We got a good one today. This one might be a game changer. What do you all think?
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
It absolutely warrants testing. This one has big potential and not a lot of downside. The body can only be answered by direct kill spells like Path, the wall is also out of bolt range, the flip trigger is insane...I don't see how UR anything isn't going to at least try this out. I love it.
We got a good one today. This one might be a game changer. What do you all think?
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
It absolutely warrants testing. This one has big potential and not a lot of downside. The body can only be answered by direct kill spells like Path, the wall is also out of bolt range, the flip trigger is insane...I don't see how UR anything isn't going to at least try this out. I love it.
Totally agree. This may be what we needed to get back into competitive range once the eldrazi deck is cut down to size. I will update as soon as I get some testing done this evening.
We got a good one today. This one might be a game changer. What do you all think?
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
It absolutely warrants testing. This one has big potential and not a lot of downside. The body can only be answered by direct kill spells like Path, the wall is also out of bolt range, the flip trigger is insane...I don't see how UR anything isn't going to at least try this out. I love it.
Totally agree. This may be what we needed to get back into competitive range once the eldrazi deck is cut down to size. I will update as soon as I get some testing done this evening.
In this deck, this is basically blue Tarmogoyf. It seems completely insane.
We got a good one today. This one might be a game changer. What do you all think?
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
At first I thought it was very good but to slow for a Delver deck, and more at home in a midrange or control shell... but then I started to think that I should be careful of not making the mistake of judging the card wrongly, and started comparing it to Young Pyromancer, a card that has the same cmc and that plays a more similar role to this card, usually the pyromancer is no good for making an attack until it has made at least like 3/4 tokens, about the same time this card would transform. While you take the time to assemble a token army, you use a couple of tokens to stop some attackers, just what a wall can do. Add to all the above the fact that this card removes all blockers (save an opposing Spellskite) makes this a viable and probably very good tempo creature (rather than a straight aggro creature like the prowess creatures). So I guess in the end is about finding out if the optimal build of a jeskai delver deck is more aggro or tempo and depending on that we will know if this card is going to be the Tarmogoyf this deck needs
Edit: Also, I will take this opportunity to comment on my last game with my deck. I played against my friend's abzan company on thursday, one not so different from the one that won GP Detroit no less. After the bad matchups I had against all the aggro decks I had swapped the 3 Geist of Saint Traft in main for 3 Grim Lavamancer and added 3 Anger of the Gods to the side. I went 2-3, couldn't play more games because of time but I feel I could have won a couple more and that those last changes have made the deck better and I'm feeling I'm going in the right direction.
We got a good one today. This one might be a game changer. What do you all think?
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
At first I thought it was very good but to slow for a Delver deck, and more at home in a midrange or control shell... but then I started to think that I should be careful of not making the mistake of judging the card wrongly, and started comparing it to Young Pyromancer, a card that has the same cmc and that plays a more similar role to this card, usually the pyromancer is no good for making an attack until it has made at least like 3/4 tokens, about the same time this card would transform. While you take the time to assemble a token army, you use a couple of tokens to stop some attackers, just what a wall can do. Add to all the above the fact that this card removes all blockers (save an opposing Spellskite) makes this a viable and probably very good tempo creature (rather than a straight aggro creature like the prowess creatures). So I guess in the end is about finding out if the optimal build of a jeskai delver deck is more aggro or tempo and depending on that we will know if this card is going to be the Tarmogoyf this deck needs
Edit: Also, I will take this opportunity to comment on my last game with my deck. I played against my friend's abzan company on thursday, one not so different from the one that won GP Detroit no less. After the bad matchups I had against all the aggro decks I had swapped the 3 Geist of Saint Traft in main for 3 Grim Lavamancer and added 3 Anger of the Gods to the side. I went 2-3, couldn't play more games because of time but I feel I could have won a couple more and that those last changes have made the deck better and I'm feeling I'm going in the right direction.
