All my cards came in, except for 2x Shattering Spree. I'm running the Inspiring Vantage version of Boros, which I intended to run tomorrow. My planned sideboard was this:
3 Path to Exile
3 Wear//Tear
2 Shattering Spree
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Searing Blaze
Without the Shattering Spree, I have 2 spaces to fill until those show up. I have 2 Flames of the Bloodhand, a 3rd Deflecting Palm, a 4th Wear//Tear, a 3rd Firewalker, and Searing Bloods. What should I substitute in? I'm leaning towards a 4th Wear//Tear, and a Flames. Better against life gain and Leyline, worse against chalice. But I'm not sure.
I have just picked up Burn a few days ago and i'd like some advice since i'm learning how to play it correctly. Mostly on when to "Bolt the bird" and when not to do it.
I have heard many times "Always bolt the bird", but I have never believed in "general rules" such as this one. Imho Magic is a difficult game and you can't always simplify things like that : it's all about context and circumstances. For example, as a long time Coco player i always felt like i was punishing the Burn player if they bolted my bird but i still had a 2-drop follow-up.
What difference does it make if i am on the play or on the draw ? Does it change anything if i have a creature in my hand ? Should i play that instead ? If the Bolt is the only removal in my hand, should i still do it even though i might die to an answered Devoted Druid follow-up ? What if i'm a little bit flooded (for example i kept a 3-land 6-card hand on the draw and drew a land), wouldnt bolting the bird means i have almost no chance to have enough gas to put them at zero ?
The thing is intuitively, i have personally never understood why Burn players should "Bolt the bird". Basically you are trading one card to set them back one turn. This means you get one extra draw step. One random card from your deck seems worse than having a bolt ... So i might fundamentally misunderstand something i guess.
So for the experienced Burn players : what is your general philosophy and thought-process when deciding or not to "Bolt the bird" ?
T1 mana dork leads to T2 Kitchen Finks or T3 Coco.
It can also lead to elves snowballing on T2.
Mana dork decks have an incentive to keep 1 land hands because--well--mana dorks. I can't tell you how many games I've bolted a bird or a Llanowar Elf to watch my opponent get stuck on 1 land.
Against Noble Hierarch is sometimes the special case.
Infect: I really just need to keep them off their infect creatures, and I'm going to win the game. Infect has fallen hard since the Git probe banning, so maybe not as relevant.
Bant Eldrazi: Taking them off the Noble can hurt their color fixing early. It can also be the difference between T2/T3 TKS/Reality Smasher and T3-T4-T5 TKS/Reality smasher.
Question for the community:
(I hope I don't sound lazy here for not putting the reps in myself but I don't get much exposure to these two problematic decks at my LGS)
How are you guys fighting against Grixis Shadow and Vizier Company?
When DS was Jund that was easy. G2 side out all my dudes and just let them do all the work for me and turns 4-5-6 just hemorrhage burn spells for the win. With Grixis thats not the case. They just side out their Death's Shadows, preserve their life totals, play slow control and beat your to death with Tasigurs and "The Fish" beats. Not to mention Stuborn Denial says "no" to our/my game winning bolt to the face most of the time. I can see RIP being good in this match up against snap casters and eating up their delve fuel. All their dudes are outside of bolt range... Makes for an awkward games 2-3.
-With the old Company deck I'd just hold back a PTE for Viscera Seer and bolt their mana dorks in the process. I'm not sure how to break apart the Vizier combo? Just PTE their Dusk Watch Recruiter? Any tips?
I think there's still an argument to side out a lot of your creatures as you turn off a lot of their cards--AND collective Brutality is backbreaking if they 3 for 3 you.
That said, I don't really ever lose vs Grixis Control.
Also, if someone is taking out their death shadow--they've got 2 Anglers, 2 Tasigur and 4 Snapcasters. I normally would't advocate to bring in path vs a control based deck, but if you've only gotta get around 4 big dudes...
In theory, we're going to get their life total lower than 13. So, Death Shadow is a house late game.
