Hi, I have very little experience piloting a GDS, but have an odd question. My deck started as U/B control which began to morph from various experiments. Essentially I ended up with 'Dimir' Death's Shadow, mainly due to not picking up any of the R/B fetches. By far the biggest obstacle in my testing was that losing out on Temur Battle Rage. In my mind GDS plays like a combo deck. I wanted to ask if a strictly 'Dimir" shell is at all worth, with the replacement of Battle Rage coming in the form of Tainted Strike. Finding a replacement to Temur Battle Rage was basically Tainted Strike or bust in terms of straight up trying to win from the one swing. This of course requires Death's Shadow to be at LEAST 9 power for the kill and of course not be chumped. Going this infect route for win con opens up Phyrexian Crusader as a choice for midrange grinding though I may just have a soft spot for that card.
On a side note, the other card I wanted to ask about was a single copy of Postmortem Lunge. Yes its a sorcery, but can facilitate in bring down life total if required. Sadly it would mostly be for recovering a DShadow that may have been lost to graveyard dumping/removal, but arguably less of a dead topdeck than Battlerage/tainted strike.
I know that running strictly 'Dimir" locks out of artifact hate + battle rage. But like I said piloting GDS is pretty foreign to me but would like to hear some thoughts on these tweak options.
Battle Rage is versatile because it lets you double your damage but also to get through blockers. Tainted Strike solves one half, and Apostle's Blessing the other, while also doubling as an anti-removal spell. Personally, I wouldn't play any of those cards.
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Liliana's Triumph will compete with those extra spot removal for that sideboard slot; or with Liliana of the Veil herself. It's not a bomb sideboard card, but it's broad enough to at least be taken into consideration. I'd bring it not only against Boggles, but the mirror match (very low chance to backfire), Rocks and UW (match-ups in which I already bring in Lilianas), Izzet Phoenix, Humans (higher variance than a conventional spot removal here), Primeval Titan decks (against those Terminate is better), and probably Burn.
Angrath's Rampage on the other hand, may have three apparently useful modes, but they're actually just two, because edicting artifacts will usually be completely useless. In this case, I find Dreadbore better.
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Instant speed edict with potential discard (obviously also at instant speed..)!
This is what you want in grindy match-ups, in which there rarely are more than one creature and a card in both players' hands (although if you control a Liliana planeswalker, you're in a good position usually). And it always works against Boggles, no matter how many Leylines they have. One or two copies will become a staple in Shadow sideboards.
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Early game you usually want to be casting spells to set up the requirements of your creatures, and Looting is a bad turn 1 play. What will you discard against an unknown opponent? Fatal Push to then find out he's playing aggro? Stubborn Denial to see he's on combo? Will you keep Thoughtseize over Inquisition of Kozilek against an unknown opponent who eventually plays Burn? I know you have to take many similar decisions with a Serum Visions scry turn 1 against an unknown opponent, but when are you forced to make these poor openings? Usually when you've had many mulligans and can't play anything better, and in those situations you don't want Looting card disadvantage. First land you fetch usually is Watery Grave, and it can't cast Looting; another argument to showcase how bad it is early game.
Faithless Looting is a card I'd never want to see in my opening hand, and the best way to prevent that from happening is playing 0. I just lose a late game card selection spell or a card I'll be happy about milling with Thought Scour (and more often than not I'll have to delve with Angler). With Shadow, cards should be evaluated by their utility in the opening hand more than with other decks, as games are short and you're often mana screwed.
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Faithless Looting is debatable, though most arguments in its favor can be summarized in "it's not that bad in the late game". Opt is pretty weak, and you can get a pretty good impression of its effect but for free combining Mishra's Bauble with fetchlands and Street Wraith; it only took me replacing Opt with Bauble to start winning with this deck.
Today I've found a guide of the deck at ChannelFireball by GP Toronto winner: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/grixis-deaths-shadow-guide-first-place-at-grand-prix-toronto/ There are only a few minor details I disagree with in the sideboard guide. I specially dislike how the deck looks against Humans post-board, yet this sideboard is thought with the idea that deck should have disappeared from the metagame. Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil are bad in that match-up, but other than Kolaghan's Command to destroy Vials, there is nothing better in that list you can put for that match-up.
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Hi, just finished my first GDS deck, have no real experience playing it outside of some testing online. Here is my sb plan for some popular decks based on other people experience and ideas. Any comments would be highly appreciated, just note in mind that I'm not going to add some expensive options (EE's, LtLH, LotV, Surgicals) to my sb anytime soon.
I'd like to make a few comments on your sideboard plans.
Against UW Control you want Dismember to kill Colonnade and Lyra. Spellbomb is bad against opponents who might even bring Rest in Peace against you, so that's an easy switch.
Against Jund, Street Wraith can become a beater late game. It is true that cycling it against them is pretty bad, but Mishra's Bauble does more or less the same and can't attack. I'm not sure about how valuable are Denials against them.
Against Phoenix, your plan doesn't fold to opponent's Surgical Extraction on their own Phoenix, yet it's harder to make it work and less effective. Dunno if random Magma Spray (to look for budget options) could be effective; probably more in other decks. I'm not sold on the idea of letting them play first; even if they need lots of cards to work, we can still race them.
I don't have enough experience with this deck against Affinities, but I have the impression you're overboarding against them. Anger of the Gods is a nonbo with Lavamancer and Staticaster, and it's the worst card of the three, and Brutality doesn't do much either.
Nihil Spellbomb isn't the card you want to bring in the mirror match. You don't want to play it early to stop a possible Gurmag Angler, you don't want to wait with it to counter a possible Snapcaster Mage, so in the end it's just a two mana draw a card. Looking at cards in your sideboard, I think Spellskite would do more work there, if it weren't because people tend to board Kolaghan's Command as a value card... Even if Liliana of the Veil is meant for the mirror match, I think it usually gets decided before it can be played, so just be selective taking mulligans, something for which I agree it's better to be on the draw.
Against Dredge you forgot to list Anger of the Gods, but I guess that's something that mid tournament you'd realize and quickly correct. I also believe Spellskite could be included against them, as it blocks all their ground beaters and can counter a Conflagrate.
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The Dredge match-up is pretty bad, but we still have our outs. Winning the roll, you can stop their turn 1 looter and gain a little advantage. I don't know if given the choice, would it be better doing it with Thoughtseize (a card that loses value quickly in the game but that can be ineffective if your opponent has more than one possible turn one play) or with Stubborn Denial (a card that will be relevant later in the game). After this, your most reliable plan is Shadow with Battle Rage.
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Grim Lavamancer is better than Anger of the Gods against tribal decks. Much better. If there is no Dredge in your metagame, playing Anger instead of Lavamancer is suboptimal. However, those pesky creatures that always come back from the graveyard (some of them with toughness 3) still exist, and this leaves you the door open for a choice.
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Against Hollow One take out Snapcaster Mage and bring it whatever you find more useful in the sideboard (Abrade being choice number 1). I don't know how necessary is graveyard hate against them (Leyline of the Void definitely seems worth bringing in if you still play it, Surgical Extraction looks less exciting). The plan against Phoenix is catching it with Surgical Extraction, have removal for Thing in the Ice and stay out of Bolt range. Against both decks, prioritize stopping their loot effects, using Stubborn Denial aggressively (hitting Manamorphose is also nice).
If you want to make room to any specific card for your metagame, just see which cards are only useful against decks you aren't used to face and cut those. If you're planning to attend larger events, I'd personally try to make some room to more artifact destruction effects in the sideboard.
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Since I took Shadow few months ago, I've tried several cantrip configurations. So far I'm pretty happy with 4 Scour, 4 Bauble and 2 Visions (and 4 Street Wraith, don't forget them). I've prioritized their utility early game over their quality; I find it odd playing with just 3 Thought Scour, though late game Bauble is a disgrace and I could understand not playing 4. This deck can't take advantage of Faithless Looting as Phoenix and other degenerate decks that play with their graveyard, and for every game that goes long and you get flooded, there'll be plenty in which you'll find Looting in your hand early and it will simply be card disadvantage. If I was playing Looting and got flooded late game, I would hold my lands instead of playing them just in case I drew it (you can also draw Street Wraith and wish you had the mana to play it). I saw in the past the reasoning that you could use Looting to discard Leyline of the Void and that kind of sideboard cards, which was very poor to begin with, and is obsolete now that Surgical Extraction is the graveyard hate card we use. Serum Visions is also slightly worse than it reads early game, as we'll likely shuffle very soon after playing it, but if you're looking for any specific play for the next turn (e.g., the second land after taking some mulligans) it digs deeper than Looting and replaces itself, and is the best cantrip you can draw late game. To me, Looting is a clear 0 of, while Serum Visions might be a 2.5.
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Whether Jace, Vryn's Prodigy or Snapcaster Mage #4 are the best card for grindy match-ups is debatable. I think that for that purpose alone, Jace is slightly better, although Snapcaster Mage is a more versatile card (hence you play 3 maindeck and 0 Jaces). However, some people in the past experimented with 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor in that slot, and that card doesn't belong in this deck.
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Grixis Shadow is probably the deck running Snapcaster Mage that less profit can get from them, basically because you play so tight on mana you rarely can give flashback to anything that costs more than one mana. Being able to split the payment of replaying expensive spells with Jace is certainly useful, and the looting is also welcome.
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Battle Rage is versatile because it lets you double your damage but also to get through blockers. Tainted Strike solves one half, and Apostle's Blessing the other, while also doubling as an anti-removal spell. Personally, I wouldn't play any of those cards.
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Angrath's Rampage on the other hand, may have three apparently useful modes, but they're actually just two, because edicting artifacts will usually be completely useless. In this case, I find Dreadbore better.
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This is what you want in grindy match-ups, in which there rarely are more than one creature and a card in both players' hands (although if you control a Liliana planeswalker, you're in a good position usually). And it always works against Boggles, no matter how many Leylines they have. One or two copies will become a staple in Shadow sideboards.
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Faithless Looting is a card I'd never want to see in my opening hand, and the best way to prevent that from happening is playing 0. I just lose a late game card selection spell or a card I'll be happy about milling with Thought Scour (and more often than not I'll have to delve with Angler). With Shadow, cards should be evaluated by their utility in the opening hand more than with other decks, as games are short and you're often mana screwed.
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Today I've found a guide of the deck at ChannelFireball by GP Toronto winner: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/grixis-deaths-shadow-guide-first-place-at-grand-prix-toronto/ There are only a few minor details I disagree with in the sideboard guide. I specially dislike how the deck looks against Humans post-board, yet this sideboard is thought with the idea that deck should have disappeared from the metagame. Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil are bad in that match-up, but other than Kolaghan's Command to destroy Vials, there is nothing better in that list you can put for that match-up.
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I'd like to make a few comments on your sideboard plans.
Against UW Control you want Dismember to kill Colonnade and Lyra. Spellbomb is bad against opponents who might even bring Rest in Peace against you, so that's an easy switch.
Against Jund, Street Wraith can become a beater late game. It is true that cycling it against them is pretty bad, but Mishra's Bauble does more or less the same and can't attack. I'm not sure about how valuable are Denials against them.
Against Phoenix, your plan doesn't fold to opponent's Surgical Extraction on their own Phoenix, yet it's harder to make it work and less effective. Dunno if random Magma Spray (to look for budget options) could be effective; probably more in other decks. I'm not sold on the idea of letting them play first; even if they need lots of cards to work, we can still race them.
I don't have enough experience with this deck against Affinities, but I have the impression you're overboarding against them. Anger of the Gods is a nonbo with Lavamancer and Staticaster, and it's the worst card of the three, and Brutality doesn't do much either.
Nihil Spellbomb isn't the card you want to bring in the mirror match. You don't want to play it early to stop a possible Gurmag Angler, you don't want to wait with it to counter a possible Snapcaster Mage, so in the end it's just a two mana draw a card. Looking at cards in your sideboard, I think Spellskite would do more work there, if it weren't because people tend to board Kolaghan's Command as a value card... Even if Liliana of the Veil is meant for the mirror match, I think it usually gets decided before it can be played, so just be selective taking mulligans, something for which I agree it's better to be on the draw.
Against Dredge you forgot to list Anger of the Gods, but I guess that's something that mid tournament you'd realize and quickly correct. I also believe Spellskite could be included against them, as it blocks all their ground beaters and can counter a Conflagrate.
Currently sleeved:
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Currently sleeved:
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Currently sleeved:
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Against Hollow One take out Snapcaster Mage and bring it whatever you find more useful in the sideboard (Abrade being choice number 1). I don't know how necessary is graveyard hate against them (Leyline of the Void definitely seems worth bringing in if you still play it, Surgical Extraction looks less exciting). The plan against Phoenix is catching it with Surgical Extraction, have removal for Thing in the Ice and stay out of Bolt range. Against both decks, prioritize stopping their loot effects, using Stubborn Denial aggressively (hitting Manamorphose is also nice).
If you want to make room to any specific card for your metagame, just see which cards are only useful against decks you aren't used to face and cut those. If you're planning to attend larger events, I'd personally try to make some room to more artifact destruction effects in the sideboard.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic