Blue Skies

[Protoaddict]

Started concepting around Illusory angel in another thread, I think its about time i put a list together.
So here is my first run at a blue skies list. Its basically just play a beater, protect and counter the hell out of everything, and draw cards. the deck is really not reliant on mana either so I think this may be a thing.


4 Illusory Angel
3 Sea Drake
4 Delver of secrets

4 Force of will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Gitixian Probe
2 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timewalk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Gush
1 Jace, the mind sculptor
1 Hurykls recall
1 Chain of vapor

1 Mox Sapphire
4 off color moxen
1 Black lotus
1 Lotus petal
1 Sol ring
1 Mana Crypt

4 Fetch lands
8 Islands
1 Strip mine

The deck has a lot of favorable interactions with all ready powerful cards.

Sea Drake and Angel all combo up well with gush.
You can get angel out turn one with one of 3 probes, lotus, crypt, or 2 moxes

Sideboard would obviously be meta dependent but probably some number of cages

Thoughts? I feel like the deck should be mono colored to best streamline what its doing. It really does not need much from other colors and if you were going to splash other colors you could probably find other dudes at that point.

[StanleyAugust]

How does Probe help you cast Angel? Also, how does Sea Drake and Gush combo? They seem more like a nonbo to me.

[Phele]

What about Esperzoa? Could help to fulfill Angels extra condition and follows the overall gameplan.

[brianpk80]

A friend and I were toying with Illusory Angel last summer.  While it was occasionally strong, the amount of times I was unable to cast it was surprising and unacceptable.  It's an unfortunate topdeck. 

How does Probe help you cast Angel?

Angel requires a spell to be played before it and Probe serves that role without tying up mana.

Serendib Efreet + Phyrexian Metamorph/Phantasmal Image would probably accomplish what the Angel and Sea Drake are trying to do here more reliably and with more flexibility, as well as freeing up deck space occupied by current support cards for stronger calls like Snapcaster Mage. 

Good luck.

[StanleyAugust]

A friend and I were toying with Illusory Angel last summer.  While it was occasionally strong, the amount of times I was unable to cast it was surprising and unacceptable.  It's an unfortunate topdeck. 

How does Probe help you cast Angel?

Angel requires a spell to be played before it and Probe serves that role without tying up mana.

But in the opening post it says "You can get angel out turn one with one of 3 probes, lotus, crypt, or 2 moxes". How can you play Angel turn one with one of three Probes? Clearly Probe doesn't help you resolve a turn 1 Angel because that requires playing either two Moxes, Crypt or Lotus in which case you don't need to cast another spell.

[brianpk80]

But in the opening post it says "You can get angel out turn one with one of 3 probes, lotus, crypt, or 2 moxes". How can you play Angel turn one with one of three Probes? Clearly Probe doesn't help you resolve a turn 1 Angel because that requires playing either two Moxes, Crypt or Lotus in which case you don't need to cast another spell.

It sounds like the issue you're having is an objection to the OP's sentence rather than the answer about how the Probe generally helps to meet the Angel's prereq.  On the first turn w. acceleration other than Spirit Guides, the Probes wouldn't be necessary.  Without the right acceleration, the Probes stay in hand until it's time to play the Angel. 

That's partially why while we'd want the Angel to be a good find, it forces some awkward play sequences regardless of how much one prepares that often make you wish it was a vanilla Serendib Efreet instead.     

[Protoaddict]

Efreet is a much slower clock at 3 power, and in that regard delver serves the role probably better than serendib ever will.

I guess the point of the list which seems to get lost is to play a beater and then protect the hell out of it. Similar to fish. The reason I did not run snapcaster was because the deck does not have too much mana to spare because of all the bounce cards, and playing card draw so that it does not need to recycle cards when it can draw more.

Sea drake combos with Gush because sea drake has no downside if you have 0-1 land in play. Gush lets you have 0-1 land in play and draw free counters to protect drake with.

Another card that has been mentioned for the list is Esperzoa, which seems like a strong options as well, but i think sea drake is stronger in this list as it wont die to artifact removal which is all over the place.

[brianpk80]

An Efreet isn't competing for slots with Delvers though; it's in direct comparison to the Angel, but without being a horrible topdeck or requiring an awkward play sequence and design constraint.  The difference in power is not "much slower."  Even over the course of three whole turns, it amounts to one bad Mana Crypt flip, which is not very significant.  Esperzoa is good overall, but it needs to be supported by a lot of artifacts and probably Seat of the Synod.  It's best with artifacts with useful CIP effects like Shardless Agent.  Sea Drake has potential.  Both are of course susceptible to Lightning Bolts.  I wonder if Gush is the best draw draw spell in a deck that can't maximize it as a whole engine.   

The counter suite combined with the emphasis on returning lands makes for an awful Workshop matchup, but since you're in very early stages of design and exploring, those critiques can wait.  It's a cool idea and I hope you can make it work but there's a lot more stacked against it than initially meets the eye.  Good luck. 

[MaximumCDawg]

Angel just seems like she's bad as your primary beatstick.  Esperzoa fits this role better, and actually has alot of synergy with her because you can bounce and replay a mox to make it happen.

Beats (10):
4 Esperzoa (has game against workshops.  Enables some synergy with artifacts.  Helps supply spells for Angel off a mox.)
2 Illusory Angel
4 Delver of secrets

Permission (13)
4 Force of will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Flusterstorm // Steel Sabotage // Annul (board per matchup and meta)

Lock Pieces (6)
4 Back to Basics // 4 Grafdigger's Cage
(Basics is great in mono-blue, shares 2 colorless casting cost with Esper, Angel, Jace.  Swap out for Cage against Dredge, etc)
1 Tangle Wire (great with Esperzoa)

Good Stuff (12)
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timewalk
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Gush
2 Jace, the mind sculptor
1 Chain of Vapor // Hurkyl's Recall

Mana (24)
5 Solomoxlotus
1 Sol ring
1 Mana Crypt

2 Ancient Tomb
4 Fetch lands
2 Islands
4 Seat of the Synod (Good with Esperzoa)
1 Strip mine

[Protoaddict]

2 Islands and 4 seats seems way to risky to me in the current Vintage Meta. Rod effects kill your mana base and if ONE of your islands gets stripmined your can no longer gush the whole game.

I would think with this many tapable artifacts that spellsnare would be a good card to run as well.

With all the stuff you cut and the enchantments the deck is now running, does delver flip as often as we would like anymore?