After watching the SCG coverage, and doing some testing of my own, I think Light Up the Stage is the real deal. Not sure if we can support the full playset, but I'm going to be tweaking the deck to accommodate some. Probably 3 at first. Works great with Vapor Snag and going wide with Young Pyromancer.
I agree with Ashton that our interaction is the main reason to run this over UR Phoenix. I've tried Disrupting Shoal a few times and I didn't prefer it. If you'd like to play a similar list to Asthon minus the shoals I'd recommend giving this one a try - I usually have pretty good results.
Yeah, I get your points, my previous post was more like a UR Phoenix deck that happens to play Delver as a powerful 1CMC card that flips easily but not as a tempo deck that protects said threat with countermagic (that doesn't play along well with Phoenix)
I am surprised that many decklists posted here play 18 lands, yet they play 4CMC spells like Pia and Kiran or a full set of Snapcastger Mage. I would play more lands if I were to play those cards to have a better chance at casting them, doesn't this become an issue from time to time? I like a low land count as it makes it easier to fill the deck with cantrips and flip Delver more easily but I wouldn't fit any 4CMC there but would try to be playing a lot of cheap interaction, the only exception could be Cryptic Command as a 1-of or 2-of maximum but I would still try to go for lower CMCs, the issue I have with Snapcaster is similar since he is never going to flashback much with less than 3 lands (except Surgical from the sideboard) so I treat him as a 3CMC, I see most lists play 4 and maybe 18 lands is enough for that but I feel like it can become obnoxious sometimes.
Light up the Stage seems nice as a way to keep card advantage and being able to cast those cards until next turn is great as we can reveal a counterspell and keep mana up to play it on our oppponent's turn, if they don't do anything we lose the counterspell but it virtually acted as Time Walk so that should be good in a tempo deck, right?
In a non-Snapcaster deck like mine, Grafdigger's Cage seems really good as it's not just graveyard hate but also stops Vannifar, Chord of Calling and Collected Company, the problem is that it's not an instant nor sorcery (Delver, Pteramander and Young Pyromancer) and of course the Snapcaster thing but I can see it being quite useful in today's meta, what are your thoughts on this?
I agree that my creature suite was a little costly. I have been iterating through some different lists, and right now I'm using a much lower average cost:
I'm curious about the non-snapcaster list. Snapcaster is usually one of the key players for me against any deck playing fair, so I guess the Light Up the Stage has to fill that gap. I've been testing LUtS and found it is a little more inconsistent in this deck than it is in something more aggressive like burn or zoo. And revealing counterspells can be awkward. How have you felt it has performed, and what does your meta look like?
I would like to play a UR Delver deck in Modern. Could you give a version of deck that is good to start playing with? I am also wondering if this deck is well positioned in the Modern metagame nowadays?
I would like to play a UR Delver deck in Modern. Could you give a version of deck that is good to start playing with? I am also wondering if this deck is well positioned in the Modern metagame nowadays?
Thanks in advance for help
Lately, there have been some cool 5-0 lists online, and I have been winning some FNM's recently with them.
AspiringSpike (which I think is the creator of the list) has a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKaLEG0aYdo
The good thing is that the counterspells suffered a great upgrade from Horizons and Eldraine. Achrmage's Charm is a beast, Deprive is actually a very good card, and even better paired with Mystic Sanctuary, Magmatic Sinkhole is a nice upgrade of Flame Slash, and Force of Negation is a game-changer.
The deck is mildly-placed in the meta. There are very good matchups (Vizier-druid, Tron, Storm), but some of the Tier 1 are pretty difficult (Jund, Death Shadow, Burn, Eldratron). However, the good news is that now we have better chances against them, even if they are still hard (I have been winning against burn like 45% of the time). You have little insta-lose matchups now (Auras being the only I can think of)
Thing to consider: the deck is expensive. Force of negation can be replaced (I have been playing instead with Sphinx of Foresight, a surprisingly good card), but Snapcaster Mage is a must (and the manabase is not trivial, too). Besides, the deck is tricky to play, and if you are not used to tempo decks you can have a rough onboarding.
Minding that, if you are still interested and can afford it, I absolutely recommend it: It's an incredibly fun and skill-rewarding deck.