I like when a player chooses an identity for their deck and it looks like you have. You are going with a more true tempo oriented build. This deck should be really good against any of the aggressive deck and most grindy creature based decks as well. I like that you kept the Geist of Saint Trafts in the sideboard for the combo matchups. Have you had any problems with three Grim Lavamancers in the same deck? I know these are not good in multiples, but have you found that to be a problem. It gives the deck a ton of value and I would never leave home without at least one copy in my 75, but I have never played 3. With all of the burn, this deck is deceptively fast as well. I think your right. You are on the right track with this build. It will be really interesting to see where the meta goes in April after the banning announcement. This style could be very well positioned for a new meta of more grindy decks.
As for Thing in the Ice, I think your right that it just has to find the right home. I think the power level and utility of the card is obvious, but the deck will take some building around it to be good. I do think it fits best in the more control or tempo oriented builds than the pure agro builds, but it does force the player to be fairly proactive with their spells. This is why I personally beleive it will fit best into tempo decks with loads of cantrips, burn, and late game options. This is great news for us as that is exactly what we are building. It will be interesting to see how Thing in the Ice gets played, but I would not be surprised to see it in most blue based tempo, midrange, and control decks. I think the card is better than most people are currently saying and that says a lot given the amount of hype around the card.
I wanted to chime in as I've been playing a lot of a deck that I suppose you would call UWR Delver - except it doesn't play Delver. First, though, I want to comment on Thing in the Ice.
Thing in the Ice
I saw it and immediately dismissed it. I then thought about it long and hard and realized its parallels to Young Pyromancer, but continued to dismiss. Then I playtested my deck against a straight UR build with Thing, and found it to be reasonable, but still not quite up to snuff. Here's what I found:
The card looks like it fits the deck, but its bounce function is actually anti-synergistic with every other creature except Snapcaster Mage. It's awful with Delver, and even worse with Young Pyromancer, despite their similarities.
There are also a lot of opposing strategies it is bad against. When facing it, I got to Snapcaster-Bolt in response, and get my Snapcaster back to Snap-Helix next turn for the win. It's bad against Kitchen Finks, Wall of Omens, Siege Rhino, and various other creatures with strong ETB effects.
It is however excellent against aggressive decks such as Zoo and Burn, preventing a lot of damage and eventually turning into a threat that they can't deal with. Also pretty good against Eldrazi, which is a huge boon for the next few weeks of competitive play.
The comparison to Young Pyro is fair, but shallow, as YP's greatest strength is that it's a must-answer that you can still get a ton of value out of as they try to deal with it. When thing dies it just dies. Investing 2 mana and four spells is a lot to have something just die.
Finally, it's an awful topdeck. At least YP is still a Goblin Piker, and turns into value PER spell.
I can see a reason to run it (or sideboard it) in certain metas, but overall I have to say that I think the card is a trap. It might play well in Ad Nauseam, or in a control deck alongside ETB winners like Wall of Omens, Snapcaster, and Finks (even JVP plays okay with it since you can dodge the bounce if it's flipped), but that it looks better than it is in a tempo build.
Okay, that said, here's the deck I'm playing.
It's actually a slightly modified list that Brian Braun-Duin posted as a list he was trying for the last PT. I've been having excellent success with it.
There's a few peculiarities in there, so I'll elaborate for a minute:
Jori En, Ruin Diver might be more a sideboard card, but I'm running it main to get a good feel for it. There are certainly matchups where it's too important to hold up other spells and it winds up sitting in my hand. There are also matchups where it dominates in a totally unfair way, and running it into an immediate Gitaxian Probe is just winning so hard it's not funny.
Cutting a Lightning Helix for a Burst Lightning was a great addition. One extra shot at hitting a mana dork, or one extra burn spell to Snap into with three mana is definitely worth gaining less life. The other Helix lives in the board in case of aggro.
Speaking of dealing with dorks and good Snap targets, Gut Shot is too quickly overlooked in decks like ours. It doesn't go upstairs very well, but it lets you do a lot very with little mana, especially with Snaps.
