Looks like one of the best transformers. Control is going to love this.
brunsbr103
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
this does seem efficient. Let's see how it plays
Tempted_Johnny
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
My gut-reaction is that this will soon be blue's best one-drop. You just can't beat a 3/2 flier on turn 2, especially since the control cards running alongside this are mostly in the 2-3 cmc range.
Keino
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
This is a referrence to "The Fly."
Gabriel422
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(8 votes)
Love the flavor here.
Atogatogatog
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This is going to rule in limited, and I feel like it'll possibly make its way into some constructed decks.
I'm not sure "deck that wants an aggressive one-drop" and "deck with lots of instants and sorceries to reliably transform this" overlap enough.
I could be very wrong though.
Superllama12
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
This is pretty neat! I really like how you don't necessarily have go reveal that you just drew a Mana Leak
d-101
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
The optional reveal is great, especially on spells you would've cast anyway (Ponder, Tezzeret's Gamble, etc). The 3/2 with flying bonus makes this one of blue's favorite new toys, and one of the better one drops. 5/5
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
He put his head and his arm under the press. Why?
FogRaider
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"I'm not sure "deck that wants an aggressive one-drop" and "deck with lots of instants and sorceries to reliably transform this" overlap enough.
I could be very wrong though."
If Red Deck Wins finds a way to splash Blue viably, then there is.
Zoah
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I think this goes well in a "rearrange"deck... One with lots of wizards, like information dealer Szami, and spells like ponder... This sort of gives them a nice win condition. Even by himself, he looks at your next card, which is nice.
Enemy_Tricolor
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This and Phantasmal Bear makes me think of some sort of control strategy that involves an early beatdown with cheap creatures, distracting your opponent while you build up to beefier midrange board control type stuff. I'm not quite seeing the full deck yet, but perhaps it's worth playing around with.
ShadyBabs
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I could see this being incredibly powerful in a sort of izzet aggro control type deck. Use this along with reckless waif/phantasmal bear as beaters and then control with burn spells and mana leaks.
Quibbleflux
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
This card was absolutely brutal in Limited.
Lash_of_Dragonbreath
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
I like its flavor - it hasn't found a creature card to use in his experiments, so instead he will use himself. Also, The Fly reference is quite fitting for Innistrad's theme of putting classic sci-fi movies in its blue cards (Invisible Stalker - The Invisible Man, Civilized Scholar - Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde, and so forth).
None of these beats Grave Bramble's Plants vs. Zombies reference, though.
Flavor aside, out of Illusion tribal it seems better than Phantasmal Bear. However, Illusion tribal is the kind of deck most likely to want a blue agressive 1-drop.
Gaffy00
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Amazing card. 3/2 flyer by the second turn.
dreanor
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(10 votes)
It's Jeff Goldblum from the Fly!
altheuser
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
T1: Island -> Delver of Secrets T2: Respond to the trigger with a Brainstorm. Good times.
Hylebos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was making a Standard Human Deck, and my friend told me that I should try splashing for some blue as well. I didn't take the idea seriously until I did a gatherer search for the Blue Humans in Standard and realized that both this guy and his transformed mode are both Humans.
Humans here I come! Now just to try to stuff in enough sorceries and instants to ensure this guy transforms without ruining the aggro of the rest of the deck...
pedrodyl
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
damn this is seeing legacy play
bobhenry25
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just won a release draft with these on MTGO
These won all of my games. Great Card 5/5
Villainous1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'll take four.
Shadoflaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I pulled a bunch of these at first, but thought nothing of it and ran to build a counter-werewolves deck. Then I learned countering doesn't prevent casting. AAAAGH I NEED THESE SO BADLY
stille_nacht
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
dunno, i just get the feeling that something that is essentially a wild nacatl in the right deck for blue is kinda.... wrong :/
Tempo Tresh is now running rings around everything else in Legacy D:
leomistico
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@DarthParallax: What are you talking about? Counter-burn is a very viable strategy, and one of my favourite even from my early days as a player!
For me, this is the most interesting card from Innistrad. I started to salivate in the very first moment that I saw this card, and I haven't stopped yet... I need to own a playset as soon as possible! In a deck filled with instants and sorceries, a good, evasive, inespensive creature is one of the best thing to run. It delivers some serious amount of damage, that make the work of your bun a lot easier, while you protect yourself with counterspells... Moreover, is a nice 1CMC drop, in that rarely you have something to do the first turn, if you start first, and you may save your Ponder for a couple of turn after. Or play Ponder first turn, putting an instant/sorcery third from the top, then the following turn play this and the following upkeep you transform the Delver...
