I do not mind the pain lands that much, they can easily be played around so they do not cause you that much damage in comparison to shock lands.
Get comfortable with the deck and upgrade or adjust it as you go. no rush.
I think you have done an excellent job with a budget mana base. Honestly, you would be able to help a lot of people with your knowledge of budget manabases now. The deck looks sweet. Keep us posted on how it goes. The only two problems I can really foresee is dreadhoarde anarchist under performing sometimes if there aren't targets or the board gets to filled up to attack and your combo matchups. Given that spell queller is your only "counter magic", the combo matchups may be tough. However you can play a couple copies of counter magic in the sideboard. Some budget options would be spell pierce, Counterflux, Mystical Dispute, Ceremonious Rejection, and Dovin's Veto.
Teferi will REALLY help the control matchups so I would lean towards possibly siding for scapeshift, amulet, tron, and burn first and foremost. You will still want a few counters for the control matchup, but they should also hit the matchups I talked about. So Dovin's veto, disdainful stroke, spell pierce would be good. The remaining sideboard cards can be some of the greatest hits like rest in peace, stony silence, Engineered Explosives, etc and cards specific to matchups you think you will play against more often
Storm- Narset, parter of veils, izzet staticaster, and counters
Jund- You should have a better jund matchup than most given your top end so not much needed- celestial purge, teferi
Whirza- Wear/Tear, counter spells, izzet staticaster, Engineered Explosives, mysitical dispute (targets oko and urza)
Burn- Deflecting Palm, dragon's claw, engineered explosives, celestial purge, spell pierce
Tron- Abrade, stony silence, disdainful stroke, ceremonious rejection, wear/tear, and more (depending on style of tron)
And so on. People will be able to help with matchups you have questions about .
I played FNM
played Jeskia mantis rider
went 2-2 it has been a while since I played so I was a bit rusty and I was playing in a different game store.
jund 0-2
I had no answers to his golfs. (I had forgot to include Path back into the deck from last build) Match was good, his spells all target my things if I could have hit the burn side of the deck I think I could have had a better chance. game 2 I try for control and keep a hand of counters, he gets 2 golfs(5/6) on board with an ooze(4/4). I try to deflecting palm his ooze, he push's his ooze I veto his push, he push's again. I lose next turn. If palm resolved I could have boros charmed him for the win.
steam kiln burn 2-0
I staved off his creatures and burn, he gets me down to 5 life T4 I play geist, T5 I put spear of godhead on him. I hold up mana and blockers playing around burn spells (turns out he was only holding 4 land cards in hand) T6-7 I play Rider, and rider swinging in for win
G2 he gets layline combustion out, and plays a more conservative burn, He kills off my delvers, I hold burn in hand only casting the helixis, I get the red mana in my deck when I really want more blue. This limits my plays and forces me to play opts and visions over creatures. I miss play and allow a scared mage to block a rider. I win a few turns later with Royal scions (this card is very good)..
mono green control, liquid metal coating/artifact destruction 2-0
both games were fun and interactive. game 1 I drew and played the burn side of the deck, killing his mana dorks and burning his face. He killed off my lands and creatures but had no answers for my burn. His creatures were tiny and were not a good threat. I kept drawing into lands and manipulated my fetchs to cover what ever mana I was losing.
Game 2 he did not get Liquid metal online, so he could not shut down my creatures. he did get land destrution going which forced me to play draw and go style opting and burning as I lost lands. With such a variety of lands i was never off color for more than a turn. he pithing needled my geist (which I am not sure is legal, but it looked good). So I had to play a Rider next turn instead of godheading the geist. I start to go on the offensive with 2 riders and geist for the win.
last match up Boggles 1-2
he lands an early threat I play to disrupt his enchantments, he gains tempo as I have to hold up mana to counter. I disrupt enough to have 5 lands in play 2 riders and a delver(unfliped). boros charm in hand but no mana left to cast. I have to block a 10/9 boggle taking 3 damage, I forgot about the lifelink, my opponent was at 8 life post attack.
game 2 boggles player keeps a hand with no creatures and a layline of hexproof. I kill him with geist and riders. Boggles loses to Boggles.
Game 3 He plays another layline of hexproof, he is short on mana, I am able to counter a few spells keeping his board open for turn. I have to hold up mana trying to counter slowing down my plays.I play a rider t4, he paths my early rider. I think I am safe with a settle the wreckage in hand (I did not realize that it targets players) I play flooded strand but his attack next turn puts my life at 1.
i had fun it was nice to play jeskia again.
I will have to strongly edit my deck and sideboard for this meta. I am not going to post this deck because I plan to change it when I get a chance. I think more burn main deck and control sideboard. Delver under performed, I will go back to Ypyromancer or try Thing in the Ice.
I tested a bit the deck yesterday and it felt great! Indeed, even if it's a semi budget one, I didn't feel overwhelmed during the matches
I also realised that I forgot to put the 2 Celestial Colonnade but I didn't missed them. I played 25 lands, felt good. Note: painlands are not that bad after all.
Here comes some feedbacks about some cards: - Dreadhorde Arcanist: +++ This card is awesome. It helped me a lot and is very versatile (casting back a Bolt or an Opt depending on the situation). Moreover, it synergize very well with Young Pyromancer.
- Young Pyromancer : +++ It quickly generates a board and feels great about slow decks. I believe that it helps my combo/control matchups in the sense that I could close the game quickly.
- Goblin Dark-Dwellers: +++ A 4/4 with menace that can flashback an helix/path/opt and put a clock. I even managed to flash back 2 Bolts thanks to Restoration Angel on the Goblin
- Electrolyze : - The card draw is nice but didn't feel very impactful.
After some reflexion I decided to cut 1 Spell Queller and 1 Electrolyze in order to put 2 Geist of Saint Traft. The reasoning behind:
With my card choices, Combo decks are bad matchups and Control may be 50/50 thansk to T3feri. Thus, I thought that instead of trying to be reactive (my card choices are not really good at that. Except Queller), I should be the beatdown in those matchups and try to end the game quickly. Hence the 2 Geist of Saint Traft.
I tested a bit the deck yesterday and it felt great! Indeed, even if it's a semi budget one, I didn't feel overwhelmed during the matches
I also realised that I forgot to put the 2 Celestial Colonnade but I didn't missed them. I played 25 lands, felt good. Note: painlands are not that bad after all.
Here comes some feedbacks about some cards: - Dreadhorde Arcanist: +++ This card is awesome. It helped me a lot and is very versatile (casting back a Bolt or an Opt depending on the situation). Moreover, it synergize very well with Young Pyromancer.
- Young Pyromancer : +++ It quickly generates a board and feels great about slow decks. I believe that it helps my combo/control matchups in the sense that I could close the game quickly.
