
Duel EDH: Yisan & Titania.
In Progress: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV duel; Grenzo, Dungeon Warden Doomsday.
I don't think I'd be comfortable with less than 20 lands but at the same time I'm not sure I really want to go much over it either.
How's Bob working out for you? I tried him in my list a few times but my mana base hurts quite a lot sometimes as it is and I've had a few games against Tarmo-Twin which have ended with me on one or two life so I'm a bit nervous about adding him.
Last question; why no Lingering Souls? To me they were one of the reasons to play the deck!
Lingering Souls is great but I've tended to feel that outside of tokens decks and Soul Sisters ( where they're rarely just 1/1 fliers by the time they swing ), Lingering Souls is more of defensive play and we're agro/tempo most of the time. Plus, keeping the curve as low as possible with Bob around for draw. I'd definitely put it in my sideboard against other Delver decks, though!
I love Bob and Delver together ( some interesting commentary on the Grixis Delver thread in regard to this ), as he can make us just that bit more harder to handle. None the less, the lifeloss does add up, especially with the Thoughtseizes being so key, as well.
UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU's prison: blue is the new orange is the new black.
Mizzix Of The Izmagnus : wheels on fire... rolling down the road...
BSidisi, Undead VizierB: Bis zum Erbrechen
GTitiania, Protector Of ArgothG: Protecting Argoth, by blowing it up!
GYisan, The Wanderer BardG: Gradus Ad Elfball.
Duel EDH: Yisan & Titania.
In Progress: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV duel; Grenzo, Dungeon Warden Doomsday.
2 Watery Grave
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Is what I'd run. That also lets you play with Aven Mindcensor. Fastlands are great for this deck; you don't want the fourth land most of the time anyway.
Edit: Forgot basic lands.
Edit again: Did some math and realized I had an unecessary amount of blue sources and not enough W/B
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Thanks for the comment but can we try and keep this positively focused? Why is WUR Delver better than this? We don't run much black but the bit we do run I like. This deck without thoughtsieze would be a very different build.
My opinion more or less exactly! I'm not saying that there aren't reasons to run red (obviously) but rather that I want to explore Esper.
What about Wall of Omens, Cartel Aristocrat, Feeling of Dread, or even Vampire Nighthawk?
Blue counterspells can interact just as effectively, and in some cases more effectively, as black discard. In addition, red gives Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix, which have the advantage of not being completely dead in noncreature matchups like most black removal.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Discard is proactive, counterspells are reactive. Having to leave mana up every turn on the chance you can counter something versus stripping a threat from their hand and knowing exactly what they have makes discard just as effective as counterspells. They work best together, when you can get rid of a spell to give yourself an opportunity to tap out while knowing what to counter. Bolt and helix do nothing versus any creature with more than three toughness, which is especially relevant against tarmogoyf. Jund is currently #4 in the metagame, and twin, the #1 deck, is playing goyfs too now. Pod has all kinds of creatures that bolt and helix are bad against, such as resto angel, kitchen finks, and spellskite.
1) Shizo, Death's Storehouse + Geist of Saint Traft can be totally back breaking against some decks in the format, I'd never noticed how few black creatures there are in the top decks, basically just bob!
2) I've been trying out a very tokens heavy build lately, basically just take BW tokens and add delver, geist and a couple of counters, it seems to do really well against a lot of things but does get kinda crushed by Jund
3) The discard in the deck seems very very relevant to me at the moment, there is quite a lot of combo around with pod and twin and I'm never sorry to be able to rip their hand apart, if only we had Hymn in this format
I ran into a guy playing this at the last PTQ I,went to. He put up better results than I did with his list. Lots of times he'd just dump a Deaths Shadow and go to town.
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Marsh Flats
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
Spells:
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
1x Disfigure
3x Dismember
2x Orzhov Charm
3x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
4x Death's Shadow
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Spellskite
2x Disfigure
1x Dismember
2x Duress
2x Hibernation
2x Hurkyl's Recall
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Spellskite
He said he would have likely ran more Spell Snare to protect his guys and to win counter wars a little more. His whole plan was just suicide his life total for the first half of the game.
I watched him crack a fetch right into a Watery Grave untapped just to Thoughtseize an opponent and follow it up with a Duress into a Delver, then followed by a flip and a Spellskite. The game was nuts. He was super fast and loose with the life totals. Ended up beating the guy down with a flipped Delver and a Death's Shadow.
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
Now that is a very cool looking list! The whole suicide aspect could add quite a twist, did he say why he wasn't running Bob? Seems like he'd be an auto-include in a list that wants to drop it's life total and gain more cards to fuel an aggressive plan.
I was talking about Death's Shadow in the grixis delver three and really enjoyed him in my list. The mana bases for grixis and Esper are pretty life draining. I like Death's Shadow because when you're on the life loss plan, it can get pretty crazy. I was thinking about running Esper to run Phyrexian Unlife in the deck mixed with Deaths Shadow.
I had one game with my grixis build where I was down to 8 life in 2 turns and dropped 2 deaths shadow. Made for a quick game.
Basically you want to stick one threat, ride it with removal and counter backup. There is enough cantrip there to keep the draw engine rolling too.
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
The more I look at it, the more I think I'm going to move to Esper over Grixis.
As I said a few posts back I've also tried running a tokens based version of the delver deck:
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Geist of Saint Traft
Tokens Package
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
3 Intangible Virtue
3 Raise the Alarm
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Disruption/Removal
3 Thoughtseize
3 Remand
3 Path to Exile
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Slaughter Pact
Delver Flippers
3 Serum Visions
4 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Isolated Chapel
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Mystic Gate
1 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
3 Sundering Growth
2 Slaughter Pact
3 Torpor Orb
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
It obviously needs some polishing but I've found it can be a really nice way for the deck to go. You get a lot of air power and it can be a nightmare for a some of the "fair" decks whilst still having a game against combo. That said, this build is very rough and could use some fresh eyes....
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
The thing about Death's Shadow is that it forces your opponent to decide if it is worth it to attack or better to block the following turn. If they choose to attack your life is being reduced, and it only makes Death's Shadow stronger.