It's just perfect!
5/5
igniteice
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
God this creature is horrifying to play against. Usually end up just getting hit for a ton of damage. Early flyers just don't exist compared to when this can come out. A 3/2 attacking you when you have 1 land is frightening.
AngusMcSillyWilly
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This guy oozes flavor. Look at him looking at that mantis he's about to turn into.
Also, greatest blue one drop in standard.
Tobinator
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
man, the second I saw these on the visuals I was like 'these are gonna be a house in my U/W standard' so I instantly traded for 4 foil ones, now those previously 50c foils are at $8! :S
j_mindfingerpainter
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The reason Ratchet Bomb was printed as {2} was so blue players who run this wouldn't get depression.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Holycrap FogRaider! Red Deck Wins SPLASHING BLUE?! that is...truly terrifiying. Mana Leaks and Lightning Bolts should not be in the same deck. :O
EDIT: >.> Well, now it appears to be Blue Deck Burns Splashing Red for Gut Shot, which doesn't even count. WTF Innistrad. WTF.
This card is getting a cautious 3/5 from me, and that will drop to 0/5 if Wizards somehow uses this as a precedent for more blue creatures like this. Some cards deserve bad marks for breaking the color pie. This is one of them.
badmalloc
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
What started as "maybe playable" has become a staple in virtually all formats. Teams up with Snapcaster Mage and Geist of Saint Traft in standard. Throw in Tarmogoyf for modern. In Pauper it pairs with faeries, and ninjas. Vintage even, goes with Gush. http://bopmtg.net/blog/dominator-of-formats
I am so glad they also printed tragicslip or these guy's would tear apart by black control they make blue aggro viable
BLKND
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
So everyone plays Delver like this: Turn 1 Delver, Turn 2 Flip and attack for 3. When I play delver its - Turn 1 Delver, turn 2 Land, Turn 3 Land, Turn 4 Creature, Turn 5 dead. Talk about luck (or Ponder - but even without ponder this human is an insect on turn two when I'm facing one).
sincarnation
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I really wish this card was never printed, and I have NEVER felt that way about any other card.
KokoshoForPresident
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He combined himself with that bug he's holding. . .
Mike-C
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Delver is WRECKING in Worlds.. Just sick nasty!
CthulhuCult
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
This is so getting banned.
VladdyD
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
ESCAPES THE BAN HAMMER!
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
What were they thinking???
Kragash
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(6 votes)
Bob: "Let's make a usually uncounterable 1-drop that can transform into a 3/2."
Jim: "Yeah, yeah, that's good. Also let's give the 3/2 some evasion... like, say, FLYING!"
Bob: "Yes! Amazing! What else can we add to this little guy?"
Jim: "Hmm... make it blue. That way it's in a color that has tons of instants and sorceries... and a color that has tons of scrying and counterspells so that this sucker can transform and attack on T2 and anything that tries to remove it is countered. BOOYAH!"
KnexWiz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
i could see why they wouldn't ban this, think about it, in three months we loose ponder, mana leak, vapor snag, and all of those phyrexian mana cards. those are what made delver work, shure we still have snapcaster mage, runechanter's pike, Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker but guess what? all of them (including delver) need instants and sorceries and that is what we'll be loosing when SoM and M12 rotate. once rotation happens we won't be complaining about it not being banned, we'll be beging for beter spells in RtR to make delver good again (wich i honestly hope doesn't happen)
Todris052
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(6 votes)
I don't see what's all the hype for this, realy. It's a good card, but not THAT good. Anyway, a new M13 card called Jace's Phantasm is gonna blow this outta the water.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(8 votes)
These decks blow, stop whining over this card.
Anomica
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Combos with island!
Ligerman30
★☆☆☆☆ (1.1/5.0)(5 votes)
This card is so broken, and so pushed. Why common? WHY? This would be a bad idea even at uncommon. How is Vexing Devil rare, and this is common? They are nearly at the same power level.
Nyan
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Why common? Because power level shouldn't be about rarity.
How is Vexing Devil rare, and this is common? They are nearly at the same power level. No, they are miles apart. 1st turn Vexing devil does at most 4 damage. 1st turn delver can get really nasty.
