Who doesn't like to play powerful decks for cheap? For real. That's one of the biggest pitfalls of magic - you either choose power or budget, there's usually not much of an in better. Well, in this case, I've been working on a deck for the last six months that is now a finish product and does exactly what I wanted it to do... Budget midrange delver. With the exception of a few cards (aka fetches and dual lands) this is a fully competitive list. Let me give you some context on how this came to be:
My friend was getting into magic from yugioh. Because he's only ever played yugioh I wanted to make something that would really show him how thought provoking and complex magic is. I figured a delver list would be cool and easy to build so I went this route but kept it budget since he's an amateur.
After months of refining and playing against my decks this is the finished product. Allow me to touch on some of the card choices in the deck and explain why I think this deck is an absolute all star.
First, say hello to our creatures: Delver of Secrets
, True-Name Nemesis, Bedlam Reveler and Pteramander.
Delver and pteramander go together like sweaty guys and neckbeards. They're both meant to be evasive creatures that push forward a spell-heavy deck and put it over the top. I think midrange is a great spot for this build because the slowness of our lands can be balanced out by the potency of our removal and creature spells as well as our ability to search/sift the deck. With proper piloting this deck should always have access to ample resources and be able to maintain a card advantage through the entire game
True-Name Nemesis is a card too good to skip out on in this deck. I had to put him in. For 1UU you get a creature that is unlockable and untouchable by opponents. This is great for blocking, getting in damage and also triggering Light Up the Stage, which is an all star card in helping us access resources.
Bedlam Reveler is late game draw on a big body. Prowess triggers make it even more of a threat on the field meaning this card is not lost on value in any sense. Once again you can probably see how I have geared this deck heavily toward resource access by way of using things like Ponder, Light Up the Stage and Bedlam Reveler. Thematically this build is meant to be a workhorse with ample opportunities to find routes to beat opponents.
Next we have a huge index of spells ranging from counters (Mana Leak, Spell Pierce), to removal (Inquisition of Kozilek, Dismember, Terminate), draw (Ponder, Thought Scour), and utility spells like Lightning Bolt and Mission Briefing which is both a scry 2 effect and snapcaster effect in one spell.
The net effect of the spell package in this deck is that you should always be able to find something that gives you some sort of advantage. If you pilot the deck well it'll lead to success easily on the back of our creature package to boot.
I would recommend this deck highly to anyone who has a casual, semi-competitive playgroup. I wouldn't play this deck in any constructed tournaments because it's budget and lacks the manabase to play at tempo with other decks. If you have a group of friends who sit around at your LGS or play at kitchen table and who like to brew and make fun decks then this is a great build for you :) please feel free to ask any questions you want about it and I'll glad further explain play style or card choices so you can understand as best possible.
Anyway thanks very much for reading. Please leave a +1 if you like the build so the deck is more visible to other people on this site :)
Have fun playing this build!
