Looks like Lifecrafter's Bestiary is an easy 2-3 of in this kind of deck, as every creatures played draws us into more creatures to get all the (many) combo pieces this needs to go off.
This deck is sweet, my only advice would be to not go all in on a "combo" version and instead have a turn 4 Ulamog and Emrakul be a "whoops I won" moment that happens every few games. Properly tuned this deck could have one of the best mid to late games with the crazy Inevitability Creativity provides so I think it's important to focus on getting to turn 5-6. The best way to do this is run some cheap reactive cards to slow down removal and set back midrange decks long enough for you to go off.
I was thinking the same thing with Engulf the Shore, but I was imagining a light black splash for some key cards such as the black puzzleknot, and Battle at the Bridge. This is the initial list I am going to be trying.
Crush is quite good with the deck I might need to squeeze in 1-2. But one thing I cant cut is the Engulfs, the deck needs the turn 4 board bounce. Thing has tested really well for me so I am nervous to cut him but I could test the Homunculus in his spot for a few games to see how it feels to get that extra ramp.
I originally had 4 Anticipates but I needed to cut one to accommodate another tower since it was testing so well.
The deck provides a unique playstyle that you cant really find in standard at the moment. It feels reminiscent of the old blue prison deck with the added benefit of ramp and energy subthemes. This deck has an almost unbeatable late game, only rivaled by Emrakul decks, because once you have a Metallurgic Summonings online and cast a Part the Waterveil or Seasons Past there is very little opponents can do to keep up.
-Strengths-
With ample bounce, counters, lifegain, and burn the deck can and will find a way to get to the late game and when it does you are in the drivers seat. Spitting out 3/3's and 6/6's just for playing your cards puts some real pressure on your opponent that they can rarely come back from. The deck also has a win-con of just chaining 1-2 Part the Waterveils and attacking with 3-4 6/6's when they are tapped out.
-Weaknesses-
The deck is not at it's best in the early game, and can get zerg'd down by an agressive draw from a low curve aggro deck. With little interaction on the first 3 turns of the game you can find yourself at a pretty low life total when you finally stabilize. I personally don't recommend the deck if your meta is composed of mainly vehicle and other aggro decks, but if you do you need to skew the list to have more early blockers or interaction.
The deck is pretty straightforward honestly, there are some intricate lines the deck needs to take to win but your main goal is to hit land drops every turn so you can land a summonings and start casting those big game changing spells. To get their you want to counter their key threat cards and bounce their field EoT with Engulf the Shores Against aggro decks you need to prioritize your interactive cards and bounce highly while most midrange decks and control decks give you the time you need to get to the late game where you want to hold a counter spell for a key card and sculpt your hand to end the game with a couple of extra turns via PtW.
Part the Waterveil: This is the card that will win you most of your games, it is your finisher and your stalling tool, it does everything you need it to do. I would recommend running the full playset but if you need to make a cut I would never go below 3 copies.
Engulf the Shores: Our most efficient stalling tool that will save your butt on turn 4 more than you can count. This card requires a pretty skewed manabase but I find it is well worth it considering this deck is 90% blue in the first place.
Dynavolt Tower: At first glance this may seem to not really work with the main strategy of the deck, and you would be right. This card is a bit of a concession to the faster decks as it provides you with some solid removal when the rest of the deck will only deal with threats temporarily. Having an alt win con is a nice perk too.
Thing in the Ice: Very important role player in the deck, as it not only gives us a huge creature later in the game to beat face with, but resets the board as well. Having 4 toughness is very nice as well as it will usually block 3-5 damage the first few turns of the game.
Attune with the Aether: I know the card looks out of place in a deck that wants to cast a lot of big spells, but hear me out. The card provides us energy for the tower and insures you hit a land drop every turn which is very important.
Seasons Past: This card is a bit of a "reset button" for you when you have run out of answers. Getting back an engulf, an anticipate, an attune, and a void shatter is very likely when you cast this on curve all while giving you a 6/6 body if you have summonings down.
Nissa's Renewal: The biggest reason to add green to the deck is this card. Not only does it fit the theme of the deck but it gives you some solid lifegain while getting you the mana you need to awaken Part the Waterveil all by itself.
I think Perpetual Timepiece might be a card you guys want to look at. It's another artifact for delirium and it mills 2 cards a turn. On top of just using it as an enabler for the "combo" you can use it to get key 1 of's back into your deck for Traverse the Ulvenwald to dig back out. Ill post my first draft to show you what I have going on right now.
My question revolves around the interaction between the new artifact and Converge creatures such as Skyrider Elf. If I play the elf with panharmonicon on the field will he get 6 counters on him if converge was equal to 3? also how does it work with Endless One?
Sticher's Graft has a trigger on attack that prevents the creature untapping next turn, if the equipment became attached after the attacking event, then it will not trigger so you'll get to untap your creature next turn.
I am curious to how Stitcher's Graft untap clause would effect a creature that it attaches to after declare attackers step has happened and the creature is tapped and attacking. For example if I have a Sigarda's Aid on the field and flash in the Graft during the damage step will my creature untap since stitchers graft was not equipped when it declared it's attack?
True, but you want to be applying pressure against the field right now, sitting there for the first 3 turns using your burn reactively seems weak. And how does getting in under most decks for 4-8 creature damage not help with the "burn plan"?. The original list has no true card advantage besides Dark Dwellers so if your plan was to just point 3 damage burn spells to their face you will find you will run out of gas quickly. But chances are you wont point them to their face early, you will end up using 3-4 of your spells to stop the company and human decks from running you over. Against these decks 1 for 1's will be a battle you will lose, so sweepers are what you would need.
If you do feel that B/R aggro is not "good enough" and you're set on trying a low creature count burn deck, then I recommend cutting the abbots and upping the dark dwellers. Adding card draw spells such as Read the Bones and Painful Truths (if you decide to splash a color) would let you fill up the hand after you unloaded all your spells dealing with their board. Sweepers like Languish, Radiant Flames, and Chandra, Flamecaller will let you hold the burn spells for their face.
I had a mono green delirium list when SOI was released and it was alot of fun, I think adding black for the new delirium cards will work nicely. Heres a rough copy off the top of my head.
The deck seems rough and could use a lot of tuning but this is where I am going to start, I think the deck can go for a more midrange plan with lots of removal and good value creatures, or hyper aggressive with hast creatures such as Mournwillow and Reality Smasher, as well as strong early drops the grow like Gnarlwood Dryad and Grim Flayer.
Heres a quick Midrange and Aggro list I think could be good places to start testing with.
I was thinking along the same lines as you but decided that straight burn without some early creature back up just would not cut it in the meta. The list I am working on is a more traditional B/R aggro list that borrows some of the vampire and madness synergies to try to goldfish consistent turn 4-5 kills.
Having access to 11 three damage burn spells will provide the deck with a whole lot of reach after they think they stabilized against the creature onslaught. The most contested cards in the list are probably Stromkirk Condemned and Sin Prodder but I feel they both have a place in an aggressive shell like this. Stromkirk Condemned makes combat difficult for the opponent as well as provides yet another discard outlet for our madness cards, while Sin Prodder will either draw us access cards or provide a bit more reach, all while staples onto a 3/2 evasive body.
Thing in the Ice is just really good right now, it blocks down all aggro decks for the first 3 turns and can reset the board against all the human and bant company decks that love to fill the board. I personally just don't like running cards with CMC of 3 or greater (besides Jori En because she's crazy) as it will just clog up your hand when the goal is to play 2+ spells every single turn. I do like the reach it provides however so I think an argument could be made for 1-2 in the mainboard.
Just went 4-0-1 at a pretty competitive local store which has given me a lot of confidence in the deck. It is a straightforward deck but it gets the job done efficiently. Ill write up a quick tournament report to give you an idea on how the games went.
Round 1: W/B Control 2-0
Game one he flooded and only managed to play 4 removal spells and a sorin, every creature I dropped was a threat which he struggled to answer until I finally hit him with 2 Reality Smashers in a row. Game two he curved into Anguised Unmaking>Gideon>Sorin>Board wipe. I figured he would bring in some board wipes so I held a reality smasher and Surrak in hand to finish off his sorin and eventually his life total.
Round 2: U/W Control 2-0
This was a grindy matchup that really showed me the power of the deck in the long game. Every threat is game ending, and if it does not get answered we win in no time. A turn 3 Nissa both games carried my ass to victory as he had no way to pressure it. Game 1 I Spatial Contortion'ed my reality smasher through his chump blocker to get the last few damage which felt great. Game two was long but the clue's generated from Tireless Tracker and all the ways I have in the deck to search up my creatures just gave me the edge.
Round 3: G/R Ramp 2-0
Game one was too close for comfort as he ramped from huge threat to huge threat. A well timed Thought-Knot Seer saved me from an atarka taking over the board, and I just grew my board beyond control with my delirious skinners and soul swallowers. Game two he mulled to five and I kept a one lander. I should have been punished but a Traverse the Ulvenwald and lucky topdecks kept me hitting my land drops as I put the pressure on early. A Return of Kozilek cleared my board twice (ouch) but yet again the haste creatures carried me to victory.
Round 4: Mono White Humans 1-1
Not too much to say about this game, my opponent had 3-5 minute turns deciding if he wanted to swing which really ran the clock down. Game one He had a great start but stalled out after I dropped multiple large creatures in the way of his army. He made the mistake of leaving a Nissa on the board and she saved me anywhere fomr 20-25 life that game, and was the real MVP. Game two he had the nut's curve and I drew a lot of lands. With 8 minutes left on the clock we just both played creatures gumming up the board and the cocky bastard finally got what was coming to him.
Round 5: W/U Midrange
Early delirium and skinners carried me game one to get him down to 8 life but he stabalized with 3 Archangel of Tithes. I slowed my roll and filled my board with dudes and gave them all counters with Nissa while sending them in one by one to get chump blocked. In the end I drew more threats than he did answers and I got there. Game two he played 2 reflector mages and slowed me down quite a bit but the real strength was in the Soul Swallowers and reality smashers that followed. This match up would have been much harder if he hit the Always Watching into Ojutai combo.
Overall the deck felt pretty damn strong, and left a lot of opponents confused on how they just lost to a mono green beatdown deck that on the surface is running 50 cent rares and draft cards. Some games delirium would come on as late as turn 5-6 but most of the time it worked as planned and would be online by turn 3. I am going to continue to refine the list and test the cards I think are good enough to be in the main deck aka Thought-Knot Seer.
4 Ornithopter
4 Glint-Nest Crane
2 Contraband Kingpin
Artifacts:15
4 Bone Saw
4 Prophetic Prism
3 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
Spells:14
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Engulf the Shore
3 Whir of Invention
2 Battle at the Bridge
1 Baral's Expertise
1 Inventors Fair
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sunken Hollow
1 Swamp
11 Island
3 Yaheeni's Expertise
2 Underhanded Designs
4 Negate
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Transgress the mind
1 Swamp
I originally had 4 Anticipates but I needed to cut one to accommodate another tower since it was testing so well.
The deck provides a unique playstyle that you cant really find in standard at the moment. It feels reminiscent of the old blue prison deck with the added benefit of ramp and energy subthemes. This deck has an almost unbeatable late game, only rivaled by Emrakul decks, because once you have a Metallurgic Summonings online and cast a Part the Waterveil or Seasons Past there is very little opponents can do to keep up.
-Strengths-
With ample bounce, counters, lifegain, and burn the deck can and will find a way to get to the late game and when it does you are in the drivers seat. Spitting out 3/3's and 6/6's just for playing your cards puts some real pressure on your opponent that they can rarely come back from. The deck also has a win-con of just chaining 1-2 Part the Waterveils and attacking with 3-4 6/6's when they are tapped out.
-Weaknesses-
The deck is not at it's best in the early game, and can get zerg'd down by an agressive draw from a low curve aggro deck. With little interaction on the first 3 turns of the game you can find yourself at a pretty low life total when you finally stabilize. I personally don't recommend the deck if your meta is composed of mainly vehicle and other aggro decks, but if you do you need to skew the list to have more early blockers or interaction.
The deck is pretty straightforward honestly, there are some intricate lines the deck needs to take to win but your main goal is to hit land drops every turn so you can land a summonings and start casting those big game changing spells. To get their you want to counter their key threat cards and bounce their field EoT with Engulf the Shores Against aggro decks you need to prioritize your interactive cards and bounce highly while most midrange decks and control decks give you the time you need to get to the late game where you want to hold a counter spell for a key card and sculpt your hand to end the game with a couple of extra turns via PtW.
Part the Waterveil: This is the card that will win you most of your games, it is your finisher and your stalling tool, it does everything you need it to do. I would recommend running the full playset but if you need to make a cut I would never go below 3 copies.
Engulf the Shores: Our most efficient stalling tool that will save your butt on turn 4 more than you can count. This card requires a pretty skewed manabase but I find it is well worth it considering this deck is 90% blue in the first place.
Dynavolt Tower: At first glance this may seem to not really work with the main strategy of the deck, and you would be right. This card is a bit of a concession to the faster decks as it provides you with some solid removal when the rest of the deck will only deal with threats temporarily. Having an alt win con is a nice perk too.
Thing in the Ice: Very important role player in the deck, as it not only gives us a huge creature later in the game to beat face with, but resets the board as well. Having 4 toughness is very nice as well as it will usually block 3-5 damage the first few turns of the game.
Attune with the Aether: I know the card looks out of place in a deck that wants to cast a lot of big spells, but hear me out. The card provides us energy for the tower and insures you hit a land drop every turn which is very important.
Seasons Past: This card is a bit of a "reset button" for you when you have run out of answers. Getting back an engulf, an anticipate, an attune, and a void shatter is very likely when you cast this on curve all while giving you a 6/6 body if you have summonings down.
Nissa's Renewal: The biggest reason to add green to the deck is this card. Not only does it fit the theme of the deck but it gives you some solid lifegain while getting you the mana you need to awaken Part the Waterveil all by itself.
4 Thing in the Ice
Enchantments: 4
4 Metallurgic Summonings
Artifacts: 3
3 Dynavolt Tower
Spells: 24
3 Attune with Aether
3 Anticipate
4 Void Shatter
4 Engulf the Shore
2 Glimmer of Genius
3 Nissa's Renewal
4 Part the Waterveil
1 Seasons Past
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
15 Island
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
3 Negate
2 Summary Dismissal
1 Seasons Past
2 Unsubstantiate
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Chilling Grasp
2 Perpetual Timepiece
Sorcery: 3
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Enchantment: 4
4 Vessel of Nascency
Instant: 7
4 Grapple with the Past
3 Kozilek's Return
Creatures:23
4 Cryptbreaker
2 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Noose Constrictor
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Haunted Dead
4 Elder Deep-Fiend
1 Voldaren Pariah
1 Distended Mindbender
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
2 Island
3 Swamp
2 Botanical Sanctum
4 Blooming Marsh
1 Hissing Quagmire
2 Sunken Hollow
Thank you!
If you do feel that B/R aggro is not "good enough" and you're set on trying a low creature count burn deck, then I recommend cutting the abbots and upping the dark dwellers. Adding card draw spells such as Read the Bones and Painful Truths (if you decide to splash a color) would let you fill up the hand after you unloaded all your spells dealing with their board. Sweepers like Languish, Radiant Flames, and Chandra, Flamecaller will let you hold the burn spells for their face.
4 Gnarlwood Dryad
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Grim Flayer
3 Hangarback Walker
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Vessel of Nascency
Instant: 4
4 Grapple with the Past
Sorcery: 5
3 Ruinous Path
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Planeswalkers: 3
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Lands: 23
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Warped Landscape
8 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Rogue's Passage
1 Wastes
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Hissing Quagmire
The deck seems rough and could use a lot of tuning but this is where I am going to start, I think the deck can go for a more midrange plan with lots of removal and good value creatures, or hyper aggressive with hast creatures such as Mournwillow and Reality Smasher, as well as strong early drops the grow like Gnarlwood Dryad and Grim Flayer.
Heres a quick Midrange and Aggro list I think could be good places to start testing with.
