Testing went well. Granted, I spent much of my time in the casual room. RGW Ramp can be an issue. Gideon Jura is a major roadblock, as is Day of Judgment. When combined with some absurd finishing power, the deck is hard to deal with if you do not get the early jump (of course, it would also help if you had a sideboard for games 2 and 3). Snapcasters may find their way into the deck before the week is up, at least enough to replace the two Phantasmal Bears. I actually like the matchup against Zombies. I never saw a Gravecrawler, so it may have just been a casual budget list. Humans is a real deck as it turns out. They can wipe the floor with Delver too. Being able to trade 1-for-1 with Lingering Souls via Dissipate helps, but it's not their only token producer, and it's not their only threat. Gideon, in my opinion, is one of Delver's biggest bullies. I don't like bullies. That's why it's time for sideboard tech, and for me to step up the testing. No more casual room stuff. Time to play matches in the Tournament prep. room.
One thing really caught me by surprise in testing: Delver is actually a control deck in some matchups. Sometimes you stall out your opponent and then drop a finisher, which just so happens to cost a lot less mana than most decks' 'finishers.'
Starting out with 3 Negate is the right way to go. Gideon is almost as good as multiple Time Walks against Delver. Also, Day of Judgment is pretty good in the current metagame. I think it will see more and more play. Negate works against removal, Curse of Death's Hold, Swords and other equipment, Green Sun's Zenith... need I go on?
Flashfreeze may be overkill against Wolf Run Ramp. I think the deck can live without it, particularly with a couple of Snapcasters in the maindeck.
I need a solution to Nihil Spellbomb and similar graveyard-desecrating cards. Simply answering it with counters seems fine, but what about when they cast it with counterspell backup? I don't want that to be game over if the game goes long. I need a way to finish out the game if the Pikes aren't of much value. Many Delver lists run a couple of Swords maindeck. I'm cheap, so I really don't like that option. I am contemplating a card I had in my original deck as a 1-of: Nim Deathmantle. Now hold your pessimism for a week or so until I prove to myself that the card is completely worthless. I think it could also be useful against decks featuring Curse of Death's Hold. It would allow me to still play out my X/1 creatures. I'd have to pay a lot more for them, but it's better than them being completely dead draws.
U/W Delver decks have access to a card that makes effective use of creatures in their graveyard: Moorland Haunt. Since this is not an option for a mono-blue deck, I may need to change things a bit. Getting value out of dead creatures is something a lot of the decks like to do.
Nihil Spellbomb... they are probably worth a few slots. Zombies, other Delver decks, Sun Titan decks, shutting down the random Burning Vengeance decks one might encounter... not being able to cantrip is not a huge drawback.
A few extra finishers would be good. Something with a bigger rear end than everything else in the deck. The problem is deciding on creatures to fill that role. The fact that I am playing an aggressive deck limits the mana cost for this role. I am tempted to add in 2 Dungeon Geists and call it a day, but I want something a tad meatier. Sadly, the card that continues to hold my gaze is Darkslick Drake. The creature has a hefty rear end, replaces itself when it dies, and has a reasonable mana cost. It and Nim Deathmantle are buddies as well, so how could I refuse? No need to tell me it's a terrible card and this strategy will not work. I'm thinking that right now, and that's part of why I want to try it as my initial impressions of some things tend to be wrong. I want to leave you with the Grand Prix: Baltimore finals. Two very skilled players go at it in an excellent match that goes to 3 games. U/W Delver vs. U/B Control.
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