this is a useful card in Cryptic Serpent/Bedlam Reveler builds. Those variants can also lean on Thought Scour if they want to. I think the Jeskai variant of Grixis control decks will run Countervailing Winds as the counterspell of choice if that is the case. Grixis Control feeds on their graveyard whereas Jeskai uses the graveyard as "reference". this is really interesting from a game design perspective. kudos to the r/d guys for spreading out this design over the past few sets.
Spellweaver Eternal is a decent card. Would be massively playable if it was UR with haste. =P
I tried Hazoret, albeit in a more midrange-y list, and she shined. There were many situations where i was thinking: "come ooooon let me draw a Hazoret!"
I believe she could be a good addition as a top end threat in some higher curve delver decks.
As a lategame card Bedlam Reveler seems better than Hazoret in a Delver list as you don't really want to be out of cards.
I'm going to try out Riddleform as it seems to have potential.
I'm not sure where Countervailing Winds can fit, as a 3-mana counterspell it gets outclassed by all the Cancel variants
(most notably Disallow/Counterflux).
I'm not sure if the cycling makes it playable (especially for 2 mana) compared to something like Logic Knot,
as Censor hasn't exactly proved itself useful (though it is probably slightly better).
Thing with Hazoret is that she's both a midrange card AND a lategame card. With that much discard going on (and PtE somewhat on a declince) you'll easily be able to attack most of the time. Plus, Reveler doesn't get into her spot. I'll note again that I played her in a more midrange list, but I could absolutely see her work in a Delver list with 14ish creatures and 19-20 lands.
As a lategame card Bedlam Reveler seems better than Hazoret in a Delver list as you don't really want to be out of cards.
I'm going to try out Riddleform as it seems to have potential.
I'm not sure where Countervailing Winds can fit, as a 3-mana counterspell it gets outclassed by all the Cancel variants
(most notably Disallow/Counterflux).
I'm not sure if the cycling makes it playable (especially for 2 mana) compared to something like Logic Knot as Censor hasn't exactly proved itself useful (though it is probably slightly better).
MrTzoulis that is a gret idea. I hadn't thought of trying Hazoret, the Fervent at the top end, but it does make sense in the more burn oriented lists. I can't see myself cutting my beloved Bedlam Reveler like D90Dennis19 said because I play a bit more of a tempo build rather than straight aggro. On a related note, I did see a new Jund Aggro variant online by the same guy that made shadow (Ghash77)that runs two Hazoret and two Rhonas and the deck looks really cool.
I too am giving Riddleforma try and did play a few games with it last night. It performed very well when drawn early. I was suprised how often I utilized the scry ability on the card. It was best against Abzan and was still good against Death Shadow. I am still not sold that it is a main deck card, but it may be the sideboard card I have been searching for against the GBx decks. I will keep you all posted on it's results. I was only running one copy in the main, but because it isn't legendary I might try two just to make sure I draw it more for testing.
As for Countervailing Winds, this is another one that really depends on the strategy of the build. If you are playing a more tempo leaning towards midrange style deck this one could be very good. I have seen a lot of people who are very high on this card so it's definitely worth testing. I actually played a copy of Censor in my deck for awhile now. It's the card I removed to test Riddleform actually. I did notice that 80% of the time I was simply cycling the censor, but that's not such a bad thing. I did want access to additional counter magic in my deck that didn't hurt the pro-activity of the deck and censor fit the bill. They really need to print Miscalulation with a cycling of U then it would be a staple of our deck.
I have noticed a trend lately where I am winning a lot of my grindy games with Bedlam Revler. I wanted to take a quick pole to see if anyone else currently plays Bedlam Reveler in the main deck or sideboard?
I you don't I highly recommend putting one in the sideboard for the grindy matchups. I do think this will be a modern "semi-staple" in the future.
I have noticed a trend lately where I am winning a lot of my grindy games with Bedlam Revler. I wanted to take a quick pole to see if anyone else currently plays Bedlam Reveler in the main deck or sideboard?
I you don't I highly recommend putting one in the sideboard for the grindy matchups. I do think this will be a modern "semi-staple" in the future.
i play 2 bedlam revelers in my current deck. it encourages me to be more aggressive with my spells so i can refresh my hand with the devil horror later. my current build is a bit mid-rangy and not really the old aggressive builds i used to play.
I have noticed a trend lately where I am winning a lot of my grindy games with Bedlam Revler. I wanted to take a quick pole to see if anyone else currently plays Bedlam Reveler in the main deck or sideboard?
I you don't I highly recommend putting one in the sideboard for the grindy matchups. I do think this will be a modern "semi-staple" in the future.
i play 2 bedlam revelers in my current deck. it encourages me to be more aggressive with my spells so i can refresh my hand with the devil horror later. my current build is a bit mid-rangy and not really the old aggressive builds i used to play.
Great point about reveler encouraging aggressive play. When I have him in hand I tend to be very aggressive to get to him.
Another thing I love about jeskai is that it can transition so easily from aggro-control or tempo to midrange/control. I actually have begun building a second deck for fun very similar to the one you have here. I used to tinker all the time with a my build, but lately it seems that there are just no slots I want to change. To keep my brewing addiction at bay, I decided to build another jeskai deck. It will also revolve around prowess/spells so I will post it here if I think it fits the criteria. The jeskai shard offers so much fun but also a lot of headaches.
As I said I did participate in a modern tournament. There were roughly 48 players and I was very excited, say I didn't make top8, in fact I ended up with a record of 2-3-1.
This doesn't really look encouraging but the deck was extremely fun to play and there were some beyond awesome games.
I started off with 2-0 and thought to myself that I can do it and I could have done it, but I did punt one game and wasnt that lucky at other points in the tournament.
That said I don't know if I even need second modern deck. I was looking for another deck to play just to mix it up, but there is nothing comparable to jeskai delver.
On to the matches (it was Saturday and I can't remember every detail).
Round 1: BW control/tockens
I know that guy and he is only playing this deck and he is playing it for a long time. And the last time I played against him was the last bigger tournament.
Game 1:
He won the die roll and played a tapped shambling vent and I instantly knew what's up. I decided to play the controlling side of the deck as I didn't want to expose my geist to a LotV. I played a few smaller creatures (delver and SSM) which all got removed with push and path and Butcher of Malakir. In the meantime he was beating me down with lingering soul tokens.
Removing tokens with Electrolyze and being able to protect my geist where key to winning this game, basically grinding him out. He played a tombstalker which got vapor snagged and burn plus geist got there.
I sided in 2 Ancestral Vision, Negate, the ranger package, cutting delvers and remands.
Game 2:
Being in the draw again the second game it started pretty similar with me playing the controlling part, I was under some pressure due to linger soul tokens butcher and shambling vent. He went ahead and pathed some of my minor threats, having a ghost quarter he removed another land as well before that. I took the opportunity to grab my single Plains as he took out my only white source after that I was able to pull ahead countering the normal side of LS with Negate and the flashback with Remand hardcountering the spell and drawing a card. After that geist beats with burn took home the game as well.