There are times where Spell Snare and Vapor Snag appear in unwanted multiples. Three snags might be too many. It is often very good though, as the deck plays so tightly.
I used to run two Monastery Mentors in the main, but found it to be a not-awesome turn three option. Keeping one in the side for games where I want an extra Young Pyro, but it might get cut.
Threads of Disloyalty is a test. It's great against aggro and in the mirror. Bad against BGx due to Decay, and I initially added it to help with Goyfs, so it might also get cut.
Any thoughts? I realize that Delverless Delver isn't really a Delver deck, but it's otherwise a similar enough shell and play style, so I figure it fits here best.
As for the answer to the question "Why are you not playing Delver?" The answer is I don't know. The original list didn't have one and I just never went there. There are obviously times when it would be good, but I do like the greater certainty that this version provides.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
taptwo - any reason for the lack of path maindeck? If for the purposes of making your soft permission better, why not run leaks?
I need to adjust the deck to a known meta, but I've found that it is important to have as much of my removal as possible also double as burn. This deck rarely takes over the game - rather it wins with an accumulation of little pokes. Strategy so far has been to poke down to 5 life or less and rely on drawing burn. Path is a bad draw there. It's in the side because some Goyfs and Thought Knots are hard to deal with, and perhaps most importantly to effectively deal two more damage by preventing Finks from persisting.
On the leak, the main difference between my version and a traditional Delver build is that its aggro game is virtually nonexistent. I don't have a real threat before turn three, and with Young Pyro as my most potent win condition, cantripping is very valuable. Remand is also very flexible with lots of multiple-spell triggers, suc as:
It's not uncommon at all for me to drop a Young Pyro on T3 with one mana up for Spell Snare/whatever, and then on T4 point a bolt at one of their creatures, let them try to counter it, then remand my own bolt and recast it - beating their own trick, and also getting three elementals out of it. I wish I could play eight Young Pyros in the deck because Remand's use against my own spells is delicious.
My latest changes to the deck: -1 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Young Pyromancer, -2 Electrolyze, +2 Forked Bolt. Swapped electrolyze for forked bolt in order to keep up with the aggro decks. Still waiting for my Stormchaser Mages to come in the mail to try them out. Once they arrive, I'm thinking in going -1 Young Pyromancer, -1 Snapcaster Mage and -1 land to go +3 Stormchasers
Here is an interesting delver build from an SCG Invitational Qualifier top 8. It's pretty much straight forward, but utilizes a card RutherJC has been playing- Mantis Rider.
— WUR Midrange. Played by Cory Lonas.
Top8 in SCG Invitational Qualifier Findlay — 27-Feb-2016
This is another build that utilizes the more aggressive main deck and has a transitional sideboard into a more controlling version. I really like this strategy. This deck should appeal to those who prefer a bit more consistency and less one ofs. Pretty cool build.
My latest changes to the deck: -1 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Young Pyromancer, -2 Electrolyze, +2 Forked Bolt. Swapped electrolyze for forked bolt in order to keep up with the aggro decks. Still waiting for my Stormchaser Mages to come in the mail to try them out. Once they arrive, I'm thinking in going -1 Young Pyromancer, -1 Snapcaster Mage and -1 land to go +3 Stormchasers
This build looks awesome. I really like your spell package with your creatures. You have plenty of "food" for Lavamancer and Pyromancer with a good amount of burn and proactive spells. I really like your counter magic package. I love the one mana counter spells right now. I would probably cut one spell snare because they are limited to only two drops, but it's definitely not necessary. Very cool list. Let us know how it goes. Will you be cutting a Young P or two for Stormchasers?
I'm not sure if anyone took my version of the deck into testing, but I've updated it slightly (above) and have gone 9-1 in testing this week.
It should be seriously considered for those who like a counter-burn play style. It may look like a delver deck, but the play style is actually quite different. Nevertheless there is overlap.
