I've been trying out SFA in my flash list for a while, it's fine-ish. In general the flash list has been performing very well, but at the end of the day I would still just take a Geist list to a big tournament as it can just spike the odds the best. Modern is so diverse right now that your best bet is still to just end a blind game 1 asap, even if geist is clunky in a ton of matchups currently.
Saw a 5-0 list on MTGGoldfish that had a couple of Rattlechains to protect Spell Queller and give Geist of Saint Traft flash. Maybe something to consider to make Geist less awkward with some upside.
The problem with chart a course and creatures with prowess is that those creatures want damage to be dealt after resolving spells, and chart wants you to cast it after damage.
Isn't geist and pyromancer a bit too slow for this deck?
Geist is inherently fast and the average kill turn, even with the fastest decks -and I was playing one of the more aggressive ones-, is turn 4 to turn 5. So pyromancer might be, but geist certainly isn't.
Most lists here are running only Swiftspears as creatures with prowess, so the 2 or 3 Chart a Course you'll be running don't impact them as much. The upside of Chart is getting 2 cards for 2 mana, which helps with racing and keeping up or recovering card advantage. Even without attacking Chart is relevant, it provides much needed velocity/card selection and finding your land drops.
Personally, I'm more than satisfied with Young Pyro in my list, which runs on 18 lands easily. At 19 I felt I was flooding too much even before Opt and Chart.
Good point about land count with chart/opt/serum visions. It is often very easy to keep a one land hand and find a second and/or third land rather quickly with that amount of deck velocity. I also agree that a lot of players are playing Young P as a 2 of and treating like a two drop with a permanent "prowess token". It is a bit slow in some matchups, but it interacts so well with the rest of the deck it's a worthy inclusion. It is also very good in several of our worst matchups. After singing its praises, I still don't personally prefer it over swiftspear, but I wouldn't fault anyone for running it.
Another member by the name AshtonKutcher who is a prominent poster and tempo player on MTG Salvation, just posted his jeskai list on the WUR delver forum. He utilizes 4 copies of Disrupting Shoal. It made me wonder if shoal is actually better now with the inclusion of Chart a Course. Chart mitigates the card loss and gives a another 2 drop blue spell you can pitch. I prefer the aggro-control style game plan over a pure tempo gameplan, but I do think shoal gained a lot of power with the advent of chart a course. What do you all think?
4 Shoal seems to be too much. In a lean blue Delver deck your main choices to counter are probably going to be 1 or 2 CMC with a sprinkle of 3. I think Shoal should be a supplemental counter spell along with a more primary counterspell (Logic Knot, Remand). If you use Chart a Course, you can always discard Shoal if you don't need the card in game 1 of a matchup. Multiple Shoals in hand just seems bad IMO.
While I like that Jeff is taking on a true Jeskai PROWESS list, I am not a fan of the deck construction and gameplan. The true power of the jeskai prowess/delver deck typically comes in it's efficiency and spell density. I could definitely see this style of list working with 4 Chart a Course or back in the Treasure Cruise and or Gitaxian Probe days, but in terms of a "kill them quickly" style deck I think burn is just a more efficient build. In addition, I don't know if I would want to play a aggro list with only 4 one drop creatures (sources of continual damage). Jim Davis's build was a bit more successful because it had 4 Goblin Guides and 4 gitaxian probes.
This deck also lacks the ability to become a more midrange/control style deck when it needs to. It's a different style of deck than most jeskai prowess builds. That's not to say all jeskai builds have to do this, but it is a built in strength of the jeskai delver build.
I have actually talked to Jeff about the list and my list (via PM on twitch, I don't know him personally). He is a huge fan of Mantis Rider and said he wouldn't play jeskai without him. That's totally reasonable because mantis rider is well positioned right now. If you watch his streams, he is also a huge fan of being as linear as possibly in modern. That explains the reasoning behind the decks construction as is. I just don't know if the all in prowess style build is viable right now without Gitaxian Probe. Chart a Course could possibly fill that hole or a build around Monastery Mentor might work, but I have no idea. I haven't tested anything like that. What do you guys/gals think?