Ugh... I'm really torn on the final 2 slots in my sideboard. Either:
-2x Searing Blood
-2x Kor Firewalker
-2x Stony Silence (this is really my least preferred option. I've never seen Lantern Control at a LGS and I think Searing Blood can help with Affinity along with shoring up small creature matchups)
Ugh... I'm really torn on the final 2 slots in my sideboard. Either:
-2x Searing Blood
-2x Kor Firewalker
-2x Stony Silence (this is really my least preferred option. I've never seen Lantern Control at a LGS and I think Searing Blood can help with Affinity along with shoring up small creature matchups)
Question for the community:
(I hope I don't sound lazy here for not putting the reps in myself but I don't get much exposure to these two problematic decks at my LGS)
How are you guys fighting against Grixis Shadow and Vizier Company?
When DS was Jund that was easy. G2 side out all my dudes and just let them do all the work for me and turns 4-5-6 just hemorrhage burn spells for the win. With Grixis thats not the case. They just side out their Death's Shadows, preserve their life totals, play slow control and beat your to death with Tasigurs and "The Fish" beats. Not to mention Stuborn Denial says "no" to our/my game winning bolt to the face most of the time. I can see RIP being good in this match up against snap casters and eating up their delve fuel. All their dudes are outside of bolt range... Makes for an awkward games 2-3.
-With the old Company deck I'd just hold back a PTE for Viscera Seer and bolt their mana dorks in the process. I'm not sure how to break apart the Vizier combo? Just PTE their Dusk Watch Recruiter? Any tips?
grixis shadows (or any shadows variant) absolutely do not side out their shadows. theyre likely the main way of winning other than a clean turn 2 delve threat. death's shadow plus denial is by far the way you lose to them the most
Meta is pretty wide open. I know there will be a lot of GBx midrange as it always is a presence at PPTQs at this store. Eldrazi Tron took 2 of the top 6 places this week, which is a new phenomenon there. I expect to see:
- GBx
- Eldrazi Tron
- Merfolk
- Affinity
- Hatebears
- Shadow
- Affinity
- Company decks
13 cards I'm 90% sure on for the board:
- 3x path
- 2x palm
- 4x Revelry
- 2x Bridge
- 2x Relic
So is Exquisite Firecraft not worth bringing in vs Shadow assuming they are making us discard it and we won't find it topdecking? Getting those last points past Stubborn Denial seems solid.
Question for the community:
(I hope I don't sound lazy here for not putting the reps in myself but I don't get much exposure to these two problematic decks at my LGS)
How are you guys fighting against Grixis Shadow and Vizier Company?
When DS was Jund that was easy. G2 side out all my dudes and just let them do all the work for me and turns 4-5-6 just hemorrhage burn spells for the win. With Grixis thats not the case. They just side out their Death's Shadows, preserve their life totals, play slow control and beat your to death with Tasigurs and "The Fish" beats. Not to mention Stuborn Denial says "no" to our/my game winning bolt to the face most of the time. I can see RIP being good in this match up against snap casters and eating up their delve fuel. All their dudes are outside of bolt range... Makes for an awkward games 2-3.
-With the old Company deck I'd just hold back a PTE for Viscera Seer and bolt their mana dorks in the process. I'm not sure how to break apart the Vizier combo? Just PTE their Dusk Watch Recruiter? Any tips?
I have had a lot of matches with Vizier Company it's like a 50/50 match for me. Rest in peace is your best card against them. You have to be patient and play like a control deck . That decks has the ability to end games out of nowhere because of the Infinite combos. Skullcrack stops infinite life so don't waste them, Path to exile is good for removing potential combo pieces. Anger of the gods is pretty good to. One guy I play against runs Multiple infinite combos and it's a tough match against his build. Does the build you play against Run Murderous Redcap combo? that's a tuff one Rest in peace shuts it down. Most versions don't run redcap it's mana intensive.
leyline working for me to fight grixis shadow. stop the discard and collective. snap caster has less targets. another burn player at my store uses blood moon, if he land it he win if not he lose.
