Looking at all the recent succesful Death's Shadow decks (mostly Jund but also Grixis) I thought that an Esper version might be an interesting direction to go with the deck and brew especially with all the good white cards that the Jund version sometimes splashes for.
The deck is modeled more after the Grixis version rather than the Jund one as it shares 2/3 of the colors.
I've been playing this variant since before Shadow Zoo was even a thing. Trust me, it was much better before the Probe ban. But it's still a cool deck. Orzhov Charm is a great deck, but I would also recommend Thought Scour and Stubborn Denial. Here is my latest list
Not having green means no Traverse so the deck plays pretty differently than DSJ. When Probe was legal I also used Meddling Mage since 12x turn 1 effects that allow you to peek at their hand can give you great information to make calls with the Meddling.
EDIT
-sorry I didn't notice you were already using Thought Scour. It's a great enabler for Delve as well.
Bauble is a free can trip that fuels delve, that's the main reason I use it. Ive always liked keeping a single Plains in the sideboard in case I expect a blood moon.
Serum Visions, while fixing, costs mana so I prefer bauble being free. With less focus on Delve you could easily make a case for Visions over Bauble. Makes me feel like you'd want Delver of Secrets in that case, though.
Delver of Secrets doesn't seem to fit that well in a discard (rather than counters) deck, and would probably not flip that reliably with only 23 instants+sorceries.
It could actually be another target for Ranger of Eos which together with Liliana, the Last Hope is supposed to provide the late game for this deck.
What do you think about using Emerge Unscathed as the white equivalent to Temur Battle Rage (in Jund) in this deck to get a large Death's Shadow through unblocked (or protect it from removal) ?
Play fatty, protect it with stuborn denial and discard. Delving might just be fast enough to beat Rest in Piece, and death's shadow attacks from another angle.
With spells going in the yeard perhaps some thing in the ice? Bounces your own stuff, but a good card.
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What do you think about using Emerge Unscathed as the white equivalent to Temur Battle Rage (in Jund) in this deck to get a large Death's Shadow through unblocked (or protect it from removal) ?
Double Cleave has the damage-doubling effect. Not trample, though. It's a good card against combo, ramp and other matchups where you want to finish it as fast as possible.
I don't know if this would be good enough without the trample, maybe even something like Distortion Strike can be an option for (potentially) two turns of unblockable attacks (there are other unblockable options like Slip through Space/Artful Dodge as well).
What I like about Emerge Unscathed is that it doubles as both protection from removal and pseudo-evasion in one card (with rebound).
Though the deck might be better off without this "combo" angle altogether.
Faith's Shield is by far and away the best protection based card for any Death Shadow based deck as a 1 of in the SB. This puppy saved me against a resolved Grapeshot that I allowed the trigger's to take me to 1 and swing back for lethal.
It seems rather narrow and without "Fateful Hour" it is worse than Emerge Unscathed.
I'd prefer a more proactive card like Orzhov Charm rather than this kind of a reactive card.
Emerge unscathed is awesome because of the multiple roles. You can use it for both roles with one cast. Use it on their turn to protect your shadow from their removal, then on the rebound use it to get damage through. I think its a great 1-of that I personally hadn't thought of yet. Much better than fateful hour..
I really like the list with 3x Orzhov Charm. The card is really versatile. I too would swap the delvers for Street Wraiths, but that's my preference
Any updates from this group? Just started playIng the deck and enjoying it. Would love to hear how others after doing with it and any tweaks that folks have made.
I think fragmentize is a mistake. The single biggest artifact that this deck wants to hit is a chalice of the void set to 1. That shuts off a large portion of the deck and is a common, and growing, strategy to fight these types of decks. Esper in particular is particularly vulnerable to chalice as we don't have access to main deck Kolaghan's Command or Abrupt Decay like some of the other versions. As such I believe Disenchant is preferable. Engineered Explosives is also not a horrible sideboard card as well.
I feel that tasigur, the golden fang and Gurmag Angler are just mediocre and I would prefer to run a more 1-drop threat streamlined deck. If you cut tasigur and angler you can also cut thought scour to make room for better cards. Here is where I am at right now:
This deck has a lot of explosive or synergistic plays as well as the ability to grind out the long game and I am curious to what other people think. I am not 100% sold on plunge into darkness but I will try it out.
Tasigur and ol' gurmmy dodge bolts and pushes. If you run stubborn denial as well then you've got some nice counters for paths as well. Quite powerful, I think. Ranger is cool but unlike the jund version there's no traverse the ulvenwald to tutor it up which is probably what makes it so good in that deck. Thought scour is also great with souls (I'd be ok with only ever playing milled souls from the gy) and giving targets for snapcasters. I've played an Esper-delver-shadow version and was quite unimpressed with Delver. Having street wraiths let you power out shadows faster and can be held as potential tricks too.
You are playing a delver deck with only 24 instants/sorceries. That seems real low. I disagree with your assessment of Tasigur/Gurmag as well. Often playing one of those two early is the best route to victory as they both dodge some of the most common removal spells being played right now (push, bolt, abrupt decay).
The deck is modeled more after the Grixis version rather than the Jund one as it shares 2/3 of the colors.