I agree. I've been going back to the 'Jeskai Well' and I've been trying to figure out how to make the following cards work in an aggro/midrange shell: Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Spell Queller, Chart a Course, and Young Pyromancer. Other cards I would love to consider would be Monastery Mentor, Search for Azcanta, and Disrupting Shoal. I think there exists a deck that can effectively utilize Chart a Course to make up the any card disadvantage pitching cards Disrupting Shoal. Here was a list I tried last week:
I only have tried this list once and Chart a Course felt great especially with Elemental tokens. I didn't like Swiftspear because it seems like a dead late game and this deck is very grindy. I drew against GDS because our game 2 took so long. You can pitch Shoal to Chart a Course if the matchup is crap for a card like Shoal. The deck seems like it would have a really bad matchup against big mana decks. I don't know where to go from here. I would love to replace the Swiftspears with 4 Mantis Riders but I think that would slow down the deck too much but the deck does play on the slower side so maybe I need to shift the deck to a more midrangey/control/later game deck. The card advantage, the card filtering, and the grindiness of the deck is its strength. Deck is super fun to play. If you can Shoal something game 1 in a matchup you can bet Shoal is in the back of your opponent's mind when you play game 2 & 3. I'm open to suggestions but I really want to make Shoal and Chart of Course work in a Jeskai shell.
Deadeye Tracker: I am expecting God-Pharaoh's Gift to still be a deck. It is also true that control with Torrential Gearhulk will most likely still be a thing. Tracker is one of the best graveyard hate cards for the deck to run since it gives us card advantage while hating the opponent's graveyard. It being a Pirate is gravy.
Metallic Mimic: Ramunap Red will also still be a deck. One of the best ways I have found to go against this deck is to make the Tempo deck go a little bigger. A single Mimic turns a Fathom Fleet Captain into an army of 3/3 Menace creatures. 2 Mimics, and it's an army of 4/4s. Mimic could also be good in the mirror as a way to try to go over the top for as small an investment as possible.
Duress: Honestly just making sure that after sideboard against Control we have the full playset of Duress to compliment our Kitesail Freebooters.
Bontu's Last Reckoning: Probably this deck's best possible answer to Carnage Tyrant. The ramp deck will likely have too many small ram creatures in play for Doomfall to get our intended target, but BLR has the added benefit of dealing with Tyrant, while also killing all of our opponent's ramp dudes. It's a good 1-2 punch.
Vraska's Contempt: We need a way to deal with Planeswalkers, and this is probably our best option. Now why Contempt over Never // Return? The answer is simple. The exile clause on Contempt makes it very useful as a sidebaord removal spell to help us deal with Hazoret the Fervent which will be a HUGE thorn in the side of this deck if it can't be dealt with.
Walk the Plank: There will be some match ups where we just need more cheap efficient removal, so we go up to the full playset of Walk the PLanks.
I like it. Personally, I like a t1 Duress so I would probably be looking to go at least 2 in the main with your same list and trim down 1 Fell Flagship. That would give us 6 total pieces of noncreature, nonland hand hate by turn 2. But your list looks great. Sideboard is frequent to change but there is a lot of flexibility to include more blue cards if needed. All depends on how the meta shakes out. Spell Pierce might not be a bad inclusion in the side.
I like Paulo's build but I'm not a fan of Walk the Plank. I would rather have a bigger catch all like Vraska's Contempt or Never // Return. I like Paulo's land base. I hate the Submerged Boneyards in Saffon's list. Overall, I like both. I think a deck is there. I will post more decks if I come across them.
I really like Paulo's list too, with my only change being to maybe find room for a 3rd Daring Saboteur. That card is all kinds of nuts.