- Goblin Dark-Dwellers: +++ A 4/4 with menace that can flashback an helix/path/opt and put a clock. I even managed to flash back 2 Bolts thanks to Restoration Angel on the Goblin
- Electrolyze : - The card draw is nice but didn't feel very impactful.
After some reflexion I decided to cut 1 Spell Queller and 1 Electrolyze in order to put 2 Geist of Saint Traft. The reasoning behind:
With my card choices, Combo decks are bad matchups and Control may be 50/50 thansk to T3feri. Thus, I thought that instead of trying to be reactive (my card choices are not really good at that. Except Queller), I should be the beatdown in those matchups and try to end the game quickly. Hence the 2 Geist of Saint Traft.
I am going to attend a competitive event next weekend (around 100 people), will keep you posted.
Thanks again to everyone for the previous feedbacks and the good vibes
That is awesome news! I'm glad the deck worked well for you. I haven't thought of Dreadhoarde Archanist in a more midrange/controlling deck as a source of card advantage. If you can keep the board clear he can really give some card advantage. I like some of the changes. Geist of Saint Traft is my favorite creature of all time so I am a huge fan of adding him in any deck. He is a control killer. They basically have to sweep the board.
My only concern is combo matchups that go very quickly and Tron. Decks like amulet titan, whirza, affinity, and Tron can get ahead quick without some type of disruption. The spreading seas and disdainful strokes will help against tron post board so I am not as worried about that matchup post board. Amulet titan and titanshift will be tough. Spreading seas can also work here, but may be a bit to slow. You might want a copy of abrade for some of the faster artifact based decks as well as amulet decks. You could probably cut one sweeper from your board, but if it were me I would cut one land and play a mainboard copy of abrade. 25 lands is a lot of lands, especially without 6+ fetches. I think you would be fine with 24 lands. With that said we all have some bad matchups that we are just going to struggle against. Jund and Burn are tough matchups for my deck. I have done what I can to make them better, but in the end there are just some tough matchups.
Keep us posted on how it plays and we wish you the best of luck in your event! I hope you draw well, play well, and win die rolls!
I played FNM
played Jeskia mantis rider
went 2-2 it has been a while since I played so I was a bit rusty and I was playing in a different game store.
jund 0-2
I had no answers to his golfs. (I had forgot to include Path back into the deck from last build) Match was good, his spells all target my things if I could have hit the burn side of the deck I think I could have had a better chance. game 2 I try for control and keep a hand of counters, he gets 2 golfs(5/6) on board with an ooze(4/4). I try to deflecting palm his ooze, he push's his ooze I veto his push, he push's again. I lose next turn. If palm resolved I could have boros charmed him for the win.
steam kiln burn 2-0
I staved off his creatures and burn, he gets me down to 5 life T4 I play geist, T5 I put spear of godhead on him. I hold up mana and blockers playing around burn spells (turns out he was only holding 4 land cards in hand) T6-7 I play Rider, and rider swinging in for win
G2 he gets layline combustion out, and plays a more conservative burn, He kills off my delvers, I hold burn in hand only casting the helixis, I get the red mana in my deck when I really want more blue. This limits my plays and forces me to play opts and visions over creatures. I miss play and allow a scared mage to block a rider. I win a few turns later with Royal scions (this card is very good)..
mono green control, liquid metal coating/artifact destruction 2-0
both games were fun and interactive. game 1 I drew and played the burn side of the deck, killing his mana dorks and burning his face. He killed off my lands and creatures but had no answers for my burn. His creatures were tiny and were not a good threat. I kept drawing into lands and manipulated my fetchs to cover what ever mana I was losing.
Game 2 he did not get Liquid metal online, so he could not shut down my creatures. he did get land destrution going which forced me to play draw and go style opting and burning as I lost lands. With such a variety of lands i was never off color for more than a turn. he pithing needled my geist (which I am not sure is legal, but it looked good). So I had to play a Rider next turn instead of godheading the geist. I start to go on the offensive with 2 riders and geist for the win.
last match up Boggles 1-2
he lands an early threat I play to disrupt his enchantments, he gains tempo as I have to hold up mana to counter. I disrupt enough to have 5 lands in play 2 riders and a delver(unfliped). boros charm in hand but no mana left to cast. I have to block a 10/9 boggle taking 3 damage, I forgot about the lifelink, my opponent was at 8 life post attack.
game 2 boggles player keeps a hand with no creatures and a layline of hexproof. I kill him with geist and riders. Boggles loses to Boggles.
Game 3 He plays another layline of hexproof, he is short on mana, I am able to counter a few spells keeping his board open for turn. I have to hold up mana trying to counter slowing down my plays.I play a rider t4, he paths my early rider. I think I am safe with a settle the wreckage in hand (I did not realize that it targets players) I play flooded strand but his attack next turn puts my life at 1.
i had fun it was nice to play jeskia again.
I will have to strongly edit my deck and sideboard for this meta. I am not going to post this deck because I plan to change it when I get a chance. I think more burn main deck and control sideboard. Delver under performed, I will go back to Ypyromancer or try Thing in the Ice.
Glad to see you got to play some jeskai again! Good to hear from you WickedApp.
That is one of the craziest lines of play I have heard in a long time. The deflecting palm ooze, push, veto, push line is nuts. He was rather lucky to have two pushes there and mana to deploy both. Jund is a tough matchup, but is often super tough to play against. Without paths I assume it gets very very tough.
The second two rounds sounded awesome. Looks like some fun and interactive games. It also helps that it sounds like you played well and that you got the wins. Magic is always fun, but it is more fun when we win
Boggles can be super tough to win. To be honest, I would have made the exact same mistake you made. I did not realize that settle targeted a player either. This matchup really depends on sideboard cards. It's almost one I think we should just not even worry about too much. I have deflecting palm, EE, Wear // Tear (which i might cut), and that's about it for them.
It sounds like it was an awesome night with a lot of great games. That's about all you can ask for. If I win as much or more than I lose I am a happy camper. Even the best players in the world only win about 60% of the time. People often for get that they get 2 or 3 byes so when they finish 6-2 they really when 3-2 or 4-2.
Thanks for posting your game notes. I love to read them and I think everyone learns from them.
Hi all. I have been trying a bit of a different list lately so I wanted to share it with all of you. I really wanted to give Archmage's Charm a try so I had to do a little rebuild of my deck to be able to play a UUU. Here is the list I am playing
The cards I am currently questioning are whether they should be cut/changed are The Royal Scions, Serum Visions, and possibly Remand. I would like to have another early threat to be honest, but I'm not sure it exists yet. Hopefully we get another Delver-esque card at some point.
I had to cut the WR cards from the main deck because it's to hard to cast them along with UUU cards. I am playing two -Deflecting Palm and Lightning Helixin the sideboard when games go a little longer.
