Sultai Delver

I started out with BUG Delver and quickly dismissed it. Since the departure of 《Deathrite Shaman》 the deck hasn’t felt the same. Without it, the deck feels like a medium aggro deck and a medium midrange deck, not good at anything particular, just medium. It doesn’t have 《Lightning Bolt》 for reach and it can’t compete against the Astrolabe decks in the lategame.

The deck succeeded at GP Bologna, but I think that is more to the fact that many good players chose to play the deck then the deck being actually great. I am not saying it is a de facto bad deck and you shouldn’t play it, it is packed with a very high individual card power level.

Grixis Delver

Grixis Delver made more sense to me. You have 《Lightning Bolt》 which isn’t a dead card against Combo decks like 《Fatal Push》 would be. And you have 《Dreadhorde Arcanist》, a very good 2-Drop, arguably better than 《Tarmogoyf》 in many spots. For example against Combo, where you just want to load up your hand with counterspells or against 《Baleful Strix》, where you still get something out of attacking and trading.

The deck felt good. I just couldn’t bring myself to play 《Daze》 and 《Wasteland》 and only 15 lands. Since the departure of 《Wrenn and Six》 and 《Deathrite Shaman》, the mana in Delver decks has become pretty bad. 《Wasteland》 is really good against Delver nowadays. Additionally what I never really liked about Delver, where how bad some of your draws can be. Things have to line up for you. To many reactive cards or to many threats make for an awkward draw. Sure, 《Brainstorm》 fixes some of these issues, but you won’t always have 《Brainstorm》 in your Top12 cards.

I got jealous of my opponents playing Astrolabe and Snow-Covered Basics. I wanted to have a high chance of playing actual games. I didn’t want to sit down to play Legacy to lose a game to a 《Wasteland》 on my 《Underground Sea》.

BUGr Astro Control (Czech Pile)

I quickly identified for myself that I wanted to play Astrolabe Control, here is my latest take on Czech Pile. Sultai with some red in the board.

Things went well at the beginning, but then I just couldn’t win anymore. I was quite sad, I really liked this deck in theory. 《Wasteland》 still troubled you, especially if you didn’t draw Astrolabe. 《Veil of Summer》 obliterated my deck. Most decks were either splashing for it or playing green as a main color. The deck felt like a clunky control deck.

A friend of mine, Sascha Schwarz, was excited about the archetype as well. He couldn’t win either and dismissed it. He chose to play Sneak&Show and made Top64 in Bologna. My 4C list wasn’t perfect either. If you want to see a good build of the archetype, go check out Tomas Mar’s 10th place list from the Grand Prix.

BG Depths

Out of desperation I even started playing a deck without 《Brainstorm》!? Can you imagine in what state of mind I had to be to do such an egregious thing? I was at a low point in my life.

Jokes aside, BG Depths made a lot of sense. Early discard, 《Abrupt Decay》, resiliency in the form of 《Dark Confidant》 and 《Elvish Reclaimer》 and a fast combo kill. I achieved my only trophy in my week of testing for Bologna with BG Depths. I quickly realized that the deck was very difficult to play. Though in the end it just didn’t feel quite right, I didn’t enjoy myself playing the deck.

Sneak and Show

I then fired up a league with Sneak and Show and got completely annihilated by two tribal decks, Goblins and Merfolk. I could not stand a chance in all four games. It wasn’t even close to close. Off it, Sascha told me he kept winning, but I was off it. OFF IT. All of those games are streamed by the way, if you want to see my misery first hand. Link above.

4C Mentor

After those catastrophic events, I decided to chill the rest of the evening and tuned into the Cardmarket Prague Stream, where my buddies Thoralf “Toffel” Severin, Jamin Kauf and Riley Knight put on a good show. I then checked out the Top8 decklists and found this gem, European Legacy Miracles Master and overall nice guy Tomas Vlcek‘s 4C Mentor list.

That’s what we are talking about. I had some personal problems at that time, fortunately this deck let me escape reality easily. On the next morning I started working on the deck. At first I added 《Ice-Fang Coatl》 and the fourth Astrolabe. Coatl seemed to make sense to me. I didn’t like 《Counterbalance》 all too much. 《Blood Moon》 over 《Back to Basics》 was another No-Brainer for me. Here is a screenshot of my first match with the deck.

This screenshot encaptures what I love about Magic and about Legacy. A back and forth until finally my 《Monastery Mentor》 takes over. Check out the time on the clock and the size of the libraries. One of the most fun matches I had in a long while and exactly what I needed to be fired up about getting back into the trenches.

The deck made sense to me in many ways. 《Veil of Summer》 is a lot worse against you and 《Swords to Plowshares》 helps against Marit Lage. 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 is phenomenal in Blue Mirrors. I didn’t miss the black discard against the combo decks either.

I ditched the Coatl after playing a couple leagues. I realized how important the 《Mountain》 was vs Delver for 《Pyroblast》 and against Death and Taxes for 《Wear/Tear》, 《Izzet Staticaster》. With 《Mountain》 instead of 《Forest》, Coatl made less sense. I then tried a version without green, just Jeskai Mentor. I went back to 4C quickly though. 《Oko, Thief of Crowns》 and 《Veil of Summer》 are worth the right splash. The cost is so low, too. With 《Arcum’s Astrolabe》 in the mix, one 《Tropical Island》 is all you need.