However, I don't like this card. It's powerful, cheap and efficient. 5/5 It has a lot of flavor. 5/5 However I feel that it mocks at the color pie.
Lord_Padriac
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Doesn't really matter what kind of blue you're running. EVERY deck needs creatures to PMD against early creatures even if creatures are not the main kill mechanism of the deck. Later on maybe there's other ways to deal with creatures but early on a 1 drop that becomes a 3/2 flier for free? Every deck running mono blue should have four of these and every deck running blue/whatever should think about running four of these. Even in mill and control decks this is a beautiful back up win plan and an absolutely beastly surprise in G/U with Rancor and Overrun.
ParishInquisitor
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Highly efficient one drop. Seriously, a 3/2 flier turn two? For {U}? That's just crazy. Slap a Runechanter's Pike on it and go to town.
@Lord_Padriac "Every deck running mono blue should have four of these and every deck running blue/whatever should think about running four of these."
Isn't that a pretty decent sign of a broken card, when inclusion becomes practically required? Why is this guy common...
ndrew68
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I do not like this card. It is far too powerful for a blue one drop. However, I think (want to think) the potency of Delver decks will go down when Ponder and Vapor Snag rotate out. Although Delver will still have Talrand, Sky summoner and other goodies, the loss of consistency Im personally hoping will cripple Delver decks
LordRandomness
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Flippin' delvers...
vrath57
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Great card. It runs ridiculously in my red/blue Talrand aggro.
I, however was playing against a U/R Delver deck with a W/B Humans and Vampires. I knew what my opponent was running, so I threw in a few more spot removals (so I basically trolled him into submission.)
Turn 1: (Him) Island, Delver of Secrets Turn 1: (Me) Swamp, Human Frailty at Delver Turn 2: (Him) Mountain, Delver of Secrets, Vexing Devil (I take 4 instead of letting it stay) Turn 2: (Me) Swamp, Geth's Verdict at him Turn 3: (Him) Miracles into Thunderous Wrath (I take 5), Island, Delver of Secrets Turn 3: (Me) Plains, Oblivion Ring at Delver
Basically I went on to play a Curse of Exhaustion, two Thraben Doomsayers, a Falkenrath Torturer, an Exquisite Blood, and finally Sorin, Lord of Innistrad to finish my coup.
My point? Delver can be beaten, it just is a pain to try to. He got me down to 11 without any swinging Delvers on turn 3. I find that slightly perturbing, but that's just how it works with Delver. Got a nice Blue deck? Throw in Delver, and it is even better. You don't even need to make a deck around him.
Lord_of_Gelectrodes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Too strong, get out.
TheDementiaBat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
RIP DELVER OF SECRETS
Ponder will always love you.
October 5th 2012
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Vrath57: So you used 3 removal (2 of which cost more than Delver) to get rid of it? And that's your argument that it's easy to deal with? You would have had no removal to deal with anything else pretty soon.
If not for Thragtusk, this would have been without a doubt the worst mistake the dev team has made in recent history. A 3/2 flier for 1? Yes, it's conditional, but it's up often enough that on turn 2 you're beating with a way-above-curve evasive creature. A 2/x non-evasive creature on turn 1 - that's fine. Even if it's something annoyingly difficult to try and get rid of permanently, like Gravecrawler. But a 3/2 that can't even be traded with by the majority of non-OP one drops due to its evasive? Yeah... no.
For the record, every single TWO power flying creature for 1 mana has a pretty decent drawback. The least of all being Oona's Gatewarden (defender, so it's pretty much designed to just trade with an attacker), and War Falcon (needs a knight or soldier to be able to attack). So a - yes, admittedly conditional - 3/2 flier has no drawback, yet all the other 2/1 fliers have quite decent drawbacks. Did they not notice this when they concocted this insanity?
Iam_IronMan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dis mah boi Jeff Goldblum.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Blue's best one-drop most of the time; and the game's best one-drop fairly often! It's not often you run into 1-drops that have entire deck archtypes built after *them*
The thing is; you don't have to with this guy. Brainstorm and Halimar Depths are enough to set both him and Augur of Bolas up reliably to generate card advantage and protect yourself/trade with the best 1-2 drops in the *game.*
This is probably the most aggressive creature in the game, especially at {1}; sit him next to Serendib Efreet and you have impressive power going downrange very early on.
lilwolf2005
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In response to his upkeep trigger, cast Brainstorm and set up your library so he flips.
