Mono-Blue Delver: Unlimited

Ok... the previous deck list will not work... I don't have enough spells to power up my Pikes and I have too many low-curve 1 power creatures.  As far as spells are concerned, my only real options are Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour, and Think Twice.  I have considered and reconsidered Twisted Image, but I don't think the card is maindeck material.  Forbidden Alchemy seems like it might be the ticket as well.  The only problem there is the mana cost.  Casting it at the end of an opponent's turn might be reasonable, though.

I am willing to give Thought Scour another shot since it seems pretty common in Delver lists.  The card makes me lean toward Think Twice more and more even though neither card performed up to my expectations in the first iteration of this deck.

I am not all that happy with my options on the creature side of things.  I may be forced to either go with an illusion build or suck it up and pay for the high-dollar cards.  A playset of Snapcaster Mages will probably run me around $30 on MTGO.  That seems reasonable since it is going to be a blue staple in a lot of formats for quite a while.  Phantasmal Images are a little too expensive for me to consider as they run over $10 a piece on MTGO.

Another option to consider is to move to a more midrage-style deck.  Unfortunately, that kills the power of the namesake card.  I think I will wait on building in that manner.

Well, here is my new list for the time being:

4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
2 Phantasmal Bear

2 Dissipate
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
2 Marrow Shards
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag

4 Runechanter's Pike

2 Buried Ruin
21 Island

The Marrow Shards are there to deal with all the decks that feature Lingering Souls and other aggressive decks with a ton of X/1 creatures.  They seem pretty common right now... perhaps gearing up for the release of the final Innistrad set.

As for a build including Snapcasters?


4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Snapcaster Mage

2 Dissipate
3 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag

4 Runechanter's Pike

2 Buried Ruin
21 Island

I believe this list actually has a pretty reasonable shot.  The Snapcasters seem like they will push the deck over the top.  This list lacking Marrow Shards is not a big deal.  Having access to Mana Leak 5-8 via Snapcaster more than compensates.