I have another izzet prowess build that I am going to try with reveler and swiftspear in it that I am exited about too and a wizards list. I will share those lists as well. Pioneer is kind of overshadowing modern right now, but it's a good time to brew and finalize lists for upcoming modern events.
I will keep you all posted.
I'm very glad to see modern again this weekend on SCG. It will be awesome to see a superior format to Pioneer again :). Pioneer is taking away a little bit of thunder from modern, but I do think both formats will co-exist in the future.
EDIT-
I found that the deck plays much better with pressure so I went back to my original idea and was able to 4-1 my first league. Here is the list.
Havent posted in a while but have been reading posts and im seeing alot of interesting stuff.
I havent been able to play much lately either but im still keeping up with the meta and all that too.
I see you wanted to add another threat and I was wondering if youve tried bonecrusher giant?
I feel that it may be somewhat of a sleeper but it looks to have a tremendous amount of value and is very versatile. It could help us race when needed or play for the long game when needed. Being an instant I think it pairs very nicely with geist of st traft and the adventure mechanic as whole can be used in some very strategic ways. Not to mention that a 4/3 for 3 with a 2 dmg clause on it isnt nothing.
Ive ordered 2 foils and am going to be testing them in my sideboard in place of something not sure yet but i think in this deck its very very good.
Sadly snapcaster cant flashback it but it still has alot of utility.
I was trying to find something else do to damage. I had looked into Vexing Devil and calling the deck Devil Delver with 4 Vexing Devil and 2 Bedlam Reveler. I just can't bring myself to play that card. It's a card that is great against lesser players, but is mostly nothing against better players unless you really build the deck around it and go super aggro. Then I should probably just be playing burn at that point.
I will definitely give Bonecrusher a try. I really like the idea of having adventure spells in exile and drawing three off of Bedlam Reveler and having access to more cards. I will have to get back to brewing.
Let me know what happens! I have to agree with you on vexing devil. Its an exciting card but it does seem to fail when your opponent knows how to play against it.
its the same with browbeat and that jump start browbeat.
but yea definitely let me know how your testing goes with bonecrusher
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern RUAffinityUR GMono Green StompyG CEldrazi TronC URWJeskai GeistWRU WRBoros BurnRW BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
The Urza overlord is taking over! I have been playing a lot of Urza lately and have had some decent results. I think we are actually well positioned against the deck. Their busted starts with Mox Opal are really tough to beat, but given that we have removal and disruption with a clock, it's a great place to be. In addition, most of the Urza decks have removed the thopter foundry combo recently which is good for us. I personally think Mox Opal needs to be banned, but that is another story.
I haven't done a matchup of the week in a long time so here goes- Let's look at Simic Whirza Variants!
That overall matchup seems decent to me. I would say it's 50-50 from my experience. The Whirza builds vary greatly so it's tough to give an overall opinion. The whirza decks with the Thopter/Sword combo can be tougher to beat. I have found that in a lot of games we just get ahead and stay ahead. Because their deck is so dependent on a small number of important cards (Urza specifically) it's a decent matchup for us.
The cards that are stinky are, first and foremost, Veil of Summer. I have heard this card called Cryptic Command for one G. The card really shouldn't exist. This card and Oko (and in some builds, once upon a time) are the reasons the deck plays green. Oko is actually not to tough for us to beat. A lot of times I all but ignore oko because I often can burn them out or fly over their 3/3's. The life gain from the food can be a problem, but I haven't really run into that yet. It takes a lot of mana and resources for them to continually gain life from food.
Overall I play this matchup like I am playing against a midrange/control deck. Just try to get on the board early and counter/remove their important spells and kill them with attacks of 3-5 damage and burn damage. I will do a bit more testing against this matchup, but I do think we are about 50-50 against them (depending on build) and if Veil were to be banned at some point I think we would pull slightly ahead.
Veil of summer is very good I have to agree. I side in 2 C-rejections and 2 abrade. Spell queller shines in the match up for me as does spell snare.
I have to say though that i dont think the people ive played against who are playing the deck are as experienced as needed to sequence stuff properly. I think they may have been play testing so theres that. All in all its not a very difficult match up so long as you know what to keep off the board at any specific time. I really like having peek in the match up too. The information as to whats in their hand has come in handy various times for me.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern RUAffinityUR GMono Green StompyG CEldrazi TronC URWJeskai GeistWRU WRBoros BurnRW BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
Hi guys,
sorry that I haven't posted anything for such a long time. I am still playing the CopyCat deck with SFM.
Lately it didn't perform so well so I tweaked it quite a bit this week:
I got rid of the sword since it almost never got equipped and I got rid of the Colonnade since it almost never got activated. I went up a land though since I added Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Both cards have been stellar so far. Elspeth turns SFM and Snappy into serious threats that fly over Eldrazis and Death's Shadows while Cataclysmic Gearhulk resets the board like a sweeper. I can even search up a Batterskull and the Gearhulk with Saheeli's ultimate and then have two creatures in play while my opponent is down to one.
Hi guys,
sorry that I haven't posted anything for such a long time. I am still playing the CopyCat deck with SFM.
Lately it didn't perform so well so I tweaked it quite a bit this week:
I got rid of the sword since it almost never got equipped and I got rid of the Colonnade since it almost never got activated. I went up a land though since I added Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Both cards have been stellar so far. Elspeth turns SFM and Snappy into serious threats that fly over Eldrazis and Death's Shadows while Cataclysmic Gearhulk resets the board like a sweeper. I can even search up a Batterskull and the Gearhulk with Saheeli's ultimate and then have two creatures in play while my opponent is down to one.
It's a busy time of year for all of us in the States and anyone abroad as well. It's also been kind of a down time for modern with a lot of people concentrating on pioneer. I haven't dove into Pioneer yet myself, but I know a lot of modern players have.
I think your changes are likely the correct changes because the meta is turning a bit more aggro/combo centric again. I have made several changes as well. I have really enjoyed my list as of late. I haven't been able to play a league in a little while, but when I did play a few leagues I was consistently going 3-2 with an occasional 4-1 and 2-3. Probably a 60 percent win rate which is good for me in league play. I haven't played a list like yours, but I did watch a youtube video of yamakiller playing a UW delverblade list and it had some interesting plays and looked great. It's not exactly the same, but very similar in plays. SFM looked really good actually
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I saw AspiringSpike playing this deck awhile back and it forced me to look more seriously at Archmage's Charm. It took the place of my beloved Bedlam Reveler because a spell is always better than a creature in our deck. This is why my current build is set up more towards this style of deck. I still have a slightly more aggressive take, but I am up to 7-8 counters. I have really like Mystic Sanctuary in my deck. I has really been great. I have currently been playing remand. I have played deprive in the past, but have preferred remand in my style of deck.
