A few things to note here: Magnus, Nijutsu42, Clay, and Chris all ran 5C shadow. Nijustsu ran Clay's list from two opens ago with one significant change: Breeding Pool over Stomping Ground. After playing testing this deck some, I can 100% agree with this change. Having access to an additional source of U helps your Stub lines and as well as accounts for the influx of blue cards that come in post board. This makes casting red spells a little more difficult, but all lists have been shaving down on them. Regardless, all 5C lists moving forward have adopted this change.
Lantto still has a different idea about what should be run in the main. The differences between his and Spicklemire's list are more Lilianas / removal in the SCG versions and Temur Battle Rage for Magnus. Sideboard for the former includes an extra Disdainful Stroke as well as more Traverse targets (Izzet Staticaster, Ghor-clan Rampager, Ranger of Eos), and Nihil Spellbombs / Collective Brutality / Kozileks Return for the latter. After watching Dylan Hovey play on stream, he too also agrees that you want Temur Battle Rage to cheese against cheese. With the influx of Storm, Affinity, Coco, and other go-wide decks (see Humans), this has become more mandatory than ever.
In this past weekend's Modern Challenge, Sesquialtera top 8'd with BGw Shadow. He eschews any colored cards main and ups the number of Abrupt Decays and adds more Grim Flayers for threats. His/her sideboard is the full Abzan suite, with Intrepid Hero as a sweet tech card against other large creature decks (Shadow, Tron). While I don't know if this version is what I would play, this isn't the first time I've seen 4C pop up on the Daily 5-0.
5C Shadow looks to be my weapon of choice. It's essentially Jund Shadow with Stubs to better interact with problem cards and removal. The one folly of the deck is that fetch sequencing in an 18-land deck can often leave you stranded without the fourth color.
There's also some argument to be made for Jund Shadow. Dennis Zens' list from MKM Hamburg a month ago shows that running Bolt helps against the X/3s of the format (see Baral, Chief of Compliance) and Kolaghan's Command is great against Affinity, Tron, and to help grind.
Tons of options amongst these lists, which goes to show that Traverse Shadow is very much still a strong choice in this diverse metagame.
My question is mainly how does this deck function against mana denial? A single GQ can knock you completely out of Blue mana, and afaik there isn't any real way to defend against it. Eldrazi, Tron, Bears, Junk etc. all play GQ, and this list hinges pretty heavily on counterspells.
Does anyone have input on how to SB with this deck?
This list runs 3 MD Stubborn Denials, meaning it's metagamed vs uninteractive decks. Spicklemore probably expected a lot of Storm, Ad Nauseam, and Scapeshift. Against all of the decks you've mentioned (besides Tron Tron), it's safe to assume you can board out the Stubs in favor of cards that will aid that particular matchup, therefore lowering your reliance on U, and your vulnerability to GQ. That said, you've also listed some pretty difficult matchups, and GQ is at a premium when it comes to keeping this deck down.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/802670#paper (Chris Andersen - SCG Cincinnati Open - Top 32) same list
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/802665#paper (Clay Spicklemire - SCG Cincinnati Open - Top 32) same list
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/796800#paper (Magnus Lantto - MTGO Daily - 5-0)
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/784425#paper (Ninjutsu42 - MTGO Daily - 5-0)
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/802215#paper (Sesquialtera - MTGO Challence - 6-1)
A few things to note here: Magnus, Nijutsu42, Clay, and Chris all ran 5C shadow. Nijustsu ran Clay's list from two opens ago with one significant change: Breeding Pool over Stomping Ground. After playing testing this deck some, I can 100% agree with this change. Having access to an additional source of U helps your Stub lines and as well as accounts for the influx of blue cards that come in post board. This makes casting red spells a little more difficult, but all lists have been shaving down on them. Regardless, all 5C lists moving forward have adopted this change.
Lantto still has a different idea about what should be run in the main. The differences between his and Spicklemire's list are more Lilianas / removal in the SCG versions and Temur Battle Rage for Magnus. Sideboard for the former includes an extra Disdainful Stroke as well as more Traverse targets (Izzet Staticaster, Ghor-clan Rampager, Ranger of Eos), and Nihil Spellbombs / Collective Brutality / Kozileks Return for the latter. After watching Dylan Hovey play on stream, he too also agrees that you want Temur Battle Rage to cheese against cheese. With the influx of Storm, Affinity, Coco, and other go-wide decks (see Humans), this has become more mandatory than ever.
In this past weekend's Modern Challenge, Sesquialtera top 8'd with BGw Shadow. He eschews any colored cards main and ups the number of Abrupt Decays and adds more Grim Flayers for threats. His/her sideboard is the full Abzan suite, with Intrepid Hero as a sweet tech card against other large creature decks (Shadow, Tron). While I don't know if this version is what I would play, this isn't the first time I've seen 4C pop up on the Daily 5-0.
5C Shadow looks to be my weapon of choice. It's essentially Jund Shadow with Stubs to better interact with problem cards and removal. The one folly of the deck is that fetch sequencing in an 18-land deck can often leave you stranded without the fourth color.
There's also some argument to be made for Jund Shadow. Dennis Zens' list from MKM Hamburg a month ago shows that running Bolt helps against the X/3s of the format (see Baral, Chief of Compliance) and Kolaghan's Command is great against Affinity, Tron, and to help grind.
Tons of options amongst these lists, which goes to show that Traverse Shadow is very much still a strong choice in this diverse metagame.
Thoughts?
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain
This list runs 3 MD Stubborn Denials, meaning it's metagamed vs uninteractive decks. Spicklemore probably expected a lot of Storm, Ad Nauseam, and Scapeshift. Against all of the decks you've mentioned (besides Tron Tron), it's safe to assume you can board out the Stubs in favor of cards that will aid that particular matchup, therefore lowering your reliance on U, and your vulnerability to GQ. That said, you've also listed some pretty difficult matchups, and GQ is at a premium when it comes to keeping this deck down.
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain