Usually against jund you consider hexdrinker a 4cmc creature so you cast it only when it's safely upgradable. You never cast it if W6 is on the table nor turn one on the draw if you don't have FoN or another threat to replace it.
Jund has really few problems dealing with our threats. We have to find the right window and sequence to deploy them (as you tought us in many of your articles). Having the option to play a wanna-be mini progenitus is good in any case.
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Decks played: Modern:
0 Affinity;
URG Delver
URGW Countercats
(Here you can find some video contents about Countercats and Temur Delver decks)
Whew! Good night at Monday Modern! Went 2-0-1 with the Hexdrinker build. Didn't get a huge sampling of opponents, played UW Control twice, and Izzet Phoenix. Biggest Takeaway - Cindervines is an all-star. Hexdrinker puts in work, as expected, and for the itme being I'll be keeping it.
Match 1 vs UW Control 1-1-1
Game 1 I won. I was pretty explosive, getting OP dead fast with a delver and a Goyf and keeping their planeswalkers off the board with Force and some regular counters.
Game 2 went of forever(!!), then I lost. My deck just ran out of gas. Cindervines put in so much work, I never drew my Fry, Veil did it's job protecting a goyf from a Snap'd in Path, but once OP got their planeswalkers down, they kept bouncing my creatures and were just able to grind me out and get in with Colonnades.
-1 Dismember
-1 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
+2 Cindervines
+1 Fry
+1 Veil of Summer
Game 3 - same sideboard plan. Was basically playing out the same, but we quickly went to turns because game 2 took so long.
Match 2 vs UW Control w/ Monastery Mentor 2-1
Game 1 I lost. Mentor was a surprise addition and I just didn't have the answers I needed. Mentor won that game.
Game 2 I won with this plan:
-1 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
-1 Opt
+2 Cindervines
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Fry
+1 Veil of Summer
Again, Cindervines did a ton of work, OP was getting screwed on lands, and I got there with Goyf and Delver.
Game 3 was VERY close. This deck is not good at coming back from behind (that's the nature of a tempo deck, I guess), and thanks to Cindervines and an explosive opening with Goyf and Delver I got him down very low. Vines kept pinging away as he cast Teferis and Jace to bounce my creatures, there was a big counter war over some snapcasters and lightening bolts, then I manage to top deck a lone tarfire when he was at 2 and with no counter magic up. It was a lucky win.
Match 3 vs. Izzet Phoenix 2-0
I won games 1 and 2 very easily. Had some amazing opening hands with Delver and then a turn 2 Hexdrinker that I leveled up quickly in game 1 while I counters all of OP's spells (I learned a while back that Manamorphose is always the spell to counter), and dismembered their Thing in the Ice. Then game 2 I dropped a hexdrinker turn 1 and cindervines turn 2 and won without a chellenge.
+2 Cindervines
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Fry
-1 Dismember
-1 Simic Charm
-1 opt
-1 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Tarfire
My faith in this deck is restored, though it was against a sampling of 2 decks. What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.
Agreed on Hexdrinker being a 4cmc creature against W6 decks.
Played 2x Wrenn and Six tonight, and it was great. Went 1-2-1 overall, which isn't great, but the losses were in very close games against Dredge and Jund. The draw was against a very slow GDS player after a G2 where I ulted a W6, had Blood Moon out, but couldn't find a Bolt to retrace for a long time. G3 got 2 turns in before they called turns. I was in okay shape and it was 50/50.
Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.
Seasoned Pyromancer is much better than Narset when it comes to grind. Since it draws you cards, hits the opponent, transforms useless cards into tokens and comes back from gy.
Just a question: how could veil protect your goyf from path?
Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.
You did play against the best decks for W6 to shine. I'd like to know how they perform in other MUs. Glad that we have another option though.
My faith in this deck is restored, though it was against a sampling of 2 decks. What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.
I asked in the discord about Cindervines against UW, but you answered my question here. Good to know.