The deprive, sanctuary, charm engine is really strong. However, it does take awhile to get going. I have found that the UR version really depends on the sideboard and really depends on Young Pyromancer to win games. I feel like this style of delver deck is great in certain metas. It also takes a player with a lot of control experience. It tends to play more like a control deck in most games that unless they start delver on turn 1 and young pyromancer on turn 2. I don't have that type of experience and don't prefer the control roll in modern so I play a slightly different style.
I love to see people finally coming around to Delver in modern! Hopefully we will see some evolution in the deck. I know that I personally can learn a lot from these pro players.
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I would love to see your tempo decks in the future. It's a really powerful engine. If you go even more control you could add a Cryptic Command also to add to the engine with mystic sanctuary.
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I saw AspiringSpike playing this deck awhile back and it forced me to look more seriously at Archmage's Charm. It took the place of my beloved Bedlam Reveler because a spell is always better than a creature in our deck. This is why my current build is set up more towards this style of deck. I still have a slightly more aggressive take, but I am up to 7-8 counters. I have really like Mystic Sanctuary in my deck. I has really been great. I have currently been playing remand. I have played deprive in the past, but have preferred remand in my style of deck.
The deprive, sanctuary, charm engine is really strong. However, it does take awhile to get going. I have found that the UR version really depends on the sideboard and really depends on Young Pyromancer to win games. I feel like this style of delver deck is great in certain metas. It also takes a player with a lot of control experience. It tends to play more like a control deck in most games that unless they start delver on turn 1 and young pyromancer on turn 2. I don't have that type of experience and don't prefer the control roll in modern so I play a slightly different style.
I love to see people finally coming around to Delver in modern! Hopefully we will see some evolution in the deck. I know that I personally can learn a lot from these pro players.
Have you been able to make the Deprive/Mystic Sanctuary/Archmage's Charm (DMA) combination work in Jeskai, or have you been using it in the Izzet colors? If so I would love to see how you've configured your mana base to accompany the requirement on blue sources and specifically islands.
I would love to see your tempo decks in the future. It's a really powerful engine. If you go even more control you could add a Cryptic Command also to add to the engine with mystic sanctuary.
At the moment I'm rocking a Simic Flash list centered around DMA and a creature suite consisting of Ice-Fang Coatl, Brazen Borrower, and Nightpack Ambusher to name a few. It's been fun, but I've missed jamming Delver of Secrets alongside Snapcaster Mage so I may shift back to UR Delver or Jeskai/RUG Delver if I can some how shove the DMA combination into them. I've even been brewing up a UW and UG Delver list just for fun, but they'll come later.
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I saw AspiringSpike playing this deck awhile back and it forced me to look more seriously at Archmage's Charm. It took the place of my beloved Bedlam Reveler because a spell is always better than a creature in our deck. This is why my current build is set up more towards this style of deck. I still have a slightly more aggressive take, but I am up to 7-8 counters. I have really like Mystic Sanctuary in my deck. I has really been great. I have currently been playing remand. I have played deprive in the past, but have preferred remand in my style of deck.
The deprive, sanctuary, charm engine is really strong. However, it does take awhile to get going. I have found that the UR version really depends on the sideboard and really depends on Young Pyromancer to win games. I feel like this style of delver deck is great in certain metas. It also takes a player with a lot of control experience. It tends to play more like a control deck in most games that unless they start delver on turn 1 and young pyromancer on turn 2. I don't have that type of experience and don't prefer the control roll in modern so I play a slightly different style.
I love to see people finally coming around to Delver in modern! Hopefully we will see some evolution in the deck. I know that I personally can learn a lot from these pro players.
Have you been able to make the Deprive/Mystic Sanctuary/Archmage's Charm (DMA) combination work in Jeskai, or have you been using it in the Izzet colors? If so I would love to see how you've configured your mana base to accompany the requirement on blue sources and specifically islands.
I would love to see your tempo decks in the future. It's a really powerful engine. If you go even more control you could add a Cryptic Command also to add to the engine with mystic sanctuary.
At the moment I'm rocking a Simic Flash list centered around DMA and a creature suite consisting of Ice-Fang Coatl, Brazen Borrower, and Nightpack Ambusher to name a few. It's been fun, but I've missed jamming Delver of Secrets alongside Snapcaster Mage so I may shift back to UR Delver or Jeskai/RUG Delver if I can some how shove the DMA combination into them. I've even been brewing up a UW and UG Delver list just for fun, but they'll come later.
I have more so used the "engine" for value. My deck isn't built around the engine, but it likely could be rather easily. Here is my list currently:
To be able to fit Archmage's Charm into a jeskai deck I had to make sure that white was a splash color. I originally started by cutting the Lightning Helix from the maindeck. It really has to be a base UR deck with white being more of a splash color. Geist is a later game threat, helix is a secondary removal behind bolt and path, and path is also a later game removal spell for bigger things. Therefore you basically start as a UR deck and white is for things that blue/red can't offer (removal for large things, life gain, and geist) and for the great sideboard options.
Originally I didn't have a Sacred Foundry in the list because I wanted nearly every mana source to be blue. However, I found after playing for a bit that I wasn't having a problem getting my blue mana and could support a foundry. I might go to 21 lands with an additional mystic sanctuary, however, I really don't want any come into play tapped lands early in the game so I just have one.
I am currently questioning the mountain and the sacred foundry. I haven't had a ton of games (probably 40-50 or so) at this point so it will definitely take a bit more reps to make sure the mana is smooth. I have found it to be fine so far and I typically fetch a blue dual land first (whichever other color my hand doesn't have or needs) and then start fetching basic island if possible. I haven't had any problems with mana yet. I am going back and forth with putting Geist in the sideboard, but every time I think I should he dominates a match.
I will keep you all posted on how it runs against the top decks. I will get to play this Thursday a bunch so I will take some notes and let you know if the mountain or sacred foundry get cut/changed.
I have really loved having access to Bonecrusher Giant. That was a great recommendation. I cut the copy of Burst Lightning I was running for it. The body actually helps a ton in the midrange matchups. It's also awesome with Royal Scions to have a 6/3 trample, first strike, that costs them 2 damage when they target it with a spell.
I really have no complaints for the deck right now. It has been running very smoothly. I am running slightly more lands than I usually do because the CMC average has gone up a tad. I have noticed that I have games that go a bit longer and I "flood" a bit more, but it hasn't been a problem. I haven't run out of things to cast and the modern meta has slowed down a lot lately.
On Thursday I played against devoted druid combo, grixis death shadow, burn, and bant snowblade. Surprisingly no Urza. I was able to 3-1 and lost to what I consider one of the best matchups of the three - death shadow. I will post some game notes when I have more time. I am do some play group practicing tonight so let me know if there are any matchups you guys want me to play against.