SidewinderX7
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best flavor text ever.
Zeritanos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I once had a game against this in a U/G deck. Opponent dropped it turn 1, revealed Titanic Growth and swung for 7 in the air. Nothing I could do about it.
EGarrett01
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Why does blue have a common 1-drop 3/2 flyer again?
DmitryM
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Blue magic is reactive, calculated, and methodical. Its strength lies in patience and intelligence. Blue mages work behind the scenes, scheming and stealing secrets. They control their environments completely before making a move. Blue spells and abilities focus on prediction and illusion. Blue is also the color of technology and artifice. At their best, blue mages are inventive and progressive. At their worst, they are manipulative and treacherous.
yeah right...
outside Standard, blue has the best of all colors. It is more aggressive than red, more defensive than white, comparable removal to black, and more mana efficient than green.
-.-
I'm Salty
hypa_dude
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's so odd to me that there has never been a discussion about banning this, yet Wild Nactl was banned for quite a while in Modern. A conditional 3/2 flier for 1 is much better than a conditional vanilla 3/3 for 1. However, the biggest practical difference is that removal or blockers that will negate delver usually just get countered/bounced by the deck that runs delver, while Wild Nactl is very easy to kill. Lately, even abrupt decay doesn't seem to be the answer, since the deck that uses this runs 4 vapor snags.
Granted, Wild Nactl, should have never been banned in the first place since green is supposed to have the best creatures (hah), but I like pointing out the fact that the powers at be clearly favor blue. Blue should never have been given this card, because of how blatantly aggressive it is for a color that is supposed to be defensive. It completely throws off the meta, the general rule that agro/zoo/weenies beats control beats midrange beats agro/zoo/weenies is no longer true, because now control has the best 1-drop in Modern. a first turn delver in the right deck is almost impossible to beat, and it's a 1-drop!
@DmitryM
I'm Salty too. Every other color in Magic has weakness, blue has almost none. The previously held truth that blue was the worst at dealing with things already on the board (removal) is now completely untrue, due to cards like vapor snag (which has a red-like burn bonus), cyclonic rift, and the dozens of other instant-speed bounce spells (which might as well be removal). Modern's meta is centered around this: you either have blue in your deck, or you have a deck that is specifically designed to work around blue.
bleedingreen925
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Innistrad is my least favorite set simply because of this card.
@JaxsonBateman - How is Thragtusk a mistake? All my green modern and EDH decks still have at least one. One of the most efficient and versatile creatures ever printed that isn't so OP that it warps eternal formats.
Comments (70)
Moonmist will be so good with this.
I could be very wrong though.
I could be very wrong though."
If Red Deck Wins finds a way to splash Blue viably, then there is.
This sort of gives them a nice win condition.
Even by himself, he looks at your next card, which is nice.
None of these beats Grave Bramble's Plants vs. Zombies reference, though.
Flavor aside, out of Illusion tribal it seems better than Phantasmal Bear. However, Illusion tribal is the kind of deck most likely to want a blue agressive 1-drop.
T2: Respond to the trigger with a Brainstorm. Good times.
These won all of my games. Great Card 5/5
Tempo Tresh is now running rings around everything else in Legacy D:
For me, this is the most interesting card from Innistrad. I started to salivate in the very first moment that I saw this card, and I haven't stopped yet... I need to own a playset as soon as possible!
In a deck filled with instants and sorceries, a good, evasive, inespensive creature is one of the best thing to run. It delivers some serious amount of damage, that make the work of your bun a lot easier, while you protect yourself with counterspells...
Moreover, is a nice 1CMC drop, in that rarely you have something to do the first turn, if you start first, and you may save your Ponder for a couple of turn after. Or play Ponder first turn, putting an instant/sorcery third from the top, then the following turn play this and the following upkeep you transform the Delver...
It's just perfect!
5/5
Also, greatest blue one drop in standard.
EDIT: >.> Well, now it appears to be Blue Deck Burns Splashing Red for Gut Shot, which doesn't even count. WTF Innistrad. WTF.
