Let’s look at the main deck. First of all, 2 Terminates main and 2 in the side. Originally, this was a meta call for my local store (lots of Grixis players so I wanted more outs to Tasigur), but also turned out to work quite well at Hareruya as the place was infested with Grixis and decks tuned to beat Grixis including UW control with 5 mana Gideon and BUG Tezzarator with Herald of Anguish. These are pretty fringe cases, but I really like having two unconditional removal spells in the main now that the format is adapting to Fatal Push
Second, I run no Inquisition of Kozilek in the main or side. In a lot of my early testing, I found I often sided them out. They felt low impact and I wanted more counter magic for my interaction aside from Thoughtseize. I ultimately replaced them with a Temur Battle Rage and the third Stubborn Denial. I think it’s absolutely wrong to not be running 2 TBR in the 75. They help us cheese wins in our bad MU’s by giving us insanely fast kills. We don’t use it as well as the Jund version, but it still does a lot of work. Grixis can also search for it better with our blue cantrips and can even Snapcaster it back. Then there’s my 3 Stubborn Denials. I fell in love with the card in RUG Delver. I think it’s even better in Grixis Shadow because all of our threats can come down for one mana. I often sided in the fourth one as well, so I will be looking for a way to run a playset main.
Lastly, I’d like to weigh in on the 2 Steam Vents vs 2 Blood Crypts debate. I’m currently on 2 Steam vents because 1) We can keep a one land hand with Steam Vents and cantrips while there are few one landers with Blood Crypt that I would keep and 2) I have two foil Steam Vents. Joking aside, I think 2 Blood Crypts would give the deck better mana at the cost of having to mulligan more. I’m not 100% certain and need to test both configurations a lot more.
As for the sideboard, I have chosen to run no Fulminator Mages. As many others have commented, they are often too slow in the match ups where we would want that effect. In their place, I run two Ceremonious Rejection. It’s great against the decks where we would want Fulminators (Tron and Eldrazi), but works against other decks like Lantern and Affinity. I’m currently using Anger of the Gods as my sweeper of choice due to the rise in Collected Company decks. Finks and Voice are annoying as ever and Kozilek’s Return is poor against them. I also have Nihil Spellbomb over Surgical Extraction, but I need to do more testing to decide which is better for my deck. I’m leaning towards Surgical because of instant speed, ability to be Snapcastered, and life loss helps with the game plan. 2 Machine Gun Lilys are a lock for any 75 in my opinion. Great against Lingering Souls, midrange decks, and control decks. In the “extra grindy card” slot, I went with another Kolaghan’s Command. I like the utility against artifacts (affinity has been rising steadily) and prefer it over sorcery speed cards like Painful Truths.
I’ll try to have my tournament report out later tonight, but I’m feeling a bit run down.
I'll post about the card choices and a tournament report write up later. For now, I really like this build and will be playing it for the foreseeable future.
Do you guys think we can go down to 18 lands in this deck? I often feel I get land flooded, and with our 12 cantrips we should be able to go pretty low.
Hey everyone. I play a lot of Grixis Delver, but recent results would indicate Death's Shadow is the stronger deck by quite a bit. Here's my take on it:
Now for my answers to the questions.
1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?
Pure Grixis. Milling our splash color's shock feels real bad.
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?
2 Watery Grave. This is primarily a UB deck.
3)[edited] How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?
3 Push, 2 Terminate, 2 Bolt and another Terminate in the sideboard. I recently lost to an unanswered Delve threat at a tournament so I want more outs to those creatures.
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?
Fulminator mages all the way. Great when you can cast it on turn 3 and snipe a tron land and later if you draw more they can beat for a while before taking out a land.
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?
Yes. 12 fetches make double red trivial. I prefer Anger over Damnation because its faster and deals with Voice and Finks.
6) [added] What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?
I own all the cards. /s In all seriousness, Snap Kommand is one hell of an engine and Stubborn denial is one of my favorite cards. I get to use both.
7) [added] What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!
