The Angry Insect (Grixis Delver)

Modern ToolmasterOfBrainerd

SCORE: 26 | 52 COMMENTS | 3421 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

3-1 for 16th place out of 78 players —May 23, 2018

There were 78 players at Lodestone's modern tournament tonight. I took 16th and won a bunch of store credit. This has been a good week for me.

The night started paired against a friend of mine on Merfolk. Game 1 he played turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 1 and turn 3 bounced my Delver of Secrets  ^Flip back to my hand. I never found Kolaghan's Command. GG. Game 2 I Spell Snared the turn 2 Chalice, then Snap-snared the turn 3 Chalice. Tasigur came down after that, got bounced twice but replayed and eventually I got there by removing his threats whenever I felt threatened. Game 3 I kept a ballsy one-lander, serum visioned into 2 lands, and ran away with Tasigur and removal.

Round 2 I was paired against Mardu Pyromancer. I am so disappointed I lost this matchup. This idiot had no idea what he was even playing. He literally had a written list of what to sideboard and when. I asked him a few questions after the match about his decklist and he had no clue. In his defense, he was a good player, but man losing to a net decker like him was frustrating. Anyway, enough venting. Game 1 we traded stuff until the value of his deck trumped mine. Game 2 he had Leyline of the Void. I still likely would have won if I'd played my Young Pyromancer better and if I'd found my Swamp before Blood Moon. No such luck.

Round 3 the opponent was on Burn. Game 1 he flooded, game 2 I kept a greedy 7 of Watery Grave, 2 Dispel, 2 Spell Snare, Countersquall, and Collective Brutality. His turn 1 Goblin Guide revealed Tasigur, the Golden Fang. The next turn his Guide revealed a land and I drew the 2nd Countersquall I cast Collective Brutality on all 3 modes pitching a Snare and a Dispel. I got Tasigur down after that and between Tasigur beats and Countersquall I got him down.

Round 4 was Jund. Good ol' Jund. Game 1 I got him in a classic Grixis vs Jund grindfest. He never saw Bloodbraid Elf. Snap and Kommand put in a ton of work. Game 2 he Junded me out real good. Bloodbraid Elf is a good card. Game 3 I played Delver of Secrets  ^Flip turn 1. He played Grafdigger's Cage into Phyrexian Arena. Delver put in damage for a few turns, until he got Bloodbraid Elf into maelstrum pulse. I drew Terminates and lands for a few turns which kept him from killing me as his Phyrexian Arena took him to 3 life. Snapcaster mage off the top. Nope, not enough. Arena takes him to 2 life and his manlands bring me down to 5. Topdeck Lightning Bolt for the win. He had lethal on board for next turn. Amazing match.

My breakers were good, so I finished in 16th place. Overall a really fun night. Young Pyromancer is where the deck wants to be and I love having Anger of the Gods in the sideboard. That's not going to change anytime soon I don't think. The night's matchups have me convinced I do not want to play 4x Leyline of the Void in the sideboard because I need things like Collective Brutality and Terminate to help other matchups. Hollow One will just be an unfortunate bad matchup. I've dodged it so far and the matchup is still winnable because of Anger of the Gods.

As for changes, the sideboard isn't locked by any means. In particular, Terminate is low-impact and Collective Brutality is amazing against Burn and Ponza, but only seems okay otherwise. I'm also toying with dropping Opt for more another Fatal Push and Terminate in the mainboard. If you have thoughts please leave a comment!