Not if it's Grixis though. No Snaps or Tarns because they're too expensive.
GRIXIS DELVER
Grixis Flag 1, Grixis Flag 2 Made using Paint and Gogle Images
Grixis Delver is basically U/R Delver with Tasigur, the Golden Fang in it. At it's core Delver is a Tempo deck, but with the variation of cards in the deck it can become a late game beater with Tasigur or Gurmag Angler, or Burn/Control. The goal of the deck is to generate as much value as possible, with huge card advantage in Serum Visions
+
Gitaxian Probe
+
Thought Scour
you can keep your hand full of useful cards, then when you're done with them either cast Tasigur or Angler for 1-2 Mana or re-cast them with Snapcaster Mage, all the while generating an army with Young Pyromancer. Currently (according to MTGGoldfish ) Grixis Delver is TIED with Affinity for most popular Modern deck, both being at 9.18% of the Meta, and it is a lot cheaper to make than most Modern decks, with Snappy, Remand and Fetches being the only cards that are really expensive.
I've been considering building some variation of U/R Delver for a while lately, it just felt too controlly for me (I hate control and it just wouldn't feel right), and had no real answers for cards like Siege Rhino and Tasigur, the Golden Fang, so Abzan Midrange. I originally wanted to go with Green for Tarmogoyfs, but they're so damn expensive, so scratch that idea. I recently saw a Grixis Delver deck on Cockatrice, and it looked really fun, so I decided to start working on my own variation of it, and here we are.
Cantrips
4x Serum Visions The best 1-drop draw spell in Modern, you can't play a Delver deck without it.
4x Gitaxian Probe I get to see my opponents hand and draw another card, but what makes it so good is that I can pay 2 life to cast it for free.
3x Thought Scour Normally not that great because milling just isn't viable, but in this deck you don't mill your opponent, you mill yourself so that Tasigur can be cast for one mana.
2x Remand One of the best counterspells in Modern, while it may not permanently remove the card they just played, it stops it from being cast for a turn and gets you an extra card, essentially Time Warping.
Creatures
4x Delver of Secrets
The card that gives the deck its name, since the deck is mostly Instants and Sorceries there's a pretty good chance you'll reveal one, turning him into a 3/2 flying beater.
1x Gurmag Angler Essentially a 1-drop 5/5, and having 5 power means he can not only survive a Siege Rhino attack, he'll kill it.
4x Snapcaster Mage Don't you just hate it when you've played all your best Instants and Sorceries, if only there was a way to play them again... Oh look, there is! And he has flash :D
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang Essentially a 1-drop 4/5 that can provide continuous card advantage. Also, bananas.
3x Young Pyromancer With all these Instants and Sorceries you're throwing out there, you might as well make a small army while you're at it.
Utility Cards
1x Creeping Tar Pit Unblockable can help win against a stalled board state.
2x Kolaghan's Command Testing this instead of Electrolyze for now, a lot more versatile and bringing a creature back guarantees a threat while drawing a card gives me a chance of getting a threat.
4x Lightning Bolt 3 damage will kill most of the best creatures played in Modern, and 3 damage to the face is nothing to scoff at.
2x Mana Leak Early game it's a Counterspell, definitely playable. Late game it becomes less useful, hence only being a 2-of.
2x Murderous Cut For when 3 damage isn't enough to kill something, also it's essentially a 1-drop Murder.
2x Spell Snare Because there are a lot of good 2-drops in Modern.
1x Terminate More removal is always good.
Under Construction
2x Anger of the Gods Very iffy at the moment, on one hand it's good against any Aggro deck, B/W tokens, Lingering Souls, and even a mirror match, but on the other hand this SB slot could be used for another card that might help even more.
1x Counterflux Counterspell that can't be countered. I've had a few scenarios where my opponent and I were just in a counter-off over a
Scapeshift
or Cryptic Command that would win them the game. So i'm testing this out for now.
3x Countersquall Good against a lot of decks, Control, Burn, Scapeshift, Bloom Titan, Delver and Splinter Twin.
2x Dismember Good against Abzan Midrange, hitting Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Siege Rhino, and usually Tarmogoyf, and it can only cost 1, probably surprising my opponent.
2x Rakdos Charm Good against any graveyard dependent deck, B/W Tokens, Splinter Twin and okay against Affinity and Amulet Bloom.
2x Spellskite Good against Burn and Splinter Twin, also a good blocker against Aggro decks.
1x Terminate Another good card against creature heavy decks, Abzan Midrange to be specific.
2x Vandalblast Good against Affinity and Bloom Titan.
There are always more alternatives to consider in a deck, especially one as versatile as this. Here are some of the ones that I think of and how they could benefit the deck and sideboard (mostly sideboard though):
Creeping Tar Pit Unblockable can help win against stalled board states, to play it I would have to replace a non-land though and if I get stuck with it being the only land in my hand it could really hurt me.
