This week in Magic: Grixis Delver for Modern

Friday, June 5th, 2015

Welcome back for another edition of “This week in ‘Magic.’” This week we’re going to go over one of my favorite decks in Modern right now, Grixis Delver. With the recent release of Modern Masters 2015, Modern has taken a front seat amongst the other formats and people are now wanting to play it more than ever. While the set did make a lot of cards that were once scarce very available, it left many off of the list. Due to this action, some of those cards are skyrocketing in price.

Okay, enough of my blabbing, here is what I’m playing:

Grixis Delver
Main board:

4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtscour
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Mana Leak
2x Remand
2x Vapor Snag
2x Spell Snare
2x Kolghan’s Command
2x Murderous Cut
1x Electrolyze

4x Delver of Secrets
3x Young Pyromancer
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Gurmag Angler

4x. Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Steam Vents
1x Watery Grave
4x Island
1x Mountain
1x Blood Crypt
1x Flooded Strand

Side board
3x Dragon’s Claw
2x Vandalblast
2x Spellskite
2x Dispel
1x Rending Volley
2x Blood Moon
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Self-Inflicted Wound

This deck has been a lot of fun to run. Surprisingly, a lot more fun than casting a fist full of burn spells at my opponent. So what is it about this deck that I like so much. Besides being super lucky and flipping a Delver with a high percentage rate on turn two, I’ve been able to cast Tasigur on turn two as well at a high rate as well.

Turn two you ask? Yes, it’s very possible and happens at a high rate thanks to spells like Thoughtscour, Serum Visions, and your fetch lands. A really good hand starts with me usually casting a Gitaxian Probe for two life. I could then do a number of things. If the coast is clear, I’ll drop a Delver on you. Otherwise there is a good chance I can just set myself up via Serum Visions. Mind you that’s two cards in my graveyard already – three if I fetched a land.

On my second turn, it could be considered a hasty move, but I’ll Thoughtscour myself during my main phase just to fill my graveyard if it means I can drop a turn two Tasigur. Kudos to you if you’re able to accomplish this because sometimes even a Tarmogoyf doesn’t get this big on turn two. If successful, your job is to protect Tasigur from here on out as it can win you the game. The same can be said for your only Gurmag.

The rest of your deck is there to support Tasigur or any other threat you may fish out on turn one. Most of the deck is self explanatory, but there are some, that I can tell, are causing you to rub your head. Let’s start with Kolghan’s Command.

This is a card that many Jund and Grixis decks in Modern have begun to take advantage of. As a side note, it sees more play in Modern than it does in Standard. So what is it about this card that makes it a popular choice? It’s first mode can be quite troublesome for many decks. There is nothing like letting your opponent think they’ve got you cornered when they kill your Tasigur only to be able to bring it back and play it the following turn.

The second mode doesn’t always play an important role in the game, but there are times when my opponent is sitting there with one card in hand, and i’ll gladly have them pitch it away. Even if it was just a land, having that kind of information can go a long way in helping you plan your own game out. Mode three is a huge mode and one that you may choose the most. Against Affinity, this huge. Combined with mode four, this become a two-for-one. This mode also works well against decks that will bring in random Batterskulls, Spellskites, and Swords.

Mode four is one of the most versatile modes the card has. Like I said before, being able to two-for-one Affinity by killing a little critter and destroying an artifact is amazing. It’s important to remember that you can also deal two points of damage to your opponent as well.

Is there a downside to this card? There are probably two. In a deck where most of your spells cost one or two mana, having a spell that costs three stinks. In addition to that, none of that mana is blue. In fact, it’s your splash color and your off-color. If you can get over those flaws, this is one of the best spells in the deck.

Lastly, I’ll touch upon my decision to run Murderous Cut over Terminate. Admittedly, I originally ran this deck with Terminates. As well, I admit that I didn’t like running the deck with Terminate. Why? Black is really just a splash and I don’t to use it as much as I can. It also is very color constraining in a deck that is very mana greedy. So why do I like Murderous Cut so much? The same reason why I like Tasigur. I found myself being able to put so many cards in my graveyard that I had to take more advantage of it. So why not use Murderous Cut? I’m either lucky, or maybe it’s a better choice for the deck, but I find myself casting it for one mana more often than none.

Well that’s it for now. Tune in next week when I’ll cover the side board and discuss the choices it provides us. Thanks for reading!

About the author

Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

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Tags: grixis, grixis delver, Magic the Gathering, Modern, MTG, Simeon Cortezano
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