Split in the finals of a small local event (3 fetchlands worth of prize) in preparation for the larger event tomorrow (which I'll be attending) with Zem's latest list... the one with Threads, Burn is surprisingly mildly popular here, while UR delver is quite played.
Yeah, I know, i'm a fanboy
R1: 4c Zoo (pretty good guy, multiple PTQ top8s)
Game 1: he gets off to a start of temple garden - hierarch. Afraid of Pod, I take 3 and bolt it. He reveals himself as something different when he goes Qasali into Smiter. I manage to stabilize the board at 8 life with a flipped Delver, a Pyro and a couple tokens, but I know he has Elspeth Knight-Errant in hand. He finds removal for delver then draws Hierarch, I fail to find any answer and die to the smiter the turn after
Sideboarding: -4 remand, - 2 mana leak, - 1 spell pierce ; +3 magma spray (thought he might also have voice, but they were good because of hierarch, t1 Nacatl, Qasalis and Lavamancers), + 2 Combust, + 2 Threads of Disloyalty
Game 2: I get off to a good start, we both flood out a bit but I recover first (yeah, not many lands, lots of thinning, dig through awesomeness) and get the win after, with me at 9, he's forced to burn one of his two bolts on a Delver of mine. He draws his 3rd bolt the turn after
Game 3: I'm afraid of Choke, so I sneak back in 2 leaks cutting 1 electrolyze and 1 probe. He gets the Hierarch-into-Smiter draw, then follows it up with a Tarmogoyf and three removal spells for my threats. I chump a 5/5 smiter with a token, then magic happens. I Threads his 'Goyf, and the rest of the game is academic
score: 2 - 1 total score: 1-0
R2: GW Hatebears
This matchup seemed a walk in the park.
Game 1: I manage not to draw too many "bad cards" (Remands and Leak) and a good dose of bolts and burst lightnings, and he never finds an answer for either my t1 Delver or my t2 Pyromancer. They spiral out of control very quickly.
Sideboarding: -4 remand, - 2 mana leak, - 1 spell pierce, -1 probe; +3 magma spray (this time he has voices for sure, plus Thalias, Hierarchs,etc), + 2 Combust, + 2 Threads of Disloyalty, +1 Electrickery (wanted to have removal for manadork at all cost, plus it has fairly many targets against his list considering he played also Dryad Militant)
Game 2: he keeps a (questionable, in this matchup) hand with multiple mana dorks but a single temple garden. I burn those out, gain infinite time to do my thing, and Dig twice through victory.
score: 2 - 0 total score: 2-0
R3: Affinity
Game 1: His hand relies on Glimmervoid for mana. I Snare his first Skirge (bye Glimmervoid), then bolt his 2nd turn plays. The game ends very fast.
Sideboarding: -4 remand, . 1 spell pierce, -1 probe; +3 magma spray , + 2 Threads of Disloyalty, +1 Shatterstorm. Keeping leaks in 'cause Choke is a trend in affinity boards here in Rome.
Game 2: He has a pretty good hand this time, on turn 3 he has a Ravager, two Nexii, a Citadel, a Memnite and a 'Thopter against my flipped delver attacking. I have a couple bolts but i'm a bit bottlenecked on red mana. I start Serum-ing and snap-Serum-ing to find either Pyro or Shatterstorm. On the 3rd bottom-bottom Serum I find the latter, and wipe his board the turn after he commits Etched and I probe to check if that suspect blue mana open were to be a Spell Pierce indeed. It wasn't
score: 2 - 0 total score: 3-0
R4: Skred Red
I might draw but decide to play to try and let my teammate sneak in.
Game 1: He has 3 Boros Reckoner, and my hand doesn't contain the card LIGHTNING BOLT. I die.
Sideborrding: -3 Spell Snare, -1 Probe ; +2 dispel, +1 negate, +1 batterskull. I feel like Combusting a Reckoner is a terrible plan and can't convince myself to do it.
Game 2: My hand is good, with pressure, Remand+snap and some lands. I land my Delver on turn 2, he (having mulled to 5) obviously goes to end-step bolt it just to get Dispel'd. The delver does a huge part of the lifting, and some Burn spells to the face end it.
Game 3: I have a hand with multiple remands, a Delver, and a Snap, so I just need to fade the dreaded turn 2 Reckoner with SSG. I hope he sided out Guides in fear of VaporSnag/Remands, and it seems so. He lands a couple Spellbombs, so I sandbag my Delver hoping he'll crack the bombs for action. Missing land drops, he does, so I can go t3 delver+remand, t4 snap-remand, then pyro+remand and he never finds (luckily for me, don't think the matchup is neither great nor good) Volcanic Fallout.
score: 2 - 1 total score: 4-0
I enter the top4 (we were 12, so the cut was a bit confusing between top8 and top4, but it was late night so top4 was preferred) as 1st seed, to face the same pilot as round 2.
Semis: GW Hatebears
Game 1: voice, into voice, into Wilt-Lief Liege, into Wilt-Lief Liege+ wildwood, into "TURN EVERYTHING SIDEWAYS A COUPLE TIMES". And I didn't have a Pyro. I succumb to his enormous forces.
Sideboarding: same as round 2.
Game 2: his draw doesn't feature any big hitter and I don't have any dead draws left in my deck. Everything is either pressure, removal or card advantage. A recipe for easy success.
Game 3: he starts with turn 1 Relic against my hand of double snaps (gahhh). We trade some blows, a Snare, a couple removal spells on both parts, and he's left with a Voice against my board of 1 Pyro token. I have the 2 Snaps in hand, but i'm afraid of one of the huge guys off the top of his deck. They don't appear, but neither does any action for me. I get out of the flood first (again!) with a Serum (top-top) into Electrolyze for his 2 Hierarch into Magma Spray for his Voice.
score: 2-0
I get my 3 fetchlands and feel happier than my last month, about Modern.
I really liked the deck's playstyle. Monastery Delver felt like some deaf aggressive deck, while this list is much more reminiscent of the pre-Cruise era Delver. Much more Aggro-Control, in the sense that lines like turn 3 Delver + Counterspell are the norm, and make me feel all fuzzy. I never felt "at home" with Monastery-Cruise lists.
Regarding Caleb's list, I've tried it a week ago. He's the most extreme aggressive list available, and quite cohesive at that: by virtue of playing ONLY on Mtgo, he skewed his matchups against random decks entirely, and it's probably not a stupid idea, but not one you can apply to RL Magic, where people still play Jund and UWR en force.
I am a bit worried about the matchup against Auras, which is pretty popular here, and the least narrow card I can think of (no Aura Barbs... ) is probably Hibernation...even though I hate devoting sideboard slots to such a HORRIBLE deck