Record: 1-0
Round 2: Bant Eldrazi
This is a match up I am pretty familiar with, but I do not really like it in particular. They have the potential to be extremely fast, disrupting your hand in the process and there lategame is also pretty scary.
Game 1:
I was able to land a delver turn one and he played Noble hierarch, delver flipped and I began with the beatung him down.
He played a displacer on his second turn which I was forced to remove, otherwise it would have taken over the game.
The rest of the game was typical for this match up and I was kind of juicy with my hand, having 2 path to exile in hand when he played TKS, he took a path and I pathed his TKS afterwards. I was always ahead in tempo in this game and after my delver got removed I was able to burn him out with snapcasters.
Sideboarding:
Took in dispel, blood moon, Negate and echoing truth, and cutting the cryptic, and some number of remands.
Game 2:
It started pretty similar with me on the play, but instead of delver I had SSM.
The earlygame I got in some chipshots but there wasn't anything really exciting.
On turn 3 he payed a TKS and took away the geist, seeing some removal and burn.
I blocked with my SSM on his attack and got to draw a card, keep my SSM because of a bolt. I top decked a geist and played it chipping away with my SSM. He drew a few lands and after lands with just two Spells, which were EE and matter Reshaper. Playing EE on 3 and popping it left me without geist. With 3 hierarchs he was swinging for 6 a turn and the snapcasters came in handy. I chumped with 2 snapis burning his face and removing his single threat. Drawing into boros charm and delver which flipped instantly got me the win.
Even though I won 2-0 I wasn't pleased with my performance at 2 points in the second game. When he popped his EE on 3 his matter Reshaper should have died too and we missed it (I do not think he fifths on purpose as he was struggling in this game, always being a bit behind). The second one was when he removed a threat, he took the damage and after damage played blessed alliance to let me sac a creature, which I did. It did seem fishy to me but I kind of believed him, should have called a judge though.
Record 2:0
Round 3: GR tron
Game 1 (This was one of the most awesome matches I ever got to play):
Being on the play I kept a reasonable hand with an early threat, geist and some number of Spells and lands. In the early stages of the game I got in for some damage but he had the perfect hand, with natural tron + Karn, which stayed in play for the whole game. He began to pick apart my hand and some permanents as well. But I decided that with natural tron my best shot at winning was to go after his lifetotal from the get go. After a few turns he wanted to blow up the board with O stone, Karn had a fate counter, boros charm was awesome in this spot, making everything indestructible. After that he hit a land off the top and tried to cast ugin, which got spell pierced (that felt so good).
I only hit Karn once in the meantime, so that he could not restart the game and got my opponent down 5. On his turn he hit another land and slammed newlamog, removing 2 off my shocklands. I attacked and him don't to 1 and got hit by the Eldrazi in return, milling 20 cards in the process. At that point I had three outs left in the deck, 2 Bolts and 1 vapor snag. On my turn I flipped the top card of my library revealing a vapor snag, winning me the game.
Sideboarding:
Stony silence and blood moon were the only cards that got put in, siding out remands and cryptic again.
Game 2:
This one was unlucky, I mulled my first hand with 1 land and stony, but I didn't eat to risk it without serum visions. My 6 card hand had no lands and I went down to 5 leaving me with stony and 2 lands.
Stony was really good, but I could not do anything about his threats, he drew into tron by turn 3 or 4 again and with no pressure or countermagic I got destroyed.
Game 3:
My hand was reasonable but it did not have any hatecards or sideboard cards in it, him drawing an extremely good hand didn't help. He was able to assemble tron on turn 4, playing a Wurmcoil, on my side a geist.
After a few turns of attacking on both sides and me not drawing a path I lost to the wurm.
I think that this was unlucky, my opponent either had tron from the get go, or drew into it by turn 4. The game with the Mulligan did really cost me a lot. I think I could have won that game with my first hand and a few lands.
Record: 2-1
Round 4: Jund
Game 1:
Well good old jund.
The first game took roughly 35 minutes, it was a back and forth. I remanded his huntmaster like 3 times and got to cryptic command it at last, huntmaster is a pain to deal with once resolved. The rest of the game was just grinding, snapcasters burn and geist finally got there.
Sideboarding: ranger package, EE, Negate and the 2 ancestral vision were added and I cut the delvers once again and remands.
Game 2:
He had a pregame effect with leyline of the void, which didn't concern me that hard. He played some scoozes and I got to stick geist. I eventually played out my snapcasters on his EoT to apply pressure. I knew about him having a anger of the gods in hand but I had a boros charm and some burn still in hand. He inquisitioned me on his turn which forced my hand.
I Attacked on my turn but on his turn he played chandra, which exiled a brutality and he got to cast it. This wrecked me, because I couldn't do anything against it, putting him out of bolt snap bolt range.
From there on out it went down hill, he pulled gas, and burned me down with chandra. He finished me off in the first extra turn, we did not go to the third game.
Record 2-1-1
Round 5: UR Storm
Match 1:
I was on the play and tried to put on some pressure but the first game was over pretty quickly. On his turn 4, after I played a geist, with spell pierce up, he went for it. I pierced his first ritual, forcing him to have a second one to go off. He did have the second one and grape shotted me for nine and 10.
Sideboarding: Negate, echoing truth, dispel and 2 Surgicals were exchanged with 2 vapor snags and remands.
Game 2:
This match was pretty awesome as well.
Both off us weren't able to take advantage off our decks, or rather nobody could pull ahead. I removed or Bounced his creatures and he played gifts after gifts. Most off the time I was on the back foot in this game. At that point we were the last ones playing in this round a a crowd gathered around the table. The decisions both of us had to make were so difficult and we both played well. Vendilion clique got me information, as well as several gifts he played. I knew I had to either counter a ritual or hold on to my Negate for the past in flames. But when he went for it I suddenly was afraid of empty the warrens and, I don't knew why, but I countered his second ritual, at that point I had to counter the PiF but I punted.
Well after 5 hours of non stop magic I was kind of exhausted but I really enjoyed the match. If I didn't punt that game we would have gone to tunrs once more and most likely this would have been our second draw, as both off us were 2-1-1.
BTW, this guy got second place after all and he is a nice guy as well, we were talking after the match and he thanked me for the awesome match.
Record: 2-2-1
Round 6: GW humans (no combo)
Game 1:
I kept a hand without a red source which came to bite me. His hand was the nuts. He played a noble on tune one and flooded the board with humans like Thalia, champion of the perish and Thalias lieutenant. I got overrun pretty quick.
Sidebaording:
I did not reply know what to board here so I took out 2 remands or something and slammed in EE and lavamancer.
Game 2:
This game was pretty similar. He cursed out pretty well and Thalia didn't make it any easier. I was miles behind after two turn and just couldn't come back, he got me again within like 6 turns or something. I just wasn't prepared for the go wide strategy he played.
2-3-1
Conclusion:
The deck felt nearly perfect! The only times when I felt helpless were, when I got comboed out of nowhere or had to Mulligan down to 5 cards.