And for Narset: I'm running one in the board for now, though I have had 2 in the past. I think it's great against UW because the static messes up some of their sequencing. It's hard to tell because it's not actively countering anything. But I think it's great as an engine they can't just answer. UW has a very hard time against it. Phoenix can burn it, but you just cast it and don't activate it right away and then they have to use 2 spells on it. You can activate it when you untap and have the mana to protect it.
Quote from Mikefon »
You did play against the best decks for W6 to shine. I'd like to know how they perform in other MUs. Glad that we have another option though.
True, true. GDS and Jund are both decks where a card advantage engine helps out a ton, like Huntmaster in the older builds. Other decks you want that kind of engine are any flavor of Control or midrange. But you also want the card against go wide creature strategies. The fact that you've got both of those on the same 2 mana card that doesn't die to most easy removal and also wins the game if they cant deal with it is huge to me.
You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.
I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.
I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.
Agree that we have to play Wrenn, it's so good. Skeptics: check out my article for more. Also it's similar to Bauble in that it doesn't have apparent synergy with Delver, but the two work together in not-unfriendly ways. If Delver won't flip, for example, having a recurring scry effect thanks to the replayed fetchland can generate some important value over multiple turns.
With Wrenn in the deck I think you need FL to turn the fetches into real cards. The exception is if you have a high curve or mana-intensive gameplan to play towards, which we don't.
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 had the Delver pseudo scry feth loop going with Wrenn and Six last night, the first time I ever cast it. Cool effect as it marches up to emblem.
I'm going to try out 2 Looting for next week. I'll be down to 24 blue cards, and becausebim playing a set of Forces, I don't want to go lower.
The only real mana intensive play in my build is Hexdrinker, but even then I only need 5 lands to be able to cast it and having it swing at level 8 next turn.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm off Looting and back on Sleight of Hand. The card disadvantage is already real when playing Force, plus extra blue cards feels good. We also do have a mana sink in Hexdrinker to make use of the extra lands Wrenn gets.
Moreover, the Wrenn and Six ultimate is super fun and not all that difficult to achieve in grindy games. You either win very soon with Bolts, or you get to do sweet stuff like pitch a land to counter a spell. I've also found a pair of Magmatic Sinkhole to be very good. I'm off Tarfire for now because Wrenn is filling some of that role, and there are more things Sinkhole kills that Tarfire doesn't touch. Think walkers, Thing, TKS, etc.
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Oof, another disappointing night with some VERY close games that I just didn't have the luck to win. Went 1-2 overall with a list that has been feeling good:
Match 1 vs. UW Control 2-0
I'm starting to think UW Control is a good match-up for us, with us being slightly favored. We don't have the stamina to win the long game, but most of our tools are prime for dealing with their walkers, and then we just need to avoid some Paths to win.
-1 Spell Snare
-2 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
+2 Cindervines
+1 Narset
+1 Veil of Summer
+1 Fry
Match 2 vs. Izzet Phoenix 0-2
Game one was an utter blowout - My Delvers and Hexdrinkers couldn't stick - getting pinged off with Lava Darts, then I had a handful of counter spells that couldn't actually deal with their Phoenixes and OP just bashe din for the win. Game 2 was very close, coming down to my 1 life vs OP's 2 life. I just couldn't draw into anything to finish them off with and they won.
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Vapor Snag (really should have left this in!)
-2 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Opt
+1 Fry
+2 Cindervines
+1 Narset
+1 Surgical (Should have brought in both)
Match 3 vs Mono-Green Tron 2-1
Tron is a tough matchup game 1 unless we get a hold of all our hard counters. I got stomped, couldn't deal with their Karn, then a Wurmcoil won.
Game 2 I brought in all the anti-Tron tools:
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Cindervines
+2 Ceremonious Rejection
+1 Abrade
-3 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Spell Snare
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
This game I was able to win pretty quickly with a Goyf and a flipped Delver.