Cryptic Command Really good and versatile card, it is pretty mana intensive for a 3 color deck though, and it does cost a little more than the deck would like.
Darkblast Provides continuous removal, and delve fodder, but it's at the cost of skipping a draw.
Dragon's Claw The deck has no way to gain life, and it's unfortunately taking a lot of damage from itself, so burn is a huge problem for it. This helps solve that problem, but reducing a Lightning Bolt to a Shock, isn't that amazing. It is definitely a good card though, and I would like to fit it into the SB.
Electrolyze At worst it hits my opponent for 2 and draws me an extra card, at best it takes out 2 of their creatures and draws me an extra card.
Engineered Explosives Really versatile mass removal, can be used to take out key parts of a lot of decks. Would like to fit it into the SB.
Forked Bolt Cheaper Electrolyze without the draw part, it's definitely worth considering to play it over Electrolyze.
Izzet Charm Good and versatile, considering this over Electrolyze.
Logic Knot With Delve it could be a straight up Counterspell. I really only want a few cards with Delve though, I wouldn't want this preventing me from playing Tasigur, especially when there are other counters I could play.
Monastery Swiftspear Seems like it could be good early game pressure, casting all my cantrips before it deals damage, making it bigger.
Shadow of Doubt
Good against most decks, preventing a fetch, stopping Primeval Titan from getting the land that gives it haste and stopping Gifts Ungiven from getting it's win cons as well. In most cases I think
Squelch
is just better and stops more things.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest Seems like it could be pretty good, giving a Insectile Aberration
double strike could work pretty well, and he has prowess.
Slaughter Pact Out of nowhere kill spell is always good, not sure if it's worth running though.
Thoughtseize Good for taking out key pieces of their deck, the life loss does more bad than good in here though, and it doesn't draw me an extra card.
Vapor Snag I think it could be good against a few different decks, but overall not really worth running.
Vendilion Clique Good, but i'm not sure if it's really worth running.
U/R Storm 4/14/15 Forfeit 1-1
Game 1: He didn't draw into any
Grapeshot
s until it was too late, wasn't even entirely sure what he was playing until the turn before I won.
Sideboard: In 3 Countersquall, out 2 Murderous Cut and Terminate, he's not playing any creature (except maybe Snapcaster Mage, not too familiar with Storm), counters are good against him.
Game 2: I saw his hand with Gitaxian Probe, knowing that he had Ignite Memories and Pyretic Ritual in his hand, I have a Countersquall in hand. He tries to combo out with it, he has one unknown card in his hand, I counter his Pyretic Ritual thinking he wouldn't be able to cast Ignite Memories, turns out he just top decked a second Pyretic Ritual, and he kills me with Ignite Memories. Bad play on my part, should've just saved the counter for Ignite Memories, I am a little unfamiliar with Storm though.
He had to leave after this game so we don't do game 3.
Jund Midrange 4/14/15 Lose 1-2
Game 1: Starts off with locking me down with Liliana of the Veil, I finally manage to kill it and he drops another one, after I get rid of that one he drops 3 Tarmogoyfs in a row (they were 4/5's). I double Lightning Bolt one of them, next turn Terminate another, then I was going to Snapcaster Mage into Terminate again the next turn, but he randomly drops a Thoughtseize on me on like turn 10.
Sideboard: In 2 Dismember, not really sure what to take out, so 2 Electrolyze i guess.
Game 2: Managed to keep his Tarmogoyfs at bay this time while beating him in the face with Insectile Aberration
and Lightning Bolts.
Game 3: Was doing okay at first, we were both removing each other's threats, I was starting to get ahead. Then I hit 4 lands in a row, by turn 8 I had seen all but 4 of the 18 land in my deck.
Overall I thought I did okay against his deck, until I got screwed over on the third game. Tarmogoyf and Tasigur, the Golden Fang hit hard, I'm considering adding Roast into the SB to help more against them and Siege Rhino.
U/W Control 4/14/15 Lose 1-2
Game 1: This one was pretty close, he just had one too many answers for my stuff while having a giant Myth Realized out.
Sideboard: In 3 Countersquall, Myth Realized is a problem so i'm gonna keep my kill spells in, so out 2 Electrolyze and Gurmag Angler.
Game 2: I hit a turn 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, followed by a double Lightning Strike, very quick win.
Game 3: He had all his answers ever, 2 Cryptic Commands, 2 Path to Exile and a ton of other counters. I almost had him, but he had two Myth Realized out with a lot of counter on each, two turns in a row he Cryptic Commanded to tap all my creatures.
Overall my deck did pretty well in this match up, I just wasn't able to end the game soon enough and the longer the game goes the better control decks get.
Thanks for checking out the deck, comments and suggestions are appreciated, especially with the sideboard, and if you like the deck please leave a +1. And don't forget, Tasigur says to put a banana in your ear if you want to keep the alligators away .
