Written by Today I will go over a Solar Flare deck I have been running for the past two months with pretty good success. I have made some minor changes over the course of playing it depending on the Standard Metagame (Delver?). Lets get to the deck list, card choices, why I chose them, and future changes.
Adam's Standard Solar Flare 2012-06-17
Sideboard
As you can see, its mostly a typical list that has been showing up at tournaments with a few tweaks. A noticeable difference is Spellskites in the list which are a great multi-catch card. Infect was making a resurgence with Wild Defiance and this helps negate the spells if that enchantment isnt out. If it is, then you can block a guy for a turn and have Sun Titan get it back. For Wolf Run, Spellskite can redirect Kessig fireball ability to slow the deck down just enough to get on your feet and setup shop with Sun Titans and Phantasmal Images. Against Delver, it is a lot of help against Vapor Snag if you have a Sun Titan in play. Sun Titan can almost hands down beat a Delver deck with the right things in the yard, if not there is always Elesh Norn. Skite blocks Sworded up guys on the ground, which is relevant with Sword of War and Peace being the main Sword again in Delver. Getting through your Sun Titans and hitting you for almost half your life total can just suck.
The main deck Nihil Spellbomb is a sweet addition that Bronson Magnan told me to add for StarCityGames Tampa. He explained that at its worst, it is a constant draw spell with Sun Titan. Most of the time its way better than that as it is highly relevant against Delver and Undying guys. If you can shut off Snapcaster Mage and Moorland Haunt, you have a great chance at sticking it to the monstrosity that is Delver.
I used to play 4 Lingering Souls but cut one to play the full set of Day of Judgments. This is due the amount of creature decks running around. Lingering Souls is a great card against aggro as well but the ability to just wipe the slate clean and start over is a huge advantage a deck like this has. There were 3 Ratchet Bombs in the main but I cut one and the 4th Phantasmal Image to play the 2 Spellskites.
Mana Leaks? Thats funny...
Cavern of Souls is an All-Star for me when I draw it in the right matchup (aka Delver or anything with Mana Leak). I considered cutting a Ghost Quarter for another and I still may. All you do is name Giant or Praetor and resolve your game winning threat.
My sideboard choices have changed quite a bit since I started with the deck. Geist of Saint Traft is a little pet card I have for this deck. I bring it in against Delver and Control since I an get it back over and over with Sun Titan. I am trying out Terminus since Undying guys can be a problem. Its also for the Human Aggro decks running around or even Delver to play around Mana Leak to wipe the board if you can Miracle it off the top. The rest of the cards should be self explanatory.
As for changes I would make that I haven’t covered already, I will probably drop 1 Spellskite and add back in the third Ratchet Bomb. Its a great way to kill an early flipped Delver or tokens as well as dealing with pesky little creatures. Dead Weight is an excellent card to be able to machine gun out an army of creatures with Sun Titan or make an opposing Titan smaller and such but switching out one or both for Doom Blade/Go for the Throat to fight against Restoration Angel seems a lot more reactive. As for Gideon Jura, I feel like I can never have too many of these guys but since I am running 4 Day of Judgment I will probably keep the numbers where they are.
Hope this give some insight on what I feel is the deck to take down U/W Delver. I will try to record some MTGO videos to showcase some game play. Please leave some comments on what you might so differently with the deck.
Adam
MTGO: AdamRA4
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