Thanks. I get its appeals vs those but it seems like it may be too narrow. What kind of other matchups would Ashiok come in for?
And I definitely think we've yet to completely solve matchups due to how new the deck is and potential variance and it'll be solved more as everyone gets more reps in. I definitely do feel like my affinity opponents had plating+etched champion in every game though:p
I've seen one-of Damnations in other midrange decks such as traditional Abzan, Jund and Grixis. What do folks here think of those? I feel like it may be a fit given that we win with 1 threat more often than not and the games we lose are usually the ones where we are overwhelmed on the board. But admittedly I haven't played midrange much and I don't know the theory behind Damnation in Jund for example because it doesn't intuitively fit
I only recently upgraded to my first non-budget magic deck (after having played tokens and neutered merfolk for a while) and decided on Grixis Delver. After completing it, I fell in love with Grixis Death Shadow and decided to take the plunge. Alas, because I had already splurged so much I had to settle for a relatively budget sideboard. Could you please critique my deck choice?
My opp was slow with his choices and that is the reason we went to time in the 3rd match. First game we were both really low in life and he just happened to have Bolt, Snap, Bolt to finish me off. Game 2 he flooded while I drew all the good stuff and killed his shadow and angler and killed him with my double shadow. Game 3 was slow and we flooded except he drew Liliana quite late but neither of us had threats to finish each other off.
Round 2 vs Biovisionary Combo: 1-0-1
Not much to say about this one other than I had counters and kill spells for the visionary and mirrorweave. Easy match.
Round 3 vs WB Tokens: 1-1-1
Tokens doing what they do best, casting spirits and virtues and flying in for lots of damage to kill me because I was killing myself for big shadows. He had Auriok Champions to block all day long. I did fetch incorrectly and was unable to cast Anger to wipe his tokens but that did not solve the Champion issue. I needed more threats to punch through his defense.
Round 4 vs 8 Rack: 1-2-1
Thoughtseized his bridge and rack and killed him with snap beats while he drew nothing to deal with them. Game 2 he landed bridge and some racks and I was dead after that. Game 3 went about the same as 2 except I forgot to not fetch because I left EE on top to deal with a rack and affliction. He had a bridge but I had a few answers left in deck to destroy a bridge and attack for lethal.
Round 5 vs Scrap Trawlololololer Combo: 1-3-1
Thoughtseize and discard did close to nothing good unless it hit KCI. He combo'd the turn before I was going to kill him with shadows. Game 2 I killed myself a lot but managed to thoughtseize and surgical away his KCI's. I failed to draw threats and he was able to kill me with Trawler and Ballista.
Conclusion: It really sucks killing yourself and failing to find shadows to cast in this deck. I really don't like that aspect which is why the Jund version is so consistent and works well with the shadow synergy. I might take a Delver version for a spin instead. It seems like it would be a good idea to have another threat which doesn't require you kill yourself for nothing. Also to note my sideboard is missing some recommended cards but I don't have them so I had to slot other things. I would definitely try to up the count of other cards instead of spreading it out with a lot of 1 of's.
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
Hey everyone, here is my updated list that I'm currently running. I lowered my bolt count to just 1 now because I'm finding that bolt just doesn't cut it when it comes to premium removal. There are many times when I see a eldrazi or a x/4 creature and I can't remove it. Don't get me wrong, I still think bolt snap bolt is an awesome combo. I now have been testing 2 mana leaks instead and its been working great. Being able to counter their turn 2, 3, even 4 play is huge and it also fills the graveyard with delve.
When I first started playing this deck I tried to play the shadow jund game by killing myself quick and try to put a shadow down but it was never consistent. What I've noticed after 50+ games with deck is that you want to be more of a tempo deck and less aggro. My win percentage across a lot of matchup's improved quite a bit. And mana leak in this deck is actually really good. Countering a turn 2 thought knot or a sylvan scrying is awesome. I plan on taking testing this deck list more and I'll give you all the results after.