However I think Walk the Plank is the best removal spell the deck has access too. I don't know why you would want to replace it with something that costs 4 or 3 mana. That just seems like bad practice
Because the deck is aggro tempo, I think the deck should be able to enable the revolt trigger reliably to where Fatal Push will be a good catch all for the first 1 - 5/6 turns. It depends on how the meta shakes out but Never // Return gives you the flexibility to hit Planeswalkers as well as hit key cards in the the opponents graveyard (if that turns out to be a thing) and Vraska's Contempt allows you to exile creatures (great against any deck that uses gods) & planeswalkers at instant speed. Walk the Plank is a good card but it is double black, at sorcery speed, and just not as flexible as the other cards. If you know the meta and you don't have to worry about Planeswalkers and/or gods, then Walk the Plank is the way to go. If you do, then adjust accordingly.
I like Paulo's build but I'm not a fan of Walk the Plank. I would rather have a bigger catch all like Vraska's Contempt or Never // Return. I like Paulo's land base. I hate the Submerged Boneyards in Saffon's list. Overall, I like both. I think a deck is there. I will post more decks if I come across them.
My local meta is oversaturated with midrange decks. Any advice for the main or sideboard to try and skew advantage points towards beating these decks? I've been playing GDS before the list became streamlined and have run into a bit of a wall against midrange at my local LGS. It is starting to frustrate me but I realize that I'm already at a bit of disadvantage from the get go. Your input would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I agree with moving Fevered Visions to the sideboard for the more grindy matchups. Pull from Tomorrow seems like a good late game card but I see it more as a sideboard card. People have been saying Hazoret the Fervent has been underwhelming but I really like the idea of curving into him. However, if Grasp of Darkness becomes prevalent then I'm not so sure Hazoret is the right call in this deck. I plan on playing the rest of this standard cycle with this deck even though I'm mainly a Modern player just because the deck is so fun to play. I'm hoping the new tools the deck provides will help give it a low t1/high t2 status.
Went 4-0 last night with my version of Grixis Shadow. Beat Jund, Elves, and Burn twice. Burn is by far the worst matchup for my deck so I probably got lucky winning twice in one night. Per usual, here is the decklist that I brought to the party:
Only changes I made was -1 Ceremonious Rejection and +1 Collective Brutality in the sideboard to help out with the Burn matchup since it seems to be more prevalent at my LGS.
My deck for the purposes of discussion. I am a Delver of Secrets over Death's Shadow kind of guy and have been playing this deck extreme well the past month and a half.
Went 3-0-1 last night and took down first place. Beat Esper Blade (think of it as an Esper Control deck) 2-0, beat Merfolk 2-0, tied Kiki Chord 1-1, and beat Affinity 2-0. Changes that I'll make is -1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang main, +1 Terminate main, and +1 Nihil Spellbomb (would eventually like to have 2 in the sideboard and would remove the Crumble to Dust to do so). Like I've been advocating to my friends and other forum threads, I like Delver of Secrets more than Street Wraith in Grixis Shadow. Other people's counterpoint is that they want to treat the Grixis DS version like the Jund and Abzan variant but the deck just plays slower and differently than the other two. I like having the extra threats in Delver of Secrets and am using Death's Shadow more as a replacement for Young Pyromancer more than anything else.
Thank you for your feedback. I wasn't really asking about Street Wraith. I meant going with Death's Shadow (without Street Wraith which I don't find necessary in a Delver list) versus the more typical route of Young Pyromancer.
The way I see the Delver with DS lists is a Delver deck that plays a Death's Shadow as another resilient finisher with a real clock.
I think if you put DS in a Delver list it would be better to bring a suite of hand hate cards as opposed to a counter spell suite. DS rewards you for life loss which is why Thoughtseize is so strong in the DS shells.
I was wondering how do you feel about the Grixis Delver with Death's Shadow with discard vs Young Pyromancer with Counterspells? What are the pros and cons of one and the other? Would one play each version differently?
The purpose of Death's Shadow, in general, is to give midrange decks some help with against their weaker matchups, big mana decks (Tron, Valakut, etc.). That is why people are maining Street Wraith so that they can get a Shadow down by turn 2 and start putting a clock on their opponent. Street Wraiths work well against most decks expect the ones that are trying to burn you out. I personally don't see Tron at my local meta so I don't need to try and threaten them with a turn 2 Death's Shadow. I also felt between the fetches and the Thoughtseizes that it wasn't hard to get my life low anyways so the Street Wraiths are a bit redundant since Grixis has access to Serum Visions, Thought Scour, and Kolaghan's Command to help dig/recur some of the answers you need.
For me personally and at my local meta, having the extra threats in Delver of Secrets is better for my deck than losing life, cycling at instant speed, and the little bit of consistency you get with card replacement in Street Wraith. Street Wraith would probably be the better option if you are going to a big event without knowing what you opponent is playing. For my meta that sees little to no Tron decks, Delver of Secrets is the way to go. On top of that, I have yet to lose against RG Scapeshift with Delver in the main so I'll continue on with what I am doing.
I guess we'll keep talking about it here until someone wants to make a primer.
I like it, I tried Rise//Fall but I decided to go for the forth bolt. Most lists are running 2-3 bolts because Push is that good, but Snap Bolt Snap is still viable, and it makes starting hands with multiple snapcasters as your only threat not feel as bad. I wish I had some room for an extra terminate in the main but I don't think I could go with only one K Command. How is it working for you?
I'm still tempted to do something awful and have Street Wraiths in the side to swap out with Delvers. I'm pretty sure it's an awful idea but Wraith just makes your shadows that much better when you're playing against a deck that doesn't do fast amounts of damage to you.
Street Wraith feels bad in Grixis Shadow. Played 3-4 competitions with it and didn't have as much success as I am having with the Delver of Secrets. I really like the additional threat in Delver of Secrets as well as trying to bait out removal early game to protect my Shadows in the mid to later game. As for mainboard, I moved one Lightning Bolt to the sideboard and mainboarded the additional Kolaghan's Command. Seems like the appropriate call for my local meta. Went 3-1 last night as was close to going 4-0. Hand hate plus Death's Shadow feels better than Young Pyromancer plus counter magic.
First of, nice article!
I've been wondering why you left out spirits as they are a really good and fun to play tempo deck in my opinion.
On your Grixis Delver list, do you think that 2 copies of Ceremonious Rejection are really worth it? I would rather play one additional Thoughtseize/Countersquall to fight Tron as there's always that one game against Eldrazi where an opposing Cavern makes all of our counters obsolet so i try to board them out completely. However, i can see it beeing good against Eldrazi Tron and of course straight Tron too.
The second card i don't really like is Electrolyze. I mean it always comes down to your local meta but it just feels soooo slow against most of the field. Would rather run some additional Pushes/Terminates.
Looking forward reading more of your articles though!
Ceremonious Rejection is also good against Lantern Control, Affinity, and Eldrazi. Yes Cavern sucks when they get it but CR is too good against the Eldrazi deck if they don't draw into it.
Saw a 5-0 list on MTGGoldfish that had a couple of Rattlechains to protect Spell Queller and give Geist of Saint Traft flash. Maybe something to consider to make Geist less awkward with some upside.
4 Shoal seems to be too much. In a lean blue Delver deck your main choices to counter are probably going to be 1 or 2 CMC with a sprinkle of 3. I think Shoal should be a supplemental counter spell along with a more primary counterspell (Logic Knot, Remand). If you use Chart a Course, you can always discard Shoal if you don't need the card in game 1 of a matchup. Multiple Shoals in hand just seems bad IMO.
