If I was going to play another delve threat, I think I'd cut Vendilion Clique for it. Kolaghan's Command is much too important to be cut for more creatures. But nearly every deck is playing Nihil Spellbomb or Relic of Progenitus - not good for those trying to play delve threats. I may cut Clique for another Angler, but I don't know yet.

If I'm playing 4 delve threats, I have to have 4 Thought Scour. No alternatives. I'd much sooner drop Serum Visions for more Opt.

Dispel is my answer to control decks. To beat them, I have to tempo them out with a delve threat. But in order to do that I have to resolve it through countermagic and then keep it alive against Path to Exile. Dispel helps with both of those. Spell Pierce is not sufficient protection from Path to Exile. Pierce would be better vs Burn, but that's not as much my concern.

Tron and Eldrazi are why I play Ceremonious Rejection. I don't know of any other way to make those matchups winnable. What does Annul do that Ceremonious Rejection doesn't?

I don't think that you need to add any more delve threats. 4 seems to be the right number of inclusion for most lists, my own included, and I feel Vendilion Clique is stronger than another delve critter. Flying and flash on their own, and then the flexibility to move cards around or get value is also relevant!

I agree that Dispel > Spell Pierce for your deck, however, pierce can answer enchantments, artifacts and planeswalkers, so if you at all feel to struggle with those than it may be worth considering.

In regards to Annul vs Ceremonious Rejection, I've actually taken out my 2 rejections for a couple Negates... not as efficient, but less constrictive and can come in against several match ups rather than just tron. Also, Annul does hit Rest in Peace, which is an issue for grixis control to an extent. Not super crazy, but extremely annoying.

Best of luck!

I'd also recommend Young Pyromancer over Spellskite in the sideboard. I could be more than wrong with that but it's my personal opinion.

Just gives you something to do and a way that if the game drags on you still gain value. Spellskite is great, but I don't see a major point to it's inclusion.

Spellskite I threw in as a concession that 4x Thoughtseize would worsen my burn matchup, but counterspells and no blank cards like Bloodghast also improve the burn matchup quite a bit. The burn matchup has been about 55-45 in my favor for game 1 in testing, so I'm not opposed to replacing them with something else.

Historically I've also sided in Spellskite against Path to Exile decks because it's something I can cast proactively to keep my delve threats alive. I've also very occasionally sided it in against Tron to eat Karn Liberated activations with more success than I've deserved (I don't plan on doing this in the future). Finally I love it as a 4-toughness blocker against aggro decks, which is surprisingly tricky to overcome, especially against company decks.

I do like the idea of a proactive threat because I need to be more aggressive against Azcanta control decks. However Young Pyromancer dies so easily, especially to jeskai control decks which have more burn spells than I can counter. In your experience has Young Pyromancer performed better than my dismal expectations?

I'd like to move the last 2 Thoughtseize to the mainboard and add 1 more Opt to the main. However I don't know what to move around to make room for such cards. Maybe drop my counterspells down to 2x Countersquall and 2x Spell Snare?

Yes, Young Pyromancer does die an awful lot and it will die more than Spellskite will. I like all the reasons you gave for Spellskite, so I do understand why you keep it in. At the same time, I just don't know if wpellskite is still what the deck wants most of the time. Plus, against aggro, you just get to make a ton of elementals as hopefully they will not have a direct answer to Pyro. Even with that added in, I understand your reasoning for skite more and if you really prefer that just leave him in! Still a great card.

With the next question on Thoughtseize, is there that much tron in your meta? What does thoughtseize hit that Inquisition of Kozilek doesn't? Especially if you're worried about burn match due to life hits, Inquisition still hits everything they play! In terms of what you took out, I think you made the right choice... but do you need all 4 Thoughtseize? That I don't know.

Welp, looks like Jace is back. Personally I'm not going to play it because I can't afford it. However I still have to prepare for it. Bouncing Tasigur, the Golden Fang or gurmag angler will be brutal, but Jace dies pretty easy to burn spells. If I can get more aggressive I think I can still compete.

Here's my thoughts: the opponent will not want to cast Jace without holding up a counterspell. If they jam him turn 4 I Countersquall. If I can't and they bounce my Angler, I burn him out and try to get another threat down. Jace is soft to Creeping Tar Pit unless they +2. But if they plus 2 then I guess I just have to try to kill they player because they've given me a free turn to do so. And if they wait until turn 6 so they can have Mana Leak or Logic Knot held up, then I try to kill them before then. Or let them have jace and play a lot of spells at once to kill them because they only have 2 mana open. Path to Exile will be my worst enemy in the coming meta.

But now I am certain I want 4x Thoughtseize in the main board. I'll probably go back to Bloodghast too. Grixis with Ghast could slaughter the old Jund all day long, so hopefully it'll hold together against the new version too. But playing this fair of a deck against Bloodbraid Elf is asking for trouble. BBE can run away with the game unless I am doing unfair stuff as well. Bloodghast is also very hard for Jace to answer and between Ghast, Snap, Tar Pit, and Tasigur hopefully I can get enough traction to kill them before they stop me. I'm probably cutting back on counterspells but I still want some. I don't know where to fit them or which ones to fit. Dispel is so obviously good against Path to Exile that I'm tempted to play 1x or 2x mainboard even though it's so atrocious in some matchups. Spell Snare is good, but I have to leave mana up for it, which is going to be hard. Countersquall is fantastic, but I don't know if I can afford 2 mana counterspells. I don't want to try to counter creatures because Cavern of Souls is so present in the meta, but I also am not sure how to beat Wurmcoil Engine or Thought-Knot Seer, except with proactive Thoughtseize, which I guess will have to be good enough in game 1.

Thoughts on a 1-of Field of Ruin? I like the idea vs manlands and urza lands.

I'm going to start updating Rocket Science to be the Bloodghast list for the upcoming meta. I'll keep this deck as-is for now.

Wow rocket science is in esper colors thats hard to believe, why the switch? How are you feeling about esper delver/midrange/control builds?

I'm considering buying in paper my first $300+ deck. My goal is to start building a collection and i see an esper delver as the starting point

Since you're in esper now... have you thought about running Monastery Mentor?

That card can be bonkers if protected and played with correctly.

This deck is what I threw together when I wanted to make a deck that could proactively jam Jace on turn 4. Proactive Jace seemed to naturally like proactive Lili, and the rest of the deck kinda fell into place. Esper vs Grixis was for Lingering Souls. There's nothing this deck wants to Kolaghan's Command back into the hand and Lingering Souls and Path to Exile are among the most powerful cards in the format. Especially because with Fatal Push, we don't really miss Lightning Bolt.

I feel real good about Esper right now. Path to Exile is so strong and Lingering Souls is so grindy. I've been toying with the colors a bit (since I own the lands to play it now) but haven't found 'the list' that I can afford and is good enough to get me to switch from Grixis. I like my Lightning Bolts!

For what it's worth, I do not own this deck in paper. Those Jaces and Lilis cost quite a pretty penny. It's just a list I threw together and it seems really strong. But right now I have Shoal of Secrets assembled in paper with all the pieces of Rocket Science sitting around ready to go if I want to change it up.

Monastery Mentor never really crossed my mind when putting this together. At 3 mana, it's competing with Lili and Lingering Souls, both of which are stronger in general. If I had more room for 3-drops, I don't know that I would play it over Geist of Saint Traft or Spell Queller. It's softer than Geist (and I don't know if it can close games any faster) and lacks the utility of Spell Queller. In a more aggressive deck playing all 12 cantrips it could be good, but this deck is a slow midrange deck. I think you're right that it could be bonkers if played with correctly, but this is not the correct shell.

That's a fair enough reasoning behind excluding My Boy. He's just a pet card of mine I try to jam into everything that he fits with!! However, I will say that playing alongside of hand disruption I think he is better than Geist of Saint Traft since in top deck wars, whatever you draw is better than their draw unless it's a board wipe, so you get extra value from your spells that your opponent doesn't and then you control the board with Lili and Jace.

I also don't think that Lingering Souls is better than Mentor. It's a great card, but what gives it any sort of edge is consistency. Souls is a guarantee, it's like an insurance plan of sorts, but Mentor has a much higher ceiling!

Also, for your side board there are a few cards worth mentioning that are more fringe but extremely useful. Dusk / Dawn has been amazing in my Mardu Tokens list as a board wipe as it is often one sided. The second option for a pseudo board wipe is Yahenni's Expertise. That card shrecks on elves, affinity, can clean up storm critters after you pick their hands apart with thoughtseize, hits zoo decks... and then you play a free spell? I love that card just because it's fun, not necessarily the best card printed but eh, it's a blast!

Hi there! This is one well-oiled machine of a deck. +1

I have one small question for you. I'm only a spectator to the Modern format. My main focus these days is on EDH, yet I'm wanting to get back into exploring 60-card formats. I'm curious about your thoughts about Kess, Dissident Mage ⁠— she crossed over into the Modern format from EDH thanks to MH1. As someone piloting a Grixis deck, do you think she's powerful enough to warrant building with?

korakin Thanks! I admit, I haven't looked at this list in some time. I mostly play Tribal Snapcaster these days, but am tinkering with a number of different decks.

I've seen some people playing Kess in modern. Personally, I think what she contributes, we already had. And what we lack, she can't provide. Right now the biggest problem decks for Grixis are Hogaak Vine and Tron. Kess shines when playing against UW Control, Jund, and I suppose Humans and Phoenix to a lesser extent. UW Control and Jund are, like, the best matchups for Grixis. I don't think a 70% win rate or higher is inaccurate. We don't really need more tools to beat those decks. As a 4 mana creature, Kess is a little bit of a liability. If the humans player can bounce her with Reflector Mage , then we're in a bad spot. And she is pretty terrible vs Tron, which is a matchup that can be winnable with the right configuration.

Nonetheless, I may be underestimating her. I have not tested her extensively and there are other grixis players who are big believers in the power of Kess in modern. If a Kess list can prove itself, then I will definitely be interested in trying it out.