Overview of the Deck
Grixis Death’s Shadow, as a deck, is quite similar to Jund Death’s Shadow(herein known as DSJ) in playstyle, and Grixis Delver in card composition. This deck was built to be played as a midrange deck (Jund style) while having an edge in the mirror. This deck, similarly to DSJ, has a fast clock that can go under some of traditional Grixis’ (Delver or Burkhart-style control) more difficult matchups, such as Tron, and is packed with many disruption spells to interact with some nasty strategies such as Ad Nauseam.
Being in Grixis colors grants access to Snapcaster Mage to outgrind the other Midrange and Control strategies while having some “immunity” to the “best removal” in the format Fatal Push. This deck plays with Delve threats fueled by Thought Scour instead of Tarmogoyf powered by some suboptimal spells like Tarfire and Mishra’s Bauble, which blanks their Abrupt Decay and Fatal Push. In a field that is ruled by Fatal Push, Delve threats invalidate removal whilst providing an efficient clock to close games quickly.
Deck contents
The deck can be built in different ways but there are certain cards that can be considered “stock”:
Individual Card Choices
Here I’ll go over some of the cards that could be on the maindeck/sideboard depending on your meta.
Liliana of the Veil – Most Grixis Shadow don’t really like this card in this deck. It’s great on DSJ but it doesn’t play well on Grixis. Our deck wants to play a slightly more reactive game which makes the +1 discard a bit awkward to play with. If your meta is infested with Slippery Bogle, or with Sphinx’s Revelation control, she can be strong. Very meta-dependent. Liliana, the Last Hope – This Liliana is way better to help our gameplan. It’s reusable removal for those pesky chump blockers like Lingering Souls or CoCo’s creatures. Painful Truths – This isn’t a win condition per se but it’s a good spell to have for those grindy matchups where you need more cards. Worth noting that it makes you lose 3 life which is a positive interaction with Death’s Shadow. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver – Ashiok is a strange card but can do a “Liliana/Jace” impression. It’s an alternative win condition in milling the opponent down while supplying you with some creatures to play with if you want to. I find it especially interesting on the mirror since you can steal their Death’s Shadows for great value. Can also be good against Esper Draw-Go control. Jace, Architect of Thought – If for some reason your meta is full of Abzan lists, Death’s Shadow or not, you might consider this to help you against the Lingering Souls. This is a great alternative win condition and source of card advantage that can help you out on the grindier matchups. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy - It’s a card advantage/selection engine that can transform into a good Planeswalker. Most players don’t enjoy it as much as LtLH because it’s more vulnerable before flipping and graveyard hate makes this card look really bad. Temur Battle Rage – This card is here to remind you that we can still “Oops I win!!!” them. I don’t like it as much on Grixis but if you want to have that combo feel, akin to Splinter Twin, you can play it on your 60/75.
Nihil Spellbomb – A onesided cycler graveyard hate piece. This is a low mana investment spell that has the downside that the opponent can somewhat play around it because they’ll know about it. Rakdos Charm – Most players prefer this one, as it’s a modal spell, which is great, because it can help us on different types of situations. It’s a really mana/color intensive spell which can be difficult to play with at times, depending on the draw. Being instant speed is superb, because it’s really difficult for your opponent to play around. It doubles as artifact hate versus the Robots that threaten your Top 8 contention, and sometimes can get in for some damage against token based strategies or infinite creature combos like Copycat. (If you happen to play against something like that these days)Surgical Extraction – A great card to remove some of the more annoying threats your opponent can bring. Phyrexian mana means you get to enhance your Death’s Shadow, but it can be cast for B when needed, adding flexibility. Snapcaster this back for even more fun. Extirpate – A budget Surgical Extraction that has the Split Second upside. I’d probably play Surgical Extraction before considering Extirpate but if you really need this type of effect and can’t get your hands on the Extractions there’s this card.
Fulminator Mage – This is probably the go-to land hate. This card will be really important for your big mana matchups. This is a recurring land hate with Kolaghan’s Command. It can attack and block as well, sometimes saving your life when needed. Molten Rain – Molten Rain, the other main land hate, has the upside of dealing two damage, which can add up in a race versus a big mana deck. When compared to Fulminator Mage, it can’t buy you time/life when you need too, since it’s not a creature. As an upside it can be recurred with Snapcaster Mage for 5 mana instead of 6 mana (Fulminator+Kommand). It’s a more color intensive spell which can be awkward at times. If you plan to play this spell make sure to fetch properly. Blood Moon - As a general rule, Grixis Shadow is not a big fan of this card in this deck. It dilutes the game plan and it’s not that backbreaking against the decks it should hit. It's good if you just want to buy some time in order to win a turn or two later.
Collective Brutality – Great sideboard tech. This card reads Anti-Burn all over. All its modes are relevant on that matchup. It’s a versatile card that can be of use in pretty much every matchup. It’s extra removal against small creatures. It’s extra turns against hyper aggro decks. It’s extra discard against spell based combo decks. Countersquall – Probably the best 2 mana counter this deck can play. The shock it does might seem irrelevant but can add up pretty fast over the course of a game, especially in conjunction with Molten Rain, should you choose to play it. Stubborn Denial – This card is already on the maindeck but you might want an extra copy or two. It’s that good when all of your threats make it insane. It’s one of the reasons to play Grixis. You cut the extra discard for the ability to not lose to their topdeck. Ceremonious Rejection – If your meta has too much tron/eldrazi decks you might want a couple of these. The extra interaction against those strategies can be very important, in order to not lose to a single Ugin. Disdainful Stroke - If you find too many expensive spells on your meta, like Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Ad Nauseam, Karn, Ugin, to name a few, you might want to consider this spell as a sideboard option. It's a really narrow solution for a really narrow problem but it's worth to keep in mind. Dispel – For some extra 1 mana interaction with spell based combo decks. You might want an extra Stubborn Denial before considering Dispel but it’s up for debate. Negate – A more slightly more less restrictive Countersquall. It’s easier to cast but on an aggressive deck such as this the two damage can be really important. Also it’s not a big deal to play UB instead of 1U.
