Monkey Grow is a UGx grow deck combining versatile spells, soft disruption, and reach to turn opponents into baboon bait. It closely resembles Alan Comer's Miracle Grow, the Extended deck that would eventually become Legacy's Canadian Threshold.
Why play Monkey Grow?
Monkey Grow is one of the only viable grow decks in Modern. Counter-Cat and iGrow are the others, and Monkey Grow has far and away the most game of the three against linear combo decks, though it struggles against BGx midrange strategies. The Disrupting Shoal/Stubborn Denial counter package makes linear matchups practically unloseable, and the heavy-duty creature suite can race and overpower even aggro decks. Of the grow decks I've designed, Monkey Grow is the hardest to pilot, offering players a myriad of strenuous choices each turn and mercilessly punishing mistakes.
Good matchups: Linear combo (Ad Nauseam, Storm, Grishoalbrand, Tron, Living End, Scapeshift, Lantern), linear aggro (Infect, Burn, Bogles, Gruul Zoo), creature synergy decks (Merfolk, Elves, Hatebears/D&T, Abzan/Naya Collected Company, Angel/Kiki Chord, Soul Sisters), URx midrange (Blue Moon, Jeskai) Medium matchups: Affinity, creature goodstuff decks (Knight of the Reliquary Zoo) Bad matchups: BGx midrange (Jund, Abzan), UW Control
Gameplan
Like all tempo decks, Monkey Grow wants to secure an advantage on the board (i.e. with a Tarmogoyf) and then maintain that board position for as long as possible. We only need to maintain that lead for a few turns, since our attackers should kill opponents before we run out of cards to protect them with. Depending on the matchup, Monkey Grow pilots may begin the game with some disruption before playing a creature; while less than optimal, this strategy sometimes proves necessary against very fast decks. Exiling Delver of Secrets to Disrupting Shoal a turn-1 Aether Vial against Merfolk, for instance, can serve us better than playing the Delver on turn 1 instead, since it buys us enough time for Tarmogoyf to resolve on turn two and deal a hefty amount of damage on his own; without any disruption, Delver into Tarmogoyf is not a sequence that will reliably race Merfolk.
Monkey Grow challenges pilots to effectively manage their resources. Early decisions like whether to use Mana Leak, Simic Charm, or Disrupting Shoal to save an attacker - or just to let the attacker die and cast another one - often decide games some turns later. Similarly, knowing when to impact the board state or to spend mana digging for specific sorts of cards (counterspells, reach, threats) is integral to playing the deck.
Deckbuilding guidelines
While the numbers on these core pieces can be tweaked, I discourage changes barring intimately known metagames. The air-tight core allows for just four flex spots; in my sample list above, I've spent them on a Simic Charm, a Snapcaster Mage, a Tarfire, and the fourth Scour. More options after the jump.
Creatures
We only have room for the biggest, baddest beaters, and our cantrips ensure we find them on time. Each of our threats attacks from a different angle, and must be dealt with a certain way, which brings resilience to the creature suite.
Delver of Secrets: The only creature in the deck dead to a Lightning Bolt, we forgive this lovable bug because he flies... and costs just one mana. Protecting an Insectile Aberration wins you games on its own; the transformed creature largely ignores enemy forces.
Tarmogoyf: Two mana for a ferocious-enabling, removal-breaking, attacker-walling, blocker-eating behemoth. No, he’s not “overrated."
Spells
Monkey Grow's spells interact with opponents as meaningfully as possible for the cheapest cost available.
Simic Charm: Three highly relevant modes on one undercosted instant. The card really does everything. Notably, it's horrible when we don't have a threat in play. With a creature out, it's easily the best card in the deck.
Bolt is integral to Modern tempo decks since it’s more efficient and versatile than anything else in the format. tempo always needs a specific tool to carry out its gameplan, explaining its reliance on cantrips. With its capability to either remove a creature or burn an opponent for one mana, Bolt embodies multiple tools in a single card at the lowest possible price.
Disrupting Shoal: Lets us commit guys early while neutralizing opposing plays. Nabs cards that get in under Mana Leak, including Bolts and on-the-play Terminates. The Force of Will Modern deserves: one that mostly benefits Delver decks.
Stubborn Denial: One-mana Negate is absolutely no joke in a 17-land deck. Gives Monkey Grow stellar matchups against most creature-light decks and combines with Shoal to devastate linear strategies. A fourth copy is generally preferred in flex spot number one.
Mana Leak: Often a hard answer and very often a tempo-positive one. Shoal takes care of the cheap stuff, so Mana Leak trades favorably with the juicier targets. Remand does nothing here, since Monkey Grow wants decisive “no”s to cards that hinder its gameplan (Terminate, Siege Rhino, etc.).
Serum Visions: Visions is not "a necessary evil." It's one of the best cards in Modern. We're lucky to have it and spoiled rotten if we wish it scryed first.
Gitaxian Probe: Perfect information that pitches to Shoal, grows Tarmogoyf, flips Delver, and lowers our land count. Some info on casting Probe here.
Thought Scour: Powers out an early Mandrills, surprise-grows Goyfs mid-combat, and wrecks enemy scry. Scour excels in matchups where we need to land a beefy threat fast, like Tron and Ad Nauseam. It's much worse against grindy midrange decks that fill our graves for us, and against creature decks that force us to interact before resolving a threat. Still, this deck requires at least three Scours to support the playset of Mandrills. Any less and we'll have to start cutting monkeys.
Lands
The manabase above maximizes our access to color and minimizes the damage taken from fetching and shocking, all while enabling a reliable Blood Moon plan from the sideboard. Basic Mountain seems like it could be fine in uncomfortably aggressive metagames, but sideboarding for such environments is probably better than diluting the manabase. On just one land, Steam Vents often comes first; on two, Island + Stomping Ground is the preferred combination.
Flex spots
These cards fill the four gaps left by the Monkey Grow core. Any of them can also earn slots in the sideboard, or even replace core cards in deeply understood metagames.
Creatures
Snapcaster Mage: Ideal in grindy metagames. Sometimes fine as Ambush Viper and always nice with a Probe in the graveyard, but Bolt-Snap-Bolt and Denial-Snap-Denial are the real reasons to play Tiago.
Vendilion Clique: A pre-flipped Delver and disruption to boot. Nice against midrange, combo, and control.
Deprive: Extra countermagic. Returning a land never hurts us in game 1, and hard counterspells can provide big reliefs once Mana Leak passes its expiration date.
Thought Scour: The fourth Scour should be considered in metagames full of fast, linear combo decks. Against linear aggro decks, we'd prefer more Bolt effects. Against combo decks, we want to land a threat very early and ride it with counterspell backup. Scour helps power out Mandrills and make Goyf respectable enough that he can get us there in a few Mana Leaks. Scour is much worse against grindy midrange decks that fill our graves for us.
Curiosity: An attrition breaker that's nearly unbeatable with a counterspell in tow. Connecting with Curiosity can win the game on its own, since it draws us into permission to keep the engine oiled. Fantastic against midrange and combo, and lackluster against aggro.
Splashes and build variations
I described the importance of Lightning Bolt to tempo decks above, but some metagames resist the spell more than others. Additionally, playstyle and player preference often enter the equation when it comes to deckbuilding. Simic Charm offers Monkey Grow builds splashing black or white over red some amount of reach, so the option of trying different colors could merit further exploration. As other variations of the deck crop up, I'll present and analyze them in this section.
I presented this mash-up of Monkey Grow and iGrow for the first time in a Modern Nexus article. It combines the strength of Mandrills-Denial with the Day's Undoing package and should do well in metagames packed with combo and midrange. Monkey Grow is better suited to midrange-light metagames, since it struggles in those matchups; meanwhile, iGrow has trouble against aggressive decks and some breeds of combo. Banana Phone sacrifices some consistency to bridge the gap and bring a little more game against everything. Still, I'd prefer we discuss Banana Phone and other Undoing Delver variants in the iGrow thread.
Sideboarding
I've known players to sideboard very differently with this deck and see positive results, so I'm hesitant to write my own sideboard guide in the primer - you can find my thoughts on sideboarding in the RUG Delver thread (linked below). That said, I will include some information about constructing a sideboard. Monkey Grow's 15 addresses the deck's weaknesses depending on the metagame. It best operates as a series of no-nonsense "packages" supplemented by a few, specific answers.
Huntmaster gives Monkey Grow tremendous game against fair aggro decks and a much-needed leg up in midrange matchups. He competes with Delver for Bolts and proves laughably easy to flip back and forth in a deck packed with cheap spells.
Blood Moon ends games. It slows down and occasionally cripples a host of decks, including Abzan Midrange, Bogles, and UWR. It can also "get" decks that supposedly resist its effects, like Jund and Grixis. The best part? It does work without even being in play. Or in our hand. Fetch your basics and count on your opponent to do the same. Or slow-roll your basics in hand and surprise him with a crushing Blood Moon.
Affinity is good enough to warrant this package in every Monkey Grow sideboard. Luckily, the cards themselves do a lot against the field. Revelry is tremendously versatile, and the two points of damage always matter. So is Natural State, which trades hitting random hosers like Worship for the ability to answer Cranial Plating turn one.
Every build needs a sweeper package. The correct sweeper depends on the meta, but I favor Pyroclasm over the others since it kills so much for so little mana. Rough // Tumble doesn't hit Insectile Aberration, and Firespout can even dodge Huntmaster to massacre a horde of flying Spirit tokens.
Chameleon Colossus: Attacks past the monsters that block him and ignores every removal spell in Modern other than Path to Exile. Robust, and with that pump ability, horrifying.
Spider Umbra: Red-hot tech against Grixis and Jund. Wins Goyf wars and grows Mandrills past Rhinos, Tasigurs, and Anglers, all while preemptively countering Terminate, Abrupt Decay, or even Supreme Verdict. Umbra even enables ferocious on a flipped Delver. Unnecessary in Undoing lists.
Feed the Clan: The most efficient lifegain spell ever printed. With all the ferocious, Feed makes Burn a walk in the park.
Threads of Disloyalty: Great against a host of creature decks, but there are better options against BGx specifically. Still, stealing a Goyf is just as fun now as it was five years ago.
Send to Sleep: Ideally neutralizes a pair of x/5 blockers for your team to get in lethal damage. Can also buy enough time for Huntmaster or Snapcaster to help stabilize.
Day’s Undoing: Undoing gives iGrow enough points against midrange to also work in this deck. Drawing seven new cards - hands full of burn, cantrips, cheap permission, and efficient threats - is generally way too much for grindy strategies to handle. Considering today's grindy decks want to accrue card advantage over time via Snapcaster Mage and Kolaghan's Command, Undoing, which resets these advantages, stands to eat them alive.
An 18th land: I discuss playing an 18th land mainboard, above, but it can also have a spot in the sideboard. I prefer Mountain in this slot. More on running a land in the sideboard here.
Guides
Sideboarding is never a cut-and-dry process, and there are always many ways to take a mainboard configuration for Games 2 and 3. But I've received a lot of pressure over the last few months from various users and players to release some sideboard plans officially, since as of now, this information has only been available scattered across this thread and in article. I would never say there's one correct way to side in each matchup. But given a relatively stock 60, this guide should at least help newcomers to the deck get started.
This thread - If you're serious about learning Monkey Grow, read my posts from January 2015 to present. "I know Kung Fu!"
Primer archives
As Monkey Grow evolves, I'll spoiler-tag defunct sections of the primer here.