The Game 3 we had a lot of back and forth, but my opponent just had so much mana to use. I blew up a Wurmcoil, but then he cast another, essentially putting 3 wurms on board, I blew up the new Wurm, bounced a lifelink token, but it was just too overwhelming - I never found my Echoing Truth, which would have been the only thing to help me.
Over all I found Tron to be a pretty annoying match up. They trample us unless we have exactly the right counter magic at exactly the right time. I didn't have enough in my deck to deal with the wurmcoils. I don't know if I'd change anything in my deck right now though. Sinkhole was flexible and great, I think my sideboard covers a lot of ground. I just didn't get good draws all evening. The last two matches could have gone either way if things were just a little different. And Hexdrinker feels very weak against the new Phoenix configuration with Lava Darts. I think Simic Charm should be swapped for something else, since I never use it Possible either a Mana Leak or a Spell Pierce - I'd like to be able to deal with more creatures on the stack, so I'm leaning towards Leak. Thoughts?
Sorry for not being able to relpy as often as I would have liked, but I was on vacation for the last couple of weekends. Before I went, however, I did manage to play in a five round tournament to a mediocre finish of 3-2. Same list as before with the Wrenn and Six's in the side board. My two loses were to Thing in the Ice.dec, one being UR Phoenix and the other being UR Temur Battle Rage. I've had trouble with this card in the past, but the three Vapor Snags and a single Dismember managed to barely pull me through. I think I'm going to replace the Burst Lightning with a second Dismember and see how that feels before drastically changing anything.
@CatParty: I don't hate the addition of adding a third Mana Leak to the board as I've always liked having at least three two mana counterspells in the deck. In a way, I like how well Simic Charm is posistioned right now if UR Pheniox is going to be becoming more previlent in the meta moving forward. You could shave a land, but that's always dangerous depanding on the number of cantrips are in the deck, and with seven cantrips in yours I'm not so sure. Other than that the only cards I see removing for the third Mana Leak would be the Simic Charm or Echoing Truth.
The Royal Scions with our creatures are very crazy. First strike and trample on Tarmogoyf looks very strong
He also fills the graveyard with cards for Tarmogoyf, Dreadhorde and Magmatic Sinkhole
Hey all,
I’m new to the deck and have just bought in on paper, after having practiced some against friends as well as online. I’m definitely a fan of the (MikePemulis/stubb list) 4 Hexdrinker 2 W6 4 Force of Negation package, and over the next few months I’ll be doing some bouncing around European events playing primarily this in modern.
Mostly I am interested in what our sideboard should look like considering the hogaak + Phoenix ban. I’ve moved up an Ancient Grudge as a hedge against Whirza.
The Royal Scions looks interesting but I don’t know if there’s room for a planeswalker on 3 in this list. Also reduces possible delver flips?
Hey all,
I’m new to the deck and have just bought in on paper, after having practiced some against friends as well as online. I’m definitely a fan of the (MikePemulis/stubb list) 4 Hexdrinker 2 W6 4 Force of Negation package, and over the next few months I’ll be doing some bouncing around European events playing primarily this in modern.
Mostly I am interested in what our sideboard should look like considering the hogaak + Phoenix ban. I’ve moved up an Ancient Grudge as a hedge against Whirza.
The Royal Scions looks interesting but I don’t know if there’s room for a planeswalker on 3 in this list. Also reduces possible delver flips?
Welcome to the fold! Unfortunately most conversation in this thread has dried but, but the RUG Delver appreciation is alive and well in our discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/az5NdDz. Come an join us - there's daily conversation about the deck there and people are very friendly.
They still get a 3/3, but us not being down a card is huge. We can also grow our own guys in a pinch (Snapcaster? Goyfs when they have RIP?), and it grows Goyf if milled or discarded. Also critical that it doesn't rely on the GY, unlike Magmatic Sinkhole. What do you guys think?
