Hello everybody,
today I'm going to talk about one of my new brew for legacy: Jeskai Delverblade. After the ban of the monkey, I think that this shell could be fine to play, with a really interactive and tempo gameplan
Decklist
First of all, we should start from a decklist:
In number, we have:
14 cheap threat: 4 Delver, 4 DRC, 4 SFM and 2 Regent, in this way we can deploy a threat as early as turn 2;
8 permission spells: 4 FoW and 4 Daze, in order to stop fast combo deck, counter the removal and gain tempo advantage;
6 removal: 3 bolt and 3 Prismatic Ending, so we can creature, pw, artifact, etc..., there are few target that we can't hit with this package: Regent, Marit Lage for example;
8 cantrips: 4 Brainstorm and 4 Ponder;
4 Expressive Iteration;
18 Lands: 4 UW fetch, 4 UR fetch, 2 Tundra, 2 Volcanic Island, 4 Wasteland, a Steam Vents and one Hallowed fountain. The split between dual/shock is to prevent the cut of a color with wasteland + surgical;
2 Equipment: Batterskull and Kaldra Compleat.
For the side we have:
3 graveyard hate: 1 surgical and 2 RiP, to side in against all grevyard decks, plus UR delver and all the strange 4/5 color piles, that relies on Uro and recursion of lands with Life from the Loam;
3 Red Elemental Blast: Blue is basically the most played color in Legacy, so this is absolutely strong;
2 Containment priest: Against DnT, Reanimator, Dread Return, Show and Tell. Moreover, you can use it as extra threat in case you go too low on them;
2 Wear//Tear: By now, Meltdown is absolutely costly on mtgo, so I choose to play this. Morever, against Saga, is 1 mana Sinkhole
1 Spell Pierce and 1 FoN: Again, here we have some budget constraint. If you can, just go straight with 2 FoN;
2 Plow: Premier removal of the format, it doesn't pair well in a tempo shell, because you give life to your opponent, by the way is strong against Marit Lage, Big Eldrazi, etc...
1 Brazen Borrower: one of my favourite card, you can play use it as pseudo removal against all the actual field of the legacy.
Gameplan
The gameplan usually is pretty clear: deploy then asses. The most of the time you're the aggressor, do don't be afraid to counter removal with FoW/FoN. With this decklist, it's difficult to deploy a t2 Regent like straight UR, but you're less suscesptible to graveyard hate, having access to SFM.
The rule of thumb to play this deck is the following:
Against Aggro (madness, burn, etc...) you're the control. Keep in mind this and, when you go for SFM, prioritize BS;
Against Combo (storm, doomsday, etc) you're the aggro. So with SFM go for Compleat and, if you've DRC and unspent red mana, bolt your opponent face. With your cantrips try to find the permission spells if you've threat, otherwise try to find a threat;
Against Control, you're the aggro. They will bury you with Card Advantage, so try to kill them ASAP. Moreover, don't be afraid to force a plow or an ending. In these days, moreover, you can overextend because there are not so may wrath effect. Prioritize Compleat with SFM.
Against Midrange, you've to asses your role every turn. Try to bait removal on small creature (DRC or Delver) in order to let SFM or Regent resolve.
Final Thoughts
That's it, by now I'm playing this, and I'm enjoing the playstile the deck has.
What do you think about it? Are you ready to give this deck a shot?
Regards
Vito