I agree with your "red the splash color MD" thought process. Only reason I feel we have red for is for temur battle rage main deck, and for sweepers in the side. Having said this, have you swapped to the breeding pool > stomping ground mana base?
The deck definitely wants more threats than 8 big dudes and 4 traverses. You can't count traverse as a whole threat because it usually won't be on in the early turns (when you really want a threat). Flayer is able to be played on turn 2 which is so much more consistent than anything traverse could do.
You're playing the tarfires which do change how consistently traverse is on, but I think that grim flayer fulfills a similar role while also filtering and hitting them. And he gets even better in post board games when he can hit a flashback spell which is crazy.
I'm just not excited to be playing tarfire though. Stubborn denial is such a house in so many matchups whereas tarfire can hopefully kill their guy if your opponent plays creatures at all. #of decks with non creature spells>>> # of decks with x/2's.
I cut an inquisition (as did Reid duke) and a traverse. I know Spooly disagreed on the traverse, but my reasoning is that I felt like we only played 4 before because it was a necessary evil (with only 8 real creatures) and if you drew multiples of them early game they were just awful, and really the 4 traverses only counted as ~2.5 threats anyway. So in those situations I'd rather have a Grim Flayer and always be able to play my threat on turn 2.
I cut an inquisition (as did Reid duke) and a traverse. I know Spooly disagreed on the traverse, but my reasoning is that I felt like we only played 4 before because it was a necessary evil (with only 8 real creatures) and if you drew multiples of them early game they were just awful, and really the 4 traverses only counted as ~2.5 threats anyway. So in those situations I'd rather have a Grim Flayer and always be able to play my threat on turn 2.
I cut 2 LotV to fit in the Flayers. I'm in the midst of writing another article. It won't be 100% about shadow decks, but I'll touch on them and give my most recent list. But the MD is just my regionals 60, -2 LotV, -1 Stomping Ground, -2 Terminate, +2 Dismember, +2 Grim Flayer, +1 Breeding Pool.
So I have some experience testing with Jund DS. Obviously this was the first iteration before Grixis DS and other variants. To be honest, I'm not far away from Grixis DS and that seems like the logical switch. I love getting to play with Tarmogoyf, it's just that eight creatures isn't always enough if your opponent has removal. I currently don't have any Grim Flayers. I'm just wondering if this deck is still viable or if I should just make the switch to Grixis? Is there another creature I can factor in? What makes the most sense? I'd like to play a few times at an LGS before making the gradual switch to Grixis.
It's very viable, just difficult to play and I think that's the main reason why people are hesitant to run it over Grixis. I ran Grixis for months and found it terribly frustrating when it just spun its wheels digging for a threat without results. Traverse, Bauble and Flayer take care of that problem. Keep in mind that Grixis doesn't have that many more threats, they're just more resistant to Push.
I don't think there's anything I'd play over the 2 Flayers right now, they do exactly what we want them to do in our deck even if they don't match up well against some of the big boys in the format. He's not that expensive anymore - just give him a shot and if you don't like it, sell and switch to Grixis. They're both strong decks with different pros and cons. 5C's raw power cannot be understated whereas Grixis grinds better.
Bro, after reading Reid's article yesterday, I was disappointed it wasn't jund. But I went back again and re-read it after my disappointment with several versions of Abzan
I played a list similar to Reid's, except I played 2x Grims, cut 1x LOTV for tarfire, and played 1x dismember over the terminate
Pretty much wrecked everyone today except the Jeskai Breach deck (which obliterated me).
I wasn't loving how complicated the 5 mana base was becoming; I think there's some merit to what Reid says, it should mainly be a 3 color deck with the white splash for lingering souls, since the deck isn't capable of winning without that element of grind. Without worrying about fetching for needed Stubs or Izzet Staticasters I could usually just fetch for the overgrown/stomping ground package and be fine.
I did take a page out of spooly's page and play Hazoret, mainly because I don't want Ranger to be null and void if the shrine gets blown up.
Beat up on Eldrazi & Taxes so hard, it was honestly almost embarrassing
Vizier Elves, in a game 1 I had no business winning mulling to 5 with grim digging for threats and putting him on the backfoot
Whir Lantern
Tokens with a blue splash
Mono White Taxes. Stripped their hand bad. Game 2 they had their hand stripped, vial blown up and stuck on 1 mana
some other bank
I was thoroughly impressed though, especially beating decks like elves and tokens with no boardwipes in the 75.
Reid is certainly right, the deck doesn't grind well but it's openings are pretty crazy, I had some powerful mulls to 5.
I'm not SUPER happy about the 1x tarfire but it was relevant in several games, mainly to turn traverse on and help grim.
This is honestly the first time I've liked Grim Flayer, it's been absolute garbage whenever I play it in Abzan. The deck feels a little smoother with 10 threats but I'm going to keep testing.
My FNM has been very small lately, I think it's a combination of the season holiday and the arctic blast hitting the north east.