Always try to go in the Dispel-Archmage direction. Other versions I have tried (like UR Wizards) have been underperforming, especially with Wrenn and Six, Teferi, and Oko, Thief of Crowns in the picture.
So I've played this for about 4 weeks now. I run a third deprive instead of the mana leak. IMO, the spirebluff canals are a liability and should be dropped for +1 steam vents, +1 island and +2 blue fetch lands. In the sideboard I run Ashiok, Dream Render for amulet titan, scapespift and storm MUs. It's also good against sultai shadow, which i see occasionally.
Is there a good sideboard guide for this deck? I never know what to side out. Spell snare and magmatic sinkhole are easy cuts if they don't do anything against the deck your playing, but I don't know where to go after that. I usually end up trimming copies of force of negation or archmage's charm since everything else is core to the decks game plan.
Hi all. I am beginning to think that WOTC might use one my designs in a future set. Or at least I am hopeful that they will. I wrote them about two years ago with this design:
School Student
U
Human
Tap: Put the top card of your library into the graveyard. If you have 2 or more instants/sorceries in your graveyard transform Student.
1/2
Flipped Side:
School Graduate
Human Wizard
Flying
3/3
This design gives a great view of a student "learning" and becoming a wizard. It also works great in a tempo deck and isn't crazy in aggro like prowess is. It fits more in aggro-control or tempo. Now that I have read that DFC's will be in the "Stryxhaven School for Mages" set I honestly think they may use the design I sent them. Full disclosure I told them in the email I wanted no payment or acknowledgement if they used the design so I am very hopeful they used it. I gave them several other examples as well of the student learning style flip card. I am very hopeful they utilize it because that would be AWESOME for our deck.
Honestly I can't see anything I would change. It's a bit heavy on counter magic for my personal preference and a bit low on threats. If I had to change anything I would probably add a Vendilion Clique and/or Brazen Borrower and cut one copy of mana leak and/or serum visions. Looks great to me!
If I remember well, there's a special clause in the contract of the design team that forbids them to look at fanmade design propositions... But that design doesn't seem out of this world to me, so we maaaaay see something ressembling it a bit? Maybe? I'd still bank on a delver reprint if DFC are indeed there (I didn't check)
It's sad to see the forum so empty nowadays, I used to roam a bit there to see how the archetype was faring after I took my long hiatus from it in 2015... to a few months ago when I started experimenting using Russell Lee's as a base. My latest iterations made me instead copy the legacy formula, with the following list (some elements are still very much a work in progress, I'll detail them below):
- No scalding tarns because I'm a cheap **** and need to save for these very, very painful FoN;
- Not including the sideboard here because I'm not satisfied with it yet;
- I might change the list of spells a little bit to find room for 2 more cantrips;
- The payoffs are still very much a work in progress and change heavily between each iteration: right now, the only two guaranteed slots are Delver and Arcanist at both 4 copies (arcanist is EXCEPTIONAL even outside of legacy, I'm hating myself for disreguarding the card as a combo tool instead... I'm currently thinking about sloting Become Immense in the deck just for its incredible game ending potential). Still diehard on keeping two snaps for counterspells value and removal heavy matchups, and after that what you see is still uncharted territory were you can find a range of creatures like Young Pyromancer,Sprite Dragon, Stormwing Entity, Brazen Borrower or even good old Vendilion Clique.
From the amount of test I ran, Dreadhorde Arcanist is by far and wide the best card in the deck. It is the value engine it so desperatly lacked, and what Archmage's Charm could only dream of being. Simply put, in this shell, it is a stricly better Bob! You've got to try it out for yourselves to believe it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Death and Taxes (not Eldrazi&Taxes)
Modern Storm
Modern Taking Turns
EDH Jhoira of the Ghitu
They do have a clause that says they can't use fan sent designs. When I send them I always but a disclaimer saying that I will allow the use of anything I send. Even then they will likely tweak any design they see for safety. Also, it's unlikely that they will use the design, but I just thought it would fit really well in that set.
