Last week I wrote about Mudpost, my first legacy love. I started to look for a new deck several months ago but have yet to find one that I’ve clicked with. Over the course of this year I’ve played Elves, Dead Guy Ale, a Junk Knight brew and Jund. I’ve learned I enjoy prison decks and creature based decks and Elves showed me that combo isn’t really my style either. Jund also taught me that just because you love a deck in modern doesn’t mean you should try to force it into legacy. So this week I decided to explore the great unknown and play the only color I’ve never tried in legacy; blue. It’s a great color, but it isn’t my style, I’ve sworn up and down a hundred times that I’d never play it. But I realized that I was going to have to try something new to find the perfect deck for me and get out of this slump. So with great hesitation I put aside my prejudices and asked a friend to borrow BUG Delver.
I was pretty nervous sitting down for round one. I hadn’t even taken the time to review the decklist, other than a quick glance through the deck before the first game which I quickly lost to ANT. My Delvers didn’t flip and he was able to duress my Force of Will so it was a short game. Games 2 and 3 went much more smoothly and I quickly (and excitedly) went on to win them both. I enjoyed aggro beats using Delver and Goyf with Force back up more than I expected. I started to wonder if blue wasn’t so bad after all.
Round two I was paired against Death and Taxes and that did not go nearly as well as round one did. Thalia is tougher to play against than I expected, I’m not used to playing a deck that gets hit this hard by taxation affects and it easily lost me game one. Game two my opponent was able to get out Jitte and Batterskull using multiple Stoneforge Mystics to quickly end the game from there.
The next round I got paired against a 4 color loam deck that really left me confused for the first couple turns. Those matches were pure misery. Wastelock is real and when combined with Chains and Choke it lead me to pray that the match would end quickly. Fortunately for me both games did and it left me day dreaming about the Junk Knight brew I had played the week before.
Fortunately for me things ended on an up note, and I quickly won Round 4 against Sneak and Show. Having Force of Will and Daze to counter their Show and Tell and Delver and Goyf for quick beat downs made the match fast and easy. I actually expected it to be a harder matchup than it was and lose quickly but counter magic kept my opponent on his toes which won me the game.
Overall my first experience went better than expected; I didn’t think I would end the day two and two. My biggest complaint with the deck, ironically, is that I feel it needs more blue. If you look at the decklist (below) you will see that it is very black heavy which I don’t feel works the best with the deck. There were too many times I was drawing cards that felt awkward or like they didn’t fit. Maybe it’s due to my inexperience with the deck but I’m starting to understand why BUG Delver has been seeing less play than other Delver variants. I was a bit disappointed- since it has always been my favorite version of Delver.
While I enjoyed blue more than I expected I don’t think BUG Delver is the deck for me, which means I’m still on the hunt for a new deck. I’m not sure if I want to play more blue but I’m trying to be open minded. I play legacy twice a week and am planning to switch it up until I find a deck I enjoy. Comment below or tweet me @BeauteCoulisses with a deck you think I should try!
BUG Delver
| Lands (19) 3 Misty Rainforest 4 Underground Sea 1 Tropical island 2 Bayou 1 Verdant Catacombs 4 Wasteland 4 Polluted Delta Spells (26) 4 Daze 4 Ponder 3 Hymn to Tourach 2 Thoughtseize 4 Abrupt Decay 2 Liliana of the Veil 3 Force of Will 4 Brainstorm Creatures (15) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Deathrite Shaman 4 Tarmogoyf 3 Dark Confidant | Sideboard (15) 2 Golgari Charm 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Vendilion Clique 1 Toxic Deluge 1 Force of Will 1 Hymn to Tourach 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Notion Thief 1 Pithing Needle 1 Sylvan Library 1 Krosan Grip 2 Disfigure 1 Liliana of the Veil |