Has anyone tested Stoneforge Mystic in the delver varient recently? I still think that card is great, but I haven't tested it in a while. Something like this is what I was thinking.
This is about as cookie cutter as I think to make a DelverBlade deck and probably where I would start. If I wanted to include the Archmage's Charm/Mystic Sanctuary/Deprive combination then I think I would start here:
This was my idea for a DelverBlade deck that includes DMA in it. What I'm most scared of is the mana and you can tell with how I built mine here. @CurdBros: Not gonna lie your mana base also scares me a bit too because I feel, at least in this deck, we want to have access to all our colors by turn 2 or 3. Maybe the 3rd island can be Hallowed Fountain, but I'd have to test the list to see how it feels. Being able to cast Archmage's Charm turn 3 almost feels needed so I'm not sure how the mana will draw out. Let me know what you all think!
Has anyone tested Stoneforge Mystic in the delver varient recently? I still think that card is great, but I haven't tested it in a while. Something like this is what I was thinking.
This is about as cookie cutter as I think to make a DelverBlade deck and probably where I would start. If I wanted to include the Archmage's Charm/Mystic Sanctuary/Deprive combination then I think I would start here:
This was my idea for a DelverBlade deck that includes DMA in it. What I'm most scared of is the mana and you can tell with how I built mine here. @CurdBros: Not gonna lie your mana base also scares me a bit too because I feel, at least in this deck, we want to have access to all our colors by turn 2 or 3. Maybe the 3rd island can be Hallowed Fountain, but I'd have to test the list to see how it feels. Being able to cast Archmage's Charm turn 3 almost feels needed so I'm not sure how the mana will draw out. Let me know what you all think!
I am in the "building" phase of the mana base. I agree with you. The mana scares me a bunch. I haven't had a problem with it yet, but I really feel like the Sacred Foundry needs to be changed. I really want all of my dual lands to tap for blue. Because all of the white cards are later game cards (helix, geist, and path) I really don't need white mana until turn 3 in most games. I am going to try changing the sacred foundry into a second steam vents or another mystic sanctuary. I also will likely change the glacial fortress as some point. It has been good so far, but I really can't have a land come into play tapped at any point. That's part of the reason I am only running one Mystic Sanctuary.
My first question with the deck was - Does the cost of the white mana pay off enough to add it to the deck. So far the answer is yet at least in my meta. Having access to multiple lighting helix has been great against aggro decks and burn, especially given that I start most games at 17 after a fetch/shock. Path has been super important in a lot of matchups. Geist is still a question mark. He has won me a lot more games than he has lost for me so he is still in the deck (and he is my favorite creature), but I wouldn't fault anyone for playing clique or another copy of borrower in that slot. Or even Spell Queller which I used to run, but have never fallen in love with.
I will keep you all posted, but I would love to have any input from all of you about the mana base. You won't hurt my feelings. I respect all of your opinions on here.
As for Stoneblade. I love the idea. I used to play jeskai stoneblade in legacy when I played legacy. I love that deck. I think it's an excellent option right now. Like you said above, it basically almost builds itself because there are very few card choices after the delvers, snapcasters, SFM package and the necessary removal/counter magic. I would have to try both builds to see which one I like better, but both look awesome. I really think Force of Negation would work well with the card advantage that SFM gives you. Let us know if you like them.
Hi all. It's the downtime for modern right now and magic in general until Theros comes out. I have noticed that more people are returning to modern part time from pioneer so the doomsday prophecies for modern may be a little overblown. As for my view on this deck nothing has changed. I have actually found the meta to be very good for jeskai delver. I haven't gotten to play a lot recently due to the holiday season, but all in all I have been very happy with the deck.
It will be very interesting to see what WOTC does in January in terms of bans/unbans. If I were a betting man I would say they will ban Oko and Veil of Secrets. They may also unban twin just to give modern a shot in the arm, but that is doubtful. A ban of Veil would be awesome for us. I have found Oko actually to be very good for us. It slows the game down and is easily answered with counter magic. Also our fliers fly over the 3/3's (unless they become 3/3's themselves).
I hope to get back on MTGO sometime next week and get some reps in. How is everyone doing?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Enthusiasts
Current Decks/Archetypes
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Get comfortable with the deck and upgrade or adjust it as you go. no rush.
Teferi will REALLY help the control matchups so I would lean towards possibly siding for scapeshift, amulet, tron, and burn first and foremost. You will still want a few counters for the control matchup, but they should also hit the matchups I talked about. So Dovin's veto, disdainful stroke, spell pierce would be good. The remaining sideboard cards can be some of the greatest hits like rest in peace, stony silence, Engineered Explosives, etc and cards specific to matchups you think you will play against more often
Storm- Narset, parter of veils, izzet staticaster, and counters
Jund- You should have a better jund matchup than most given your top end so not much needed- celestial purge, teferi
Whirza- Wear/Tear, counter spells, izzet staticaster, Engineered Explosives, mysitical dispute (targets oko and urza)
Burn- Deflecting Palm, dragon's claw, engineered explosives, celestial purge, spell pierce
Tron- Abrade, stony silence, disdainful stroke, ceremonious rejection, wear/tear, and more (depending on style of tron)
And so on. People will be able to help with matchups you have questions about .
played Jeskia mantis rider
went 2-2 it has been a while since I played so I was a bit rusty and I was playing in a different game store.
jund 0-2
I had no answers to his golfs. (I had forgot to include Path back into the deck from last build) Match was good, his spells all target my things if I could have hit the burn side of the deck I think I could have had a better chance. game 2 I try for control and keep a hand of counters, he gets 2 golfs(5/6) on board with an ooze(4/4). I try to deflecting palm his ooze, he push's his ooze I veto his push, he push's again. I lose next turn. If palm resolved I could have boros charmed him for the win.
steam kiln burn 2-0
I staved off his creatures and burn, he gets me down to 5 life T4 I play geist, T5 I put spear of godhead on him. I hold up mana and blockers playing around burn spells (turns out he was only holding 4 land cards in hand) T6-7 I play Rider, and rider swinging in for win
G2 he gets layline combustion out, and plays a more conservative burn, He kills off my delvers, I hold burn in hand only casting the helixis, I get the red mana in my deck when I really want more blue. This limits my plays and forces me to play opts and visions over creatures. I miss play and allow a scared mage to block a rider. I win a few turns later with Royal scions (this card is very good)..
mono green control, liquid metal coating/artifact destruction 2-0
both games were fun and interactive. game 1 I drew and played the burn side of the deck, killing his mana dorks and burning his face. He killed off my lands and creatures but had no answers for my burn. His creatures were tiny and were not a good threat. I kept drawing into lands and manipulated my fetchs to cover what ever mana I was losing.