I agree. I've been going back to the 'Jeskai Well' and I've been trying to figure out how to make the following cards work in an aggro/midrange shell: Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Spell Queller, Chart a Course, and Young Pyromancer. Other cards I would love to consider would be Monastery Mentor, Search for Azcanta, and Disrupting Shoal. I think there exists a deck that can effectively utilize Chart a Course to make up the any card disadvantage pitching cards Disrupting Shoal. Here was a list I tried last week:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Spell Queller
1 Vendilion Clique
Sorceries (7)
4 Serum Visions
3 Chart a Course
Instants (18)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Opt
3 Path to Exile
2 Logic Knot
2 Disrupting Shoal
2 Spell Pierce
1 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Path to Exile
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear // Tear
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Engineered Explosives
I only have tried this list once and Chart a Course felt great especially with Elemental tokens. I didn't like Swiftspear because it seems like a dead late game and this deck is very grindy. I drew against GDS because our game 2 took so long. You can pitch Shoal to Chart a Course if the matchup is crap for a card like Shoal. The deck seems like it would have a really bad matchup against big mana decks. I don't know where to go from here. I would love to replace the Swiftspears with 4 Mantis Riders but I think that would slow down the deck too much but the deck does play on the slower side so maybe I need to shift the deck to a more midrangey/control/later game deck. The card advantage, the card filtering, and the grindiness of the deck is its strength. Deck is super fun to play. If you can Shoal something game 1 in a matchup you can bet Shoal is in the back of your opponent's mind when you play game 2 & 3. I'm open to suggestions but I really want to make Shoal and Chart of Course work in a Jeskai shell.
I like it. Personally, I like a t1 Duress so I would probably be looking to go at least 2 in the main with your same list and trim down 1 Fell Flagship. That would give us 6 total pieces of noncreature, nonland hand hate by turn 2. But your list looks great. Sideboard is frequent to change but there is a lot of flexibility to include more blue cards if needed. All depends on how the meta shakes out. Spell Pierce might not be a bad inclusion in the side.
Because the deck is aggro tempo, I think the deck should be able to enable the revolt trigger reliably to where Fatal Push will be a good catch all for the first 1 - 5/6 turns. It depends on how the meta shakes out but Never // Return gives you the flexibility to hit Planeswalkers as well as hit key cards in the the opponents graveyard (if that turns out to be a thing) and Vraska's Contempt allows you to exile creatures (great against any deck that uses gods) & planeswalkers at instant speed. Walk the Plank is a good card but it is double black, at sorcery speed, and just not as flexible as the other cards. If you know the meta and you don't have to worry about Planeswalkers and/or gods, then Walk the Plank is the way to go. If you do, then adjust accordingly.
Channel Fireball: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
2 Daring Saboteur
1 Fell Flagship
2 Ruin Raider
4 Hostage Taker
2 Scarab God
4 Fatal Push
3 Duress
2 Walk the Plank
4 Lookout's Dispersal
Lands (24)
7 Island
7 Swamp
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Field of Ruin
Mtggoldfish: Saffron Olive
4 Deadeye Tracker
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Ruin Raider
4 Dreamcaller Siren
3 Hostage Taker
1 Dire Fleet Ravager
3 Fatal Push
2 Never // Return
2 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
Lands (23)
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
3 Island
4 Submerged Boneyard
4 Swamp
4 Unclaimed Territory
I like Paulo's build but I'm not a fan of Walk the Plank. I would rather have a bigger catch all like Vraska's Contempt or Never // Return. I like Paulo's land base. I hate the Submerged Boneyards in Saffon's list. Overall, I like both. I think a deck is there. I will post more decks if I come across them.