As for the list, it looks awesome. I REALLY need to test dreadhorde anarchist again. I haven't been playing it because I have been playing a more aggro-control version of the deck with mystic sanctuary. However, I prefer a more tempo style deck so I definitely need to give him a whirl again. I will likely really concentrate on updating the list wen Styxhaven comes out. I'm sure a lot of people will do so, but we all know who the real delver players are
So is Izzet Delver viable again thanks to Dragon's Rage Channeler, or is it actually so good that it has totally displaced Delver as the 1 mana 3 damage beater? I've seen some list using Delver in combination with DRC, Murktide Regent and of course Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. Some lists don't even have Delver... That monkey seems to be too good and probably will end up banned soon, so I don't want to risk buying it, and besides I also want to play with Snapcaster Mage, so I'm thinking on running this list:
Delirium is in some ways easier to build around and will not short you when you need it than delvers flip mechanic. Between Seal of Fire, Seal of Removal, and Mishra's Bauble with basic fetch and creature destruction getting four types usually isnt that much work.
Isn't to say you cant play both but since delver itself only transforming for instants and sorcery spells that means you cant always alter the deck enough to make sure one or the other can reach their higher forms. Adding in enchantments and or artifacts dilutes the delver plan and can only be given a certain amount of space before it changes the ratio away from optimum. Honestly its all about how the ratios play out.
So, Andrea Menguci just went 5-0 on MTGO with an Izzet Murktide list with Delver instead of Ragavan, a list he took from Carlos Moral. The whole video is here: No Ragavan? No Problem! 5-0 with UR Delver in Modern! | MTGO and this is the the decklist:
4- Delver of Secrets
3- Soul-Scar Mage
2- Grim Lavamancer
4- Snapcaster Mage
4- Nimble Obstructionist
4- Lightning Bolt
4- Wizard’s Lightning
2- Abrade
1- Burst Lightning
4- Remand
2- Light Up the Stage
4- Opt
1- Spell Snare
4- Scalding Tarn
3- Steam Vents
3- Mutavault
4- Spirebluff Canal
2- Island
2- Mountain
1- Misty Rainforest
1- Wooded Foothills
1- Flooded Strand
Sideboard:
2- Tormod’s Crypt
1- Abrade
3- Ionize
2- Izzet Staticaster
1- Dispel
1- Entrancing Melody
2- Magma Spray
1- Negate
1- Alpine Moon
Yeah, I get your points, my previous post was more like a UR Phoenix deck that happens to play Delver as a powerful 1CMC card that flips easily but not as a tempo deck that protects said threat with countermagic (that doesn't play along well with Phoenix)
I am surprised that many decklists posted here play 18 lands, yet they play 4CMC spells like Pia and Kiran or a full set of Snapcastger Mage. I would play more lands if I were to play those cards to have a better chance at casting them, doesn't this become an issue from time to time? I like a low land count as it makes it easier to fill the deck with cantrips and flip Delver more easily but I wouldn't fit any 4CMC there but would try to be playing a lot of cheap interaction, the only exception could be Cryptic Command as a 1-of or 2-of maximum but I would still try to go for lower CMCs, the issue I have with Snapcaster is similar since he is never going to flashback much with less than 3 lands (except Surgical from the sideboard) so I treat him as a 3CMC, I see most lists play 4 and maybe 18 lands is enough for that but I feel like it can become obnoxious sometimes.
Light up the Stage seems nice as a way to keep card advantage and being able to cast those cards until next turn is great as we can reveal a counterspell and keep mana up to play it on our oppponent's turn, if they don't do anything we lose the counterspell but it virtually acted as Time Walk so that should be good in a tempo deck, right?
In a non-Snapcaster deck like mine, Grafdigger's Cage seems really good as it's not just graveyard hate but also stops Vannifar, Chord of Calling and Collected Company, the problem is that it's not an instant nor sorcery (Delver, Pteramander and Young Pyromancer) and of course the Snapcaster thing but I can see it being quite useful in today's meta, what are your thoughts on this?
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Pteramander
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Grim Lavamancer
Instant and Sorceries (30)
2 Deprive
2 Spell Pierce
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag
4 Mana Leak
4 Light up the Stage
3 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer
2 (FLEX)
4 Pteramander
2 Thing in the Ice
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Serum Visions
4 Opt
4 Thought Scour
1 Chart a Course
2 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Abrade
3 Spell Snare
1 Mana Leak
4 Remand
7 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
2 Thing in the Ice
1 Alpine Moon
1 Blood Moon
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Tormod's Crypt
Modern:
Edit : After some intense thinking making my brain overheating, I realized it is for adapting Pteramander
4 Pteromander
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Skred
4 Serum Visions
4 Opt
4 Remand
4 Force of Negation
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Chart a Course
4 Scalding Tarn
8 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
Spells (27)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Magmatic Sinkhole
4 Serum Visions
4 Opt
2 Spell Snare
1 Mana Leak
2 Deprive
4 Force of Negation
4 Archmage's Charm
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
3 Steam Vents
5 Island
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Mystic Sanctuary
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
2 Abrade
2 Thing in the Ice
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dismember
1 Flame Slash
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Blood Moon
I would like to play a UR Delver deck in Modern. Could you give a version of deck that is good to start playing with? I am also wondering if this deck is well positioned in the Modern metagame nowadays?
