Hey everyone. I've been looking for a deck to change my Jeskai tempo deck into. I'm a mid-range/tempo player at heart, and the recent heavy control lists simply don't do it for me. I've been looking at Jeskai Thing Ascension, but Hoogland's results at SCG Indy are making me consider going the down the Wizard's way instead... I'll be reading up on this thread and hope to contribute eventually.
Thanks for posting the primer article spinifex. I really enjoy jeskai delver aggro-control style decks as well. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Sunyoo- That deck looks sweet! I would love to hear how it goes for you. I might have to sleeve up something similar and give it a go.
Now this is a card that might see some definite play in our deck-
I REALLY like this card and I think it will play better than it reads even though it reads like a pretty powerful card. It's especially good with snap and reveler. What do you all think?
Mission Briefing feels a little weak. It's like Snapcaster, but with a "scry 2" on it instead of a 2/1 body. The 2/1 on Snapcaster is very often relevant, and he's a Wizard for Wizard's Retort/Lightning. I just don't see Mission Briefing being good enough to take the slot over another instant that just does work on its own. It's going to be very mana intensive.
Hi all, I've been testing the deck for some days online. How do we win through leyline of sanctity? We have to scoop and hope to not find other match up like Bogles?
Hi MerflkCricket. As a jeskai delver player myself I typically have to hope to have Spell Snare and Spell Pierce in hand and get a clock going and also hope they are a little slow. Even if all that happens we are like 30% chance to win game one against a boggles deck.
That's the bad news. The good news is that we have sideboard options. Unfortunately, some are cards that jeskai has access to that UR does not have access to - Deflecting Palm, Blessed Alliance, and Wear // Tear. Engineered Explosives is an absolute house against boggles and can be ran in UR. A card a lot of people don't play, but I really like is Echoing Truth. It does a great job bouncing leylines (no matter how many they play) and is very versatile. However, I play one copy maindeck and none in my board. Spell Snare is a great option against the Daybreak Coronet. From a UR perspective I'm not sure what else people typically run. I usually depend on the above cards.
Thanks for suggestions. Yesterday i made my first local tournament with this deck and made 2-2 losing to Infect (mulligan to 6 with 1 land, never find the 2nd; G2 never had to kill an inkmoth nexus and lose quickly to double mutagenic growth and other pump spells) and Abzan (G1 he grinded me with souls and discard spell, G2 i won stealing a tarmogoyf and bolting him, G3 he saw mostly every threat in his deck and i wasn't able to come back after he surgical extraction my bolts). I won against jeskai ascendancy combo countering that card 3 time with mana leak and snappy and Affinity in so close games.
I felt like we miss something in the SB like, as you said, echoing truth also to get rid of tokens. I won through leyline of sanctity killing with delvers! Love the deck!
2-2 is a good record in my book. Any time I'm at or above 50% I am happy. The best players in the world win about 60% of the time (and that often includes 3 byes).
Infect normally isn't to bad of a matchup, but variance can cause a loss no matter what you are playing against. When you get land screwed there isn't much you can do. Abzan on the other hand is a super tough mathcup. They have so much value. I do love Echoing Truth against lingering souls decks. It can also catch a couple of Tarmogoyfs. With the printing of Assassin's Trophy I am really trying to make sure my board is set up well against these midrange decks which will likely pick up in modern.
I feel like every game that delver flips within two turns I end up winning. It's just such a efficient card and if you can protect it, it ends the game quickly.
I've been running two Surgical Extraction as my graveyard-hate of choice lately. It's nice because it costs no mana (tempo!) and hits a wide variety of decks with particularly troubling cards. Other options, like Relic of Progenitus, just feel a bit too slow most of the time.
However, I saw the success of dredge at the SCG Open last weekend. My shop has a lot of ex-dredge players and I wouldn't be surprised if I see a lot of dredge decks for a month. This has me asking what I should include in the side-board.
Our main-deck plan of burning some of their creatures, countering some of their spells and trying to win with tempo mostly works, but Creeping Chill really makes that annoying because they randomly get a few uncounterable Lightning Helix.
The options seem to be:
Surgical Extraction - Still probably a great card. I'm running 2, maybe should go up to 3.
