Grixis Delver | Quiet Speculation

April ’20 Brew Report, Pt. 2: U Laugh, U Lurrus

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 01 May 2020 16:00:20 +0000

Things have certainly changed since the last brew report, which reflected April's decklists pre-companion. Post-, it would appear that Lurrus of the Dream Den is Modern's new poster-boy, and alongside it Mishra's Bauble, which is seeing widespread play in everything from Delver to Rock to UW Control. Today, we'll look at some of the wild […]

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The Case Against Power

David Schumann — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:00:20 +0000

Today's article subject spawned from a discussion that began in the QS Discord chat. One of our members was contemplating stepping away from the game for a while and wanted to know the best place to park his money and/or what to trade into. As expected, a lot of people immediately jumped to Power. The general […]

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Hold ‘Em & Fold ‘Em #9

Edward Eng — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 14:51:33 +0000

This week has a nice focus on lands, but we're not referring to the Legacy deck. Eddie also starts touching on Guilds of Ravnica spoilers.

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Unlocked: Speculating on the Legacy Bans

Adam Yurchick — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 14:30:47 +0000

The banning of Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe will have a dramatic impact on the Legacy metagame, and today Adam explores the financial impact.

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Innovations in Modern: Decklists from SCG Atlanta

Trevor Holmes — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 16:00:06 +0000

The SCG Modern Classic in Atlanta last Sunday signaled the end of Modern as we know it. Hour of Devastation is officially upon us, and with it, our reckoning has arrived. Armed with powerful new spells, creatures, and everything in between, the world’s best brought their collective knowledge to bear, shaking the foundations of our […]

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Exploring Death’s Shadow in Jund, Grixis, and Zoo

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 18:54:03 +0000

Death's Shadow Jund's metagame shares seem to have decreased a little since last week, indicating that Modern has the tools it needs to combat the new boogeyman. This reassuring development has been met with universal praise from the pro community and relief from the playerbase. The deck's presence in Modern still changes its landscape, though, […]

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Digging Delver, the Columbus Classic, and Hidden Herbalists

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 20:00:47 +0000

Given my poor Standard performance in Columbus this weekend, I got to experience my first foray into the new Modern format at the Star City Games Classic. No Gitaxian Probes, no Golgari-Grave Trolls, and some Fatal Pushes peppered into a handful of decklists. David Ernenwein did a solid job of breaking down the published winning decklists, […]

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A New Tool for Control: Evaluating Fatal Push

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:00:09 +0000

If you liked "dies to Doom Blade," you're gonna love "dies to Fatal Push!" Few are more surprised than I to see a great black removal spell grace the Aether Revolt spoiler page, though initial evaluations largely seem to be calling the card something it's not. It's a solid card with a role to play, […]

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The State of Delver: Adjusting to Metagame Conditions

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 17:00:54 +0000

Three of the sixteen players at the Star City Games Players' Championship piloted Grixis Delver for the Modern portion of the tournament. Kevin Jones was basically a lock to play it, but it's telling that he was able to get teammate Jim Davis onto the deck, and that the two were able to rope Brad […]

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In With the New: Observing a Shifting Format

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 20:03:34 +0000

There's a lot to love about Modern, including its incredible deck diversity, large card pool, and plethora of powerful interactions. An often-understated quality of the format is its dynamism. Modern metagames shift subtly at a much faster rate than sites like Modern Nexus can document—a rise in Infect leads to a rise in Jund, which […]

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The Importance of Identifying Weaknesses

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 18:30:45 +0000

When you talk to players about their Modern decks, most of them can tell you why they like their deck. Perhaps the play patterns fit their style or they have good things to say about the deck's relative power level. This is good information to have—but identifying a deck's weaknesses is more important when it […]

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Know What You Play: Why Expertise Matters

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:00:06 +0000

Last week I found myself playing a head's-up Cube match against my friend Mike. I was handily crushing him (obviously) and our other friend Kevin asked me, "Do you always just draft blue/red?" It's not my fault! They're the best cards, after all. Throughout the history of Magic there is some truth to there being […]

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Grixis Delver in the Dredge Metagame

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 17:14:45 +0000

Kaladesh shook up Standard in a big way, and with the results of the Star City Games Milwaukee Open in the books it looks to be making its mark on Modern as well. Early on in the tournament we saw Jeff Hoogland crush Bant Eldrazi with a build of the new Jeskai Aggro deck, though […]

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Grixis Control Today: Fine-Tuning for the Meta

Trevor Holmes — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 16:36:26 +0000

Last week I introduced my new submission for Grixis Control, Fall 2016 style. My reasons for revisiting the archetype were simple: Modern is polarizing, Grixis hasn’t been putting up results lately, and the deck is freakin' awesome. If you missed last week, be sure to catch up to speed first. That article framed most of the discussion […]

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Almost Coptering Out: Searching for a Home

David Ernenwein — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 16:00:10 +0000

The start of every spoiler season brings the promise of a shakeup in Modern. Whether it's Jund players speculating on Bloodbraid Elf (again), a new mechanic showing promise, or a single powerful-looking card, the Modern community always goes berserk trying to fit new cards into the format. And within a week of release most of that […]

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Kaladesh Week One: By the Numbers

Trevor Holmes — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:22:55 +0000

With Kaladesh finally released, and week one of new Modern in the books, it’s time to finally transcend the realm of conjecture and speculation and step out into the world of the physical and tangible. Will Kaladesh “shake up” the Modern landscape we’ve become accustomed to over the past few months? Or will it fade […]

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Quelling in Jeskai Delver

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 16:00:08 +0000

When it comes to Delver decks in Modern, Snapcaster Mage is the most obvious second creature to feature, though over the years I've rounded out the threat base in a lot of different ways. Tasigur has been great for me as of late, though I've put Young Pyromancer, Monastery Swiftspear, and even Vedalken Shackles to […]

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Grixis Delver Sideboard Guide

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:00:10 +0000

I get a lot of questions and comments pertaining to Grixis Delver, with a lot of the focus being on the sideboard. My sideboard notably doesn't take advantage of the sorts of hammers that you see in many Modern decks. I'm not about "destroy all artifacts" or "exile all cards in graveyards" cards, and instead have […]

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Ancestral Vision Two Months Out

Ryan Overturf — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 16:00:59 +0000

Before Ancestral Vision was unbanned in Modern, it struck me as one of the more deserving cards on the list. Given the choice between playing against Jace, the Mind Sculptor in a format where tapping four mana at sorcery speed can often just leave you dead, and a Treasure Cruise analog that required an investment […]

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General Archetypes and Developing a Cohesive Game Plan

Ryan Overturf — Mon, 30 May 2016 21:15:34 +0000

Modern is often referred to as a "wide open" format, where deck choice is based more on preference than the "correct metagame choice." This mentality can at times lead to poor decisions based around pet cards, favorite strategies, or simply stubbornness. It can overwhelm any player looking to prepare for tournaments without a preset idea of […]

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