Thanks in advance for help
Lately, there have been some cool 5-0 lists online, and I have been winning some FNM's recently with them.
AspiringSpike (which I think is the creator of the list) has a video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKaLEG0aYdo
The good thing is that the counterspells suffered a great upgrade from Horizons and Eldraine. Achrmage's Charm is a beast, Deprive is actually a very good card, and even better paired with Mystic Sanctuary, Magmatic Sinkhole is a nice upgrade of Flame Slash, and Force of Negation is a game-changer.
The deck is mildly-placed in the meta. There are very good matchups (Vizier-druid, Tron, Storm), but some of the Tier 1 are pretty difficult (Jund, Death Shadow, Burn, Eldratron). However, the good news is that now we have better chances against them, even if they are still hard (I have been winning against burn like 45% of the time). You have little insta-lose matchups now (Auras being the only I can think of)
Thing to consider: the deck is expensive. Force of negation can be replaced (I have been playing instead with Sphinx of Foresight, a surprisingly good card), but Snapcaster Mage is a must (and the manabase is not trivial, too). Besides, the deck is tricky to play, and if you are not used to tempo decks you can have a rough onboarding.
Minding that, if you are still interested and can afford it, I absolutely recommend it: It's an incredibly fun and skill-rewarding deck.
More lists to check: https://www.mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=351&meta=51&f=MO
Always try to go in the Dispel-Archmage direction. Other versions I have tried (like UR Wizards) have been underperforming, especially with Wrenn and Six, Teferi, and Oko, Thief of Crowns in the picture.
So I've played this for about 4 weeks now. I run a third deprive instead of the mana leak. IMO, the spirebluff canals are a liability and should be dropped for +1 steam vents, +1 island and +2 blue fetch lands. In the sideboard I run Ashiok, Dream Render for amulet titan, scapespift and storm MUs. It's also good against sultai shadow, which i see occasionally.
Is there a good sideboard guide for this deck? I never know what to side out. Spell snare and magmatic sinkhole are easy cuts if they don't do anything against the deck your playing, but I don't know where to go after that. I usually end up trimming copies of force of negation or archmage's charm since everything else is core to the decks game plan.
I have been playing the following deck for 2 months:
Island 8
Mountain 2
Flooded Strand 1
Steam Vents 2
Sulfur Falls 2
Shivan Reef 4
Delver of Secrets 4
Young Pyromancer 4
Snapcaster Mage 3
Grim Lavamancer 1
Lightning Bolt 4
Burst Lightning 2
Electrolyze 2
Magmatic Sinkhole 2
Vapor Snag 2
Mana Leak 4
Deprive 2
Archmage's Charm 2
Spell Pierce 1
Opt 4
Serum Visions 4
Sideboard:
Ceremonious Rejection 2
Dispel 2
Threads of Disloyalty 2
Electrickery 1
Ashiok, Dream Render 1
Damping Sphere 1
Dragon's Claw 2
Grim Lavamancer 1
Abrade 1
Smash to Smithereens 1
Negate 1
Could you give your opinion about this deck, any suggestions? Could you improve it.
Thanks a lot.
School Student
U
Human
Tap: Put the top card of your library into the graveyard. If you have 2 or more instants/sorceries in your graveyard transform Student.
1/2
Flipped Side:
School Graduate
Human Wizard
Flying
3/3
This design gives a great view of a student "learning" and becoming a wizard. It also works great in a tempo deck and isn't crazy in aggro like prowess is. It fits more in aggro-control or tempo. Now that I have read that DFC's will be in the "Stryxhaven School for Mages" set I honestly think they may use the design I sent them. Full disclosure I told them in the email I wanted no payment or acknowledgement if they used the design so I am very hopeful they used it. I gave them several other examples as well of the student learning style flip card. I am very hopeful they utilize it because that would be AWESOME for our deck.
