I'm trying out your list on MTGO, still getting the hang of it compared to a more traditional one with snaps and such. I'm gonna bring it through a league next week though.
Great! Yea, it takes practice, and it does force you to sometimes be greedy on fetching. But Ive managed to get the hang of it.
Im not claiming it is the best list, but I have had a good amount of success with it so far (65%+ online and on paper).
But I want to say that Im only 70% sold on removing Snap from the 75. I used to run 1 before. But like I said, I am not a fan of having 1-of cards in a deck with a unique ability (unless we are playing combo).
I admit, playing without one snap is a weird feeling. But I find leaning on one snapcaster is too naive, anyways.
I have a few beefs with this list (put in 4 matches with it):
- Too many U costs. Holding up Deprive frequently means not casting any cantrips, and throwing in a cycle, Delver, or Simic is even harder. Sleight of Hand is kind of miserable for this reason and should be Traverse, which incidentally gets better with Curator and Tarfire.
- Some clunky numbers. Specifically, I think 3 Deprive are too many, 4 Denials are too many, and 2 Curators are too many. Simic is also really underwhelming in a build with such a high curve. Would run a single Snap over Curator #2 (improves Traverse better as well) and pretty much anything over the other cards.
- The Snare/Pierce split. I just don't get why run Pierce at all if you're maxing on Denials. A second Snare is probably a better if you're not running Shoals, but IMO a couple of Shoals work better here. They de-clog hands full of Deprive and Simic and help you win permission wars when you have to spend all your blue on one counterspell.
- Curve is too high. Would run an 18th land (Island or Foothills).
- How is 1 Snap "naive?" We play tons of cantrips and have always relied on one-ofs in some capacity. Snap is a card we love late and hate early. I think one is fine.
So overall Deprive did not impress me compared with Mana Leak, although I can see playing one or even two copies. Straight up swapping 3 Leak with 3 Deprive seems kind of ham-fisted to me though. You need to do a lot of work to accommodate it. There are plenty of matchups where we want both Moon and Leak post-board, for example, and that plan just doesn't work with Deprive. Additionally, the lands that make Deprive better (fastlands) make the Moon plan even worse. We really can't afford to play a second Bluff IMO.
I will say that Narnam Renegade was very impressive! Kudos to everyone for jumping on that one (especially Blaze? I think he's the one who came up with the idea).
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 agree with a lot of your points. Im willing to cut 1 deprive for a leak. And I may look into removing the split of snare and pierce. I do find both useful in different situations, though. If I were to end the split, it would be in favor of another snare.
Things I probably won't budge on are on Denial. I just find 4 very much necessary. I have rarely found drawing it or having it in hand a bad thing. Combo and spell heavy decks become so much easier to deal with with 4 denials.
Traverse has also been a clunky card in my opinion. I tried a list you had posted, many, many pages back. And after putting in many games, I just didnt enjoy it. It forced me to fetch in ways I didnt always find ideal (in the early game). Of course, the long-game appeal is big, but Im not too sure about making room for it. This may boil down to play style. Or I can be wrong.
I will look for a way to bring 1x Snap back into the fold. Not sure what I will cut in its place. I agree Simic is meh, but I just love the card. I win battles with it. I save creatures from board wipes with it. I put in extra trample damage with it. I find it indispensable.
Ive put in about 85 rated matches with the current list Im running, and about 48 matches on paper. I keep tuning it as I go along. Ill take your suggestions into consideration!
I agree with a lot of your points. Im willing to cut 1 deprive for a leak. And I may look into removing the split of snare and pierce. I do find both useful in different situations, though. If I were to end the split, it would be in favor of another snare.
Things I probably won't budge on are on Denial. I just find 4 very much necessary. I have rarely found drawing it or having it in hand a bad thing. Combo and spell heavy decks become so much easier to deal with with 4 denials.
Traverse has also been a clunky card in my opinion. I tried a list you had posted, many, many pages back. And after putting in many games, I just didnt enjoy it. It forced me to fetch in ways I didnt always find ideal (in the early game). Of course, the long-game appeal is big, but Im not too sure about making room for it. This may boil down to play style. Or I can be wrong.