Relic of Progenitus - A bit slow, but replaces itself. The first mode is basically useless against Dredge.
Graffdigger's Cage - A strong card, but uses up a draw. Probably the most "permanent" solution. However, it doesn't affect many other decks that are popular right now.
Magma Spray - I'm running two of these anyhow. I was thinking of swapping for a different removal spell, but exile is more important than ever.
Lava Coil - It's a new one that hits a little harder than a bolt and has that exile clause. Can do double-duty against larger creatures and recursion.
I've been running two Surgical Extraction as my graveyard-hate of choice lately. It's nice because it costs no mana (tempo!) and hits a wide variety of decks with particularly troubling cards. Other options, like Relic of Progenitus, just feel a bit too slow most of the time.
However, I saw the success of dredge at the SCG Open last weekend. My shop has a lot of ex-dredge players and I wouldn't be surprised if I see a lot of dredge decks for a month. This has me asking what I should include in the side-board.
Our main-deck plan of burning some of their creatures, countering some of their spells and trying to win with tempo mostly works, but Creeping Chill really makes that annoying because they randomly get a few uncounterable Lightning Helix.
The options seem to be:
Surgical Extraction - Still probably a great card. I'm running 2, maybe should go up to 3.
Relic of Progenitus - A bit slow, but replaces itself. The first mode is basically useless against Dredge.
Graffdigger's Cage - A strong card, but uses up a draw. Probably the most "permanent" solution. However, it doesn't affect many other decks that are popular right now.
Magma Spray - I'm running two of these anyhow. I was thinking of swapping for a different removal spell, but exile is more important than ever.
Lava Coil - It's a new one that hits a little harder than a bolt and has that exile clause. Can do double-duty against larger creatures and recursion.
The one-of Adiliz is interesting. I don't like the sorcery speed, but it seems to have worked. It also has a main-deck Roast and Izzet Charm. I'm also not sure what the Gut Shots in the sideboard are for.
Zero copies of Vapor Snag surprises me. It is a great tempo card, and a (temporary) answer to creatures with toughness above three. I could also see Echoing Truth being an option.
I've toyed about with Vapor Snap. What I found is that there are too many cheap creatures in the format and the card disadvantage is usually not worth the tempo gained. Also bouncing something with a cast or come into play trigger hurts. This is, of course, metagame dependant.
I also found I was bouncing my own creatures, especially Snapcaster Mage, enough that Unsummon would actually be better.
Zero copies of Vapor Snag surprises me. It is a great tempo card, and a (temporary) answer to creatures with toughness above three. I could also see Echoing Truth being an option.
I've toyed about with Vapor Snap. What I found is that there are too many cheap creatures in the format and the card disadvantage is usually not worth the tempo gained. Also bouncing something with a cast or come into play trigger hurts. This is, of course, metagame dependant.
I also found I was bouncing my own creatures, especially Snapcaster Mage, enough that Unsummon would actually be better.
I agree; a lot of the tier one meta (i.e. humans) makes vapor snag useless. However, it feels REAL GOOD against zombie fish and hollow ones. It IS a great tempo card to get those bits of incremental damage in, but it's so meta dependent that it belongs in a side board; and there are better cards that belong in your sideboard.
List is very rough and untested, just a first draft.
Grim Lavamancer and Soul-Scar Mage have pretty sweet synergy together so if you're on the more aggro version I'd definately have a close look at them. And if you're looking to maximize Adeliz, don't forget about Manamorphose.
I just bought into this deck and would like to start more discussion on it since it has been very fun to play on MTGO and other testing. Here is the deck I bought since it seemed to be the most consistent according to mtggoldfish. One of the only other things I am debating is how good is Soul-Scar Mage since I see that Jeff Hoogland has it in his most updated list here.
Twisted Image is a great idea, however I worry about its usefulness on an empty board. You can cast opt/scour/visions whenever you want, but say you are on a board with just a Stormchaser Mage and a twisted image in hand. You likely don't want to cast it since you can get 2-for-1'ed by having it die to path/push while on the stack, and also turns on your opponents other burn based removal (but you'd still get to draw in this case).
