[Modern] Jeskai Delver Angel

[DelverMage]

Jeskai Delver Angel

Jeskai deck using fast removal, Abbot of the Keral Keep, Delver of Secrets, and Young Pyromancer's to buy time for the arrival of a Lightning Angel or two.....This should be a quick beat down.  Keranos is in the deck to help put the finishing touches, in the case the game goes mid-range.

[DelverMage]

This is a modern take on one of the last cards that I focused on building a competitive deck with back before I got out of Magic the last time.  Lightning Angel.  Of course Lightning Angel was in Standard back then.

I was quite happy to see that it was in Modern, and even though I doubt that this deck would be competitive at higher levels, I think I could make this something that could be dangerous at an FNM. 

I have done some research on decks of this nature and have seen some decks that have had their share of the limelight.  I started to buy some of the staples.... Delver of Secrets (This card is me, btw.), Young Pyromancer, and.  No, Wait.  I am not paying that much money for Snapcaster mage!!!

Oh well, time to find a new and more affordable way to make this click.

In addition to cards mentioned, I have added Abbot of the Keral Keep, It is a nice early to mid-game card that keeps the flow and helps add card draw.  A single Goblin Electromancer has been included as an unexpected game changer, as well as the Shrewed Hatchling.  I am hoping he can eat Dragons and other such monstrosities that may be on the other side of the battlefield.

Keranos, God of Storms is also there in the case I need some mid-game boosting, plus if he is on the board in addition to Angels things usually get over fast after that.

Aside - I am wondering, for purposes of determining devotion, does the Delver of Secrets count as one still if he has been flipped?

Counters and burn need to be used sparingly, as this is not a full control deck.  They are there to help keep your horde in the lead, or to disrupt their plans.  Thankfully, the best one mana direct damage card is also Modern legal.

My sideboard is currently full of possibilities.  Nothing really thought out there, as I am not very confident of the meta-game for Modern.  Also, for the local meta, who knows what to expect.  There are a number of places here in Grand Rapids where there the regular players are competitive regionally.  Nothing quite so fun as to show up at a Friday Night Magic event and face three net decks out of five rounds of play.  I was under the impression that FNM was for people to get exposure to competitive Magic.  Dip their toes in and see how organized play works.  Around here, you get slapped by Black/Green Demonic Pact, TWICE, and then blasted by Esper Dragons!  That is a great way to introduce nubes to the club.  I am not saying you shouldn't bring strong and competitive decks to FNM, I just wish you would build your OWN strong beat stick of a deck and try it out.  If you want to play test for the next PTQ or GP, do that with your friends for the rest of the weekend, just leave those downloaded decks in your bag.  Even old tech or Tier 2 stuff is better than the latest super smash that just creamed all others at the World Championships Azban Control deck!

That deck did not have a single common card in it, btw.

Oh, sorry.  I am supposed to be talking about my JD Angel deck.  Um, the Sideboard.  Yeah.  It is just a few random ideas that I thought could be tried if the deck was getting stomped.  Of course that is not a very good strategy for building solid sideboard.

So I would appreciate any ideas you may have, and sideboard suggestions.  Please be aware, this deck, as all of my decks, is on a budget.  I don't mind spending some cash or fishing for pucatrades to get good cards, I just don't spend $30, $40, $50 on a card or two......

Thanks for reading and I appreciate all comments.

DelverMage

[BlastodermMan]

Checked out the deck and read your write up on it. I think there are ways to improve both the main deck and the sideboard.

I understand building on a budget, and completely appreciate the need to. As far as you mana base goes, the M10/Innistrad cycles of lands should all be really inexpensive in paper. For instance, Glacial Fortress (UW) is about $2, and Clifftop Retreat (WR) is $5. It would allow you to play more basics, and fewer pain lands/vivid lands, and still be able to hit your colors. Also, consider any of the Khans fetches you may have, and they are at a fairly all-time low.

I really dislike Goblin Electromancer and Shrewd Hatchling, along with Essence Scatter and Negate. While a bit more pricey, Spell Snare would do wonders for your deck. Those do run about $8 - $9 each, but a play set is under $40, and it's a staple you'll play as a 3 or 4 of in any blue based Modern deck (aside from Fish). Izzit Charm would be good in the 2 slots opened up from cutting the 2 sub-optimal creatures.

Index is just not good. You would be better served with something that at least allowed you to draw cards, like an additional Telling Time, or copies of Think Twice. Serum Visions is the most obvious replacement, but it is a bit costly and not something I would try to convince you to buy if you don't already have them.

In answer to your question....Devotion counts the number of mana symbols in the upper corner of the card. If Delver is flipped, it provides zero devotion for Keranos.

These colors give you a lot of options in the sideboard. Izzet Staticaster is a great answer to weenie/tokens decks, and while not an attacker, it does an admirable job blocking, and can pick off pesky X/1's, like Pestermite Tokens. Counterflux is another card that is under a dollar, and is great in the control match ups.

You may also want to consider other inexpensive (both the cast, in in cost to buy cards) removal, like Combust, Rending Volley. or even Bonfire of the Damned (about $5...but being able to Miracle a win is awesome). If you make the mana-base changes, and if you already own Blood Moon, that is also a consideration. Obviously, though, don't break the bank to buy them, as they are outrageous right now.

Orb of Warding, as an answer to Burn decks in Modern is reasonable as well. Not as good as Leyline of Sanctity, but about 1/20th of the cost, and possibly something you randomly have from Origins packs.

I tried to keep everything on the cheap side, or list things you may have since getting back in the game. Hope these ideas help you out.

Feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions.

[DelverMage]

So interesting enough I don't have any copies of any of the recommendations you made.