I will look for a way to bring 1x Snap back into the fold. Not sure what I will cut in its place. I agree Simic is meh, but I just love the card. I win battles with it. I save creatures from board wipes with it. I put in extra trample damage with it. I find it indispensable.
Ive put in about 85 rated matches with the current list Im running, and about 48 matches on paper. I keep tuning it as I go along. Ill take your suggestions into consideration!
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.
So what's the consensus? 1-2 Narnam Renegade? And cutting snapcasters for them? I suppose I will finally have to give them a spin.
I ran 1 snap before and made space by removing him and another card. Though like I said before, I am not 100% sold on removing snap from the 75. So far, its been fine, and I cant remember games from recent memory where I really wanted him but drew Narnam instead. Again, with only 1 snap in the deck, you rarely draw him in most games, anyways.
I tried the deprive list for maybe 10 matches. Deprive felt great, without blood moon. With blood moon it seemed almost impossible to cast unless you got a perfect setup, which normally you were blocked off from green for aggressively fetching islands I like the idea, but it made the deck feel super clunky. Also I understand that you dont normally want Leak in the late game, but this deck thrives in turns 1-6, I feel like if we are being brought into the late game with a grindier deck we just cant out grind game 1.
Now I feel like I need to put the Renegades in here, probably get rid of either the charm or the snag, and the roast for the other. Shoal I feel like is great against fast linear decks (has won me games against burn, and bushwacker zoo). Threads is also great against DSJ or other goyf decks where you might not want blood moon in. So far this has been the most consistant lists I have toyed with, where it felt like each lost was on me (except for eldrazi, but I feel like that is just a horrible matchup). What are your guys thoughts on this list?
I tend to side-out Deprive when Blood Moon comes into play. It actually affords me less intrusive side-boarding actions by being able to swap one with the other. Blood Moon tends to grind games anyway, where leak is very weak.
So what's the consensus? 1-2 Narnam Renegade? And cutting snapcasters for them? I suppose I will finally have to give them a spin.
I ran 1 snap before and made space by removing him and another card. Though like I said before, I am not 100% sold on removing snap from the 75. So far, its been fine, and I cant remember games from recent memory where I really wanted him but drew Narnam instead. Again, with only 1 snap in the deck, you rarely draw him in most games, anyways.
I have been trying a single Renegade over my second Snapcaster.
I haven't been running it for very long (around a week I think), so I don't have much to go off of, but I went out of my way to test Renegade vs Snapcaster in the Death's Shadow Jund matchup.
After roughly 50 games (preboard and on the play), I had 4 data points. I was initially going to test on the play/draw pre and post board, but it took far too long to actually get data. I looked for games in which I won/lost due to having one creature over the other. Out of 50 games, it only mattered 4 times. Each of those times, Snapcaster led to a win for us, and having Renegade caused a loss. The Snapcaster wins were due to getting Traverse for Snap- Bolt-Snap-Bolt for reach, Snap-Traverse to find better threats, Snap-Snag to get enough attackers for an alpha-strike, and Snap-Shoal.
I don't think a sample size of 4 cases in which Snapcaster was better than Renegade is relevant. I find it interesting that in only 4 games did I both find Snap/Renegade and care which the card was. This leads me to believe that in the DSJ matchup (at least, preboard and on the play), it isn't very important which you play.
I've also started testing Snapcaster vs Renegade against Bant Eldrazi, but data collection for this is extremely slow. For now, I'll keep my 1/1 split and hopefully get some insight while I just play matches on xmage.
I think that deck is aiming to play a slightly slower and more midrangey plan than most of the lists here. The biggest difference (at least preboard) is favouring Serpent over Mandrills.
Serpent was rejected rather quickly here, likely because we are used to playing a threat early, and backing it up. Serpent doesn't fit that plan. Serpent is more conducive to playing a bunch of spells, and then slamming your threat. It also packs Trample, which makes it less aggressive than Mandrills. It is more resilient due to having a fifth point of toughness.
I think my main concern with Serpent is the UU. You will either have to fetch aggressively for shocks, or put the shields down when you cast it. This is similar to running Deprive (although, you probably can't support both). I don't like it because I tend to fetch conservatively (watching Blaze's stream tends to freak me out because of how differently lists with Deprive fetch), getting at least some basics to keep my life stable.
