In response to Darkbrew's comment saying "I think people using delver are insane. should just be focusing on slowing your opponent down"
I really like Delver of Secrets in general so my opinion might be skewed. Also, the decision to play a Delver version is clearly a play style decision.
Delver is a key player in my strategy. Delver allows me to pressure my opponent starting on turn 1. It is a card that most decks will have to deal with very quickly or risk dying on turn 3/4. Therefore, being the aggressor and playing delver WILL slow down most opponents. If our opponent has to spend a turn playing Abrupt Decay on our Delver, that is a turn where they will not be playing a Scavenging Ooze or Tarmogoyf. This allows us to curve straight in to our Seismic Assault with a favorable board position (or just flat out kill the opponent if they can't deal with the delver).
Delver serves another important role in my strategy. Delver is a plan B. If you play a strategy that focuses on the Life from the Loam engine, you leave yourself vulnerable to graveyard hate. Having Delver allows me to win even if my opponent has a Rest in Peace on the table. The opponent can only hate out half my strategy most of the time. They either focus on stopping my Loam engine or stopping my aggro. If they spend a turn playing Rest in Peace against me, they can still lose to a Delver equipped with a sword.
I mostly use Izzet Charm to spell pierce or shock. However, having an extra (instant speed) looting effect is very useful in some situations.
I would never consider completely replacing Young Pyromancer with Snapcaster Mage. Young Pyromancer is a win condition in this deck. Another problem with Snapcaster in my deck as currently configured is the presence of Torpor Orb in my current sideboard. However, I have considered running maybe 1 Snapcaster because of the flexibility it would present.
It's probably no surprise to you that goyf gets pretty big in a dredge deck running 6 card types. Sometimes you just get hands in game 1 that look like RUG delver and you end up killing them with goyfs, delvers, bolts, etc. This often leads to them not sideboarding correctly against you. However, goyf does open you up to getting hosed occasionally by cards like rest in peace. That's a big reason I've been running a couple swords in my main/side.
TL;DR Goyf is good in an aggressive/midrange dredge deck.
I've been lurking here occasionally. Some of your lists look like a lot of fun. I've been running a SirStompALot style RUG Loam deck. I've had a lot of success with it in the last couple of weeks (Top 1 at 32 player SCG IQ and Top 4 split at a 1K). I'll post my list here. You can also find my list on the SCG deck database (I can't post links here yet).
A real strength of this version is its ability to win through hate. The deck is not as graveyard reliant as many other loam decks. This deck has some game against basically every other deck. It also has a very good matchup against affinity (A large percentage of the current paper meta in my area). You can afford to run low numbers of your sideboard choices due to a very high number of cantrip/selection cards such as Serum Visions, Faithless Looting, Izzet Charm, and Gitaxian Probe.
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I really like Delver of Secrets in general so my opinion might be skewed. Also, the decision to play a Delver version is clearly a play style decision.
Delver is a key player in my strategy. Delver allows me to pressure my opponent starting on turn 1. It is a card that most decks will have to deal with very quickly or risk dying on turn 3/4. Therefore, being the aggressor and playing delver WILL slow down most opponents. If our opponent has to spend a turn playing Abrupt Decay on our Delver, that is a turn where they will not be playing a Scavenging Ooze or Tarmogoyf. This allows us to curve straight in to our Seismic Assault with a favorable board position (or just flat out kill the opponent if they can't deal with the delver).
Delver serves another important role in my strategy. Delver is a plan B. If you play a strategy that focuses on the Life from the Loam engine, you leave yourself vulnerable to graveyard hate. Having Delver allows me to win even if my opponent has a Rest in Peace on the table. The opponent can only hate out half my strategy most of the time. They either focus on stopping my Loam engine or stopping my aggro. If they spend a turn playing Rest in Peace against me, they can still lose to a Delver equipped with a sword.
With all of that said... I agree... I am insane.
I would never consider completely replacing Young Pyromancer with Snapcaster Mage. Young Pyromancer is a win condition in this deck. Another problem with Snapcaster in my deck as currently configured is the presence of Torpor Orb in my current sideboard. However, I have considered running maybe 1 Snapcaster because of the flexibility it would present.
TL;DR Goyf is good in an aggressive/midrange dredge deck.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Tarmogoyf
Lands
3 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Raging Ravine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
1 Sword of War and Peace
3 Seismic Assault
2 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Faithless Looting
3 Flame Jab
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Life from the Loam
4 Serum Visions
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Torpor Orb
1 Combust
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Dismember
1 Pongify
2 Negate
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Ghost Quarter
A real strength of this version is its ability to win through hate. The deck is not as graveyard reliant as many other loam decks. This deck has some game against basically every other deck. It also has a very good matchup against affinity (A large percentage of the current paper meta in my area). You can afford to run low numbers of your sideboard choices due to a very high number of cantrip/selection cards such as Serum Visions, Faithless Looting, Izzet Charm, and Gitaxian Probe.