Still new the the deck, so I don't think I can answer things with much certainty. Maybe something like "Q. Why don't you use 4 Bolts? A. Bolt is at an all time low as a removal spell. Push is better against the larger meta and terminate is necessary for things Push can't hit. It is worth keeping some amount of Bolts as Bolt Snap Bolt is a real way to end the game in Grixis colors."
hi guys. new to the deck, but experienced mtg player... but wanted to ear some tips about the bant eldrazi matchup. some maindeck tweeks and sb tech. I will try to play the deck for the time beeing
thanks
It's not a great MU, but there are a few things you can do to make it better. Mainboard, having more Terminates helps quite a bit with their big threats. I find that Mana Leak tends to be pretty good against them as well (unless they get Cavern of Souls online). Bolt any mana dorks you can and try to land a delve threat to stone wall a lot of their creatures. Have some sort of land destruction or disruption to deal with Temples or any other problematic lands. I prefer Fulminator Mage, but Blood Moon, Molten Rain, and even Spreading Seas can work against them too. Eldrazi can have some explosive starts then peter out, so just try to survive and disrupt the first 4 turns is my strategy.
I don't know if Brutality is actually good or not. I just don't really have anything else that sides in well against them for that third Mana Leak. It can also be a bit of reach and help throw cards in the GY for a delve threat so it seems ok. I also agree with you on counterspells in the match up.
Of particular note, I've actually been running post-board matchups with Delver still in the 60. It's true that we start off in the control role, but I've found we usually lose to one of three things: Godhands (they happen, but it's nothing cutting Delver can help with), 2) having enough removal early on (same), or failing to close out the game, blowing all of our removal, and losing in the long run to a huge Plating on a Skirge, or worse, an Etched Champion. Just getting a good evasive clock on them really helps you avoid situation #3.
You make some good points. To be honest, I haven't played against an Affinity deck in a tournament setting for probably about a year now. In my list, I could see keeping the Delvers in and siding out the Mana Leaks for Staticaster, EE, and a Collective Brutality. You definitely don't want to give them more draw phases than you have to.
Looking at your list, I would make room for another Kolaghan's Command in the maindeck, cutting an Electrolyze. That'll help a lot with the match up. As far as sideboarding goes, I wouldn't cut Serum Visions as it hurts your consistency. We are firmly the control deck in this situation, so I would cut Delvers and bring in Staticaster, Anger of the Gods, and the Magma Sprays. In your opening hand, you want to see like 2 or 3 cheap removal spells and one of the 3 drops that wreck them (staticaster, Kommand, Anger). It's a real unforgiving MU,and an experienced Affinity player will punish you hard for any mistakes. Try to save Mana Leak for Etched Champion since that card destroys us. Find an Affinity player and jam a bunch of games and you will learn what hands can win and which ones will lose.
Hey everyone, I took the list that I posted a while back to a tournament for a box of Modern Masters 2017. I ultimately ended up 4th and won a pack of MM17 (with Goblin Guide inside) and the new duel deck.
Excellent report, I also have moved towards the 3 Push, 3 Terminate split as the Delve creatures are getting much better as Fatal Push continues to warp the format away from Tarmogoyf.
What's your opinion of the 2-2 spilt of Tasigur and Angler as opposed to a 3-1 split?
I think it's more personal preference. I trade the ability to consistently have a turn two delve threat to able to have two delve threats out at once in the late game. Gurmag can also attack through Tasigur and smaller Goyfs.
Hey everyone, I took the list that I posted a while back to a tournament for a box of Modern Masters 2017. I ultimately ended up 4th and won a pack of MM17 (with Goblin Guide inside) and the new duel deck. For reference, here is the list:
The list is pretty much the same except for the change of -1 Mountain +1 Darkslick Shores per Sonnenrad’s suggestion. Anyway, onto the tournament report
There were 27 people who showed up for the tournament. Relatively small, but the people in the area tend to play meta decks with a preference for fair decks.
Before the tournament started, I was talking with a friend about the meta. Somehow we get on the topic of Bogles and I say “I’d know if there was a Bogles player here. I’d smell them walking in the door.” My friend chuckles and then pairings are posted. We get matched against each other and he wins the die roll. He opens up with Temple Garden into Slippery Bogle, looks me dead in the eyes, and asks “What do I smell like?” Game one goes about as well as you think.
God I hate Bogles. I go turn one Delver into turn 2 Tasigur, but it’s still not enough to beat his Path to Exile and giant hexproof monstrosity. He takes the match, we laugh about my instant karma, and wish each other best of luck on the rest of the tournament.
0-1
I play against a guy running a casual Crown/Throne/Scepter of Empires deck. I quickly dispatch him in two games and get something to drink before the next round. I was happy to pick up a win, but it felt like a bye (no disrespect to my opponent, he was a real nice guy).