I was kind of shocked by the THIRTEEN COUNTERS, but 3 are Censor, which is basically acting as a cantrip I believe. I still don't like how little removal that deck has though. 4 Bolts and 2 Snags seems very light, even with 2 Snapcasters.
The last thing that jumps out at me is the presence of 4 Remand. People here really don't tend to like it, and our lists are faster than that one. It doesn't seem great to me there, but maybe delaying until you land your 6/5 is good. It's probably far worse against aggro decks that will replay the spell (and, once again, lack of removal hurts).
I think that deck is aiming to play a slightly slower and more midrangey plan than most of the lists here. The biggest difference (at least preboard) is favouring Serpent over Mandrills.
Serpent was rejected rather quickly here, likely because we are used to playing a threat early, and backing it up. Serpent doesn't fit that plan. Serpent is more conducive to playing a bunch of spells, and then slamming your threat.
So, Death's Shadow Jund? This deck looks miserable IMO.
And I hear you about the Blaze stream, I watched a couple games and was reeling from his fetching 😂
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.
Actually, yeah. It probably plays a lot like a Death's Shadow deck (or even Grixis Delver). Maybe more than it does a tempo deck.
I think the way you have to fetch is the biggest thing stopping me from playing Deprive. Usually you'd swap them with Blood Moon, but there are matchups (Ad Naus) where they will clash. Running a split of Deprive/Leak probably leads to having games where you fetched for one, drew the other and either lost life or can't cast your counter.
And as much as I'd like to test the difference, trying to factor in how many games you lose due to how you fetch to play around your Deprives (ex: not being able to stabilize because you fetched two shocks instead of one and a basic, but surviving and winning if you fetch conservatively) seems tedious and miserable. I might try to do it anyway, but until the meta shifts, I think limited testing time should go to Renegade instead.
Running a split of Deprive/Leak probably leads to having games where you fetched for one, drew the other and either lost life or can't cast your counter.
I can't understand what you mean here: you usually fetch according to what you have in hand. In any case by turn three you should have UU anyway often with a basic available for bounce. Can you make an example of a wrong way of fetching?
Loosing life in many matches (either due to fetching for shock or to bounce a shock) is more than acceptable if you manage to get rid of a menace imho.
I can see instead the moon-deprive clash.
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Running a split of Deprive/Leak probably leads to having games where you fetched for one, drew the other and either lost life or can't cast your counter.
I can't understand what you mean here: you usually fetch according to what you have in hand. In any case by turn three you should have UU anyway often with a basic available for bounce. Can you make an example of a wrong way of fetching?
Loosing life in many matches (either due to fetching for shock or to bounce a shock) is more than acceptable if you manage to get rid of a menace imho.
I can see instead the moon-deprive clash.
I keep plenty of hands with just two lands, or one land plus Serum Visions/Traverse. There are many games where you find your third land drop quite late, or not at all. With these, you either lose out on UU, or you have to fetch Steam Vents and Breeding Pool, which can really hurt against aggressive decks.
I will make up a super contrived scenario to demonstrate what I am thinking of. I have no idea how often this kind of thing happens in games, and it absolutely doesn't prove my point due to how rare it could be.
Let's say our opening seven is two fetches, Mandrills, Scour, Bolt, Leak, and Denial. You play a fetch and pass. The opponent plays a Goblin Guide that you Bolt, getting a Steam Vents.
What do you fetch now? You can Scour, get a Green source and play Mandrills, or hold up Leak. Either way, you should probably get an untapped land. So, do you get a Basic Forest or a Breeding Pool? You don't really need UU or UR yet, so you could save yourself some life. But if you draw Deprive later, you might not be able to cast it.
Also, if we are playing Deprive over Leak entirely, Deprive is in our hand instead. You probably get the Breeding Pool, taking some extra damage. That may very well cost you the game.
In a certain percentage of games, you will lose due to having to shock due to running Deprive (or just not being able to cast it, or some other U spell because your mana was spoken for that turn). In a certain percentage of games, you will lose due to Mana Leak not countering something late. My worry with Deprive is whether or not people have considered losing due to shocking because you could lose the game (due to running Deprive over Leak) even if you don't see the card.