Game 2 he did not get Liquid metal online, so he could not shut down my creatures. he did get land destrution going which forced me to play draw and go style opting and burning as I lost lands. With such a variety of lands i was never off color for more than a turn. he pithing needled my geist (which I am not sure is legal, but it looked good). So I had to play a Rider next turn instead of godheading the geist. I start to go on the offensive with 2 riders and geist for the win.
last match up Boggles 1-2
he lands an early threat I play to disrupt his enchantments, he gains tempo as I have to hold up mana to counter. I disrupt enough to have 5 lands in play 2 riders and a delver(unfliped). boros charm in hand but no mana left to cast. I have to block a 10/9 boggle taking 3 damage, I forgot about the lifelink, my opponent was at 8 life post attack.
game 2 boggles player keeps a hand with no creatures and a layline of hexproof. I kill him with geist and riders. Boggles loses to Boggles.
Game 3 He plays another layline of hexproof, he is short on mana, I am able to counter a few spells keeping his board open for turn. I have to hold up mana trying to counter slowing down my plays.I play a rider t4, he paths my early rider. I think I am safe with a settle the wreckage in hand (I did not realize that it targets players) I play flooded strand but his attack next turn puts my life at 1.
i had fun it was nice to play jeskia again.
I will have to strongly edit my deck and sideboard for this meta. I am not going to post this deck because I plan to change it when I get a chance. I think more burn main deck and control sideboard. Delver under performed, I will go back to Ypyromancer or try Thing in the Ice.
Hope you had a nice weekend
I tested a bit the deck yesterday and it felt great! Indeed, even if it's a semi budget one, I didn't feel overwhelmed during the matches
I also realised that I forgot to put the 2 Celestial Colonnade but I didn't missed them. I played 25 lands, felt good. Note: painlands are not that bad after all.
Here comes some feedbacks about some cards:
- Dreadhorde Arcanist: +++ This card is awesome. It helped me a lot and is very versatile (casting back a Bolt or an Opt depending on the situation). Moreover, it synergize very well with Young Pyromancer.
- Young Pyromancer : +++ It quickly generates a board and feels great about slow decks. I believe that it helps my combo/control matchups in the sense that I could close the game quickly.
- Goblin Dark-Dwellers: +++ A 4/4 with menace that can flashback an helix/path/opt and put a clock. I even managed to flash back 2 Bolts thanks to Restoration Angel on the Goblin
- Electrolyze : - The card draw is nice but didn't feel very impactful.
After some reflexion I decided to cut 1 Spell Queller and 1 Electrolyze in order to put 2 Geist of Saint Traft.
The reasoning behind:
With my card choices, Combo decks are bad matchups and Control may be 50/50 thansk to T3feri. Thus, I thought that instead of trying to be reactive (my card choices are not really good at that. Except Queller), I should be the beatdown in those matchups and try to end the game quickly. Hence the 2 Geist of Saint Traft.
I also came up with a budget sideboard (the Electrolyze is just to occupy the 15th slot):
4 Spreading Seas
2 Cleansing Nova
2 Celestial Purge
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Disenchant
2
Runed Halo: after some thoughts let's cut 1 so I can put 1 Remorseful Cleric,1
Electrolyze: after some thoughts let's cut it so I can put 1 Remorseful Cleric,Added: 2 Remorseful Cleric
I am going to attend a competitive event next weekend (around 100 people), will keep you posted.
Thanks again to everyone for the previous feedbacks and the good vibes
That is awesome news! I'm glad the deck worked well for you. I haven't thought of Dreadhoarde Archanist in a more midrange/controlling deck as a source of card advantage. If you can keep the board clear he can really give some card advantage. I like some of the changes. Geist of Saint Traft is my favorite creature of all time so I am a huge fan of adding him in any deck. He is a control killer. They basically have to sweep the board.
My only concern is combo matchups that go very quickly and Tron. Decks like amulet titan, whirza, affinity, and Tron can get ahead quick without some type of disruption. The spreading seas and disdainful strokes will help against tron post board so I am not as worried about that matchup post board. Amulet titan and titanshift will be tough. Spreading seas can also work here, but may be a bit to slow. You might want a copy of abrade for some of the faster artifact based decks as well as amulet decks. You could probably cut one sweeper from your board, but if it were me I would cut one land and play a mainboard copy of abrade. 25 lands is a lot of lands, especially without 6+ fetches. I think you would be fine with 24 lands. With that said we all have some bad matchups that we are just going to struggle against. Jund and Burn are tough matchups for my deck. I have done what I can to make them better, but in the end there are just some tough matchups.
Keep us posted on how it plays and we wish you the best of luck in your event! I hope you draw well, play well, and win die rolls!
Glad to see you got to play some jeskai again! Good to hear from you WickedApp.
That is one of the craziest lines of play I have heard in a long time. The deflecting palm ooze, push, veto, push line is nuts. He was rather lucky to have two pushes there and mana to deploy both. Jund is a tough matchup, but is often super tough to play against. Without paths I assume it gets very very tough.
The second two rounds sounded awesome. Looks like some fun and interactive games. It also helps that it sounds like you played well and that you got the wins. Magic is always fun, but it is more fun when we win
Boggles can be super tough to win. To be honest, I would have made the exact same mistake you made. I did not realize that settle targeted a player either. This matchup really depends on sideboard cards. It's almost one I think we should just not even worry about too much. I have deflecting palm, EE, Wear // Tear (which i might cut), and that's about it for them.
It sounds like it was an awesome night with a lot of great games. That's about all you can ask for. If I win as much or more than I lose I am a happy camper. Even the best players in the world only win about 60% of the time. People often for get that they get 2 or 3 byes so when they finish 6-2 they really when 3-2 or 4-2.
Thanks for posting your game notes. I love to read them and I think everyone learns from them.
1 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Brazen Borrower
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Burst Lightning
1 Deprive
1 Remand
3 Archmage's Charm
4 Force of Negation
1 Spell Snare
4 Opt
2 Serum Visions
2 Path to Exile
1 Vapor Snag
1 Echoing Truth
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
2 Fiery Islet
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
3 Spirebluff Canal
The cards I am currently questioning are whether they should be cut/changed are The Royal Scions, Serum Visions, and possibly Remand. I would like to have another early threat to be honest, but I'm not sure it exists yet. Hopefully we get another Delver-esque card at some point.
I had to cut the WR cards from the main deck because it's to hard to cast them along with UUU cards. I am playing two -Deflecting Palm and Lightning Helixin the sideboard when games go a little longer.
I have another izzet prowess build that I am going to try with reveler and swiftspear in it that I am exited about too and a wizards list. I will share those lists as well. Pioneer is kind of overshadowing modern right now, but it's a good time to brew and finalize lists for upcoming modern events.
I will keep you all posted.