You should not use it into a potential removal spell. It is best used with patience,tapped out in combat is best, but sometimes all you can do it cycle it on their creatures or yours when they are tapped out. I really like the card and have used it extensively to good effect in various prowess strategies. It does require more patience than other cantrips like opt and serum visions. When testing some wizards builds I found that it is pretty amazing with Stream of Unconsciousness. Even without a wizard on the board, the two together can give a creature 0/-4, which is enough to kill a lot of things. Kill hollow one for UU and it cycles itself? Yes please. Not to mention that either can give you very favorable combat arrangements.
I haven't posted here in awhile because there hasn't been much interest, but I thought I would share a fun list I just put together. With the new watcher for tomorrow being spoiled today I thought of a really fun UR Wizards list. I also want to work on a jeskai version with the new bounce spell with rebound- Ephemerate along with Distortion Strike.
I think that deck would be a lot of fun to play. It utilizes a ton of the new cards. the Archmage's Charm may just be better as a Cryptic Command, but I haven't tested the deck at all. Also, Dreadhorde Anarchist may slot into the deck as well, especially if I do a rebound version with Distortion Strike. Just a fun thought project.
With modern Horizons I noticed Kess, Dissident Mage. She is an amazing powerhouse, but it's realy hard to actually build a viable grixis deck. A Friend of mine came across an article with Silumgar's Scorn. I wasn't really impressed, but it made me thinking of Wizards Retort and Jeff Hoogland once playing a UR list. THis turned out not to be that great though. But with Kess I started working towards a Grixis list. I think a great additions is the Arcanist and from there I worked up this list:
So Modern Horizons didn;t bring that much to the deck. Just Kess and the canopy land really, but it has only be a short time since WAR is in the modern format so actually it has a lot of new cards.
The general idea of the deck is two fold:
1. Playing all spells in your deck seems prety strong
2. Counterspell is a good card
All cards go 1 for 1, with exception of Kolaghan's Command. This creates a bit of a jund/GDS style of play where you can trade off everyting one for one while beating the opponent. Basicly the standard tempo game. The idea is that all creatures provide cardadvantage in some way. Dreadhorde Arcanist, Snapcaster Mage and Kess, Dissident Mage provide the ability that you can play everything twice. So these creatures make a spell go 1 for 2 and leave a body on the field. Dark Confidant provides cardadvantage in a more traditional sense by just drawnig extra cards. THe only problem is that these creatures are not super effective in combat. Even when attacking with a confidant and an arcanist is just 3 damage and when the removal doesn't line up great you probaby have a hard time getting through. Vendilion Clique is a solid beater which might fix this problem. I might even be wrong here to not include a second copy of it. I mean Kess is also 3 power, but a turn slower.
Then there is the spells. It's basicly a mix of just the best spells available for Grixis and arguably in modern. Discard is very strong in the current modern meta. Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt are great removal. The latter is also a wincondition. Bolt, Snap, Bolt is often a great line to win the game. Kolaghan's Command is just amazing with Snapcaster Mage. I don't think you want to include more than 2, but it provides a good mid/late game engine. Dreadbore is debatable. I think the decks needs something to deal with big planeswalkers like Teferi or even Big Karn.
Wizard's Retort functiones as a classic counterspell in this deck. The only thing is that it will be online after turn 3. I think in most cases this is early enough, it's just that keeping up 2 mana all the time is a big investment. Ofcourse there are plenty of instants in the deck that you can cast when there is nothing to counter. It's just very different from keeping up a Stubborn Denial in Shadow, that costs only 1 mana. Retort however counters everything, including creatures. THe manabase is also made so that you have a high chance to have UU in play by turn 3.
Initially I had Serum Visions in the deck, but with all the recursion I think Thought Scour is just the better choice here. It's also better with Retort as it is an instant.
Why not these cards:
Delver of Secrets. Delver is a bad card in modern and this is why. In a deck with only 4 delvers 20 lands and the rest only spells, delver has a flip chance of 60%. modern you have no cantrips that manipulate your top card except for serum visions. so maybe 65%. OFcourse this deck will never see play. You will most likely play 10-14 creatures. so thats 30-34 non-spell cards. This makes the flip change of delver roughly 50% which is just plain bad and unreliable. I agree that a 1 drop would be great in the deck, but I wouldn't add Delver, let alone edit the deck with suboptimal cards to make delver a little more reiable.