I wasn't satisfied with my testing with Reid's list due to the decks I played
Elves
Game 1 I beat elves, had I lost the die roll I don't think I would have won. Game 2 I'm on the backfoot and lose, I think on the play I win. Game 3, I keep a shaky opener that I don't think I would have kept on the draw. He mulls to 6, I take his only mana dork, and noticed he sided in some really awful cards, some kind of junk artifact thats 3 mana and scries or draws an extra card, and some 2 mana artifact that damage me for every elf he has tapped. I just squeeze him on mana and pressure with 2 Shadows. By the time he has mana he's blocking unprofitably and just dies. He was trying to beat me on CA, all I had to do was put in a situation where he had to keep blocking unprofitably.
Jank draft deck
Game 2 I beat some woman who must be new to modern, she's playing a draft deck and I just roll her. I felt bad for her because it obviously wasn't fun. It was basically a free win
Mono Black 8rack
The guy who plays this deck is nice, but it isn't a good deck he plays but it really screws over anything midrange. If this deck doesn't draw lingering souls it just folds, this deck isn't prepared whatsoever for what he plays. I don't consider this a real deck you'd see outside of like the first round of a real tournament.
Cheerios
Game 1 The guy draws like 2 paladins and 2 Srams when I kept getting rid of them. Was pretty annoyed. I started shuffling his deck after seeing this.
Game 2 Grim just dominates him. I drop 2 of them while always keeping removal ready and just dig for answers and throw away my threats
Game 3 I keep a hand I wouldn't keep on the draw. Got pretty scary. I land two early big Shadows. When I got to the point he had to chump a combo piece I felt good. Won it but it was stressful.
The deck does feel good. Grim won 3 games by himself. I still think he sucks in Abzan but the extra 2x threats has been a nice welcome. I was fine with 2x LOTVs, saw her just enough.
Practiced against a guy who wanted to test the new Merfolks out, he beat me 4-1, felt brutal.
I'm not playing any board-wipes, I wonder if I should consider at least 1. Trying to take the Reid Duke philosophy here.
G1: Turn 1 I fetch-shock and inquisition of kozilek, he responds by playing archive trap, milling my 5 remaining mana producing lands off the top. Very unlucky as im stuck on 1 mana producing land for the rest of the game, meaning I cant land a goyf or a big enough shadow in time.
G2: I open with a very good hand with traverse, 2 discards, 2 goyfs and lotv and 1 fetch. Opponent surprises me with a turn 0 leyline of the void, effectively shutting down my goyfs. We go back and forth several turns while i hope to draw a death shadow, and I manage to ultimate a liliana leaving him with few lands. Since my traverse and goyfs were nullified by his leyline, I dont manage to find a shadow in time, end up hard casting a street wraith but its not a fast enough clock. I lose to mill.
R2 2-0 G/W elves
I feel this is a very good matchup, cant recall every detail but with all the removal and discard I keep him off building a strong board. I side in sweepers post board and a liliana, the last hope and take this match with no problems.
R3 2-0 R/Wg Burn
Very fun matchup, I always enjoy this one.
G1: Im on the draw, my opponent opens guide and swings for 2, I push the guide on his second swing and then land a turn 2 goyf, followed by a turn 3 shadow. I win this by dismembering an eidolon, losing 6 life which puts me at a very low life total while he is tapped out with a pair of suspended rift bolt and I swing for lethal.
G2: We play the mind games of not wanting to go low enough to be in range of a single end of turn burst, but I need to grow my shadow. I land a 2/2 shadow which he bolts end of turn but I respond by growing it with a street wraith. luckily I have temur battle rage and a stubborn denial in hand. I safely crack a fetch and go to 4 life and swing for lethal with a 9/9 double strike/trample, I counter his only out which was boros charm. Very enjoyable matchup. I sided in the third stubborn denial and both collective brutality.
R4 2-1 Bant Coco Spirits
G1: I draw the nuts and Turn 1 fetch-shock, cycle two street wraith and thoughtseize taking a path to exile, turn 2 I land two 5/5 death shadows and I feel in a pretty good spot. Unfortunately my opponent draws path to exile 2 and 3 back to back on his turn 1 and 2 and exiling both of my shadows on his turn 2 while I am tapped out after casting both shadows. Im at 8 life and my opponent lands a turn 3 Geist of Saint Traft and Im beaten down due to not having a threat on board.
G2: I have a very good start of goyf followed by shadow after ripping his hand of most relevant things, I push his birds and mana dorks and close this game out with no trouble.
G3: We go back and forth, with my opponent on the drivers seat by disrupting my plays with quellers. We get to a point where im at 5 life with a goyf and im facing a spell queller which has been beating me down for several turns. I have to cast a fizzled fatal push on his queller to turn on delirium so I can traverse the ulvenwald for a fetchland to enable revolt so I can use my second push to get rid of queller. My opponent then reloads his board with a collected company but I have kozileks return and manage to grind him out. I sided in around 10 cards including, triple lingering souls, two collective brutality, liliana, the last hope, radiant flames and kozileks return
Felt pretty good with the deck for an unknown open meta and I think the match against mill was pretty unlucky. All in all the deck has been performing very well. I will start testing Grim flayers next week, and I will test either a 4th Lingering souls or a hazoret in place of ranger of eos.
So what is y’all current 75? I’m looking to take it to FNM to grind some wins. My meta is pretty diverse except recently more tron has been popping up. So I think I have to splash blue to counter those pesky karns.
