Another “exciting” week of Standard has come to a close, and nothing much has changed besides the evolution of W/U Delver with LSV’s World Magic Championship Qualifier–winning Delver deck:

"LSV’s W/U Delver"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Geist of Saint Traft

• Spells (22)
• 1 Dismember
• 2 Gut Shot
• 2 Thought Scour
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Vapor Snag
• 3 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder
• 2 Sword of War and Peace

• Lands (22)
• 1 Plains
• 8 Island
• 2 Moorland Haunt
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Celestial Purge
• 1 Dismember
• 2 Dissipate
• 1 Divine Offering
• 3 Hero of Bladehold
• 1 Mental Misstep
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Buy This Deck

The deck has reverted back to the Equipment packages of Sword of War and Peace (most likely to deal with the mirror), but the major innovation from LSV was the addition of Tamiyo in the sideboard to help deal with the admitted weakness against control decks of Gerry’s list from the StarCityGames Open in Nashville.

Wizards didn’t publish the Pro Tour Qualifier–winning winning decks for this past weekend, but the SCG Open results show that Delver is still the metagame force.

"Solar Flare"

• Creatures (7)
• 3 Phantasmal Image
• 3 Sun Titan
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Gideon Jura
• 2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

• Spells (23)
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 3 Mana Leak
• 4 Forbidden Alchemy
• 1 Unburial Rites
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 3 Ponder
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 1 Dead Weight
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Ratchet Bomb

• Lands (26)
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 2 Darkslick Shores
• 2 Drowned Catacomb
• 2 Evolving Wilds
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Isolated Chapel

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Ratchet Bomb
• 2 Consecrated Sphinx
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 1 Divine Offering
• 1 Flashfreeze
• 2 Negate
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 2 Terminus
• 2 Timely Reinforcements

Buy This Deck

The deck of not from the SCG Open was Solar Flare, a deck that hasn’t been seen in a while (and has for the most part been replaced by more traditional Esper control decks), but I’m not sure this deck has a permanent place in the metagame for a few reasons:

• It’s easy to include hate such as Grafdigger's Cage to turn off the graveyard-based component of the deck.
• The presence of Lingering Souls was good for a week when fewer people had Sword of War and Peace in their main deck (in favor of Feast and Famine), but as War and Peace becomes more popular again (since LSV played it in the list above) the efficacy of Lingering Souls against Delver decreases.
• Delver decks have started to include transformational sideboards that allow them to go over the top against control decks (just as Caw-Blade used to do).

I started collecting Magic Online results, but I just gave up after four Daily Events, as the only deck performing significantly well was Delver, and it was pretty useless to assign a number to how good it is; just like last week, it is basically still impossible to justify playing anything else unless you know you have a plan against Delver. However, since people aren’t fully rational (See: People not playing four Stoneforge Mystics when it was legal), I’ll provide some decklists here that aren’t Delver that are putting up at least some results on Magic Online.

"Tokens"

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Hero of Bladehold

• Spells (24)
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 4 Gather the Townsfolk
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 4 Honor of the Pure
• 4 Intangible Virtue

• Lands (24)
• 12 Plains
• 5 Swamp
• 3 Vault of the Archangel
• 4 Isolated Chapel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Act of Aggression
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 2 Divine Offering
• 2 Doom Blade
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Revoke Existence
• 2 Stony Silence
• 2 Timely Reinforcements

Buy This Deck

Tokens has been preforming well this week on Magic Online as a consequence of three major factors: There are fewer people playing Sword of War and Peace, there are fewer Wraths, and there is less of Wolf Run Ramp. Tokens is probably also among the best decks against Delver thanks to being a creature deck that’s resilient to Vapor Snag. In addition to this, ramp has been almost eliminated from the online meta, removing the token deck’s worst matchup.

"Naya Pod"

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Fiend Hunter
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 2 Borderland Ranger
• 2 Wolfir Silverheart
• 3 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 3 Strangleroot Geist
• 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Blade Splicer
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Spells (4)
• 2 Bonfire of the Damned
• 2 Birthing Pod

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 2 Rootbound Crag
• 3 Gavony Township
• 3 Sunpetal Grove
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 2 Arc Trail
• 1 Bonfire of the Damned
• 2 Combust
• 1 Crushing Vines
• 1 Plummet
• 1 Ray of Revelation
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 2 Triumph of Ferocity
• 1 Wolfir Silverheart
• 1 Zealous Conscripts

Buy This Deck

I really dislike Pod decks overall, but the fact that EdB (@eduardobsg) has been playing this to consistent finishes led me to include it. The deck includes two main-deck Thalias to fight both control and Delver, and the inclusion of Restoration Angel to use the enters-the-battlefield effects of creatures over again is quite nice—I imagine that casting an Angel in response to Fiend Hunter’s trigger feels quite excellent.

"Infect"

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Blighted Agent
• 4 Spellskite

• Spells (30)
• 3 Gut Shot
• 3 Titanic Growth
• 4 Apostle's Blessing
• 4 Mutagenic Growth
• 4 Ranger's Guile
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder
• 4 Wild Defiance

• Lands (22)
• 6 Forest
• 6 Island
• 2 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Hinterland Harbor
• 4 Inkmoth Nexus

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Disperse
• 4 Glistener Elf
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Mental Misstep

Buy This Deck

This deck isn’t actually good; I just found it slightly amusing that a deck with only four Blighted Agents as a win condition managed to win enough matches to cash a DE.

"Mono-Green"

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1 Viridian Corrupter
• 2 Wolfir Silverheart
• 3 Wolfir Avenger
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Dungrove Elder
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Strangleroot Geist
• 2 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Spells (10)
• 2 Increasing Savagery
• 4 Green Sun's Zenith
• 4 Revenge of the Hunted

• Lands (24)
• 24 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Beast Within
• 2 Crushing Vines
• 2 Garruk Relentless
• 2 Prey Upon
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 1 Stingerfling Spider
• 2 Thrun, the Last Troll
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1 Wolfir Silverheart

Buy This Deck

Carrie Oliver won an English WMCQ with this deck, so although I haven’t played with or against it, I imagine it’s at least somewhat of a contender. Revenge of the Hunted is infuriating to play against, and I imagine that card alone may be the source of some number of wins, although Vapor Snag and Dismember existing in such abundance probably diminishes how good it is.

"B/R Zombies/Sacrifice"

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Cemetery Reaper
• 2 Fume Spitter
• 2 Highborn Ghoul
• 3 Blood Artist
• 3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 4 Diregraf Ghoul
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 2 Phyrexian Metamorph

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (12)
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 2 Dismember
• 2 Geth's Verdict
• 3 Brimstone Volley
• 1 Mortarpod
• 1 Sword of War and Peace

• Lands (22)
• 10 Swamp
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Dragonskull Summit

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Act of Aggression
• 2 Despise
• 2 Distress
• 1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 2 Galvanic Blast
• 1 Killing Wave
• 2 Nihil Spellbomb
• 2 Pillar of Flame
• 1 Zealous Conscripts

Buy This Deck

Probably the best aggro deck of the format, the deck has a large number of cards that benefit from things dying, and it has the excellent sacrifice outlet in the form of Falkenrath Aristocrat. The deck is fast, but Aristocrat seems less than optimal in a format of so many Gut Shots and Vapor Snags, but this deck’s somewhat consistent performance may prove that wrong.

Conclusion

Play Delver.

Chris Mascioli

@dieplstks on Twitter