4 Advanced Stitchwing
4 Bloodrage Brawler
4 Elder Deep-Fiend
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stitchwing Skaab
2 Wretched Gryff
Instants (6)
4 Kozilek's Return
2 Lightning Axe
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Tormenting Voice
Land (24)
2 Highland Lake
6 Island
4 Mountain
4 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Wandering Fumarole
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Dispel
2 Reduce // Rubble
4 Fevered Visions
2 Lightning Axe
2 Magma Spray
2 Negate
I agree with moving Fevered Visions to the sideboard for the more grindy matchups. Pull from Tomorrow seems like a good late game card but I see it more as a sideboard card. People have been saying Hazoret the Fervent has been underwhelming but I really like the idea of curving into him. However, if Grasp of Darkness becomes prevalent then I'm not so sure Hazoret is the right call in this deck. I plan on playing the rest of this standard cycle with this deck even though I'm mainly a Modern player just because the deck is so fun to play. I'm hoping the new tools the deck provides will help give it a low t1/high t2 status.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Instants (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Land (19)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
2 Collective Brutality
1 Fulminator Mage
Only changes I made was -1 Ceremonious Rejection and +1 Collective Brutality in the sideboard to help out with the Burn matchup since it seems to be more prevalent at my LGS.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Instants (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Land (19)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
1 Collective Brutality
1 Fulminator Mage
My deck for the purposes of discussion. I am a Delver of Secrets over Death's Shadow kind of guy and have been playing this deck extreme well the past month and a half.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Instants (15)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Land (19)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Fatal Push
1 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Collective Brutality
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Crumble to Dust
Went 3-0-1 last night and took down first place. Beat Esper Blade (think of it as an Esper Control deck) 2-0, beat Merfolk 2-0, tied Kiki Chord 1-1, and beat Affinity 2-0. Changes that I'll make is -1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang main, +1 Terminate main, and +1 Nihil Spellbomb (would eventually like to have 2 in the sideboard and would remove the Crumble to Dust to do so). Like I've been advocating to my friends and other forum threads, I like Delver of Secrets more than Street Wraith in Grixis Shadow. Other people's counterpoint is that they want to treat the Grixis DS version like the Jund and Abzan variant but the deck just plays slower and differently than the other two. I like having the extra threats in Delver of Secrets and am using Death's Shadow more as a replacement for Young Pyromancer more than anything else.
I think if you put DS in a Delver list it would be better to bring a suite of hand hate cards as opposed to a counter spell suite. DS rewards you for life loss which is why Thoughtseize is so strong in the DS shells.
The purpose of Death's Shadow, in general, is to give midrange decks some help with against their weaker matchups, big mana decks (Tron, Valakut, etc.). That is why people are maining Street Wraith so that they can get a Shadow down by turn 2 and start putting a clock on their opponent. Street Wraiths work well against most decks expect the ones that are trying to burn you out. I personally don't see Tron at my local meta so I don't need to try and threaten them with a turn 2 Death's Shadow. I also felt between the fetches and the Thoughtseizes that it wasn't hard to get my life low anyways so the Street Wraiths are a bit redundant since Grixis has access to Serum Visions, Thought Scour, and Kolaghan's Command to help dig/recur some of the answers you need.
For me personally and at my local meta, having the extra threats in Delver of Secrets is better for my deck than losing life, cycling at instant speed, and the little bit of consistency you get with card replacement in Street Wraith. Street Wraith would probably be the better option if you are going to a big event without knowing what you opponent is playing. For my meta that sees little to no Tron decks, Delver of Secrets is the way to go. On top of that, I have yet to lose against RG Scapeshift with Delver in the main so I'll continue on with what I am doing.
Street Wraith feels bad in Grixis Shadow. Played 3-4 competitions with it and didn't have as much success as I am having with the Delver of Secrets. I really like the additional threat in Delver of Secrets as well as trying to bait out removal early game to protect my Shadows in the mid to later game. As for mainboard, I moved one Lightning Bolt to the sideboard and mainboarded the additional Kolaghan's Command. Seems like the appropriate call for my local meta. Went 3-1 last night as was close to going 4-0. Hand hate plus Death's Shadow feels better than Young Pyromancer plus counter magic.
Ceremonious Rejection is also good against Lantern Control, Affinity, and Eldrazi. Yes Cavern sucks when they get it but CR is too good against the Eldrazi deck if they don't draw into it.