Soul-Scar Mage turns out to be much better than I initially thought, helping in the very grindy current metagame with -1/-1 counters.
Played by a friend of mine (Richie Thompson) to a first place finish at SCG Classic Columbus and a top 8 at another.
This is an attempt to power up UR Delver in Legacy using Bedlam Reveler as a walking Treasure Cruise. UR Delver found itself in a strange place in Legacy as a sort of prowess-reliant, tempo-burn hybrid while Grixis and Sultai Delvers were more control oriented via Deathrite Shaman. The good news is we have a ton of fast damage in the forms of Lightning Bolt, Price of Progress, and Chain Lightning that give our prowess creatures a big boost.
V4 moves the alternate threats to something heavier than Stormchaser and more reliably castable than True-Name or Reveler, Cryptic Serpent and Young Pyromancer. Being as we live in the land of the fair, with Grixis and Sultai annoyingly prevalent, these threats are more difficult to deal with. In the side, that means Lavamancer is gone because of his nonbo with main threats that are graveyard reliant. In his place comes another True-Name. In the weeks to come, I'll be testing cards like Sudden Demise.
V2 UR Bedlam Delver brings quite a few new changes in the main deck:
-2 Stormchaser Mage
-1 Bedlam Reveler
+2 Young Pyromancer
+1 Forked Bolt
I felt that the change from Stormchaser to Pyromancer ought to be explained. Stormchaser does give us a flier and early attacker, but little staying power and generally necessitates holding up a critical mass of spells to buff him and chip damage. With Reveler in main, that isn't a viable strategy as we need cards thrown into our graveyard even if only one at a time. Young Pyromancer lets us do that and lets us go wide, a pretty big deal. Whether or not it's better than a 4th Bedlam Reveler is up for debate, as is running more Chain Lightnings in place of Forked Bolt.
The side deck now offers much more robust answers for our problem cards (Batterskull and Sword of Fire and Ice) while giving us more game against "fair" decks (Spell pierce and Blood Moon). We also received a major upgrade dealing with creature based strategies thanks to Pyrokinesis.
Bedlam Delver V3 brings me to making decisions that feel bad--as my local meta is quite open--but make our Reveler better as well as our matchups against fast decks.
-1 Flooded Strand
-1 Forked Bolt
+1 Chain Lightning
+1 Spell Pierce
I would appreciate any suggestions regarding ways to deal with Eldrazi as they're a tough matchup unless we hit a very aggressive start.
New changes:
-1 Flooded Strand
-2 Young Pyromancer
-1 Spell Pierce
+3 Stormchaser Mage
+1 Forked Bolt
With DnT and Turbo Depths decks becoming more prevalent (and the format less blue), we can go back to focusing on damage. Stormchaser has high in-hand utility as it can be pitched to Pyrokinesis and Force, where Pyromancer can only be pitched to one of those. Additionally, Stormchaser is a flying blocker, when needed, making a world of difference against a 20/20 flier. Forked bolt is the concession we make to avoid losing to elves and to turn the tide against aggro-control decks like ourselves or DnT.
New Changes (12/16/16):
-1 Forked Bolt
+1 Fireblast
Since my deck outright refused to play more aggressively when needed against my locals heavy prevalence of Lands and Forked Bolt has simply been mediocre, I decided to try a Fireblast, as it plays well with Reveler and wins grindy matchups singlehandedly.
New Changes 12/19/16:
Maindeck:
-1 Chain Lightning
-1 Flooded Strand
+1 Wooded Foothills
+1 Forked Bolt
Sideboard:
-1 Vapor Snag
-2 Blood Moon
-1 Pyrokinesis
+1 Pyroblast
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+1 Sulfur Elemental
+1 Grafdigger's Cage
Alright, removal of Forked Bolt was a bad idea. Still very much needed against Merfolk, Elves, and DnT. The addition of Grim Lavamancer and Sulfur Elemental are supplements. After losing to BR Reanimator, I realized I needed an additional piece of graveyard hate, even if it is simply a one-of, thus the addition of Grafdigger's Cage. So far, the changes test very well. Right now, Blood Moon is in a very awkward spot with non-basic decks on the downswing, so they were cut to make these changes.
New Changes 01/16/17:
Maindeck:
-1 Forked Bolt
-1 Fireblast
+1 Price of Progress
+1 Chain Lightning
Sidedeck:
-1 Grafdigger's Cage
-1 Price of Progress
+1 Blood Moon
+1 Pyrokinesis
Sultai decks are picking up again. With fewer basic lands, moving more burn into main is pretty alright. Blood moon is a good singleton since it debilitates most delver decks. Pyrokinesis once again comes back in, ready to help deal with a format poised for Elves to take off. B/R Reanimator is a better matchup than I thought after more playtesting and Sneak and Show is a race that we are very capable of winning.
V4 Update (04/26/17):
No longer do we need a side specifically for miracles because the versatility of their soft lock, the part that gave us trouble, is gone. On one hand, that makes our side more open. Other hand: no idea what once upon a time decks are going to crawl out of the woodwork. More greedy mana decks (4c Deathblade) seem obvious, and we should adjust as such (3 Smash to Smithereens and an additional Price of Progress). But there's also likely to be an uptick in combo and Eldrazi, so getting sufficient answers ready is important. Staticaster is a hedge against token strategies.
Sideboard:
-1 Pyrokinesis
-1 Sulfur Elemental
-1 Sulfuric Vortex
+1 Price of Progress
+1 Izzet Staticaster
+1 Smash to Smithereens
