Sultai Delirium (Pioneer)

My overall thoughts:

This is a Sultai delirium deck that is all about stalling games and winning with a big threat. I actually am very unsure with how it will handle the meta since there are some crazy powerful decks running wild out there.

The deck is positioned well to handle cat combo and other midrange builds. It also will deal with control pretty well as they will have a ton of dead draws. I also like it against any bigger aggressive decks (Oko or Hazoret Red) just because it can answer trouble cards very effectively.

My worry is against Aetherworks Marvel (very few main deck answers), Collected Company (could overwhelm our one for one answer strategy), and pure aggro that goes wide.

Deck Construction:

1) Mana Base
*I will talk first about the last issue I tackled. You would think that the mana base in Pioneer would be easy to build, however the deck places a ton of restrictions on it. The deck needs lands to enter untapped early, however it is not an aggressive deck.

a) You need black and green sources that enter untapped on turn one. This is not as extreme a need as saying running a turn 1 mana dork, where you have to be able to drop it, but you want to Traverse or Thoughtseize early.

b) I wanted to play manlands to have an alternative win con, but they are also restrictive. Mutavault is colorless and Lumbering Falls enters tapped. i didn't want to push these too far, but I believe 2 of each is a fair number. I'm not running Hissing Quagmire as I believe g/b sources must enter untapped for early turn casting.

c) I avoided Mana Confluence as the deck is slow and I just can't afford the cost of running it out there early.

2) Choosing the correct removal and disruption.

a) Thoughtseize
*This is going to be the formats all-star. People are going to be heavily running combo and midrange decks (IMO) and Thoughtseize is the perfect disruption for that.

b) Abrupt Decay
Answers so much, including Saheeli.
Misses Aetherworks Marvel and some other midrange juice, but this will always have a target.

c) Fatal Push
*Not as good without fetch lands, however it kills enough to be main deck. Aggro will be present heavily early on and baby Jace is another prime target.

d) Doom Blade
*Stellar 2cmc removal. Does not kill Siege Rhino, and that could be a problem. Does however kill anything Company decks throw out as well as various red strategies.

3) Adding Multi-purpose cards
*I wanted to have powerful cards that serve more than one purpose in the deck.

a) Traverse the Ulvenwald
*Early mana fixing that turns into the setup for our win-cons late.

b) Search for Azcanta
Turns on delirium quickly and fixes our topdeck all game.
Late game it just lets us dig for answers.

c) Liliana, the Last Hope
Stalls the opponents attacks and is actually removal against smaller creature strategies.
Helps build delirium, and we do play 11 creatures it can grab.

d) Hieroglyphic Illumination
Of all the possible card draw options I thought this was the best. Cycling turns this into a useful spell at any time, not just when you have 4 mana open.
playing this over Dig Through Time is certainly not how I saw myself going, however Dig is very slow and without fetch lands can take way too long to pay off. Also, you want cards to stay in the graveyard for the most part.

3) Toolbox creatures

a) Deathrite Shaman
The ultimate toolbox creature.
The deck needs a way to gain life when stabilizing. This life gain helps to counteract the punishment we take from lands and Thoughtseize.
Draining two life here and there is a solid way to help finish games off.
The ramp is unlikely to be available on turn two, however there will be lands in the yard in the midgame.

b) Grim Flayer
*Fixes topdecks, fills the yard, and gets bigger as a threat.

c) Champion of Wits
Fills the yard, fixes your hand, and is a good body to chump block.
Fantastic late game play from the yard as a solid threat that can reload your yard.

4) Win-cons

a) Emrakul is a bomb

b) Man lands can get there when given time.

c) Kalitas
gains life, builds an army and can get bigger.
avoids some of the formats best removal

d) Tasigur
*an early Tasigur can be back breaking, especially when it returns you the perfect answer.

e) Ishkanah, Grafwidow
*Stall card that can also get some damage through.

f) Nissa, Vital Force
My last addition to the deck. I originally was running The Scarab God, but I changed things up last minute. TSG is fairly dead in certain matchups, but Nissa is always online.
Creating 5/5 temporary creatures from your lands can either turn you very aggressive with a short clock or it can be one massive blocker.
*Returning any permanent from the yard should yield some pretty big returns as well.

Sideboard:

x2 Disdainful Stroke
*answers many things, but mainly it is for combo decks

x1 Thoughtseize
*mainly for the combo decks

x1 Abrupt Decay
*uncouterable is big

x2 Veil of Summer
*Just wrecks certain decks ability to interact

x1 Noxious Grasp
here as a cheap answer to a lot of problem cards.
depends on the format, but it is an amzing card versus cat combo and a ton of other problem cards.

x1 Fatal Push
*I'm not sure how much aggro there will be. There are going to be tempo decks, so I'm not sure how in on Fatal Push I want to be without fetches.

x1 Murderous Cut

• Killing something very efficiently is a nice option.

x2 Languish
*Answering creatures is always important and I think 4 toughness is the major number to hit.

x1 Leyline of the Void
*Other opponents will run graveyard nonsense, it's nice to shut it down cold.

x2 The Scarab God
*Against decks that run creatures this is a very powerful wincon.