RUG Delver
best friends forever
RUG Delver began its life in Modern as a Tempo deck with a Midrange plan B. It had significant success in 2012, its initial pro stint epitomized by Antonio De Rosa's 1st place victory at Grand Prix Turin:
Some scattered finishes aside, the deck saw considerably less action after RTR, relegated to the format's fringes by power players Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman. Treasure Cruise heralded a promising return-to-form for the archetype, which forewent its Midrange roots for a more singular Tempo strategy. Immanuel Gerschenson piloted this version to his own 1st place trophy in GP Madrid:
RUG Delver in Modern
Delver strategies have fluttered around Modern since the Insect's first printing in Innistrad. RUG Delver in particular is steeped in history, with two GP wins and a terrifying Legacy deck to its name. The Midrange variant brings late-game power to the table, threatening bombs as diverse as Batterskull and Huntmaster of the Fells if opponents deal with its namesake. The dominance of BGx post-Return to Ravnica all but pushed Delver strategies out of the format, but after Khans of Tarkir's release, UR Delver became a serious aggressive force with the help of Treasure Cruise. Cruise-era RUG mimicked its UR counterpart, but gave up either the erratic speed of Monastery Swiftspear, the vertical engine of Young Pyromancer, or the utility of Tiago for the power and prestige of the most efficient beater who ever made it to cardboard: Tarmogoyf. Appalled at the human insect's cross-format ubiquity, Wizards sunk the ship, but Delver pilots aren't again doomed to Midrange. Khans gave us a pair of terrific beaters in Swiftspear and Hooting Mandrills, allowing us to pursue dedicated Tempo strategies.
RUG Delver offers you Magic at its fairest and most skill-intensive. If you like meticulously managing every resource, making difficult and rewarding decisions, and constantly re-evaluating your role as you play, this is the deck for you. Defeating better-established decks with a card that's historically polarized Modern players and beating down on opponents with the most efficient creatures ever printed is just icing on the cake.
Gameplan
Drop an early threat, protect it with countermagic, take your enemy to zero. While it looks easy on paper, RUG Delver is notoriously tough to master, though it rewards competence in spades. Much of the deck’s dificulty comes from correctly choosing between improving your board presence and preserving the current board state, a skill best honed by practicing.
Deckbuilding guidelines
RUG Delver can opt for an all-out Tempo plan or a grindier Midrange one, yielding a rather light core applicable to both strategies. In any case, the deck needs a minimum of 12 creatures, 23 spells, and 18 lands.
Maxing out on Delver of Secrets and Tarmogoyf leaves us with 4-7 slots for other creatures. The threats chosen decide the deck's makeup. In general, more beaters strengthens the Tempo plan, while utility creatures push the deck into Midrange.
Creatures
If they don't apply pressure, they provide utility. RUG Delver only wants creatures that absolutely excel at their jobs.
Core beaters
Delver of Secrets: The deck's namesake, and with good reason. Hoogland says it best: "The reason to play Delver is free wins. Sometimes you play this little guy on turn one, he flips on turn two, and you ride the Aberration to victory. I’ve won a number of games while stuck on exactly one land because my Delver flipped the turn after I played him."
Tarmogoyf: Yes, he's worth $200. Yes, he attacks and blocks, but he does so better than anything, and much better than anything your opponent has on turn 2 (barring their own Tarmogoyf). And he's cheaper than most of the stuff that answers him. In the words of mtgsalvation's own Pizzap, "Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf."
Additional beaters
Monastery Swiftspear: Deals a very (un)reasonable amount of damage when built around. Best supplements Delver as core threat alongside more burn/removal since she loses a lot of "oomph" as the game goes on.
Swiftspear builds best showcase RUG Delver's aggression, using every combat phase and forcing through damage with Vapor Snag.
Swiftspear variants capitalize on the speed enjoyed by an 8 one-drop build by doubling up on deck velocity to produce lightning-fast kills. The deck packs 4 Gitaxian Probe alongside Serum Visions and maybe some Thought Scour, which opens you up to Harvest Pyre and even Become Immense. Vapor Snag and at least 8 burn spells are necessary to maximize Swiftspear's potential damage output, and since the game ends so quickly, Spell Pierce and Mana Leak do lots of work as not-so-soft counterspells. Remand buys you time, and time is damage in this list. The removal and permission in general gives you a lot of wiggle room depending on your meta; for instance, Forked Bolt might be better in one setting, while Pillar of Flame or even Tarfire dominate in another. Mutagenic Growth saves Swiftspear and Aberration from Lightning Bolt while triggering Prowess and costing 0.
These lists want 17-19 lands and 25+ instants and sorceries.
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Hooting Mandrills: One part Werebear, one part Nimble Mongoose. He resembles both in requiring some approximation of Threshold, but on the bright side, he does cost . 4/4 isn't quite Shroud, but he dodges Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay, leaving Path to Exile up to your countermagic. Monkeys Trample over chumps and enable Ferocious, but these robust beaters cannibalize each other, so they require Thought Scour. Keep Siege Rhino and Tasigur, the Golden Fang off the table, and you’re in for a wild ride. More on the apes here.
The Mandrills deck takes RUG Delver's Tempo aspect to the extreme, powering out a resilient threat and protecting it to victory virtually every game.
This deck closely resembles Legacy's original Threshold lists in its card choices and playstyle. Hooting Mandrills's heavy Delve cost requires a full set of Thought Scour and even Gitaxian Probe, which proves invaluable in showing you when to commit threats or to hold up mana. It also allows Ferocious cards like the hyper-efficient Stubborn Denial and SB Feed the Clan, which decimates Aggro strategies. All the Blue cantrips enable Disrupting Shoal, which lets you tap out for a cantrip and a threat and still counter that Path to Exile.
The ultra-tight core only allows for 5 flex spots, which your meta should help determine. A high cantrip density ensures you'll find your bullets when you need them, and Snapcaster Mage only improves the odds.
These lists want 17-18 lands and 25+ Instants and Sorceries.
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Utility creatures
Snapcaster Mage: Tiago's infamous invitational card is at his very best in a shell like this one, re-using important spells while providing a body to clock with. Affords tremendous reach with Lightning Bolt (EOT Bolt, Snap, Bolt, swing makes for 8 quick damage on a previously empty board!).
While some number of Snapcaster Mage generally finds its way into every Delver deck, only the classical Midrange variant plays a full set.
These lists want 20-21 lands and 23+ Instants and Sorceries.
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Young Pyromancer: Turns out Red's long-lost golden 2-drop has been here all along. If your adversary doesn't have a Bolt on hand, he'll be facing down a swarm of 1/1s by the next combat step. If he does, you can still generate value by holding priority and casting a bunch of cantrips. Half a Huntmaster, half a Talrand - it doesn't matter. However you choose to interpret Pyromancer, he's one hell of an engine.
Pyromancer builds play a reactive Tempo game, not unlike the Mandrills deck. Sticking a Pyromancer with counterspell backup seals doom for your opponent, especially since the deck casts multiple Instants and Sorceries every turn cycle.
Snapcaster Mage does a great job supplementing Young Promancer by providing a body with a spell attached. The deck's ideal game plays out like this: play a Delver, and if it gets removed, play a Tarmogoyf. Attack until that gets removed, and then play a Pyromancer to carry the game away in a flurry of Elementals. This sequencing of threats is important; slamming a Young Pyromancer turn 2 might just get you a dead Pyromancer, whereas waiting until you have mana to squeeze value out of him first rewards you. Tarmogoyf, with his big butt, buys Pyromancer a lot of time and land drops. Since this strategy best suits attacking, maybe casting a cantrip, and saying "go," Monastery Swiftspear has no place here.
These lists want 18-20 lands and 25+ Instants and Sorceries.
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Benchwarmers
Grim Lavamancer: A notable ancestor to Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Stoneforge Mystic, and Tarmogoyf as the first creature to earn off-color splashes across multiple archetypes for a single card. Bring Lavamancer to Aggro-heavy metagames and make sure to properly accommodate his appetite if you're packing Apes.
Scavenging Ooze: An option for grindier metas, Ooze holds his own against Midrange decks, be they of the Tarmogoyf or the Elesh Norn variety.
Vendilion Clique: A Delver you don't have to flip, Clique swoops in during draw steps, combat steps, end steps, and Aether Vial activations to great effect. The hand manipulation - no matter who you target - is relevant at every stage in the game so long as someone has cards in hand, and if nobody does, Clique is already on track to seal the deal. The faeries are at their absolute best when you can't find a threat for the first couple turns of the game. Their UU cost and Legendary clause force us to run them in conservative numbers.
Courser of Kruphix: A Green Confidant who gains life, blocks things, and lives through Bolt. Firmly Midrange and great against Aggro.
Savage Knuckleblade: The Japanese toyed with Knuckleblade in the Sideboard at Worlds 2014, and he can be pretty tough for certain decks to kill. The bounce clause, combined with potential haste, gives him Aetherling-style protection, but a Sorcery-speed, Decayable creature that might be Rhino food could prove a little frail for a spot in the 75.
Other permanents
A tight blend of noncreature bombs allows RUG Delver to attack opponents from a variety of angles (as UWR Control does with a maindeck Batterskull). These cards rarely have utility everywhere, so most of them live in the Sideboard. Midrange variants run more of these cards than Tempo ones.
Mishra's Bauble: Delve food for Hooting Mandrills that brings Goyf to the crucial 5/6 mark, at which he eats Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Gurmag Angler, Siege Rhino, Baneslayer Angel, and just about anything else Modern can throw at him. Unfortunately slows down your draw steps and adds a good deal of variance to your Delver flips, though it doesn't exactly reduce their odds of flipping. More on that in this excellent writeup on Delver's interaction with Bauble from MTGSalvation's own Spooly.
Curiosity: Another pseudo-cantrip that turbo-charges Tarmogoyf, Curiosity has extra relevance against attrition decks, Abzan being most obvious offender. Sticking the Enchantment usually just wins you the game. Plays very well with Gitaxian Probe, which tells you if the coast is clear for Delver or Mandrills to turn into Confidants. More on Curiosityhere.
Vedalken Shackles: A resolved Shackles single-handedly beats creature decks. After dominating a game 1 with Shackles, I like to board them out for matchup-specific answers; it's always funny to Vendilion Clique into a hand full of dead Ancient Grudge.
Batterskull: Not a bad call in an aggro-heavy meta.
Keranos, God of Storms: Inevitability vs. Control that they can't ignore - and yet, they have no choice. Impossible to get this thing off the table.
Blood Moon: While we're in Red with all these Islands and fetches, why don't we throw the format's best hoser into game 2 to shake things up? Free wins vs. Junk, UWR Control/Midrange, Scapeshift, RG Tron, and others. Very surprising game 1.
Garruk Relentless and Jace Beleren: Though featured in the deck's past incarnations, Planeswalkers are probably too slow now and not impactful enough for their costs. De Rosa ran a single Garruk Relentless in 2012, but we have better options between value-laden creatures like Snapcaster Mage and Young Pyromancer.
Pillar of Flame: Exile a Finks for one mana. Exile a Voice for one mana. Go to the face for one mana. Don't run Magma Spray.
Forked Bolt: A meta-specific answer to Delver, dorks, and spirit tokens. Oh wait, that's everything.
Flame Slash: Only for Midrange variants. Sort of a trap since you should be Leaking the creatures it hits, but sometimes they get by. Definitely a trap in a field of Rhinos and Goyfs.
Electrolyze: Big daddy Forked Bolt. Much worse in Tempo-oriented variants that can't always afford CMC3.
Dismember: Kills everything and easy to flashback. Dangerous in Burn-heavy metas.
Countermagic
Mana Leak: Modern's premier counterspell. Terrific against high-curve strategies (i.e. Siege Rhino.dec), and better than Remand against targeted discard and Lightning Bolt decks.
Remand: Modern Tempo's premier counterspell. Better than Leak against Lingering Souls, Snapcaster Mage, Cascade, and slower decks; also better when you're ahead on the board, which Tempo RUG often is.
