Since losing Emrakul, the Promised End, Delirium has fallen on rough times. Brennan DeCandio has had plenty of success with the archetype, but in this case he’s the exception that proves the rule. Aggressive B/G variants have been a part of the metagame but they aren’t particularly focused on getting delirium.
Today’s list is a true throwback, playing cards like Renegade Map and Cast Out to get obscure card types into the graveyard and a full complement of payoffs for achieving delirium quickly, from Gnarlwood Dryad and Grim Flayer to Ishakah, Grafwidow and Traverse the Ulvenwald. Those early creatures give the deck some impressively aggressive draws, but it can still grind with the best of them, drawing cards with Tireless Tracker and answering anything its opponents can muster.
Historically, that slower gameplan hasn’t been effective against Aetherworks Marvel, since their end-game trumps any attrition strategy, but this list packs a lot of cards specifically designed to swing that matchup. Three copies of Dissenter’s Deliverance in the main are the obvious members of this group, and given that it can answer Heart of Kiran, Walking Ballista, and Gearhulks of all kinds in other matchups while cycling against Zombies, the high number makes plenty of sense.
Cast Out is yet another answer to Aetherworks Marvel, but it also gives the deck a true answer to Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, so you can win games even when Aetherworks decks execute their combo. A turn 4 or 5 Ulamog will still be problematic, but Transgress the Mind comes in there to help stop their most explosive draws.
All these cards are certainly there due to the overwhelming presence of Aetherworks Marvel in the Standard metagame, but they are perfectly fine cards on their own, so the deck hasn’t had to make much of a sacrifice. We already know Ishkanah, Grafwidow is powerful against creature strategies, and while control may be tough in Game 1, you have a great sideboard there with recursive threats and another planeswalker.
Delirium hasn’t been good for a while, but maybe the issue was Vessel of Nascency. The mana-intensive enabler is a huge tempo suck, where Renegade Map makes the deck leaner without sacrificing your long game. Elegant design at its finest.
Creatures (17)
- 4 Tireless Tracker
- 4 Gnarlwood Dryad
- 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 4 Grim Flayer
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 1 Herald of Anguish
- 1 Manglehorn
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (19)
Spells (22)
