In the early days of Modern, we saw a ton of Delver of Secrets. Serum Visions is a great way to set up early Delvers, and you could choose from Jeskai decks that played Geist of Saint Traft and Lightning Bolt, Temur decks that opted for Tarmogoyfs, or Sultai decks that added Dark Confidant and discard spells. With the format becoming as aggressive as it has, we’ve seen Delver of Secrets fall out of favor for many years. Perhaps it’s time to revisit this classic Modern archetype given the recent bannings:

Jeskai Delver - Modern | Caleb Durward

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Spell Queller
• 3 Geist of Saint Traft
• 3 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Instants (20)
• 1 Mutagenic Growth
• 1 Negate
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Remand

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Sleight of Hand
• 4 Serum Visions

• Lands (19)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Spirebluff Canal
• 2 Steam Vents
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Counterflux
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Twisted Image
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Young Pyromancer
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Molten Rain
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 3 Stony Silence

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The second big change is the addition of Spirebluff Canal and other fastlands to the format. The ability to have great mana early in the game without having to deal yourself a bunch of damage is not to be underestimated when there are so many fast, linear decks in the format.

The last big change is the possibility of playing Spell Queller. This card is an incredible tempo play and great trump in counterspell fights because it can’t be dispelled or Negated. Sure you may not want to play many copies, but Spell Queller is an incredible flash threat for this style of deck.

For me, the most exciting card in the maindeck is the singleton Mutagenic Growth. This card lets your Delvers and Swiftspears fight through blockers, Lightning Bolts, and and other early interactive elements. It’s not necessarily a card you want to play many copies of, but it’s something you can either crush opponents with or force them to aggressively play around it.

With the bannings helping to slow the format down somewhat, there may be space for this style of tempo strategy. Before, you’d tap out to play your threats and get killed by Death's Shadow or Glistener Elf. Now, you might have an extra turn, but your threats are all vulnerable to Fatal Push. Of course, Geist of Saint Traft doesn’t really care. All told, this is a strategy that has been successful at various points in Modern, and the format may be slowing down just enough for it to make a big comeback — just as long as Fatal Push doesn’t shake things up too badly.