Disrupting Shoal: A controversial addition to the archetype, this newcomer can slash big holes in enemy strategies for the low cost of... another card! Snagging a T1 Goblin Guide, Noble Hierarch or Expedition Map leads to easy victories, and it gets much better with Gitaxian Probe. Only worthwhile in highly tuned lists that need to answer specific CC1-2 cards like Path to Exile. Importantly, it hard-counters these cards in the later game, when we can afford to pay mana for X.
Cantrips/library manipulation/draw
Serum Visions: The worst of the best but the best we've got. How about some perspective? Before Ponder, Legacy Threshold lists complimented their Brainstorms with a set of these bad boys. Cantripping is that good.
Gitaxian Probe: Supports Swiftspear, Pyromancer, and Mandrills while giving you perfect information and flipping Delver. Bad against aggressive decks, incredible everywhere else. More on Probe here.
Become Immense: As Infect has shown us since the Treasure Cruise ban, +6/+6 is a lot. That's two Bolts, and they help protect your creatures in a pinch or after blocks. With a swarm of incoming Pyromancer tokens, one is bound to get through.
Lands
Run 8-10 fetches (4 Misty, 4 Tarn, 2 Foothills maybe) and a basic Forest if you're on Blood Moon. 4 Shocks are fine; 3 should be Blue. A single Mountain is fine in aggressive metas. Low-to-the-ground builds with Swiftspear or Pyromancer may want a pair of Sulfur Falls. With the non-Island lands in order, fill out the rest of the manabase with the best Basic.
Sideboard options
The RUG Delver sideboard doesn't aim to hose any particular archetype, but rather intends to vary or strengthen its plan against any deck for games 2 and 3. As always, sideboards should be tailored to specific metas. These choices shine in the archetype I've included them under, but have other uses as well (I've omitted a Vs. UR Delver section, for example, since I list all the relevant sideboard cards under Vs. Affinity).
Ancient Grudge: An auto-include in any RUG SB. Shores up the Affinity matchup while helping against Tron, Tezz, and some combo decks.
Surgical Extraction: Nice against combo decks like Kiki-Pod, decks that abuse the graveyard, and decks that rely on a few key threats to win (i.e. Snapcaster Mage).
Dragon's Claw: Standard-issue Burn hate. Has to land early to have an impact.
Batterskull: A nasty surprise that single-handedly beats Aggro decks.
Primer archives
As the RUG Delver archetype evoles, so must its Primer. I'll use this section to host now-defunct sections for reference and history.
Sample decklists
While RUG Delver players have tons of options when building a deck (covered in detail below), it can't hurt for me to point out a few successful lists. I'll only include builds I consider integral to the archetype's evolution, and list them in chronological order.
Delver sucks!
Naysayers cite a multitude of popular cards to make a case for the deck's irrelevance, including Kitchen Finks, Birthing Pod, Voice of Resurgence, and the aforementioned Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman. Enamored as I am with its agressive and addictive gameplan, I set out to reform RUG a few months ago, and am here to report my findings. Winning with RUG in today's meta lies with a top-down deckbuilding approach that directly addresses the strategy's inherent weaknesses. A sample list:
Strengths & weaknesses: adjusting RUG
Like all CounterSliver decks, RUG Delver naturally boasts favorable matchups against control and combo archetypes, but its true strength is its uncontested versatility. Depending on the matchup, Delver can play either control or aggro, sometimes even exploding into a combo finish with Snapcaster Mage and multiple Lightning Bolts. It disrupts combo strategies with counterspells, Mana Leaks midrange's costly spells, and employs its spot removal to one- and two-for-one aggro opponents into hand and board disadvantages. These strategies ideally play out to the tune of an efficient threat clocking in every turn. Tarmogoyf, the deck's premier beater, even gives the deck an edge against creature decks, which have traditionally dominated Tempo strategies with bigger dudes (read: Loxodon Smiter). I'd even argue that Delver is more about Tarmogoyf than it is about Insectile Aberration.
The deck has two major weaknesses which have kept it out of the meta for most of 2013:
1) Late/scarce clocks.
2) Problematic utility creatures.
To play RUG Delver competitively, we need to address both issues.
1) Late/scarce clocks
No tempo deck ever wants to drop a Tarmogoyf that dies to Lightning Bolt. BUG Tempo, which also runs Deathrite Shaman, has an extremely reliable way of quickly powering out boltproof Goyfs in its targeted discard; a first turn Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize yields a 3/4 or 4/5 Tarmogoyf as early as turn two. RUG can address this issue in two ways. The first is to increase the deck's Sorcery count - a first turn fetch into Serum Visions is our best bet for resilient Tarmogoyfs, so adding another sorcery to the mix increases our chances of sticking one. Earlier versions of the deck ran Sleight of Hand, but to be honest that card is abysmal, so I went for a choice that serves another purpose: Pillar of Flame.
In metas that run more sorceries, such as those rampant with decks like UR Pyromancer Delver, BGx, and Combo, 4 Serum Visions could be enough.
The second way to address the late clock issue is simply to add more clocks. Obviously, a first-turn Delver of Secrets is the deck's ideal scenario, but we need some backup plans in case we don't draw one of our eight best threats in the opener. Vendilion Clique, while extremely powerful, doesn't come online until turn 3. Scavenging Ooze, inducted into Modern with M14, acts as Tarmogoyf 5-7 while shrinking enemy Goyfs, crippling Snapcaster and Dredge strategies, exiling Kitchen Finks, hindering Deathrite Shaman, and growing bigger than Doran, the Siege Tower, mana dependent.
Running more creatures cuts back on the number of Instants and Sorceries, subsequently weakening Delver of Secrets. In many cases, a first-turn Delver eats Lightning Bolt anyway, enabling a 3/4 Tarmogoyf or growing Scavenging Ooze. The insect still flips fairly reliably, especially with Scry support, and given the deck's countermagic suite can consistently close out games on its own. In some metas, lowering the Instant and Sorcery count is a necessary evil - a threat increase is crucial to the deck's success. It also means more resilience to Abrupt Decay, since when your clock bites the dust you can just slam another one.
2) Problematic utility creatures
Like I mentioned earlier, CounterSliver is notorious for its eternal struggle with big, stupid creatures. Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze, who can both get bigger than Modern's best beaters, help shore up this problem significantly, one of the deck's advantages over UR tempo strategies. But in many environments, big creatures aren't the only problematic ones; utility creatures like Deathrite Shaman, Voice of Resurgence, and Kitchen Finks give RUG Delver the hardest time. All three of these creatures look pretty pitiful in the face of Pillar of Flame. The decks that run these creatures need them to resolve and stick for their gameplans to succeed; Pillaring an enemy Finks isn't just a one-for-one, then, since it eliminates an advantage the opponent counted on in the deckbuilding stage. It's admittedly worse than the host of other one-cost removal spells (read: Forked Bolt, Burst Lightning) against creatures you don't need to exile (read: Dark Confidant, Birds of Paradise), since you can't use them to feed your Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze, but the exile clause is so utterly important for RUG Delver that it would be crazy to run anything else. You really have to cast it on a Voice of Resurgence yourself to see what I mean.
Having seven maindeck removal spells for R incidentally gives RUG Delver a fantastic matchup against Modern's top deck, Melira Pod, since they can rarely stick a first-turn dork. This decreases their odds of landing a turn-two Birthing Pod on the play (or at all, since you have Mana Leak online after the first turn). It also gives it an advantage against any aggro deck that runs 1- or 2-toughness creatures like Deathrite Shaman, Dark Confidant or Vault Skirge.
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.
I'm glad somebody made a new thread, i've been playing the deck (and other RUG variants) for a few months now on MTGO and I've played exactly one mirror match. People ask questions about the deck a ton though.
In my opinion, Geist has always been a little bit awkward paired with delver because it makes your one drop the only thing in the deck worth targeting with spot removal. In order to clear the path for geist when they land a body, it forces you to run path to exile which means less burn in your snapcaster deck. If they have an answer for path or a second blocker larger than bolt, your geist does nothing with your delvers/cliques probably in the graveyard. To address all of these issues, the lists people use to run ran steppe lynx, which I really only like in aggro decks.
and besides, I try to stick a tarmogoyf in every deck.
In regards to your list, increasing the creature count with ooze is something i've always considered but wasnt sure what I would cut. My real question about ooze is how often do you wait to cast him? do you wait until you can pump him in response to bolt? There are a lot of games where I only have access to one green mana, so he is quite vulnerable for possibly the next two turns and only if I get a chance to pay for it. I dont know how different your mana base is, but it seems like in my list he would play out much differently from goyfs 5-7, because unlike goyf, I don't necessarily know that i'm going to get to untap with him.
I have always liked RUG Delver, but unlike Valanarch I dont think UWR Delver is better than RUG, I do think that Grixes Delver is better though. Anyway! I did a little research and here is a pretty stock list that has won a GP, 2nd a GP, and 3 other Top 8 in GPs.
I'd say no. Geist isn't amazing in Delver IMO since he requires you to tap out on turn 3, though I'll admit that he's a beast when he sticks. Dies to all sorts of blockers (Snapcaster Mage) and the 3-cost opens you up to lots of tempo-gaining plays for the opponent (Remand, etc.). Additionally, Path to Exile in a Mana Leak deck almost never works, especially when you don't have a threat online. UWR has access to less threats (unless you run Restoration Angel, but she doesn't come online until turn 4!), so that's more of an issue. And finally, it's really hard to come up with a decent UWR manabase that doesn't fold to Blood Moon. I always cream UWR with this deck.
In regards to your list, increasing the creature count with ooze is something i've always considered but wasnt sure what I would cut. My real question about ooze is how often do you wait to cast him? do you wait until you can pump him in response to bolt? There are a lot of games where I only have access to one green mana, so he is quite vulnerable for possibly the next two turns and only if I get a chance to pay for it. I dont know how different your mana base is, but it seems like in my list he would play out much differently from goyfs 5-7, because unlike goyf, I don't necessarily know that i'm going to get to untap with him.
By Tarmogoyf 5-7 I mean that he can be a big creature who's hard to deal with simply by virtue of his size. You don't mind topdecking into him late-game since he's a bomb then, not unlike our favorite creature. Delver of Secrets, in contrast, doesn't make for a great late-game threat.
In the early game against most decks, I'm not at all conservative with my Scavenging Ooze. I'll always rush him out turn 2 on the play if I don't have a boltproof Goyf or a Delver already out, and against some decks I'll bring him in on top of a Delver to race or establish a bigger board presence. I'm the same way with Delver of Secrets - I really just want to cast a threat as fast as possible and beat face with it. When you have more threats you can afford to be less careful with them, and if Ooze or Delver dies to some sort of removal, it makes Tarmogoyf that much harder to kill. As far as my manabase, I'll usually go get my Breeding Pools during the opponent's end step even if I don't have Ooze just so I can pump him up when I do. With lots of green mana available (2+) after he resolves, I'll usually pass the turn to play around Lightning Bolt, etc. Like with Tarmogoyf, there are lots of ways you can take advantage of his potential size here in response to an attempt to destroy him.
I have always liked RUG Delver, but unlike Valanarch I dont think UWR Delver is better than RUG, I do think that Grixes Delver is better though. Anyway! I did a little research and here is a pretty stock list that has won a GP, 2nd a GP, and 3 other Top 8 in GPs.
This is a great list, but it's from 2012; like I said in the OP, I'm not sure a list with so few threats and no Pillar of Flame can be successful anymore. I'll update the OP soon with some lists that have shown success, as there are a few, but the deck's mostly under the radar right now.
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.