I only recently upgraded to my first non-budget magic deck (after having played tokens and neutered merfolk for a while) and decided on Grixis Delver. After completing it, I fell in love with Grixis Death Shadow and decided to take the plunge. Alas, because I had already splurged so much I had to settle for a relatively budget sideboard. Could you please critique my deck choice?
Hello friend, glad to see you have joined the movement! Personally, I don't like the full 8 discard spells. Currently I play 4 'seize and 2 inquisition and love how it plays. Good solid list though for sure!
About Mana Leak, I will attempt it this weekend possibly, but I'm just loving my current list so much I'm not sure what to take out for them.
On EE, that seems like a fantastic card choice. I may have to attempt to pick a few up myself.
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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)
In my experience Mana Leak rots in our hand far less often than Stubborn Denial. Being able to cast it profitably without having ferocious is a big factor. Being able to target creatures is another big factor. Mana Leak is sort of a litmus test for how you want to play/build the deck. Since it's a Snapcaster + K Command deck, it can be as grindy as you want it to be. And Mana Leak doesn't fit super well into that game plan. But it does fit well into a tempo game plan where you're just trying to stick a fatty and keep them off balance long enough to deal 20. I generally prefer the latter game plan in modern in a vaccuum because grindy midrange decks typically have a lot of problems with some of the random decks of the format - and there are a lot of them. On the other hand, the grindier stance is generally great in pseudo-mirrors and vs a lot of the control decks that have been popping up to combat Death's Shadow decks. My position is that Snapcaster Mage and K Command (and possibly also Liliana of the Veil) in the maindeck is already super grindy for modern, and I'd rather not try to go further over the top of other midrange decks because of what that does to your other matchups. Yes, more than you like, you'll lose to the stubborn Abzan player who keeps on running back 4 Lingering Souls and 4 Siege Rhino despite the realities of modern continually smacking him in the head. But I'd rather take my losses in those matchups and have a stronger game vs. a broader swathe of random decks that pop up in modern.
That's my broad thinking, and it's partially motivated by Mana Leak being good enough at helping us play the tempo role. If the card turns out to be too inconsistent, then it's obviously not a good plan to take the tempo stance even if in some ideal world it makes more sense - for example I would not advocate Mana Leak in Delver because that deck can't close as fast. My biggest complaint about the card is that it doesn't help much in our truly bad matchups: Bant Eldrazi, over-the-top midrange (think the stubborn Abzan player), UWx and probably also Grixis control, Dredge, and (I'm taking BloodyRabbit's word for it because I haven't played this matchup) Living End. It's more likely to be dead in these matchups because they have extra mana floating around, or Cavern of Souls, or Aether Vial, or it's Dredge. But I don't think there's much to be done about most of these matchups without huge sacrifices, and I do think Leak gives us a lot of percentage points against enough other decks that this is worthwhile: Tron variants, Valakut, and other big mana decks, Storm, Ad Nauseum, and other spell based combo decks, Burn, Prison and other Blood Moon decks, etc. It's less good but still pretty good vs most midrange decks, including the Death's Shadow decks. Nothing beats the top of their deck like countermagic.
I do agree. In my area there are a lot of bant eldrazi decks. Having access to mana leak takes away their explosive starts. I know in the late game leak isn't as good but it makes up for it the early - mid game. Being able go out tempo the opponent and keep them off balance is huge especially against bant eldrazi.
I'm a fan of having some countermagic in grindy matchups, because it answers stuff like planeswalkers and value creatures much more cleanly than anything we have access to. Plus, most of the midrange decks should be cutting many. Though obviously Death's Shadow variants will keep them in, and most midrange variants will keep a few in to fight through your countermagic.
I can't kick my old Delver habits and run 2x Countersquall in the side. Caught a few opponents off guard with it and has mostly treated me well. I figure between Denial and Squall, I can deal with most non-creature spells, and the rest is cleaned up with kill spells. So stuff like Mana Leak or Remand don't seem as essential with that package.
Throwing my 2 cents in here. This is the most fun I've had playing a modern deck since Splinter Twin. I really like the main deck configuration and don't know if there's much that I would want to change. I added a second Terminate in the main because of EldraziTron and Bant Eldrazi. (Local meta is filled with Eldrazi right now). If Eldrazi became unpopular, I could see removing it and replacing with the 3rd Lightning Bolt. Aside from this, I like the main. Concern for me replacing Bolts and discard for cards like Mana Leak are that you are increasing your 2 CMC cards. I feel like this is a deck that wants to have multiple plays in the early turns (example: Thought Scour & Gurmag Angler on turn 2. Mana Leak, while being a solid card, is quite reactive and typically stronger in the early turns; turns in which I want to establish board position. Which I suppose is my argument for Disdainful Stroke. I don't need to worry about using this card until later in the game. And most cards I want to counter are 4 CMC or higher typically. If not, chances are they can be Pushed or I'm not entirely worried about it. I could be convinced though that Stroke is wrong.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver: I wanted to test it out. So far I've only brought it in against EldraziTron. I stole a Thought-Knot Seer which felt incredible. Not convinced it is as good as it felt then though. I'd assume creature based decks like Company variants and perhaps BGx decks it could do some work. Thought was that, yes they play Abrupt Decay, but if the only good targets are Death's Shadow Do they even keep it in? My assumption is that they would keep their Pushes and Paths instead.
Graveyard Shenanigans: I played Fulminator Mage in DSJund and Grixis Jund. I didn't like tapping out to play it, so I'm trying a different route. Discard + Surgical Extraction is what I'm testing out. Also, Though Scour + Extraction is a real possibility. So, truly, Surgical is pulling "double duty" as a graveyard removal and pseudo-land destruction/removal of problem cards (i.e. Ad Nauseam).
By all means comments, questions and suggestions are more than welcome.
Been enjoying Grixis Shadow for a few weeks now and I fully understand the power of a free cantrip that draws us into our threats and also makes our shadows bigger / fuels delve. However I've been thinking about Grixis as a shell for DS and it feels like a lot of games we shock/thoughtseize and snap thoughtseize our life total fairly easily without much help and I've often drawn Street Wraiths when I no longer could afford the 2 dmg and didn't want to hard cast it, and these are often games where I'm not overly wreckless when fetching colors out.
If we were to trim or cut Street Wraiths in this shell it would slow down the deck a little bit, yes this is a drawback.
But it would allow for more slots to play interaction which could add resiliency. Is a loss in speed worth that?
We would feel a little less threat dense if Street Wraith were cut for interaction and not another threat like delvers were/are in some lists.
But we still have 8 can trips and lots of ways to grind until we draw a delve creature or a DS.
What are thoughts on this? Am I crazy? Would it only work in some metas (less tron, more grindy)?
Yeah, I've been coming across a lot of places where I've wanted a TBR lately. Lots of tokens and go-wide decks on MTGO. I actually feel like the TBR should be main decked. It's kinda like Twin back in the day, you want the ability to blitz out a quick win in game 1 if you're against a deck you need to race, but if it's a grindy matchup you can just side them out. I think I'm going to start experimenting with 1 or 2 copies in the main.
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Modern 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
What's your favorite land hate? I personally think Boom/Bust could be strong but I haven't tested it. Thoughts?
I personally haven't been playing any LD. I tried 2 Ceremonious Rejection in the board for Tron and really like them. The LD just feels too slow, although Boom//Bust is interesting. The cool thing there is that in grindy games where you don't have any more lands to fetch out, you can just destroy your extra fetches you don't need anymore.
One thing I'm sure everyone's noticed is that this deck has a huge weakness to enchantments, which should come as no surprise to anyone that's played a Grixis deck in Modern before. The only efficient answers in our colors are Set Adrift or Kiora's Dismissal. Does anyone think it's worth running a card this narrow for things like Leylines, RiP, Blood Moon, Bitterblossom, etc.?
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Modern 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
Yeah, Leyline of Sanctity is definitely the one that's been most annoying for me. Discard is the only good way we have to interact with Ad Nauseam because of their Pacts, so a turn 0 Leyline is game over unless you have a really fast hand. Echoing Truth is interesting, I might try that.
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Modern 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
Yeah, Leyline of Sanctity is definitely the one that's been most annoying for me. Discard is the only good way we have to interact with Ad Nauseam because of their Pacts, so a turn 0 Leyline is game over unless you have a really fast hand. Echoing Truth is interesting, I might try that.
I've found countermagic to be quite good vs. Ad Nauseum, especially when combined with the discard. Forcing them to have a 3 card combo instead of a 2 card combo has plenty of value, and often you get to rip their hand apart with Thoughtseize + Snap + Thoughtseize, so they don't have a pact anyway. And when they do have turn 0 leyline, you at least still have some interaction. I'm pretty sure the only match I've lost vs. Ad Nauseum with my counter heavy build involved my opponent resolving a Dragonlord Dromoka. (P.S.: Keep a Terminate or 2 in post board, just for that. I always do, but I didn't draw it then)
So I had a guy arguing with me on Todd Steven's stream chat saying that Grixis DS is 60/40 favored against UW Control. That seems laughably wrong to me, but I'm interested in other people's experiences, seeing as how we don't have that matchup on the primer. It seems like a really bad matchup to me, especially the versions running Condemn.
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Modern 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
Yeah, that's pretty much what I said. The guy saying it was a positive matchup was saying that they'll flood more since they play more lands and we can just thoughtseize their answers, but I don't see the majority of games going that way. The times I have beaten UW Control were when I picked their hand apart and dropped an early threat and killed them before they found another answer, but the majority of my games against the deck have been them just having more answers than I can discard or counter, and then they Rev for a bunch, or drop Elspeth, or drop Crucible and destroy all my lands.
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Modern 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
In that case what would be the best cards to side against the control match up? In Delver it was AV/Painful Truths and trying to outgrind them with value but that might be harder for DS to do.
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And I definitely think we've yet to completely solve matchups due to how new the deck is and potential variance and it'll be solved more as everyone gets more reps in. I definitely do feel like my affinity opponents had plating+etched champion in every game though:p
3x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Lightning Bolt
2x Stubborn Denial
1x Terminate
4x Thought Scour
Sorcery
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Serum Visions
4x Thoughtseize
Creature
4x Death's Shadow
1x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Street Wraith
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Painful Truths
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Countersquall
2x Kozilek's Return
2x Molten Rain
2x Collective Brutality
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Terminate
Merfolk Wizards AKA "Wizards of the Coast"
Decklist
Round 1 vs Grixis Shadow: Draw 0-0-1
My opp was slow with his choices and that is the reason we went to time in the 3rd match. First game we were both really low in life and he just happened to have Bolt, Snap, Bolt to finish me off. Game 2 he flooded while I drew all the good stuff and killed his shadow and angler and killed him with my double shadow. Game 3 was slow and we flooded except he drew Liliana quite late but neither of us had threats to finish each other off.
Round 2 vs Biovisionary Combo: 1-0-1
Not much to say about this one other than I had counters and kill spells for the visionary and mirrorweave. Easy match.
Round 3 vs WB Tokens: 1-1-1
Tokens doing what they do best, casting spirits and virtues and flying in for lots of damage to kill me because I was killing myself for big shadows. He had Auriok Champions to block all day long. I did fetch incorrectly and was unable to cast Anger to wipe his tokens but that did not solve the Champion issue. I needed more threats to punch through his defense.
