That's exactly how Dredge is costantly placing in the top8 of mayor events.
And I'm OK with that. Tuning my sideboard against Dredge would weaken it against other close matchups. If these matchups make up 15% of the meta and Dredge is at 5%, it does not seem the best plan to optimize for the more unlikely matchup just because I can.
Playing more Surgical/Anger/Tendrils also means you're improving your % against any Combo & go-wide archetype (Elves, CoCo, 8-Whack). It's not purely meant against Dredge.
But these are all decks I already feel comfortable against with my current sideboard. Switching to Anger of the Gods would mean taking out Kozilek's Return, which is clearly better against 8-Whack and usually better against Elves. I even prefer Kozilek's Return against most CoCo builds because it can prevent them from comboing off if they topdeck or in response to CoCo at the end of my turn. Kozilek's Return is also superior against Affinity and often better against Merfolk. After testing two copies of Anger of the Gods in my sideboard I felt underwhelmed. This may be in part because I don't like attrition battles. I want to be able to react to changes in the game state and make creative moves. So instant speed is very important for my style of play.
EDIT2: If Kommand wasn't such a broken card and TBR a necessary evil for some matchups I'd switch to Esper right away just to not have to play with Terminate and have access to Path. With the new 3 cmc board wipe we can probably move away more easily from red. We still need a broken card like Kommand. Esper Charm is great but nowhere near Kommand.
TBR is not a necessary evil IMHO. Many recent top 8 decks have cut it. Just because some of the posters here really like it, doesn't make it a must-have in this deck. It depends on the meta and the other cards in the 75. I personally don't like it because it depends on Death Shadow, which even burn decks will often bring Path to Exile against.
I've had good success with TBR:ing our delve guys, so I would disagree that it depends on DS being in play.
There is an inherent risk to the card, being 2 for 1'd is a legitimate concern. I tend to board out my TBR against decks where this is likely to happen, unless they also run a card like Lingering Souls. I'm constantly reassessing the card on the basis of not many top players using it in Grixis Shadow, but so far it's been well worth its salt.
Hey guys, new to the deck here, just got the last couple of Snapcasters I needed for it.
I have one question about the manabase though: I don't have access to any number of Scalding Tarns at the moment; what's the best combination of fetch/shocklands to replace it? I have at my disposal 4x each of Deltas, Flooded Strands, Bloodstained Mires and Verdant Catacombs, as well as any number of shocklands. Thanks!
Hey guys, new to the deck here, just got the last couple of Snapcasters I needed for it.
I have one question about the manabase though: I don't have access to any number of Scalding Tarns at the moment; what's the best combination of fetch/shocklands to replace it? I have at my disposal 4x each of Deltas, Flooded Strands, Bloodstained Mires and Verdant Catacombs, as well as any number of shocklands. Thanks!
I'd start out with 4x Deltas, 4x Mires, 1x Catacombs and 3x Flooded Strand to try and maintain a decent amount of blue fetchlands to cover my bases against a Blood Moon.
I've had good success with TBR:ing our delve guys, so I would disagree that it depends on DS being in play.
There is an inherent risk to the card, being 2 for 1'd is a legitimate concern. I tend to board out my TBR against decks where this is likely to happen, unless they also run a card like Lingering Souls. I'm constantly reassessing the card on the basis of not many top players using it in Grixis Shadow, but so far it's been well worth its salt.
I agreed that TBR is godlike card because the surprise effect that run out of opponent's expectation and directly kill him in one hit. I used to have 1 in MD and 1 in SB. I have experienced that I hold it for long time just to seek the opportunity to go off the 1 HIT KO tactic, however it could stay in my hand for long time and I was hoping it to be another card that allow me to control board or a cantrip card that I need. So I decided to only play 1 in my SB and 0 MB.
I think it is good for:
-anti-lingering soul (abzan midrange, DS Jund with white splash, BW tokens), eldrazi scion (bant eldrazi)
-spellbased combo (Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift, Storm, Turns)
-swarm deck (affinity, elves, revolt zoo, fish, company deck)
But it might be bad in:
-control deck with blue counters (UW, Grixis control, Esper, Jeskai Nahiri)
-hand disruption (Jund, 8 rack, Esper, Shadow mirrors)
- I don't think it is that good against Abzan Midrange or DS Jund because they have run lots of spot removal - Bant Eldrazi will also usually run a full playset of Paths and they are going to bring in more hate from the sideboard (Blessed Alliance etc.)
- Fish may have multiple copies of Vapor Snag maindeck, they might be able to vial in Harbinger of the Tides occasionally, and some lists run Spellskites in the side - but it's OK I guess
- Elves also sometimes have access to Spellskite or bring Fatal Push from the side if they are Gb - still OK
- CoCo company will usually board in Path to Exile and could at least theoretically Chord/CoCo in Fiend Hunter, but they might do that asap, so it seems OK
- It's good against spell-based combo decks, but it seems an additional counterspell could often be better
- I like it against Affinity, but it can be win-more if they didn't get their nuts draw (and if they did, you will probably be dead anyway)
- I actually think it's OK against control decks because it is a desperate struggle already and you may only be able to hit them once every few turns
This is the typical argument of "Dies to Terror". It's true that there are many real risks in this type of card. But we're on a deck that interacts with their hand, their board, and the stack. We won't, or shouldn't at least, TBR a creature mindlessly without knowing what's up or without some kind of protection. There will be times where it's go with it or bust and you just have to pray.
When I started playing Magic in the late nineties, Giant Growth was a four-off in just about any aggro deck with access to green. Today's Giant Growth effects either give hexproof, or cost no mana, or boost the entire team. In this regard, TBR seems like a flashback to the past. It is like a fixed version of Berserk, which was also considered one of the best cards back in the day. Berserk was even restricted for a long time - until Giant Growth effects fell out of favor. In addition, the current meta is full of targeted discard/exile effects. Many opponents will see TBR coming AND be able to get rid of it should it be a problem. Thought Scouring copies of it into our own graveyard also kinda ruins the surprise effect, but it might be good from a psychological warfare point of view.
This is why I believe it's way more impactful the TBR on the first game. After SB it loses its "blow out factor" and usually opponents are more removal heavy.
I wrote nearly the same sentence a few pages ago. I don't understand why TBR is mainly considered a sideboard option, because it works best before the opponent has adjusted to the matchup. It's not a completely dead card against any deck. That's the typical hallmark of maindeck material. It's kinda like Lightning Bolt and unlike Fatal Push/Terminate.
I agree, I'd rather have a 1-of TBR in the main than SB. Also, I haven't ever experienced an opponent baiting it against me, so the 2-for-1 risk is significantly lower than I've been fearing. If they have removal, they tend to use it either EOT or before I connect to play around Stubborn Denial and damage taken respectively.
Edit: The discard argument is valid, and something to keep in mind. However, it goes both ways, we can check to see if the route is clear via our own discard before TBR:ing. That said, and like I stated earlier, I'm constantly evaluating the card and consider it a highly meta-dependent choice.
Edit2: I agree that TBR does share some similarities with Lightning Bolt in how it manages to be both ubiquitous and limited at the same time.
It also is noteworthy that some of the recent Jund DS list that made it to the top 8 did not contain TBR in their 75 or played just a single copy maindeck. If this card is "godlike" for us, I wonder why players of a deck that has at least twice as many attractive targets for TBR are cutting down on it.
It also is noteworthy that some of the recent Jund DS list that made it to the top 8 did not contain TBR in their 75 or played just a single copy maindeck. If this card is "godlike" for us, I wonder why players of a deck that has at least twice as many attractive targets for TBR are cutting down on it.
It's bad for us, but there's a vocal minority that likes it.
I've been testing 3-4 leyline of the voids while switching anger to kozileks return with breaking the shadow mirrors and dredge in mind, decks that you can expect in numbers at the top tables. so far has been very good, but obviously you cant evaluate the cards based on the games you start with them. what do you guys think of leylines?
I'm not a fan of Leylines in the SB either, except for some pretty skewed metagames. Lately my SB has consisted of 2 Surgical Extraction, 2 Anger of the Gods, and 1 Echoing Truth, and it has been decent vs. dredge. It doesn't make the matchup good or anything, but to do that we would have to sacrifice a lot of percentage points in other matchups, and it probably isn't worth it.
Anyway, the deck is a blast. I won't post a list or a report, because I'm on Esper and I play a very different version (Wraithless), but I just did ANOTHER 4-1 in my usual shop, beating Eldrazi Tron, BG Infect, Lantern and UR Storm, only losing to Revolt Zoo, finishing first in the swiss (no top8). Combo decks are such a joke to play against, and Revolt Zoo was a very interactive match-up, decided in g3 by double Bolt topdecked by my opponent (was at 5 life) vs my two Pushes on top. Also tested A LOT against Counters Company in the afternoon, and I easily won most games. Really, when you learn how to play it
Mind posting it in the Esper DS thread then? I'm playing something similar and would love to see your list/experience.
Those were my inclinations too regarding Leyline, but it's notable that we have three decks in the top tier who'd be crippled by Leyline (Grixis shadows, jund shadows, dredge) plus some random splash damage onto rising archetypes like Living End. I feel like it's a good idea to have something high impact for those matchups, which I don't think Extraction and spellbombs are.
I really think the MTGO trends which are generally leading indicators, and moreover the prominence of grixis shadow/dredge in the last few events warrant moving our SB resources onto these matchups while also having general application If we want to pack more for the shadows mirror for example, what other good options are there? Only things I've thought of thus far are more copies of Kommands, Last Hopes, and maybe 1 painful truths.
Mind posting it in the Esper DS thread then? I'm playing something similar and would love to see your list/experience.
Done.
Thanks for the list. It's exiting to see a different approach. What was your reasoning behind going Esper in the first place? If you have explained it somewhere in this thread, I haven't found the posting.
Thanks for the list. It's exiting to see a different approach. What was your reasoning behind going Esper in the first place? If you have explained it somewhere in this thread, I haven't found the posting.
Well, I explained it several times. Anyway: it's because I value Path and white sideboard cards (namely: Disenchant and Celestial Purge) more than Kolaghan's Command, Terminate and Izzet Staticaster (which are the cards I would've played choosing the Grixis version). Having a suite composed by Push + Path + Snapcaster means being able to stop any attempt by our opponents to put pressure on us before our Shadows/Delve threats come online. Eldrazi, persist creatures, Dredge's threat etcetera, are all valid arguments to play Path. And Snapcaster + Path is three mana, while Snap + Terminate costs one more. In the pseudo mirror, like Grixis Control/Delver/Shadow, resolving Path is easier than doing the same with Terminate. Talking about the sideboard cards, IMHO Disenchant is the real reason to play white: it's the cleanest solution against random issues like Leyline of Sanctity, Rest in Peace, Ensnaring Bridge, Chalice of the Void, Worship, Blood Moon and more. Some players tend to go on the Stony Silence route, but at this point I would just play Grixis with Kolaghan's Command. The ability to annihilate dangerous enchantments is what the deck was lacking every time I went with Grixis, tbh. Celestial Purge is simply a way to strenghten the deck vs the mirror, as a way to remove Liliana (both ones) unconditionally, with the plus of being another removal for Shadow and Blood Moon. It's also very strong against Nahiri & Red based Prison.
In the end, the only reason for being in Grixis is, IMHO, Kolaghan's Command. Esper has the downside of losing automatically by a resolved Bridge in game one. Which isn't common, given our disruption suite, but it's still a thing. Same goes for Chalice. In any other scenario, Esper is the superior choice. So it's pretty meta-dependant.
To give the counter take:
In Esper, you're forced to play Deprive instead of Mana Leak (if you want to go that route, and I do) because of the anti-synergy with Path to Exile. This hurts your fast aggro matchups, and forces you to play more blue and less black mana sources. Path is also awkward against many of the fast aggro decks early because accelerating them on turns 1 or 2 often allows them to dump their hand faster. Especially against burn, where we typically need to kill them with cards left in their hand. And for similar reasons, it's awkward vs. Storm - giving them extra mana is not a good idea. Grixis is also better at operating under a resolved Chalice because Terminate isn't 1 CMC while Path is. This is often important because you may need to be able to play magic and interact for a turn or two before you find your K Command/Disenchant. Terminate ensures that you can still kill some lords vs. Merfolk or a TKS/Smasher vs. Eldrazi Tron. You could say the same thing about GR Valakut, but Path to Exile on a Primeval Titan in that matchup typically means you lose anyway, while Terminate means you typically have 1 more turn. BloodyRabbit didn't mention that Path is better against Wurmcoil Engine and Ulamog, and also vs. dredge, but those are real strengths you should consider. Red also gives you access to better sweepers in the form of Kozilek's Return and/or Anger of the Gods out of the SB. Finally, Esper is also more susceptible to Blood Moon despite having access to Disenchant because there isn't a plains in the deck (and probably can't be without major changes), so a resolved blood moon cuts off the 3rd color no matter what. Against Grixis, red is the 3rd color, so we can operate a little better - assuming both decks fetched the same number of basics before Blood Moon came down.
I've tried a lot of Esper builds, and the long and short of it is that I prefer Grixis unless 1) there isn't much Chalice in your metagame and 2) there isn't much fast aggro or storm in your metagame. Access to disenchant is nice and all, but if I really wanted that I could easily splash it in the SB along with Lingering Souls to improve those grindy matchups. In midrange matchups including the pseudo-mirror, and against normal tron and amulet, Esper is probably better when configured properly, but I don't think it's worth the hits you take against fast aggro, Storm, chalice, and blood moon. And the difference in those grindy midrange matchups is small anyway because K Command makes up a lot for not having Lingering Souls.
And I just gave some insight too :). I missed your point about dredge. My bad.
I think you're minimizing how many decks that you'll want white spells against that also have Blood Moon. Unless you side out all of your paths vs. Affinity and Storm.
I leave all of my mana leaks in vs. Burn, and typically 2 of them in vs. most fast aggro decks, especially on the play. (I'm including stuff like Elves and Merfolk in this category too). While Deprive I would side out vs. all of them except burn, where I can live with 1 or maybe 2 postboard.
What I like about the Grixis version is that it can do direct damage through Kolaghan's Command, Lightning Bolt and Rakdos Charm. This makes it considerably harder for the opponent to predict how much damage the deck is capable of dealing next turn. The possibility of dealing the last few points of damage directly despite of having an unfavorable board state is also definitely a plus.
Another advantage of Grixis is that it can play around Blood Moon by fetching the basic lands (Edit: already mentioned by Spooly, but I didn't see it before posting this message ). A resolved Blood Moon that is not immediately responded with Disenchant or Celestial Purge will lock you out of white for the rest of the game (if you side out white anyway, that's OK I guess). Furthermore, the Grixis player can still cast 27 of their 41 spells with just a basic Swamp fetched in response to a surprise Blood Moon (maybe we didn't draw enough fetches). Your version is down to 17 of 41 spells in the same situation. That's the difference between having a bad day and being royally screwed against maindeck Blood Moon in game 1.
BTW: I have also seen some Burn decks, 8-Whack decks and U/R Thing in the Ice decks run Blood Moon, even Grixis Delver occasionally. I bet you want to keep your Paths in against at least some of those decks.
If Leyline of Sanctity rises in popularity, we can run less discard and more counterspells, so it's easy to adjust to this situation. The only discard spell we really need is Thoughtseize. Worship can be a big problem, but it requires creatures that can possibly handled by our sweepers and our various ways of killing stuff. In addition, Collective Brutality causes loss of life, so we can work with that. If Worship becomes really popular for some obscure reason, we can maindeck Sign in Blood, which nicely synergizes with this deck.
Leyline of the Void is actually not such a bad deal for us. It is typically run as a four-of. So unless we try to remove it, our opponent has invested 4 cards to keep us from casting our 4 delve creatures anytime soon. Serum Visions will help us not drawing to many of those. Snapcaster Mage is still a 2/1 with flash that can often be traded on a one-for-one basis. Thought Scour cheaply replaces itself. Kolaghan's Command loses one of its four modes (arguably the most interesting one), but it is still useful. And that's it. If we manage to slow down the game by trading our cards for theirs, we will eventually be able to cast Street Wraiths and maybe even Tasigur. And if we see it coming, we can side out our delve creatures for extra threats like LtLH. So it's not the end of the world. I'm not even sure if I would dedicate sideboard slots to Echoing Truths, unless token-based strategies also become a real thing.
IMHO you have made your deck more vulnerable to Blood Moon by playing Plains instead of Mountains and relying heavily on white removal spells. You also have made the deck more vulnerable to Leyline of the Void by adding an extra delve creature, by dropping Street Wraith, and by not having LtLH in the sideboard. On the other hand, your sideboard offers better solutions to these problems than Grixis, but you have to draw them in the right numbers to deal with the problems.
I think I like the Grixis version more because it seems less reactive, despite some limitations. But I really like that you experiment with the archetype and I will also test more counterspells because I love casting Stubborn Denial on nearly everything.
There is an inherent risk to the card, being 2 for 1'd is a legitimate concern. I tend to board out my TBR against decks where this is likely to happen, unless they also run a card like Lingering Souls. I'm constantly reassessing the card on the basis of not many top players using it in Grixis Shadow, but so far it's been well worth its salt.
I have one question about the manabase though: I don't have access to any number of Scalding Tarns at the moment; what's the best combination of fetch/shocklands to replace it? I have at my disposal 4x each of Deltas, Flooded Strands, Bloodstained Mires and Verdant Catacombs, as well as any number of shocklands. Thanks!
I'd start out with 4x Deltas, 4x Mires, 1x Catacombs and 3x Flooded Strand to try and maintain a decent amount of blue fetchlands to cover my bases against a Blood Moon.
I agreed that TBR is godlike card because the surprise effect that run out of opponent's expectation and directly kill him in one hit. I used to have 1 in MD and 1 in SB. I have experienced that I hold it for long time just to seek the opportunity to go off the 1 HIT KO tactic, however it could stay in my hand for long time and I was hoping it to be another card that allow me to control board or a cantrip card that I need. So I decided to only play 1 in my SB and 0 MB.
I think it is good for:
-anti-lingering soul (abzan midrange, DS Jund with white splash, BW tokens), eldrazi scion (bant eldrazi)
-spellbased combo (Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift, Storm, Turns)
-swarm deck (affinity, elves, revolt zoo, fish, company deck)
But it might be bad in:
-control deck with blue counters (UW, Grixis control, Esper, Jeskai Nahiri)
-hand disruption (Jund, 8 rack, Esper, Shadow mirrors)
- Fish may have multiple copies of Vapor Snag maindeck, they might be able to vial in Harbinger of the Tides occasionally, and some lists run Spellskites in the side - but it's OK I guess
- Elves also sometimes have access to Spellskite or bring Fatal Push from the side if they are Gb - still OK
- CoCo company will usually board in Path to Exile and could at least theoretically Chord/CoCo in Fiend Hunter, but they might do that asap, so it seems OK
- It's good against spell-based combo decks, but it seems an additional counterspell could often be better
- I like it against Affinity, but it can be win-more if they didn't get their nuts draw (and if they did, you will probably be dead anyway)
- I actually think it's OK against control decks because it is a desperate struggle already and you may only be able to hit them once every few turns
I wrote nearly the same sentence a few pages ago. I don't understand why TBR is mainly considered a sideboard option, because it works best before the opponent has adjusted to the matchup. It's not a completely dead card against any deck. That's the typical hallmark of maindeck material. It's kinda like Lightning Bolt and unlike Fatal Push/Terminate.
Edit: The discard argument is valid, and something to keep in mind. However, it goes both ways, we can check to see if the route is clear via our own discard before TBR:ing. That said, and like I stated earlier, I'm constantly evaluating the card and consider it a highly meta-dependent choice.
Edit2: I agree that TBR does share some similarities with Lightning Bolt in how it manages to be both ubiquitous and limited at the same time.
It's bad for us, but there's a vocal minority that likes it.
Mind posting it in the Esper DS thread then? I'm playing something similar and would love to see your list/experience.
I really think the MTGO trends which are generally leading indicators, and moreover the prominence of grixis shadow/dredge in the last few events warrant moving our SB resources onto these matchups while also having general application If we want to pack more for the shadows mirror for example, what other good options are there? Only things I've thought of thus far are more copies of Kommands, Last Hopes, and maybe 1 painful truths.
To give the counter take:
In Esper, you're forced to play Deprive instead of Mana Leak (if you want to go that route, and I do) because of the anti-synergy with Path to Exile. This hurts your fast aggro matchups, and forces you to play more blue and less black mana sources. Path is also awkward against many of the fast aggro decks early because accelerating them on turns 1 or 2 often allows them to dump their hand faster. Especially against burn, where we typically need to kill them with cards left in their hand. And for similar reasons, it's awkward vs. Storm - giving them extra mana is not a good idea. Grixis is also better at operating under a resolved Chalice because Terminate isn't 1 CMC while Path is. This is often important because you may need to be able to play magic and interact for a turn or two before you find your K Command/Disenchant. Terminate ensures that you can still kill some lords vs. Merfolk or a TKS/Smasher vs. Eldrazi Tron. You could say the same thing about GR Valakut, but Path to Exile on a Primeval Titan in that matchup typically means you lose anyway, while Terminate means you typically have 1 more turn. BloodyRabbit didn't mention that Path is better against Wurmcoil Engine and Ulamog, and also vs. dredge, but those are real strengths you should consider. Red also gives you access to better sweepers in the form of Kozilek's Return and/or Anger of the Gods out of the SB. Finally, Esper is also more susceptible to Blood Moon despite having access to Disenchant because there isn't a plains in the deck (and probably can't be without major changes), so a resolved blood moon cuts off the 3rd color no matter what. Against Grixis, red is the 3rd color, so we can operate a little better - assuming both decks fetched the same number of basics before Blood Moon came down.
I've tried a lot of Esper builds, and the long and short of it is that I prefer Grixis unless 1) there isn't much Chalice in your metagame and 2) there isn't much fast aggro or storm in your metagame. Access to disenchant is nice and all, but if I really wanted that I could easily splash it in the SB along with Lingering Souls to improve those grindy matchups. In midrange matchups including the pseudo-mirror, and against normal tron and amulet, Esper is probably better when configured properly, but I don't think it's worth the hits you take against fast aggro, Storm, chalice, and blood moon. And the difference in those grindy midrange matchups is small anyway because K Command makes up a lot for not having Lingering Souls.
I think you're minimizing how many decks that you'll want white spells against that also have Blood Moon. Unless you side out all of your paths vs. Affinity and Storm.
I leave all of my mana leaks in vs. Burn, and typically 2 of them in vs. most fast aggro decks, especially on the play. (I'm including stuff like Elves and Merfolk in this category too). While Deprive I would side out vs. all of them except burn, where I can live with 1 or maybe 2 postboard.
What I like about the Grixis version is that it can do direct damage through Kolaghan's Command, Lightning Bolt and Rakdos Charm. This makes it considerably harder for the opponent to predict how much damage the deck is capable of dealing next turn. The possibility of dealing the last few points of damage directly despite of having an unfavorable board state is also definitely a plus.
Another advantage of Grixis is that it can play around Blood Moon by fetching the basic lands (Edit: already mentioned by Spooly, but I didn't see it before posting this message ). A resolved Blood Moon that is not immediately responded with Disenchant or Celestial Purge will lock you out of white for the rest of the game (if you side out white anyway, that's OK I guess). Furthermore, the Grixis player can still cast 27 of their 41 spells with just a basic Swamp fetched in response to a surprise Blood Moon (maybe we didn't draw enough fetches). Your version is down to 17 of 41 spells in the same situation. That's the difference between having a bad day and being royally screwed against maindeck Blood Moon in game 1.
BTW: I have also seen some Burn decks, 8-Whack decks and U/R Thing in the Ice decks run Blood Moon, even Grixis Delver occasionally. I bet you want to keep your Paths in against at least some of those decks.
If Leyline of Sanctity rises in popularity, we can run less discard and more counterspells, so it's easy to adjust to this situation. The only discard spell we really need is Thoughtseize. Worship can be a big problem, but it requires creatures that can possibly handled by our sweepers and our various ways of killing stuff. In addition, Collective Brutality causes loss of life, so we can work with that. If Worship becomes really popular for some obscure reason, we can maindeck Sign in Blood, which nicely synergizes with this deck.
Leyline of the Void is actually not such a bad deal for us. It is typically run as a four-of. So unless we try to remove it, our opponent has invested 4 cards to keep us from casting our 4 delve creatures anytime soon. Serum Visions will help us not drawing to many of those. Snapcaster Mage is still a 2/1 with flash that can often be traded on a one-for-one basis. Thought Scour cheaply replaces itself. Kolaghan's Command loses one of its four modes (arguably the most interesting one), but it is still useful. And that's it. If we manage to slow down the game by trading our cards for theirs, we will eventually be able to cast Street Wraiths and maybe even Tasigur. And if we see it coming, we can side out our delve creatures for extra threats like LtLH. So it's not the end of the world. I'm not even sure if I would dedicate sideboard slots to Echoing Truths, unless token-based strategies also become a real thing.
IMHO you have made your deck more vulnerable to Blood Moon by playing Plains instead of Mountains and relying heavily on white removal spells. You also have made the deck more vulnerable to Leyline of the Void by adding an extra delve creature, by dropping Street Wraith, and by not having LtLH in the sideboard. On the other hand, your sideboard offers better solutions to these problems than Grixis, but you have to draw them in the right numbers to deal with the problems.
I think I like the Grixis version more because it seems less reactive, despite some limitations. But I really like that you experiment with the archetype and I will also test more counterspells because I love casting Stubborn Denial on nearly everything.