I'm likely taking it to some major tournaments this year, as with tight play, it even handles poor match ups well.
As Nauseam and Kitchen Finks are the two scariest cards to see. Fevered Visions is a godsend to over perform in the control matches.
It is a bit terrifying to pilot as it's basically a control deck without a fatty finisher, and I wind up winning a lot of games tightly that look like losses two turns prior.
Feedback and questions welcome. I'm probably about 100 matches in on it, but have only recorded results of the last 10. Of the 9 wins, two were sub tier 3 decks. The one loss came 0-2 versus 8Rack.
Is fevered visions actually something you want to play?
Shame none of the manlands in WUR are good in small decks, but even playing a colonnade or two might be the way to go.
Is it even worth holding onto the white with so few white cards in the deck?
Is batterskull something to consider sideboarding, as lifegain and equiping it to snaps/cliques seems good. Ojutai's command also feels solid.
I didn't build the list from the ground up - the first draft I received ran a singleton Ojutai's Command and with testing it became very clear to me very quickly that this deck doesn't want to spend over three mana on anything - it's just too unreliable with an 18-land mana base, and you always want to be able to leave up permission or burn. Same rationale works against Colonnade, Batterskull, and Keranos.
That's where Fevered Visions steps in. I'm not in love with the card in concept, but it does a fine Keranos impression for less mana, and shores up my control matchup which has been the deck's biggest challenge. I'm happy providing mutual card draw because there's simply more action in my deck vs. a control opponent, and it punishes them severely for keeping a large hand size, and forces them to make a difficult decision - abandon choices, or pay the price. It also works nicely on the curve as with those decks I typically want to board out Electrolyze. If there's no control in your meta, ditch these as well as Jori En
Your question about white in the deck is a very good one, and one that I've considered lots of times. The answer is really that we need as many lightning bolts as we can get. In a meta with no aggro/affinity, I would honestly consider running Lightning Strike in its place, but the life gain from Helix has won me an enormous number of games.
I believe the initial rationale for white, though, was to have sideboard silver bullets like Stony Silence, as well as redundancy in width with Monastery Mentor. As you can see, I've cut both over time, as I found Mentors to very clunky compared to the rest of the deck, and Stony Silence unnecessary since Tron and Affinity are laughably easy matchups as it is. So the white in the sideboard is now down to Path (which honestly, I could see parting ways with as well, especially once Thought-Knot Seer is less prevalent), and Wear // Tear, which is situationally a miracle versus things like Ensnaring Bridge or Ghostly Prison.
Anyways - all that is to say I'm with you on being skeptical of the white splash, but Helix has just been that good.
Record now up to 11-1 this week. Took town UW Eldrazi 2-1 and Merfolk 2-0.
New thought: Soulfire grandmaster.
Good vs control if it sticks around, buybacking even just 1 spell makes you feel so far ahead.
Worst case it gains life off your burn and is a 2/2 lifelinker.
Also not sure if you've considered jeskai charm, but as a 1-of I think its kind of nice.
New thought: Soulfire grandmaster.
Good vs control if it sticks around, buybacking even just 1 spell makes you feel so far ahead.
Worst case it gains life off your burn and is a 2/2 lifelinker.
Also not sure if you've considered jeskai charm, but as a 1-of I think its kind of nice.
Grandmaster - that's definitely an idea worth exploring. I like it vs. burn since I can play it on T3 straight into a lifelinking bolt, and vs. control, I'd realistically only play it when I'd have five mana up the next turn, and start chaining Serum Visions together and just drown them in CA. And although it's unlikely it would survive long enough to do that, I don't mind another target to take the heat off my Pyromancers. I might go ahead with that as an experiment.
Jeskai Charm is something I considered, but I don't like its modes enough. Burst Lightning does a much better job with the damage mode since it can hit dorks too, the Griptide mode is done better by Vapor Snag, and generally speaking if the Crusade mode is good, it's because I'm already winning. (Although I do like it on defence - but that's too corner case to include.)
Very cool tech Fiddlyr. I will have to give that a try.
I don't normally like vanilla creatures, but this one is definitely worth testing.
It absolutely warrants testing. This one has big potential and not a lot of downside. The body can only be answered by direct kill spells like Path, the wall is also out of bolt range, the flip trigger is insane...I don't see how UR anything isn't going to at least try this out. I love it.
Totally agree. This may be what we needed to get back into competitive range once the eldrazi deck is cut down to size. I will update as soon as I get some testing done this evening.
In this deck, this is basically blue Tarmogoyf. It seems completely insane.
StandardArena:U/R Drakes
Modern
URStormUR
UBRDeath's ShadowUBR
Edit: Also, I will take this opportunity to comment on my last game with my deck. I played against my friend's abzan company on thursday, one not so different from the one that won GP Detroit no less. After the bad matchups I had against all the aggro decks I had swapped the 3 Geist of Saint Traft in main for 3 Grim Lavamancer and added 3 Anger of the Gods to the side. I went 2-3, couldn't play more games because of time but I feel I could have won a couple more and that those last changes have made the deck better and I'm feeling I'm going in the right direction.
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Electrolyze
2 Deprive
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
3 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Path to Exile
1 Valorous Stance
2 Wear // Tear
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Molten Rain
Flipping Delvers since 2011
MY DECKS
Modern: UR Izzet Delver
Pauper: U Delver Faeries | R Red Burn | GInfect
Commander: WB Athreos, God of Passage | UR Keranos Spellslinger | GWU Derevi, Tempo Tactician | BGU Tasigur, the Golden Fang | RW Feather, the Redeemed
I like when a player chooses an identity for their deck and it looks like you have. You are going with a more true tempo oriented build. This deck should be really good against any of the aggressive deck and most grindy creature based decks as well. I like that you kept the Geist of Saint Trafts in the sideboard for the combo matchups. Have you had any problems with three Grim Lavamancers in the same deck? I know these are not good in multiples, but have you found that to be a problem. It gives the deck a ton of value and I would never leave home without at least one copy in my 75, but I have never played 3. With all of the burn, this deck is deceptively fast as well. I think your right. You are on the right track with this build. It will be really interesting to see where the meta goes in April after the banning announcement. This style could be very well positioned for a new meta of more grindy decks.
As for Thing in the Ice, I think your right that it just has to find the right home. I think the power level and utility of the card is obvious, but the deck will take some building around it to be good. I do think it fits best in the more control or tempo oriented builds than the pure agro builds, but it does force the player to be fairly proactive with their spells. This is why I personally beleive it will fit best into tempo decks with loads of cantrips, burn, and late game options. This is great news for us as that is exactly what we are building. It will be interesting to see how Thing in the Ice gets played, but I would not be surprised to see it in most blue based tempo, midrange, and control decks. I think the card is better than most people are currently saying and that says a lot given the amount of hype around the card.
I wanted to chime in as I've been playing a lot of a deck that I suppose you would call UWR Delver - except it doesn't play Delver. First, though, I want to comment on Thing in the Ice.
Thing in the Ice
I saw it and immediately dismissed it. I then thought about it long and hard and realized its parallels to Young Pyromancer, but continued to dismiss. Then I playtested my deck against a straight UR build with Thing, and found it to be reasonable, but still not quite up to snuff. Here's what I found:
I can see a reason to run it (or sideboard it) in certain metas, but overall I have to say that I think the card is a trap. It might play well in Ad Nauseam, or in a control deck alongside ETB winners like Wall of Omens, Snapcaster, and Finks (even JVP plays okay with it since you can dodge the bounce if it's flipped), but that it looks better than it is in a tempo build.
Okay, that said, here's the deck I'm playing.
It's actually a slightly modified list that Brian Braun-Duin posted as a list he was trying for the last PT. I've been having excellent success with it.