Round 4 vs 8 Rack: 1-2-1
Thoughtseized his bridge and rack and killed him with snap beats while he drew nothing to deal with them. Game 2 he landed bridge and some racks and I was dead after that. Game 3 went about the same as 2 except I forgot to not fetch because I left EE on top to deal with a rack and affliction. He had a bridge but I had a few answers left in deck to destroy a bridge and attack for lethal.
Round 5 vs Scrap Trawlololololer Combo: 1-3-1
Thoughtseize and discard did close to nothing good unless it hit KCI. He combo'd the turn before I was going to kill him with shadows. Game 2 I killed myself a lot but managed to thoughtseize and surgical away his KCI's. I failed to draw threats and he was able to kill me with Trawler and Ballista.
Conclusion: It really sucks killing yourself and failing to find shadows to cast in this deck. I really don't like that aspect which is why the Jund version is so consistent and works well with the shadow synergy. I might take a Delver version for a spin instead. It seems like it would be a good idea to have another threat which doesn't require you kill yourself for nothing. Also to note my sideboard is missing some recommended cards but I don't have them so I had to slot other things. I would definitely try to up the count of other cards instead of spreading it out with a lot of 1 of's.
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
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Gurmag Angler
Spells (25)
3x Fatal Push
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Lightning Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Stubborn Denial
4x Thought Scour
4x Thoughtseize
2x Mana Leak
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 Kolaghan's Command
1x Stubborn Denial
1x Fatal Push
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Countersquall
1x Terminate
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
Hey everyone, here is my updated list that I'm currently running. I lowered my bolt count to just 1 now because I'm finding that bolt just doesn't cut it when it comes to premium removal. There are many times when I see a eldrazi or a x/4 creature and I can't remove it. Don't get me wrong, I still think bolt snap bolt is an awesome combo. I now have been testing 2 mana leaks instead and its been working great. Being able to counter their turn 2, 3, even 4 play is huge and it also fills the graveyard with delve.
When I first started playing this deck I tried to play the shadow jund game by killing myself quick and try to put a shadow down but it was never consistent. What I've noticed after 50+ games with deck is that you want to be more of a tempo deck and less aggro. My win percentage across a lot of matchup's improved quite a bit. And mana leak in this deck is actually really good. Countering a turn 2 thought knot or a sylvan scrying is awesome. I plan on taking testing this deck list more and I'll give you all the results after.
Hello friend, glad to see you have joined the movement! Personally, I don't like the full 8 discard spells. Currently I play 4 'seize and 2 inquisition and love how it plays. Good solid list though for sure!
About Mana Leak, I will attempt it this weekend possibly, but I'm just loving my current list so much I'm not sure what to take out for them.
On EE, that seems like a fantastic card choice. I may have to attempt to pick a few up myself.
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
That's my broad thinking, and it's partially motivated by Mana Leak being good enough at helping us play the tempo role. If the card turns out to be too inconsistent, then it's obviously not a good plan to take the tempo stance even if in some ideal world it makes more sense - for example I would not advocate Mana Leak in Delver because that deck can't close as fast. My biggest complaint about the card is that it doesn't help much in our truly bad matchups: Bant Eldrazi, over-the-top midrange (think the stubborn Abzan player), UWx and probably also Grixis control, Dredge, and (I'm taking BloodyRabbit's word for it because I haven't played this matchup) Living End. It's more likely to be dead in these matchups because they have extra mana floating around, or Cavern of Souls, or Aether Vial, or it's Dredge. But I don't think there's much to be done about most of these matchups without huge sacrifices, and I do think Leak gives us a lot of percentage points against enough other decks that this is worthwhile: Tron variants, Valakut, and other big mana decks, Storm, Ad Nauseum, and other spell based combo decks, Burn, Prison and other Blood Moon decks, etc. It's less good but still pretty good vs most midrange decks, including the Death's Shadow decks. Nothing beats the top of their deck like countermagic.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
4 Bloodstaind Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Blood Crypt
2 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Gurmag Angler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
1 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Collective Brutality
Throwing my 2 cents in here. This is the most fun I've had playing a modern deck since Splinter Twin. I really like the main deck configuration and don't know if there's much that I would want to change. I added a second Terminate in the main because of EldraziTron and Bant Eldrazi. (Local meta is filled with Eldrazi right now). If Eldrazi became unpopular, I could see removing it and replacing with the 3rd Lightning Bolt. Aside from this, I like the main. Concern for me replacing Bolts and discard for cards like Mana Leak are that you are increasing your 2 CMC cards. I feel like this is a deck that wants to have multiple plays in the early turns (example: Thought Scour & Gurmag Angler on turn 2. Mana Leak, while being a solid card, is quite reactive and typically stronger in the early turns; turns in which I want to establish board position. Which I suppose is my argument for Disdainful Stroke. I don't need to worry about using this card until later in the game. And most cards I want to counter are 4 CMC or higher typically. If not, chances are they can be Pushed or I'm not entirely worried about it. I could be convinced though that Stroke is wrong.
Not so sure-ables:
Izzet Staticaster: Could be just a second sweeper. Aside from Lingering Souls most small/go wide creatures increase their toughness through cards like Intangible Virtue or Elvish Archdruid. Makes me think Return or even Radiant Flames would be a better choice.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver: I wanted to test it out. So far I've only brought it in against EldraziTron. I stole a Thought-Knot Seer which felt incredible. Not convinced it is as good as it felt then though. I'd assume creature based decks like Company variants and perhaps BGx decks it could do some work. Thought was that, yes they play Abrupt Decay, but if the only good targets are Death's Shadow Do they even keep it in? My assumption is that they would keep their Pushes and Paths instead.
Graveyard Shenanigans: I played Fulminator Mage in DSJund and Grixis Jund. I didn't like tapping out to play it, so I'm trying a different route. Discard + Surgical Extraction is what I'm testing out. Also, Though Scour + Extraction is a real possibility. So, truly, Surgical is pulling "double duty" as a graveyard removal and pseudo-land destruction/removal of problem cards (i.e. Ad Nauseam).
By all means comments, questions and suggestions are more than welcome.
If we were to trim or cut Street Wraiths in this shell it would slow down the deck a little bit, yes this is a drawback.
But it would allow for more slots to play interaction which could add resiliency. Is a loss in speed worth that?
We would feel a little less threat dense if Street Wraith were cut for interaction and not another threat like delvers were/are in some lists.
But we still have 8 can trips and lots of ways to grind until we draw a delve creature or a DS.
What are thoughts on this? Am I crazy? Would it only work in some metas (less tron, more grindy)?
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 personally haven't been playing any LD. I tried 2 Ceremonious Rejection in the board for Tron and really like them. The LD just feels too slow, although Boom//Bust is interesting. The cool thing there is that in grindy games where you don't have any more lands to fetch out, you can just destroy your extra fetches you don't need anymore.
One thing I'm sure everyone's noticed is that this deck has a huge weakness to enchantments, which should come as no surprise to anyone that's played a Grixis deck in Modern before. The only efficient answers in our colors are Set Adrift or Kiora's Dismissal. Does anyone think it's worth running a card this narrow for things like Leylines, RiP, Blood Moon, Bitterblossom, etc.?
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
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've found countermagic to be quite good vs. Ad Nauseum, especially when combined with the discard. Forcing them to have a 3 card combo instead of a 2 card combo has plenty of value, and often you get to rip their hand apart with Thoughtseize + Snap + Thoughtseize, so they don't have a pact anyway. And when they do have turn 0 leyline, you at least still have some interaction. I'm pretty sure the only match I've lost vs. Ad Nauseum with my counter heavy build involved my opponent resolving a Dragonlord Dromoka. (P.S.: Keep a Terminate or 2 in post board, just for that. I always do, but I didn't draw it then)
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
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