Claim // Fame I think this card is great and I initially had it ni the first list. Then I noticed that all spells costs actually just 1 really. so boosting arcanist to a 3/3 doesn't really do anything.
Remand I like this card and it make's me sad that it's not in the deck. Maybe it's better than Wizard's Retort, although I think it's better to permanently deal with threats in modern in stead of delaying them. Also the deck does not p;aly enough counters to chain them, so Remand would just delay something for 1 turn and then you'll be vunerable to that threat without an answer. I think Retort fulfils thisrole better.
There are probably more cards that might seem good, but I think i covered the more obvious ones.
I Expect this deck to do well against cmidrange decks and combo/Big mana decks. I think it will do well against tron, and combo decks that rely on specific pieces to win. I thnik it will have a harder time against Creature decks specificly with disruption (Like Humans) I think control will also be a tough MU since your removal is practicly dead.
Alright, I'm curious what you guys think of the deck. My explanation might be a bit all over the place, so I hope it explains everything wel. It's a rough scetch and I am very open to feedback.
Selene
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Edit: Oh, by the way, Jeff Hoogland posted a primer on his deck here: https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/jeffhoogland-08012018-u-r-tempo-primer/
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
Sunyoo- That deck looks sweet! I would love to hear how it goes for you. I might have to sleeve up something similar and give it a go.
I REALLY like this card and I think it will play better than it reads even though it reads like a pretty powerful card. It's especially good with snap and reveler. What do you all think?
Hi MerflkCricket. As a jeskai delver player myself I typically have to hope to have Spell Snare and Spell Pierce in hand and get a clock going and also hope they are a little slow. Even if all that happens we are like 30% chance to win game one against a boggles deck.
That's the bad news. The good news is that we have sideboard options. Unfortunately, some are cards that jeskai has access to that UR does not have access to - Deflecting Palm, Blessed Alliance, and Wear // Tear. Engineered Explosives is an absolute house against boggles and can be ran in UR. A card a lot of people don't play, but I really like is Echoing Truth. It does a great job bouncing leylines (no matter how many they play) and is very versatile. However, I play one copy maindeck and none in my board. Spell Snare is a great option against the Daybreak Coronet. From a UR perspective I'm not sure what else people typically run. I usually depend on the above cards.
2-2 is a good record in my book. Any time I'm at or above 50% I am happy. The best players in the world win about 60% of the time (and that often includes 3 byes).
Infect normally isn't to bad of a matchup, but variance can cause a loss no matter what you are playing against. When you get land screwed there isn't much you can do. Abzan on the other hand is a super tough mathcup. They have so much value. I do love Echoing Truth against lingering souls decks. It can also catch a couple of Tarmogoyfs. With the printing of Assassin's Trophy I am really trying to make sure my board is set up well against these midrange decks which will likely pick up in modern.
I feel like every game that delver flips within two turns I end up winning. It's just such a efficient card and if you can protect it, it ends the game quickly.
However, I saw the success of dredge at the SCG Open last weekend. My shop has a lot of ex-dredge players and I wouldn't be surprised if I see a lot of dredge decks for a month. This has me asking what I should include in the side-board.
Our main-deck plan of burning some of their creatures, countering some of their spells and trying to win with tempo mostly works, but Creeping Chill really makes that annoying because they randomly get a few uncounterable Lightning Helix.
The options seem to be:
Right now I'm thinking I"ll run a 2/1 split of Surgical Extraction and Graffdigger's Cage with 2 Magma Spray. Thoughts?
Cage shuts off your snaps. Consider Ravenous Trap or Surgical Extraction in addition to Magma Spray.
On another topic, Izzet Wizards got 8th place at the SCG Open this weekend. There were two of the deck in Day 2, so it still has some legs.
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/124723
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Grim Lavamancer
3 Nimble Obstructionist
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Young Pyromancer
1 Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
2 Vendilion Clique
Lands (21)
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mutavault
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
2 Abrade
1 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Opt
2 Spell Snare
4 Wizard's Lightning
1 Roast
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Alpine Moon
2 Gut Shot
3 Negate
2 Spell Pierce
2 Surgical Extraction
The one-of Adiliz is interesting. I don't like the sorcery speed, but it seems to have worked. It also has a main-deck Roast and Izzet Charm. I'm also not sure what the Gut Shots in the sideboard are for.
2 Island
2 Mountain
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mutavault
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
Creatures (18)
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 Nimble Obstructionist
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Soul-Scar Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Abrade
2 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
2 Risk Factor
4 Wizard's Lightning
4 Opt
1 Abrade
2 Alpine Moon
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Entrancing Melody
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Magma Spray
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
I've toyed about with Vapor Snap. What I found is that there are too many cheap creatures in the format and the card disadvantage is usually not worth the tempo gained. Also bouncing something with a cast or come into play trigger hurts. This is, of course, metagame dependant.
I also found I was bouncing my own creatures, especially Snapcaster Mage, enough that Unsummon would actually be better.
I agree; a lot of the tier one meta (i.e. humans) makes vapor snag useless. However, it feels REAL GOOD against zombie fish and hollow ones. It IS a great tempo card to get those bits of incremental damage in, but it's so meta dependent that it belongs in a side board; and there are better cards that belong in your sideboard.
Naban, Metallic Mimic and Sage of Fables. (both wiz etb with additional +1/c, Fable for mana sink for draws)
Double (or more) +1/c's on wizards lol. Probably focus on some evasion like Stormchaser Mage Wingcrafter... Get to four and Glen Elendra Archmage (sb maybe)
Just a thought.
Fish
U/W Control
U/B Control
U/B Control Mill, U/R Ascension Mill, BUG Mill
G Tron, Eldrazi Tron, Eldrazi Aggro
Junkie Doran
U/W Ephara Flash
Splendid Dredge
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Nimble Obstructionist
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Serum Visions
1 Burst Lightning
1 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
4 Opt
3 Remand
1 Vapor Snag
4 Wizard's Lightning
3 Faerie Conclave
1 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Mutavault
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
2 Alpine Moon
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
2 Entrancing Melody
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Magma Spray
1 Negate
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Nimble Obstructionist
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Opt
4 Wizard's Lightning
1 Burst Lightning
2 Electrolyze
3 Remand
3 Mana Leak
1 Vapor Snag
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Mountain
4 Serum Visions
3 Izzet Staticaster
3 Alpine Moon
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Abrade
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
Wanted to flip delvers more reliably so went down to 20 lands and added serum visions
You should not use it into a potential removal spell. It is best used with patience,tapped out in combat is best, but sometimes all you can do it cycle it on their creatures or yours when they are tapped out. I really like the card and have used it extensively to good effect in various prowess strategies. It does require more patience than other cantrips like opt and serum visions. When testing some wizards builds I found that it is pretty amazing with Stream of Unconsciousness. Even without a wizard on the board, the two together can give a creature 0/-4, which is enough to kill a lot of things. Kill hollow one for UU and it cycles itself? Yes please. Not to mention that either can give you very favorable combat arrangements.
3 Watcher for Tomorrow
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stormchaser Mage
3 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Opt
2 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Wizard's Lightning
1 Archmage's Charm
1 Wizard's Retort
2 Spell Pierce
3 Force of Negation
2 Vapor Snag
1 Echoing Truth
2 Faithless Looting
2 Echo of Eons
18 lands
I think that deck would be a lot of fun to play. It utilizes a ton of the new cards. the Archmage's Charm may just be better as a Cryptic Command, but I haven't tested the deck at all. Also, Dreadhorde Anarchist may slot into the deck as well, especially if I do a rebound version with Distortion Strike. Just a fun thought project.