1-1
Game one my opponent gets stuck on one land after 3 cantrips. I flip a turn one Delver and immediately start pressuring him. I have all the answers for everything he does and finish him off with Bolt Snap Bolt.
I have a hand full of permission and Snapcasters. I flash one in on turn two EOT to start pressuring him. I eventually draw a delve threat to keep the beats going while holding up counter magic. He then tries to go for it and gets promptly stopped.
2-1
This is some of the tightest Magic I’ve had to play in a long time. He goes turn one Experiment One followed by turn two Burning Tree Emissary which was quickly spell snared. After a few more creatures eating removal spells, I am able to clear the board and land Liliana and stabilize. I eat a few burn spells and get brought down to 1, but Gurmag Angler and some burn are able to get me there.
Game two doesn’t go as well for me. I kill a couple of early creatures, but he gets a Burning Tree Emissary into Reckless Bushwhacker with a Goblin Guide on board. After that, my removal can’t keep up with his steady stream of creatures and I eventually concede.
Game three I have a lot of removal and the lands to play it, but no threats. I decide to keep in hopes of drawing into something later. A bit risky, but it paid off well when I drew into Gurmag Angler. He gets real aggressive with his burn now and I land a zombie fish to stone wall his only creature on the board. Some Snapcasters later and I win the game with about 4 life left. I let out a huge sigh and take a breather before my next round.
3-1
We do the tournament math and we can ID and both make top 8. I take the opportunity to go grab a snack and drink at the local grocery store and get a bit of rest before the quarter finals.
Final Swiss Record 3-1-1
My opponent is on a UR tempo control deck with the Kiki-jiki combo and Blood Moon main deck. Grixis Delver was good against Twin back in the day, and my deck has gotten better where his has gotten worse. We play draw go with the occasional cantrip until he plays a Pestermite at the end of my turn. It eats a bolt real quick and we go back to draw go for a while. He lands a Blood Moon, but I’ve hit all my basics at this point. I play Tasigur and begin beating down. He slows it with a Deceiver Exarch, but ultimately can’t answer it and I take the first game.
Game two starts and ends mostly the same way. I have better answers and threats than him and take control after landing a Gurmag Angler. He has to get real desperate and chump with Kiki while at 2 life. He then taps out for a Cryptic Command, and I kill him with Kolaghan’s Command.
This was the guy I ID’d with earlier. We had an extremely long and drawn out game one. Lots of grinding and looking for opportunities to eke out every bit of card advantage. Eventually, we are both down to 4 life. He has a Creeping Tar Pit. I have an unflipped Delver of Secrets. My draw for the turn is another Delver. I play Delver, attack with the other (Tar Pit was tapped), and it eats a Lightning Bolt. He attacks with Tar Pit and passes turn. I draw Snapcaster off the top. I attack with this still unflipped Delver and bring him to 2. I don’t have Bolt in the yard, but I have a Push to at least not die and hopefully win next turn. He activates and attacks. I play Snapcaster which is countered by a Spell Snare. Heartbreaking end to a great game of Magic, but that’s life.
Sideboard: -3 Mana Leak, -4 Fatal Push +2 Countersquall, +2 Dispel, +2 Thoughtseize, +1 Fulminator Mage
My sideboarding plan here was my biggest mistake all tournament. I tried to next level him by keeping in Delver because I thought he would cut some number of Bolt/Push against me post board. I start off with a turn one Thought Scour with a Tasigur in hand. I decline to play him turn two because I want to be able to protect him with Spell Snare. I get punished by him playing and cracking a Nihil Spellbomb to remove my graveyard and draw a card. With his shields down, I am able to land Liliana safely and start ticking it up to defend against bolt. He responds with his own Tasigur and passes. I tick up targeting his Tasigur and pass turn. He goes for a Snapcaster mage, but its countered by my Spell Snare. He attacks Liliana and passes. I minus Liliana to get back Snapcaster. I go to Snap Terminate, but he has the Spell Snare. I follow up with a Tasigur and pass the turn back. He Terminates my Tasigur then plays Kolaghan’s Command dealing 2 to Liliana and making me discard. At this point I draw lands and die to the unanswered Tasigur.