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.
They still get a 3/3, but us not being down a card is huge. We can also grow our own guys in a pinch (Snapcaster? Goyfs when they have RIP?), and it grows Goyf if milled or discarded. Also critical that it doesn't rely on the GY, unlike Magmatic Sinkhole. What do you guys think?
I want to like this a lot, it does things for us (Feed da goyf!), but I just wish it either had flash, or was UG, for pitching reasons. I just don't know where I'd slot this in since it's not blue for pitching, and it's not an instant/sorcery for Delver. I wouldn't play this over sinkhole - I've been using the latter to actually take out walkers a lot lately. I'm also interested in testing out Oko, Scions, and Brazen Borrower, and I'll probably need to test them one at a time to not corrupt the necessary ratios in the deck.
Jund has really few problems dealing with our threats. We have to find the right window and sequence to deploy them (as you tought us in many of your articles). Having the option to play a wanna-be mini progenitus is good in any case.
Modern:
The Build:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Hexdrinker
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Snapcaster mage
SPELLS
3 Opt
4 lightning bolt
4 serum visions
2 tarfire
3 Disrupting Shoal
3 Force of Negation
1 Echoing truth
2 Vapor Snag
2 mana leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Simic Charm
1 Dismember
2 steam vents
1 Breeding Pool
2 island
1 mountain
1 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Wooded Foothills
4 scalding tarn
1 stomping ground
2 Blood Moon
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Cindervines
1 Abrade
1 Weather the Storm
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Veil of Summer
1 Fry
1 Basilisk Collar
Match 1 vs UW Control 1-1-1
Game 1 I won. I was pretty explosive, getting OP dead fast with a delver and a Goyf and keeping their planeswalkers off the board with Force and some regular counters.
Game 2 went of forever(!!), then I lost. My deck just ran out of gas. Cindervines put in so much work, I never drew my Fry, Veil did it's job protecting a goyf from a Snap'd in Path, but once OP got their planeswalkers down, they kept bouncing my creatures and were just able to grind me out and get in with Colonnades.
-1 Dismember
-1 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
+2 Cindervines
+1 Fry
+1 Veil of Summer
Game 3 - same sideboard plan. Was basically playing out the same, but we quickly went to turns because game 2 took so long.
Match 2 vs UW Control w/ Monastery Mentor 2-1
Game 1 I lost. Mentor was a surprise addition and I just didn't have the answers I needed. Mentor won that game.
Game 2 I won with this plan:
-1 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
-1 Opt
+2 Cindervines
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Fry
+1 Veil of Summer
Again, Cindervines did a ton of work, OP was getting screwed on lands, and I got there with Goyf and Delver.
Game 3 was VERY close. This deck is not good at coming back from behind (that's the nature of a tempo deck, I guess), and thanks to Cindervines and an explosive opening with Goyf and Delver I got him down very low. Vines kept pinging away as he cast Teferis and Jace to bounce my creatures, there was a big counter war over some snapcasters and lightening bolts, then I manage to top deck a lone tarfire when he was at 2 and with no counter magic up. It was a lucky win.
Match 3 vs. Izzet Phoenix 2-0
I won games 1 and 2 very easily. Had some amazing opening hands with Delver and then a turn 2 Hexdrinker that I leveled up quickly in game 1 while I counters all of OP's spells (I learned a while back that Manamorphose is always the spell to counter), and dismembered their Thing in the Ice. Then game 2 I dropped a hexdrinker turn 1 and cindervines turn 2 and won without a chellenge.
+2 Cindervines
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Fry
-1 Dismember
-1 Simic Charm
-1 opt
-1 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Tarfire
My faith in this deck is restored, though it was against a sampling of 2 decks. What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Played 2x Wrenn and Six tonight, and it was great. Went 1-2-1 overall, which isn't great, but the losses were in very close games against Dredge and Jund. The draw was against a very slow GDS player after a G2 where I ulted a W6, had Blood Moon out, but couldn't find a Bolt to retrace for a long time. G3 got 2 turns in before they called turns. I was in okay shape and it was 50/50.
Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Just a question: how could veil protect your goyf from path?
You did play against the best decks for W6 to shine. I'd like to know how they perform in other MUs. Glad that we have another option though.
Modern:
I asked in the discord about Cindervines against UW, but you answered my question here. Good to know.
And for Narset: I'm running one in the board for now, though I have had 2 in the past. I think it's great against UW because the static messes up some of their sequencing. It's hard to tell because it's not actively countering anything. But I think it's great as an engine they can't just answer. UW has a very hard time against it. Phoenix can burn it, but you just cast it and don't activate it right away and then they have to use 2 spells on it. You can activate it when you untap and have the mana to protect it.
True, true. GDS and Jund are both decks where a card advantage engine helps out a ton, like Huntmaster in the older builds. Other decks you want that kind of engine are any flavor of Control or midrange. But you also want the card against go wide creature strategies. The fact that you've got both of those on the same 2 mana card that doesn't die to most easy removal and also wins the game if they cant deal with it is huge to me.
You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.
I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
With Wrenn in the deck I think you need FL to turn the fetches into real cards. The exception is if you have a high curve or mana-intensive gameplan to play towards, which we don't.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I'm going to try out 2 Looting for next week. I'll be down to 24 blue cards, and becausebim playing a set of Forces, I don't want to go lower.
The only real mana intensive play in my build is Hexdrinker, but even then I only need 5 lands to be able to cast it and having it swing at level 8 next turn.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Moreover, the Wrenn and Six ultimate is super fun and not all that difficult to achieve in grindy games. You either win very soon with Bolts, or you get to do sweet stuff like pitch a land to counter a spell. I've also found a pair of Magmatic Sinkhole to be very good. I'm off Tarfire for now because Wrenn is filling some of that role, and there are more things Sinkhole kills that Tarfire doesn't touch. Think walkers, Thing, TKS, etc.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
The Build:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Hexdrinker
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Snapcaster mage
SPELLS
3 Opt
4 lightning bolt
4 serum visions
2 tarfire
3 Disrupting Shoal
3 Force of Negation
1 Echoing truth
2 Vapor Snag
2 mana leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Simic Charm
1 Magmatic Sinkhole
2 steam vents
1 Breeding Pool
2 island
1 mountain
1 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Wooded Foothills
4 scalding tarn
1 stomping ground
2 Blood Moon
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Cindervines
1 Abrade
1 Weather the Storm
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Veil of Summer
1 Fry
1 Basilisk Collar
Match 1 vs. UW Control 2-0
I'm starting to think UW Control is a good match-up for us, with us being slightly favored. We don't have the stamina to win the long game, but most of our tools are prime for dealing with their walkers, and then we just need to avoid some Paths to win.
-1 Spell Snare
-2 Vapor Snag
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
+2 Cindervines
+1 Narset
+1 Veil of Summer
+1 Fry
Match 2 vs. Izzet Phoenix 0-2
Game one was an utter blowout - My Delvers and Hexdrinkers couldn't stick - getting pinged off with Lava Darts, then I had a handful of counter spells that couldn't actually deal with their Phoenixes and OP just bashe din for the win. Game 2 was very close, coming down to my 1 life vs OP's 2 life. I just couldn't draw into anything to finish them off with and they won.
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Vapor Snag (really should have left this in!)
-2 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Opt
+1 Fry
+2 Cindervines
+1 Narset
+1 Surgical (Should have brought in both)
Match 3 vs Mono-Green Tron 2-1
Tron is a tough matchup game 1 unless we get a hold of all our hard counters. I got stomped, couldn't deal with their Karn, then a Wurmcoil won.