Running a split of Deprive/Leak probably leads to having games where you fetched for one, drew the other and either lost life or can't cast your counter.
I can't understand what you mean here: you usually fetch according to what you have in hand. In any case by turn three you should have UU anyway often with a basic available for bounce. Can you make an example of a wrong way of fetching?
Loosing life in many matches (either due to fetching for shock or to bounce a shock) is more than acceptable if you manage to get rid of a menace imho.
I can see instead the moon-deprive clash.
Again with about 100 matches played for myself, I find Deprive just fine. Fetching to 14-16 life is common in most games, so Im not afraid of it. Matches where life total is a lot more important (like Burn) I usually get rid of Deprive anyways. Same for super aggro decks where the tempo loss is not justifiable or in my favor, and my other answers are more efficient anyways.
Again, this might boil down to playstyle, or bias.
As for fastlands, I like my 1-of right now. Though I could see running another wooded foothills in its place.
And Ill circle back to inst/sorc cut-offs. What are your cut-offs for inst/sorc in the main? (asking everyone). I think 27 is bare minimum.
Great! Yea, it takes practice, and it does force you to sometimes be greedy on fetching. But Ive managed to get the hang of it.
Im not claiming it is the best list, but I have had a good amount of success with it so far (65%+ online and on paper).
But I want to say that Im only 70% sold on removing Snap from the 75. I used to run 1 before. But like I said, I am not a fan of having 1-of cards in a deck with a unique ability (unless we are playing combo).
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
- Too many U costs. Holding up Deprive frequently means not casting any cantrips, and throwing in a cycle, Delver, or Simic is even harder. Sleight of Hand is kind of miserable for this reason and should be Traverse, which incidentally gets better with Curator and Tarfire.
- Some clunky numbers. Specifically, I think 3 Deprive are too many, 4 Denials are too many, and 2 Curators are too many. Simic is also really underwhelming in a build with such a high curve. Would run a single Snap over Curator #2 (improves Traverse better as well) and pretty much anything over the other cards.
- The Snare/Pierce split. I just don't get why run Pierce at all if you're maxing on Denials. A second Snare is probably a better if you're not running Shoals, but IMO a couple of Shoals work better here. They de-clog hands full of Deprive and Simic and help you win permission wars when you have to spend all your blue on one counterspell.
- Curve is too high. Would run an 18th land (Island or Foothills).
- How is 1 Snap "naive?" We play tons of cantrips and have always relied on one-ofs in some capacity. Snap is a card we love late and hate early. I think one is fine.
So overall Deprive did not impress me compared with Mana Leak, although I can see playing one or even two copies. Straight up swapping 3 Leak with 3 Deprive seems kind of ham-fisted to me though. You need to do a lot of work to accommodate it. There are plenty of matchups where we want both Moon and Leak post-board, for example, and that plan just doesn't work with Deprive. Additionally, the lands that make Deprive better (fastlands) make the Moon plan even worse. We really can't afford to play a second Bluff IMO.
I will say that Narnam Renegade was very impressive! Kudos to everyone for jumping on that one (especially Blaze? I think he's the one who came up with the idea).
Kovo, here is my "fixed" version of your build:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
2 Narnam Renegade
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Curator of Mysteries
Instant (20)
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Tarfire
3 Stubborn Denial
1 Spell Snare
2 Deprive
1 Mana Leak
2 Disrupting Shoal
1 Simic Charm
4 Serum Visions
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
// 18 Land
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Blood Moon
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Dismember
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I agree with a lot of your points. Im willing to cut 1 deprive for a leak. And I may look into removing the split of snare and pierce. I do find both useful in different situations, though. If I were to end the split, it would be in favor of another snare.
Things I probably won't budge on are on Denial. I just find 4 very much necessary. I have rarely found drawing it or having it in hand a bad thing. Combo and spell heavy decks become so much easier to deal with with 4 denials.
Traverse has also been a clunky card in my opinion. I tried a list you had posted, many, many pages back. And after putting in many games, I just didnt enjoy it. It forced me to fetch in ways I didnt always find ideal (in the early game). Of course, the long-game appeal is big, but Im not too sure about making room for it. This may boil down to play style. Or I can be wrong.