Meta is pretty wide open. I know there will be a lot of GBx midrange as it always is a presence at PPTQs at this store. Eldrazi Tron took 2 of the top 6 places this week, which is a new phenomenon there. I expect to see:
- GBx
- Eldrazi Tron
- Merfolk
- Affinity
- Hatebears
- Shadow
- Affinity
- Company decks
13 cards I'm 90% sure on for the board:
- 3x path
- 2x palm
- 4x Revelry
- 2x Bridge
- 2x Relic
I would consider Smash to Smithereens as a better Sesaring blood.
Decks it will hit:
Affinity
Eldrazi Tron
Merfolk
Hatebears
You could run two of those. Or 1 and 1 RIP to hate on Goyfs/Company decks
So is Exquisite Firecraft not worth bringing in vs Shadow assuming they are making us discard it and we won't find it topdecking? Getting those last points past Stubborn Denial seems solid.
Death's shadow is a workable matchup without getting too fancy. They hit their life total pretty intensively in G1, and while they can try to be more conservative in G2--3 colors is 3 colors--fetch/shock/cry is gonna happen.
They run FOUR counterspells in the deck.
How many copies of Firecraft are we running? Meaning, will we even find it when we need it? Don't run enough and you won't find it when you need it. Or you get it stuck in your hand when you have two lands and it's clunky. It's really clunky in multiples.
They're still going to counter SOMETHING. So you're bringing in a card to get around a card--that will just go to something else.
If you see a lot of Counterspell/control decks with mana leak/remand/etc--maybe it's worth thinking moreso about Firecraft. But death shadow and it's 4 Stubborn denial--I think you just play normal burn spells.
The only one I have played against was a straight forward one looking to assemble the E.Witness + Duskwatch Recruiter + finds Ballista that killed me that way both games. I'm thinking it might just be a case where I didn't see any of my sideboard cards to realize their power and importance of aggressively mulligan-ing until I found them. So prioritize Skullcrack, RIP (which I have 2x in the board), and PTE for key combo pieces.
Fringe tech against this deck [Vizier Combo] would be Harsh Mentor as it stops them from activating Duskwatch...
Still trying to figure out how/what the best way to approach the Grixis Shadow decks. Leyline of Sanctity is a solid choice I play it in the sideboard of my Living End deck as its good against DS decks and Burn lol. But I just don't have room for it in the Burn sideboard.
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Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
I've seen lists with Leyline of Sanctity, and while it's great in the best case scenario--it's absolute garbage in the worst.
You have to get it T0 to really get any value. We play a lot of our games on 2-3 lands, meaning we'll rarely hardcast it.
The way DS targets you is Thoughtseize, IoK, and Collective Brutality. They're firing those off ASAP to avoid you casting your spells ahead of their discard spells.
So, if you don't get Leyline T0: It's useless. You may avoid a discard off of a late K command, but you're just not getting much/any value out of it most of the time.
In regards to aggressively mulligans: I would say don't. If you go down to 4-5 cards looking for your sideboard tech: You won't have enough value to get them dead. If they stick a few creatures--they can beat us to death the old fashioned way before we burn them out.
any sideboard card u get is dependent when u draw it. i know leyline is not perfect solution but it work well 4 now. if it start to not then I change. there not a great hate card 4 grixis shadow. affinity have stony. graveyard have rip. jund shadow have deflect palm if it not discarded but grixis has denial. better to try then give up or go with nothing
I've seen lists with Leyline of Sanctity, and while it's great in the best case scenario--it's absolute garbage in the worst.
You have to get it T0 to really get any value. We play a lot of our games on 2-3 lands, meaning we'll rarely hardcast it.
The way DS targets you is Thoughtseize, IoK, and Collective Brutality. They're firing those off ASAP to avoid you casting your spells ahead of their discard spells.