My buddy and I took the same 75, and we wrote out over 20 sideboad plans. I’m not sure everyone here would want to read through all of that? I can PM you if you really want though.
Round 1: Tron (0-0)
I didn’t start the day off well. I wrote this down very specifically because of how rough it felt. G1 he's on the play, I mull. He plays t1 tower into map. I inquisition him turn 1 taking an ostone and he has mine, dismember, karn, karn left... So all my threats die to karn minus or dismember so I scoop
-7 removal spells and an Inquisition. +5 Counterspells, the Grudges and Pulse.
G2 I mull, inquisition him t1 and see ghost quarter, tower, sylvan scrying, map, karn, karn. I take map. He draws green source, I'm bauble scrying and draw into a goyf and an ancient grudge. He draws into second scrying to get tron online, plays karn t4 killing my goyf and playing an ancient stirrings grabbing wurmcoil (and he has second karn in hand). This match wasn’t close.
Round 2: Bant Eldrazi (0-1)
He’s on the play, and goes to 6. He plays turn 1 forest into Ancient Stirrings. Tron again? He reveals an Eldrazi Skypawner off of it, and I sigh in relief. I start off with a fetch and bauble hand, and I shuffle away the 4th land I had on top while also allowing me to push his t2 noble. I follow up with a goyf on my turn and pass. He draws and passes back without playing a 3rd land. The game doesn’t last much longer as he misses his 3rd land for multiple turns and even when he finally does its too late for him to catch up.
-2 Stubborn, -Grave, -2 IOK, -2 Street Wraith. +Souls, +Shrine, + Pulse, +Radiant Flames.
We both keep 7. I have an Inquisition, Shadow, removal hand and he has 3 lands, a Skyspawner, Displacer, and 2 Thoughtknot Seers. I take the Skypawner hope he misses land drops again. He plays his Displacer which I decay. He misses a turn or 2 on land but he does get a path for my Shadow. My next couple of draws were Thoughtseizes and a Goyf, so I took his Thoughtknot Seers and hoped he would get stuck with a Thragtusk and Drowner of Hope in hand. I get him 8 with the Goyf before he is able to play Thragtusk (which I Flames and Push). He follows up Drowner (which I pulse) and he chumps with one of the tokens. The reason why I list off my removal spells is because he then draws RIP. Which I now have exactly 1 out to now. I’m a lucksack and peel the last Decay off the top on my next drawstep for the RIP and a Lingering Souls the turn after makes sure he can’t come back.
Round 3: Grixis Shadow (1-1)
He is 4 minutes late, so I get a G1 win. Lucky me.
G2 He goes to 6 and is obviously on the play. I Inquisition him turn 1 and he Thoughtscours in response. I then see Shadow, Gurmag, and 3 lands. He is able to play his Gurmag on t3 that I have no answer for, but I do have a T3 5/5 Shadow. He declines on attacking into my Shadow, but I brazenly attack back, and he declines the block. What confuses me is that he then attacks me, putting me to 3 while he is at 12. I shrug, and shock myself on my turn, putting me to 1 and then attack him for exactly 12.
Round 4: GR Devotion (2-1)
I would eventually be told by my friends that I was playing against Brennan Deccandio. I didn’t know who he was before, but while I way playing, I could tell that his play was super tight. I’m not sure I agree on his deck choice (or his general attitude and view on modern after reading some of his articles now) but he played well, at least.
We both keep 7, he’s on the play. I have disruption spell into a threat and I quickly pull him apart while he is forced to play Genesis Wave for 3 and only hits Bird before he dies.
-3 Liliana, -2 Push, -1 Dismember. +5 Counterspells, +1 Pulse.
I took swap the removal and counters in hopes that I can just let him have his ramp, but then hopefully counter his big plays. I know he has Moon though, so I kept the decays.
G2 I made several misplays. T1 I have to Traverse for my swamp so I have a 2nd land. T2 I thoughtseize him twice, taking his last two cards (he played multiple ramp cards in the previous turns). His last two cards were Tireless Tracker and Craterhoof Behemoth. Taking Tracker is obviously right, but I think I shouldn’t have bothered taking the Behemoth. He was nowhere close to casting the card, and I would later get locked out by him ripping Primal Command and starting to loop it with Eternal Witness. If I would have either saved my second hand disruption I would have been able to break the loop, or if I would have just left an uncracked fetch in play I could have at least shuffled and not have to draw the land he put on top for multiple turns. (I had enough land in hand to make sure I could cast my spells, but I needed action). OH well.
G3 is really close and quite long so I dont remember all the details. I know that he was able to bait an abrupt decay on his Tireless Tracker and then follow up with a Moon. I luckily already had a Goyf, Flayer, and my Swamp in play though. But I’m now unable to cast my counterspells for his big plays. There were multiple turns that I had Battlerage in hand, but he was off of death by 1 life, so I played patient, hoping that he would just flood out and I would eventually get to kill him. Hitting him with Flayer every turn did allow me to filter my draws and make sure I could continually draw at least castable spells and break up his Primal Command loops as best as I could. I was eventually able to battlerage to protect one of my threats (because of the first strike) and I just had to hope that he would miss on the next drawstep. I got lucky and was able to close it out.