Overall, I felt the deck performed very well. Liliana proved to quite valuable against the midrange and control decks I faced. I wish I could’ve faced more popular decks like Death’s Shadow and Eldrazi variants, but I managed to dodge those despite their being a fair amount of both in the room. Playing against another Grixis deck made me realize how weak this build is to delve threats, so from now on I’ll be making the following change: -1 Fatal Push +1 Terminate. Thanks for reading and let me know what you guys think.
Liliana has recently been a powerful sideboard option, but I think moving her to the main is the way to go. I've replaced Young Pyromancer with her and her abilities are all incredibly useful for us. Her plus takes care of public enemy number one for Grixis (Lingering Souls) and deals with smaller creatures, so we can save our removal for more important threats. Her minus helps us grind out other midrangey decks and stock up the graveyard for snapcaster and our delve threats. If we can protect the queen long enough, her ultimate is an auto win against a lot of decks. I would love to hear your thoughts on my list and Lily in the main.
Does someone have any experience playing Grixis Death's Shadow?. Right now it just seems bett
er than Delver in Modern. It's obviously still trying to catch up. Michael Majors and Gerry Thompson are testing it, but i fear that not playing full green(not as splash) could mean that the deck is not really good enough.
There seem to be 3 type of builds: DS Delver, Grixis DS w/Counters and w/o Counters.
I've been jamming Ryan Overturf's list and I have to say it feels really good. I prefer having delver over street wraith because I want to maximize the number of threats in the deck. I don't imagine I'll go back to the traditional delver lists anytime soon.
I wasn't able to get in any games last night due to me running a Shadowrun campaign but should be able to tonight. I'm really excited to try out the Ranger and Lingering Souls and see if they are as good as I'm intuiting them to be.
Grixis Delver and Shadowrun? You are a person of exquisite taste.
Sorry for the delay. Here is the promised post about my card choices in my build. For reference:
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Lightning Bolt
3x Stubborn Denial
1x Temur Battle Rage
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Death's Shadow
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
1x Kolaghan's Command
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Stubborn Denial
1x Temur Battle Rage
2x Terminate
Second, I run no Inquisition of Kozilek in the main or side. In a lot of my early testing, I found I often sided them out. They felt low impact and I wanted more counter magic for my interaction aside from Thoughtseize. I ultimately replaced them with a Temur Battle Rage and the third Stubborn Denial. I think it’s absolutely wrong to not be running 2 TBR in the 75. They help us cheese wins in our bad MU’s by giving us insanely fast kills. We don’t use it as well as the Jund version, but it still does a lot of work. Grixis can also search for it better with our blue cantrips and can even Snapcaster it back. Then there’s my 3 Stubborn Denials. I fell in love with the card in RUG Delver. I think it’s even better in Grixis Shadow because all of our threats can come down for one mana. I often sided in the fourth one as well, so I will be looking for a way to run a playset main.
Lastly, I’d like to weigh in on the 2 Steam Vents vs 2 Blood Crypts debate. I’m currently on 2 Steam vents because 1) We can keep a one land hand with Steam Vents and cantrips while there are few one landers with Blood Crypt that I would keep and 2) I have two foil Steam Vents. Joking aside, I think 2 Blood Crypts would give the deck better mana at the cost of having to mulligan more. I’m not 100% certain and need to test both configurations a lot more.
I’ll try to have my tournament report out later tonight, but I’m feeling a bit run down.
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
3x Kolaghan's Command
2x Lightning Bolt
3x Stubborn Denial
1x Temur Battle Rage
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Death's Shadow
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Stubborn Denial
1x Temur Battle Rage
2x Terminate
I'll post about the card choices and a tournament report write up later. For now, I really like this build and will be playing it for the foreseeable future.
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Death's Shadow
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Collective Brutality
3x Fulminator Mage
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Painful Truths
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Terminate
Now for my answers to the questions.
1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?
Pure Grixis. Milling our splash color's shock feels real bad.
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?
2 Watery Grave. This is primarily a UB deck.
3)[edited] How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?
3 Push, 2 Terminate, 2 Bolt and another Terminate in the sideboard. I recently lost to an unanswered Delve threat at a tournament so I want more outs to those creatures.
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?
Fulminator mages all the way. Great when you can cast it on turn 3 and snipe a tron land and later if you draw more they can beat for a while before taking out a land.
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?
Yes. 12 fetches make double red trivial. I prefer Anger over Damnation because its faster and deals with Voice and Finks.
6) [added] What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?
I own all the cards. /s In all seriousness, Snap Kommand is one hell of an engine and Stubborn denial is one of my favorite cards. I get to use both.
7) [added] What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!
Still new the the deck, so I don't think I can answer things with much certainty. Maybe something like "Q. Why don't you use 4 Bolts? A. Bolt is at an all time low as a removal spell. Push is better against the larger meta and terminate is necessary for things Push can't hit. It is worth keeping some amount of Bolts as Bolt Snap Bolt is a real way to end the game in Grixis colors."
It's not a great MU, but there are a few things you can do to make it better. Mainboard, having more Terminates helps quite a bit with their big threats. I find that Mana Leak tends to be pretty good against them as well (unless they get Cavern of Souls online). Bolt any mana dorks you can and try to land a delve threat to stone wall a lot of their creatures. Have some sort of land destruction or disruption to deal with Temples or any other problematic lands. I prefer Fulminator Mage, but Blood Moon, Molten Rain, and even Spreading Seas can work against them too. Eldrazi can have some explosive starts then peter out, so just try to survive and disrupt the first 4 turns is my strategy.
You make some good points. To be honest, I haven't played against an Affinity deck in a tournament setting for probably about a year now. In my list, I could see keeping the Delvers in and siding out the Mana Leaks for Staticaster, EE, and a Collective Brutality. You definitely don't want to give them more draw phases than you have to.
I think it's more personal preference. I trade the ability to consistently have a turn two delve threat to able to have two delve threats out at once in the late game. Gurmag can also attack through Tasigur and smaller Goyfs.
Lands(20)
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
2x Darkslick Shores
2x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Creatures(12)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Gurmag Angler
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Spells(26)
4x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
3x Spell Snare
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Serum Visions
2x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
2x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
There were 27 people who showed up for the tournament. Relatively small, but the people in the area tend to play meta decks with a preference for fair decks.
Before the tournament started, I was talking with a friend about the meta. Somehow we get on the topic of Bogles and I say “I’d know if there was a Bogles player here. I’d smell them walking in the door.” My friend chuckles and then pairings are posted. We get matched against each other and he wins the die roll. He opens up with Temple Garden into Slippery Bogle, looks me dead in the eyes, and asks “What do I smell like?” Game one goes about as well as you think.
Sideboard: -4 Fatal Push, -2 Terminate, -1 Liliana, the Last Hope +2 Thoughtseize, +2 Countersquall, +2 Dispel, + 1 Engineered Explosives
God I hate Bogles. I go turn one Delver into turn 2 Tasigur, but it’s still not enough to beat his Path to Exile and giant hexproof monstrosity. He takes the match, we laugh about my instant karma, and wish each other best of luck on the rest of the tournament.
I play against a guy running a casual Crown/Throne/Scepter of Empires deck. I quickly dispatch him in two games and get something to drink before the next round. I was happy to pick up a win, but it felt like a bye (no disrespect to my opponent, he was a real nice guy).
Game one my opponent gets stuck on one land after 3 cantrips. I flip a turn one Delver and immediately start pressuring him. I have all the answers for everything he does and finish him off with Bolt Snap Bolt.
Sideboard: -4 Fatal Push, -2 Liliana, the Last Hope, -2 Terminate, -2 Kolaghan’s command, -1 Thought Scour +2 Thoughtseize, +2 Countersquall, +2 Dispel, +2 Surgical Extraction, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Engineered Explosives
I have a hand full of permission and Snapcasters. I flash one in on turn two EOT to start pressuring him. I eventually draw a delve threat to keep the beats going while holding up counter magic. He then tries to go for it and gets promptly stopped.
This is some of the tightest Magic I’ve had to play in a long time. He goes turn one Experiment One followed by turn two Burning Tree Emissary which was quickly spell snared. After a few more creatures eating removal spells, I am able to clear the board and land Liliana and stabilize. I eat a few burn spells and get brought down to 1, but Gurmag Angler and some burn are able to get me there.
Sideboard: -2 Liliana, -3 Mana Leak +2 Dispel, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Engineered Explosives
Game two doesn’t go as well for me. I kill a couple of early creatures, but he gets a Burning Tree Emissary into Reckless Bushwhacker with a Goblin Guide on board. After that, my removal can’t keep up with his steady stream of creatures and I eventually concede.
