Last updated 27 April 2018
Grixis Delver is an archetype built around the card
Delver of Secrets
and the mechanic Delve.
The deck's main win conditions are
Young Pyromancer
and
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
.
Young Pyromancer
can often generate upwards of ten tokens in a match from the huge amount of removal, draw spells, counterspells and discard that the deck runs.
As for
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
, Grixis Delver can easily generate a graveyard full of Fetchlands, instants and sorceries, making
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
essentially a 4/5 creature for one black mana.
Both the play rate and win rate of Grixis Delver has dropped since Grixis Shadow has become the more popular and successful Grixis deck, beginning in January of 2017 when
Gitaxian Probe
was banned.
Losing
Gitaxian Probe
was a hard hit to Delver, Storm and Infect decks alike. Not only did Delver players lose a cantrip that can be paid with life but also the ability to see their opponent's hand before your opponent's first turn (if you're on the play).
The days of starting games by dropping a turn-one
Gitaxian Probe
for the cost of 2 life, writing down your opponent's hand and then using your knowledge of your opponent's starting hand (and what that implies about the deck your opponent is playing) to take your first turn in the most efficient way for that particular matchup.
Gitaxian Probe
cannot be replaced because no other card can provide knowledge of your matchup (and card advantage simultaneously) as well as Probe can.
A majority of the time, a Delver player will target themselves with
Thought Scour
, giving them potential targets for
Snapcaster Mage
or cards to delve to pay for
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
.
However,
Thought Scour
can be used to decrease the quality of your opponent's draws. If your opponent used
Serum Visions
and scried both to the top, this is an ideal time to use
Thought Scour
on the opponent to stop them from drawing their hate card, their removal or their combo piece.
Another ideal time to use
Thought Scour
on an opponent is if the opponent is playing Abzan Company and their
Courser of Kruphix
lets the Delver player see an incoming threat (
Collected Company
and
Siege Rhino
are good examples).
Thought Scour
them out of their good draws and essentially counter spells before they can be cast.
Delver's sideboard has access to many different options, most of which are able to hate out different types of decks.
Dispel
hits Burn, any form of blue control,
Gifts Ungiven
decks and opposing Delver decks, while
Negate
helps with non-creature based decks such as 8-rack and Storm.
A turn-one
Thoughtseize
on the play is able to remove essential turn-one plays such as
Slippery Bogle
and
Gladecover Scout
for Bogle, or even
Glistener Elf
for Infect.
Surgical Extraction
is useful mainly for combo decks but it is also helpful in many other match ups. It can exile powerful creatures that have have had your removal resolved on them such as
Heritage Druid
,
Goblin Guide
and
Noble Hierarch
.
It is also able to be used to exile Modern powerhouses such as
Path to Exile
,
Collected Company
and
Spell Snare
. It also has strong synergy with all of the counterspells, discard and removal that Delver runs (making it easy to get a card into the opponent's graveyard to cast
Surgical Extraction
).
1-2x
Molten Rain
are run in the Sideboard to destroy opponent's valuable lands. Tron pieces (
Urza's Mine
,
Urza's Power Plant
and
Urza's Tower
) immediately come to mind as potential targets for
Molten Rain
, but it also hits
Cavern of Souls
to help against Elves and Merfolk.
Other targets for
Molten Rain
include
Inkmoth Nexus
for Infect,
Mutavault
for Merfolk,
Glimmervoid
for Affinity,
Horizon Canopy
for Bogles, and opponent's Shocklands or Fastlands if they're running three or more colours (such as Abzan Company, Jeskai Nahiri and Esper Gifts).
The newest addition to Grixis Delver's sideboard is
Collective Brutality
. 1-2x of them have been run in most Black control decks since the card was first printed in Eldritch Moon. Among other decks that welcomed it into their Sideboards are Lantern Control, 8-rack and any Control deck running black (including Grixis Delver and Esper Gifts).
Collective Brutality
is the ideal anti-Burn spell. It can kill
Goblin Guide
from the -2/-2, in addition to evening up the life totals and causing the Burn player to discard their
Lightning Bolt
or
Boros Charm
. Its Escalate cost is discarding cards, allowing the Delver player to fill their graveyard to cast
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
.
Despite not having access to
Stony Silence
, Delver is able to successfully hate out artifact decks such as Affinity and Eggs.
For a more control-based Grixis Delver deck,
Hurkyl's Recall
is useful at preventing damage from attacks as well as removing blockers. Additionally, once
Hurkyl's Recall
revolves, an opponent is likely to recast their artifacts on their next turn, consuming their mana and allowing for them to be countered by any counterspells in hand.
For a more damage-based Grixis Delver deck,
Shattering Spree
is able to trigger
Young Pyromancer
for each copy but only being able to pay for it with red mana can be tough.
Anger of the Gods
hits Elves, W/B Tokens, Affinity and Soul Sisters. 2-3x them are essential but 4x can be run in a local meta filled with weenie decks.
Volcanic Fallout
is also able to fill the same role and has the advantages of being uncounterable and an Instant, but the disadvantages of only dealing 2 damage to each creature and putting the creatures in the graveyard rather than exiling them.
Pyroclasm
can also fill this slot, but the added effects of
Anger of the Gods
and
Volcanic Fallout
make them preferable despite them having a higher CMC.
Last updated 27 April 2018