So, if you don't get Leyline T0: It's useless. You may avoid a discard off of a late K command, but you're just not getting much/any value out of it most of the time.
In regards to aggressively mulligans: I would say don't. If you go down to 4-5 cards looking for your sideboard tech: You won't have enough value to get them dead. If they stick a few creatures--they can beat us to death the old fashioned way before we burn them out.
any sideboard card u get is dependent when u draw it. i know leyline is not perfect solution but it work well 4 now. if it start to not then I change. there not a great hate card 4 grixis shadow. affinity have stony. graveyard have rip. jund shadow have deflect palm if it not discarded but grixis has denial. better to try then give up or go with nothing
I've seen lists with Leyline of Sanctity, and while it's great in the best case scenario--it's absolute garbage in the worst.
You have to get it T0 to really get any value. We play a lot of our games on 2-3 lands, meaning we'll rarely hardcast it.
The way DS targets you is Thoughtseize, IoK, and Collective Brutality. They're firing those off ASAP to avoid you casting your spells ahead of their discard spells.
So, if you don't get Leyline T0: It's useless. You may avoid a discard off of a late K command, but you're just not getting much/any value out of it most of the time.
In regards to aggressively mulligans: I would say don't. If you go down to 4-5 cards looking for your sideboard tech: You won't have enough value to get them dead. If they stick a few creatures--they can beat us to death the old fashioned way before we burn them out.
You just don't need a great hate card. Deflecting palm is nice.
But in terms of when you draw it: Leyline you will rarely cast it as it costs 4. And at that point: they've used all of their discard spells. But, again, no gurantee you'll ever get all 4 lands with Leyline in hand.
I don't like 3 cmc spells, 4 is no way.
Most cards in our 75: still have use as long as you draw them before youbdie.
any sideboard card u get is dependent when u draw it. i know leyline is not perfect solution but it work well 4 now. if it start to not then I change. there not a great hate card 4 grixis shadow. affinity have stony. graveyard have rip. jund shadow have deflect palm if it not discarded but grixis has denial. better to try then give up or go with nothing
I've seen lists with Leyline of Sanctity, and while it's great in the best case scenario--it's absolute garbage in the worst.
You have to get it T0 to really get any value. We play a lot of our games on 2-3 lands, meaning we'll rarely hardcast it.
The way DS targets you is Thoughtseize, IoK, and Collective Brutality. They're firing those off ASAP to avoid you casting your spells ahead of their discard spells.
So, if you don't get Leyline T0: It's useless. You may avoid a discard off of a late K command, but you're just not getting much/any value out of it most of the time.
In regards to aggressively mulligans: I would say don't. If you go down to 4-5 cards looking for your sideboard tech: You won't have enough value to get them dead. If they stick a few creatures--they can beat us to death the old fashioned way before we burn them out.
You just don't need a great hate card. Deflecting palm is nice.
But in terms of when you draw it: Leyline you will rarely cast it as it costs 4. And at that point: they've used all of their discard spells. But, again, no gurantee you'll ever get all 4 lands with Leyline in hand.
I don't like 3 cmc spells, 4 is no way.
Most cards in our 75: still have use as long as you draw them before youbdie.
Just a quick word on Leyline: bringing in a 4-of, with 1 mulligan, you're over 80% chance to have 1 in your opening hand (I haven't done this exact math in awhile, it's hypgeodist figures and can be found in relation to mtg easily)
I side 4 in living end and will always mull to 6 for it. If I don't have it after that, then I scry and continue if it's a decent hand because a 5 with leyline is barely as good as a 7 without.
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Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
Alright look folks Leyline of Sanctity is a tool/option that is better to have as a choice then not have. Since its arrival it has been in Modern and Legacy decks/sides. In Modern RW Prison and some Moon variants play it in the main. I have always believed that MTG is a combo of luck, draw and skill in which even the best players lose to bad players with bad draws there in no one wins everytime! Leyline is a card that can help in some matches and if it helps in your meta try it out. There have been players who like me depending on meta at the time rotate all sorts of sideboard options in and out of their side like all sides. Shattering Spree for a long time was replaced by many players for DRev but now with Chalice more prevalent (damn you Tron) its returning for many.