Game 2 I brought in all the anti-Tron tools:
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Cindervines
+2 Ceremonious Rejection
+1 Abrade
-3 Disrupting Shoal
-1 Spell Snare
-1 Simic Charm
-1 Tarfire
This game I was able to win pretty quickly with a Goyf and a flipped Delver.
The Game 3 we had a lot of back and forth, but my opponent just had so much mana to use. I blew up a Wurmcoil, but then he cast another, essentially putting 3 wurms on board, I blew up the new Wurm, bounced a lifelink token, but it was just too overwhelming - I never found my Echoing Truth, which would have been the only thing to help me.
Over all I found Tron to be a pretty annoying match up. They trample us unless we have exactly the right counter magic at exactly the right time. I didn't have enough in my deck to deal with the wurmcoils. I don't know if I'd change anything in my deck right now though. Sinkhole was flexible and great, I think my sideboard covers a lot of ground. I just didn't get good draws all evening. The last two matches could have gone either way if things were just a little different. And Hexdrinker feels very weak against the new Phoenix configuration with Lava Darts. I think Simic Charm should be swapped for something else, since I never use it Possible either a Mana Leak or a Spell Pierce - I'd like to be able to deal with more creatures on the stack, so I'm leaning towards Leak. Thoughts?
Hopefully next week will be a little different.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
@CatParty: I don't hate the addition of adding a third Mana Leak to the board as I've always liked having at least three two mana counterspells in the deck. In a way, I like how well Simic Charm is posistioned right now if UR Pheniox is going to be becoming more previlent in the meta moving forward. You could shave a land, but that's always dangerous depanding on the number of cantrips are in the deck, and with seven cantrips in yours I'm not so sure. Other than that the only cards I see removing for the third Mana Leak would be the Simic Charm or Echoing Truth.
2 Hexdrinker
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Dreadhorde Arcanist
2 Wrenn and Six
2 The Royal Scions
4 Force of Negation
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vapor Snag
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Tarfire
2 Mana Leak
1 Simic Charm
4 Serum Visions
1 Fiery Islet
3 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
1 Waterlogged Grove
The Royal Scions with our creatures are very crazy. First strike and trample on Tarmogoyf looks very strong
He also fills the graveyard with cards for Tarmogoyf, Dreadhorde and Magmatic Sinkhole
I’m new to the deck and have just bought in on paper, after having practiced some against friends as well as online. I’m definitely a fan of the (MikePemulis/stubb list) 4 Hexdrinker 2 W6 4 Force of Negation package, and over the next few months I’ll be doing some bouncing around European events playing primarily this in modern.
Mostly I am interested in what our sideboard should look like considering the hogaak + Phoenix ban. I’ve moved up an Ancient Grudge as a hedge against Whirza.
The Royal Scions looks interesting but I don’t know if there’s room for a planeswalker on 3 in this list. Also reduces possible delver flips?
Welcome to the fold! Unfortunately most conversation in this thread has dried but, but the RUG Delver appreciation is alive and well in our discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/az5NdDz. Come an join us - there's daily conversation about the deck there and people are very friendly.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Not at all! In fact, it's better situated now than its's been at any time post Gitaxian Probe banning. C'mon down to the discord!
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I want to like this a lot, it does things for us (Feed da goyf!), but I just wish it either had flash, or was UG, for pitching reasons. I just don't know where I'd slot this in since it's not blue for pitching, and it's not an instant/sorcery for Delver. I wouldn't play this over sinkhole - I've been using the latter to actually take out walkers a lot lately. I'm also interested in testing out Oko, Scions, and Brazen Borrower, and I'll probably need to test them one at a time to not corrupt the necessary ratios in the deck.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
I'd love to hear more about your choices if you're still around!
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Hooting Mandrills
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Tarfire
2 Flame Slash
4 Mana Leak
3 Stubborn Denial
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Thought Scour
4 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Damping Sphere
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Dismember
3 Feed the Clan
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Pillar of Flame
Modern: