A look at Dreadhorde Arcanist in Legacy Grixis Delver
I've been streaming a fair amount of Legacy lately featuring a lot of War of the Spark cards and I now believe that Grixis Delver with Dreadhorde Arcanist is a powerhouse after playing 20 matches to a 18-2 record.
The question(s) worth considering are:
a) why is Arcanist so good?
b) how do you rebuild your deck to make it good?
a)
In my mind, Dreadhorde Arcanist bears the most resemblance to Dark Confidant. It's a creature that needs to untap to 'do its thing', but leads to a very snowbally effect if your deck is constructed correctly.
I started by playing 4 Dreadhorde Arcanist, but did end up shaving 1 to reduce my exposure to graveyard hate (RIP/Leyline) alongside 2 Gurmag Anglers, along with the fact that the card leads to diminishing returns.
b)
You definitely want to emphasize quality 1 mana spells that aren't reactive. Thoughtseize/Ponder/Preordain/Brainstorm/Lightning Bolt have all been played in Delver before, and they're equally awesome to flashback for 0 mana. This is basically why I've cut Spell Pierce from the maindeck.
Given those concerns and my previous experiences playing Delver as a 'jundy (grindy)' deck, I've been streaming with the following list a fair amount:
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Dreadhorde Arcanist
3 Young Pyromancer
2 True-Name Nemesis
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Fatal Push/1 Forked Bolt
4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
4 Daze
Sideboard
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Abrade
2 Marsh Casualities
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
2 Pyroblast
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Liliana's Triumph
1 Price of Progress/1 Null Rod
Is the deck perfect yet? Probably not, but I believe this approach as opposed to singleminded aggression allows you more flexibility in how you play the games which fits into my personal play style of trying to play 'faster' midrange.
Cabal Therapy likely should be a 4th Thoughtseize. the 4th USea should be a badlands or a 9th fetchland. (if you play badlands, convert all your fetches into grixis shard fetches).
Sideboard felt fine, but I wonder if I can do even better.
Fatal Push vs Forked Bolt is a function of how many large creatures you expect to play against, up to and including Knight of the Reliquary and Thought-Knot Seer.
Price vs Null Rod are both 1-ofs that are extremely high impact when you can correctly guess what you're going to play against, although there's some overlap versus artifact-based ancient tomb decks in their utility.
Still wondering if 2 answers to Chalice of the Void is sufficient (although I guess it's slightly more because I do have Force of Will as an out in my opener).
SB Guide? I just try to imagine what cards are going to underperform and side them out for better cards.
You can check out my previous streams with this deck here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDLhV_o0_yg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGpzgKiWnHg
The question(s) worth considering are:
a) why is Arcanist so good?
b) how do you rebuild your deck to make it good?
a)
In my mind, Dreadhorde Arcanist bears the most resemblance to Dark Confidant. It's a creature that needs to untap to 'do its thing', but leads to a very snowbally effect if your deck is constructed correctly.
I started by playing 4 Dreadhorde Arcanist, but did end up shaving 1 to reduce my exposure to graveyard hate (RIP/Leyline) alongside 2 Gurmag Anglers, along with the fact that the card leads to diminishing returns.
b)
You definitely want to emphasize quality 1 mana spells that aren't reactive. Thoughtseize/Ponder/Preordain/Brainstorm/Lightning Bolt have all been played in Delver before, and they're equally awesome to flashback for 0 mana. This is basically why I've cut Spell Pierce from the maindeck.
Given those concerns and my previous experiences playing Delver as a 'jundy (grindy)' deck, I've been streaming with the following list a fair amount:
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Dreadhorde Arcanist
3 Young Pyromancer
2 True-Name Nemesis
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Fatal Push/1 Forked Bolt
4 Force of Will
3 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
4 Daze
Sideboard
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Abrade
2 Marsh Casualities
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
2 Pyroblast
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Liliana's Triumph
1 Price of Progress/1 Null Rod
Is the deck perfect yet? Probably not, but I believe this approach as opposed to singleminded aggression allows you more flexibility in how you play the games which fits into my personal play style of trying to play 'faster' midrange.
Cabal Therapy likely should be a 4th Thoughtseize. the 4th USea should be a badlands or a 9th fetchland. (if you play badlands, convert all your fetches into grixis shard fetches).
Sideboard felt fine, but I wonder if I can do even better.
Fatal Push vs Forked Bolt is a function of how many large creatures you expect to play against, up to and including Knight of the Reliquary and Thought-Knot Seer.
Price vs Null Rod are both 1-ofs that are extremely high impact when you can correctly guess what you're going to play against, although there's some overlap versus artifact-based ancient tomb decks in their utility.
Still wondering if 2 answers to Chalice of the Void is sufficient (although I guess it's slightly more because I do have Force of Will as an out in my opener).
SB Guide? I just try to imagine what cards are going to underperform and side them out for better cards.
You can check out my previous streams with this deck here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDLhV_o0_yg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGpzgKiWnHg
posted by Jarvis Yu at 7:00 AM
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