Specifically against Grixis Shadow I have also used it with success but that is when I have it in hand and yes I run 4. I understand its draw backs and live with them like RW Prison does. You might say why run 4 but we run 4 DRev or some combo of Artifact hate cards that equal 4 to 6 and may never draw them. If you need it use it. If a Burn player feels like you have a better card or tactic against Grixis Shadow please share thats why were here to learn and help each other.
Here is an article and quote for a Living End deck and Leyline is mentioned pro and con.
"Another sideboard card you rarely see in the sideboard of Living End is Leyline of Sanctity, for two reasons. First, Living End can't cast it, and second, the deck usually has a good matchup versus decks with discard spells. The difference now is that Death's Shadow is a completely different animal, and because of its existence, you see a lot of more Nihil Spellbombs—which is actually included in the same decks that pack all that discard, meaning Leyline of Sanctity will render both of these threats worthless! Playing Leylines in your sideboard has another problem because it takes up so much sideboard space, but it's less of a problem here because Burn isn't a good matchup, against which you'd want Brindle Boar, but at least Leyline of Sanctity can pull double-duty."
For years Burn was considered a Tier 2 deck in Modern and it would be great. Why,
1. There wasn't many players on board and that meant more often then not opposing players wouldn't side for it giving me an advantage game 2 and 3.
2. I didnt have to tie up side cards directed at Burn mirror matches since it was more rare then now giving me more options against other decks.
3. Being under the radar and underdog is a role I like.
4. Expectations weren't high and less pressure/stress of holding a Tier 1 status. However, being Tier 2 and challenging/beating Tier 1 decks as an underdog feels great.
Now when Eidolon arrived then Atarka's and DRev Burn was Tier 1 everywhere. So does that mean I have to worry, YES!
1. More players are on Burn so I do have to consider using side spots for it.
2. More players add more cards to side for Burn, which can make game 2 and 3 a little tougher.
3. Expectations of being Tier 1 are high and not being the underdog role puts added pressure to play at a high level (its harder to get away with mistakes).
That all being said Im happy Burn is Tier 1 because it gives/solidifies us our spot at the top and that we're not just a fringe/easy to play or beat deck. It makes games more challenging and showing Burn aint easy to pilot or beat.
So how do you win the mirror, is out racing the simple answer, is move counter move counter counter move a more viable answer, is having the better hate card the answer; but the truth is its not that simple. We have such a consistent way of wining with repeatable damage, 2 for 1 cards and easy to cast cards. There is no magic trick/move/play to win the mirror. It has to do with minimizing mistakes, capitalizing on their mistakes and luck/draw . Kor can be defeated with Skullcrack and a creature or PTE. Dragon's Claw gives a great 2 for 1 target for DRev and Smash. Leyline can be effective but with Swiftspear, Eidolon and Atarka's its not as effective as before. Helix can get Skullcracked. Playing the mirror has been even more fun and challenging then ever before.
3 others and I went into a Burn battle. It was kinda a free for all. Each player had his shares of wins and loses but not 1 of us was the clear champion. It was some of the most fun Ive ever had playing Modern (try this in Legacy and it's Burn on Steroids ).
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3 Path to Exile
3 Wear//Tear
2 Shattering Spree
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Searing Blaze
Without the Shattering Spree, I have 2 spaces to fill until those show up. I have 2 Flames of the Bloodhand, a 3rd Deflecting Palm, a 4th Wear//Tear, a 3rd Firewalker, and Searing Bloods. What should I substitute in? I'm leaning towards a 4th Wear//Tear, and a Flames. Better against life gain and Leyline, worse against chalice. But I'm not sure.
BWTokensBW
RWBurnRW
UFaeriesU
T1 mana dork leads to T2 Kitchen Finks or T3 Coco.
It can also lead to elves snowballing on T2.
Mana dork decks have an incentive to keep 1 land hands because--well--mana dorks. I can't tell you how many games I've bolted a bird or a Llanowar Elf to watch my opponent get stuck on 1 land.
Against Noble Hierarch is sometimes the special case.
Infect: I really just need to keep them off their infect creatures, and I'm going to win the game. Infect has fallen hard since the Git probe banning, so maybe not as relevant.
Bant Eldrazi: Taking them off the Noble can hurt their color fixing early. It can also be the difference between T2/T3 TKS/Reality Smasher and T3-T4-T5 TKS/Reality smasher.
I think there's still an argument to side out a lot of your creatures as you turn off a lot of their cards--AND collective Brutality is backbreaking if they 3 for 3 you.
That said, I don't really ever lose vs Grixis Control.
Also, if someone is taking out their death shadow--they've got 2 Anglers, 2 Tasigur and 4 Snapcasters. I normally would't advocate to bring in path vs a control based deck, but if you've only gotta get around 4 big dudes...
In theory, we're going to get their life total lower than 13. So, Death Shadow is a house late game.
-2x Searing Blood
-2x Kor Firewalker
-2x Stony Silence (this is really my least preferred option. I've never seen Lantern Control at a LGS and I think Searing Blood can help with Affinity along with shoring up small creature matchups)
What's your meta?
What's your other 13 cards?
grixis shadows (or any shadows variant) absolutely do not side out their shadows. theyre likely the main way of winning other than a clean turn 2 delve threat. death's shadow plus denial is by far the way you lose to them the most
Meta is pretty wide open. I know there will be a lot of GBx midrange as it always is a presence at PPTQs at this store. Eldrazi Tron took 2 of the top 6 places this week, which is a new phenomenon there. I expect to see:
- GBx
- Eldrazi Tron
- Merfolk
- Affinity
- Hatebears
- Shadow
- Affinity
- Company decks
13 cards I'm 90% sure on for the board:
- 3x path
- 2x palm
- 4x Revelry
- 2x Bridge
- 2x Relic
I would consider Smash to Smithereens as a better Sesaring blood.
Decks it will hit:
Affinity
Eldrazi Tron
Merfolk
Hatebears
You could run two of those. Or 1 and 1 RIP to hate on Goyfs/Company decks
Death's shadow is a workable matchup without getting too fancy. They hit their life total pretty intensively in G1, and while they can try to be more conservative in G2--3 colors is 3 colors--fetch/shock/cry is gonna happen.
They run FOUR counterspells in the deck.
How many copies of Firecraft are we running? Meaning, will we even find it when we need it? Don't run enough and you won't find it when you need it. Or you get it stuck in your hand when you have two lands and it's clunky. It's really clunky in multiples.
They're still going to counter SOMETHING. So you're bringing in a card to get around a card--that will just go to something else.
If you see a lot of Counterspell/control decks with mana leak/remand/etc--maybe it's worth thinking moreso about Firecraft. But death shadow and it's 4 Stubborn denial--I think you just play normal burn spells.
Fringe tech against this deck [Vizier Combo] would be Harsh Mentor as it stops them from activating Duskwatch...
Still trying to figure out how/what the best way to approach the Grixis Shadow decks. Leyline of Sanctity is a solid choice I play it in the sideboard of my Living End deck as its good against DS decks and Burn lol. But I just don't have room for it in the Burn sideboard.
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
You have to get it T0 to really get any value. We play a lot of our games on 2-3 lands, meaning we'll rarely hardcast it.
The way DS targets you is Thoughtseize, IoK, and Collective Brutality. They're firing those off ASAP to avoid you casting your spells ahead of their discard spells.
So, if you don't get Leyline T0: It's useless. You may avoid a discard off of a late K command, but you're just not getting much/any value out of it most of the time.
In regards to aggressively mulligans: I would say don't. If you go down to 4-5 cards looking for your sideboard tech: You won't have enough value to get them dead. If they stick a few creatures--they can beat us to death the old fashioned way before we burn them out.
You just don't need a great hate card. Deflecting palm is nice.
But in terms of when you draw it: Leyline you will rarely cast it as it costs 4. And at that point: they've used all of their discard spells. But, again, no gurantee you'll ever get all 4 lands with Leyline in hand.
I don't like 3 cmc spells, 4 is no way.
Most cards in our 75: still have use as long as you draw them before youbdie.
well I'm doing much better now then a few weeks ago using leyline and until I find a better option.......
how do u beat grixis shadow.....
I side 4 in living end and will always mull to 6 for it. If I don't have it after that, then I scry and continue if it's a decent hand because a 5 with leyline is barely as good as a 7 without.
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Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
Specifically against Grixis Shadow I have also used it with success but that is when I have it in hand and yes I run 4. I understand its draw backs and live with them like RW Prison does. You might say why run 4 but we run 4 DRev or some combo of Artifact hate cards that equal 4 to 6 and may never draw them. If you need it use it.
If a Burn player feels like you have a better card or tactic against Grixis Shadow please share thats why were here to learn and help each other.
Here is an article and quote for a Living End deck and Leyline is mentioned pro and con.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/a-new-living-end-with-amonkhet/
"Another sideboard card you rarely see in the sideboard of Living End is Leyline of Sanctity, for two reasons. First, Living End can't cast it, and second, the deck usually has a good matchup versus decks with discard spells. The difference now is that Death's Shadow is a completely different animal, and because of its existence, you see a lot of more Nihil Spellbombs—which is actually included in the same decks that pack all that discard, meaning Leyline of Sanctity will render both of these threats worthless! Playing Leylines in your sideboard has another problem because it takes up so much sideboard space, but it's less of a problem here because Burn isn't a good matchup, against which you'd want Brindle Boar, but at least Leyline of Sanctity can pull double-duty."
For years Burn was considered a Tier 2 deck in Modern and it would be great. Why,
1. There wasn't many players on board and that meant more often then not opposing players wouldn't side for it giving me an advantage game 2 and 3.
2. I didnt have to tie up side cards directed at Burn mirror matches since it was more rare then now giving me more options against other decks.
3. Being under the radar and underdog is a role I like.
4. Expectations weren't high and less pressure/stress of holding a Tier 1 status. However, being Tier 2 and challenging/beating Tier 1 decks as an underdog feels great.
Now when Eidolon arrived then Atarka's and DRev Burn was Tier 1 everywhere. So does that mean I have to worry, YES!
1. More players are on Burn so I do have to consider using side spots for it.
2. More players add more cards to side for Burn, which can make game 2 and 3 a little tougher.
3. Expectations of being Tier 1 are high and not being the underdog role puts added pressure to play at a high level (its harder to get away with mistakes).
That all being said Im happy Burn is Tier 1 because it gives/solidifies us our spot at the top and that we're not just a fringe/easy to play or beat deck. It makes games more challenging and showing Burn aint easy to pilot or beat.
So how do you win the mirror, is out racing the simple answer, is move counter move counter counter move a more viable answer, is having the better hate card the answer; but the truth is its not that simple. We have such a consistent way of wining with repeatable damage, 2 for 1 cards and easy to cast cards. There is no magic trick/move/play to win the mirror. It has to do with minimizing mistakes, capitalizing on their mistakes and luck/draw . Kor can be defeated with Skullcrack and a creature or PTE. Dragon's Claw gives a great 2 for 1 target for DRev and Smash. Leyline can be effective but with Swiftspear, Eidolon and Atarka's its not as effective as before. Helix can get Skullcracked. Playing the mirror has been even more fun and challenging then ever before.
3 others and I went into a Burn battle. It was kinda a free for all. Each player had his shares of wins and loses but not 1 of us was the clear champion. It was some of the most fun Ive ever had playing Modern (try this in Legacy and it's Burn on Steroids ).