It this were a more serious deck, I would consider more purchases....as I mentioned I did make some purchases.

Serum Vision is the card of choice for that slot.  In the long run there were not any scry spells that were cheap enough to replace SV.  Already having Telling Time, I chose Index as the most useful way to plan out the top of my deck.  It works nicely with Telling Time if I have both in my hand or in the 5 cards. 

I do have a single Combust, and 4 of the Rending Volley.

Barring any other ideas, or something cool in Battle for Zendicar, this deck may never see anything more than the kitchen table.

[DelverMage]

Quotes are in italics....

As far as you mana base goes, the M10/Innistrad cycles of lands should all be really inexpensive in paper. For instance, Glacial Fortress (UW) is about $2, and Clifftop Retreat (WR) is $5.
My land base has changed considerably, based on your advice here.  I have added in things like New Benalia, Naya Panorama, 2 Glacial Fortress, and 2 Temple of Triumph.  No more Vivid anythings to be found here.  I also added in an actual Plains card, so as to be fetchable, with a number of cards that now do so.

I really dislike Goblin Electromancer and Shrewd Hatchling, along with Essence Scatter and Negate. While a bit more pricey, Spell Snare would do wonders for your deck. Izzit Charm would be good in the 2 slots opened up from cutting the 2 sub-optimal creatures.
Essence Scatter and Negate are both gone.  I have replaced both of them with 4 recently purchased Dissolve spells.  Now I get the scry effect in addition to a solid counter spell.  The goblin and the hatchling are there as single cards that are always useful when you find them.  I am not comfortable, currently, removing them from the main deck.  They do, how ever, hold the role of first choice removal for sideboarding purposes.  I am taking the Izzit Charm and also the Boros Charm in as considerations for the sideboard as they are both extremely flexible and fit the style of this deck.

Index is just not good. You would be better served with something that at least allowed you to draw cards, like an additional Telling Time, or copies of Think Twice. Serum Visions is the most obvious replacement....
I agree, but had a hard time finding something that allowed the scry.  After some research I learned it is generally considered that Sleight of Hand is the next best Modern card to Serum Visions, so I have now put in 4 of those.

These colors give you a lot of options in the sideboard. Izzet Staticaster is a great answer to weenie/tokens decks, and while not an attacker, it does an admirable job blocking, and can pick off pesky X/1's, like Pestermite Tokens. Counterflux is another card that is under a dollar, and is great in the control match ups. You may also want to consider other inexpensive (both the cast, in in cost to buy cards) removal, like Combust, Rending Volley. or even Bonfire of the Damned (about $5...but being able to Miracle a win is awesome). Orb of Warding, as an answer to Burn decks in Modern is reasonable as well. Not as good as Leyline of Sanctity.....
I rolled all the sideboard comments into one section.
My sideboard was literally just a mishmash of cards that could be useful, depending on the situation.  Based on some of your ideas, I  have made significant modifications.  I am putting in 3 Izzet Charm and 3 Boros Charm spells.  They are very flexible and give multiple answers in 6 cards that I was trying to do with the whole sideboard.  For mass removal, I have 2 Supreme Verdict.  I kept a single Clever Impersonator in the off chance I come across a deck with heavy Planeswalker use or a small unit of huge creatures.  This lets me try to mirror their activities to throw them off.  I kept the 3 Cancel spells and the 3 Twinflame cards as they were the only cards in the sideboard I considered to be well thought out.  Twinflame lets me surge the key creatures of my deck to a grand finish, and you never know when you need more counterspells......

Anyway.  I am trying real hard to make this as strong a deck as I can.  Even if it never wins an FNM, I would like to see it take down half the competition at least.....   

Thoughts on the new changes?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

[BlastodermMan]

Looking at this deck, I would make several changes. Pithing Needle is much more of a SB card than a maindeck card. I would cut it from the main and probably only put 2 copies in the board. Young Pyromancer should be a 4-of if you have them, and Sigiled Starfish should be cut, as the random scry effect does not come online fast enough to allow you to fully utilize it. If you have Serum Visions, I would add those in place of the Needles you are cutting. Dispel and Spell Pierce are also counter magic options you can consider as well. I'm also not a huge fan of 1-shot dudes, like Hellspark Elemental. While it works in a pure burn deck sometimes, it's not that strong in a deck like thi. I think I would consider cutting all 4 of them to allow you to run more spells in the main (counters probably) to further enable Delver flips and Pyromancer making dudes.

You have A LOT of lands that enter the battlefield tapped. Trying to make a 3-color deck in Modern happen without fetch lands or shock lands is really tricky. I would consider the M10/Innistrad lands as a better option to the temples, as they at least have the possibility of entering in untapped if you control the proper basic land type (Sulfer Falls, Glacial Fortress, Clifftop Retreat). Additionally, the new Battle for Zendikar lands meet the requirement to help these come into play untapped (Prairie Stream is the relevant one, and helps each of the 3 previously mentioned lands enter untapped)...in fact, if you went 4 each of each of these 4 lands (16 total), plus 4 islands, 2 plains, and 1 mountian, you would have nearly perfect mana, and about 1/8-1/4 the cost of the typical Jeaskai mana base. this would also free up another slot in the deck to add another spell, or raise your Angel or Rider count by one.

Cancel and Dissolve should not be in the board. if you want more counters in the baord, I would add whichever of the previous ones mentiond did not make the cut (Dispel/Spell Pierce). You can probably shave one of the Veridcts and one of the Shatterstorms to also open a couple slots. If we assume you cut those 8 spells, and add in 2 Needles, and 4 possible additional counters, you still have 2 slots for something like Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, Stony Silence, Wear/Tear, etc.