Monoblue Curious Thing Budget Delver
Modern
SCORE: 5 | 11 COMMENTS | 820 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Upgrading counterspells and added blinkmoth nexus —Sept. 17, 2016
Added Remand, Rune Snag, and Blinkmoth Nexus, as well as updating the sideboard.
@TheAlexGnanThing will bounce Delver/Homunculus when it flips, but if it flips I am in pretty good shape anyways, and I'm not planning to put many creatures down at a time.
@PolupusI actually considered Condescend, and should probably get a few and try it out. I haven't tried out the deck yet, but I am suspecting that I'll be running low enough of mana that spending 2 mana without countering, bouncing something, or getting a creature yet would be fairly bad, so I'll likely hold off on Telling Time and Think Twice, although they could be useful if the opponent unexpectedly has a dead turn 2 or 3 with no non-land permanents out. And I similarly suspect that losing a mana to thin and shuffle my deck would generally be a bad idea for it, so Grixis Panorama is out. Thanks for the suggestions, though.
August 10, 2016 11:37 a.m.
I think you should think twice about Think Twice ;). It was meant to be used on the opponents end step if they decide to not play anything for you to counter/bounce as a smart person would if you leave 2 islands up. That way your mana isn't wasted and you net a card and gain tempo.
August 10, 2016 11:48 a.m.
The problem with Think Twice is that it won't provide card advantage until you pay an additional 3 mana for its flashback cost, and I don't foresee me having a full 3 unused mana sitting around at the end of my opponents turn. I would probably cast a creature if they didn't have any non-land permanants out at 3 mana, otherwise I would probably be bouncing something. I think I would generally prefer to use Peek to figure out when they'll have their next dead turn as an instant cantrip (and from there figure out when to slip my creatures in), rather than gamble on my opponent having a full 2 dead turns after turn 1. I'll keep it in mind though, and if I notice that my opponents keep playing nothing for fear of counterspells, I'll probably add it.
August 10, 2016 12:16 p.m.
Peek is in my sideboard currently, and might be mainboarded, and Serum Visions is pending a budget increase, as is Remand (another nice cantrip). Between those and Gitaxian Probe, I am thinking 12-16 cantrips should suffice (seemed to be working for your deck). I would like to see if the deck at least sort of works before paying for playsets of Remand and Serum Visions, as those will almost double the deck price. Slight of Hand seems like another item for the maybeboard. As for Thought Scour, the only thing the mill effect would help me with is flipping Curious Homunculus Flip, which shouldn't be that hard as is. I'd be more inclined to use Peek (to figure out when I need to save my mana) or even Fleeting Distraction (to help against infect). Also, I want to stick to monoblue for several reasons. The first reason is that I don't want to pay for dual-color, either with cash, life, inconsistency, or tempo. The second reason is that I always see Izzet delver decks (for obvious reasons), and me going Izzet would make my deck just too similar to everyone else's for my taste.
August 10, 2016 2:33 p.m.
Though actually Sleight of Hand is still not cheap, and worse than Serum Visions, so I'll probably still skip it. $12 (for a playset) is a bit to pay for second best.
August 10, 2016 2:45 p.m.
PeaceIsBetter says... #8
Creature hate has a moderately bad synergy with TiTi, I speak from experience. I would suggest more cantrips in the mainboard and to put some unsummons/vapor snags into the side.
Gigadrowse might work well to stall the board for time, especially with all the islands you play.
August 10, 2016 3:33 p.m.
Those bounces are going to be quite useful against anything that gets through my counterspells, like when I play TiTi initially, and are going to be absolutely vital against infect. That said, I can see how more cantrip could be very useful, especially for flipping TiTi, and looking at my opponent's hand will relieve me of a lot of guesswork.
I will keep Gigadrowse in mind, could be a useful sideboard card, but it is going to be a lot worse than a blue fog (which doesn't exist, sadly) how I would likely have to use it, and with all my counterspells I think I would usually end up preferring an Unsummon with the decks I normally end up against. I'm not expecting to get much above 3 mana, and I purposely designed the deck to run decently on 2 mana (I have had entirely too much experience with how hard it can be to get a third land in a 20 land deck). Thank you for the suggestions, though.
August 10, 2016 4:28 p.m.
Look up Pauper mono blue delver decks. use Spellstutter Sprite, Faerie Conclave, and Faerie Miscreant. bouncing these are good with Titi. shove in some Spire Golems and Ninja of the Deep Hours. Definitely add Remand, the price is tanking and it is arguably one of the best counterspells in modern. Add Spell Snare mainboard if you can afford it. I'd cut down the playset of Essence Scatter to just 2 Replace Void Snare with Boomerang, as it can bounce anything at insta speed. Serum Visions is also a must for a mono blue control build, more so than probe. Don't hesitate to add them. Also, don't play a set of Spell Pierces. just 2-3 will do game 1.
August 16, 2016 4:58 p.m.
@BarricThanks for the suggestions. Only tried my deck out a few games, thusfar. I can't really afford to drop my noncreature spell count to add Spellstutter Sprite, Faerie Miscreant, Spire Golems, and Ninjas. The fact that some of those would be nice with titi's flip ability is just not going to be worth it, especially since I have yet to actually cast titi. It seems to me if I can get it to flip it I should already be in a good place, and if I go up to 20+ creatures its never going to flip anyways.
I have yet to see a 2 drop spell that I must counter in a matchup with my delver deck, so I probably won't run Spell Snare for a while, especially due to the expense. I have actually considered Boomerang. Thusfar, it seems that the Faerie Conclave entering tapped would cause more trouble than it is worth, and I've usually not had an extra three mana left over. The deck is meant to run comfortably at 3 mana, and work at 2 mana, hence why I've been keeping all the spells really low mana. As far as manlands, I would be more tempted to go with Blinkmoth Nexus, since it would not slow my deck down at all and would be lower mana to use. As I have yet to actually end up drawing a Spell Pierce, I'm thinking that 4 of them is appropriate, especially since I really want one in my opening hand, and will be happy with them as late as turn 3. Also, I have yet to leave an Essence Scatter unused, so I'll keep that mainboard, and sideboard it out as needed. In my experience, it is generally the creatures that kill me.
Polupus says... #1
+1 looks good so far!
I recommend Telling Time and Condescend to help out delver's upkeep ability.
Even though you're running mono blue some budget fetch lands may also help to shuffle a bad top deck away when in a pinch like Grixis Panorama.
Think Twice is also really good with Thing in the Ice Flip
August 10, 2016 10:26 a.m.