It's sad to see the forum so empty nowadays, I used to roam a bit there to see how the archetype was faring after I took my long hiatus from it in 2015... to a few months ago when I started experimenting using Russell Lee's as a base. My latest iterations made me instead copy the legacy formula, with the following list (some elements are still very much a work in progress, I'll detail them below):
1x Fiery Islet
3x Flooded Strand
2x Mystic Sanctuary
3x Polluted Delta
4x Snow-Covered Island
2x Spirebluff Canal
3x Steam Vents
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Dreadhorde Arcanist
2x Snapcaster Mage
3x Sprite Dragon
2x Stormwing Entity
Spells
2x Burst Lightning
1x Deprive
4x Force of Negation
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Magmatic Sinkhole
2x Mana Leak
4x Serum Visions
2x Spell Pierce
4x Thought Scour
2x Vapor Snag
- No scalding tarns because I'm a cheap **** and need to save for these very, very painful FoN;
- Not including the sideboard here because I'm not satisfied with it yet;
- I might change the list of spells a little bit to find room for 2 more cantrips;
- The payoffs are still very much a work in progress and change heavily between each iteration: right now, the only two guaranteed slots are Delver and Arcanist at both 4 copies (arcanist is EXCEPTIONAL even outside of legacy, I'm hating myself for disreguarding the card as a combo tool instead... I'm currently thinking about sloting Become Immense in the deck just for its incredible game ending potential). Still diehard on keeping two snaps for counterspells value and removal heavy matchups, and after that what you see is still uncharted territory were you can find a range of creatures like Young Pyromancer,Sprite Dragon, Stormwing Entity, Brazen Borrower or even good old Vendilion Clique.
From the amount of test I ran, Dreadhorde Arcanist is by far and wide the best card in the deck. It is the value engine it so desperatly lacked, and what Archmage's Charm could only dream of being. Simply put, in this shell, it is a stricly better Bob! You've got to try it out for yourselves to believe it.
Modern Storm
Modern Taking Turns
EDH Jhoira of the Ghitu
As for the list, it looks awesome. I REALLY need to test dreadhorde anarchist again. I haven't been playing it because I have been playing a more aggro-control version of the deck with mystic sanctuary. However, I prefer a more tempo style deck so I definitely need to give him a whirl again. I will likely really concentrate on updating the list wen Styxhaven comes out. I'm sure a lot of people will do so, but we all know who the real delver players are
The did it! We got Fire // Ice!! That is the single card I was hoping for!!! What a day!
4 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Fiery Islet
3 Island
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Dragon's Rage Channeler
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Murktide Regent
Spells (25)
4 Counterspell
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
2 Spell Pierce
3 Unholy Heat
4 Expressive Iteration
4 Mishra's Bauble
Flipping Delvers since 2011
MY DECKS
Modern: UR Izzet Delver
Pauper: U Delver Faeries | R Red Burn | GInfect
Commander: WB Athreos, God of Passage | UR Keranos Spellslinger | GWU Derevi, Tempo Tactician | BGU Tasigur, the Golden Fang | RW Feather, the Redeemed
Isn't to say you cant play both but since delver itself only transforming for instants and sorcery spells that means you cant always alter the deck enough to make sure one or the other can reach their higher forms. Adding in enchantments and or artifacts dilutes the delver plan and can only be given a certain amount of space before it changes the ratio away from optimum. Honestly its all about how the ratios play out.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Dragon's Rage Channeler
4 Murktide Regent
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Counterspell
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Expressive Iteration
4 Serum Visions
3 Spell Pierce
3 Thought Scour
4 Unholy Heat
3 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
1 Abrade
2 Blood Moon
1 Brazen Borrower
1 Dead
2 Dress Down
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Force of Negation
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Tormod's Crypt
Flipping Delvers since 2011
MY DECKS
Modern: UR Izzet Delver
Pauper: U Delver Faeries | R Red Burn | GInfect
Commander: WB Athreos, God of Passage | UR Keranos Spellslinger | GWU Derevi, Tempo Tactician | BGU Tasigur, the Golden Fang | RW Feather, the Redeemed