There were some cards which overperformed, being boros charm, Logic knot, spell pierce and snapcaster mages. Geist did what I wanted him to do, close out games like no other 3 mana threat can in modern and delver did really flip everytime i played him, I was never disappointed. SSM was good but I only had the blow out once, with blocking a creature and burning it down.
I did not see blood moon once in the games I sided it in but I would have liked to see it anytime in those matches.
The biggest problem I came across are go wide strategies, but I don't know if I want to put an anger of the gods or a supreme verdict into my sideboard.
That's it guys, I hope you enjoyed reading it!
And sorry for the delay but I am bussy right now, the last weeks of the semester have kicked in.
This is the single best post we have had all year. Thanks for sharing Mazeron! This is also a great example of not becoming to "result oriented" in your analysis. This is especially true in modern. There are some decks (like Tron) that when they are running super hot just can't be beat very easily, if at all. One thing the Jeskai Delver deck will always give you is some great games of magic.
I keep doing the same thing as you. I keep thinking of making a second jeskai prowess/midrange deck with some of my favorite cards like Abbot of Keral Keep and Monastery Mentor, but I always just want to play my jeskai delver deck :).
As for the tournament, it looks like you played well and sided well. Magic has variance unfortunately and it looks like you caught the wrong side of variance in the Tron matchup and in jund being a top deck king. I guess that's what Jund wants to do. Those are some very interesting matchups too. It looks like an awesome tournament to play in. It much more fun to take on Storm, Humans, Jund, Tokens, etc rather than 4 straight matches against Grixis Shadow.
To be honest, I don't play against go wide decks often enough outside of counters company which isn't a full go wide deck. I have long hoped to "go through" the go wide decks with unblockable affects and/or disruption. The only card I have in my board that really "hates" a go wide deck is Engineered Explosives. I currently am working on the sideboard, specifically siding into a more tempo/control oriented deck. I added a vendilion clique to my mainboard because it has been doing very well in practice. I will likely need something against the go wide decks if they continue to become popular. Possibly another EE. Another card that works really well against tokens, but can also come in against some of the tier 3 wierd decks is Detention Sphere. I have had a copy of D.Sphere in my sideboard in the past, but it came out when I went a bit more aggro. However, if I go more control after board, it would be an interesting card I might give a try.
Anyone else have any other ideas for go wide decks?
There is always izzet staticaster.
Anger of the gods if you aren't worried about killing your own things.
At four mana, dusk//dawn will miss most of our things.
Marrow shards and blazing volley can be pretty big.
Bonfire of the damned is also an option.
Hi guys,
Last week I was busy and didn't get to play a lot but this Friday I went to FNM and I won the event (24 players, 4 rounds)!
Still using the same deck since it is working so well and I don't think that I will change anything soon.
Round 1: vs Affinity 1-1-1
First game I had to mulligan, kept 4 lands and 2 spells. Sryed a land to the bottom, drew two lands, died...
Second game I had turn 1 removal, turn 2 Stony, turn 3 Geist. He died pretty fast.
Third game was crazy. I drew way too many lands again (think I had 7 in play on turn 8 -_-) but Worship saved me. Unfortunately I couldn't win since he had Ravager and I never got to two removals. With his flying manlands + Overseer counters his defense was too good and lifelink kept him out of burn range. Neither of us managed to win within the 5 extra turns.
(I used 6 SB cards in this match-up. I think after SB my deck was favored to win.)
Round 2: vs Eldrazi Tron 2-0
First game I had two flipped Delvers on the field turn 3. He managed to get rid of them but his life total was already too low so I won the race with Geist and Burn.
Second game it was Geist vs Smasher but I won that race thanks to Deflecting Palm
(I think I used 9 SB cards here. This SB is excellent against Eldrazi Tron.)
Round 3: vs Titan Shift 2-1
First game he pulled a Titan turn 3 with ramp and Spirit Guide -_-
Second and third game I won rather quickly with Delver pressure and burn and (one game only) thanks to Disdainful Stroke.
(Only 3 efficient SB cards for this match-up.)
Round 4: vs Grixis Shadow 2-0
I was at 7 points and only one player had 9 points so I had to win to become the only player with 10 points.
Both games went perfectly.
First game he looked at my hand with Inquisition, after shocking himself to 17, only to see Bolt, Helix, Boros Charm and he saw his doom coming. After a few turns I had him at 4 and he had two 9/9 Shadows in play when I top decked a Boros Charm. I didn't draw a single creature this game, only burn spells.
Second game went completely different. I beat him down only with creatures that game--first Delver then Geist. He died to unblockable Geist (he had two Snappys but my Geist had protection from Blue) and I still had Path and Palm in hand. That quick victory felt really good.
(I used 5 SB cards here. After SB I feel pretty confident against Grixis Shadow.)
Regarding decks that go wide:
I only played against Affinity this time, but Verdict and Lavamancer are very good answers in my opinion.
Also, decks that go wide often have no answer to Worship and if you run enough burn you can still race them
Hi guys,
Last week I was busy and didn't get to play a lot but this Friday I went to FNM and I won the event (24 players, 4 rounds)!
Still using the same deck since it is working so well and I don't think that I will change anything soon.
Round 1: vs Affinity 1-1-1
First game I had to mulligan, kept 4 lands and 2 spells. Sryed a land to the bottom, drew two lands, died...
Second game I had turn 1 removal, turn 2 Stony, turn 3 Geist. He died pretty fast.
Third game was crazy. I drew way too many lands again (think I had 7 in play on turn 8 -_-) but Worship saved me. Unfortunately I couldn't win since he had Ravager and I never got to two removals. With his flying manlands + Overseer counters his defense was too good and lifelink kept him out of burn range. Neither of us managed to win within the 5 extra turns.
(I used 6 SB cards in this match-up. I think after SB my deck was favored to win.)
Round 2: vs Eldrazi Tron 2-0
First game I had two flipped Delvers on the field turn 3. He managed to get rid of them but his life total was already too low so I won the race with Geist and Burn.
Second game it was Geist vs Smasher but I won that race thanks to Deflecting Palm
(I think I used 9 SB cards here. This SB is excellent against Eldrazi Tron.)
Round 3: vs Titan Shift 2-1
First game he pulled a Titan turn 3 with ramp and Spirit Guide -_-
Second and third game I won rather quickly with Delver pressure and burn and (one game only) thanks to Disdainful Stroke.
(Only 3 efficient SB cards for this match-up.)
Round 4: vs Grixis Shadow 2-0
I was at 7 points and only one player had 9 points so I had to win to become the only player with 10 points.
Both games went perfectly.
First game he looked at my hand with Inquisition, after shocking himself to 17, only to see Bolt, Helix, Boros Charm and he saw his doom coming. After a few turns I had him at 4 and he had two 9/9 Shadows in play when I top decked a Boros Charm. I didn't draw a single creature this game, only burn spells.
Second game went completely different. I beat him down only with creatures that game--first Delver then Geist. He died to unblockable Geist (he had two Snappys but my Geist had protection from Blue) and I still had Path and Palm in hand. That quick victory felt really good.
(I used 5 SB cards here. After SB I feel pretty confident against Grixis Shadow.)