This card is getting a cautious 3/5 from me, and that will drop to 0/5 if Wizards somehow uses this as a precedent for more blue creatures like this. Some cards deserve bad marks for breaking the color pie. This is one of them.
http://bopmtg.net/blog/dominator-of-formats
4x Noxious Revival
4x Faithless Looting
2x Desperate Ravings
2x Mana Leak
4x Thunderous Wrath
4x Vexing Devil
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Temporal Mastery
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Runechanter's Pike
4x Ponder
18 Lands (dual lands and the lighthouse)
Grim Lavamancer would like to be in this deck as well but I can't see any room for him. Other options are Think Twice, Tibalt and Gitaxian Probe
Jim: "Yeah, yeah, that's good. Also let's give the 3/2 some evasion... like, say, FLYING!"
Bob: "Yes! Amazing! What else can we add to this little guy?"
Jim: "Hmm... make it blue. That way it's in a color that has tons of instants and sorceries... and a color that has tons of scrying and counterspells so that this sucker can transform and attack on T2 and anything that tries to remove it is countered. BOOYAH!"
Because power level shouldn't be about rarity.
How is Vexing Devil rare, and this is common? They are nearly at the same power level.
No, they are miles apart.
1st turn Vexing devil does at most 4 damage.
1st turn delver can get really nasty.
However, I don't like this card.
It's powerful, cheap and efficient. 5/5
It has a lot of flavor. 5/5
However I feel that it mocks at the color pie.
Isn't that a pretty decent sign of a broken card, when inclusion becomes practically required? Why is this guy common...
I, however was playing against a U/R Delver deck with a W/B Humans and Vampires. I knew what my opponent was running, so I threw in a few more spot removals (so I basically trolled him into submission.)
Turn 1: (Him)
Island, Delver of Secrets
Turn 1: (Me)
Swamp, Human Frailty at Delver
Turn 2: (Him)
Mountain, Delver of Secrets, Vexing Devil (I take 4 instead of letting it stay)
Turn 2: (Me)
Swamp, Geth's Verdict at him
Turn 3: (Him)
Miracles into Thunderous Wrath (I take 5), Island, Delver of Secrets
Turn 3: (Me)
Plains, Oblivion Ring at Delver
Basically I went on to play a Curse of Exhaustion, two Thraben Doomsayers, a Falkenrath Torturer, an Exquisite Blood, and finally Sorin, Lord of Innistrad to finish my coup.
My point? Delver can be beaten, it just is a pain to try to. He got me down to 11 without any swinging Delvers on turn 3. I find that slightly perturbing, but that's just how it works with Delver. Got a nice Blue deck? Throw in Delver, and it is even better. You don't even need to make a deck around him.
Ponder will always love you.
October 5th 2012
For the record, every single TWO power flying creature for 1 mana has a pretty decent drawback. The least of all being Oona's Gatewarden (defender, so it's pretty much designed to just trade with an attacker), and War Falcon (needs a knight or soldier to be able to attack). So a - yes, admittedly conditional - 3/2 flier has no drawback, yet all the other 2/1 fliers have quite decent drawbacks. Did they not notice this when they concocted this insanity?
The thing is; you don't have to with this guy. Brainstorm and Halimar Depths are enough to set both him and Augur of Bolas up reliably to generate card advantage and protect yourself/trade with the best 1-2 drops in the *game.*
This is probably the most aggressive creature in the game, especially at {1}; sit him next to Serendib Efreet and you have impressive power going downrange very early on.
yeah right...
outside Standard, blue has the best of all colors. It is more aggressive than red, more defensive than white, comparable removal to black, and more mana efficient than green.
-.-
I'm Salty
Granted, Wild Nactl, should have never been banned in the first place since green is supposed to have the best creatures (hah), but I like pointing out the fact that the powers at be clearly favor blue. Blue should never have been given this card, because of how blatantly aggressive it is for a color that is supposed to be defensive. It completely throws off the meta, the general rule that agro/zoo/weenies beats control beats midrange beats agro/zoo/weenies is no longer true, because now control has the best 1-drop in Modern. a first turn delver in the right deck is almost impossible to beat, and it's a 1-drop!
@DmitryM
I'm Salty too. Every other color in Magic has weakness, blue has almost none. The previously held truth that blue was the worst at dealing with things already on the board (removal) is now completely untrue, due to cards like vapor snag (which has a red-like burn bonus), cyclonic rift, and the dozens of other instant-speed bounce spells (which might as well be removal). Modern's meta is centered around this: you either have blue in your deck, or you have a deck that is specifically designed to work around blue.
@JaxsonBateman - How is Thragtusk a mistake? All my green modern and EDH decks still have at least one. One of the most efficient and versatile creatures ever printed that isn't so OP that it warps eternal formats.