I will look for a way to bring 1x Snap back into the fold. Not sure what I will cut in its place. I agree Simic is meh, but I just love the card. I win battles with it. I save creatures from board wipes with it. I put in extra trample damage with it. I find it indispensable.
Ive put in about 85 rated matches with the current list Im running, and about 48 matches on paper. I keep tuning it as I go along. Ill take your suggestions into consideration!
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
I agree with a lot of your points. Im willing to cut 1 deprive for a leak. And I may look into removing the split of snare and pierce. I do find both useful in different situations, though. If I were to end the split, it would be in favor of another snare.
Things I probably won't budge on are on Denial. I just find 4 very much necessary. I have rarely found drawing it or having it in hand a bad thing. Combo and spell heavy decks become so much easier to deal with with 4 denials.
Traverse has also been a clunky card in my opinion. I tried a list you had posted, many, many pages back. And after putting in many games, I just didnt enjoy it. It forced me to fetch in ways I didnt always find ideal (in the early game). Of course, the long-game appeal is big, but Im not too sure about making room for it. This may boil down to play style. Or I can be wrong.
I will look for a way to bring 1x Snap back into the fold. Not sure what I will cut in its place. I agree Simic is meh, but I just love the card. I win battles with it. I save creatures from board wipes with it. I put in extra trample damage with it. I find it indispensable.
Ive put in about 85 rated matches with the current list Im running, and about 48 matches on paper. I keep tuning it as I go along. Ill take your suggestions into consideration!
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I was shell-shocked at that fact.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
I ran 1 snap before and made space by removing him and another card. Though like I said before, I am not 100% sold on removing snap from the 75. So far, its been fine, and I cant remember games from recent memory where I really wanted him but drew Narnam instead. Again, with only 1 snap in the deck, you rarely draw him in most games, anyways.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
This is where I am now:
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Hooting Mandrills
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Snare
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Tarfire
4 Thought Scour
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Vapor Snag
2 Disrupting Shoal
3 Mana Leak
1 Roast
1 Simic Charm
1 Forest
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
2 Pyroclasm
3 Blood Moon
2 Threads of Disloyalty
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
Now I feel like I need to put the Renegades in here, probably get rid of either the charm or the snag, and the roast for the other. Shoal I feel like is great against fast linear decks (has won me games against burn, and bushwacker zoo). Threads is also great against DSJ or other goyf decks where you might not want blood moon in. So far this has been the most consistant lists I have toyed with, where it felt like each lost was on me (except for eldrazi, but I feel like that is just a horrible matchup). What are your guys thoughts on this list?
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
I have been trying a single Renegade over my second Snapcaster.
I haven't been running it for very long (around a week I think), so I don't have much to go off of, but I went out of my way to test Renegade vs Snapcaster in the Death's Shadow Jund matchup.
After roughly 50 games (preboard and on the play), I had 4 data points. I was initially going to test on the play/draw pre and post board, but it took far too long to actually get data. I looked for games in which I won/lost due to having one creature over the other. Out of 50 games, it only mattered 4 times. Each of those times, Snapcaster led to a win for us, and having Renegade caused a loss. The Snapcaster wins were due to getting Traverse for Snap- Bolt-Snap-Bolt for reach, Snap-Traverse to find better threats, Snap-Snag to get enough attackers for an alpha-strike, and Snap-Shoal.
I don't think a sample size of 4 cases in which Snapcaster was better than Renegade is relevant. I find it interesting that in only 4 games did I both find Snap/Renegade and care which the card was. This leads me to believe that in the DSJ matchup (at least, preboard and on the play), it isn't very important which you play.
I've also started testing Snapcaster vs Renegade against Bant Eldrazi, but data collection for this is extremely slow. For now, I'll keep my 1/1 split and hopefully get some insight while I just play matches on xmage.
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
https://redd.it/691hnf
They seem to be going in a completely different direction with the deck, what are your guys thoughts
Serpent was rejected rather quickly here, likely because we are used to playing a threat early, and backing it up. Serpent doesn't fit that plan. Serpent is more conducive to playing a bunch of spells, and then slamming your threat. It also packs Trample, which makes it less aggressive than Mandrills. It is more resilient due to having a fifth point of toughness.
I think my main concern with Serpent is the UU. You will either have to fetch aggressively for shocks, or put the shields down when you cast it. This is similar to running Deprive (although, you probably can't support both). I don't like it because I tend to fetch conservatively (watching Blaze's stream tends to freak me out because of how differently lists with Deprive fetch), getting at least some basics to keep my life stable.
I was kind of shocked by the THIRTEEN COUNTERS, but 3 are Censor, which is basically acting as a cantrip I believe. I still don't like how little removal that deck has though. 4 Bolts and 2 Snags seems very light, even with 2 Snapcasters.
The last thing that jumps out at me is the presence of 4 Remand. People here really don't tend to like it, and our lists are faster than that one. It doesn't seem great to me there, but maybe delaying until you land your 6/5 is good. It's probably far worse against aggro decks that will replay the spell (and, once again, lack of removal hurts).
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
And I hear you about the Blaze stream, I watched a couple games and was reeling from his fetching 😂
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I think the way you have to fetch is the biggest thing stopping me from playing Deprive. Usually you'd swap them with Blood Moon, but there are matchups (Ad Naus) where they will clash. Running a split of Deprive/Leak probably leads to having games where you fetched for one, drew the other and either lost life or can't cast your counter.
And as much as I'd like to test the difference, trying to factor in how many games you lose due to how you fetch to play around your Deprives (ex: not being able to stabilize because you fetched two shocks instead of one and a basic, but surviving and winning if you fetch conservatively) seems tedious and miserable. I might try to do it anyway, but until the meta shifts, I think limited testing time should go to Renegade instead.
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
I can't understand what you mean here: you usually fetch according to what you have in hand. In any case by turn three you should have UU anyway often with a basic available for bounce. Can you make an example of a wrong way of fetching?
Loosing life in many matches (either due to fetching for shock or to bounce a shock) is more than acceptable if you manage to get rid of a menace imho.
I can see instead the moon-deprive clash.
Modern:
I keep plenty of hands with just two lands, or one land plus Serum Visions/Traverse. There are many games where you find your third land drop quite late, or not at all. With these, you either lose out on UU, or you have to fetch Steam Vents and Breeding Pool, which can really hurt against aggressive decks.
I will make up a super contrived scenario to demonstrate what I am thinking of. I have no idea how often this kind of thing happens in games, and it absolutely doesn't prove my point due to how rare it could be.
Let's say our opening seven is two fetches, Mandrills, Scour, Bolt, Leak, and Denial. You play a fetch and pass. The opponent plays a Goblin Guide that you Bolt, getting a Steam Vents.
What do you fetch now? You can Scour, get a Green source and play Mandrills, or hold up Leak. Either way, you should probably get an untapped land. So, do you get a Basic Forest or a Breeding Pool? You don't really need UU or UR yet, so you could save yourself some life. But if you draw Deprive later, you might not be able to cast it.
Also, if we are playing Deprive over Leak entirely, Deprive is in our hand instead. You probably get the Breeding Pool, taking some extra damage. That may very well cost you the game.
In a certain percentage of games, you will lose due to having to shock due to running Deprive (or just not being able to cast it, or some other U spell because your mana was spoken for that turn). In a certain percentage of games, you will lose due to Mana Leak not countering something late. My worry with Deprive is whether or not people have considered losing due to shocking because you could lose the game (due to running Deprive over Leak) even if you don't see the card.
Interested in RUG (Temur) Delver in Modern? Find gameplay with live commentary at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UcKe8jVh1e2N4CHbd3fhg
Again with about 100 matches played for myself, I find Deprive just fine. Fetching to 14-16 life is common in most games, so Im not afraid of it. Matches where life total is a lot more important (like Burn) I usually get rid of Deprive anyways. Same for super aggro decks where the tempo loss is not justifiable or in my favor, and my other answers are more efficient anyways.
Again, this might boil down to playstyle, or bias.
As for fastlands, I like my 1-of right now. Though I could see running another wooded foothills in its place.
And Ill circle back to inst/sorc cut-offs. What are your cut-offs for inst/sorc in the main? (asking everyone). I think 27 is bare minimum.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver