Standard: Gruul Delirium - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Duskmourn has been out for a month now. Among the many new features that the expansion brought to Standard, one of them was the inclusion of the Delirium mechanic back in the competitive format, last seen in Shadows Over Innistrad.

Since then, the ability has not achieved the same results as when it was first released, but one archetype has started to stand out in this regard as players improve their lists - the Gruul Delirium.

In this article, I share my version of the deck, with a Sideboard guide for the main matches of the current Metagame!

I started this list with the same 75 used by the player Nictophobia to reach the Top 8 of a Standard Challenge last weekend. From there, changes were made as I felt more comfortable swapping certain parts of the deck.

The main inclusion that I haven’t seen in other lists is Urabrask’s Forge. While Say Its Name can’t fetch it from the graveyard, I'm in favor of ​​having 6-8 of each type of non-Planeswalker permanent to trigger Delirium, and the card seems like a very solid choice for an Aggro whose game plan sometimes involves avoiding the opponent’s clock to grow its own in the medium term.

Another concern I had was reducing the number of creatures too much and losing the recursive potential of Say Its Name, but it wasn’t a problem at any point and the list proved to be more consistent with the inclusion of the artifact - both in establishing a recurring clock that benefits from the triggers of Enduring Courage and Hunter’s Talent and in triggering Delirium earlier.

The sideboard will likely need some tweaking based on the results of the World Championship, and I would have liked to have more permanent cards in it like Tranquil Frillback instead of Pick Your Poison to give myself less room for error with Cache Grab and Wrenn and Realmbreaker, but this choice seems to make the deck worse in games 2 and 3, so I'm sticking with the philosophy of prioritizing mana efficiency.

It's important to note that, despite not having the explosive turns of Prowess or Convoke, Gruul Delirium is an Aggro deck. Its advantage is that it can hold the board of smaller Aggro decks more easily and accumulate value with its threats, but there is no room in this type of list for heavy drops like Overlord of the Boilerbilges because a Flame Javelin for four mana is hardly where you want to be - the priority is to maximize costs and interactions, with other options being included for their potential with the list or for adding resilience against some of the main decks in the Metagame.

Maindeck

Let's start with the reason to play Delirium: all of these cards are excellent when you have four or more types in your graveyard.

Patchwork Beastie turns into a Wild Nacatl. Add an Enduring Courage to the mix, and you have a 5/3 with Haste for one mana, and it's one Hunter's Talent away from turning into a 6/3 with Trample and Haste.

Fear of Missing Out provides hand filtering, interacts with Balustrade Wurm and its extra combat can win games if used with the right creatures. It's essentially the main card of the mechanic that's worth considering for other decks.

Balustrade Wurm improves our matchup against removal and counterspell archetypes. It's a 2-for-1 on its own and despite its high mana value, the resilience it grants us and its 5/5 body are very relevant both for games where we need to adopt a more Midrange plan and for games where we are the beatdown. Four copies may seem like overkill, but it helps us extract more value from our mill cards.

Say Its Name helps enable Delirium and serves as a way to call on some of our main creatures. Since we use it in the list, it's worth dedicating a slot to Altanak, the Thrice-Called, capable of hitting the “free win” button with Enduring Courage and Hunter’s Talent.

Cache Grab follows the same logic, but requires a high number of permanents to remain relevant. Consequently, there are some games where we remove a copy or two of it because more spells come in, and more permanents come out.

Wrenn and Realmbreaker adds the “Planeswalker” type to the mix and is a recurring self-mill effect. It's worth remembering that it turns lands into 3/3 Elementals with Hexproof, which can increase the pressure on the board in some games.

Enduring Courage adds two card types if it lands in the graveyard, and its ability is excellent for an archetype where creatures have a higher power than usual for a lower cost. It allows explosive turns and forces two-for-one trades against the opponent to deal with all its effects.

Urabrask’s Forge, as explained above, provides a recurring clock on the board and is another artifact for Delirium. Excellent in games against Midrange and Control, but is a common side out against Aggro.

Torch the Tower is our standard removal. We don’t have tokens to trigger its Bargain, but it is always possible to sacrifice an enchantment if necessary. Its insertion can be any other efficient red removal, but it is preferable to focus on things that affect creatures rather than direct damage. For example, Obliterating Bolt should be prioritized over Lightning Strike.

Our mana mix mixes the speed we expect from lands for an Aggro deck with cards that address the needs of Gruul Delirium. Fabled Passage and Commercial District put more cards in the graveyard to trigger the ability earlier, and Restless Ridgeline is another late-game body with relevant abilities.

Sideboard

Artifacts and enchantments are among the most problematic permanents for Gruul Delirium, and having effective answers that also operate as creature removal is our best bet.

Pawpatch Formation addresses so many issues in the current Metagame that it could be a maindeck card. From flying creatures like Slickshot Show-Off or Archfiend of the Dross to enchantments like Leyline Binding or Virtue of Loyalty, there's no shortage of targets for the card. The same can be said for Pick Your Poison, which also has the bonus of dealing with Artifacts.

Abrade offers efficient removal against creatures for a low cost, while also dealing with Urabrask's Forge and Ghost Vacuum.

Lithomantic Barrage is our answer to Orzhov Midrange and Azorius Oculus, and you can also use it to deal with Planeswalkers and Beza, the Bounding Spring in Token decks.

Obliterating Bolt deals with most creatures in the format and also exiles them, being useful against Unstoppable Slasher and Haughty Djinn.

Pyroclasm is our answer against tokens and Convoke. It can also be used against Prowess, but I consider it too conditional in this case.

Between Unstoppable Slasher and Azorius Oculus, the need for interaction with graveyards grew. Between Tranquil Frillback and Ghost Vacuum, we chose the artifact for its Instant-Speed ​​interaction and its lower cost.

Gruul Prowess

IN

OUT

Golgari Midrange

IN

OUT

Azorius Oculus

IN

OUT

Domain Ramp

IN

OUT

Jeskai Convoke

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!