So, how important do you think Surgical Extraction is in an open metagame like the GP?
I'm so conflicted in playing them. I don't have them in my SB right now, but i know my Storm,Nauseam,Dredge matchup should be worse by a margin(and the incidental Reanimator nonsense). I cutted them because i never found good use in them, opposite to decks like Grixis Control or UW where you actually NEED them to beat combo since you don't put pressure in their hands/battlefield whatsoever.
Long time lurker after real world stuff got in the way of playing. For the list couple of years I moved away from modern grixis delver and focused on legacy because the format doesn't need as much focus spent on it. I've got a GP in a couple of weeks or so and looking art the format this feels like the safest choice in deck to use with my experience without having to drastically learn a new deck.
I've been running a fairly stock main to get some reps in. I always find it easier to jam a bunch of games with a deck before making any changes. the main deck I've been working with is this:
Overall I'm happy with the deck. I am thinking of a couple of changes though that I could do with getting some other opinions on.
Oddly I feel like in the mid to late game I'm drawing lands when I want more business. I'm thinking of trimming a blood crypt for a sleight of hand (or a better cantrip if there is one). It's this being too greedy? Does anyone already have experience with doing this?
Because of this change I think I may run into some issues with casting terminate as easily as I want to. I'm thinking of swapping these over to dismember. I realise this is being more restrictive on what I can remove, but it should be easier to cast in general. Am I going to be putting myself at a disadvantage for no significant reason by doing this? Primeval titan decks should be worse I'm guessing and wurmcoil isn't going to be easy to remove. Anything else I'm missing?
The Terminate thing came up for my friend the other day. He mentioned how he wished he had a way to deal with Tasigur when he never drew the red sources and I suggested Dismember. Things are not going great for you if a Wurmcoil lands, and even if you have a Terminate you still have to deal with those tokens it leaves behind so I don't it makes that much of a difference. If Prime Time lands then there's a good chance you're dead, however Terminate can buy you some time if the rest of their hand is blank (or just lands, then it will take them a few turns to slowly kill you). The actual downside to dismember lies with the late game when your life might be very low and you have to cast it for 3 mana opposed to 2. I like having a balance and running either a Terminate or Dreadbore in the side if you need more creature removal.
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Modern URBSome variant of Death's Shadow URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version) JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / Infect
Dismember adds more flexibility to the deck than a 3rd Terminate, but it's often worse than the 1st and 2nd Terminate.
Against fast aggro decks, Dismember tends to be as awkward as Thoughtseize, whereas Terminate is usually a good card to have. It is also noteworthy that Dismember can't reliably kill Death's Shadow, or any creature in Affinity when Arcbound Ravager is around. The inability to kill Primeval Titan doesn't matter that much, because once it has hit the table, we are probably losing the game anyway. But a 1/1 Wurmcoil Engine is still a formidable blocker. On the plus side, Dismember can kill Rhonas the Indomitable and (attacking) Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
From my experience, Dismember mostly competes with the 3rd Stubborn Denial or the single Lightning Bolt for the flex slot. In a metagame with lots of Eldrazi Tron, it might be good enough to replace the 4th Fatal Push. But Terminate is one of the top 3 creature removal spells in the format, whereas Dismember mostly sees play in nonblack decks that would probably run a Terminate in their colors over it if they could. In our deck, it can double as yet another lifeloss outlet. But we mostly need additional lifeloss against decks that don't do any damage to us in the early game. But these decks are often light on creatures, so Dismember is not that helpful in that regard in practice.
Dreadbore is like a bad Terminate 90% of the time, which is still OK. But it's considerably worse than Terminate against Affinity. So I would suggest to back it up with Izzet Staticaster, perhaps Kozilek's Return, and two maindeck Terminates. I consider Dreadbore mostly a sideboard alternative to having a single Dismember maindeck in a metagame with lots of big creature decks and the occasional planeswalker.
Hey, y'all, longtime Legacy player slowly working my way back into Modern. I have a question about sideboarding with the discard package. Coming from Legacy Delver/Czech Pile/DeathBlade, discard's role in that format is often clear: typically to fight combo, sometimes Stoneforge Mystic, sometimes Stompy decks that play cards you can't beat, etc. You generally leave your Thoughtseizes in the board in Delver mirrors, for example, because it's tempo negative to play discard and is a poor topdeck. Yet Thoughtseize's role in Shadow decks is also to turn on the namesake card. It's still a bad draw late game, but the card has more utility in this archetype. How often are you leaving in your discard in fair matchups? On the play, do you leave in all six copies? I've been shaving my Inquisitions on the draw, but I don't know if this is correct (or if I should be taking out more copies in fair matchups in general). I feel playing with discard in this deck is a major leak in my game that I need to shore up, so thanks for accommodating a n00b question!
Dismember is not strictly worse than Terminate. It's actually a pet card of mine. It's fine when run in the flex spot. But my attempts to replace 1 Terminate with it have failed rather spectacularly. I also tried 2 Dismembers, 0 Terminates. It hurt.
My kill spell from the side is 2x big game hunter. Omg I love it. He amazing right now. Plus maining LotV helps as well. I only bring him in vs eldrazi mirror and prime time decks.
Street Wraith is basically a free cantrip that pushes you toward your goal. This deck wants to both hurt itself and fill the graveyard and no card is going to do a better job at both than Street Wraith. When you don't play them your Death's Shadows become significantly worse.
I approve entirely of 18 lands whether you increase the cantrip amount or not, 19 was always too much and I had plenty of success at 18. I think the correct number might actually be 17.5 but at 17 you just mulligan one too many hands.
As far as the rest goes, I don't like Deprive all that much because of its cost. You're generally not super concerned about holding up counters and would rather prefer to be more proactive. I like Liliana of the Veil a lot more in this slot because it's proactive and answers a lot of threats while putting pressure. Your split on removal strikes me as a meta call, and I'd leave that decision to you. Bolt was one of the worst performing cards for me, there just aren't a lot of creatures that Bolt kills that Fatal Push doesn't, Mirran Crusader being one of the only ones. Making a change to play Liliana can alleviate that because her -2 will remove Mirran Crusaders provided you have ways to keep the rest of their board empty, which is probably doable.
I tried a similar build with Mana Leak instead of Deprive and 2 copies of Claim // Fame. The rest of the maindeck was almost identical. The performed OK-ish and I like the idea of going wide, but I fear that Pyromancer doesn't have enough impact in the current metagame.
darksteel88, are you on MTGO or do you just play the deck in paper? You seem to be so confident in your aggressive play style with the deck. I'd love to play a match or two against you.
Adding additional threats to GDS is something that should be experimented with more. In matchups where GDS is the aggressor, having only 8 real threats is a problem.
That said, Street Wraith is not the card to cut. A huge portion of the deck improves with its addition, there's a reason why people see it as the card to remove if the deck were to become dominant.
By far, the most noticeable loss is that the original threats lose velocity. Tasigur now requires a Thought Scour to be T2'd, and Death's Shadow can only be played on T2 with fetch, fetch, Thoughtseize.
Many people will think that's it, but nearly every facet of the deck owes something to Street Wraith. With Delve threats coming down slower, and DS starting out smaller, Stubborn Denial now is less consistently Negate. Preordain goes back on the ban list when you can't draw into your scry on Serum Visions. Kolaghan's Command and sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope lose out on their hidden cantrip modes. The Turbo Xerox rule tells us the deck loses out on two virtual lands. Snapcaster takes a hit when Delve threats have less graveyard fuel. Free cantrips means more velocity, effectively increasing the virtual numbers on every card, a big advantage in sideboard games.
It's jarring to see Andrea opt for known flex slots in the seventh removal spell and third Stubborn Denial over a staple four-of in Street Wraith. Even of the slots set in stone, it's crazy to cut Wraith over sacred cows like the fourth Snapcaster or second K Command, especially when on 18 land.
There's definitely an argument for finding room for additional threats in a fifth Delve creature or Young Pyromancers, but Street Wraith is not a flex slot.
Lately I've been losing hard vs affinity explosive starts or to etched champion. I've a staticaster and also 2 anger of the gods in side, they could be 2 Kozilek's return or 1 each but then the dredge match is way worse.
So, the people with angers in SB, how do you manage affinity? Any tips or only hope is pray to be lucky?
I side out most discard, since it’s usually dead after turn 1. Side in your sweepers and artifact hate of choice. Play conservative on your life total and don’t take unnecessary damage from fetching+shocking. Make sure to only keep a hand with heavy interaction and snipe problem cards (Ravager, Signal Pest, Overseer, Master… and sometimes Vault Skirge) with your single target removal. Trade card for card until you can get ahead with K-Command, your sweeper (like Anger). Since Anger doesn’t get Etched Champion, save your Ceremonious Rejection for it if you can. A resolved Etched Champion and it’s over for you most of the time.
I’m off of Anger of the Gods. RR is rough on the mana base and the 3 damage+exile is really only great against dredge. I’d run Flaying Tendrils if you need the exile effect, since it hits Champion and exiles many problem cards against other decks and BB is much easier to hit than RR. It’s only cardinal sin is that it misses Prized Amalgam. Kozilek’s Return really is a house against that deck. It eats manlands and Etched for breakfast as long as you don’t let a Ravager hang out.
I'll be honest, you guys must be good. I found Grixis Death Shadow really hard to pilot when all these removal heavy decks cropped up.
I still make miss plays. I've just had 7 months straight playing grixis control. Putting in those hours really helped me. Be patient. Think out your lines. Always think. "If I do this. My oppent could have this?"
So I was told that the mirror is draw dependent. However, I seem to have trouble playing the mirror, I am currently playing a list that has extra removal.
There are also people posting they are 60% in the mirror, playing a near stock version of the deck, How do they do this?.
I am playing this list with extra removal (dismember main and dreadbore sb).
In general I am sb like this in the mirror. SB: -3 stubborn denial, -2 streetwraiths, + 2 nilil spellbomb, + 1 dreadbore, + 1 liliana, the last hope, + 1 kolaghan's command.
Some things I notice in the mirror.
1. Snap into serum / discard is actually quite good.
2. There are only a few removal spells in the deck for the delve creatures. Other options are blocking with a delve creature or a shadow.
3. Losing life with fetches and sw is not always necessary, the game is gonna be played out slower so you dont want to shock too aggressively.
4. land flooding / drawing the denials (only in g1) makes you have a much greater chance of losing.
5. opponents holding up cards can mean a few things (holding up bolt snap bolt, waiting for discard before playing a shadow, have all removal in hand and no threat, bluffing with lands)
I don't have much experience in the mirror, but when I played it,I cut 2 of 4 Fatal Pushes, 2 Stubborn Denials, and 2 Inquisitions for 2 Spellbombs, a surgical, two P+K, and a Dreadbore. Street Wraith actually seems like a solid threat in the mirror that you can cycle early and cast late. I wasn't sure on the Inquisitions and Stubborn Denials though. I'm interested in what more experienced pilots do in the mirror.
So I was told that the mirror is draw dependent. However, I seem to have trouble playing the mirror, I am currently playing a list that has extra removal.
There are also people posting they are 60% in the mirror, playing a near stock version of the deck, How do they do this?.
I am playing this list with extra removal (dismember main and dreadbore sb).
In general I am sb like this in the mirror. SB: -3 stubborn denial, -2 streetwraiths, + 2 nilil spellbomb, + 1 dreadbore, + 1 liliana, the last hope, + 1 kolaghan's command.
Some things I notice in the mirror.
1. Snap into serum / discard is actually quite good.
2. There are only a few removal spells in the deck for the delve creatures. Other options are blocking with a delve creature or a shadow.
3. Losing life with fetches and sw is not always necessary, the game is gonna be played out slower so you dont want to shock too aggressively.
4. land flooding / drawing the denials (only in g1) makes you have a much greater chance of losing.
5. opponents holding up cards can mean a few things (holding up bolt snap bolt, waiting for discard before playing a shadow, have all removal in hand and no threat, bluffing with lands)
Any other tips people got for playing the mirror.
The mirror often becomes a grind-fest, so your biggest bet is to eliminate dead draws. A lot of times, the game just ends up being trading resources and hitting a top deck war. Which means discard often becomes bad quickly. Stubborn Denial is one of your best cards once you've established a superior board state and Street Wraith is oddly a pretty good top deck late game. It helps break board stalls by giving you an unblockable clock.
The cards you brought in seem right, but I'd leave most of the cards you brought out, in. I'm actually a fan of trimming some Thought Scours when I don't need to play the aggressor. Your grave will fill through natural interaction and Thoughscour is just air in the deck when you're not in a rush to get Tasigur out.
Mostly, you have to play by ear. Some openers will allow you to play the beatdown, some are set up for you to play the control role.
Emma Handy has share some of break down of some cards and reason behind for the cards to be used MB and SB. She also pointed out some ratio that nowadays SB look like. Seems like a good source to be reference and put our mind together
A couple of scenarios that i've seen many players and especially pro's like LSV,Manfield,etc differ.
1) Hand: Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non-Land randoms. Which do you play first and why? On the play and on the draw(assuming you don't hit land in first draw step).
2) Hand: 2 Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non Thought Scour randoms. On the play.
3) Hand: Lands,Serum Visions,Stubborn Denial,(W and W/O Fatal push) and non-discard randoms. On the play.
I'll start with that ones. I think this helps a lot because this deck is difficult to play around not getting blown out. Common scenario is going full suicide mode and Fetch Shocking Thoughtseize on T1 on the play, to find yourself against Burn. Feels bad. The goal is to discuss T1 plays on the dark.
A couple of scenarios that i've seen many players and especially pro's like LSV,Manfield,etc differ.
1) Hand: Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non-Land randoms. Which do you play first and why? On the play and on the draw(assuming you don't hit land in first draw step).
2) Hand: 2 Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non Thought Scour randoms. On the play.
3) Hand: Lands,Serum Visions,Stubborn Denial,(W and W/O Fatal push) and non-discard randoms. On the play.
I'll start with that ones. I think this helps a lot because this deck is difficult to play around not getting blown out. Common scenario is going full suicide mode and Fetch Shocking Thoughtseize on T1 on the play, to find yourself against Burn. Feels bad. The goal is to discuss T1 plays on the dark.
It all depends on if I know what the opponent is playing, but generally:
1) In most on-the-play situations Serum Vision, especially against an unknown. Not hitting your second land on time can be pretty rough. Of course, this could change depending on what the rest of your hand is composed of. Some number of Wraiths might lead me to Seize first, with the intention of casting Serum Visions on turn 2 and using Wraith to help make sure I get my second land drop. On the draw, it all depends on what their first turn looks like and what the other "random" non-lands are. If they play a dork and I have a removal, I'll probably prioritize removing that. The rest of the "random" hand really does matter in making that decision.
2) With no second land, I'd probably Serum Visions right off the bat as well (assuming no Street Wraith again). Stealing their turn 1 with Thoughtseize seems less important than ensuring you will have your second land.
3) Same. Serum. This deck doesn't need a lot of land, but missing number 2 hurts a lot. Passing turn one with mana up for a Stub or a Push will make you feel pretty silly if your opp doesn't do anything worth interacting with on their turn 1. Especially if you Serum and miss your turn 2 land drop. You could make an argument that you have relevant interaction for anything they could play turn 1 by holding up Stubs and Push, but realistically, how many decks will you play against where a turn 1 Stubborn Denial is a game winning play? Maybe counter D&T's Vial? You're still going to be able to play Push turn 2 anyways. So, worst case scenario, you probably get punished by a Goblin Guide for holding up a Push instead of searching for your land.
A lot of these sequences would change if I knew what I was playing against, or what the "random" cards are, or if I had that second land in the opener. I think going "full suicide mode" is only correct when you need to race, your opener is clearly set up for it with a Shadow in hand, or you're playing against a deck that doesn't care a whole lot about your life-total to win. If you quickly realize you're the control deck, it's better just to play it safe on life.
I'm so conflicted in playing them. I don't have them in my SB right now, but i know my Storm,Nauseam,Dredge matchup should be worse by a margin(and the incidental Reanimator nonsense). I cutted them because i never found good use in them, opposite to decks like Grixis Control or UW where you actually NEED them to beat combo since you don't put pressure in their hands/battlefield whatsoever.
The Terminate thing came up for my friend the other day. He mentioned how he wished he had a way to deal with Tasigur when he never drew the red sources and I suggested Dismember. Things are not going great for you if a Wurmcoil lands, and even if you have a Terminate you still have to deal with those tokens it leaves behind so I don't it makes that much of a difference. If Prime Time lands then there's a good chance you're dead, however Terminate can buy you some time if the rest of their hand is blank (or just lands, then it will take them a few turns to slowly kill you). The actual downside to dismember lies with the late game when your life might be very low and you have to cast it for 3 mana opposed to 2. I like having a balance and running either a Terminate or Dreadbore in the side if you need more creature removal.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
Against fast aggro decks, Dismember tends to be as awkward as Thoughtseize, whereas Terminate is usually a good card to have. It is also noteworthy that Dismember can't reliably kill Death's Shadow, or any creature in Affinity when Arcbound Ravager is around. The inability to kill Primeval Titan doesn't matter that much, because once it has hit the table, we are probably losing the game anyway. But a 1/1 Wurmcoil Engine is still a formidable blocker. On the plus side, Dismember can kill Rhonas the Indomitable and (attacking) Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
From my experience, Dismember mostly competes with the 3rd Stubborn Denial or the single Lightning Bolt for the flex slot. In a metagame with lots of Eldrazi Tron, it might be good enough to replace the 4th Fatal Push. But Terminate is one of the top 3 creature removal spells in the format, whereas Dismember mostly sees play in nonblack decks that would probably run a Terminate in their colors over it if they could. In our deck, it can double as yet another lifeloss outlet. But we mostly need additional lifeloss against decks that don't do any damage to us in the early game. But these decks are often light on creatures, so Dismember is not that helpful in that regard in practice.
Dreadbore is like a bad Terminate 90% of the time, which is still OK. But it's considerably worse than Terminate against Affinity. So I would suggest to back it up with Izzet Staticaster, perhaps Kozilek's Return, and two maindeck Terminates. I consider Dreadbore mostly a sideboard alternative to having a single Dismember maindeck in a metagame with lots of big creature decks and the occasional planeswalker.
I approve entirely of 18 lands whether you increase the cantrip amount or not, 19 was always too much and I had plenty of success at 18. I think the correct number might actually be 17.5 but at 17 you just mulligan one too many hands.
As far as the rest goes, I don't like Deprive all that much because of its cost. You're generally not super concerned about holding up counters and would rather prefer to be more proactive. I like Liliana of the Veil a lot more in this slot because it's proactive and answers a lot of threats while putting pressure. Your split on removal strikes me as a meta call, and I'd leave that decision to you. Bolt was one of the worst performing cards for me, there just aren't a lot of creatures that Bolt kills that Fatal Push doesn't, Mirran Crusader being one of the only ones. Making a change to play Liliana can alleviate that because her -2 will remove Mirran Crusaders provided you have ways to keep the rest of their board empty, which is probably doable.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
darksteel88, are you on MTGO or do you just play the deck in paper? You seem to be so confident in your aggressive play style with the deck. I'd love to play a match or two against you.
That said, Street Wraith is not the card to cut. A huge portion of the deck improves with its addition, there's a reason why people see it as the card to remove if the deck were to become dominant.
By far, the most noticeable loss is that the original threats lose velocity. Tasigur now requires a Thought Scour to be T2'd, and Death's Shadow can only be played on T2 with fetch, fetch, Thoughtseize.
Many people will think that's it, but nearly every facet of the deck owes something to Street Wraith. With Delve threats coming down slower, and DS starting out smaller, Stubborn Denial now is less consistently Negate. Preordain goes back on the ban list when you can't draw into your scry on Serum Visions. Kolaghan's Command and sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope lose out on their hidden cantrip modes. The Turbo Xerox rule tells us the deck loses out on two virtual lands. Snapcaster takes a hit when Delve threats have less graveyard fuel. Free cantrips means more velocity, effectively increasing the virtual numbers on every card, a big advantage in sideboard games.
It's jarring to see Andrea opt for known flex slots in the seventh removal spell and third Stubborn Denial over a staple four-of in Street Wraith. Even of the slots set in stone, it's crazy to cut Wraith over sacred cows like the fourth Snapcaster or second K Command, especially when on 18 land.
There's definitely an argument for finding room for additional threats in a fifth Delve creature or Young Pyromancers, but Street Wraith is not a flex slot.
I side out most discard, since it’s usually dead after turn 1. Side in your sweepers and artifact hate of choice. Play conservative on your life total and don’t take unnecessary damage from fetching+shocking. Make sure to only keep a hand with heavy interaction and snipe problem cards (Ravager, Signal Pest, Overseer, Master… and sometimes Vault Skirge) with your single target removal. Trade card for card until you can get ahead with K-Command, your sweeper (like Anger). Since Anger doesn’t get Etched Champion, save your Ceremonious Rejection for it if you can. A resolved Etched Champion and it’s over for you most of the time.
I’m off of Anger of the Gods. RR is rough on the mana base and the 3 damage+exile is really only great against dredge. I’d run Flaying Tendrils if you need the exile effect, since it hits Champion and exiles many problem cards against other decks and BB is much easier to hit than RR. It’s only cardinal sin is that it misses Prized Amalgam. Kozilek’s Return really is a house against that deck. It eats manlands and Etched for breakfast as long as you don’t let a Ravager hang out.
You Just got to hand control them. Try to be ahead in game plan. (That's what I do in a u/wx control match up)
I still make miss plays. I've just had 7 months straight playing grixis control. Putting in those hours really helped me. Be patient. Think out your lines. Always think. "If I do this. My oppent could have this?"
There are also people posting they are 60% in the mirror, playing a near stock version of the deck, How do they do this?.
I am playing this list with extra removal (dismember main and dreadbore sb).
https://deckstats.net/decks/8271/725095-grixis-shadow?saved=1&lng=en
In general I am sb like this in the mirror. SB: -3 stubborn denial, -2 streetwraiths, + 2 nilil spellbomb, + 1 dreadbore, + 1 liliana, the last hope, + 1 kolaghan's command.
Some things I notice in the mirror.
1. Snap into serum / discard is actually quite good.
2. There are only a few removal spells in the deck for the delve creatures. Other options are blocking with a delve creature or a shadow.
3. Losing life with fetches and sw is not always necessary, the game is gonna be played out slower so you dont want to shock too aggressively.
4. land flooding / drawing the denials (only in g1) makes you have a much greater chance of losing.
5. opponents holding up cards can mean a few things (holding up bolt snap bolt, waiting for discard before playing a shadow, have all removal in hand and no threat, bluffing with lands)
Any other tips people got for playing the mirror.
The mirror often becomes a grind-fest, so your biggest bet is to eliminate dead draws. A lot of times, the game just ends up being trading resources and hitting a top deck war. Which means discard often becomes bad quickly. Stubborn Denial is one of your best cards once you've established a superior board state and Street Wraith is oddly a pretty good top deck late game. It helps break board stalls by giving you an unblockable clock.
The cards you brought in seem right, but I'd leave most of the cards you brought out, in. I'm actually a fan of trimming some Thought Scours when I don't need to play the aggressor. Your grave will fill through natural interaction and Thoughscour is just air in the deck when you're not in a rush to get Tasigur out.
Mostly, you have to play by ear. Some openers will allow you to play the beatdown, some are set up for you to play the control role.
Link: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/35572_Know-Your-Enemy-Beating-Deaths-Shadow.html
1) Hand: Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non-Land randoms. Which do you play first and why? On the play and on the draw(assuming you don't hit land in first draw step).
2) Hand: 2 Fetch,Thoughtseize,Serum Visions and non Thought Scour randoms. On the play.
3) Hand: Lands,Serum Visions,Stubborn Denial,(W and W/O Fatal push) and non-discard randoms. On the play.
I'll start with that ones. I think this helps a lot because this deck is difficult to play around not getting blown out. Common scenario is going full suicide mode and Fetch Shocking Thoughtseize on T1 on the play, to find yourself against Burn. Feels bad. The goal is to discuss T1 plays on the dark.
It all depends on if I know what the opponent is playing, but generally:
1) In most on-the-play situations Serum Vision, especially against an unknown. Not hitting your second land on time can be pretty rough. Of course, this could change depending on what the rest of your hand is composed of. Some number of Wraiths might lead me to Seize first, with the intention of casting Serum Visions on turn 2 and using Wraith to help make sure I get my second land drop. On the draw, it all depends on what their first turn looks like and what the other "random" non-lands are. If they play a dork and I have a removal, I'll probably prioritize removing that. The rest of the "random" hand really does matter in making that decision.
2) With no second land, I'd probably Serum Visions right off the bat as well (assuming no Street Wraith again). Stealing their turn 1 with Thoughtseize seems less important than ensuring you will have your second land.
3) Same. Serum. This deck doesn't need a lot of land, but missing number 2 hurts a lot. Passing turn one with mana up for a Stub or a Push will make you feel pretty silly if your opp doesn't do anything worth interacting with on their turn 1. Especially if you Serum and miss your turn 2 land drop. You could make an argument that you have relevant interaction for anything they could play turn 1 by holding up Stubs and Push, but realistically, how many decks will you play against where a turn 1 Stubborn Denial is a game winning play? Maybe counter D&T's Vial? You're still going to be able to play Push turn 2 anyways. So, worst case scenario, you probably get punished by a Goblin Guide for holding up a Push instead of searching for your land.
A lot of these sequences would change if I knew what I was playing against, or what the "random" cards are, or if I had that second land in the opener. I think going "full suicide mode" is only correct when you need to race, your opener is clearly set up for it with a Shadow in hand, or you're playing against a deck that doesn't care a whole lot about your life-total to win. If you quickly realize you're the control deck, it's better just to play it safe on life.