Anger of the Gods – Great card against different go wide strategies, like Affinity, Elves, and Merfolk. The exile part plays wonderfully against the Abzan Company decks. Izzet Staticaster – Good against multiple x/1 creatures like Elves, mana dorks. Kozilek’s Return – An instant speed board wipe that can hit nasty creatures like Etched Champion. It’s also less mana intensive which can be helpful at times. No chance you can recast from the ‘yard, but honestly, we don’t care. Flaying Tendrils - It's a board wipe on black colors which is a plus since it doesn't stress our mana base. It has an exile effect akin to Anger of the Gods which might be relevant. It only deals with x/2s creatures which can be bad on the Zoo matchup. Dreadbore – If you find yourself losing too much for planeswalker on those Control matchups you might want some number of these. Damnation – If Eldrazi is big on your meta you might want some number of these. This is the only board wipe that we can play that isn’t one-sided so use it carefully. Evaluate its uses, and if you deem it’ll hurt you less than it’ll hurt them, go for it. Engineered Explosives – If tokens are big or other DSx decks are annoying you, you might consider a couple of these. Terminate – Most players play 1 or 2 in the main to not be dead against Eldrazi or Tron. You’ll definitely want a couple of these to upgrade your Fatal Pushes on post-board games. Electrolyze - This is a great card against 0/1s with the upside that it replaces itself. Similar use to Staticaster. This one is also fantastic to Snapcaster back. Electrickery – This is a similar card to Staticaster. It’s a onetime deal, though. The others should likely be considered over this, but options are always welcome.
Ancient Grudge – This is the premium artifact hate spell that works great with Thought Scour. The downside is that you’ll have to include a Breeding Pool on your maindeck to be able to play this card, or never be able to flash it back without a Snapcaster. Rakdos Charm – See graveyard hate above. Vandalblast – This card can be devastating when Overloaded but it’s probably too expensive to be considered. Kolaghan’s Command – Another copy of this powerful card might be great if you have a lot of Affinity or Tron on your meta, or find the need to grind more often
Variants
There are some players that have thought of including a white splash similarly to the DSJ deck. It grants access to Lingering Souls, a premium card at dealing with the mirror, and Ranger of Eos, a great card for the grindier matchups.
Resources
This deck can be built in different ways. Some players have experimented with incorporating Delver of Secrets on this deck making a hybrid between both decks. If you want to know more about Delver of Secrets you can check on its thread. Also both decks were discussed on that thread before the creation of this one by Lantern (Thank you Lantern!!!!), so there’s definitely some interesting posts there for you to check out. ~Grixis Delver
Since this deck is born from the philosophy of Death’s Shadow Jund you might want to check out the Death’s Shadow Jund deck for some information. ~Death's Shadow Jund Matchups and Sideboard Plans
(NOTE: these are constantly in flux, with differences in deck choices on both sides. These are estimates.) Death’s Shadow Jund
Game 1 Post-board Burn
Game 1 Post-board Bant Eldrazi
Game 1 Post-board Affinity
Game 1 Post-board Eldratron
Game 1 Post-board Abzan
Game 1 Post-board RG Valakut
Game 1 Post-board Gx Tron
Game 1 Post-board Jund
Game 1 Post-board Merfolk
Game 1 Post-board Grixis Delver
Game 1 Post-board Abzan CoCo/Evolution
Game 1 Post-board Grixis Control
Game 1 Post-board Infect
Game 1 Post-board Ad Nauseam
Game 1 Post-board Jeskai Control
Game 1 Post-board Dredge
Game 1 Post-board Revolt Zoo
Game 1 Post-board Elves
Game 1 Post-board Sun and Moon
Game 1 Post-board UR GiftStorm
Game 1 Post-board Eldrazi&Taxes
Game 1 Post-board Lantern Control
Game 1 Post-board Griselbrand Reanimator
Game 1 Post-board
Matchup Guides:
-As Matchups seem to become more ‘solved’ by the general community, we will post notes for each relevant Matchup in this section.
First of all, Wraiths help us dig to our threats, help us get into range to cast our DSs, and help us cast our delve threats more reliably on turn 2. I used to play Grixis Delver, and it's very very hard to cast an Angler on turn 2, but I'm able to do that in this deck far more reliably, and that's not even to mention how easy they make casting Tasigurs on turn 2. And the only matchups you should be siding Wraiths out for are Burn and fast aggro decks. Wraith is super important against any deck where you need to kill them quickly, like Tron or Ad Nauseam. In grindy matchups you can actually hard cast Wraiths and they serve as a passable threat on their own.
It has been long estabilished that if you play red in Modern you have to play 4 Lightning Bolt. This is no longer the case. In this deck Bolt is actually the worst card on our 60/75. With the meta as it is the right ammount of Bolts in the deck should be around 2~3. There are certain matchups where it's actually a good card thus making us not wanting to cut it. Keep in mind that most often than not you'll want to throw them at their face.
If we have to give just one reason to justify Grixis over the other variants of Death Shadow, Snapcaster would be it. It is the core and the engine of the deck. If you pair it with Kolaghan's Command you achieve a great value engine that will let you overpower many decks.
On Snapcaster, I could see running 3 if you're in an aggressive meta, but it's such an important piece to our grindy game that you'll be missing the 4th one whenever you play against Midrange or Control decks. I think 3 is the minimum, and only valid if you don't expect to run into many grindy matchups.
It is true that we don't have the amazing Tarmogoyf but we have the slightly less amazing Tasigur/Gurmag Angler to make up for it. This deck struggles a lot against decks that produce too many chump blockers. Also there are some matchups that our only route to success is to go under them so fast that they can't really do much to stop us. With that in mind Temur Battle Rage is just the card we need. In my own opinion the right ammount is 1~2 on the 75.
Also, there's the psychological warfare aspect of the card that your opponent has to deal. If they get blown up by it on G1 you'll have an easier time on G2 or G3 because they'll play more conservatively to not get blown up again.