Game three I have a lot of removal and the lands to play it, but no threats. I decide to keep in hopes of drawing into something later. A bit risky, but it paid off well when I drew into Gurmag Angler. He gets real aggressive with his burn now and I land a zombie fish to stone wall his only creature on the board. Some Snapcasters later and I win the game with about 4 life left. I let out a huge sigh and take a breather before my next round.
We do the tournament math and we can ID and both make top 8. I take the opportunity to go grab a snack and drink at the local grocery store and get a bit of rest before the quarter finals.
My opponent is on a UR tempo control deck with the Kiki-jiki combo and Blood Moon main deck. Grixis Delver was good against Twin back in the day, and my deck has gotten better where his has gotten worse. We play draw go with the occasional cantrip until he plays a Pestermite at the end of my turn. It eats a bolt real quick and we go back to draw go for a while. He lands a Blood Moon, but I’ve hit all my basics at this point. I play Tasigur and begin beating down. He slows it with a Deceiver Exarch, but ultimately can’t answer it and I take the first game.
Sideboard: -4 Delver, -3 Mana Leak +2 Countersquall, +2 Dispel, +2 Thoughtseize, +1 Engineered Explosives
Game two starts and ends mostly the same way. I have better answers and threats than him and take control after landing a Gurmag Angler. He has to get real desperate and chump with Kiki while at 2 life. He then taps out for a Cryptic Command, and I kill him with Kolaghan’s Command.
This was the guy I ID’d with earlier. We had an extremely long and drawn out game one. Lots of grinding and looking for opportunities to eke out every bit of card advantage. Eventually, we are both down to 4 life. He has a Creeping Tar Pit. I have an unflipped Delver of Secrets. My draw for the turn is another Delver. I play Delver, attack with the other (Tar Pit was tapped), and it eats a Lightning Bolt. He attacks with Tar Pit and passes turn. I draw Snapcaster off the top. I attack with this still unflipped Delver and bring him to 2. I don’t have Bolt in the yard, but I have a Push to at least not die and hopefully win next turn. He activates and attacks. I play Snapcaster which is countered by a Spell Snare. Heartbreaking end to a great game of Magic, but that’s life.
Sideboard: -3 Mana Leak, -4 Fatal Push +2 Countersquall, +2 Dispel, +2 Thoughtseize, +1 Fulminator Mage
My sideboarding plan here was my biggest mistake all tournament. I tried to next level him by keeping in Delver because I thought he would cut some number of Bolt/Push against me post board. I start off with a turn one Thought Scour with a Tasigur in hand. I decline to play him turn two because I want to be able to protect him with Spell Snare. I get punished by him playing and cracking a Nihil Spellbomb to remove my graveyard and draw a card. With his shields down, I am able to land Liliana safely and start ticking it up to defend against bolt. He responds with his own Tasigur and passes. I tick up targeting his Tasigur and pass turn. He goes for a Snapcaster mage, but its countered by my Spell Snare. He attacks Liliana and passes. I minus Liliana to get back Snapcaster. I go to Snap Terminate, but he has the Spell Snare. I follow up with a Tasigur and pass the turn back. He Terminates my Tasigur then plays Kolaghan’s Command dealing 2 to Liliana and making me discard. At this point I draw lands and die to the unanswered Tasigur.
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Darkslick Shores
2x Island
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Creatures(12)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Gurmag Angler
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Spells(26)
4x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
3x Spell Snare
2x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
4x Serum Visions
2x Collective Brutality
2x Countersquall
2x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
Liliana has recently been a powerful sideboard option, but I think moving her to the main is the way to go. I've replaced Young Pyromancer with her and her abilities are all incredibly useful for us. Her plus takes care of public enemy number one for Grixis (Lingering Souls) and deals with smaller creatures, so we can save our removal for more important threats. Her minus helps us grind out other midrangey decks and stock up the graveyard for snapcaster and our delve threats. If we can protect the queen long enough, her ultimate is an auto win against a lot of decks. I would love to hear your thoughts on my list and Lily in the main.
I've been jamming Ryan Overturf's list and I have to say it feels really good. I prefer having delver over street wraith because I want to maximize the number of threats in the deck. I don't imagine I'll go back to the traditional delver lists anytime soon.
Grixis Delver and Shadowrun? You are a person of exquisite taste.