4 Gnarlwood Dryad
4 Avatar of the Resolute
2 Obsessive Skinner
4 Grim Flayer
4 Mournwillow
2 Surrak Huntcaller
4 Reality Smasher
2 Autumnal Gloom
Instants: 7
4 Grapple with the Past
3 Spatial Contortion
Sorcery: 2
2 Gather the Pack
Planeswalker: 3
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Lands:
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Warped Landscape
7 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Rogue's Passage
1 Wastes
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Hissing Quagmire
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Deathcap Cultivator
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Mindwrack Demon
Instant: 6
2 Grapple with the Past
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Oath of Nissa
1 Oath of Liliana
Sorcery: 5
3 Ruinous Path
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Planeswalkers: 5
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
6 Swamp
2 Westvale Abbey
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Stromkirk Condemned
4 Heir of Falkenrath
2 Pale Rider of Trostad
2 Asylum Visitor
4 Olivia, Mobilized for War
4 Sin Prodder
4 Incendiary Flow
2 Collective Brutality
3 Alms of the Vein
4 Fiery Temper
Land: 23
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
1 Hanweir Battlements
2 Cinder Barrens
5 Mountain
7 Swamp
Having access to 11 three damage burn spells will provide the deck with a whole lot of reach after they think they stabilized against the creature onslaught. The most contested cards in the list are probably Stromkirk Condemned and Sin Prodder but I feel they both have a place in an aggressive shell like this. Stromkirk Condemned makes combat difficult for the opponent as well as provides yet another discard outlet for our madness cards, while Sin Prodder will either draw us access cards or provide a bit more reach, all while staples onto a 3/2 evasive body.
Round 1: W/B Control 2-0
Game one he flooded and only managed to play 4 removal spells and a sorin, every creature I dropped was a threat which he struggled to answer until I finally hit him with 2 Reality Smashers in a row. Game two he curved into Anguised Unmaking>Gideon>Sorin>Board wipe. I figured he would bring in some board wipes so I held a reality smasher and Surrak in hand to finish off his sorin and eventually his life total.
Round 2: U/W Control 2-0
This was a grindy matchup that really showed me the power of the deck in the long game. Every threat is game ending, and if it does not get answered we win in no time. A turn 3 Nissa both games carried my ass to victory as he had no way to pressure it. Game 1 I Spatial Contortion'ed my reality smasher through his chump blocker to get the last few damage which felt great. Game two was long but the clue's generated from Tireless Tracker and all the ways I have in the deck to search up my creatures just gave me the edge.
Round 3: G/R Ramp 2-0
Game one was too close for comfort as he ramped from huge threat to huge threat. A well timed Thought-Knot Seer saved me from an atarka taking over the board, and I just grew my board beyond control with my delirious skinners and soul swallowers. Game two he mulled to five and I kept a one lander. I should have been punished but a Traverse the Ulvenwald and lucky topdecks kept me hitting my land drops as I put the pressure on early. A Return of Kozilek cleared my board twice (ouch) but yet again the haste creatures carried me to victory.
Round 4: Mono White Humans 1-1
Not too much to say about this game, my opponent had 3-5 minute turns deciding if he wanted to swing which really ran the clock down. Game one He had a great start but stalled out after I dropped multiple large creatures in the way of his army. He made the mistake of leaving a Nissa on the board and she saved me anywhere fomr 20-25 life that game, and was the real MVP. Game two he had the nut's curve and I drew a lot of lands. With 8 minutes left on the clock we just both played creatures gumming up the board and the cocky bastard finally got what was coming to him.
Round 5: W/U Midrange
Early delirium and skinners carried me game one to get him down to 8 life but he stabalized with 3 Archangel of Tithes. I slowed my roll and filled my board with dudes and gave them all counters with Nissa while sending them in one by one to get chump blocked. In the end I drew more threats than he did answers and I got there. Game two he played 2 reflector mages and slowed me down quite a bit but the real strength was in the Soul Swallowers and reality smashers that followed. This match up would have been much harder if he hit the Always Watching into Ojutai combo.
Overall the deck felt pretty damn strong, and left a lot of opponents confused on how they just lost to a mono green beatdown deck that on the surface is running 50 cent rares and draft cards. Some games delirium would come on as late as turn 5-6 but most of the time it worked as planned and would be online by turn 3. I am going to continue to refine the list and test the cards I think are good enough to be in the main deck aka Thought-Knot Seer.