I'm very glad to see modern again this weekend on SCG. It will be awesome to see a superior format to Pioneer again :). Pioneer is taking away a little bit of thunder from modern, but I do think both formats will co-exist in the future.
EDIT-
I found that the deck plays much better with pressure so I went back to my original idea and was able to 4-1 my first league. Here is the list.
3 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Brazen Borrower
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Burst Lightning
1 Deprive
1 Remand
2 Archmage's Charm
4 Force of Negation
1 Spell Snare
4 Opt
2 Serum Visions
2 Path to Exile
1 Vapor Snag
1 Echoing Truth
3 Flooded Strand
2 Fiery Islet
1 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
3 Spirebluff Canal
I havent been able to play much lately either but im still keeping up with the meta and all that too.
I see you wanted to add another threat and I was wondering if youve tried bonecrusher giant?
I feel that it may be somewhat of a sleeper but it looks to have a tremendous amount of value and is very versatile. It could help us race when needed or play for the long game when needed. Being an instant I think it pairs very nicely with geist of st traft and the adventure mechanic as whole can be used in some very strategic ways. Not to mention that a 4/3 for 3 with a 2 dmg clause on it isnt nothing.
Ive ordered 2 foils and am going to be testing them in my sideboard in place of something not sure yet but i think in this deck its very very good.
Sadly snapcaster cant flashback it but it still has alot of utility.
Has anyone tried it out?
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
I was trying to find something else do to damage. I had looked into Vexing Devil and calling the deck Devil Delver with 4 Vexing Devil and 2 Bedlam Reveler. I just can't bring myself to play that card. It's a card that is great against lesser players, but is mostly nothing against better players unless you really build the deck around it and go super aggro. Then I should probably just be playing burn at that point.
I will definitely give Bonecrusher a try. I really like the idea of having adventure spells in exile and drawing three off of Bedlam Reveler and having access to more cards. I will have to get back to brewing.
its the same with browbeat and that jump start browbeat.
but yea definitely let me know how your testing goes with bonecrusher
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
I haven't done a matchup of the week in a long time so here goes- Let's look at Simic Whirza Variants!
That overall matchup seems decent to me. I would say it's 50-50 from my experience. The Whirza builds vary greatly so it's tough to give an overall opinion. The whirza decks with the Thopter/Sword combo can be tougher to beat. I have found that in a lot of games we just get ahead and stay ahead. Because their deck is so dependent on a small number of important cards (Urza specifically) it's a decent matchup for us.
The cards that are stinky are, first and foremost, Veil of Summer. I have heard this card called Cryptic Command for one G. The card really shouldn't exist. This card and Oko (and in some builds, once upon a time) are the reasons the deck plays green. Oko is actually not to tough for us to beat. A lot of times I all but ignore oko because I often can burn them out or fly over their 3/3's. The life gain from the food can be a problem, but I haven't really run into that yet. It takes a lot of mana and resources for them to continually gain life from food.
I typically side in my counter magic like Mystical Dispute, Engineered Explosives, Teferi, Time Raveler, Abrade, and for decks with thopter sword I do Izzet Staticaster and Surgical Extraction. It's also good to remember that Force of Negation exiles cards to make sure that if you can counter Sword of the Meek with a force of negation make sure to do so because they typically only run 1 copy of the sword so exiling it can end their chance at the combo if that is the case.
Overall I play this matchup like I am playing against a midrange/control deck. Just try to get on the board early and counter/remove their important spells and kill them with attacks of 3-5 damage and burn damage. I will do a bit more testing against this matchup, but I do think we are about 50-50 against them (depending on build) and if Veil were to be banned at some point I think we would pull slightly ahead.
Let me know what you think!
I have to say though that i dont think the people ive played against who are playing the deck are as experienced as needed to sequence stuff properly. I think they may have been play testing so theres that. All in all its not a very difficult match up so long as you know what to keep off the board at any specific time. I really like having peek in the match up too. The information as to whats in their hand has come in handy various times for me.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
sorry that I haven't posted anything for such a long time. I am still playing the CopyCat deck with SFM.
Lately it didn't perform so well so I tweaked it quite a bit this week:
I got rid of the sword since it almost never got equipped and I got rid of the Colonnade since it almost never got activated. I went up a land though since I added Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Both cards have been stellar so far. Elspeth turns SFM and Snappy into serious threats that fly over Eldrazis and Death's Shadows while Cataclysmic Gearhulk resets the board like a sweeper. I can even search up a Batterskull and the Gearhulk with Saheeli's ultimate and then have two creatures in play while my opponent is down to one.
It's a busy time of year for all of us in the States and anyone abroad as well. It's also been kind of a down time for modern with a lot of people concentrating on pioneer. I haven't dove into Pioneer yet myself, but I know a lot of modern players have.
I think your changes are likely the correct changes because the meta is turning a bit more aggro/combo centric again. I have made several changes as well. I have really enjoyed my list as of late. I haven't been able to play a league in a little while, but when I did play a few leagues I was consistently going 3-2 with an occasional 4-1 and 2-3. Probably a 60 percent win rate which is good for me in league play. I haven't played a list like yours, but I did watch a youtube video of yamakiller playing a UW delverblade list and it had some interesting plays and looked great. It's not exactly the same, but very similar in plays. SFM looked really good actually
I saw this deck when it was posted and boy do I like this engine. The ability to constantly rebuy Deprive with Mystic Sanctuary seems extremely powerful in the late game. Fitting this into a three color deck would be tough though and I'm wondering if the Delver of Secrets are even needed. Maybe swap them out with another potent threat, but I can see the potential our little bug friend has with Mystic Sanctuary as the game goes on. I think I'll be running this engine in a variety of two color U tempo decks moving forward. Fantastic find @StevomatUWR!
I saw AspiringSpike playing this deck awhile back and it forced me to look more seriously at Archmage's Charm. It took the place of my beloved Bedlam Reveler because a spell is always better than a creature in our deck. This is why my current build is set up more towards this style of deck. I still have a slightly more aggressive take, but I am up to 7-8 counters. I have really like Mystic Sanctuary in my deck. I has really been great. I have currently been playing remand. I have played deprive in the past, but have preferred remand in my style of deck.
The deprive, sanctuary, charm engine is really strong. However, it does take awhile to get going. I have found that the UR version really depends on the sideboard and really depends on Young Pyromancer to win games. I feel like this style of delver deck is great in certain metas. It also takes a player with a lot of control experience. It tends to play more like a control deck in most games that unless they start delver on turn 1 and young pyromancer on turn 2. I don't have that type of experience and don't prefer the control roll in modern so I play a slightly different style.
I love to see people finally coming around to Delver in modern! Hopefully we will see some evolution in the deck. I know that I personally can learn a lot from these pro players.
I would love to see your tempo decks in the future. It's a really powerful engine. If you go even more control you could add a Cryptic Command also to add to the engine with mystic sanctuary.