Round 5: Affinity (3-1)
He wins the roll, but mulligans to 5. He still makes it a game though and plays to his outs. I was probably a little too aggressive with my life total for my Shadow, so there was turn that I opened myself up to dying when he went in with a Ravager, but I had saved a Decay to kill the lethal Ravager and I had Dismember for the Blinkmoth Nexus.
-3 Liliana, -3 Street Wraith, -2 Stubborn, -1 IOK, -1 Grave. +4 Souls, +2 Grudge, +2 Sweepers, +1 Pulse, +1 Shrine.
We both keep 7 this time, but this game isn’t really close. I have a Souls that basically 4 for 1 him, and a Grudge to clean up the rest.
Round 6: Affinity (4-1)
He takes a long time to decide, but we both keep 7. I inquisition T1 and see Ornithopter x3, Mox Opal x2, Thoughtcast, and Hazoret. Uh oh. Well. I really wish I had a Thoughtseize instead of an Inquisition. I take the second Opal, because I’m scared of him playing T1 Thoughtcast into t2 Hazoret. He draws well (Thoughtcast helped) and is able to play and attack with Hazoret on t3 anyway. I drew 2 Liliana of the Veil and no Dismember for his Hazoret, so it doesn’t take long for him to overwhelm me.
G2 Was so long that I wish I would have just conceded earlier to save myself the energy. I draw multiple Lingering Souls and large Goyfs to prevent him from attacking, but he drew multiple Steel Overseers that I didn’t have timely removal spells for. So eventually his board had like 5+ counters on every creature and I’m not sure what I was even drawing to at that point. Once he finally decides to start attacking, it doesn’t take long for him to plow through my 12 Souls tokens.
Round 7: Zoo (4-2)
He goes to 6 and is on the play. He plays T1 Wild Nacatl which I have a push for. He has a follow up creature, but no 2nd land. I thoughtseize and take his only other 1 mana play (he has Herbalist and 2 Bushwackers left). He misses a land drop while I play a Shadow. He’s draws a second land but only has an Herbalist to play. Next turn he plays 3rd land attacks, and Atarka’s Commands putting me pretty low. But I’m able to follow up with enough damage to myself to get to 1 (I have stubborn in hand). He has the bolt, but I stubborn and attack him for 12 which finishes him off.
-2 Liliana, -3 Street Wraith. +2 Sweepers, +2 Stubborn, +1 Pulse.
He goes to 6. My opening hand has 3 Land, a Push, an Inquisition, and 2 Goyfs. Yeah, this game wasn’t close at all. Goyfs were just brick walls while I stabilized and made sure he didn’t have all burn in hand before I start swinging and quickly close the game out.
Round 8: Affinity (5-2)
I win the die roll and have a nice inquisition into Flayer plus removal hand. His hand is kinda mediocre, but it does have 2 Galv Blasts. One of the Blasts hits a small Shadow (Making him 5/5 makes his Blasts kill me). He does draw into a Master of Etherium though so his attacks in the air get better. The next couple of turns we both make huge punts. I have a Goyf on board and draw Liliana which I then minus and only kill an Ornithopter. He finishes off the Liliana, but that puts my Goyf that I drew at 6/7. He then animates his manland and attacks with it, a memnite, and 6/6 Master of Etherium. I’m able to straight eat him master of Etherium, and I go to 1. I draw a push for his manland and attack with just my Flayer, leaving the Goyf back to block his Memnite. After I hit him with the Flayer he says “OK, I go to 4” and I facepalm. He was straight dead on board, and I immediately get punished when he immediately draws the 3rd Galv Blast to kill me.
G2 I again similarly to my first Affinity opponent and have a Lingering Souls that 4 for 1’s him and an Ancient Grudge to clean up.
G3 He mulligans to 5 and plays a turn 1 ornithopter and nothing else. I have 2 hand disruption spells and kill him before he does anything relevant. Better lucky than good, I guess.
Round 9: Affinity (6-2)
Yeah, that's right, I played affinity 4 times. Game 1 I mulligan a hand that has Fetch, Wraith, Shadow, Goyf x2, Liliana x2. I don’t think that hand is keepable, but it haunts me when my 6 hand no lands, and my 5 has 3 land, 2 Goyfs and a Flayer. His hand isn’t crazy, but it's enough to kill me as I only play creatures and draw zero removal spells.
Game 2 We both keep 7, and my hand looks pretty good. I have disruption, Flayer, Souls, and a removal spell. His draw isn’t crazy and it looks like Souls will be enough to put me ahead. He draws and plays Bitterblossom. Hmm. Maybe this will be harder, but it's probably still doable since I also drew a Goyf and with Flayer’s trample I can probably kill him through the Bitterblossom anyway. Then he soon draws and slams Rest In Peace. Well. The name of that card is quite fitting for my Day 2 dreams. It doesn’t take long after that for him to finish me off as all of my pressure is gone and I can no longer flashback souls.
Overall, the deck was amazing, and I don’t think I would change anything other than maaaybe swapping the 3rd Liliana for something else. I think that might be because I played against Affinity 4 times though, so that’s probably not really fair to Lili. I firmly like this deck over Grixis, and I think the only downside is that Bauble triggers and 5c makes playing and sideboarding more complicated.
Thanks for the write up, affinity seems like a favourable matchup but rest in peace competely wrecks our gameplan, even so more with grim flayer included in the treat line up. Id love to see your sideboarding plan so I could compare to my own and we can all learn a thing or two from you. If thats too long, feel free to pm it to me.
Like you, I also enjoy this deck more than grixis and i have not looked back since I switched to 5c
Thanks again for the write up
What's the reason to play Jund Death Shadow over Grixis Death Shadow? Although I like the power level of the individual cards, I feel that Grixis has more staying power.
I participated in the MKM-Series Frankfurt last weekend with Traverse Shadow. I usually play Jund or Abzan but decided to go with Death's Shadow because I was thinking that it is the best GBx deck in the current meta (GB Rock won the tourmanent btw). I dind't have much time to learn the deck, I started the testing around Christmas.
The deckbuilding process was quite difficult as playing 5 colors feels extremely greedy with only 6 lands that can produce mana (and 1 in the sb). I watched Reids video on CFB and liked his list, but definitely wanted to play Dismember, so I cut 1 Push for it. While testing I felt like I needed a second basic land, therefore I cut the 12th fetchland to include a forest. I am still not sure whether that was a mistake or not as I was not punished for that during the tournament, but would like to hear from some more experienced players about this decision.
Record at the trial the day before the main event: 3-1
Record at the main event: 7-3
My losses at the main event came against UW Control, 8-Rack and Grixis Control, I won against Burn (2), Tron, Lantern, Grixis Shadow and an unusual Elves build without CoCo but Lifecrafter's Bestiary instead. I had 1 bye.
I really like the deck against everything but Control and feel I was pretty unlucky to have played against it so often. I currently don't have the time to write an extensive report, but if you have questions about how certain matches went, feel free to ask.
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Yep
You're playing the tarfires which do change how consistently traverse is on, but I think that grim flayer fulfills a similar role while also filtering and hitting them. And he gets even better in post board games when he can hit a flashback spell which is crazy.
I'm just not excited to be playing tarfire though. Stubborn denial is such a house in so many matchups whereas tarfire can hopefully kill their guy if your opponent plays creatures at all. #of decks with non creature spells>>> # of decks with x/2's.
I cut 2 LotV to fit in the Flayers. I'm in the midst of writing another article. It won't be 100% about shadow decks, but I'll touch on them and give my most recent list. But the MD is just my regionals 60, -2 LotV, -1 Stomping Ground, -2 Terminate, +2 Dismember, +2 Grim Flayer, +1 Breeding Pool.
I don't think there's anything I'd play over the 2 Flayers right now, they do exactly what we want them to do in our deck even if they don't match up well against some of the big boys in the format. He's not that expensive anymore - just give him a shot and if you don't like it, sell and switch to Grixis. They're both strong decks with different pros and cons. 5C's raw power cannot be understated whereas Grixis grinds better.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I played a list similar to Reid's, except I played 2x Grims, cut 1x LOTV for tarfire, and played 1x dismember over the terminate
Pretty much wrecked everyone today except the Jeskai Breach deck (which obliterated me).
I wasn't loving how complicated the 5 mana base was becoming; I think there's some merit to what Reid says, it should mainly be a 3 color deck with the white splash for lingering souls, since the deck isn't capable of winning without that element of grind. Without worrying about fetching for needed Stubs or Izzet Staticasters I could usually just fetch for the overgrown/stomping ground package and be fine.
I did take a page out of spooly's page and play Hazoret, mainly because I don't want Ranger to be null and void if the shrine gets blown up.
Beat up on Eldrazi & Taxes so hard, it was honestly almost embarrassing
Vizier Elves, in a game 1 I had no business winning mulling to 5 with grim digging for threats and putting him on the backfoot
Whir Lantern
Tokens with a blue splash
Mono White Taxes. Stripped their hand bad. Game 2 they had their hand stripped, vial blown up and stuck on 1 mana
some other bank
I was thoroughly impressed though, especially beating decks like elves and tokens with no boardwipes in the 75.
Reid is certainly right, the deck doesn't grind well but it's openings are pretty crazy, I had some powerful mulls to 5.
I'm not SUPER happy about the 1x tarfire but it was relevant in several games, mainly to turn traverse on and help grim.
This is honestly the first time I've liked Grim Flayer, it's been absolute garbage whenever I play it in Abzan. The deck feels a little smoother with 10 threats but I'm going to keep testing.
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Marsh Flats
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Godless Shrine
1x Swamp
1x Forest
Creature (14)
4x Death's Shadow
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Grim Flayer
4x Street Wraith
4x Mishra's Bauble
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Thoughtseize
4x Fatal Push
1x Tarfire
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Terminate
2x Temur Battle Rage
1x Dismember
2x Liliana of the Veil
3x Lingering Souls
1x Hazoret the Fervent
2x Collective Brutality
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Ancient Grudge
My FNM has been very small lately, I think it's a combination of the season holiday and the arctic blast hitting the north east.