I'd say no. Geist isn't amazing in Delver IMO since he requires you to tap out on turn 3, though I'll admit that he's a beast when he sticks. Dies to all sorts of blockers (Snapcaster Mage) and the 3-cost opens you up to lots of tempo-gaining plays for the opponent (Remand, etc.). Additionally, Path to Exile in a Mana Leak deck almost never works, especially when you don't have a threat online. UWR has access to less threats (unless you run Restoration Angel, but she doesn't come online until turn 4!), so that's more of an issue. And finally, it's really hard to come up with a decent UWR manabase that doesn't fold to Blood Moon. I always cream UWR with this deck.
I can see your point about Geist, but WUR doesn't run less threats (4 Young Pyromancer, 3 Geist, 4 Delver) and it isn't any more vulnerable to Blood Moon than RUG is. It also has a better sideboard. However, I hope that you can make this work. Having more Delver decks in the meta is always a good thing to see.
I can see your point about Geist, but WUR doesn't run less threats (4 Young Pyromancer, 3 Geist, 4 Delver) and it isn't any more vulnerable to Blood Moon than RUG is. It also has a better sideboard. However, I hope that you can make this work. Having more Delver decks in the meta is always a good thing to see.
Pyromancer and Delver alongside Geist? In my experience, white Delver decks want Steppe Lynx as a cheap beater. Not sure the two would play that well together in an aggro shell, but to be fair, I haven't tested it. I'd think UWR Midrange, which drops Delvers entirely, would be a safer bet for that kind of strategy.
I flat out disagree with you about the manabase though. WUR needs a much heavier investment into white than RUG does into green, and as a result, it usually can't support or deal with Blood Moon. Based on the sample lists in this WUR Delver thread, it seems like the deck never goes above 2-3 nonmountain basics.
I do like the direction Hoogland is taking the deck, but it still seems like a totally different archetype than the one we play with RUG, bearing more similarities to the control-oriented Wafo-Tapa lists. Or maybe I just hate blue decks that don't run Tarmogoyf.
Speaking of lists, I updated the primer to include some recent international finishes.
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.
Pyromancer and Delver alongside Geist? In my experience, white Delver decks want Steppe Lynx as a cheap beater. Not sure the two would play that well together in an aggro shell, but to be fair, I haven't tested it. I'd think UWR Midrange, which drops Delvers entirely, would be a safer bet for that kind of strategy.
I flat out disagree with you about the manabase though. WUR needs a much heavier investment into white than RUG does into green, and as a result, it usually can't support or deal with Blood Moon. Based on the sample lists in this WUR Delver thread, it seems like the deck never goes above 2-3 nonmountain basics.
I do like the direction Hoogland is taking the deck, but it still seems like a totally different archetype than the one we play with RUG, bearing more similarities to the control-oriented Wafo-Tapa lists. Or maybe I just hate blue decks that don't run Tarmogoyf.
Speaking of lists, I updated the primer to include some recent international finishes.
Steppe Lynx was what WUR Delver was going with, but they switched to Pyromancer when it came out. From my testing, it is a really sweet card. I can see your point about the manabase though, but I'd say that it is worth it for the stronger sideboard. But I really don't care which is better, the more Delver decks win, the better the format will be.
Edit: You should probably add the RUG Delver list that went 3-1 at two dailies. You can find it here.
Pyromancer and Delver alongside Geist? In my experience, white Delver decks want Steppe Lynx as a cheap beater. Not sure the two would play that well together in an aggro shell, but to be fair, I haven't tested it. I'd think UWR Midrange, which drops Delvers entirely, would be a safer bet for that kind of strategy.
I flat out disagree with you about the manabase though. WUR needs a much heavier investment into white than RUG does into green, and as a result, it usually can't support or deal with Blood Moon. Based on the sample lists in this WUR Delver thread, it seems like the deck never goes above 2-3 nonmountain basics.
I do like the direction Hoogland is taking the deck, but it still seems like a totally different archetype than the one we play with RUG, bearing more similarities to the control-oriented Wafo-Tapa lists. Or maybe I just hate blue decks that don't run Tarmogoyf.
Speaking of lists, I updated the primer to include some recent international finishes.
first,very sorry for my poor english,
Do you think run 3 ooze,2 shackles and 3 Pillar of Flame will reduce win rate
against combo?
i think your build takes too much slot to fight BGX Mid.if the deck lose advantage against combo,it lose its value.
Lavamancer and Sword of Light and Shadow is my opinion.
Lavamancer is a great card against creatures base deck,and he can absorb removal to protect delver and tarmo,i also run Vapor Snag and Vines of Vastwood for the objective.
modern ban ponder and preordain,the counter spell has a hard time in delver deck,because we usually cant get a correct card at a correct time.then i run Izzet Charm.it is a pain choose.:(
But I really don't care which is better, the more Delver decks win, the better the format will be.
Given my deep love for Tarmogoyf, I do have a preference here, but I'm with you 100% - the more viable Delver archetypes in all formats, the better! A little off-topic, but have you tried RUG in Vintage? That deck is superb, most fun I've ever had playing the format.
Do you think run 3 ooze,2 shackles and 3 Pillar of Flame will reduce win rate
against combo?
i think your build takes too much slot to fight BGX Mid.if the deck lose advantage against combo,it lose its value.
Lavamancer and Sword of Light and Shadow is my opinion.
Lavamancer is a great card against creatures base deck,and he can absorb removal to protect delver and tarmo,i also run Vapor Snag and Vines of Vastwood for the objective.
Lately I've gone to 2 Ooze and 1 Lavamancer, and am still testing that. I don't think the Oozes hurt against combo at all; they're great against certain combo decks (Unburial Rites, Living End, Snapcaster Mage) and help against so much else in the field besides BGx. As for the Pillars, that's why they're not Magma Spray - you can go to the head with them in G1 and then side them out after if you don't want them. But you'll even want those against certain combo decks, which can run Deathrite Shaman or Goblin Electromancer. The thing is our G1 combo matchup is still really strong, especially with 5-7 counterspells MD, and it only gets much better after siding. I think the way to go is to focus on shaping the MD so that RUG can compete against its less-than-stellar matchups, since we're not even sacrificing that much of an edge against combo and since the other decks continue to increase in popularity.
Personally I think Sword of Light and Shadow might be too mana-intensive for a 19-land list but if it works for you, by all means run it. I'd rather have another counterspell in that slot. I love it as a one-of in UR Faeries though. Depending on your meta, more Lavamancers can definitely be correct. How's Vines of Vastwood going for you? Has it been relevant? Do you frequently have access to GG? I noticed you don't run Blood Moon in your 75, so that must help for Vines, but don't you ever miss it?
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.
Given my deep love for Tarmogoyf, I do have a preference here, but I'm with you 100% - the more viable Delver archetypes in all formats, the better! A little off-topic, but have you tried RUG in Vintage? That deck is superb, most fun I've ever had playing the format.
Lately I've gone to 2 Ooze and 1 Lavamancer, and am still testing that. I don't think the Oozes hurt against combo at all; they're great against certain combo decks (Unburial Rites, Living End, Snapcaster Mage) and help against so much else in the field besides BGx. As for the Pillars, that's why they're not Magma Spray - you can go to the head with them in G1 and then side them out after if you don't want them. But you'll even want those against certain combo decks, which can run Deathrite Shaman or Goblin Electromancer. The thing is our G1 combo matchup is still really strong, especially with 5-7 counterspells MD, and it only gets much better after siding. I think the way to go is to focus on shaping the MD so that RUG can compete against its less-than-stellar matchups, since we're not even sacrificing that much of an edge against combo and since the other decks continue to increase in popularity.
Personally I think Sword of Light and Shadow might be too mana-intensive for a 19-land list but if it works for you, by all means run it. I'd rather have another counterspell in that slot. I love it as a one-of in UR Faeries though. Depending on your meta, more Lavamancers can definitely be correct. How's Vines of Vastwood going for you? Has it been relevant? Do you frequently have access to GG? I noticed you don't run Blood Moon in your 75, so that must help for Vines, but don't you ever miss it?
if you tested ooze,and get a good result,i am very happy,i will change sword for ooze.^_^
about Vines of Vastwood,i test with jund and RG tron,the jund player is my friend and skilled player.he tell me his plan is kill all my threaten,especically delver.and dont race with me.then i find i need something to protect my creatures.
on the basis of t2 delvers experience,i once runned Mutagenic Growth.this card is very good against pyroclasm and has best tempo,but BGX has very various type removal ,Mutagenic Growth cant solve it.and its pump is little.
so i choose Vines of Vastwood.8 fetch allow me add GG when 4 lands,but it caues me additional damage.fortunately,if i want kick Vines when i has 4 lands,it meam opponent dont give me big pressure.
about Molten Rain and moon,GR tron always run 4 Nature's Claim in side,and i noticed Valakut deck run it in recent list.
delver can win alone against run few removal deck,side in moon will drop probability of delver filp.and moon cant win the game,if GR tron has Nature's Claim in hand ,it is very bad.(GR tron may play Claim and target own thing,it is a technique against any creatures deck,but Valakut deck cant,if i dont side in moon,game2 he has 3~4 usuless card)
if you tested ooze,and get a good result,i am very happy,i will change sword for ooze.^_^
about Vines of Vastwood,i test with jund and RG tron,the jund player is my friend and skilled player.he tell me his plan is kill all my threaten,especically delver.and dont race with me.then i find i need something to protect my creatures.
on the basis of t2 delvers experience,i once runned Mutagenic Growth.this card is very good against pyroclasm and has best tempo,but BGX has very various type removal ,Mutagenic Growth cant solve it.and its pump is little.
so i choose Vines of Vastwood.8 fetch allow me add GG when 4 lands,but it caues me additional damage.fortunately,if i want kick Vines when i has 4 lands,it meam opponent dont give me big pressure.
about Molten Rain and moon,GR tron always run 4 Nature's Claim in side,and i noticed Valakut deck run it in recent list.
delver can win alone against run few removal deck,side in moon will drop probability of delver filp.and moon cant win the game,if GR tron has Nature's Claim in hand ,it is very bad.(GR tron may play Claim and target own thing,it is a technique against any creatures deck,but Valakut deck cant,if i dont side in moon,game2 he has 3~4 usuless card)
last,sorry for my poor english again.
Haha stop apologizing, you're contributing and that's what counts! Something I forgot to mention about the Scavenging Ooze - I like having a couple because against combo and control you really want to apply pressure on as soon as possible, so having additional threats to slam down on turn 2 is really helpful. And against aggro, since you can burn their creatures out early, an Ooze on the table can help gain you some life (and then block their dudes!). Obviously Tarmogoyf is better in both of these roles, since he walls attackers and comes in for more damage without requiring extra mana, but we can't run more than 4. The upside is Scavenging Ooze is better against BGx, one of the archetype's worst matchups, and he also damages graveyard strategies.
And you're right about Blood Moon; it basically just slows Tron down, it doesn't win you the matchup. That's fine since your plan against Tron is just to race them. I guess with Molten Rain you can slow them down a little more (and the damage can't hurt), but Moon cripples so much in the format (UWR, Jund, Dredgevine, Rock, Melira Pod, GW Hatebears, Mill, 4c Gifts, Tokens, Eternal Command, GW Auras... etc.) that I'd rather have access to that for G2 (countered/discarded Moons even pump Tarmogoyf!). I've basically accepted Tron as a bad matchup at this point, and I think it will stay that way regardless of sideboarding until we get some more cards printed. We do have Ancient Grudge against them though, which slows them down even more, and I think just about every other matchup is favorable for RUG right now (seriously, what do we even struggle with?).
I'll try to get some matchup analyses up soon, big rush right now with midterms and papers.
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.
supplement for Vines of Vastwood,Vines also can disturb twin and infect deck.it said the target creature cant be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. it means when target opponents creature,it will counter his pump spell(infect deck),aura(twin deck,but Bogles all has hexproof,vines cant target it).
