Perfecting U/R Delver in Legacy!

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Where does the time go?

2016 has gone by pretty quickly. It feels like yesterday that I was watching Max McVety attack for lethal against Craig Krempels to win the Columbus Invitational—sorry Craig! I remember watching Gerry Thompson win round 15 at the Atlanta Open with G/W Tokens to be the first player in SCG Tour history to go undefeated through the Swiss portion of an Open. And it's impossible to forget watching Tom Ross win the second of his back-to-back Opens in June at the Orlando Open before speeding across the Florida highways to watch Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

And now it's November? How is that possible?

Time flies when you're having fun as they say, and things are about to get a lot more fun on the SCG Tour. The next three Open weekends are arguably the most important of the year, as players prepare to position themselves for the Atlanta Invitational to increase the likelihood they qualify for the Players' Championship. With nine players already qualified for the #SCGPCJim Davis, Max McVety, Jeff Hoogland, Andrew Tenjum, Gerry Thompson, Liam Lonergan, Tom Ross, Andrew Jessup, and Kevin Jones—we've got seven more to figure out and not a lot of time left to do it.

I'll be joined by Craig Krempels, Nick Miller, and the rest of the SCGLive crew as we head to The Charm City for #SCGBALT. Legacy is the format of choice this weekend and I couldn't be more excited to watch it. With Kaladesh starting to flex its muscles across Eternal formats, it's time to see just how Magic's newest set plays alongside Deathrite Shaman, Force of Will, Sensei's Divining Top, and the rest of Legacy's stalwarts.

If you can't make it out to #SCGBALT this weekend, be sure to watch all the action at twitch.tv/scglive!

Cedric Phillips, Media Manager @CedricAPhillips

 

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Video: R/W Tokens In Standard!

When Makis Matsoukas made the Top 8 of Pro Tour Kaladesh with R/W Tokens, most overlooked his performance in favor of players like Hall of Famer Shota Yasooka or combo master Matthew Nass. But not Sam Black. Black has found a build of R/W Tokens he loves and shows why in this video!

 

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What I'd Play At The Open Series

As somebody who slings Delver of Secrets in a format where the card has been called a few shades shy of playable, you had best believe that I'm rooting for the much maligned one-mana 3/2 to take down #SCGBALT. Grixis Delver has been the preferred flavor of Delver for Legacy players for a while, though my choice of 1/2 creature is not Deathrite Shaman, but rather Monastery Swiftspear. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Gurmag Angler, but ever since the Treasure Cruise era of Legacy, I have felt that there's a hidden gem in a straight U/R build. If I were battling in Baltimore, I would do so with this list:

U/R Delver by Ryan Overturf

Maindeck

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Spell Pierce
1 Forked Bolt
1 Fire // Ice
1 Dismember
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island

 

 

1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest

Sideboard

4 Price of Progress
1 Dismember
1 Submerge
1 Set Adrift
1 Flusterstorm
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Sulfur Elemental

 

What I have always valued most in my Delver lists is the ability to play the control role against a variety of opposing archetypes. This is an area where U/R builds of the deck have failed in the past, as loading up on Price of Progress and Chain Lightning in the maindeck leaves you in a straight racing position in many matchups. In a format as diverse and powerful as Legacy, I've usually been much happier to rock Stifle and Wasteland. That said, the current top decks in Legacy have made the Temur Delver builds that I once loved feel rather week. There's not much to Stifle out of Eldrazi decks, and Miracles is pretty Wasteland proof. What the build I'm proposing provides is a significant quantity of fairly generic disruption, and a plan to sideboard into a focused aggressive or controlling shell based on the matchup.

Price of Progress card preview

Price of Progress is your ace in the hole against Eldrazi, but I can't quite bring myself to maindeck the card when I expect to play against a healthy amount of Miracles and Death and Taxes. I see the ability to Brainstorm the card away as something you have to do, not something you get to do, which is consistent with the conservative approach I generally take toward deckbuilding.

Island card preview

The other thing that I really like about this build is the inclusion of basic Islands. Mono-Red Sneak Attack is one of the more popular fringe decks in Legacy right now, and the ability to just allow Blood Moon to resolve really sets U/R Delver apart from the three-color variants.

Spell Pierce card preview

What this build does better than other builds of U/R that I've seen, is including the prowess elements as a total freeroll rather than actively committing to them. By sticking to just blue cantrips and a few choice removal spells, you don't end up with too many hands that can't beat decks that are heavy on non-creature spells. Instead of hoping your two-turn clock with Chain Lightning works, this build allows you to sit back on Spell Pierce for whatever the opponent is up to. Monastery Swiftspear and Spell Pierce may look like a non-bo at a glance, but I assure you that Legacy as a format rewards going a little out of your way to be disruptive. If you're looking for something familiar but a little spicy for this weekend, I'd give this list a shot.

Ryan Overturf, @RyanOverdrive

 

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