Deck Tech: Green-Black Delirium with Lukas Blohon

Posted in GRAND PRIX WARSAW 2016 on October 30, 2016

By Olle Rade

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When the dust started to settle at the end of the first day in Warsaw it was quite clear that two decks stood out as both the most popular and the strongest. White-Blue Flash and Green-Black Delirium. Someone who sure knows both how to build and how to pilot the Green-Black deck is Czech Platinum Pro (4) Lukas Blohon.

Blohon played Green-Black delirium not only at Pro Tour Kaladesh a few weeks ago, but also won a Magic Online Championship Series quarterly event with it online last weekend. This weekend he brought the deck back to the table.

"I think it's the best choice right now, because the metagame is so defined and you really know which the big decks to beat are. Those being White-Blue, Green-Black and the Red-White or Mardu Vehicles decks," he explained.


Lukas Blohon

His deck has also evolved from the tournament in Honolulu, where he only got to play four matches before being eliminated with a 2-5 record. He flew back to Europe, learned his lesson and changed the deck to adapt to the changes in the metagame.

"At the Pro Tour we played Mindwrack Demon, but I cut them for Tireless Trackers in the tournament on Magic Online last weekend. And I'm using the same list for Warsaw. Demon is good against aggressive decks with Smuggler's Copter since it's a good blocker and it helps getting delirium fast. But in the late game it's only a 4/5 flier. After the Pro Tour the format has slowed down a little, and Tireless Tracker is just a better, more grindy card."

Blohon was sitting at a 6-1 record going into the last round of Day One, with his single loss being against White-Blue. A deck that he thinks is very good, but beatable.

"White-Blue is probably the best deck in standard right now, but I feel like I am slightly ahead against it. Mainly because they haven't adapted to beat Green-Black yet. If they for example start playing Revolutionary Rebuff in the main deck to counter your Ishkanah, Grafwidow I think they can easily turn the match-up in their favor."

Touching the topic of Standard in General, Blohon said that he feels like the format is still unexplored.

"Some decks can probably be built, like midrange decks with Aetherworks Marvel, since that's a very powerful card. But right now, White-Blue is the "fun police" of the format, and leaves little room for innovation. Whenever you try something a bit slower you lose to White-Blue."

Even though he has already been successful with the deck, noone is perfect, and after playing more with the deck Blohon said he might change a few cards for the next big tournament.

"My current build probably has one Evolving Wilds too many, as I'm running the full four, and I'd like to have access to at least one copy of Mindwrack Demon somewhere in the deck, otherwise I'm very happy with the list," he said.

He also said that he did test the more aggressive version of Green-Black, but in the end, he thought it wasn't as good.

"I played two leagues on Magic Online with the more aggressive delirium deck and it seemed good in the mirror, but it's worse against the other top decks. And that made me want to play the more controlling version"

Black-Green Delirium, Lukas Blohon, Grand Prix Warsaw
Decklist Stats Sample Hand
Planeswalker (3)
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
Creature (14)
1 Emrakul, the Promised End 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow 1 Pilgrim's Eye 1 Noxious Gearhulk 4 Grim Flayer 3 Tireless Tracker 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Sorcery (6)
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald 2 Transgress the Mind
Instant (10)
4 Grasp of Darkness 4 Grapple with the Past 2 Murder
Enchantment (4)
1 Dead Weight 2 Vessel of Nascency 1 Sinister Concoction
Land (23)
4 Hissing Quagmire 6 Swamp 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Blooming Marsh 5 Forest
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Emrakul, the Promised End 2 Transgress the Mind 2 Natural State 2 Flaying Tendrils 2 Pick the Brain 1 Tooth Collector 2 To the Slaughter 1 Gnarlwood Dryad 2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Deal Another Hand

Going aggressive, with Oleksii Riabokon

When it comes to the more aggressive version of Green-Black, I thought I'd give you a peek at Oleksii Riabokon's version. It really goes all in on casting Verdurous Gearhulk as fast as on turn four, running not only Catacomb Sifter, but also Servant of the Conduit, to have eight cards that allow an early Gearhulk.

The creature core of the deck is filled up with Grim Flayer, Gnarlwood Dryad, Smuggler's Copter and a few copies of Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. The Ukrainians version actually looks like a sweet mix between the versions with as many creatures that utilize delirium as possible and going a bit larger with Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, fast Verdurous Gearhulk and he has access to even larger threats like Ishkanah, Grafwidow in his sideboard.

He also utilizes the full playset of Blossoming Defense to protect his creatures against removal spells as well as pushing through the last points of damage with his large creatures with trample.

Black-Green Aggro Delirium, Oleksii Riabokon, Grand Prix Warsaw
Decklist Stats Sample Hand
Planeswalker (2)
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
Creature (21)
4 Verdurous Gearhulk 4 Servant of the Conduit 2 Gnarlwood Dryad 4 Grim Flayer 3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 4 Catacomb Sifter
Sorcery (3)
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Instant (7)
4 Blossoming Defense 2 Grasp of Darkness 1 Murder
Artifact (4)
4 Smuggler's Copter
Land (23)
4 Blooming Marsh 4 Hissing Quagmire 1 Evolving Wilds 8 Forest 6 Swamp
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Grasp of Darkness 1 Tireless Tracker 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow 1 Natural State 3 Transgress the Mind 2 Dead Weight 1 Appetite for the Unnatural 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 2 Plummet 1 Pick the Brain
Deal Another Hand

Posted in GRAND PRIX WARSAW 2016 on October 30, 2016

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