Help with Modern Delver Sideboard
Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 17, 2014, 11:44 p.m. by Wainwright
Hey fellow tappedout users, looking for your knowledge, expertise and opinions on a modern UR delver list I'm working on.
Looking for input on the sideboard:
I have a few questions:
Looking around at different lists, additional counters in the sideboard seem to be Negate or Counterflux .
I'm using Mindbreak Trap as a direct counter to storm decks, is this wrong? to me it seems better than Counterflux , or is it that if I don't see a storm deck, then the traps effectiveness is limited and a high CMC?
Secondly GY hate - lots of people use Relic of Progenitus but I was thinking about going one and one with Grafdigger's Cage I realise the cage limits my Snapcaster Mage is that why people don't run it? The way I see it the cage is definitely better in pod matchups.
Lastly with limited space in sideboard is a one of Torpor Orb worth it, it would I be better using a card which isn't so narrow in it's use?
Here's the deck - I'd really appreciate the input:
Wainwright says... #3
Thanks a lot Slycne your explanations allow me to see why people have chosen the things they have in their SB - seems like most have gone for cards that can help against a variety of meta, not knowing quite what you might face off against.
Based on what you've said, I think it's probably better to start from this point, and then add in more specific hate cards when you get to learn your local meta - so if every man and his dog is playing affinity, up the count of artifact removal. If everyone is podding the cage could be better.
Thanks a lot - I think I'll go for Relic of Progenitus and Counterflux (I've got Spell Pierce MB) at least for now.
August 18, 2014 1:33 a.m.
I play delver as well and have been for a bit now so I'll add my piece. Counterflux is good for storm and uwr control, against control it ruins their counter war period. Relic is definitely the choice there as pod is a surprisingly good matchup if you make use of pillar of flame or magma spray out of the board. Torpor orb is horrible since it kills your snapcasters. I like the use of a sword of fire and ice or feast and famine as my random 15th or the misers squelch :)
Let me know what you think about those and your reasoning for your choices so maybe i can try and help more or even learn from your ideas!
August 18, 2014 7:32 a.m.
alpinefroggy says... #5
Also consider Dismember and Combust . They are good against Celestial Colonnade which I have observed is a very big annoyance for delver. Or just play Blood Moon
August 18, 2014 11:09 a.m.
Wainwright says... #6
Thanks for your input bigv54 and alpinefroggy
I went to my LGS and picked up some Blood Moon and i managed to trade for a couple of Combust .
I also made a couple of changes placing Sword of Fire and Ice MB, with Sword of Feast and Famine in the side.
SB now looks like this:
2x Combust - can't suffer the loss of life from Dismember , still has plenty of targets.
2x Blood Moon - shuts down more lands than I would suffer from.
1x Shattering Spree 1x Shatterstorm - affinity
2x Spellskite - useful against so many decks
1x Izzet Staticaster slowly pick off tokens and weenies.
Any suggestions?2x Magma Spray mana dorks and persist creatures
1x Sword of Feast and Famine for mono white decks of course - hahaha
1x Relic of Progenitus stalling grave based interactions
2x Counterflux control and storm based matchups
August 20, 2014 10:50 p.m.
In theory the staticaster is great but in practice I've always hated it. If it works for you then great but keep an eye on it and consider the second relic in its place as graveyard decks are getting more prevalent and aren't the best matchups for us
August 21, 2014 12:51 p.m.
Wainwright says... #8
Thanks bigv54, it was tough to cut the Relic down to one really, but I didn't have much in the way of combatting 1/1's so felt Staticaster might be worth it's place. If I focus on keeping something like Honor of the Pure of the field, then it can come down and start picking things off.
I'm not 100% on my meta, but playing the deck more i'll soon get a feel for it. If GY is a thing and weenie aren't then I'll gladly swap.
For a starting point though, does it seem ok to you?
August 21, 2014 8:21 p.m.
For sure, but you may also want to look into batterskull, it gives other aggro decks/burn decks nightmares and works as a mana sink if you get flooded
August 21, 2014 8:28 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #11
You'd be surprised how good Electrickery is against Birthing Pod . Give it a try.
I think Vandalblast is the best Affinity hate in your colors, the others cost too much. You could try splashing for Ancient Grudge if you like, though be wary with Blood Moon .
Dispel is strong against any controlling deck or any deck with lots of removal for your guys.
August 21, 2014 9:25 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #12
Also, no Vendilion Clique anywhere worries me. The card provides a lot of pressure and disruption, and is almost too good not to play.
August 21, 2014 9:26 p.m.
Wainwright says... #13
thispersonisagenius, yeah I know..... the deck is just what I have right now - and the clique is a little out of my price range for now.
Undoubtedly it would be stronger with it, as would putting fetchlands in the mana base - but it's all I got for now, still pretty playable which is what I want for a starting deck in Modern. Hopefully pick up some of the other cards over time.
Thanks for the input though - SB look ok to you?
August 21, 2014 9:52 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #14
You may have missed the sideboard comments I made. I'm not a fan of Izzet Staticaster , and feel Electrickery works much better in that slot. Dispel is a very strong card against control to consider, while Vandalblast may be a better option as Affinity hate.
August 21, 2014 10:01 p.m.
Wainwright says... #15
My bad, thispersonisagenius - I did indeed miss your comments about the sideboard my apologies for that.
Thanks very much - I actually had all of the cards before in the SB you mentioned:
Vandalblast I swapped it for Shatterstorm and Shattering Spree being a little cheaper to hit more than one or every artifact on the field. I thought maybe that was worth the risk of my own Spellskite unlikely against affinity I've played any of my own artifacts early game against them.
Dispel I swapped for counterflux - just to be able to deal with storm better.
Electrickery vs Izzet Staticaster yeah i guess it could be stronger, and flashing back with Snapcaster means it's not a one time use. I'll have to revisit that one.
Blood Moon , I've played Spreading Seas which I liked, along with various LD cards, but I feel like they require more than 2 of in SB to be effective. Blood Moon just hoses non-basic land heavy decks.
I could lose my Mutavault ? or replace some of the dual lands with more Island ? Do you think it's necessary?
August 21, 2014 10:31 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #16
Delver shouldn't be playing Mutavault IMO. You can definitely cut one or two for more basics if that presents an issue.
Slycne says... #2
A lot of mordern sideboarding comes down to versatility versus silver bullets. You can either have an amazing sideboard against a small number of decks or something that's more flexible to the wide format.
Counterflux , Mindbreak Trap , Negate . - Negate is ok, but generally you're better off with Spell Pierce . As for Counterflux vs Mindbreak Trap , Counterflux is useful against a wide variety of decks, especially decks with counter back up like scapeshift and tron, where Mindbreak Trap is pretty much only relevant for storm.
Relic of Progenitus , Grafdigger's Cage . - Again it kind of comes down to what you expect to see. Grafdigger's Cage really only has play against pod, where as it's pretty hard to find a match-up that involves the graveyard where Relic of Progenitus replacing itself is bad. That also shouldn't be overlooked. UR Delver is mostly a tempo deck, you don't need to lock them out permanently, just long enough for you to kill them. That Relic of Progenitus doesn't cost you a card is pretty important.
Torpor Orb - It's a good example of a card that's versatile but not great. Shutting down ETB still doesn't really mean you're trading a card with your opponent. And the match-up that you must wanted it in before, Twin, has been changing to a deck that's more capable of just beating you down and doesn't need to combo out.
August 18, 2014 1:01 a.m.