Short answer: it's not fit for the deck, and the issue isn't being slow (although it's another downside), but because you want to have control over your life total.
Long answer: we already play lots of card which threatens to kill ourselves, and flipping a Tasigur or a Gurmag Angler is overkill. But, more importantly, you aim to never go under nine life against aggro strategies, because (otherwise) the opponent can kill you anytime with a combination of Snap + Bolt, double burn spell, or he can just go wide and make more attacking creatures than your blockers. You have to play very wise with your life total, and Dark Confidant doesn't allow that.
So what matches do we bring in Lingering Souls for? I like the idea of the white splash for Souls and Ranger but I'm finding Ozerov to be very meh in the main deck.
Hey everyone! This is my very first post on mtgsalvation. First, thank you to Lantern for starting this thread. I've been reading the posts on the grixis delver thread but never posted because it didn't feel right posting about grixis shadow there. Been playing magic since the 90's but took a long break in the 2000's. Been playing again for the last 2 years and I mostly play modern. Been jamming grixis for a while now and I recently built grixis shadow.
This deck is so much fun to pilot. Having access to blue and delve creatures makes this deck seem better than the jund version. The deck recently got 2nd at SCG Modern Classic Worchester.
@Sp3lls123: The deck you listed is actually 77 cards, you have 27 spells main deck.
Here's the first list I came up with. I feel like my mainboard is ok, although I might go -1 Push +1 either Terminate or K Command. The mana seems fine. I'm really unsure of the sideboard though:
I do like Fulminator over Stone Rain mostly for the ability to buy them back with Kommand. I'm thinking of going -1 Spellbomb and +1 either Surgical or Rakdos Charm. I think I need to drop a Collective Brutality for another counterspell, probably Countersquall. I'm also not completely sold on Kozilek's Return over Anger, but I'm still trying it out. But yeah, other than that, I don't really know what I'm doing, lol.
I'm currently working on building the primer if any of you would like to help, specially with matchup analysis/sideboard guides I'd love to have some help!!!!
I'd love to help! Very glad this is a thing now! Been done the deck for a few feels and loving it! Now to my answers on the quiz:
1) I'm on just Grixis currently.
2) I'm currently on 2 watery grave, it's the land I'm always fetching on Turn 1.
3) as of now, I'm on the set of push, 0 terminate main with 2 in the side, and I'm also on 4 bolt, because I don't have the 4th thoughtsiezedition currently, and in my meta, bolt is very good.
4) I'm currently on 3 molten rain, because of the damage, and the wallet niceness compared to fulminator.
5) I've had no problems casting anger on turn 3.
6) I love snapcaster mage, stubborn denial, and that fact that not all our threats die to fatal push.
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How I like to win games:
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
Experimenting with this deck, not sure how good Rise // Fall will work out. I'm running them in place of Liliana, The Last Hope. KCommand might be better being instant and with other modes.
Commander GUR Maelstrom Wanderer BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith RRR Feldon of the Third Path WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
I'm currently working on building the primer if any of you would like to help, specially with matchup analysis/sideboard guides I'd love to have some help!!!!
I'd love to help! Very glad this is a thing now! Been done the deck for a few feels and loving it! Now to my answers on the quiz:
Thanks man. I'd be in touch with you for some sideboard/matchup analysis then. I'll PM you about it as soon as I get around to that part. If anyone else wants to be in on this feel free to
I also love to write, so if you'd like, I can Beta the actual primer and check for spelling, grammar, and cohesion. Maybe set up a Google docs and we could work on it together?
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How I like to win games:
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
My deck for the purposes of discussion. I am a Delver of Secrets over Death's Shadow kind of guy and have been playing this deck extreme well the past month and a half.
Adding my list and quiz answers to the fray. I'm also willing to help with the primer a little bit - I can take a look at drafts and make suggestions, but I'm too busy to do anything more substantial than that.
1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?
The main advantage splashing white gives you is a better ability to grind. Lingering Souls and Ranger of Eos. But Grixis already has Snapcaster Mage, so it's hard to justify going down that route. I can imagine metagames where this is a good idea, but in a typical wide-open modern metagame I'm not interested.
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?
3) How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?
3 Terminate, 3 Push MD, 1 Terminate in the SB. 0 Bolt in the 75. Bolt doesn't kill as much as it used to, and with Shadow in the deck, Bolt + Snap + Bolt is less important as a source of pressure. I'd rather make sure my removal kills the creatures that matter: Death's Shadow, Tarmogoy, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Tasigur, etc.
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?
I prefer Fulminator mostly because getting RR is a bit of a chore in this deck, but getting BB or BR comes naturally. Absent mana concerns, I'd probably go with Molten Rain just because I have more ways to recur it than I do Fulminators. I did just get burned at an IQ for having Fulminators instead of Molten Rain vs. GR Ponza/Ramp since they pile Utopia Sprawls on top of a basic Forest typically, but that's enough of an edge case that I'm not too worried about it.
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?
I can find RR and I've had Anger in my SB before, but it was really only justified vs Dredge because getting RR early is very painful. Damnation seems too expensive for this sort of effect, though it could be good. The only place I really want a sweeper is Merfolk, where Anger is painful and sometimes awkward vs double lord and Damnation is awkward to resolve through Cursecatcher. I would like to find space for a 2nd Kozilek's Return in my SB though, but that's mostly because of Affinity.
6) What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?
We're favored vs Jund Shadow because of Snapcaster Mage, and the countermagic gives us stronger game vs a lot of degenerate decks like Ad Nauseum, Storm, GR Valakut, and even Tron. Jund sometimes just loses to turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity vs Ad Nauseum or Bogles or other degenerate nonsense, but we at least still get to interact. Plus we have some insulation vs Fatal Push because of the delve creatures. The main weaknesses relative to Jund are less closing speed, especially through chump blockers, and less ability to deal with problematic permanents. Unfortunately Temur Battle Rage doesn't work as well in Grixis because delve creatures are smaller than Goyfs, and Snapcaster instead of Traverse means that we're less likely to have a fatty to begin with.
