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Apr 2, 2012 -- 9:33PM, MrIndigo wrote:

..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />Hitting for 3 on Turn 2 wasn't the problem in Modern. That's not why Wild Nacatl was banned - after all, Steppe Lynx hits for 4 on Turn 2, possibly more if you have Hierarchs.

True, the real reason was that Nacatl made every other aggro option look worse but isn't it already the case with U / W Delver too? Other aggro decks have a coinflip matchup at best against it, and Delver is miles better against control.

The removal that's good against Delver but bad against Stalker and Geist is actually a problem wiuth Stalker and Geist (and the mechanic hexproof in general), not Delver.

Hexproof as a mechanic is okay as long as the creatures are fair in combat. Neither Troll Ascetic, Trun have ever been broken or even dominant in any format. Geist is the main offender here, since hexproof besides being three mana - bashes for six with pseudoevasion is over the top. (Stalker is quite noninteractive  but I don't think it is too much of a problem alone.

Delver doesn't have any amazing foils, but it doesn't have any amazingly strong matchups either. That's why it works. It's win% against any given archetype is usually slightly above or below 50%, meaning at playskill and experience tend to be a more decisive factor.

It may not have 70 % over anything but being 55 % is enough to make it ban worthy. So far only Frites and Grixis control seem to have a good matchup against it, and both are more close to anti-Delver decks that lose against anything else than legitimate decks.

May 30, 2012 -- 4:48AM, Jman22 wrote:

So I want to dredge this back up with a little info-graph Chapin postind in his SCG article today:

 

The "this week" meta is based off SCG Nashville from this past weekend, and I'm hard pressed to find a reason not to believe that something will need to drastically change for Delver to not be the big bad deck of standard.

And to quote Chapin's closing statements:
"

Again, this isn't out of nowhere, and whenever the best deck is able to adopt a bunch of breakthrough new technology that greatly improves it in the exact perfect ways... Well, it is a dangerous thing. Just looking at the list, I can tell you it is not every day I see a Faeries deck that makes me want to completely abandon any thought of playing control. This is such a deck. This deck just looks absurd. Hopefully, the World Cup Qualifiers will divert this, but they might end up making it worse. You think the pros aren't going to all play Caw-Blade? If you have the answer, you better speak up fast.

What would be banned, if anything?

No, not Delver. That is not the real problem at all. This deck would still exist without Delver. Delver is relatively easily answerable.

What about Ponder? It was banned in other formats so it is not a stretch; however, you could replace it with more cantrips that are slightly weaker, and the deck wouldn't lose all that much.

The answer is crystal clear, and you already know what I am going to say.

"Snapcaster Mage is too good.""


Sure, he isn't saying Delver of Secrets is going to be banned (like I did, but mostly to get the ball rolling and the fact that I really, really like Snapkeep Mage) but it sure seems a lot like when Caw-Blade was standard - deck is one of the top decks, WotC prints a card that makes that deck better, and boom.
And yes, I'm only quoting the part of Chapin's article that supports my view, not the "this might not happen" or the "this might be one week of showings, but..." parts, but the beef of the article boils down to that last bit. 

EDIT: The other SCG Premium article today is on the same topic, but I've yet to read it. Also, removing the SCG link in the quote. 

EDIT2: Sam Black says pretty much the same thing as Chapin: Delver is by leagues the best deck in standard, and he suggests banning Delver of Secrets or Snapcaster Mage. 

The deck known as U/W Delver probably is the big, bad deck of Standard until rotation.   As has been pointed out, this would probably still be the case even if Delver itself were banned because the deck is really about synergies rather than one card.  The two cards that would really seem to cripple the deck if banned would be Geist and Snapcaster.  Geist is particularly aggregious due to costing.  It would still be a pretty good card at 5 cmc.

Hopefully, both Ponder and Mana Leak will not be included in M13.  Without those, Delver of Secrets isn't all that great since you can't reliably set it up and counter removal  in the first three turns.  This would also bring Snapcaster back to Earth a bit.  

In the meanwhile, Standard just isn't all that fun if you don't enjoy running Delver.   I've tried it, and found it to be incredibly boring though it did set up the most reliable win conditions.   It just seemed to be a mindlessly mechanical style of play.   

I wish Wizards would do something to address, but I'm not very hopeful.