I wasn't satisfied with my testing with Reid's list due to the decks I played
Elves
Game 1 I beat elves, had I lost the die roll I don't think I would have won. Game 2 I'm on the backfoot and lose, I think on the play I win. Game 3, I keep a shaky opener that I don't think I would have kept on the draw. He mulls to 6, I take his only mana dork, and noticed he sided in some really awful cards, some kind of junk artifact thats 3 mana and scries or draws an extra card, and some 2 mana artifact that damage me for every elf he has tapped. I just squeeze him on mana and pressure with 2 Shadows. By the time he has mana he's blocking unprofitably and just dies. He was trying to beat me on CA, all I had to do was put in a situation where he had to keep blocking unprofitably.
Jank draft deck
Game 2 I beat some woman who must be new to modern, she's playing a draft deck and I just roll her. I felt bad for her because it obviously wasn't fun. It was basically a free win
Mono Black 8rack
The guy who plays this deck is nice, but it isn't a good deck he plays but it really screws over anything midrange. If this deck doesn't draw lingering souls it just folds, this deck isn't prepared whatsoever for what he plays. I don't consider this a real deck you'd see outside of like the first round of a real tournament.
Cheerios
Game 1 The guy draws like 2 paladins and 2 Srams when I kept getting rid of them. Was pretty annoyed. I started shuffling his deck after seeing this.
Game 2 Grim just dominates him. I drop 2 of them while always keeping removal ready and just dig for answers and throw away my threats
Game 3 I keep a hand I wouldn't keep on the draw. Got pretty scary. I land two early big Shadows. When I got to the point he had to chump a combo piece I felt good. Won it but it was stressful.
The deck does feel good. Grim won 3 games by himself. I still think he sucks in Abzan but the extra 2x threats has been a nice welcome. I was fine with 2x LOTVs, saw her just enough.
Practiced against a guy who wanted to test the new Merfolks out, he beat me 4-1, felt brutal.
I'm not playing any board-wipes, I wonder if I should consider at least 1. Trying to take the Reid Duke philosophy here.
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Grim Flayer
4 Street Wraith
4 Death's Shadow
Land
1 Breeding Pool
1 Swamp
1 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Mishra's Bauble
Instant
1 Dismember
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Temur Battle Rage
4 Fatal Push
Sorcery
4 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Planeswalker
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Godless Shrine
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Abrade
1 Golgari Charm
1 Radiant Flames
2 Collective Brutality
3 Lingering Souls
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
R1 0-2 B/U Mill
G1: Turn 1 I fetch-shock and inquisition of kozilek, he responds by playing archive trap, milling my 5 remaining mana producing lands off the top. Very unlucky as im stuck on 1 mana producing land for the rest of the game, meaning I cant land a goyf or a big enough shadow in time.
G2: I open with a very good hand with traverse, 2 discards, 2 goyfs and lotv and 1 fetch. Opponent surprises me with a turn 0 leyline of the void, effectively shutting down my goyfs. We go back and forth several turns while i hope to draw a death shadow, and I manage to ultimate a liliana leaving him with few lands. Since my traverse and goyfs were nullified by his leyline, I dont manage to find a shadow in time, end up hard casting a street wraith but its not a fast enough clock. I lose to mill.
R2 2-0 G/W elves
I feel this is a very good matchup, cant recall every detail but with all the removal and discard I keep him off building a strong board. I side in sweepers post board and a liliana, the last hope and take this match with no problems.
R3 2-0 R/Wg Burn
Very fun matchup, I always enjoy this one.
G1: Im on the draw, my opponent opens guide and swings for 2, I push the guide on his second swing and then land a turn 2 goyf, followed by a turn 3 shadow. I win this by dismembering an eidolon, losing 6 life which puts me at a very low life total while he is tapped out with a pair of suspended rift bolt and I swing for lethal.
G2: We play the mind games of not wanting to go low enough to be in range of a single end of turn burst, but I need to grow my shadow. I land a 2/2 shadow which he bolts end of turn but I respond by growing it with a street wraith. luckily I have temur battle rage and a stubborn denial in hand. I safely crack a fetch and go to 4 life and swing for lethal with a 9/9 double strike/trample, I counter his only out which was boros charm. Very enjoyable matchup. I sided in the third stubborn denial and both collective brutality.
R4 2-1 Bant Coco Spirits
G1: I draw the nuts and Turn 1 fetch-shock, cycle two street wraith and thoughtseize taking a path to exile, turn 2 I land two 5/5 death shadows and I feel in a pretty good spot. Unfortunately my opponent draws path to exile 2 and 3 back to back on his turn 1 and 2 and exiling both of my shadows on his turn 2 while I am tapped out after casting both shadows. Im at 8 life and my opponent lands a turn 3 Geist of Saint Traft and Im beaten down due to not having a threat on board.
G2: I have a very good start of goyf followed by shadow after ripping his hand of most relevant things, I push his birds and mana dorks and close this game out with no trouble.
G3: We go back and forth, with my opponent on the drivers seat by disrupting my plays with quellers. We get to a point where im at 5 life with a goyf and im facing a spell queller which has been beating me down for several turns. I have to cast a fizzled fatal push on his queller to turn on delirium so I can traverse the ulvenwald for a fetchland to enable revolt so I can use my second push to get rid of queller. My opponent then reloads his board with a collected company but I have kozileks return and manage to grind him out. I sided in around 10 cards including, triple lingering souls, two collective brutality, liliana, the last hope, radiant flames and kozileks return
Felt pretty good with the deck for an unknown open meta and I think the match against mill was pretty unlucky. All in all the deck has been performing very well. I will start testing Grim flayers next week, and I will test either a 4th Lingering souls or a hazoret in place of ranger of eos.