I don't really consider the other builds to be as good as Jund or Grixis, but it's worth thinking about them.
Esper: Very similar to Grixis, but instead of K Command and Terminate you have Path and SB cards. Unfortunately, many of the best white SB cards don't work in a shadow shell, so the typical benefit of being white is very much reduced. Notably, Rest in Peace and Timely Reinforcements are not options. Path is also a nombo with Mana Leak (which I'm pretty fond of in the blue shadow shells), and once you have Snapcaster Mage to grind the exiling effect is less important in the mirror IMO. Lingering Souls is also not really what I'm looking for in this deck except for in a few specific matchups.
Abzan: Very similar to Jund, but you're grindier and less explosive. One of the biggest draws to Jund is its ability to kill the opponent fast through large goyfs (thanks Tarfire) and Temur Battle Rage / Ghor-Clan. Abzan, like Grixis, foregoes this for a grindier game plan, but one that is more susceptible to decks like GR Valakut and Tron. Lingering Souls still doesn't close fast, and unlike Snapcaster Mage, also fails to disrupt the opponent.
Sultai: The removal suite is a huge problem that I don't think this shell can overcome, but if anyone figures out a way to make Whispers of Emrakul work consistently on turn 2 here I might be interested.
7) What's your MD card you side out more often?
1 Street Wraith. It always comes out in the grindy matchups, and all 4 come out in aggro matchups.
8) What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!
In lieu of this, some comments on features of my list that aren't included in the questions above.
0 Inquisition of Kozilek, 6 counterspells (3 Stubborn Denial, 3 Mana Leak): Mana Leak serves as a great catch all in this shell that helps in a variety of matchups. Inquisition is a good card, but doesn't help much vs decks like Tron or Valakut. With shadow in the deck the clock is much faster now, so the play a threat and tempo them out plan is much more live than it was in, say, Delver shells. I've also considered Deprive in these slots, which is a bit of a pet card. Doing damage to ourselves is often good, and we function on very few lands, so it looks pretty good. But the mana requirement is harsh, especially for Snap + Deprive, since we want to have access to so much black mana.
2 Thought Scour: There are only 4 delve creatures in the deck, and there are benefits to not having as much air. Street Wraith does a lot to get that first delve creature online, plus casting Serum Visions, Thoughtseize, and generic interaction. I didn't like having so many spells that cost mana and don't impact the board or otherwise interact with my opponent. That said, I've considered shaving Street Wraith instead, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I might try cutting the last 2 Scour for 2 IoK, though I'm apprehensive about that.
SB 2 Disdainful Stroke: Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Gifts Ungiven, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Drowner in Hope, Wurmcoil Engine, Ugin, Karn, Worldbreaker, Ad Nauseum, etc. If you want more game vs. Affinity, Lantern, and Scrap Trawler combo, Ceremonious Rejection is hits a similar swath of cards.
Commander GUR Maelstrom Wanderer BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith RRR Feldon of the Third Path WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
Sorry, posted late last night and I didn't realize that I had 4 inquisition of Kozilek and not 2.
I agree that splashing for white in grixis is not the best thing. There have been many games where I scour my only Godless Shrine and having Lingering Souls in my hand. Yeah if souls were in the grave yard it would be ok because of flashback and having a abundance of black mana. I've been testing Izzet Staticaster and it's been good against token decks.
As for land destruction, I'm curious what everyone here thinks about Rain of Tears instead of Molten Rain or Fulminator Mage? Being double black seems more easier to cast and not being dead in hand when you only have 1 red source. Also being able to snap it back seems like a positive.
Is Land Destruction really that necessary in this deck? Against Tron it could be, but Eldrazi is usually too fast and Eldrazi Skyspawner ramps them too.
Also, the sweeper that seems better is Kozilek's Return since it goes nice on our mana base and it gets Etched Champion+Nexus+Master of Waves if that makes sense. Affinity seems only troublesome if they land Etched Champion and a couple of flyers.
Finaly, i agree with the White splash notion. I prefer to combat Souls than play them. They seems to be a little too slow in our deck and milling over Godless Shrine is such a blow out that i rather stay Grixis and jam some Staticasters in the SB.
PS: I can help with the primer if help is needed. Just message me or whatever the protocol is. Never done or helped with a primer before.
Question: How would you sideboard vs Bant Eldrazi?
To be honest I'm not sure with this particular build + SB. But something like:
-2 Lily, -1 Street Wraith, -2 Stubborn Denial, -1 Mana Leak
+3 Fulminator, + 1 Terminate, + 2 Disdainful Stroke, + 1 K Command
They typically have too many random mana dorks and spawn tokens for Lily to be good, K Command is necessary because of Chalice, and Fulminator is there to slow them down / keep countermagic turned on.
Is Land Destruction really that necessary in this deck? Against Tron it could be, but Eldrazi is usually too fast and Eldrazi Skyspawner ramps them too.
Also, the sweeper that seems better is Kozilek's Return since it goes nice on our mana base and it gets Etched Champion+Nexus+Master of Waves if that makes sense. Affinity seems only troublesome if they land Etched Champion and a couple of flyers.
Finaly, i agree with the White splash notion. I prefer to combat Souls than play them. They seems to be a little too slow in our deck and milling over Godless Shrine is such a blow out that i rather stay Grixis and jam some Staticasters in the SB.
PS: I can help with the primer if help is needed. Just message me or whatever the protocol is. Never done or helped with a primer before.
Eldrazi is the deck that convinced me to try having land destruction out of the board. It's not just slowing down their mana - killing Cavern of Souls will keep your counterspells turned on. But I'm not certain of this plan or anything, and if it turns out to be bad I'll probably cut the Fulminators.
Just sleeved this deck up. I've been on Jund / Abzan for a long time and have been searching for a good URx deck to play with my old Twin stuff. Wasn't a fan of Delver or Grixis Control, but I think this deck has real legs. I also figured that a playset of Scalding Tarns would be a better use of my $200 than Mishra's Baubles
Affinity isn't too big around here (maybe 2 guys out of 30-40 play it regularly), but what are some artifact hate spells you guys are running? I have thought about splashing W for Stony Silence but I've heard mixed things about doing that. In terms of my main deck, I've considered cutting to 2 Stubborn Denials but when it's good it's REALLY good.
