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By: gwyned, gwyned
Jan 23 2012 4:38am
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I. Introduction

For the past several weeks, I have been playing an Izzet Delver deck extensively for Standard Pauper, playtesting it in the Just for Fun room and entering it in the last few weeks of Monday Pauper Deck Challenge, 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. Last time, I brought you video coverage from the Swiss rounds of MPDC 15.09, which I finished with a 3-1 record that earned me the last spot in the Top 8 Playoffs for the event. Today, in Part Two, I bring you video from the next three rounds of the event, wherein seven of the remaining eight players are eliminated to determine who walks away with the trophy from MPDC 15.09. 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.

As you probably know by now, Izzet Delver is a  deck built around one of the most powerful commons in Innistrad, Delver of Secrets. The deck makes use of a variety of burn spells, card draw, and counter spells combined with other aggressively costed creatures to either quickly overwhelm an opponent or enable and protect an early creature to inflict enough damage to finish off an opponent over the course of a longer game. The high number of instants and sorceries provide a fairly reliable method to flip Delver of Secrets, which is particularly devastating on Turn 2 when backed up with counter magic. For reference, let's take a quick look at the deck as I ran it for MPDC 15.09 before presenting video from the Top 8.

II. The Decklist

Izzet Delver
by gwyned
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


III. MPDC 15.09: Single Elimination Playoffs

 

 

IV. Tweaking the Decklist Further

While I have been pretty happy with the decklist, I would by no means consider this the most optimal version of Izzet Delver. By tweaking certain cards, one could certainly push the deck more towards the Aggro or Control side of the spectrum. So, here are two potential directions one might take this particular decklist.

A. Pushing Aggro

To make the deck more aggressive, I had two primary goals. The first was to increase the creature count. The second was to change up the burn spells in the deck, and specifically to enable a fully powered Galvanic Blast with Metalcraft.

1. The quickest way to accomplish both these goals was to trade out Ashmouth Hound for Porcelain Legionnaire, which is not only a very aggressively costed creature (2 mana plus 2 life for a 3/1 First Strike is quite efficient) but also an Artifact, almost doubling the total number right away. Assuming one can keep the virtual Battlefield clear, a Turn 2 Legionnaire is almost as good as a flipped Delver on Turn 3. The biggest downside of this choice, of course, is that this creature is not only vulnerable to any sort of Artifact removal but also to Geistflame, which has a fairly pronounced presence in the metagame, even if only in the Sideboard. Despite these liabilities, the strength of a Metalcraft Galvanic Blast is strong enough that this Artifact Creature Soldier definitely deserves consideration in any aggressive Delver build.

2. The only other addition needed to enable Metalcraft in a somewhat timely fashion was the addition of  a couple copies of Sylvok Lifestaff. This seemingly insignificant Artifact was the sleeper hit of Scars of Mirrodin, and has found its way into almost every major Standard Pauper strategy since its release. While the fact that it costs only a single mana to cast and another single to equip gives it a strong efficiency, it's the additional 3 Life that makes this Artifact so strong. And in this particular deck, it has the fringe advantage of allowing an equipped Stitched Drake to slay an opposing copy in combat and live to tell the tale. Especially while the metagame is weighed towards Aggro, Sylvok Lifestaff should probably be a part of any Delver build.

To accommodate these changes, I swapped out all 3 Ashmouth Hounds for Porcelain Legionnaire, swapped out the 3 Silent Departures for Galvanic Blast, and reduced Ponder and Incinerate by 1 each to fit in Sylvok Lifestaff. Silent Departure probably does not belong in any aggressive build, with Vapor Snag being a much better choice that trades the additional value of Flashback for Instant speed, which in many matchups is far more important.

And while I have yet to test this, I suspect replacing a single Island with Traveler's Amulet might be a good option, as this would increase the likelihood of Metalcraft and help smooth out the mana base slightly without weakening the deck overall. I also suspect, but again have not confirmed, that 20 Land might also be more than what is actually needed in the deck. If this is the case, increasing the total count of Ponder and Incinerate back to four would be my top priorities.

B. Pushing Control

To make the deck better in the long game, one need only increase the amount of card draw and permission spells in the deck. Griiisu, who took home the MPDC 15.09 Trophy with his own version of Izzet Delver, had a list that leaned more in this particular direction. For myself, I reduced the total number of creatures and burn spells to either add or increase my Control pieces.

1. The first card I wanted to get into the main deck for a more Control oriented Izzet Delver was Vapor Snag. Not only does bouncing a single creature have a wide variety of applications, the 1 damage is also surprisingly relevant. One can use it to lock a Stitched Drake in your opponent's hand until another creature enters his graveyard, dismiss a grossly inflated Infect creature swinging for the win, delay an opponent by most of a turn by bouncing an expensive fatty, or even save one of your own creatures from an ill-timed removal spell. In fact, given how strong this card is, it is little wonder that Silent Departure was released as a Sorcery, as otherwise that card would probably be way overpowered. If nothing else, this card belongs in the Sideboard, as it makes one of the best answers against Infect.

2. For additional card draw, the best option is almost certainly increasing the number of copies of Think Twice. While Divination is a single mana cheaper, it cannot be paid in installments and, as a Sorcery, can't be used for those times when you leave mana untapped for Negate or Mana Leak but never find a suitable use for these during your opponent's turn. Speaking of which, there are very few decks in the metagame that aren't vulnerable to a well-timed Negate, and thus there is no reason why multiple copies should not be included in the main deck. Cancel is certainly worth considering here as well, and in a more controlling build a split between Mana Leak and Cancel might be a good choice.

3. My most recent change is the addition of Vault Skirge, which proved to be surprisingly effective. The ability to cast it on Turn 1 and protect it for several turns is certainly a strong option, and the Lifelink can provide a not insignificant amount of Life even if it only connects a few times. This is even more pronounced when it is paired with Sylvok Lifestaff, which probably is even more appropriate here in a more Control-style deck than either of the other two variants. One might even try to incorporate the same Metalcraft theme as the more aggressive variant, replacing Incinerate with Galvanic Blast, powered up by as many copies of Vault Skirge, Sylvok Lifestaff, and Perilous Myr as you can reasonably fit into the deck.

While I am still tweaking this particular build, from my initial list I would probably cut Ashmouth Hound and Phantasmal Bear entirely, replacing the former with Vault Skirge and devoting the other slots to an additional copy of Think Twice and three Negates. I would also swap out Silent Departure for Vapor Snag, and cut a single Incinerate and Brimstone Volley for two copies of Sylvok Lifestaff. I would also consider replacing Incinerate with Galvanic Blast, or perhaps a split between them with the other copies in the Sideboard.

As you can see, while the majority of the deck is more or less fixed between the different versions of the deck, the remaining slots give one lots of different options to push the deck in one direction or another. I would certainly enjoy seeing other potential tweaks in the comments.

V. Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this in-depth look at MPDC 15.09, and perhaps my own experiences will prompt you to join us on Mondays for what is proving to be a very enjoyable season. 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!