Deck was great overall, I loved it. I can write up a tournament report if you guys woild like.
Id love a report!
Yeah, man, that'd be nice to read. Share your sideboard plans too
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Grim Flayer
4 Street Wraith
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Fatal Push
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Dismember
2 Temur Battle Rage
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Swamp
4 Lingering Souls
1 Godless Shrine
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Radiant Flames
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Maelstrom Pulse
My buddy and I took the same 75, and we wrote out over 20 sideboad plans. I’m not sure everyone here would want to read through all of that? I can PM you if you really want though.
Round 1: Tron (0-0)
I didn’t start the day off well. I wrote this down very specifically because of how rough it felt. G1 he's on the play, I mull. He plays t1 tower into map. I inquisition him turn 1 taking an ostone and he has mine, dismember, karn, karn left... So all my threats die to karn minus or dismember so I scoop
-7 removal spells and an Inquisition. +5 Counterspells, the Grudges and Pulse.
G2 I mull, inquisition him t1 and see ghost quarter, tower, sylvan scrying, map, karn, karn. I take map. He draws green source, I'm bauble scrying and draw into a goyf and an ancient grudge. He draws into second scrying to get tron online, plays karn t4 killing my goyf and playing an ancient stirrings grabbing wurmcoil (and he has second karn in hand). This match wasn’t close.
Round 2: Bant Eldrazi (0-1)
He’s on the play, and goes to 6. He plays turn 1 forest into Ancient Stirrings. Tron again? He reveals an Eldrazi Skypawner off of it, and I sigh in relief. I start off with a fetch and bauble hand, and I shuffle away the 4th land I had on top while also allowing me to push his t2 noble. I follow up with a goyf on my turn and pass. He draws and passes back without playing a 3rd land. The game doesn’t last much longer as he misses his 3rd land for multiple turns and even when he finally does its too late for him to catch up.
-2 Stubborn, -Grave, -2 IOK, -2 Street Wraith. +Souls, +Shrine, + Pulse, +Radiant Flames.
We both keep 7. I have an Inquisition, Shadow, removal hand and he has 3 lands, a Skyspawner, Displacer, and 2 Thoughtknot Seers. I take the Skypawner hope he misses land drops again. He plays his Displacer which I decay. He misses a turn or 2 on land but he does get a path for my Shadow. My next couple of draws were Thoughtseizes and a Goyf, so I took his Thoughtknot Seers and hoped he would get stuck with a Thragtusk and Drowner of Hope in hand. I get him 8 with the Goyf before he is able to play Thragtusk (which I Flames and Push). He follows up Drowner (which I pulse) and he chumps with one of the tokens. The reason why I list off my removal spells is because he then draws RIP. Which I now have exactly 1 out to now. I’m a lucksack and peel the last Decay off the top on my next drawstep for the RIP and a Lingering Souls the turn after makes sure he can’t come back.
Round 3: Grixis Shadow (1-1)
He is 4 minutes late, so I get a G1 win. Lucky me.
G2 He goes to 6 and is obviously on the play. I Inquisition him turn 1 and he Thoughtscours in response. I then see Shadow, Gurmag, and 3 lands. He is able to play his Gurmag on t3 that I have no answer for, but I do have a T3 5/5 Shadow. He declines on attacking into my Shadow, but I brazenly attack back, and he declines the block. What confuses me is that he then attacks me, putting me to 3 while he is at 12. I shrug, and shock myself on my turn, putting me to 1 and then attack him for exactly 12.
Round 4: GR Devotion (2-1)
I would eventually be told by my friends that I was playing against Brennan Deccandio. I didn’t know who he was before, but while I way playing, I could tell that his play was super tight. I’m not sure I agree on his deck choice (or his general attitude and view on modern after reading some of his articles now) but he played well, at least.
We both keep 7, he’s on the play. I have disruption spell into a threat and I quickly pull him apart while he is forced to play Genesis Wave for 3 and only hits Bird before he dies.
-3 Liliana, -2 Push, -1 Dismember. +5 Counterspells, +1 Pulse.
I took swap the removal and counters in hopes that I can just let him have his ramp, but then hopefully counter his big plays. I know he has Moon though, so I kept the decays.
G2 I made several misplays. T1 I have to Traverse for my swamp so I have a 2nd land. T2 I thoughtseize him twice, taking his last two cards (he played multiple ramp cards in the previous turns). His last two cards were Tireless Tracker and Craterhoof Behemoth. Taking Tracker is obviously right, but I think I shouldn’t have bothered taking the Behemoth. He was nowhere close to casting the card, and I would later get locked out by him ripping Primal Command and starting to loop it with Eternal Witness. If I would have either saved my second hand disruption I would have been able to break the loop, or if I would have just left an uncracked fetch in play I could have at least shuffled and not have to draw the land he put on top for multiple turns. (I had enough land in hand to make sure I could cast my spells, but I needed action). OH well.