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
CREATURES
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Remand
REMOVAL/BURN
1 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Vapor Snag
3 Lightning Helix
2 Electrolyze
DIGGING
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Dispel
2 Gut Shot
2 Path to Exile
1 Spell Snare
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Celestial Purge
1 Lightning Helix
1 Negate
2 Stony Silence
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Threads of Disloyalty
There's a few peculiarities in there, so I'll elaborate for a minute:
Any thoughts? I realize that Delverless Delver isn't really a Delver deck, but it's otherwise a similar enough shell and play style, so I figure it fits here best.
As for the answer to the question "Why are you not playing Delver?" The answer is I don't know. The original list didn't have one and I just never went there. There are obviously times when it would be good, but I do like the greater certainty that this version provides.
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I've been playing around with a similar deck, though running a playset of delvers and still tweaking the burn/counter suite
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Young Pyromancer
2x Grim Lavamancer
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Jori En, Ruin Diver
Instant (19)
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
1x Burst Lightning
1x Electrolyze
2x Path to Exile
1x Valorous Stance
2x Mana Leak
3x Remand
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
4x Serum Visions
4x Gitaxian Probe
Land (18)
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
2x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
I need to adjust the deck to a known meta, but I've found that it is important to have as much of my removal as possible also double as burn. This deck rarely takes over the game - rather it wins with an accumulation of little pokes. Strategy so far has been to poke down to 5 life or less and rely on drawing burn. Path is a bad draw there. It's in the side because some Goyfs and Thought Knots are hard to deal with, and perhaps most importantly to effectively deal two more damage by preventing Finks from persisting.
On the leak, the main difference between my version and a traditional Delver build is that its aggro game is virtually nonexistent. I don't have a real threat before turn three, and with Young Pyro as my most potent win condition, cantripping is very valuable. Remand is also very flexible with lots of multiple-spell triggers, suc as:
It's not uncommon at all for me to drop a Young Pyro on T3 with one mana up for Spell Snare/whatever, and then on T4 point a bolt at one of their creatures, let them try to counter it, then remand my own bolt and recast it - beating their own trick, and also getting three elementals out of it. I wish I could play eight Young Pyros in the deck because Remand's use against my own spells is delicious.
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Forked Bolt
2 Deprive
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
3 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Path to Exile
1 Valorous Stance
2 Wear // Tear
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Spreading Seas
My latest changes to the deck: -1 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Young Pyromancer, -2 Electrolyze, +2 Forked Bolt. Swapped electrolyze for forked bolt in order to keep up with the aggro decks. Still waiting for my Stormchaser Mages to come in the mail to try them out. Once they arrive, I'm thinking in going -1 Young Pyromancer, -1 Snapcaster Mage and -1 land to go +3 Stormchasers
Flipping Delvers since 2011
MY DECKS
Modern: UR Izzet Delver
Pauper: U Delver Faeries | R Red Burn | GInfect
Commander: WB Athreos, God of Passage | UR Keranos Spellslinger | GWU Derevi, Tempo Tactician | BGU Tasigur, the Golden Fang | RW Feather, the Redeemed
— WUR Midrange. Played by Cory Lonas.
Top8 in SCG Invitational Qualifier Findlay — 27-Feb-2016
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Mantis Rider
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stormchaser Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Instant [18]
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Vapor Snag
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
Land [19]
1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
1 Forked Bolt
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Spreading Seas
1 Sudden Shock
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Surgical Extraction
This is another build that utilizes the more aggressive main deck and has a transitional sideboard into a more controlling version. I really like this strategy. This deck should appeal to those who prefer a bit more consistency and less one ofs. Pretty cool build.
This build looks awesome. I really like your spell package with your creatures. You have plenty of "food" for Lavamancer and Pyromancer with a good amount of burn and proactive spells. I really like your counter magic package. I love the one mana counter spells right now. I would probably cut one spell snare because they are limited to only two drops, but it's definitely not necessary. Very cool list. Let us know how it goes. Will you be cutting a Young P or two for Stormchasers?
