Delve Recycling

Modern keizerbuns

SCORE: 22 | 13 COMMENTS | 3048 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS


Very funky concept. The Elemental is definitely a superior creature when he's actually in play, but if you're mostly interested in using him as reusable Delve fodder, then Misthollow Griffin might be preferable, since he's only four mana to bring back rather than five.

I did have a question, though... if you're hoping to use Eternal Scourge and the Elemental to fuel Delve costs again and again, how exactly do you go about doing that? Both of them go right into play from exile, and all of your pieces that exile cards only so from the graveyard. If you really want to use them to fuel exile effects, you might have more luck using cards that exile them from play, such as Necrotic Fumes. As is, paying five mana to bring a guy back, then finding a way to kill him off all so you can get a discount on another spell... kind of feels like it's missing the point somewhere.

January 5, 2022 11:14 p.m.

keizerbuns says... #2

ClockworkSwordfish thanks for the comment!

I thought about using Misthollow Griffin, but the deck was sort of built around Torrent Elemental's tapping ability, and Eternal Scourge was cheaper, so I left Misthollow out.

To answer your question, I don't think I fully thought that one through tbh XD. I guess my thinking was that if the cards are in the graveyard because they either got milled, got discarded from hand, or were cast and then put there from the battlefield, then they could be used as a target for delve/exile effects and still be able to come back and make an impact on the board.

I do really like your suggestion of Necrotic Fumes. I'm not entirely sure how much I like Sultai Ascendancy and Dimir-doppleganger in this deck and I did feel like it could use some removal, so that might be a pretty good substitute for those cards.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, I really appreciate it! :D

January 6, 2022 6:52 a.m. Edited.

Corrosive_Cat says... #3

Commandeer and Subtlety are good exile outlets, and Endless Sands and Mosswort Bridge // Shelldock Isle could be cool too! And Masked Vandal would make a stunning sideboard card.

January 6, 2022 8:51 a.m.

BurningWaffles says... #4

You may also want to run a copy of Mental Note.

January 6, 2022 1:48 p.m.

Corrosive_Cat says... #5

BurningWaffles think Thoughtscour is strictly better.

January 6, 2022 2:10 p.m.

BurningWaffles says... #6

Oh, it definitely is. I meant that if you want more copies, you could run mental note. Unfortunately, upon further inspection, it is not legal in modern, which I probably should have realized from the beginning.

January 6, 2022 3:03 p.m.

Corrosive_Cat says... #7

BurningWaffles Upon further inspection, I see he already had Thought Scour in the deck! I see what you meant now; makin' sillies all round.

January 6, 2022 3:57 p.m.

keizerbuns says... #8

Those are all great suggestions Corrosive_Cat! I did actually originally plan on putting Subtlety in, but just decided not to. Maybe I can try running a couple and play test it to see how it is. I think Masked Vandal is an excellent sideboard card, so I'm definitely going to put some in the sideboard!

I also really like the land suggestions, however I think with Mosswort Bridge and Shelldock Isle that I already have too many lands that enter tapped, but I'll consider them, and I thought about using Endless Sands but realized ultimately it doesn't really do anything in this deck.

Thanks for the suggestions!

January 7, 2022 3:23 p.m.

keizerbuns says... #9

Thanks for the suggestion BurningWaffles :D If Mental Note was modern legal then I'd definitely run a set of those too, but like you discovered, it isn't modern legal unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion regardless though!

January 7, 2022 3:25 p.m.

Ziusdra says... #10

I love the deck and its theme. I've wanted to run something like this in EDH but I don't think playing from exile and delve is supported enough for a hundred card singleton.

The mana base seems kind of slow for Modern; are shock lands too damaging with the amount of aggro out there? I would also think you would want more basics than fetchlands so that you don't end up milling yourself into a situation where your fetches fail to find. Has that ever happened to you? Also surprised to see scrylands over Amonkhet's bicycle lands or Ikoria's Zagoth triome, which can make graveyard fodder if you flood (I can't remember their names to link them). But not having played the deck myself, if it works for you, then it must work out in practice. I'd be curious to hear what your experience is.

March 4, 2022 7:40 p.m.

keizerbuns says... #11

Thanks Ziusdra, I'm glad you like the deck! :D An exile EDH deck would be so much fun! I wish there was more support for playable exiled cards too but I guess once you start being able to play too many cards from a zone that is supposed to be unplayable then it just becomes like a second graveyard.

Unfortunately I haven't actually gotten much real practice in with this deck. I've only played it about 3 times against a couple of friends in a casual setting. It did seem to do fairly well though in all 3 games, I only lost one game because a friend had a way to bounce my Torrent Elemental back to my hand every turn so I never got to use it. However, in the games I played with my friends, as well as in all my hours of playtesting, I actually never once had a problem with milling out all of my basics so drawing a fetchland was never a dead draw for me.

All that being said this deck could definitely be improved upon. You're right that the mana base is very slow and it's probably one of this decks biggest shortcomings. I didn't want to spend too much on this deck (I usually try to limit myself to about $200 max) so I didn't buy any shock lands, but those would definitely be a significant upgrade to the scry lands. I've also never thought about swapping out the scry lands for the cycling lands, maybe I could give that try!

The other things that could really be improved upon in the deck is its ability to protect its creatures once they're on the battlefield as well as ways to remove any opponents' threats.

Thanks again for the comment and the interest in the deck, I really appreciate it! :D

March 5, 2022 6:28 a.m. Edited.

Metropolis39 says... #12

i would try 4 Scrabbling Clawsto use perhaps use on yourself and double as grave hate. better than that garbo doppelganger card

October 19, 2022 11:13 p.m.

keizerbuns says... #13

Thanks for the suggestion Metropolis39! I’ll play around with Scrabbling Claws and see how it feels.

I don’t know if I’d replace Dimir Doppelganger with Scrabbling Claws though as Doppelganger is a pretty decent form of reanimation that fits the exile theme well and also enables me to get Torrent Elemental on the battlefield and attacking by turn 4 rather than turn 6. Replacing Doppleganger would slow my deck down too much, but maybe I can find room for the claw elsewhere.

Thanks again!

October 20, 2022 6:45 p.m. Edited.

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