Regarding decks that go wide:
I only played against Affinity this time, but Verdict and Lavamancer are very good answers in my opinion.
Also, decks that go wide often have no answer to Worship and if you run enough burn you can still race them
Congrats Stevomat!!! That's great news. I love to read the game notes/tournament recaps, but it's also great to hear at the end of the recap that the person (yourself in this case) also won the event!
As I said before, it's a great time to be playing our deck and the longer you play the deck the better the results tend to get. Thanks for the awesome write-up and congrats again on the win!
Hi guys,
Last week I was busy and didn't get to play a lot but this Friday I went to FNM and I won the event (24 players, 4 rounds)!
Still using the same deck since it is working so well and I don't think that I will change anything soon.
Round 1: vs Affinity 1-1-1
First game I had to mulligan, kept 4 lands and 2 spells. Sryed a land to the bottom, drew two lands, died...
Second game I had turn 1 removal, turn 2 Stony, turn 3 Geist. He died pretty fast.
Third game was crazy. I drew way too many lands again (think I had 7 in play on turn 8 -_-) but Worship saved me. Unfortunately I couldn't win since he had Ravager and I never got to two removals. With his flying manlands + Overseer counters his defense was too good and lifelink kept him out of burn range. Neither of us managed to win within the 5 extra turns.
(I used 6 SB cards in this match-up. I think after SB my deck was favored to win.)
Round 2: vs Eldrazi Tron 2-0
First game I had two flipped Delvers on the field turn 3. He managed to get rid of them but his life total was already too low so I won the race with Geist and Burn.
Second game it was Geist vs Smasher but I won that race thanks to Deflecting Palm
(I think I used 9 SB cards here. This SB is excellent against Eldrazi Tron.)
Round 3: vs Titan Shift 2-1
First game he pulled a Titan turn 3 with ramp and Spirit Guide -_-
Second and third game I won rather quickly with Delver pressure and burn and (one game only) thanks to Disdainful Stroke.
(Only 3 efficient SB cards for this match-up.)
Round 4: vs Grixis Shadow 2-0
I was at 7 points and only one player had 9 points so I had to win to become the only player with 10 points.
Both games went perfectly.
First game he looked at my hand with Inquisition, after shocking himself to 17, only to see Bolt, Helix, Boros Charm and he saw his doom coming. After a few turns I had him at 4 and he had two 9/9 Shadows in play when I top decked a Boros Charm. I didn't draw a single creature this game, only burn spells.
Second game went completely different. I beat him down only with creatures that game--first Delver then Geist. He died to unblockable Geist (he had two Snappys but my Geist had protection from Blue) and I still had Path and Palm in hand. That quick victory felt really good.
(I used 5 SB cards here. After SB I feel pretty confident against Grixis Shadow.)
Regarding decks that go wide:
I only played against Affinity this time, but Verdict and Lavamancer are very good answers in my opinion.
Also, decks that go wide often have no answer to Worship and if you run enough burn you can still race them
Congrats Stevomat!!! That's great news. I love to read the game notes/tournament recaps, but it's also great to hear at the end of the recap that the person (yourself in this case) also won the event!
As I said before, it's a great time to be playing our deck and the longer you play the deck the better the results tend to get. Thanks for the awesome write-up and congrats again on the win!
Congrats on the success. The one area that looks a little weak is against graveyard strategies. How do you beat dredge, living end with only 2 surgicals?
Congrats on the success. The one area that looks a little weak is against graveyard strategies. How do you beat dredge, living end with only 2 surgicals?
Thanks! And thank you too, CurdBros.
Graveyard hate is an interesting topic. I tried several different cards within the last two years. I never liked cards that affect my own graveyard too so I never played Relic or Rest in Peace. Instead I went for Tormod's Crypt and Hallowed Moonlight in the past. Both aren't bad but I'd rather add cards that flip Delver to my SB than Artifacts so Crypt had to go and Moonlight just wasn't effective enough since the opponent can opt to leave his creatures in the graveyard and try again next turn. So, about half a year ago I ended up trying 2 Surgicals and I have been happy with them ever since. I just love it against decks playing Thought Scour.
But back to Dredge and Living End:
I know that I won the last two matched (online and offline) against Dredge with my current SB. I think my deck is aggressive enough to race them.
4xSnappys x 2xSurgicals can buy time as well as Supreme Verdict which resets the game. Worship also works very good against Dredge.
Living End, being a combo deck, can drop 20 power on the battlefield on turn 3 with a very good hand, but Spell Pierce is a good defense against that (among many other equally devastating early plays). Living End often operates with very little mana so Spell Pierce and even Stone Rain (to keep them off their third color) are quite useful. Verdict can reset the board after they go off and Deflecting Palms can help to win a race. I think I just have to live with the fact that this match-up is 50/50 and a bit luck-based.
I would highly recommend a copy of valorous stance if you want more hard removal.
It lets you give things indestructible (best on geist, but still relevant), as well as killing eldrazi, shadows, delve creatures, etc.
I would highly recommend a copy of valorous stance if you want more hard removal.
It lets you give things indestructible (best on geist, but still relevant), as well as killing eldrazi, shadows, delve creatures, etc.
/signed
That's why I am running one copy mainboard. This gives me 5 cards (Stance + Paths (and even more counting Snapcaster)) to deal with big threats and 6 cards (2x Emerge, 1x Stance, 3x Boros Charm that can prevent my creatures from dying). I think Valorous Stance is a better choice for UWR than Dismember.
Valorous Stance is definitely very well positioned right now and is a great recommendation Cody and Stevo. I really want to get an Emerge Unscathed back into my mainboard. I will see what I can cut to get it back in.
Vapor Snag is a great option right now as well. Especially for decks running snapcaster and bedlam reveler. It is so versatile in our deck that I always run at least two copies. It really only shines in the more aggressive versions, but can be utilized in the midrange versions as well.
So I've been playing a bit of jeskai delver recently, and my list is a little bit different than a lot of the lists posted here, but it feels very strong to me, so I thought I'd post it.
Currently a combined 8-4 with the deck, which is not amazing, but is quite reasonable.
The sideboard is a bit of a pile, and I'm likely going to swap a steam vents with a seachrome coast.
For the most part, this deck functions exactly like I want jeskai delver to function.
I always disliked prowess creatures in this deck because they wanted you to cast spells on your turn, which made counterspells and the like a lot worse.
Myth does not have this problem.
Between myth and delver, you have some good turn 1 threats to drop down, you have enough counterspells to keep your opponent stumbling, and you have an insane amount of burn that can close games incredibly quickly.
This list ditched some cards like bedlam reveler (I dislike this card in most blue decks), emerge unscathed/distortion strike/slip through space (Geist acting as a boros charm is acceptable with all of the other burn spells, and its usually easy enough to clear a path for him).
Vapor snag is definitely an option I considered, but I decided that burn tends to be more flexible, and this deck does not have a problem just ending the game with burn in the face of eldrazi or delve threats.
I do like myth a lot more than riddle form.
Not dying to bolt (most of the time) is kind of relevant, even with bolt seeing less play.