Have you been able to make the Deprive/Mystic Sanctuary/Archmage's Charm (DMA) combination work in Jeskai, or have you been using it in the Izzet colors? If so I would love to see how you've configured your mana base to accompany the requirement on blue sources and specifically islands.
At the moment I'm rocking a Simic Flash list centered around DMA and a creature suite consisting of Ice-Fang Coatl, Brazen Borrower, and Nightpack Ambusher to name a few. It's been fun, but I've missed jamming Delver of Secrets alongside Snapcaster Mage so I may shift back to UR Delver or Jeskai/RUG Delver if I can some how shove the DMA combination into them. I've even been brewing up a UW and UG Delver list just for fun, but they'll come later.
I have more so used the "engine" for value. My deck isn't built around the engine, but it likely could be rather easily. Here is my list currently:
2 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Bonecrusher Giant
1 Brazen Borrower
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Path to Exile
2 Remand (could be deprive instead)
3 Force of Negation
3 Archmage's Charm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Abrade
4 Opt
2 Serum Visions
3 Spirebluff Canal
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Fiery Islet
1 Sacred Foundry
To be able to fit Archmage's Charm into a jeskai deck I had to make sure that white was a splash color. I originally started by cutting the Lightning Helix from the maindeck. It really has to be a base UR deck with white being more of a splash color. Geist is a later game threat, helix is a secondary removal behind bolt and path, and path is also a later game removal spell for bigger things. Therefore you basically start as a UR deck and white is for things that blue/red can't offer (removal for large things, life gain, and geist) and for the great sideboard options.
Originally I didn't have a Sacred Foundry in the list because I wanted nearly every mana source to be blue. However, I found after playing for a bit that I wasn't having a problem getting my blue mana and could support a foundry. I might go to 21 lands with an additional mystic sanctuary, however, I really don't want any come into play tapped lands early in the game so I just have one.
I am currently questioning the mountain and the sacred foundry. I haven't had a ton of games (probably 40-50 or so) at this point so it will definitely take a bit more reps to make sure the mana is smooth. I have found it to be fine so far and I typically fetch a blue dual land first (whichever other color my hand doesn't have or needs) and then start fetching basic island if possible. I haven't had any problems with mana yet. I am going back and forth with putting Geist in the sideboard, but every time I think I should he dominates a match.
I will keep you all posted on how it runs against the top decks. I will get to play this Thursday a bunch so I will take some notes and let you know if the mountain or sacred foundry get cut/changed.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
I have really loved having access to Bonecrusher Giant. That was a great recommendation. I cut the copy of Burst Lightning I was running for it. The body actually helps a ton in the midrange matchups. It's also awesome with Royal Scions to have a 6/3 trample, first strike, that costs them 2 damage when they target it with a spell.
I really have no complaints for the deck right now. It has been running very smoothly. I am running slightly more lands than I usually do because the CMC average has gone up a tad. I have noticed that I have games that go a bit longer and I "flood" a bit more, but it hasn't been a problem. I haven't run out of things to cast and the modern meta has slowed down a lot lately.
On Thursday I played against devoted druid combo, grixis death shadow, burn, and bant snowblade. Surprisingly no Urza. I was able to 3-1 and lost to what I consider one of the best matchups of the three - death shadow. I will post some game notes when I have more time. I am do some play group practicing tonight so let me know if there are any matchups you guys want me to play against.
Creatuers (12)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic
Artifacts (2)
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Batterskull
Instants and Sorceries (26)
4x Opt
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
1x Spell Snare
2x Lightning Helix
3x Logic Knot
4x Force of Negation
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Seachrome Coast
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
This is about as cookie cutter as I think to make a DelverBlade deck and probably where I would start. If I wanted to include the Archmage's Charm/Mystic Sanctuary/Deprive combination then I think I would start here:
Creatuers (12)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic
Artifacts (2)
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Batterskull
Instants and Sorceries (26)
4x Opt
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Path to Exile
1x Spell Snare
3x Deprive
4x Archmage's Charm
4x Force of Negation
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Seachrome Coast
2x Spirebluff Canal
2x Mystic Sanctuary
3x Island
1x Mountain
This was my idea for a DelverBlade deck that includes DMA in it. What I'm most scared of is the mana and you can tell with how I built mine here. @CurdBros: Not gonna lie your mana base also scares me a bit too because I feel, at least in this deck, we want to have access to all our colors by turn 2 or 3. Maybe the 3rd island can be Hallowed Fountain, but I'd have to test the list to see how it feels. Being able to cast Archmage's Charm turn 3 almost feels needed so I'm not sure how the mana will draw out. Let me know what you all think!
I am in the "building" phase of the mana base. I agree with you. The mana scares me a bunch. I haven't had a problem with it yet, but I really feel like the Sacred Foundry needs to be changed. I really want all of my dual lands to tap for blue. Because all of the white cards are later game cards (helix, geist, and path) I really don't need white mana until turn 3 in most games. I am going to try changing the sacred foundry into a second steam vents or another mystic sanctuary. I also will likely change the glacial fortress as some point. It has been good so far, but I really can't have a land come into play tapped at any point. That's part of the reason I am only running one Mystic Sanctuary.
My first question with the deck was - Does the cost of the white mana pay off enough to add it to the deck. So far the answer is yet at least in my meta. Having access to multiple lighting helix has been great against aggro decks and burn, especially given that I start most games at 17 after a fetch/shock. Path has been super important in a lot of matchups. Geist is still a question mark. He has won me a lot more games than he has lost for me so he is still in the deck (and he is my favorite creature), but I wouldn't fault anyone for playing clique or another copy of borrower in that slot. Or even Spell Queller which I used to run, but have never fallen in love with.
I will keep you all posted, but I would love to have any input from all of you about the mana base. You won't hurt my feelings. I respect all of your opinions on here.
As for Stoneblade. I love the idea. I used to play jeskai stoneblade in legacy when I played legacy. I love that deck. I think it's an excellent option right now. Like you said above, it basically almost builds itself because there are very few card choices after the delvers, snapcasters, SFM package and the necessary removal/counter magic. I would have to try both builds to see which one I like better, but both look awesome. I really think Force of Negation would work well with the card advantage that SFM gives you. Let us know if you like them.
It will be very interesting to see what WOTC does in January in terms of bans/unbans. If I were a betting man I would say they will ban Oko and Veil of Secrets. They may also unban twin just to give modern a shot in the arm, but that is doubtful. A ban of Veil would be awesome for us. I have found Oko actually to be very good for us. It slows the game down and is easily answered with counter magic. Also our fliers fly over the 3/3's (unless they become 3/3's themselves).
I hope to get back on MTGO sometime next week and get some reps in. How is everyone doing?