With modern Horizons I noticed Kess, Dissident Mage. She is an amazing powerhouse, but it's realy hard to actually build a viable grixis deck. A Friend of mine came across an article with Silumgar's Scorn. I wasn't really impressed, but it made me thinking of Wizards Retort and Jeff Hoogland once playing a UR list. THis turned out not to be that great though. But with Kess I started working towards a Grixis list. I think a great additions is the Arcanist and from there I worked up this list:
4 Dark Confidant
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Kess, Dissident Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Dreadbore
4 Wizard's Retort
2 Spell Pierce
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Thought Scour
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Spirebluff Canal
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
2 Island
1 Swamp
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Abrade
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
So Modern Horizons didn;t bring that much to the deck. Just Kess and the canopy land really, but it has only be a short time since WAR is in the modern format so actually it has a lot of new cards.
The general idea of the deck is two fold:
1. Playing all spells in your deck seems prety strong
2. Counterspell is a good card
All cards go 1 for 1, with exception of Kolaghan's Command. This creates a bit of a jund/GDS style of play where you can trade off everyting one for one while beating the opponent. Basicly the standard tempo game. The idea is that all creatures provide cardadvantage in some way. Dreadhorde Arcanist, Snapcaster Mage and Kess, Dissident Mage provide the ability that you can play everything twice. So these creatures make a spell go 1 for 2 and leave a body on the field. Dark Confidant provides cardadvantage in a more traditional sense by just drawnig extra cards. THe only problem is that these creatures are not super effective in combat. Even when attacking with a confidant and an arcanist is just 3 damage and when the removal doesn't line up great you probaby have a hard time getting through. Vendilion Clique is a solid beater which might fix this problem. I might even be wrong here to not include a second copy of it. I mean Kess is also 3 power, but a turn slower.
Then there is the spells. It's basicly a mix of just the best spells available for Grixis and arguably in modern. Discard is very strong in the current modern meta. Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt are great removal. The latter is also a wincondition. Bolt, Snap, Bolt is often a great line to win the game. Kolaghan's Command is just amazing with Snapcaster Mage. I don't think you want to include more than 2, but it provides a good mid/late game engine. Dreadbore is debatable. I think the decks needs something to deal with big planeswalkers like Teferi or even Big Karn.
Wizard's Retort functiones as a classic counterspell in this deck. The only thing is that it will be online after turn 3. I think in most cases this is early enough, it's just that keeping up 2 mana all the time is a big investment. Ofcourse there are plenty of instants in the deck that you can cast when there is nothing to counter. It's just very different from keeping up a Stubborn Denial in Shadow, that costs only 1 mana. Retort however counters everything, including creatures. THe manabase is also made so that you have a high chance to have UU in play by turn 3.
Initially I had Serum Visions in the deck, but with all the recursion I think Thought Scour is just the better choice here. It's also better with Retort as it is an instant.
Why not these cards:
Delver of Secrets. Delver is a bad card in modern and this is why. In a deck with only 4 delvers 20 lands and the rest only spells, delver has a flip chance of 60%. modern you have no cantrips that manipulate your top card except for serum visions. so maybe 65%. OFcourse this deck will never see play. You will most likely play 10-14 creatures. so thats 30-34 non-spell cards. This makes the flip change of delver roughly 50% which is just plain bad and unreliable. I agree that a 1 drop would be great in the deck, but I wouldn't add Delver, let alone edit the deck with suboptimal cards to make delver a little more reiable.
Claim // Fame I think this card is great and I initially had it ni the first list. Then I noticed that all spells costs actually just 1 really. so boosting arcanist to a 3/3 doesn't really do anything.
Wizard's Lightning I think this decks doesn't need more than 4 bolts
Remand I like this card and it make's me sad that it's not in the deck. Maybe it's better than Wizard's Retort, although I think it's better to permanently deal with threats in modern in stead of delaying them. Also the deck does not p;aly enough counters to chain them, so Remand would just delay something for 1 turn and then you'll be vunerable to that threat without an answer. I think Retort fulfils thisrole better.
There are probably more cards that might seem good, but I think i covered the more obvious ones.
I Expect this deck to do well against cmidrange decks and combo/Big mana decks. I think it will do well against tron, and combo decks that rely on specific pieces to win. I thnik it will have a harder time against Creature decks specificly with disruption (Like Humans) I think control will also be a tough MU since your removal is practicly dead.
Alright, I'm curious what you guys think of the deck. My explanation might be a bit all over the place, so I hope it explains everything wel. It's a rough scetch and I am very open to feedback.
Selene