Being a 1 drop is also huge to me, as with all of the burn, I tend to race most of my games.
Both of them provide a decent mana sink ability, but myth tends to end the game faster.
Myth also blocks better.
As you mentioned, having to cast spells during MP1 is another strike against it.
The fact that it doesn't inherently cost mana to turn on is nice, but being able to hold up spells and still attack with myth is critical, IMO.
Lastly, myth tends to end games at 6/6 or bigger, which just pushes it so far ahead of riddleform in my mind.
I'd consider playing 2 riddleforms in addition to the current threats (as I felt I kind of wanted another threat, pyromancer was also an option) maybe instead of 2 helix or the boros charms.
I really like izzet charm as a singleton (especially in this list)
It deals two damage, which is fine, especially if you need to add a bolt to kill a bigger creature.
It acts as another spell pierce, which is also fine, but being able to loot with it when you don't need any of its other modes is really significant.
I'm not playing lighthouse, and serum visions is the only card selection I have (with remand being the only other cantrip), which means seeing extra cards can be very significant.
Myth helps to balance out potential flood issues, as it is happy to eat up your mana, but having a spell to pitch lands for more dig that is also interactive when needed is really nice.
Admittedly its likely the weakest card in the deck, but I'm happy with it for now.
Right now I am a bit torn on the last sideboard slot, Dismember kills everything with 5 thoughness or less and is also good against smaller utility creatures but utility creatures shouldnt be a problem with 4 bolts, 3 helices, 3 paths and 1 electrolyze should be sufficient.
Valorous Stance on the other hand gets rid of most of the annoying creatures we have the most trouble to deal with and additionally offers utility.
The third option would be Celestial Purge, as it removes every threat grixis DS has to offer, aside from Snapcaster Mage. The exile clause could be very helpful as kolaghans command plays a huge part in their recursion. The color restriction is a curse and a blessing at the same time in my opinion.
I will go with stance for now, but Celestial purge definitely needs some testing as well, Dismember is very powerful right now but 4 life seems kinda rough, we will see.
@jodon:
The list looks ok for a budget list and it basically does everything what a the non budget list do as well. Maybe you want to go up one geist and get in some protection for him, playing a more geist centric deck could be the right choice here.
On the miracle cards. They seem too cute, even with entity. For this combination of cards to work the miracle cards have to be in the yard to begin with and drawing one through a serum visions or remand doesnt seem helpful. I think you have to stream line the deck a little more, one offs and 2 offs are great, but having to many off them will make the deck inconsistent.
One card that I really dont like in jeskai delver is Faithless looting as it is pure carddisadvantage and thats not really where we want to be playing a tempo deck. If we run out of cards and arent miles ahead on our opponent decks like grixis DS and eldrazi tron can turn the game around extremely quickly to a point where we are not able to come back.
@Cody_X
Riddleform gets better the later you draw it compared to Myth Realized although myth provides a manasink, so its pretty close, but myth can come down early. The problem you have with Riddleform is that it requires you to play with it like a prowess creature and if you do not like that approach, I dont really like it either to some extent, myth is the way to go.
2 Geist is one to few for my taste but thats preference, but I do not think geist is a card that is dead if you have 1 in play and one in hand as you can suicide the one geist 90% off the time and play the other. One card I cant get behind is Izzet charm, most off us tried this card at some point, but there are just better options. Depending on what you need there are a number of counterspells you could play and there is electrolyze, it is more expensive but just as versatile and with lingering souls being a huge pain, at least in my experience, it is very good.
Mazeron pretty much hit on most of the points I would make so I just quoted him instead of being a broken record.
Cody_X- I do agree that one drops are SUPER important if you are playing a tempo style or aggro style of the deck. I have never tried myth realized as a four of in the deck so I don't have much experience with the card. When it was first printed I tried it as a two of in my build, but it just didn't seem to fit. A lot has changed since then so maybe it's time to revisit the card. I think it does fit better in a more pure tempo/control version of the deck like your list. It can stick around while you are countering spells and removing creatures and continue to grow. It also transitions nicely into a control build if you go more control post sideboard. My personal build is a bit more aggo and myth realized may not fit as well, but I will definitely give it a try.
As for Izzet Charm, I have a love/hate relationship with that card. It seems like it should fit perfectly into any delver build. It does exactly what we want out of a card. With that said, in play I always hate having it in my hand. More often than not I end up using it as an instant speed Faithless Looting. It always just seems a little over costed but that is exactly what it is. You pay the additional cost for the great versatility if offers. I have had izzet charm in and out of my deck, but it never seems to stick for some reason. You make a great point about card selection though I play both Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand so the looting aspect of the card is less valuable to me. The most valuable option to me is being about to have another counter spell in the deck while having a card that can be proactive. I'm sure Izzet Charm will sneak back into my deck as some point in the future, but for some reason it just never stays in the deck.
Jodon-
I'm really glad you posted. I have been messing around with a miracle list at work (I know I should be working). It is very similar using Noxious Revival, [/c]Bloodwater Entity[/c], Serum Visions, Monastery Mentor, miracle spells, etc in a very similar fashion to your build. I haven't come up with anything playable yet, but there is definitely something there. I would love to hear how your deck continues to evolve.
As for your build. It is very hard to play that many high CMC cards with only 18 lands. I consider 3+ high CMC for our deck because we often run between 18-20 lands. With only 18 lands I would probably only run 5-6 cards with a 3 CMC or above. With 2 Geists, 2 Bedlam Reveler, 3 Bloodwater Entity, and also 3 bonfire which are often at least 3 mana it would become hard to cast two spells a turn at only 18 mana. I would suggest cutting on bonfire for sure. I would also likely cut one bloodwater entity. You could add two copies of Sleight of Hand to hit your land drops a little more effectively or, in your case, you could add two copies of Telling Time or possibly Mystic Speculation.
Sorry for the delay in posting. I just got back from vacation and was gone for a week.
With that said, not much has changed in the world of Jeskai Delver/Prowess lately. While there have been a ton of recent additions like Enigma Drake, Riddleform, Cryptic Serpent, etc, There hasn't been any major tech change. I always like to work on my sideboard plan during the times of main deck stability.
I lied a little when I said I wasn't trying anything new. In my two "flex slots" I have been playing a Hazoret, the Fervent. It is extremely good in the grindy matchups, but hasn't been great in the other matchups. Therefore, I may give him a try in the sideboard. I am going to keep trying him in the main deck for now. With the meta continuing to become more grindy I really like him at the top end.
Anyone else trying new tech?
The only change in my sideboard is that I have added Chandra,Pyromaster into the board as my 15th card. I only had 14 for awhile and was bringing a different 15th card each week. I have been seeing more GBx grindy matchups and also UW control matchups so having access to another great value card that can also be aggressive is great. In addition, she is my favorite planswwalker card ever printed.
I've been trying to find a deck that I like enough to stick with for a good while and I think I'll be settling on Jeskai Delver (yay for a brief stint with Saheeli's Trinkets with 5 infinite combos in it, hilarious deck I tell ya) for the time being.
