Draw: we have
Ponder for card selection, but no net card gain; togeter with
Halimar Depths it's used to ensure
ma boi delver
is flipped as soon as possible, and to draw the right answers. The real draw engine of the deck is
Accumulated Knowledge, with a card gain of +0,+1,+2,+3. Playing the Deck I noticed that a lot of games arrived very
very late game, as this Deck does not combo hard most of the time, and you eventually find yourself without the necessary spells to fuel
Thermo-Alchemist and
Nivix Cyclops. That's why I included
Ash Barrens, that lets you filter out of the deck unnecessary lands to draw moar spells.
Forgotten Cave and
Lonely Sandbar are used to mitigate flooding too, should it still happen.
Bounce: we play Vapor Snag at , preferred over Unsummon because 9 out of 10 times you will be bouncing opponent's creatures rather than saving yours, and the extra damage adds up nicely with Thermo-Alchemist. Echoing Truth is really a strong card, giving you exceptional value in many situations.
Damage: we have Lightning Bolt, of course, wich is a 1-mana trigger for Nivix Cyclops, and can be sometimes be aimed face for burst. On the other hand Firebolt is usually used for creature removal, and can provide an unexpected activation of Nivix with flashback. Flame slash and Forked Bolt are purely for (respectively) big and small creatures removal, for pre-Electrickery games and particularly resilient foes (Spire Golem the delver
eater anyone?). Then we have Temur Battle Rage, wich is not really a damage spell, but... 10/4 double strike trample Nivix with 4 mana (in the optimal case). Yep. That's a finisher.
Creature: delver
is a staple among pauper decks, and for a good reason: the amount of instants and sorceries in the deck provide a quick flip, and the boy
rewards you with early presence and free damage on the opponent. Thermo-Alchemist is used to burn down your opponent, and to provide a good 0/3 body to block. Dont underestimate the damage the old madman can do, together with our collection of 1-cost spells. Nivix Cyclops: it's him. The big bad Nivix will often be your victory condition, with 10+ damage in a single turn if left unchecked, and its 1/4 body makes him quite hard to kill too.
Counter: we run just 4 Rune Snag, mainly to disrupt early and protect our (few) creatures. You can easily bluff counter leaving mana open after showing one Rune Snag just to draw in end turn with Accumulated Knowledge. We run this instead of Mana Leak because a lot of the time you will be going late game, thus getting more value out of the card, as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th casts are a lot better, and remain impactful during the course of the game (Mana Leak becomes useless pretty quickly). I sided 3 Annul, but just to target particular enemy strategy (artifacts/enchantment dependant decks). Why not Counterspell? Because the double is sometimes hard to have early enough, and is a pain to leave open anyhow.
Piracy Charm: yes, this card has its own section. It's the utility card, very versatile; each of it's effects can be useful, and pretty unexpected for the opponent:
islandwalk: if the opponent has blue in his deck (and it often does), Jackpot! Your boy is now unblockable!
+2/-1: it's a +5 damage for an unblocked Nivix, or a 5 damage Delver. It doubles down as a removal for those pesky 1-constitution creatures, as Porcelain Legionnaire.
discard a card: A blue instant discard. For . Sounds pretty neat, especially when you got hand advantage.
This card provides some of the "surprise element", but should usually be the first to be sided out when you need a specific answer.
