I did not make it to FNM last night. I am not sure I missed much. It is unlikely my decks would have been competitive and I was able to purchase a few budget singles at Magic Inferno today by not spending the money at the FNM. I opted to pick up a full set of Rings for very little money. Aside from Ring of Evos, most of the other Rings seem a bit vulnerable to Delver deck style Vapor Snag.

I also picked up quite a few other very interesting budget cards to build some new decks and to complete some other budget deck ideas. All in all, I spent around $6.

I played three friendly rounds (and lost 3 rounds), but still had a great conversation about possible reprints in RTR and mana curves. Later, I discovered one of my opponent’s cards in my collection. I pacified a Boneyard Wurm and apparently picked it up without noticing. I returned to the shop and left it with the owner who knows the player and will return it to him. I’ve been on the other end of that as well and I know it’s nice to get your cards back quickly and safely.

Speaking of Delver, I took a look at some of the new Drake/Delver decks using Talrand and tried to construct a few budget decks which might be able to defeat Delver. None of the decks always worked, but let’s talk about some common Delver attributes. Obviously, each Delver deck is different and poses different threats, but some commons elements remain.

Delver decks like to unsummon. They are very good at targeting your creatures. I feel having an extremely low mana curve is critical when playing against Delver. Delver likes to Vapor Snag/Unsummon your creatures. Delver likes to use Mana Leaks. Low cost cards allow you to recast creatures affordably or pay the Mana Leak cost. It would seem having a hexproof or shrouded creature would help a lot, but playing budget decks built with a lot of hexproof creatures did not seem to work out. Only Invisible Stalker had a low enough casting cost to really justify the approach.

Delver decks should be leary of bouncing creatures that trigger abilities. For example, creatures like Fiend Hunter, Skinrender, Acidic Slime, or Aether Adept simply require recasting and trigger horrible abilities. Essence Scatter or another counterspell will simply cancel the recasting. Mana Leak might subsequently counter the recasting so it is important to choose low mana creatures in anticipation of a Mana Leak.

Delver does not like artifacts/enchantments nearly as much. Although a Delver deck often has Mana Leak or Negate, low cost artifacts and enchantments can bypass the Mana Leaks. Artifacts or Enchantments like Chalice of Life/Death or Curse of the Pierced Heart might get by a Mana Leak, for example.

Many of Delver’s creatures are vulnerable to Rolling Temblor. Rolling Temblor can kill hexproof creatures like Invisible Stalker, Talrand, or Geist of Saint Traft or an unflipped Delver. Still, you need to use Temblor with care. It is helpful to have creatures that will survive the use of Temblor like a bloodthirsted Stormblood Besereker, a Dragon Hatchling, or an Heir of Stromkirk with one counter. For casting purposes, I would stick with a Dragon Hatchling over Heir of Stromkirk. Likewise Temblor can be cast again paying a high Flashback cost. Other creatures are vulnerable to common burn spells like Pillar of Flame, Incinerate/Searing Spear, or Shock. Obviously, red has a lot of removal that can effectively reduce Delver’s attacks.

Delver decks usually have some kind of equipment that makes a small threat a serious one. Runechanter’s Pike or other artifacts need to be confronted with counters like Smelt or Oblivion Ring.

Overall, my tests in trying to counter Delver style decks using budget decks have resulted in mixed experiences. Delver remains fairly competitive. Also, a deck designed to beat Delver is ill-suited for dealing with many other threats and is of limited utility in other circumstances.

Here is Anti-D, a budget red deck I’ve been proto-typing to try to understand Delver better. It is a tool for trying to figure out what makes Delver tick.

Instant (12)

4x Incinerate

4x Shock

4x Smelt

Sorcery (8)

4x Pillar of Flame

4x Rolling Temblor

Enchantment (2)

2x Curse of the Pierced Heart

Artifact (6)

3x Elixir of Immortality

3x Pristine Talisman

Creature (8)

4x Dragon Hatchling

4x Stormblood Berserker

Land (24)

24x Mountain

The deck does have a rather useless sideboard. I have not tried the side deck for anything and I won’t include the list here.

This is still very much a test deck and not very practical in any case. It might beat Delver sometimes, but it probably won’t be effective at anything else.

Let’s see if we can put something together that resembles a more balanced deck while incorporating some of the earlier ideas.

Red Faction 2

Creature (22)

2x Blisterstick Shaman

4x Dragon Hatchling

4x Goblin Tunneler

4x Manic Vandal

4x Razor Swine

4x Stormblood Berserker

Sorcery (6)

4x Pillar of Flame

2x Rolling Temblor

Artifact (4)

3x Elixir of Immortality

1x Pristine Talisman

Instant (4)

4x Shock

Land (24)

24x Mountain

Blisterstick Shaman can kill an unturned Delver or cause damage to a player to bloodthirst a Stormblood Beserker. It’s not something Delver decks are going to want to Vapor Snag. Manic Vandal can remove a piece of equipment each time it enters the battlefield, so again, this is not something that a Delver deck will necessarily want to Vapor Snag. The main deck has a pretty low mana curve. The most expensive card is Rolling Temblor. Given the strengths of our own creatures, a Rolling Temblor could be fatal to most of our own board, but we have 3 Elixirs of Immortalities to pull everything back. Still, it is a bad option and I’ve limited the Rolling Temblors to 2 in the main deck, though I can’t help but feel 3 might be better. Time will tell.

Goblin Tunneler makes almost every creature in the deck unblockable (except for a bloodthirsty Stormblood Beserker). The interaction between Goblin Tunneler and Razor Swine sets up a quick win. The interaction between Goblin Tunneler and Dragon Hatchling should also prove very good. You can make the Dragon Hatchling unblockable and then inflate.

One of the things that is missing are 4 removal spells- the incinerates. That could prove a problem. Incinerate or Searing Spear can also get passed the mental misstep. Blasphemous Act is usually not a good choice unless you are running Vulshock Refugee and some indestructibles.

Now let’s put together some possible side decks and go over each one.

Sideboard (15)

3x Incinerate

3x Act of Treason

2x Rolling Temblor

3x Traitorous Blood

2x Conjurer’s Closet

2x Demonmail Hauberk

The sideboard introduces a lot of high cost mana cards but creates a deck that goes in a very different direction. (Mental Misstep will probably make the side in a Delver deck anyway). In this deck you would make the following substitutes:

Substitute three Incinerate for two Blisterstick Shaman and one Dragon Hatchling. Substitute Conjurer’s Closet/Demonmail Hauberk for Stormblood Beserker. Substitute Act of Treason for Elixir of Immortality. Remove 1 Goblin Tunneler, 1 Razor Swine, 1 Manic Vandal and replace with Traitorous blood.

(You can side out the Razor Swines instead of the Stormblood Beserkers and side in the other Rolling Temblors instead of the Incinerates.)

This deck works a bit like my previous red deck without the heavy hitters. On the other hand, the deck does not have the same Mana ramp either. The idea would be to use Act of Treason/Traitorous Blood to steal the opponents creatures and keep them using Conjurer’s Closet.

Demonmails can sacrifice stolen creatures to equip. A common tactic is to use a Goblin Tunneler to make a Razor Swine unblockable. Use an Act of Treason/Traitorous Blood on the opponent’s creature, sacrifice it, and then equip the Demonmail to Razor Swine. You will swing for an unblockable 6 infect.

I explored using a Mindclaw Shaman instead of incinerate. A Mindclaw Shaman would allow me to tap into the opponent’s spell base. Mindclaw Shaman might also have some interesting interactions with Conjurer’s Closet. The card is still new to me, so the inclusion on the list was a bit experimental. It is a lot to add to the mana curve though. I think it might be better to substitute Incinerate or Searing Spear for the Mindclaw Shamans. This would give me much more removal options in the main deck if we needed it and reduce the strain on the mana curve.

I don’t know if it would work competitively, but this budget deck is certainly more rounded than the test deck and might be able to focus on something other than Delver. The only way to find out will be some extensive play testing. Undoubtedly, the deck will change with further play testing.

It is certainly never easy building a deck on a budget.

One final note, some of the cards will be cycling out of rotation soon so I’ll have to find alternatives for them. Certainly, Stormblood Beserker will be missed.