The list I played with last Saturday was as follows:
Overall, the deck was satisfying and fun to play [free games with Geist are fun], despite my 2-2 record. It can be blazingly fast and protect it's threats sufficiently, but you do have to mind some hands with only 1 or 2 threats against some decks. I lost against abzan midrange 2-1 in 3 really close games, where in one Hazoret held down the for for 3 turns against a rhino a goyf and an Anafenza, while shooting him and I ended up not drawing anything relevant. I won the 2nd in a convincing fashion by removing every single blocker of his and smashing face with swiftspears and a geist, and in the 3rd when we were on top deck mode and he was near death he topdecked 2 back to back lingering souls so I couldn't connect with Ojutai.
The other loss was against goblins which was a deck I was totally unprepared for and I think it's actually a bad-ish match up for the deck (unless you're packing 2 electrolyzes or forked bolts). Finally, Valorous Stance is an epic card at the moment, because it hits all relevant targets in the meta at the moment and nicely fits the needs of the deck
I had a Bedlam Reveler instead of the 2nd Hazoret, but since I found him a dead draw/card all the time, a 2nd Hazoret will take his spot.
I wanted a card for the grindy match ups, so I'm trying Ojutai.
I think Hazoret is good in our deck as it has a soft synergy with our aggressiveness and low cc spells. The option to go wide with her burn ability is extremely useful to close the game. It also dodges sideboard hate like Leyline of Sanctity.
I concur with Bedlam Reveler being a dead card at times but it also has a soft synergy with our tendency to dump our hand if we get an aggressive draw. The Reveler is a evil card... it taunts you to cast it from your hand... tempting you with its lure to draw you cards... xD. I don't think playing 2 Revelers is a good idea (tried it and didn't like it) so its not bad to go 1 Reveler and 1 something else.
Thanks MrTzoulis. I need to brush up on my magic lore a little bit. I have enjoyed her (Hazoret) in the deck. I am going to give Valarous Stance another try in the other flex spot and see if I like it. I am a huge Bedlam Reveler fan. I have two in the deck and it hasn't been to much of a problem. I will keep an eye out to see how often he sticks in my hand. If I do notice anything I will let you guys know.
I agree NMDPS that Hazoret is a perfect "fit" into the deck with all of the synergy with the deck. Every time I have cast the card it has been great. I have had multiple times where it has stuck in my hand, but most of those games were wins where I had a ton of spells to cast so it hasn't been a negative yet.
I am having more fun playing this deck than I have in a long time.
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this is a useful card in Cryptic Serpent/Bedlam Reveler builds. Those variants can also lean on Thought Scour if they want to. I think the Jeskai variant of Grixis control decks will run Countervailing Winds as the counterspell of choice if that is the case. Grixis Control feeds on their graveyard whereas Jeskai uses the graveyard as "reference". this is really interesting from a game design perspective. kudos to the r/d guys for spreading out this design over the past few sets.
Spellweaver Eternal is a decent card. Would be massively playable if it was UR with haste. =P
Riddleform is a great limited card.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I believe she could be a good addition as a top end threat in some higher curve delver decks.
I'm going to try out Riddleform as it seems to have potential.
I'm not sure where Countervailing Winds can fit, as a 3-mana counterspell it gets outclassed by all the Cancel variants
(most notably Disallow/Counterflux).
I'm not sure if the cycling makes it playable (especially for 2 mana) compared to something like Logic Knot,
as Censor hasn't exactly proved itself useful (though it is probably slightly better).
MrTzoulis that is a gret idea. I hadn't thought of trying Hazoret, the Fervent at the top end, but it does make sense in the more burn oriented lists. I can't see myself cutting my beloved Bedlam Reveler like D90Dennis19 said because I play a bit more of a tempo build rather than straight aggro. On a related note, I did see a new Jund Aggro variant online by the same guy that made shadow (Ghash77)that runs two Hazoret and two Rhonas and the deck looks really cool.
I too am giving Riddleforma try and did play a few games with it last night. It performed very well when drawn early. I was suprised how often I utilized the scry ability on the card. It was best against Abzan and was still good against Death Shadow. I am still not sold that it is a main deck card, but it may be the sideboard card I have been searching for against the GBx decks. I will keep you all posted on it's results. I was only running one copy in the main, but because it isn't legendary I might try two just to make sure I draw it more for testing.
As for Countervailing Winds, this is another one that really depends on the strategy of the build. If you are playing a more tempo leaning towards midrange style deck this one could be very good. I have seen a lot of people who are very high on this card so it's definitely worth testing. I actually played a copy of Censor in my deck for awhile now. It's the card I removed to test Riddleform actually. I did notice that 80% of the time I was simply cycling the censor, but that's not such a bad thing. I did want access to additional counter magic in my deck that didn't hurt the pro-activity of the deck and censor fit the bill. They really need to print Miscalulation with a cycling of U then it would be a staple of our deck.
I you don't I highly recommend putting one in the sideboard for the grindy matchups. I do think this will be a modern "semi-staple" in the future.
i play 2 bedlam revelers in my current deck. it encourages me to be more aggressive with my spells so i can refresh my hand with the devil horror later. my current build is a bit mid-rangy and not really the old aggressive builds i used to play.
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Cryptic Serpent
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Enigma Drake
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Lightning Helix
4 Serum Visions
4 Remand
4 Vapor Snag
2 Deprive
1 Negate
4 Flooded Strand
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Inspiring Vantage
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Sacred Foundry
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Great point about reveler encouraging aggressive play. When I have him in hand I tend to be very aggressive to get to him.
Another thing I love about jeskai is that it can transition so easily from aggro-control or tempo to midrange/control. I actually have begun building a second deck for fun very similar to the one you have here. I used to tinker all the time with a my build, but lately it seems that there are just no slots I want to change. To keep my brewing addiction at bay, I decided to build another jeskai deck. It will also revolve around prowess/spells so I will post it here if I think it fits the criteria. The jeskai shard offers so much fun but also a lot of headaches.
This is the single best post we have had all year. Thanks for sharing Mazeron! This is also a great example of not becoming to "result oriented" in your analysis. This is especially true in modern. There are some decks (like Tron) that when they are running super hot just can't be beat very easily, if at all. One thing the Jeskai Delver deck will always give you is some great games of magic.
I keep doing the same thing as you. I keep thinking of making a second jeskai prowess/midrange deck with some of my favorite cards like Abbot of Keral Keep and Monastery Mentor, but I always just want to play my jeskai delver deck :).
As for the tournament, it looks like you played well and sided well. Magic has variance unfortunately and it looks like you caught the wrong side of variance in the Tron matchup and in jund being a top deck king. I guess that's what Jund wants to do. Those are some very interesting matchups too. It looks like an awesome tournament to play in. It much more fun to take on Storm, Humans, Jund, Tokens, etc rather than 4 straight matches against Grixis Shadow.
