One of the more exciting War of the Spark cards for me was Domri, Anarch of Bolas. The card didn’t appear especially powerful, but it did pique my interest as a potential role-player in a couple of my favorite decks: GR Moon and Temur Delver. As the static-ability walkers spoiled, I identified in them one […]

There’s a new Delver in town, and this one doesn’t need delirium or a white splash to put the hurting on opponents as of turn one. All it requires is a single, generic mana and an appetite for attacking. Meet Bomat Courier, my latest addition to Temur Delver. Noah Walker’s breakout Legacy performance with post-ban Grixis […]

Last weekend’s unbans were met with mixed reactions from the Magic community. I found myself a little conflicted, as well; I generally like shake-ups and “fresh meat,” but the back-to-back Pro Tour and GP weekends, which featured incredibly diverse metagames, had just proven Modern to be a format smack in the middle of its golden […]

It’s a crazy time to be a disruption-plus-clock player in Modern. The options seem limitless, even if they also seem to point back at Death’s Shadow. Messing around with Shadow in a Temur Delver deck for the last couple weeks has made me a slobbery wet one, nostalgic for the glory days of 4/4 tramplers and […]

When Wizards banned Gitaxian Probe on Monday, many players reached out to me to express their condolences and ask where Temur Delver goes from here. Probe was an integral part of my Monkey Grow deck, and starting games by paying 2 life for the sorcery was some of the most fun I ever had playing Magic. I will […]

America was watching, riveted. Eyes glued to screens across the nation. All signs pointed to a win for blue. But Modern is a strange beast. During the tournament’s final hour, its rust belt of Lightning Bolts exploded into a sea of crimson. Cries of “how did this happen?” and “where did we go wrong?” echoed around the […]

I’ve been tweaking Temur Delver variants, especially my beloved Monkey Grow, for well over a year now. The archetype does everything I want to be doing in Modern: it throws Bolts, it attacks with efficient threats, it counters spells, it cantrips, and it steals games with Blood Moon. For a long time, it also struggled […]

My Eldrazi Stompy article from last week was relatively well-received, but some users had questions about my updated Monkey Grow deck from the week before. They’re in luck—I took the deck to a Face to Face PPTQ and went 4-2, loading up on insights along the way. This was my third PPTQ with the Bedlam Reveler-featuring Monkey […]

Move over, Shiloh—It’s Modern season! The next few weeks in my calendar are full of Modern PPTQs, Opens, and GPs, and I think I finally know what to sleeve up. Two weeks ago, I introduced Traverse Delver, a mid-game-focused, Traverse the Ulvenwald/Bedlam Reveler-powered grow deck that finally solved Temur Delver’s miserable Jund matchup. It did so for a hefty […]

I remember scrolling through Eldritch Moon spoilers and passing over Bedlam Reveler, the last card I hadn’t read that day. The image was in Portuguese, and my hopes were low. “A 3/4 for 8,” I actually thought to myself. “There’s no way I could ever have a use for this card.” But I read it anyway, and […]

I’m sure I speak for many when I say my favorite part of spoiler season is paging through new cards and looking for ones that fit into my pet decks. The leaked Shadows over Innistrad spoilers revealed Invasive Surgery and the delirium mechanic. As a Tarmogoyf enthusiast, this keyword spoke to me on a competitive and […]

Actual comments from my previous article, “A Defense of the Splinter Twin Ban:” “As someone who has played around extensively with a variety of URx decks, I can tell you that in the past four years or so, Twin is the only one I’ve found viable not because the Twin package is so enticing, but […]

Friday, I began chronicling a Mana Deprived Super Series 3K tournament in Montreal. I piloted Monkey Grow to a 6-2 finish. This article concludes the report and gives some closing thoughts on the deck. We ended Chapter 1 on a high note, following an embarrassing loss to Grixis Twin with a triumphant victory over Abzan Midrange. That match ended […]