Grixis Delver deck help
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on June 5, 2015, 12:41 p.m. by CookieJedi
Hey all! I was wondering if I could get some help with this Grixis Delver deck I'm working on. (I'm a newbie to modern so be gentle!) Specifically, with the noncreature spells and the sideboard (which is really bad). I've been looking at a lot of lists online but they all vary pretty wildly when it comes to the instants and sorceries once you get past 4x Bolt, 4x Scour, 4x Visions. The gist of my card selection is in the description.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/05-06-15-QVI-grixis-delver/
A big question I have is regarding the creature base. Most lists run four delve creatures in the form of 2-3 Tasigurs and 1-2 Gurmag Anglers, but that's with a full playset of Snapcaster Mages. I only have two, and will only have 2 for quite some time, so I was wondering if it would be worth it to cut two Anglers in place of two Swiftspears. It would fill the curve nicely and has a lot of synergy with the deck, but no other list runs it which has me off put to the idea.
CookieJedi says... #3
I'm curious as to why it's terrible in the deck. I'm not at all contesting the claim, I just have so little knowledge overall of the format and it's workings that I want to learn these things.
From my point of view, a beginner to the format, having a one drop hasty creature that gets bigger whenever I cantrip or burn seems exactly like what the doctor ordered. I get rewarded for casting spells both for my delve creatures and the swiftspear.
June 5, 2015 12:51 p.m.
It's terrible in the deck because you're using the instants on their turn. So on their turn, you have a tapped 2/3+ but on your turn you're still attacking with just a 1/2, usually.
June 5, 2015 1:02 p.m.
CookieJedi says... #5
I suppose so. On the flip side of that though there are at least 8 sorceries in the deck in the form of Serum Visions and Gitaxian Probes. Additionally there are plenty of opportunities to Lightning Bolt, Electrolyze, etc. blockers or the opponent's face mid combat. IMO they seem to balance each other out in that regard.
IS there anything else that makes them counterproductive to the deck?
June 5, 2015 1:23 p.m.
The version of this deck that was at the top of every list at the release of khans ran 4x swiftspear. Its a good choice.
June 5, 2015 1:35 p.m.
I have had some good success with my delver list (found here) It is a ton of fun to play but Monastery Swiftspear didnt cut it for me, like stated you want to do things on their turn, attacking on yours.
June 5, 2015 1:40 p.m.
Delver ran Monastery Swiftspear only when Treasure Cruise was legal, and that's because the deck was basically U/R burn.
You don't play the Swiftspear because you're trying to hold up mana to counter and kill thins on your opponents turn. Swiftspear wants you to do the exact opposite. It changes the play of the deck, thus worsening it.
June 5, 2015 1:43 p.m.
I don't think you want too many delve creatures. I would go with 2-3 Taisgar and a Murderous Cut. I'd also x4 the Young Pyromancer. Here is my list ...
I played this deck a few weeks ago and it did very well. For the sideboard, add a Rain of Gore. It screws up a lot of decks like Soul Sisters and Melira life gain antics. Flashfreeze is also really good right now. Practice with this type of build a lot also. I find Delver pretty skill intensive.
June 5, 2015 2:40 p.m.
In you only have 2 Snapcaster Mages your best bet (IMO) would be to go with a more "Big Grixis Delver," build, there's a good article on it here . Essentially it's just a more powerful creature base, in the form of more Anglers, to help against matchups like Abzan.
Grixis Delver is really fun to play and you can my deck here if you're interested.
June 5, 2015 4:12 p.m.
His amount of delver creatures is fine. There is a version of Delver known as Big Delver(still labeled as Grixis Delver) that runs 6-8 delve guys. You can find it on the Grixis Delver mtgsalvation thread.
Slayne says... #2
Never run Monastery Swiftspear. It is terrible in a tempo deck like Grixis Delver. Your creature base is just fine since you don't have Snapcaster Mage
June 5, 2015 12:44 p.m.