To be honest, I don't play against go wide decks often enough outside of counters company which isn't a full go wide deck. I have long hoped to "go through" the go wide decks with unblockable affects and/or disruption. The only card I have in my board that really "hates" a go wide deck is Engineered Explosives. I currently am working on the sideboard, specifically siding into a more tempo/control oriented deck. I added a vendilion clique to my mainboard because it has been doing very well in practice. I will likely need something against the go wide decks if they continue to become popular. Possibly another EE. Another card that works really well against tokens, but can also come in against some of the tier 3 wierd decks is Detention Sphere. I have had a copy of D.Sphere in my sideboard in the past, but it came out when I went a bit more aggro. However, if I go more control after board, it would be an interesting card I might give a try.
Anyone else have any other ideas for go wide decks?
Anger of the gods if you aren't worried about killing your own things.
At four mana, dusk//dawn will miss most of our things.
Marrow shards and blazing volley can be pretty big.
Bonfire of the damned is also an option.
Last week I was busy and didn't get to play a lot but this Friday I went to FNM and I won the event (24 players, 4 rounds)!
Still using the same deck since it is working so well and I don't think that I will change anything soon.
Round 1: vs Affinity 1-1-1
First game I had to mulligan, kept 4 lands and 2 spells. Sryed a land to the bottom, drew two lands, died...
Second game I had turn 1 removal, turn 2 Stony, turn 3 Geist. He died pretty fast.
Third game was crazy. I drew way too many lands again (think I had 7 in play on turn 8 -_-) but Worship saved me. Unfortunately I couldn't win since he had Ravager and I never got to two removals. With his flying manlands + Overseer counters his defense was too good and lifelink kept him out of burn range. Neither of us managed to win within the 5 extra turns.
(I used 6 SB cards in this match-up. I think after SB my deck was favored to win.)
Round 2: vs Eldrazi Tron 2-0
First game I had two flipped Delvers on the field turn 3. He managed to get rid of them but his life total was already too low so I won the race with Geist and Burn.
Second game it was Geist vs Smasher but I won that race thanks to Deflecting Palm
(I think I used 9 SB cards here. This SB is excellent against Eldrazi Tron.)
Round 3: vs Titan Shift 2-1
First game he pulled a Titan turn 3 with ramp and Spirit Guide -_-
Second and third game I won rather quickly with Delver pressure and burn and (one game only) thanks to Disdainful Stroke.
(Only 3 efficient SB cards for this match-up.)
Round 4: vs Grixis Shadow 2-0
I was at 7 points and only one player had 9 points so I had to win to become the only player with 10 points.
Both games went perfectly.
First game he looked at my hand with Inquisition, after shocking himself to 17, only to see Bolt, Helix, Boros Charm and he saw his doom coming. After a few turns I had him at 4 and he had two 9/9 Shadows in play when I top decked a Boros Charm. I didn't draw a single creature this game, only burn spells.
Second game went completely different. I beat him down only with creatures that game--first Delver then Geist. He died to unblockable Geist (he had two Snappys but my Geist had protection from Blue) and I still had Path and Palm in hand. That quick victory felt really good.
(I used 5 SB cards here. After SB I feel pretty confident against Grixis Shadow.)
Regarding decks that go wide:
I only played against Affinity this time, but Verdict and Lavamancer are very good answers in my opinion.
Also, decks that go wide often have no answer to Worship and if you run enough burn you can still race them
Congrats Stevomat!!! That's great news. I love to read the game notes/tournament recaps, but it's also great to hear at the end of the recap that the person (yourself in this case) also won the event!
As I said before, it's a great time to be playing our deck and the longer you play the deck the better the results tend to get. Thanks for the awesome write-up and congrats again on the win!
Congrats on the success. The one area that looks a little weak is against graveyard strategies. How do you beat dredge, living end with only 2 surgicals?
Thanks! And thank you too, CurdBros.
Graveyard hate is an interesting topic. I tried several different cards within the last two years. I never liked cards that affect my own graveyard too so I never played Relic or Rest in Peace. Instead I went for Tormod's Crypt and Hallowed Moonlight in the past. Both aren't bad but I'd rather add cards that flip Delver to my SB than Artifacts so Crypt had to go and Moonlight just wasn't effective enough since the opponent can opt to leave his creatures in the graveyard and try again next turn. So, about half a year ago I ended up trying 2 Surgicals and I have been happy with them ever since. I just love it against decks playing Thought Scour.
But back to Dredge and Living End:
I know that I won the last two matched (online and offline) against Dredge with my current SB. I think my deck is aggressive enough to race them.
4xSnappys x 2xSurgicals can buy time as well as Supreme Verdict which resets the game. Worship also works very good against Dredge.
Living End, being a combo deck, can drop 20 power on the battlefield on turn 3 with a very good hand, but Spell Pierce is a good defense against that (among many other equally devastating early plays). Living End often operates with very little mana so Spell Pierce and even Stone Rain (to keep them off their third color) are quite useful. Verdict can reset the board after they go off and Deflecting Palms can help to win a race. I think I just have to live with the fact that this match-up is 50/50 and a bit luck-based.
It lets you give things indestructible (best on geist, but still relevant), as well as killing eldrazi, shadows, delve creatures, etc.
/signed
That's why I am running one copy mainboard. This gives me 5 cards (Stance + Paths (and even more counting Snapcaster)) to deal with big threats and 6 cards (2x Emerge, 1x Stance, 3x Boros Charm that can prevent my creatures from dying). I think Valorous Stance is a better choice for UWR than Dismember.
Vapor Snag is a great option right now as well. Especially for decks running snapcaster and bedlam reveler. It is so versatile in our deck that I always run at least two copies. It really only shines in the more aggressive versions, but can be utilized in the midrange versions as well.
4 snapcaster mage
2 geist of saint traft
4 myth realized
2 spell pierce
2 mana leak
4 remand
1 izzet charm
4 serum visions
4 path to exile
4 lightning bolt
4 lightning helix
2 boros charm
4 arid mesa
4 scalding tarn
1 flooded strand
1 island
1 plains
1 mountain
2 steam vents
2 hallowed fountain
1 sacred foundry
1 pithing needle
1 grim lavamancer
1 izzet staticaster
2 vendilion clique
1 gideon of the trials
2 hallowed moonlight
1 negate
1 dispel
2 ceremonious rejection
1 wear//tear
1 deflecting palm
1 valorous stance
Currently a combined 8-4 with the deck, which is not amazing, but is quite reasonable.
The sideboard is a bit of a pile, and I'm likely going to swap a steam vents with a seachrome coast.
For the most part, this deck functions exactly like I want jeskai delver to function.
I always disliked prowess creatures in this deck because they wanted you to cast spells on your turn, which made counterspells and the like a lot worse.
Myth does not have this problem.
Between myth and delver, you have some good turn 1 threats to drop down, you have enough counterspells to keep your opponent stumbling, and you have an insane amount of burn that can close games incredibly quickly.
This list ditched some cards like bedlam reveler (I dislike this card in most blue decks), emerge unscathed/distortion strike/slip through space (Geist acting as a boros charm is acceptable with all of the other burn spells, and its usually easy enough to clear a path for him).
Vapor snag is definitely an option I considered, but I decided that burn tends to be more flexible, and this deck does not have a problem just ending the game with burn in the face of eldrazi or delve threats.
Not dying to bolt (most of the time) is kind of relevant, even with bolt seeing less play.
Being a 1 drop is also huge to me, as with all of the burn, I tend to race most of my games.
Both of them provide a decent mana sink ability, but myth tends to end the game faster.
Myth also blocks better.
As you mentioned, having to cast spells during MP1 is another strike against it.
The fact that it doesn't inherently cost mana to turn on is nice, but being able to hold up spells and still attack with myth is critical, IMO.
Lastly, myth tends to end games at 6/6 or bigger, which just pushes it so far ahead of riddleform in my mind.
I'd consider playing 2 riddleforms in addition to the current threats (as I felt I kind of wanted another threat, pyromancer was also an option) maybe instead of 2 helix or the boros charms.
I really like izzet charm as a singleton (especially in this list)
It deals two damage, which is fine, especially if you need to add a bolt to kill a bigger creature.
It acts as another spell pierce, which is also fine, but being able to loot with it when you don't need any of its other modes is really significant.
I'm not playing lighthouse, and serum visions is the only card selection I have (with remand being the only other cantrip), which means seeing extra cards can be very significant.
Myth helps to balance out potential flood issues, as it is happy to eat up your mana, but having a spell to pitch lands for more dig that is also interactive when needed is really nice.
Admittedly its likely the weakest card in the deck, but I'm happy with it for now.
Mazeron pretty much hit on most of the points I would make so I just quoted him instead of being a broken record.
Cody_X- I do agree that one drops are SUPER important if you are playing a tempo style or aggro style of the deck. I have never tried myth realized as a four of in the deck so I don't have much experience with the card. When it was first printed I tried it as a two of in my build, but it just didn't seem to fit. A lot has changed since then so maybe it's time to revisit the card. I think it does fit better in a more pure tempo/control version of the deck like your list. It can stick around while you are countering spells and removing creatures and continue to grow. It also transitions nicely into a control build if you go more control post sideboard. My personal build is a bit more aggo and myth realized may not fit as well, but I will definitely give it a try.
As for Izzet Charm, I have a love/hate relationship with that card. It seems like it should fit perfectly into any delver build. It does exactly what we want out of a card. With that said, in play I always hate having it in my hand. More often than not I end up using it as an instant speed Faithless Looting. It always just seems a little over costed but that is exactly what it is. You pay the additional cost for the great versatility if offers. I have had izzet charm in and out of my deck, but it never seems to stick for some reason. You make a great point about card selection though I play both Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand so the looting aspect of the card is less valuable to me. The most valuable option to me is being about to have another counter spell in the deck while having a card that can be proactive. I'm sure Izzet Charm will sneak back into my deck as some point in the future, but for some reason it just never stays in the deck.
Jodon-
I'm really glad you posted. I have been messing around with a miracle list at work (I know I should be working). It is very similar using Noxious Revival, [/c]Bloodwater Entity[/c], Serum Visions, Monastery Mentor, miracle spells, etc in a very similar fashion to your build. I haven't come up with anything playable yet, but there is definitely something there. I would love to hear how your deck continues to evolve.
As for your build. It is very hard to play that many high CMC cards with only 18 lands. I consider 3+ high CMC for our deck because we often run between 18-20 lands. With only 18 lands I would probably only run 5-6 cards with a 3 CMC or above. With 2 Geists, 2 Bedlam Reveler, 3 Bloodwater Entity, and also 3 bonfire which are often at least 3 mana it would become hard to cast two spells a turn at only 18 mana. I would suggest cutting on bonfire for sure. I would also likely cut one bloodwater entity. You could add two copies of Sleight of Hand to hit your land drops a little more effectively or, in your case, you could add two copies of Telling Time or possibly Mystic Speculation.
With that said, not much has changed in the world of Jeskai Delver/Prowess lately. While there have been a ton of recent additions like Enigma Drake, Riddleform, Cryptic Serpent, etc, There hasn't been any major tech change. I always like to work on my sideboard plan during the times of main deck stability.
I lied a little when I said I wasn't trying anything new. In my two "flex slots" I have been playing a Hazoret, the Fervent. It is extremely good in the grindy matchups, but hasn't been great in the other matchups. Therefore, I may give him a try in the sideboard. I am going to keep trying him in the main deck for now. With the meta continuing to become more grindy I really like him at the top end.
Anyone else trying new tech?
The only change in my sideboard is that I have added Chandra,Pyromaster into the board as my 15th card. I only had 14 for awhile and was bringing a different 15th card each week. I have been seeing more GBx grindy matchups and also UW control matchups so having access to another great value card that can also be aggressive is great. In addition, she is my favorite planswwalker card ever printed.
The list I played with last Saturday was as follows:
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Inspiring Vantage
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Instant (20)
2x Boros Charm
2x Emerge Unscathed
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
3x Mutagenic Growth
3x Path to Exile
1x Unsubstantiate
1x Valorous Stance
2x Vapor Snag
4x Serum Visions
2x Sleight of Hand
Creature (16)
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Hazoret the Fervent
4x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
2x Deflecting Palm
2x Dispel
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Wear / Tear
1x Dragonlord Ojutai
Overall, the deck was satisfying and fun to play [free games with Geist are fun], despite my 2-2 record. It can be blazingly fast and protect it's threats sufficiently, but you do have to mind some hands with only 1 or 2 threats against some decks. I lost against abzan midrange 2-1 in 3 really close games, where in one Hazoret held down the for for 3 turns against a rhino a goyf and an Anafenza, while shooting him and I ended up not drawing anything relevant. I won the 2nd in a convincing fashion by removing every single blocker of his and smashing face with swiftspears and a geist, and in the 3rd when we were on top deck mode and he was near death he topdecked 2 back to back lingering souls so I couldn't connect with Ojutai.
The other loss was against goblins which was a deck I was totally unprepared for and I think it's actually a bad-ish match up for the deck (unless you're packing 2 electrolyzes or forked bolts). Finally, Valorous Stance is an epic card at the moment, because it hits all relevant targets in the meta at the moment and nicely fits the needs of the deck
I had a Bedlam Reveler instead of the 2nd Hazoret, but since I found him a dead draw/card all the time, a 2nd Hazoret will take his spot.
I wanted a card for the grindy match ups, so I'm trying Ojutai.
PS. @CurdBros Hazoret is a She
I concur with Bedlam Reveler being a dead card at times but it also has a soft synergy with our tendency to dump our hand if we get an aggressive draw. The Reveler is a evil card... it taunts you to cast it from your hand... tempting you with its lure to draw you cards... xD. I don't think playing 2 Revelers is a good idea (tried it and didn't like it) so its not bad to go 1 Reveler and 1 something else.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I agree NMDPS that Hazoret is a perfect "fit" into the deck with all of the synergy with the deck. Every time I have cast the card it has been great. I have had multiple times where it has stuck in my hand, but most of those games were wins where I had a ton of spells to cast so it hasn't been a negative yet.
I am having more fun playing this deck than I have in a long time.