I've been playing TCGs for quite some time (over 18 years) and I still have difficulties with changes to the game I like. And with a change I mean even a new set being released but that's something I usually get used to but there were few cards that changed Magic for me completely. One of the cards was Jace, the Mind Sculptor - a card I fell immediately in love and had to play it in all my decks be it Legacy, Extended or Type 2. It is true that seeing the card 8 times per game was quite too much even for me but still I wouldn't give up on it. Later on, one day, someone decided to print double sided cards. That alone could be forgotten and no one would really need to care about that ... but one of the cards was Delver of Secrets and that is a card that completely changed Legacy. This card also changed Magic for me but in a different way and because of this card I can't figure out what kind of deck I would want to play. Is there a deck that would suit me and would beat Delver based decks? Delver of Secrets is a blue card (and blue is my favorite color) but it can swing for 3 and costs 1 mana and it FLIES! How outrageous!
Since I can remember I used to play all kind of control decks. I had a period in which I played all kinds of Zoo but it was never a deck I wanted to play and that is also a reason why my sideboards usually contained Meddling Mages, Negates or Countersqualls and/or discard. I never played blue to gain access to aggressive creatures and now one of the best aggressive creatures ever printed is blue (along with Geist of Saint Traft).
When the card was printed it saw play in standard and I remember that as the most annoying deck ever (UW Delver Flash). As I let my boyfriend at that time use my lands for control decks I had to play anything that did not play blue, black or white. I ended up playing Kessig Wolf Run (from red to blue) and I had real difficulties catching up with something like T1 Delver, T2 flip and few turns later game over. It just seemed to me that the card is seriously out of place and was looking forward to this card leaving type 2 (I played that format because of my boyfriend and it was quite a discovery, but in the end this format usually bores me. It's fun to build decks for it though). The card rotated out and the format became quite fun^_~. But the card is so strong that it sees play in legacy and modern even now.
When we broke up I had the chance to go and play some Legacy after quite some time. During the whole time we were together I did not get the chance to play the format and thus I was quite surprised to ran into all kinds of Delver decks when I finally got to play in a tournament (last time I played more or less anything was viable and could beat more or less anything. I used to play counter slivers - so not so unfamiliar with this kind of deck - but any deck that made sense was capable of winning a local legacy tourney). My first Legacy tournament (after the long break that is) was the most unusual tournament ever. It was a weekend tournament that consisted of 6 rounds. I came there to play with my highlander deck which was the closest deck I had for Legacy. I had to cut some cards as they were banned so I played with 90+ cards. I ran into some maverick deck, followed by pikula (both of these showing me Stoneforge Mystic and Batterskull) and the rest of the decks I played against were Delver based. Two were UR Delvers and the remaining two were RUG Threshhold decks. I somehow managed to win against three of them but in the finals I was incapable of drawing some one drops and died because my only spell I managed to play was Force of Will'ed. Delver did the rest. At this tournament I was surprised about the efficiency of Delver and just couldn't really grasp it...that was the only thing I remembered and what shocked me at the tournament. Losing the game on turn two because of Storm comboing off or RUG Delver wrecking my mana base with Stifles and Wastelands did not scare me off but this little blue creature did...
The next tournament I played in was a smaller tournament consisting of four rounds. Once again I managed to ran into 4 Delver decks. My starts Noble Hierarch -> Stoneforge Mystic -> Batterskull were winning games and I did not mind any wastelands but I learned a 'wasteland' lesson the hard way. In round two I played against some heavy red Delver that killed me with Price of Progress so I tried to fetch for basic lands and stay alive. On turn four I played Flametongue Kavu that actually resolved and killed a lonely Delver that hit me for 9 already (my opponent was shocked and was even more furious when I finished him off with a kicked Burst Lightning^_~). I won the game later and even managed to win the last one. The next deck was some kind of 4 color good stuff. I wasn't really sure what to expect but Thoughtseize caught me unawaress (not that I could do much about it). My first mana dork got countered, my second one as well. Third one survived, next turn Mystic. Unfortunately my equipment was discarded and I lost the game. The second game I got a good draw but it wasn't enough. My deck was complimented and noted that it plays like Maverick (had no idea what that is at that time). In the last round I just ran over some RUG Delver with Wild Nacatl but it was quite difficult to keep the creature 3/3.
After few more tournaments I decided to actually build a legacy deck (it was a maverick deck) and discover what other decks are playable at legacy. I discovered that a wide range of decks are playable but majority of them was either Delver based or it ran Stoneforge Mystics. After even more time I started wondering what kind of deck I'd want to play. I wanted to play Stoneblade but everyone was playing it and it was really difficult to win mirror matches. So I was avoiding blue for quite some time...even though from time to time I actually tried to play with RUG Delver (and me playing Delver usually meant something like tapping Delver about 16 times to win the game^_^). It never worked for me. No t1 Delvers, no t2 flips...no lucky draws. I wasn't really sure what I was doing wrong but it just did not work wonders for me as it did for others. I have to admit that there were many games in which simply flipped Delver killed me easily and I couldn't do a thing about it and I also knew that my opponent does not really now what could be coming...but still Delver did the job (with occassional help in form of burn spells). In the end I ended up with Esper Stoneblade and UWr Miracles. But still it does not suit me that well for some reason.
Few days ago I put together Eric Rill's 4c Delver deck (and I'll possible try to go to a tournament with it...wish me luck^_^). Not that I would want to play Delver but this creature simply wins games easily (sometimes). What I like about this deck is the inclusion of Deathrite Shaman and Young Pyromancer. Those are cards that I like. Combined with cheap spells Pyromancer can very quickly build an army of elementals that many decks can hardly get rid of. I played with this deck against Jund, Miracles and wanted to try something more common. I did not build UWR Delver or anything but I put together quicky UR Delver that is supposedly played quite a lot. The games we played were really crazy. From Turn 1 Stifle, T2 Wasteland game over to t1 Delver, t2 flip, few burns spells GG. In some games I wondered what I was playing against. Brainstorm into two Goblin Guides was an overkill and game after (on the photo) was even more crazy even though it did not consist of Delver killing me^^. But an excellent case of 'Still Had All Deez'.
No matter what after playing with BUG Tempo for quite some time and playing against RUG Delvers, BUG Delvers and UWR Delvers something just seems seriously wrong to me. It seems like a large portion of decks are build around this card. I like blue decks but not aggressive decks (as aggressive as it can get nowadays) and this just wrecks my vision of BLUE in Magic. I thought that I somehow managed to accept the fact that this card exists but now it started to show up in modern decks and now once again I feel similarly to how I felt during the first legacy tournament. Being Spell Pierced and Spell Snared when I tried to get rid of a sole attacker that was swinging for three at the latest Modern tournament was a really scary experience and I encountered three Delver decks and hatebears that day. I lost only to one of the Delver decks but that loss is what I remember the most. I really wish that Wizards of the Coast would make the game less creature dependant...but I guess this won't ever happen. Creatures are simply... simplier but I have serious problem attacking with them. ^_^
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