Vines of Vastwood is similar to Spellskite.protect creature , disturb pump and aura.
in my test,Young Pyromancer has great power against combo,but he isnt good against other deck.we cant run ponder and preordain today. YP need more research to join any modern delver.
YP has big aggressiveness,grixis delver run dark confidant,bob can provide more hand to production token.i think it is a good idea.
Nice post, Software. I like your aggressive list; as I've learned from piloting UR Faeries a bit, a 4/4 Remand/Mana Leak suite is awesome. Lately I haven't been playing with Delver at all, but rather with a RUG Faeries list. It's pretty strong, Bident of Thassa is great as a one-of; when you have even one creature on the board and you slam it down it gives you a ton of advantage over the course of the game. Was tough to get the mana to work out with three colors and Mutavault, but I basically just got rid of Moons and Vedalken Shackles. Essentially I swapped the Delvers out for Spellstutter Sprite.
I agree with you on Blood Moon and Pillar of Flame - at least at my LGS, neither are that relevant right now. I like Spreading Seas in the sideboard with the Faeries list since it doesn't hurt Mutavault.
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.
i might be missing somthing i dunno, but does shackles do well most of the time? it seems as though there would be a lack of island most of the time.
Shackles is rediculous. Most lists run only 1 mountain, and one forest as their only non island lands. You'll generally get 4-5 lands in a game, so you can expect to take anything with 4 power.
Private Mod Note
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
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i might be missing somthing i dunno, but does shackles do well most of the time? it seems as though there would be a lack of island most of the time.
Shackles is incredible G1, it just blows to have it destroyed by cheap removal spells. You want to bring them out if you're expecting Ancient Grudge and friends.
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.
After the Treasure Cruise ban, I began looking for other ways to abuse delve in RUG Delver, especially with the card that had me most excited during spoiler season. Many months of tuning later, my 1st place finish in a StarCityGames Premier IQ put Mandrills on the map, and Monkey Grow has since shown scattered results in varied metagames, most notably with Joshua Yang Zhijian's Top 8 list from GP Singapore.
An example build, and a strong choice for open environments:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
1 Snapcaster Mage
Instant (22)
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Tarfire
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
3 Simic Charm
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
Land (17)
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
3 Island
1 Forest
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Blood Moon
2 Pyroclasm
1 Vapor Snag
1 Curiosity
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Natural State
Monkey Grow is one of the only viable grow decks in Modern. Counter-Cat and iGrow are the others, and Monkey Grow has far and away the most game of the three against linear combo decks, though it struggles against BGx midrange strategies. The Disrupting Shoal/Stubborn Denial counter package makes linear matchups practically unloseable, and the heavy-duty creature suite can race and overpower even aggro decks. Of the grow decks I've designed, Monkey Grow is the hardest to pilot, offering players a myriad of strenuous choices each turn and mercilessly punishing mistakes.
Good matchups: Linear combo (Ad Nauseam, Storm, Grishoalbrand, Tron, Living End, Scapeshift, Lantern), linear aggro (Infect, Burn, Bogles, Gruul Zoo), creature synergy decks (Merfolk, Elves, Hatebears/D&T, Abzan/Naya Collected Company, Angel/Kiki Chord, Soul Sisters), URx midrange (Blue Moon, Jeskai)
Medium matchups: Affinity, creature goodstuff decks (Knight of the Reliquary Zoo)
Bad matchups: BGx midrange (Jund, Abzan), UW Control
Gameplan
Like all tempo decks, Monkey Grow wants to secure an advantage on the board (i.e. with a Tarmogoyf) and then maintain that board position for as long as possible. We only need to maintain that lead for a few turns, since our attackers should kill opponents before we run out of cards to protect them with. Depending on the matchup, Monkey Grow pilots may begin the game with some disruption before playing a creature; while less than optimal, this strategy sometimes proves necessary against very fast decks. Exiling Delver of Secrets to Disrupting Shoal a turn-1 Aether Vial against Merfolk, for instance, can serve us better than playing the Delver on turn 1 instead, since it buys us enough time for Tarmogoyf to resolve on turn two and deal a hefty amount of damage on his own; without any disruption, Delver into Tarmogoyf is not a sequence that will reliably race Merfolk.
Monkey Grow challenges pilots to effectively manage their resources. Early decisions like whether to use Mana Leak, Simic Charm, or Disrupting Shoal to save an attacker - or just to let the attacker die and cast another one - often decide games some turns later. Similarly, knowing when to impact the board state or to spend mana digging for specific sorts of cards (counterspells, reach, threats) is integral to playing the deck.
Deckbuilding guidelines
While the numbers on these core pieces can be tweaked, I discourage changes barring intimately known metagames. The air-tight core allows for just four flex spots; in my sample list above, I've spent them on a Simic Charm, a Snapcaster Mage, a Tarfire, and the fourth Scour. More options after the jump.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
Instant (19)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
3 Thought Scour
2 Simic Charm
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
Land (17)
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
3 Island
1 Forest
Creatures
We only have room for the biggest, baddest beaters, and our cantrips ensure we find them on time. Each of our threats attacks from a different angle, and must be dealt with a certain way, which brings resilience to the creature suite.
Tarmogoyf: Two mana for a ferocious-enabling, removal-breaking, attacker-walling, blocker-eating behemoth. No, he’s not “overrated."
Hooting Mandrills: Resists Abrupt Decay, bane of the Delver decks. Often costs
Monkey Grow's spells interact with opponents as meaningfully as possible for the cheapest cost available.
Lightning Bolt: From my Modern Nexus primer:
Stubborn Denial: One-mana Negate is absolutely no joke in a 17-land deck. Gives Monkey Grow stellar matchups against most creature-light decks and combines with Shoal to devastate linear strategies. A fourth copy is generally preferred in flex spot number one.
Mana Leak: Often a hard answer and very often a tempo-positive one. Shoal takes care of the cheap stuff, so Mana Leak trades favorably with the juicier targets. Remand does nothing here, since Monkey Grow wants decisive “no”s to cards that hinder its gameplan (Terminate, Siege Rhino, etc.).
Gitaxian Probe: Perfect information that pitches to Shoal, grows Tarmogoyf, flips Delver, and lowers our land count. Some info on casting Probe here.
Thought Scour: Powers out an early Mandrills, surprise-grows Goyfs mid-combat, and wrecks enemy scry. Scour excels in matchups where we need to land a beefy threat fast, like Tron and Ad Nauseam. It's much worse against grindy midrange decks that fill our graves for us, and against creature decks that force us to interact before resolving a threat. Still, this deck requires at least three Scours to support the playset of Mandrills. Any less and we'll have to start cutting monkeys.
The manabase above maximizes our access to color and minimizes the damage taken from fetching and shocking, all while enabling a reliable Blood Moon plan from the sideboard. Basic Mountain seems like it could be fine in uncomfortably aggressive metagames, but sideboarding for such environments is probably better than diluting the manabase. On just one land, Steam Vents often comes first; on two, Island + Stomping Ground is the preferred combination.
Flex spots
These cards fill the four gaps left by the Monkey Grow core. Any of them can also earn slots in the sideboard, or even replace core cards in deeply understood metagames.
Snapcaster Mage: Ideal in grindy metagames. Sometimes fine as Ambush Viper and always nice with a Probe in the graveyard, but Bolt-Snap-Bolt and Denial-Snap-Denial are the real reasons to play Tiago.
Vendilion Clique: A pre-flipped Delver and disruption to boot. Nice against midrange, combo, and control.
Removal/reach
Dismember, Vapor Snag: Extra removal. I prefer Simic Charm to either option, but both are viable.
Forked Bolt, Tarfire, Pillar of Flame: Superb against fields teeming with mana dorks. Forked Bolt wrecks certain decks or does work as a mini-Searing Blaze, Tarfire grows Tarmogoyf at instant speed (even with a Scour!), and Pillar exiles Voice and Finks. Never run Magma Spray; reach is too important to tempo decks.
Permission
Deprive: Extra countermagic. Returning a land never hurts us in game 1, and hard counterspells can provide big reliefs once Mana Leak passes its expiration date.
Spell Snare: Supports Disrupting Shoal in hitting problematic two-drops like Tarmogoyf, Cranial Plating, and Terminate. Better in lists without Simic Charm, since they lack two-drops for Shoal.
Spell Pierce: Supports Stubborn Denial in metagames packed with expensive noncreature spells.
Cantrips
Thought Scour: The fourth Scour should be considered in metagames full of fast, linear combo decks. Against linear aggro decks, we'd prefer more Bolt effects. Against combo decks, we want to land a threat very early and ride it with counterspell backup. Scour helps power out Mandrills and make Goyf respectable enough that he can get us there in a few Mana Leaks. Scour is much worse against grindy midrange decks that fill our graves for us.
Curiosity: An attrition breaker that's nearly unbeatable with a counterspell in tow. Connecting with Curiosity can win the game on its own, since it draws us into permission to keep the engine oiled. Fantastic against midrange and combo, and lackluster against aggro.
Lands
Wooded Foothills, Sulfur Falls, Mountain: Some players like an 18th land in the deck, especially with Snapcaster Mage. I favor the Foothills here, since it improves Blood Moon, but Sulfur Falls untaps under Choke. Mountain can work in highly aggressive metagames.
I described the importance of Lightning Bolt to tempo decks above, but some metagames resist the spell more than others. Additionally, playstyle and player preference often enter the equation when it comes to deckbuilding. Simic Charm offers Monkey Grow builds splashing black or white over red some amount of reach, so the option of trying different colors could merit further exploration. As other variations of the deck crop up, I'll present and analyze them in this section.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Hooting Mandrills
1 Gurmag Angler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (8)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
Instant (19)
4 Thought Scour
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Mana Leak
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Simic Charm
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Torpor Orb
2 Pack Rat
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
2 Dismember
3 Feed the Clan
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Hooting Mandrills
Sorcery (11)
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Day's Undoing
Instant (13)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Vapor Snag
4 Mishra's Bauble
Land (17)
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
2 Island
1 Forest
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
2 Vapor Snag
1 Send to Sleep
1 Feed the Clan
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Day’s Undoing
I've known players to sideboard very differently with this deck and see positive results, so I'm hesitant to write my own sideboard guide in the primer - you can find my thoughts on sideboarding in the RUG Delver thread (linked below). That said, I will include some information about constructing a sideboard. Monkey Grow's 15 addresses the deck's weaknesses depending on the metagame. It best operates as a series of no-nonsense "packages" supplemented by a few, specific answers.
Packages
Huntmaster gives Monkey Grow tremendous game against fair aggro decks and a much-needed leg up in midrange matchups. He competes with Delver for Bolts and proves laughably easy to flip back and forth in a deck packed with cheap spells.
Blood Moon ends games. It slows down and occasionally cripples a host of decks, including Abzan Midrange, Bogles, and UWR. It can also "get" decks that supposedly resist its effects, like Jund and Grixis. The best part? It does work without even being in play. Or in our hand. Fetch your basics and count on your opponent to do the same. Or slow-roll your basics in hand and surprise him with a crushing Blood Moon.
1-2 Destructive Revelry
0-1 Natural State
Affinity is good enough to warrant this package in every Monkey Grow sideboard. Luckily, the cards themselves do a lot against the field. Revelry is tremendously versatile, and the two points of damage always matter. So is Natural State, which trades hitting random hosers like Worship for the ability to answer Cranial Plating turn one.
Every build needs a sweeper package. The correct sweeper depends on the meta, but I favor Pyroclasm over the others since it kills so much for so little mana. Rough // Tumble doesn't hit Insectile Aberration, and Firespout can even dodge Huntmaster to massacre a horde of flying Spirit tokens.
Chameleon Colossus: Attacks past the monsters that block him and ignores every removal spell in Modern other than Path to Exile. Robust, and with that pump ability, horrifying.
Spider Umbra: Red-hot tech against Grixis and Jund. Wins Goyf wars and grows Mandrills past Rhinos, Tasigurs, and Anglers, all while preemptively countering Terminate, Abrupt Decay, or even Supreme Verdict. Umbra even enables ferocious on a flipped Delver. Unnecessary in Undoing lists.
Feed the Clan: The most efficient lifegain spell ever printed. With all the ferocious, Feed makes Burn a walk in the park.
Threads of Disloyalty: Great against a host of creature decks, but there are better options against BGx specifically. Still, stealing a Goyf is just as fun now as it was five years ago.
Flame Slash: Kills a bunch of annoying creatures, including Loxodon Smiter, Restoration Angel, and weak Goyfs.
Rending Volley: Fine in metas packed with Twin. Also shines against Merfolk.
Combust: Rending Volley that kills Siege Rhino.
Roast: A painless Dismember for those pesky x/5s.
Send to Sleep: Ideally neutralizes a pair of x/5 blockers for your team to get in lethal damage. Can also buy enough time for Huntmaster or Snapcaster to help stabilize.
Flashfreeze: Counters Siege Rhino, Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Lightning Bolt, Thragtusk, Huntmaster....
Day’s Undoing: Undoing gives iGrow enough points against midrange to also work in this deck. Drawing seven new cards - hands full of burn, cantrips, cheap permission, and efficient threats - is generally way too much for grindy strategies to handle. Considering today's grindy decks want to accrue card advantage over time via Snapcaster Mage and Kolaghan's Command, Undoing, which resets these advantages, stands to eat them alive.
An 18th land: I discuss playing an 18th land mainboard, above, but it can also have a spot in the sideboard. I prefer Mountain in this slot. More on running a land in the sideboard here.
Sideboarding is never a cut-and-dry process, and there are always many ways to take a mainboard configuration for Games 2 and 3. But I've received a lot of pressure over the last few months from various users and players to release some sideboard plans officially, since as of now, this information has only been available scattered across this thread and in article. I would never say there's one correct way to side in each matchup. But given a relatively stock 60, this guide should at least help newcomers to the deck get started.
Additional resources
Shoal Food: Grits and Goyfs at GP Charlotte - Grand Prix report for Modern Nexus.
Best of Both Worlds: Your Weekly Undoing Digest - Article introducing the Banana Phone variant for Modern Nexus.
Curious George Goes to a Super Series: Revisiting Monkey Grow, Chapter 1 - In-depth tournament report of a Mana Deprived Super Series 3K in which I went 6-2 and some thoughts on the deck's viability in December 2015. Featured at Modern Nexus.
Curious George Goes to a Super Series: Revisiting Monkey Grow, Chapter 1 - Second half of the report.
Daily Digest: Hooty And The Delvers - Blurb by Gerry Thompson for StarCityGames.
Modern Temur Delver - Blurb by Melissa DeTora for Wizards of the Coast.
Deck Overview: Modern Temur Delver - Blurb by Ryan Overturf for Quiet Speculation.
BBD VS. CVM: Esper Zur VS. Temur Delver - Chris VanMeter butchering the deck on camera.
Sultai Delver with Adam Fronsee - Deck tech with Adam Fronsee about his BUG take on Monkey Grow.
As Monkey Grow evolves, I'll spoiler-tag defunct sections of the primer here.
best friends forever
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
Other permanents (3)
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Garruk Relentless
Instant (17)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Burst Lightning
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
2 Deprive
1 Electrolyze
2 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
Land (21)
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
6 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Blood Moon
1 Combust
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spell Pierce
2 Threads of Disloyalty
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (15)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Forked Bolt
1 Pillar of Flame
Instant (14)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
1 Thought Scour
2 Remand
1 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Hibernation
1 Destructive Revelry
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Electrickery
3 Molten Rain
RUG Delver in Modern
Delver strategies have fluttered around Modern since the Insect's first printing in Innistrad. RUG Delver in particular is steeped in history, with two GP wins and a terrifying Legacy deck to its name. The Midrange variant brings late-game power to the table, threatening bombs as diverse as Batterskull and Huntmaster of the Fells if opponents deal with its namesake. The dominance of BGx post-Return to Ravnica all but pushed Delver strategies out of the format, but after Khans of Tarkir's release, UR Delver became a serious aggressive force with the help of Treasure Cruise. Cruise-era RUG mimicked its UR counterpart, but gave up either the erratic speed of Monastery Swiftspear, the vertical engine of Young Pyromancer, or the utility of Tiago for the power and prestige of the most efficient beater who ever made it to cardboard: Tarmogoyf. Appalled at the human insect's cross-format ubiquity, Wizards sunk the ship, but Delver pilots aren't again doomed to Midrange. Khans gave us a pair of terrific beaters in Swiftspear and Hooting Mandrills, allowing us to pursue dedicated Tempo strategies.
RUG Delver offers you Magic at its fairest and most skill-intensive. If you like meticulously managing every resource, making difficult and rewarding decisions, and constantly re-evaluating your role as you play, this is the deck for you. Defeating better-established decks with a card that's historically polarized Modern players and beating down on opponents with the most efficient creatures ever printed is just icing on the cake.
Gameplan
Drop an early threat, protect it with countermagic, take your enemy to zero. While it looks easy on paper, RUG Delver is notoriously tough to master, though it rewards competence in spades. Much of the deck’s dificulty comes from correctly choosing between improving your board presence and preserving the current board state, a skill best honed by practicing.
Deckbuilding guidelines
RUG Delver can opt for an all-out Tempo plan or a grindier Midrange one, yielding a rather light core applicable to both strategies. In any case, the deck needs a minimum of 12 creatures, 23 spells, and 18 lands.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
Spells (23-30)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
4 (Basic land)
Maxing out on Delver of Secrets and Tarmogoyf leaves us with 4-7 slots for other creatures. The threats chosen decide the deck's makeup. In general, more beaters strengthens the Tempo plan, while utility creatures push the deck into Midrange.
Creatures
If they don't apply pressure, they provide utility. RUG Delver only wants creatures that absolutely excel at their jobs.
Delver of Secrets: The deck's namesake, and with good reason. Hoogland says it best: "The reason to play Delver is free wins. Sometimes you play this little guy on turn one, he flips on turn two, and you ride the Aberration to victory. I’ve won a number of games while stuck on exactly one land because my Delver flipped the turn after I played him."
Tarmogoyf: Yes, he's worth $200. Yes, he attacks and blocks, but he does so better than anything, and much better than anything your opponent has on turn 2 (barring their own Tarmogoyf). And he's cheaper than most of the stuff that answers him. In the words of mtgsalvation's own Pizzap, "Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf."
Additional beaters
Monastery Swiftspear: Deals a very (un)reasonable amount of damage when built around. Best supplements Delver as core threat alongside more burn/removal since she loses a lot of "oomph" as the game goes on.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
2 Mutagenic Growth
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
Swiftspear variants capitalize on the speed enjoyed by an 8 one-drop build by doubling up on deck velocity to produce lightning-fast kills. The deck packs 4 Gitaxian Probe alongside Serum Visions and maybe some Thought Scour, which opens you up to Harvest Pyre and even Become Immense. Vapor Snag and at least 8 burn spells are necessary to maximize Swiftspear's potential damage output, and since the game ends so quickly, Spell Pierce and Mana Leak do lots of work as not-so-soft counterspells. Remand buys you time, and time is damage in this list. The removal and permission in general gives you a lot of wiggle room depending on your meta; for instance, Forked Bolt might be better in one setting, while Pillar of Flame or even Tarfire dominate in another. Mutagenic Growth saves Swiftspear and Aberration from Lightning Bolt while triggering Prowess and costing 0.
These lists want 17-19 lands and 25+ instants and sorceries.
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4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
This deck closely resembles Legacy's original Threshold lists in its card choices and playstyle. Hooting Mandrills's heavy Delve cost requires a full set of Thought Scour and even Gitaxian Probe, which proves invaluable in showing you when to commit threats or to hold up mana. It also allows Ferocious cards like the hyper-efficient Stubborn Denial and SB Feed the Clan, which decimates Aggro strategies. All the Blue cantrips enable Disrupting Shoal, which lets you tap out for a cantrip and a threat and still counter that Path to Exile.
The ultra-tight core only allows for 5 flex spots, which your meta should help determine. A high cantrip density ensures you'll find your bullets when you need them, and Snapcaster Mage only improves the odds.
These lists want 17-18 lands and 25+ Instants and Sorceries.
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Snapcaster Mage: Tiago's infamous invitational card is at his very best in a shell like this one, re-using important spells while providing a body to clock with. Affords tremendous reach with Lightning Bolt (EOT Bolt, Snap, Bolt, swing makes for 8 quick damage on a previously empty board!).
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vedalken Shackles
Instant (13-22)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Mana Leak
1 Deprive
2 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
The deck plays a blend of countermagic, including Spell Snare, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Deprive, Cryptic Command, and Remand. Its burn suite is similarly varied, reaching out to Burst Lightning, Electrolyze, and Pillar of Flame. 4 Snapcaster Mage ensures you can play the best one in a given matchup multiple times from the graveyard. While the exact configuration is up to the pilot, Tiago greatly rewards dipping into one- and two-offs. Midrange RUG also plays two or three late-game bombs in the maindeck, such as Batterskull or Vedalken Shackles, and has a Blood Moon plan in the sideboard. It frequently runs 15 creatures, enlisting Vendilion Clique and Grim Lavamancer to help with the beatdown.
These lists want 20-21 lands and 23+ Instants and Sorceries.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
Snapcaster Mage does a great job supplementing Young Promancer by providing a body with a spell attached. The deck's ideal game plays out like this: play a Delver, and if it gets removed, play a Tarmogoyf. Attack until that gets removed, and then play a Pyromancer to carry the game away in a flurry of Elementals. This sequencing of threats is important; slamming a Young Pyromancer turn 2 might just get you a dead Pyromancer, whereas waiting until you have mana to squeeze value out of him first rewards you. Tarmogoyf, with his big butt, buys Pyromancer a lot of time and land drops. Since this strategy best suits attacking, maybe casting a cantrip, and saying "go," Monastery Swiftspear has no place here.
These lists want 18-20 lands and 25+ Instants and Sorceries.
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Grim Lavamancer: A notable ancestor to Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Stoneforge Mystic, and Tarmogoyf as the first creature to earn off-color splashes across multiple archetypes for a single card. Bring Lavamancer to Aggro-heavy metagames and make sure to properly accommodate his appetite if you're packing Apes.
Scavenging Ooze: An option for grindier metas, Ooze holds his own against Midrange decks, be they of the Tarmogoyf or the Elesh Norn variety.
Vendilion Clique: A Delver you don't have to flip, Clique swoops in during draw steps, combat steps, end steps, and Aether Vial activations to great effect. The hand manipulation - no matter who you target - is relevant at every stage in the game so long as someone has cards in hand, and if nobody does, Clique is already on track to seal the deal. The faeries are at their absolute best when you can't find a threat for the first couple turns of the game. Their UU cost and Legendary clause force us to run them in conservative numbers.
Courser of Kruphix: A Green Confidant who gains life, blocks things, and lives through Bolt. Firmly Midrange and great against Aggro.
Savage Knuckleblade: The Japanese toyed with Knuckleblade in the Sideboard at Worlds 2014, and he can be pretty tough for certain decks to kill. The bounce clause, combined with potential haste, gives him Aetherling-style protection, but a Sorcery-speed, Decayable creature that might be Rhino food could prove a little frail for a spot in the 75.
Huntmaster of the Fells: Value, value, value - as long as he doesn't eat a Lightning Bolt. Notably evades Abrupt Decay.
A tight blend of noncreature bombs allows RUG Delver to attack opponents from a variety of angles (as UWR Control does with a maindeck Batterskull). These cards rarely have utility everywhere, so most of them live in the Sideboard. Midrange variants run more of these cards than Tempo ones.
Curiosity: Another pseudo-cantrip that turbo-charges Tarmogoyf, Curiosity has extra relevance against attrition decks, Abzan being most obvious offender. Sticking the Enchantment usually just wins you the game. Plays very well with Gitaxian Probe, which tells you if the coast is clear for Delver or Mandrills to turn into Confidants. More on Curiosity here.
Vedalken Shackles: A resolved Shackles single-handedly beats creature decks. After dominating a game 1 with Shackles, I like to board them out for matchup-specific answers; it's always funny to Vendilion Clique into a hand full of dead Ancient Grudge.
Batterskull: Not a bad call in an aggro-heavy meta.
Keranos, God of Storms: Inevitability vs. Control that they can't ignore - and yet, they have no choice. Impossible to get this thing off the table.
Blood Moon: While we're in Red with all these Islands and fetches, why don't we throw the format's best hoser into game 2 to shake things up? Free wins vs. Junk, UWR Control/Midrange, Scapeshift, RG Tron, and others. Very surprising game 1.
Garruk Relentless and Jace Beleren: Though featured in the deck's past incarnations, Planeswalkers are probably too slow now and not impactful enough for their costs. De Rosa ran a single Garruk Relentless in 2012, but we have better options between value-laden creatures like Snapcaster Mage and Young Pyromancer.
RUG Delver's spells either interact with the board and the stack (Lightning Bolt, Mana Leak) or ensure card quality and promote synergy (Serum Visions, Thought Scour).
Lightning Bolt: The best burn spell in the deck, in the format... in the game? How is this even a question? How am I still typing?
Burst Lightning: Shock is still good. It's very good when you can pump it.
Tarfire: mOsT rArE tEcH.! (:
Pillar of Flame: Exile a Finks for one mana. Exile a Voice for one mana. Go to the face for one mana. Don't run Magma Spray.
Forked Bolt: A meta-specific answer to Delver, dorks, and spirit tokens. Oh wait, that's everything.
Flame Slash: Only for Midrange variants. Sort of a trap since you should be Leaking the creatures it hits, but sometimes they get by. Definitely a trap in a field of Rhinos and Goyfs.
Electrolyze: Big daddy Forked Bolt. Much worse in Tempo-oriented variants that can't always afford CMC3.
Vapor Snag: Great against decks with expensive creatures (i.e. Restoration Angel), Twin, and Reanimator.
Dismember: Kills everything and easy to flashback. Dangerous in Burn-heavy metas.
Countermagic
Mana Leak: Modern's premier counterspell. Terrific against high-curve strategies (i.e. Siege Rhino.dec), and better than Remand against targeted discard and Lightning Bolt decks.
Remand: Modern Tempo's premier counterspell. Better than Leak against Lingering Souls, Snapcaster Mage, Cascade, and slower decks; also better when you're ahead on the board, which Tempo RUG often is.
Spell Snare: Retains value late in the game as a tempo-positive answer to enemy Snapcaster Mage, enemy Young Pyromancer, and enemy Tarmogoyf. Even counters annoying cards we don't run ourselves, like Voice of Resurgence.
Spell Pierce: Tempo decks greatly benefit from punishing opponents for playing on-curve. Shines against highly relevant cards like Liliana of the Veil, Batterskull, or Cryptic Command.
Stubborn Denial: One-mana Negate is pretty sweet when you're cracking skulls with 4/4 monkeys.
Deprive: With so few lands, the return clause isn't even a drawback. Cast on your turn, it can even make you a mana.
Cryptic Command: It's expensive because it's the best. Provides maindeck outs to random stuff like Ensnaring Bridge.
Disrupting Shoal: A controversial addition to the archetype, this newcomer can slash big holes in enemy strategies for the low cost of... another card! Snagging a T1 Goblin Guide, Noble Hierarch or Expedition Map leads to easy victories, and it gets much better with Gitaxian Probe. Only worthwhile in highly tuned lists that need to answer specific CC1-2 cards like Path to Exile. Importantly, it hard-counters these cards in the later game, when we can afford to pay mana for X.
Cantrips/library manipulation/draw
Serum Visions: The worst of the best but the best we've got. How about some perspective? Before Ponder, Legacy Threshold lists complimented their Brainstorms with a set of these bad boys. Cantripping is that good.
Gitaxian Probe: Supports Swiftspear, Pyromancer, and Mandrills while giving you perfect information and flipping Delver. Bad against aggressive decks, incredible everywhere else. More on Probe here.
Thought Scour: Hyper-enables Hooting Mandrills and fills the grave for Goyf and Snap.
Utility
Mutagenic Growth: Most players will let the Delver trigger resolve before Bolting him. With a Growth in hand, you can pump him out of Bolt range and come down for 5, making Mutagenic Growth it a free counterspell + Shock. Besides saving your creatures from burn spells, Mutagenic Growth lets Hooting Mandrills run over big creatures and helps you win Goyf wars. Superb with Monastery Swiftspear.
Simic Charm: Bounce a Wurmcoil Engine. Trample over a Siege Rhino. Save your Delver from Abrupt Decay. Stop a double Tectonic Edge activation. This charm is incredibly versatile.
Become Immense: As Infect has shown us since the Treasure Cruise ban, +6/+6 is a lot. That's two Bolts, and they help protect your creatures in a pinch or after blocks. With a swarm of incoming Pyromancer tokens, one is bound to get through.
Run 8-10 fetches (4 Misty, 4 Tarn, 2 Foothills maybe) and a basic Forest if you're on Blood Moon. 4 Shocks are fine; 3 should be Blue. A single Mountain is fine in aggressive metas. Low-to-the-ground builds with Swiftspear or Pyromancer may want a pair of Sulfur Falls. With the non-Island lands in order, fill out the rest of the manabase with the best Basic.
Sideboard options
The RUG Delver sideboard doesn't aim to hose any particular archetype, but rather intends to vary or strengthen its plan against any deck for games 2 and 3. As always, sideboards should be tailored to specific metas. These choices shine in the archetype I've included them under, but have other uses as well (I've omitted a Vs. UR Delver section, for example, since I list all the relevant sideboard cards under Vs. Affinity).
Pyroclasm: Great if you're not on Young Pyromancer. One of the format's best sweepers. 2-cost makes it way better than Firespout, and hitting enemy Delvers/Lingering Souls tokens/Flickerwisp/Angels at your leisure makes it better than Rough.
Dismember: Also helps against bigcreatures.dec, whatever its incarnation in your meta.
Engineered Explosives - We can support it, so why not? Great against Bogles, Tokens, Robots, Delver, and some combo variants.
Spellskite: Ends the game for Bogles if dropped early enough. Chows down on Bolts from other decks.
Negate: Counters key cards and can’t be played around. Great vs. Planeswalkers.
Counterflux: A bit expensive, but ends Scapeshift.
Surgical Extraction: Nice against combo decks like Kiki-Pod, decks that abuse the graveyard, and decks that rely on a few key threats to win (i.e. Snapcaster Mage).
Feed the Clan: Superb with Hooting Mandrills and Snapcaster Mage. Counters 2-4 burn spells for 2 mana, or gives you the turn or 2 you need to win a race.
Batterskull: A nasty surprise that single-handedly beats Aggro decks.
As the RUG Delver archetype evoles, so must its Primer. I'll use this section to host now-defunct sections for reference and history.
While RUG Delver players have tons of options when building a deck (covered in detail below), it can't hurt for me to point out a few successful lists. I'll only include builds I consider integral to the archetype's evolution, and list them in chronological order.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
Other permanents (3)
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Garruk Relentless
Instant (17)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Burst Lightning
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
2 Deprive
1 Electrolyze
2 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
Land (21)
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
6 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Blood Moon
1 Combust
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spell Pierce
2 Threads of Disloyalty
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (15)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Forked Bolt
1 Pillar of Flame
Instant (14)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
1 Thought Scour
2 Remand
1 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Hibernation
1 Destructive Revelry
2 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Electrickery
3 Molten Rain
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Snapcaster Mage
Sorcery (13)
4 Serum Visions
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Forked Bolt
4 Treasure Cruise
Instant (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
3 Thought Scour
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Mountain
1 Savage Knuckleblade
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Deprive
1 Dispel
1 Magma Spray
2 Molten Rain
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
Naysayers cite a multitude of popular cards to make a case for the deck's irrelevance, including Kitchen Finks, Birthing Pod, Voice of Resurgence, and the aforementioned Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman. Enamored as I am with its agressive and addictive gameplan, I set out to reform RUG a few months ago, and am here to report my findings. Winning with RUG in today's meta lies with a top-down deckbuilding approach that directly addresses the strategy's inherent weaknesses. A sample list:
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Vendilion Clique
Other permanents (2)
2 Vedalken Shackles
Instants (13)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
1 Deprive
2 Electrolyze
1 Cryptic Command
4 Serum Visions
3 Pillar of Flame
Lands (21)
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
6 Island
2 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
1 Mountain
Strengths & weaknesses: adjusting RUG
Like all CounterSliver decks, RUG Delver naturally boasts favorable matchups against control and combo archetypes, but its true strength is its uncontested versatility. Depending on the matchup, Delver can play either control or aggro, sometimes even exploding into a combo finish with Snapcaster Mage and multiple Lightning Bolts. It disrupts combo strategies with counterspells, Mana Leaks midrange's costly spells, and employs its spot removal to one- and two-for-one aggro opponents into hand and board disadvantages. These strategies ideally play out to the tune of an efficient threat clocking in every turn. Tarmogoyf, the deck's premier beater, even gives the deck an edge against creature decks, which have traditionally dominated Tempo strategies with bigger dudes (read: Loxodon Smiter). I'd even argue that Delver is more about Tarmogoyf than it is about Insectile Aberration.
The deck has two major weaknesses which have kept it out of the meta for most of 2013:
1) Late/scarce clocks.
2) Problematic utility creatures.
To play RUG Delver competitively, we need to address both issues.
1) Late/scarce clocks
In metas that run more sorceries, such as those rampant with decks like UR Pyromancer Delver, BGx, and Combo, 4 Serum Visions could be enough.
The second way to address the late clock issue is simply to add more clocks. Obviously, a first-turn Delver of Secrets is the deck's ideal scenario, but we need some backup plans in case we don't draw one of our eight best threats in the opener. Vendilion Clique, while extremely powerful, doesn't come online until turn 3. Scavenging Ooze, inducted into Modern with M14, acts as Tarmogoyf 5-7 while shrinking enemy Goyfs, crippling Snapcaster and Dredge strategies, exiling Kitchen Finks, hindering Deathrite Shaman, and growing bigger than Doran, the Siege Tower, mana dependent.
Other options to explore include Young Pyromancer, the sleeper star of GP Prague, Huntmaster of the Fells, and Thrun, the Last Troll.
Running more creatures cuts back on the number of Instants and Sorceries, subsequently weakening Delver of Secrets. In many cases, a first-turn Delver eats Lightning Bolt anyway, enabling a 3/4 Tarmogoyf or growing Scavenging Ooze. The insect still flips fairly reliably, especially with Scry support, and given the deck's countermagic suite can consistently close out games on its own. In some metas, lowering the Instant and Sorcery count is a necessary evil - a threat increase is crucial to the deck's success. It also means more resilience to Abrupt Decay, since when your clock bites the dust you can just slam another one.
