Duskmantle Delver

By Sam Black

Sam Black is a Platinum Pro Player and longtime writer for StarCityGames.com. He is a respected deck builder and took over Daily Decks for the first half of 2013.

I found this deck looking through Magic Online Daily results, and it struck me because no one earned six or more wins in Standard at Pro Tour Gatecrash with Duskmantle Seer, a card this deck uses a full play set of.

This is an aggressive Grixis deck that partners last year's dominant Delver of Secrets with its old friends Augur of Bolas and Snapcaster Mage alongside the powerful new flier from Gatecrash.

Aside from Duskmantle Seer, the only card in this deck that costs more than two mana is a single Counterflux, so Duskmantle Seer shouldn't do too much damage to you. Most opponents, though, can be expected to have a least a handful of spells that cost five and, sometimes, several others that cost significantly more than that.

The deck only plays twenty cards that Augur of Bolas can find or that flip Delver of Secrets, which is a little low, but Delver of Secrets is such an important part of the plan for this deck that it's willing to take a risk and maybe attack with a 1/1 a few times.

One of this deck's biggest advantages is the sideboard, where four Duresses allow it to stick a threat (ideally Jace) against control decks, and Rolling Temblor and Izzet Staticaster handle any weakness it might have from small creatures.

tennisStar99's Grixis Delver

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (16)

4 Augur of Bolas 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Duskmantle Seer 4 Snapcaster Mage

Sorcery (6)

1 Mizzium Mortars 4 Pillar of Flame 1 Rakdos's Return

Instant (14)

1 Counterflux 1 Cyclonic Rift 3 Desperate Ravings 1 Dissipate 3 Searing Spear 1 Syncopate 4 Thought Scour

Artifact (2)

2 Runechanter's Pike

Land (22)

2 Blood Crypt 2 Dragonskull Summit 3 Drowned Catacomb 3 Island 2 Mountain 4 Steam Vents 3 Sulfur Falls 3 Watery Grave

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Mizzium Mortars 1 Rakdos's Return 4 Duress 2 Essence Scatter 2 Izzet Staticaster 1 Jace, Architect of Thought 1 Jace, Memory Adept 2 Rolling Temblor 1 Tribute to Hunger