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel
3x Reflector Mage
I'm not sure if anyone took my version of the deck into testing, but I've updated it slightly (above) and have gone 9-1 in testing this week.
It should be seriously considered for those who like a counter-burn play style. It may look like a delver deck, but the play style is actually quite different. Nevertheless there is overlap.
I'm likely taking it to some major tournaments this year, as with tight play, it even handles poor match ups well.
As Nauseam and Kitchen Finks are the two scariest cards to see. Fevered Visions is a godsend to over perform in the control matches.
It is a bit terrifying to pilot as it's basically a control deck without a fatty finisher, and I wind up winning a lot of games tightly that look like losses two turns prior.
Feedback and questions welcome. I'm probably about 100 matches in on it, but have only recorded results of the last 10. Of the 9 wins, two were sub tier 3 decks. The one loss came 0-2 versus 8Rack.
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine
Shame none of the manlands in WUR are good in small decks, but even playing a colonnade or two might be the way to go.
Is it even worth holding onto the white with so few white cards in the deck?
Is batterskull something to consider sideboarding, as lifegain and equiping it to snaps/cliques seems good. Ojutai's command also feels solid.
I didn't build the list from the ground up - the first draft I received ran a singleton Ojutai's Command and with testing it became very clear to me very quickly that this deck doesn't want to spend over three mana on anything - it's just too unreliable with an 18-land mana base, and you always want to be able to leave up permission or burn. Same rationale works against Colonnade, Batterskull, and Keranos.
That's where Fevered Visions steps in. I'm not in love with the card in concept, but it does a fine Keranos impression for less mana, and shores up my control matchup which has been the deck's biggest challenge. I'm happy providing mutual card draw because there's simply more action in my deck vs. a control opponent, and it punishes them severely for keeping a large hand size, and forces them to make a difficult decision - abandon choices, or pay the price. It also works nicely on the curve as with those decks I typically want to board out Electrolyze. If there's no control in your meta, ditch these as well as Jori En
Your question about white in the deck is a very good one, and one that I've considered lots of times. The answer is really that we need as many lightning bolts as we can get. In a meta with no aggro/affinity, I would honestly consider running Lightning Strike in its place, but the life gain from Helix has won me an enormous number of games.
I believe the initial rationale for white, though, was to have sideboard silver bullets like Stony Silence, as well as redundancy in width with Monastery Mentor. As you can see, I've cut both over time, as I found Mentors to very clunky compared to the rest of the deck, and Stony Silence unnecessary since Tron and Affinity are laughably easy matchups as it is. So the white in the sideboard is now down to Path (which honestly, I could see parting ways with as well, especially once Thought-Knot Seer is less prevalent), and Wear // Tear, which is situationally a miracle versus things like Ensnaring Bridge or Ghostly Prison.
Anyways - all that is to say I'm with you on being skeptical of the white splash, but Helix has just been that good.
Record now up to 11-1 this week. Took town UW Eldrazi 2-1 and Merfolk 2-0.
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine
Good vs control if it sticks around, buybacking even just 1 spell makes you feel so far ahead.
Worst case it gains life off your burn and is a 2/2 lifelinker.
Also not sure if you've considered jeskai charm, but as a 1-of I think its kind of nice.
Grandmaster - that's definitely an idea worth exploring. I like it vs. burn since I can play it on T3 straight into a lifelinking bolt, and vs. control, I'd realistically only play it when I'd have five mana up the next turn, and start chaining Serum Visions together and just drown them in CA. And although it's unlikely it would survive long enough to do that, I don't mind another target to take the heat off my Pyromancers. I might go ahead with that as an experiment.
Jeskai Charm is something I considered, but I don't like its modes enough. Burst Lightning does a much better job with the damage mode since it can hit dorks too, the Griptide mode is done better by Vapor Snag, and generally speaking if the Crusade mode is good, it's because I'm already winning. (Although I do like it on defence - but that's too corner case to include.)
WBG Abzan Midrange
BRG Dredgevine