Having seven maindeck removal spells for R incidentally gives RUG Delver a fantastic matchup against Modern's top deck, Melira Pod, since they can rarely stick a first-turn dork. This decreases their odds of landing a turn-two Birthing Pod on the play (or at all, since you have Mana Leak online after the first turn). It also gives it an advantage against any aggro deck that runs 1- or 2-toughness creatures like Deathrite Shaman, Dark Confidant or Vault Skirge.
vs. Abrupt Decay - more threats
vs. Kitchen Finks, Deathrite Shaman, Voice of Resurgence - Pillar of Flame
vs. Birthing Pod - Pillar of Flame, Ancient Grudge in the side
vs. Loxodon Smiter, Thrun, the Last Troll, Doran, the Siege Tower, enemy Goyfs - Scavenging Ooze, Combust/Dismember in the side
These changes leave only one weak matchup - Tron. We have Blood Moon or Spreading Seas in the side, but in a Tron-heavy meta I'd say just don't play the deck. Anywhere else, it's fantastic.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
In my opinion, Geist has always been a little bit awkward paired with delver because it makes your one drop the only thing in the deck worth targeting with spot removal. In order to clear the path for geist when they land a body, it forces you to run path to exile which means less burn in your snapcaster deck. If they have an answer for path or a second blocker larger than bolt, your geist does nothing with your delvers/cliques probably in the graveyard. To address all of these issues, the lists people use to run ran steppe lynx, which I really only like in aggro decks.
and besides, I try to stick a tarmogoyf in every deck.
In regards to your list, increasing the creature count with ooze is something i've always considered but wasnt sure what I would cut. My real question about ooze is how often do you wait to cast him? do you wait until you can pump him in response to bolt? There are a lot of games where I only have access to one green mana, so he is quite vulnerable for possibly the next two turns and only if I get a chance to pay for it. I dont know how different your mana base is, but it seems like in my list he would play out much differently from goyfs 5-7, because unlike goyf, I don't necessarily know that i'm going to get to untap with him.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Jace Beleren (goes between Jace, and Garruk Relentless)
Lands (21)
1 Forest
6 Island
1 Mountain
2 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Burst Lightning
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
2 Eleztrolyze
4 Serum Visions
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Blood Moon
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Combust
1 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
I'd say no. Geist isn't amazing in Delver IMO since he requires you to tap out on turn 3, though I'll admit that he's a beast when he sticks. Dies to all sorts of blockers (Snapcaster Mage) and the 3-cost opens you up to lots of tempo-gaining plays for the opponent (Remand, etc.). Additionally, Path to Exile in a Mana Leak deck almost never works, especially when you don't have a threat online. UWR has access to less threats (unless you run Restoration Angel, but she doesn't come online until turn 4!), so that's more of an issue. And finally, it's really hard to come up with a decent UWR manabase that doesn't fold to Blood Moon. I always cream UWR with this deck.
By Tarmogoyf 5-7 I mean that he can be a big creature who's hard to deal with simply by virtue of his size. You don't mind topdecking into him late-game since he's a bomb then, not unlike our favorite creature. Delver of Secrets, in contrast, doesn't make for a great late-game threat.
In the early game against most decks, I'm not at all conservative with my Scavenging Ooze. I'll always rush him out turn 2 on the play if I don't have a boltproof Goyf or a Delver already out, and against some decks I'll bring him in on top of a Delver to race or establish a bigger board presence. I'm the same way with Delver of Secrets - I really just want to cast a threat as fast as possible and beat face with it. When you have more threats you can afford to be less careful with them, and if Ooze or Delver dies to some sort of removal, it makes Tarmogoyf that much harder to kill. As far as my manabase, I'll usually go get my Breeding Pools during the opponent's end step even if I don't have Ooze just so I can pump him up when I do. With lots of green mana available (2+) after he resolves, I'll usually pass the turn to play around Lightning Bolt, etc. Like with Tarmogoyf, there are lots of ways you can take advantage of his potential size here in response to an attempt to destroy him.
This is a great list, but it's from 2012; like I said in the OP, I'm not sure a list with so few threats and no Pillar of Flame can be successful anymore. I'll update the OP soon with some lists that have shown success, as there are a few, but the deck's mostly under the radar right now.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I can see your point about Geist, but WUR doesn't run less threats (4 Young Pyromancer, 3 Geist, 4 Delver) and it isn't any more vulnerable to Blood Moon than RUG is. It also has a better sideboard. However, I hope that you can make this work. Having more Delver decks in the meta is always a good thing to see.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Pyromancer and Delver alongside Geist? In my experience, white Delver decks want Steppe Lynx as a cheap beater. Not sure the two would play that well together in an aggro shell, but to be fair, I haven't tested it. I'd think UWR Midrange, which drops Delvers entirely, would be a safer bet for that kind of strategy.
I flat out disagree with you about the manabase though. WUR needs a much heavier investment into white than RUG does into green, and as a result, it usually can't support or deal with Blood Moon. Based on the sample lists in this WUR Delver thread, it seems like the deck never goes above 2-3 nonmountain basics.
I do like the direction Hoogland is taking the deck, but it still seems like a totally different archetype than the one we play with RUG, bearing more similarities to the control-oriented Wafo-Tapa lists. Or maybe I just hate blue decks that don't run Tarmogoyf.
Speaking of lists, I updated the primer to include some recent international finishes.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Steppe Lynx was what WUR Delver was going with, but they switched to Pyromancer when it came out. From my testing, it is a really sweet card. I can see your point about the manabase though, but I'd say that it is worth it for the stronger sideboard. But I really don't care which is better, the more Delver decks win, the better the format will be.
Edit: You should probably add the RUG Delver list that went 3-1 at two dailies. You can find it here.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
first,very sorry for my poor english,
Do you think run 3 ooze,2 shackles and 3 Pillar of Flame will reduce win rate
against combo?
i think your build takes too much slot to fight BGX Mid.if the deck lose advantage against combo,it lose its value.
this my newest list,
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Spell(26)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Izzet Charm
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Spell Pierce
2 Thought Scour
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Cryptic Command
1 Vapor Snag
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
5 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
1 Mountain
Lavamancer and Sword of Light and Shadow is my opinion.
Lavamancer is a great card against creatures base deck,and he can absorb removal to protect delver and tarmo,i also run Vapor Snag and Vines of Vastwood for the objective.
modern ban ponder and preordain,the counter spell has a hard time in delver deck,because we usually cant get a correct card at a correct time.then i run Izzet Charm.it is a pain choose.:(
Given my deep love for Tarmogoyf, I do have a preference here, but I'm with you 100% - the more viable Delver archetypes in all formats, the better! A little off-topic, but have you tried RUG in Vintage? That deck is superb, most fun I've ever had playing the format.
Lately I've gone to 2 Ooze and 1 Lavamancer, and am still testing that. I don't think the Oozes hurt against combo at all; they're great against certain combo decks (Unburial Rites, Living End, Snapcaster Mage) and help against so much else in the field besides BGx. As for the Pillars, that's why they're not Magma Spray - you can go to the head with them in G1 and then side them out after if you don't want them. But you'll even want those against certain combo decks, which can run Deathrite Shaman or Goblin Electromancer. The thing is our G1 combo matchup is still really strong, especially with 5-7 counterspells MD, and it only gets much better after siding. I think the way to go is to focus on shaping the MD so that RUG can compete against its less-than-stellar matchups, since we're not even sacrificing that much of an edge against combo and since the other decks continue to increase in popularity.
Personally I think Sword of Light and Shadow might be too mana-intensive for a 19-land list but if it works for you, by all means run it. I'd rather have another counterspell in that slot. I love it as a one-of in UR Faeries though. Depending on your meta, more Lavamancers can definitely be correct. How's Vines of Vastwood going for you? Has it been relevant? Do you frequently have access to GG? I noticed you don't run Blood Moon in your 75, so that must help for Vines, but don't you ever miss it?
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
if you tested ooze,and get a good result,i am very happy,i will change sword for ooze.^_^
about Vines of Vastwood,i test with jund and RG tron,the jund player is my friend and skilled player.he tell me his plan is kill all my threaten,especically delver.and dont race with me.then i find i need something to protect my creatures.
on the basis of t2 delvers experience,i once runned Mutagenic Growth.this card is very good against pyroclasm and has best tempo,but BGX has very various type removal ,Mutagenic Growth cant solve it.and its pump is little.
so i choose Vines of Vastwood.8 fetch allow me add GG when 4 lands,but it caues me additional damage.fortunately,if i want kick Vines when i has 4 lands,it meam opponent dont give me big pressure.
about Molten Rain and moon,GR tron always run 4 Nature's Claim in side,and i noticed Valakut deck run it in recent list.
delver can win alone against run few removal deck,side in moon will drop probability of delver filp.and moon cant win the game,if GR tron has Nature's Claim in hand ,it is very bad.(GR tron may play Claim and target own thing,it is a technique against any creatures deck,but Valakut deck cant,if i dont side in moon,game2 he has 3~4 usuless card)
last,sorry for my poor english again.
Haha stop apologizing, you're contributing and that's what counts! Something I forgot to mention about the Scavenging Ooze - I like having a couple because against combo and control you really want to apply pressure on as soon as possible, so having additional threats to slam down on turn 2 is really helpful. And against aggro, since you can burn their creatures out early, an Ooze on the table can help gain you some life (and then block their dudes!). Obviously Tarmogoyf is better in both of these roles, since he walls attackers and comes in for more damage without requiring extra mana, but we can't run more than 4. The upside is Scavenging Ooze is better against BGx, one of the archetype's worst matchups, and he also damages graveyard strategies.
If you run Mutagenic Growth, Though Scour, Serum Visions, and Gitaxian Probe, I don't see why you don't make room for Young Pyromancer. He can be great with all those cantrips, and I'm not sure there's a real benefit to running so many unless you can abuse them somehow.
And you're right about Blood Moon; it basically just slows Tron down, it doesn't win you the matchup. That's fine since your plan against Tron is just to race them. I guess with Molten Rain you can slow them down a little more (and the damage can't hurt), but Moon cripples so much in the format (UWR, Jund, Dredgevine, Rock, Melira Pod, GW Hatebears, Mill, 4c Gifts, Tokens, Eternal Command, GW Auras... etc.) that I'd rather have access to that for G2 (countered/discarded Moons even pump Tarmogoyf!). I've basically accepted Tron as a bad matchup at this point, and I think it will stay that way regardless of sideboarding until we get some more cards printed. We do have Ancient Grudge against them though, which slows them down even more, and I think just about every other matchup is favorable for RUG right now (seriously, what do we even struggle with?).
I'll try to get some matchup analyses up soon, big rush right now with midterms and papers.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Vines of Vastwood is similar to Spellskite.protect creature , disturb pump and aura.
in my test,Young Pyromancer has great power against combo,but he isnt good against other deck.we cant run ponder and preordain today. YP need more research to join any modern delver.
YP has big aggressiveness,grixis delver run dark confidant,bob can provide more hand to production token.i think it is a good idea.
I am still liking this list:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Garruk Relentless
Lands (21)
1 Forest
6 Island
1 Mountain
2 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Burst Lightning
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
2 Eleztrolyze
4 Serum Visions
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Blood Moon
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Combust
1 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
I agree with you on Blood Moon and Pillar of Flame - at least at my LGS, neither are that relevant right now. I like Spreading Seas in the sideboard with the Faeries list since it doesn't hurt Mutavault.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Shackles is rediculous. Most lists run only 1 mountain, and one forest as their only non island lands. You'll generally get 4-5 lands in a game, so you can expect to take anything with 4 power.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Shackles is incredible G1, it just blows to have it destroyed by cheap removal spells. You want to bring them out if you're expecting Ancient Grudge and friends.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gppra14/welcome#1a
RUG RUG Delver
RW Boros
G Mono-Green Stompy
In that case, this deck is being moved up to Established in 11 days.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.