Honestly, Affinity doesn't require hate if you're already running a good removal suite between your main and side. You just need to bring in more kill depending on the situation. Splashing white just for Stony Silence seems unnecessary just to hose one deck, when Grixis colors already provide the necessary tools to fight against Affinity. Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, Kolaghan's Command and Terminate all do a pretty good job of killing their stuff, making it quite difficult for Affinity to get a foothold.
Hey all, just an update on the primer. DaveJacinto and I are hard at work, and wrapping it up quickly. The last major thing we really need is matchup analysis. If a few people could message him or I with some insight of your own to go with ours, I'd be very thankful! Thanks y'all, it should be live this weekend, if all goes well!
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How I like to win games:
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
Legacy:
Burn
B/R Reanimator (slowly building
EDH:
Sedris Control/Reanimation
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Grixis Death’s Shadow, as a deck, is quite similar to Jund Death’s Shadow(herein known as DSJ) in playstyle, and Grixis Delver in card composition. This deck was built to be played as a midrange deck (Jund style) while having an edge in the mirror. This deck, similarly to DSJ, has a fast clock that can go under some of traditional Grixis’ (Delver or Burkhart-style control) more difficult matchups, such as Tron, and is packed with many disruption spells to interact with some nasty strategies such as Ad Nauseam.
Being in Grixis colors grants access to Snapcaster Mage to outgrind the other Midrange and Control strategies while having some “immunity” to the “best removal” in the format Fatal Push. This deck plays with Delve threats fueled by Thought Scour instead of Tarmogoyf powered by some suboptimal spells like Tarfire and Mishra’s Bauble, which blanks their Abrupt Decay and Fatal Push. In a field that is ruled by Fatal Push, Delve threats invalidate removal whilst providing an efficient clock to close games quickly.
Deck contents
The deck can be built in different ways but there are certain cards that can be considered “stock”:
Creatures - 12
4 Death’s Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
2/3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1/2 Gurmag Angler
Discard/Interaction - 16
3/4 Thoughtseize
2/4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Stubborn Denial
3/4 Fatal Push
0/1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan’s Command
2/3 Lightning Bolt
12 Cantrips
4 Street Wraith
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
0-4 Other Spells
0-1 Temur Battle Rage
0-2 Liliana, the Last Hope
0-2 Liliana of the Veil
Lands- 18/20
10/12 Fetch Lands Starting with Polluted Delta and Scalding Tarn
2 Watery Grave
1/2 Blood Crypt
1/2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Island
Sample Decklists
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Thought Scour
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Terminate
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Collective Brutality
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Terminate
4 Thought Scour
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Countersquall
2 Kozilek's Return
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Terminate
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Collective Brutality
Individual Card Choices
Here I’ll go over some of the cards that could be on the maindeck/sideboard depending on your meta.
Liliana of the Veil – Most Grixis Shadow don’t really like this card in this deck. It’s great on DSJ but it doesn’t play well on Grixis. Our deck wants to play a slightly more reactive game which makes the +1 discard a bit awkward to play with. If your meta is infested with Slippery Bogle, or with Sphinx’s Revelation control, she can be strong. Very meta-dependent.
Liliana, the Last Hope – This Liliana is way better to help our gameplan. It’s reusable removal for those pesky chump blockers like Lingering Souls or CoCo’s creatures.
Painful Truths – This isn’t a win condition per se but it’s a good spell to have for those grindy matchups where you need more cards. Worth noting that it makes you lose 3 life which is a positive interaction with Death’s Shadow.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver – Ashiok is a strange card but can do a “Liliana/Jace” impression. It’s an alternative win condition in milling the opponent down while supplying you with some creatures to play with if you want to. I find it especially interesting on the mirror since you can steal their Death’s Shadows for great value. Can also be good against Esper Draw-Go control.
Jace, Architect of Thought – If for some reason your meta is full of Abzan lists, Death’s Shadow or not, you might consider this to help you against the Lingering Souls. This is a great alternative win condition and source of card advantage that can help you out on the grindier matchups.
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy - It’s a card advantage/selection engine that can transform into a good Planeswalker. Most players don’t enjoy it as much as LtLH because it’s more vulnerable before flipping and graveyard hate makes this card look really bad.
Temur Battle Rage – This card is here to remind you that we can still “Oops I win!!!” them. I don’t like it as much on Grixis but if you want to have that combo feel, akin to Splinter Twin, you can play it on your 60/75.
Nihil Spellbomb – A onesided cycler graveyard hate piece. This is a low mana investment spell that has the downside that the opponent can somewhat play around it because they’ll know about it.
Rakdos Charm – Most players prefer this one, as it’s a modal spell, which is great, because it can help us on different types of situations. It’s a really mana/color intensive spell which can be difficult to play with at times, depending on the draw. Being instant speed is superb, because it’s really difficult for your opponent to play around. It doubles as artifact hate versus the Robots that threaten your Top 8 contention, and sometimes can get in for some damage against token based strategies or infinite creature combos like Copycat. (If you happen to play against something like that these days)Surgical Extraction – A great card to remove some of the more annoying threats your opponent can bring. Phyrexian mana means you get to enhance your Death’s Shadow, but it can be cast for B when needed, adding flexibility. Snapcaster this back for even more fun.
Extirpate – A budget Surgical Extraction that has the Split Second upside. I’d probably play Surgical Extraction before considering Extirpate but if you really need this type of effect and can’t get your hands on the Extractions there’s this card.
Fulminator Mage – This is probably the go-to land hate. This card will be really important for your big mana matchups. This is a recurring land hate with Kolaghan’s Command. It can attack and block as well, sometimes saving your life when needed.
Molten Rain – Molten Rain, the other main land hate, has the upside of dealing two damage, which can add up in a race versus a big mana deck. When compared to Fulminator Mage, it can’t buy you time/life when you need too, since it’s not a creature. As an upside it can be recurred with Snapcaster Mage for 5 mana instead of 6 mana (Fulminator+Kommand). It’s a more color intensive spell which can be awkward at times. If you plan to play this spell make sure to fetch properly.
Blood Moon - As a general rule, Grixis Shadow is not a big fan of this card in this deck. It dilutes the game plan and it’s not that backbreaking against the decks it should hit. It's good if you just want to buy some time in order to win a turn or two later.
Countersquall – Probably the best 2 mana counter this deck can play. The shock it does might seem irrelevant but can add up pretty fast over the course of a game, especially in conjunction with Molten Rain, should you choose to play it.
Stubborn Denial – This card is already on the maindeck but you might want an extra copy or two. It’s that good when all of your threats make it insane. It’s one of the reasons to play Grixis. You cut the extra discard for the ability to not lose to their topdeck.
Ceremonious Rejection – If your meta has too much tron/eldrazi decks you might want a couple of these. The extra interaction against those strategies can be very important, in order to not lose to a single Ugin.
Disdainful Stroke - If you find too many expensive spells on your meta, like Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Ad Nauseam, Karn, Ugin, to name a few, you might want to consider this spell as a sideboard option. It's a really narrow solution for a really narrow problem but it's worth to keep in mind.
Dispel – For some extra 1 mana interaction with spell based combo decks. You might want an extra Stubborn Denial before considering Dispel but it’s up for debate.
Negate – A more slightly more less restrictive Countersquall. It’s easier to cast but on an aggressive deck such as this the two damage can be really important. Also it’s not a big deal to play UB instead of 1U.
Izzet Staticaster – Good against multiple x/1 creatures like Elves, mana dorks.
Kozilek’s Return – An instant speed board wipe that can hit nasty creatures like Etched Champion. It’s also less mana intensive which can be helpful at times. No chance you can recast from the ‘yard, but honestly, we don’t care.
Flaying Tendrils - It's a board wipe on black colors which is a plus since it doesn't stress our mana base. It has an exile effect akin to Anger of the Gods which might be relevant. It only deals with x/2s creatures which can be bad on the Zoo matchup.
Dreadbore – If you find yourself losing too much for planeswalker on those Control matchups you might want some number of these.
Damnation – If Eldrazi is big on your meta you might want some number of these. This is the only board wipe that we can play that isn’t one-sided so use it carefully. Evaluate its uses, and if you deem it’ll hurt you less than it’ll hurt them, go for it.
Engineered Explosives – If tokens are big or other DSx decks are annoying you, you might consider a couple of these.
Terminate – Most players play 1 or 2 in the main to not be dead against Eldrazi or Tron. You’ll definitely want a couple of these to upgrade your Fatal Pushes on post-board games.
Electrolyze - This is a great card against 0/1s with the upside that it replaces itself. Similar use to Staticaster. This one is also fantastic to Snapcaster back.
Electrickery – This is a similar card to Staticaster. It’s a onetime deal, though. The others should likely be considered over this, but options are always welcome.
Rakdos Charm – See graveyard hate above.
Vandalblast – This card can be devastating when Overloaded but it’s probably too expensive to be considered.
Kolaghan’s Command – Another copy of this powerful card might be great if you have a lot of Affinity or Tron on your meta, or find the need to grind more often
Variants
There are some players that have thought of including a white splash similarly to the DSJ deck. It grants access to Lingering Souls, a premium card at dealing with the mirror, and Ranger of Eos, a great card for the grindier matchups.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
3 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
1 Orzhov Charm
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Vandalblast
2 Collective Brutality
1 Terminate
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Lingering Souls
1 Ranger of Eos
Resources
This deck can be built in different ways. Some players have experimented with incorporating Delver of Secrets on this deck making a hybrid between both decks. If you want to know more about Delver of Secrets you can check on its thread. Also both decks were discussed on that thread before the creation of this one by Lantern (Thank you Lantern!!!!), so there’s definitely some interesting posts there for you to check out. ~Grixis Delver
Since this deck is born from the philosophy of Death’s Shadow Jund you might want to check out the Death’s Shadow Jund deck for some information. ~Death's Shadow Jund
Matchups and Sideboard Plans
Death’s Shadow Jund
Game 1 Post-board
Burn
Game 1 Post-board
Bant Eldrazi
Game 1 Post-board
Affinity
Game 1 Post-board
Eldratron
Game 1 Post-board
Abzan
Game 1 Post-board
RG Valakut
Game 1 Post-board
Gx Tron
Game 1 Post-board
Jund
Game 1 Post-board
Merfolk
Game 1 Post-board
Grixis Delver
Game 1 Post-board
Abzan CoCo/Evolution
Game 1 Post-board
Grixis Control
Game 1 Post-board
Infect
Game 1 Post-board
Ad Nauseam
Game 1 Post-board
Jeskai Control
Game 1 Post-board
Dredge
Game 1 Post-board
Revolt Zoo
Game 1 Post-board
Elves
Game 1 Post-board
Sun and Moon
Game 1 Post-board
UR GiftStorm
Game 1 Post-board
Eldrazi&Taxes
Game 1 Post-board
Lantern Control
Game 1 Post-board
Griselbrand Reanimator
Game 1 Post-board
-As Matchups seem to become more ‘solved’ by the general community, we will post notes for each relevant Matchup in this section.
Frequently Asked Questions
Also, there's the psychological warfare aspect of the card that your opponent has to deal. If they get blown up by it on G1 you'll have an easier time on G2 or G3 because they'll play more conservatively to not get blown up again.
Created By:
DaveJacinto
Beta’d By:
Buwalda98
WUMiracles ControlUW
RUBGrixis Death's ShadowBUR
Here's my list.
4x Death's Shadow
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Gurmag Angler
Spells (25)
4x Fatal Push
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Lightning Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Stubborn Denial
4x Thought Scour
4x Thoughtseize
1x Terminate
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Stubborn Denial
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
1x Terminate
2x Molten Rain
1x Kozilek's Return
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
This deck is so much fun to pilot. Having access to blue and delve creatures makes this deck seem better than the jund version. The deck recently got 2nd at SCG Modern Classic Worchester.
Here's the first list I came up with. I feel like my mainboard is ok, although I might go -1 Push +1 either Terminate or K Command. The mana seems fine. I'm really unsure of the sideboard though:
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
Spells
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
4 Thoughtseize
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Terminate
4 Serum Visions
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Stubborn Denial
3 Collective Brutality
1 Painful Truths
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Terminate
3 Fulminator Mage
I do like Fulminator over Stone Rain mostly for the ability to buy them back with Kommand. I'm thinking of going -1 Spellbomb and +1 either Surgical or Rakdos Charm. I think I need to drop a Collective Brutality for another counterspell, probably Countersquall. I'm also not completely sold on Kozilek's Return over Anger, but I'm still trying it out. But yeah, other than that, I don't really know what I'm doing, lol.
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
I'd love to help! Very glad this is a thing now! Been done the deck for a few feels and loving it! Now to my answers on the quiz:
1) I'm on just Grixis currently.
2) I'm currently on 2 watery grave, it's the land I'm always fetching on Turn 1.
3) as of now, I'm on the set of push, 0 terminate main with 2 in the side, and I'm also on 4 bolt, because I don't have the 4th thoughtsiezedition currently, and in my meta, bolt is very good.
4) I'm currently on 3 molten rain, because of the damage, and the wallet niceness compared to fulminator.
5) I've had no problems casting anger on turn 3.
6) I love snapcaster mage, stubborn denial, and that fact that not all our threats die to fatal push.
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
Legacy:
Burn
B/R Reanimator (slowly building
EDH:
Sedris Control/Reanimation
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Flooded Strand
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Sorcery (11)
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Rise // Fall
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
3x Fatal Push
1x Kolaghan's Command
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Stubborn Denial
1x Temur Battle Rage
1x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
Creature (16)
4x Death's Shadow
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Countersquall
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Rise // Fall
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Terminate
1x Threads of Disloyalty
GURB Grixis/Jund Shadow
RBG Dredge
xUx U Ballista Tron
Commander
GUR Maelstrom Wanderer
BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius
BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth
WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
RRR Feldon of the Third Path
WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
I also love to write, so if you'd like, I can Beta the actual primer and check for spelling, grammar, and cohesion. Maybe set up a Google docs and we could work on it together?
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
Legacy:
Burn
B/R Reanimator (slowly building
EDH:
Sedris Control/Reanimation
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Instants (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Land (19)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
1 Collective Brutality
1 Fulminator Mage
My deck for the purposes of discussion. I am a Delver of Secrets over Death's Shadow kind of guy and have been playing this deck extreme well the past month and a half.
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Death's Shadow
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Serum Visions
2 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
3 Terminate
3 Fatal Push
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Kolaghan's Command
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Kozilek's Return
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Dispel
1 Terminate
2 Collective Brutality
1 Kolaghan's Command
1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?
The main advantage splashing white gives you is a better ability to grind. Lingering Souls and Ranger of Eos. But Grixis already has Snapcaster Mage, so it's hard to justify going down that route. I can imagine metagames where this is a good idea, but in a typical wide-open modern metagame I'm not interested.
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?
Both. 1 Steam Vents. 2 Watery Grave is absolutely correct though.
3) How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?
3 Terminate, 3 Push MD, 1 Terminate in the SB. 0 Bolt in the 75. Bolt doesn't kill as much as it used to, and with Shadow in the deck, Bolt + Snap + Bolt is less important as a source of pressure. I'd rather make sure my removal kills the creatures that matter: Death's Shadow, Tarmogoy, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Tasigur, etc.
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?
I prefer Fulminator mostly because getting RR is a bit of a chore in this deck, but getting BB or BR comes naturally. Absent mana concerns, I'd probably go with Molten Rain just because I have more ways to recur it than I do Fulminators. I did just get burned at an IQ for having Fulminators instead of Molten Rain vs. GR Ponza/Ramp since they pile Utopia Sprawls on top of a basic Forest typically, but that's enough of an edge case that I'm not too worried about it.
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?
I can find RR and I've had Anger in my SB before, but it was really only justified vs Dredge because getting RR early is very painful. Damnation seems too expensive for this sort of effect, though it could be good. The only place I really want a sweeper is Merfolk, where Anger is painful and sometimes awkward vs double lord and Damnation is awkward to resolve through Cursecatcher. I would like to find space for a 2nd Kozilek's Return in my SB though, but that's mostly because of Affinity.
6) What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?
We're favored vs Jund Shadow because of Snapcaster Mage, and the countermagic gives us stronger game vs a lot of degenerate decks like Ad Nauseum, Storm, GR Valakut, and even Tron. Jund sometimes just loses to turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity vs Ad Nauseum or Bogles or other degenerate nonsense, but we at least still get to interact. Plus we have some insulation vs Fatal Push because of the delve creatures. The main weaknesses relative to Jund are less closing speed, especially through chump blockers, and less ability to deal with problematic permanents. Unfortunately Temur Battle Rage doesn't work as well in Grixis because delve creatures are smaller than Goyfs, and Snapcaster instead of Traverse means that we're less likely to have a fatty to begin with.
I don't really consider the other builds to be as good as Jund or Grixis, but it's worth thinking about them.
Esper: Very similar to Grixis, but instead of K Command and Terminate you have Path and SB cards. Unfortunately, many of the best white SB cards don't work in a shadow shell, so the typical benefit of being white is very much reduced. Notably, Rest in Peace and Timely Reinforcements are not options. Path is also a nombo with Mana Leak (which I'm pretty fond of in the blue shadow shells), and once you have Snapcaster Mage to grind the exiling effect is less important in the mirror IMO. Lingering Souls is also not really what I'm looking for in this deck except for in a few specific matchups.
Abzan: Very similar to Jund, but you're grindier and less explosive. One of the biggest draws to Jund is its ability to kill the opponent fast through large goyfs (thanks Tarfire) and Temur Battle Rage / Ghor-Clan. Abzan, like Grixis, foregoes this for a grindier game plan, but one that is more susceptible to decks like GR Valakut and Tron. Lingering Souls still doesn't close fast, and unlike Snapcaster Mage, also fails to disrupt the opponent.
Sultai: The removal suite is a huge problem that I don't think this shell can overcome, but if anyone figures out a way to make Whispers of Emrakul work consistently on turn 2 here I might be interested.
7) What's your MD card you side out more often?
1 Street Wraith. It always comes out in the grindy matchups, and all 4 come out in aggro matchups.
8) What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!
In lieu of this, some comments on features of my list that aren't included in the questions above.
0 Inquisition of Kozilek, 6 counterspells (3 Stubborn Denial, 3 Mana Leak): Mana Leak serves as a great catch all in this shell that helps in a variety of matchups. Inquisition is a good card, but doesn't help much vs decks like Tron or Valakut. With shadow in the deck the clock is much faster now, so the play a threat and tempo them out plan is much more live than it was in, say, Delver shells. I've also considered Deprive in these slots, which is a bit of a pet card. Doing damage to ourselves is often good, and we function on very few lands, so it looks pretty good. But the mana requirement is harsh, especially for Snap + Deprive, since we want to have access to so much black mana.
2 Thought Scour: There are only 4 delve creatures in the deck, and there are benefits to not having as much air. Street Wraith does a lot to get that first delve creature online, plus casting Serum Visions, Thoughtseize, and generic interaction. I didn't like having so many spells that cost mana and don't impact the board or otherwise interact with my opponent. That said, I've considered shaving Street Wraith instead, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I might try cutting the last 2 Scour for 2 IoK, though I'm apprehensive about that.
SB 2 Disdainful Stroke: Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Gifts Ungiven, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Drowner in Hope, Wurmcoil Engine, Ugin, Karn, Worldbreaker, Ad Nauseum, etc. If you want more game vs. Affinity, Lantern, and Scrap Trawler combo, Ceremonious Rejection is hits a similar swath of cards.
I like your deck list and choice of cards.
Question: How would you sideboard vs Bant Eldrazi?
GURB Grixis/Jund Shadow
RBG Dredge
xUx U Ballista Tron
Commander
GUR Maelstrom Wanderer
BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius
BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth
WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
RRR Feldon of the Third Path
WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
4x Death's Shadow
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Gurmag Angler
Spells (25)
4x Fatal Push
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Lightning Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Stubborn Denial
4x Thought Scour
4x Thoughtseize
1x Terminate
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Stubborn Denial
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
1x Terminate
2x Molten Rain
1x Kozilek's Return
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Sorry, posted late last night and I didn't realize that I had 4 inquisition of Kozilek and not 2.
I agree that splashing for white in grixis is not the best thing. There have been many games where I scour my only Godless Shrine and having Lingering Souls in my hand. Yeah if souls were in the grave yard it would be ok because of flashback and having a abundance of black mana. I've been testing Izzet Staticaster and it's been good against token decks.
As for land destruction, I'm curious what everyone here thinks about Rain of Tears instead of Molten Rain or Fulminator Mage? Being double black seems more easier to cast and not being dead in hand when you only have 1 red source. Also being able to snap it back seems like a positive.
Also, the sweeper that seems better is Kozilek's Return since it goes nice on our mana base and it gets Etched Champion+Nexus+Master of Waves if that makes sense. Affinity seems only troublesome if they land Etched Champion and a couple of flyers.
Finaly, i agree with the White splash notion. I prefer to combat Souls than play them. They seems to be a little too slow in our deck and milling over Godless Shrine is such a blow out that i rather stay Grixis and jam some Staticasters in the SB.
PS: I can help with the primer if help is needed. Just message me or whatever the protocol is. Never done or helped with a primer before.
To be honest I'm not sure with this particular build + SB. But something like:
-2 Lily, -1 Street Wraith, -2 Stubborn Denial, -1 Mana Leak
+3 Fulminator, + 1 Terminate, + 2 Disdainful Stroke, + 1 K Command
They typically have too many random mana dorks and spawn tokens for Lily to be good, K Command is necessary because of Chalice, and Fulminator is there to slow them down / keep countermagic turned on.
Eldrazi is the deck that convinced me to try having land destruction out of the board. It's not just slowing down their mana - killing Cavern of Souls will keep your counterspells turned on. But I'm not certain of this plan or anything, and if it turns out to be bad I'll probably cut the Fulminators.
GUInfect UMerfolk RW Burn GRWBU Humans GWUBant Eldrazi GR RG EldraziC Serum Powder EldraziC Eldrazi TronGB GB Rock
Legacy:
GUInfect
RGLands
TCG Requiem: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4qcGbT7UN-flD9hMc8qD-g
Oren(fellow MTGS poster): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIUOGndgz_FPFuGmYabSThA
If i recall another one i¿ll edit and post it.
Here's my current list:
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Spells (25):
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Fatal Push
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Terminate
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Island
1 Swamp
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Dispel
2 Collective Brutality
Affinity isn't too big around here (maybe 2 guys out of 30-40 play it regularly), but what are some artifact hate spells you guys are running? I have thought about splashing W for Stony Silence but I've heard mixed things about doing that. In terms of my main deck, I've considered cutting to 2 Stubborn Denials but when it's good it's REALLY good.
Modern:
Death's Shadow Jund
Death's Shadow Grixis
Junk
Legacy:
Grixis Delver
Honestly, Affinity doesn't require hate if you're already running a good removal suite between your main and side. You just need to bring in more kill depending on the situation. Splashing white just for Stony Silence seems unnecessary just to hose one deck, when Grixis colors already provide the necessary tools to fight against Affinity. Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, Kolaghan's Command and Terminate all do a pretty good job of killing their stuff, making it quite difficult for Affinity to get a foothold.
Modern:
Grixis Shadow
Burn
Titanshift
Copycat (Given up currently, not entirely sure what it needs)
Legacy:
Burn
B/R Reanimator (slowly building
EDH:
Sedris Control/Reanimation