Here is my idea:
4x Death's Shadow
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Ranger of Eos
4x Street Wraith
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Gurmag Angler
Planeswalker (2)
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Instant (13)
4x Fatal Push
3x Path to Exile
4x Thought Scour
2x Orzhov Charm
4x Thoughtseize
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Serum Visions
Land (19)
4x Polluted Delta
4x Marsh Flats
4x Flooded Strand
2x Watery Grave
2x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Swamp
3x Lingering Souls
3x Stubborn Denial
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Path to Exile
Since the deck doesn't play Red (like Grixis/Jund DS) it is probably necessary to include a basic Plains, right ? (as a hedge against Blood Moon).
In the SB: Stony Silence and Phyrexian Unlife might good options and maybe also Surgical Extraction (though I prefer Nihil Spellbomb).
Another card I consider adding to the SB is Engineered Explosives as catch-all removal.
Waht do you think ?
4 Death's shadow
4 Street wraith
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Spells (26):
4 Mishra's bauble
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Thought Scour
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Dismember
1 Orzhov Charm
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded strand
4 Marsh Flats
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Fragmentize
2 Ranger of Eos
3 Lingering Souls
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Path to Exile
2 Ceremonious Rejection
Not having green means no Traverse so the deck plays pretty differently than DSJ. When Probe was legal I also used Meddling Mage since 12x turn 1 effects that allow you to peek at their hand can give you great information to make calls with the Meddling.
EDIT
-sorry I didn't notice you were already using Thought Scour. It's a great enabler for Delve as well.
Draft My Cube!
I don't really see the need for Mishra's Bauble here as we aren't trying to achieve "Delirium" so Serum Visions is much better (especially in a Snapcaster Mage deck).
I prefer Stubborn Denial in the SB and Thought Scour is already included.
Are 18x lands enough in your opinion or is it possible mainly because you play 8x 0-mana cantrips (Bauble and S.Wraith) ?
Serum Visions, while fixing, costs mana so I prefer bauble being free. With less focus on Delve you could easily make a case for Visions over Bauble. Makes me feel like you'd want Delver of Secrets in that case, though.
Draft My Cube!
It could actually be another target for Ranger of Eos which together with Liliana, the Last Hope is supposed to provide the late game for this deck.
Is Liliana, the Last Hope (and Ranger of Eos) better in the maindeck or should it be in the SB with Lingering Souls replacing it ?
I consider mainboarding in the 3x Lingering Souls and putting the PW and the Ranger to the SB.
Also, would Rain of Tears be better than Fulminator Mage as LD in the SB for this deck ?
It can be flashbacked by Snapcaster Mage (unlike Fulminator Mage which needs Liliana, the Last Hope for repeated use) and hit basic lands.
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-pantheon-deck-tech-esper-delve/
Play fatty, protect it with stuborn denial and discard. Delving might just be fast enough to beat Rest in Piece, and death's shadow attacks from another angle.
With spells going in the yeard perhaps some thing in the ice? Bounces your own stuff, but a good card.
Btw, here is a new variant of that deck - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/576125
http://articles.mtgcardmarket.com/esper-delve-revisited-deck-tech/
Thing in the Ice doesn't seem to fit this deck and the threat base seems pretty solid already.
Double Cleave has the damage-doubling effect. Not trample, though. It's a good card against combo, ramp and other matchups where you want to finish it as fast as possible.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
What I like about Emerge Unscathed is that it doubles as both protection from removal and pseudo-evasion in one card (with rebound).
Though the deck might be better off without this "combo" angle altogether.
An "Esper Delver-Shadow" deck did pretty well.
It is pretty close to my list but with Delver + Stubborn Denial and no Street Wraith.
I'd prefer a more proactive card like Orzhov Charm rather than this kind of a reactive card.
I really like the list with 3x Orzhov Charm. The card is really versatile. I too would swap the delvers for Street Wraiths, but that's my preference
Draft My Cube!
I prefer Anguished Unmaking to Disenchant as it can hit much more targets and also helps enable Death's Shadow.
I'm not sure if a 2nd copy is better than than the 1x-off Countersquall though.
I think Anguished Unmaking has potential and could be potentially quite good.
It is rather surprising to see more Gurmag Anglers rather than Tasigur in the deck.
I feel that tasigur, the golden fang and Gurmag Angler are just mediocre and I would prefer to run a more 1-drop threat streamlined deck. If you cut tasigur and angler you can also cut thought scour to make room for better cards. Here is where I am at right now:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Ranger of Eos
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Liliana of the Veil
Sorcery (14)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Serum Visions
3 Lingering Souls
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
2 Orzhov Charm
2 Plunge into Darkness
Lands (20)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
3 Watery Grave
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Swamp
This deck has a lot of explosive or synergistic plays as well as the ability to grind out the long game and I am curious to what other people think. I am not 100% sold on plunge into darkness but I will try it out.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
UBR Grixis Death's shadow
https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/60c904/modern_esper_deathdelver_primer_tournament_report/?st=j1bv8ies&sh=8a97b962
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dw6RAYaDBXNyDI_Lb99bD310Ytpg1fcuNIF9fIi5aJU/mobilebasic
the document is a very nice primer for the deck in general and explains the card choices.
You are playing a delver deck with only 24 instants/sorceries. That seems real low. I disagree with your assessment of Tasigur/Gurmag as well. Often playing one of those two early is the best route to victory as they both dodge some of the most common removal spells being played right now (push, bolt, abrupt decay).
I do. Potentially lets you pump for lethal, grow your shadow to dodge bolt or grow shadow to turn on stubbs among other things.
UBR Grixis Death's shadow