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By: gwyned, gwyned
Jan 16 2012 8:49am
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I. Introduction

For the past several weeks, almost all of my time on Magic Online has been centered around a single deck in the Standard Pauper format: Izzet Delver. A couple months ago, I wrote about my initial build of the deck just after Innistrad was released, which you can find here. Then, last time, I covered my recent changes to my initial decklist and featured several practice matches, which you can find here. But today, for the first time, I am bringing you full video coverage from the most recent Monday Pauper Deck Challenge, commonly referred to as MPDC. MPDC is a weekly PRE featuring a Swiss tournament in the Standard Pauper format, with prizes awarded for the Top 8 finishers thanks to the sponsorship of MTGOTraders. As always, if you've never checked out MPDC, I encourage you to browse over to PDCMagic.com for all the information and then come join us at 2:00pm EST / 6:00pm GMT in the /join MPDC room. You can also check out any of my previous articles by clicking here.

Delver of Secrets, for which this deck is named, continues to be one of the cards of choice right now in Pauper. Both and versions are popular right now in Standard Pauper, while another list for Classic Pauper has emerged in the metagame, with several different versions taking top spots in recent Pauper Daily events. Even more intriguing, it appears the Dark Ascension expansion will provide further support for the variant, at least if Faithless Looting is any indication. In any case, I suspect Delver of Secrets will see a considerable amount of play in the weeks ahead, and so it seems very appropriate to continue to highlight my own Izzet Delver deck and how it played out for me in the most recent MPDC.

II. The Decklist

Izzet Delver
played by gwyned in MPDC 15.09
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Perilous Myr
4 Phantasmal Bear
3 Ashmouth Hound
3 Stitched Drake
18 cards

Other Spells
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
3 Silent Departure
2 Think Twice
21 cards
Lands
13 Island
8 Mountain
21 cards

Delver of Secrets

 
While there are several variations of this particular deck, this version falls somewhere between Aggro and Aggro Control. You want to drop as many early threats as possible, keep the virtual Battlefield as open as possible with a combination of bounce, burn, and counter-magic, and then finish off your opponent with direct damage before he or she can stabilize. Obviously a turn 2 flipped Delver of Secrets is ideal, particularly if you flip it off of a Mana Leak, but Phantasmal Bear or Ashmouth Hound can fill that role as well. Stitched Drake is then quite useful once you've traded off a couple of your creatures, as there are few cards in the format that can stop it. Also, be sure and take advantage of the opportunity after a creature goes to the graveyard to fire off a Morbid Brimstone Volley, as getting full value out of this card is a very important part of the strategy, whether that be simply to dome your opponent or to bin a creature that you otherwise can't beat (Stitched Drake and Fangren Marauder both come to mind).

For the Sideboard, Negate is usually a good replacement for Mana Leak when you're on the Draw, and against either Infect or Hexproof running all seven is usually a good choice. Geistflame and Manic Vandal are good when facing one of the Kuldotha Red variants, and is another Sideboard choice against Infect. The Chandra's Outrages come in to specifically help against rival Stitched Drakes, but are not a good choice when you don't expect the games to go long, as the cost is somewhat prohibitive for this deck, particularly the . Finally, Aether Adept can often be switched out for Silent Departure where the 2/2 body is the more relevant way to get a virtual 2-for-1.

III. MPDC 15.09: The Swiss Rounds

With that as a quick reintroduction to the list, I bring you my matches from MPDC 15.09. While the number of rounds varies by the number of participants, we typically play either four or five rounds, with a Top 8 Playoff determined by the Standings after the Swiss rounds. With 31 players this past Monday, we were on the upper end of the four rounds limit. But enough about that. Here's how things played out for Izzet Delver at MPDC 15.09.

 

 

 

IV. Conclusion

And that's all for today. Next time, I'll bring you the last three rounds of MPDC 15.09, which feature a Single-Elimination Top 8 format to crown the Champion of MPDC 15.09. In the mean time, if you would like a sneak peak at my content before it goes live here at PureMTGO.com, you can always browse over to YouTube.com, search for "gwyned42," select one of my video-casts, and click the Subscribe button. You can also now follow me on Twitter at the username gwyned42; check out my profile here and click on Follow. Let me also extend a special thanks to all my fellow Standard Pauper players. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my thoughts, watch the videos, and comment on my articles. See you next time!

V. Bonus Content

If you regularly read my articles and/or watch my videos, you probably noticed a distinct difference in my latest videos. I received a copy of Camtasia Studio 7 for Christmas, and I am amazed at what a difference it makes! Not only is the program much more stable and reliable than what I was using before (allowing me to record live rather than having to use replays), but the final product is much more polished and professional-looking than what I was producing before. For anyone who is planning on creating any type of video using screen-capture software, I would highly recommend checking out Camtasia Studio.