G3 is really close and quite long so I dont remember all the details. I know that he was able to bait an abrupt decay on his Tireless Tracker and then follow up with a Moon. I luckily already had a Goyf, Flayer, and my Swamp in play though. But I’m now unable to cast my counterspells for his big plays. There were multiple turns that I had Battlerage in hand, but he was off of death by 1 life, so I played patient, hoping that he would just flood out and I would eventually get to kill him. Hitting him with Flayer every turn did allow me to filter my draws and make sure I could continually draw at least castable spells and break up his Primal Command loops as best as I could. I was eventually able to battlerage to protect one of my threats (because of the first strike) and I just had to hope that he would miss on the next drawstep. I got lucky and was able to close it out.
Round 5: Affinity (3-1)
He wins the roll, but mulligans to 5. He still makes it a game though and plays to his outs. I was probably a little too aggressive with my life total for my Shadow, so there was turn that I opened myself up to dying when he went in with a Ravager, but I had saved a Decay to kill the lethal Ravager and I had Dismember for the Blinkmoth Nexus.
-3 Liliana, -3 Street Wraith, -2 Stubborn, -1 IOK, -1 Grave. +4 Souls, +2 Grudge, +2 Sweepers, +1 Pulse, +1 Shrine.
We both keep 7 this time, but this game isn’t really close. I have a Souls that basically 4 for 1 him, and a Grudge to clean up the rest.
Round 6: Affinity (4-1)
He takes a long time to decide, but we both keep 7. I inquisition T1 and see Ornithopter x3, Mox Opal x2, Thoughtcast, and Hazoret. Uh oh. Well. I really wish I had a Thoughtseize instead of an Inquisition. I take the second Opal, because I’m scared of him playing T1 Thoughtcast into t2 Hazoret. He draws well (Thoughtcast helped) and is able to play and attack with Hazoret on t3 anyway. I drew 2 Liliana of the Veil and no Dismember for his Hazoret, so it doesn’t take long for him to overwhelm me.
G2 Was so long that I wish I would have just conceded earlier to save myself the energy. I draw multiple Lingering Souls and large Goyfs to prevent him from attacking, but he drew multiple Steel Overseers that I didn’t have timely removal spells for. So eventually his board had like 5+ counters on every creature and I’m not sure what I was even drawing to at that point. Once he finally decides to start attacking, it doesn’t take long for him to plow through my 12 Souls tokens.
Round 7: Zoo (4-2)
He goes to 6 and is on the play. He plays T1 Wild Nacatl which I have a push for. He has a follow up creature, but no 2nd land. I thoughtseize and take his only other 1 mana play (he has Herbalist and 2 Bushwackers left). He misses a land drop while I play a Shadow. He’s draws a second land but only has an Herbalist to play. Next turn he plays 3rd land attacks, and Atarka’s Commands putting me pretty low. But I’m able to follow up with enough damage to myself to get to 1 (I have stubborn in hand). He has the bolt, but I stubborn and attack him for 12 which finishes him off.
-2 Liliana, -3 Street Wraith. +2 Sweepers, +2 Stubborn, +1 Pulse.
He goes to 6. My opening hand has 3 Land, a Push, an Inquisition, and 2 Goyfs. Yeah, this game wasn’t close at all. Goyfs were just brick walls while I stabilized and made sure he didn’t have all burn in hand before I start swinging and quickly close the game out.
Round 8: Affinity (5-2)
I win the die roll and have a nice inquisition into Flayer plus removal hand. His hand is kinda mediocre, but it does have 2 Galv Blasts. One of the Blasts hits a small Shadow (Making him 5/5 makes his Blasts kill me). He does draw into a Master of Etherium though so his attacks in the air get better. The next couple of turns we both make huge punts. I have a Goyf on board and draw Liliana which I then minus and only kill an Ornithopter. He finishes off the Liliana, but that puts my Goyf that I drew at 6/7. He then animates his manland and attacks with it, a memnite, and 6/6 Master of Etherium. I’m able to straight eat him master of Etherium, and I go to 1. I draw a push for his manland and attack with just my Flayer, leaving the Goyf back to block his Memnite. After I hit him with the Flayer he says “OK, I go to 4” and I facepalm. He was straight dead on board, and I immediately get punished when he immediately draws the 3rd Galv Blast to kill me.
G2 I again similarly to my first Affinity opponent and have a Lingering Souls that 4 for 1’s him and an Ancient Grudge to clean up.
G3 He mulligans to 5 and plays a turn 1 ornithopter and nothing else. I have 2 hand disruption spells and kill him before he does anything relevant. Better lucky than good, I guess.
Round 9: Affinity (6-2)
Yeah, that's right, I played affinity 4 times. Game 1 I mulligan a hand that has Fetch, Wraith, Shadow, Goyf x2, Liliana x2. I don’t think that hand is keepable, but it haunts me when my 6 hand no lands, and my 5 has 3 land, 2 Goyfs and a Flayer. His hand isn’t crazy, but it's enough to kill me as I only play creatures and draw zero removal spells.
Game 2 We both keep 7, and my hand looks pretty good. I have disruption, Flayer, Souls, and a removal spell. His draw isn’t crazy and it looks like Souls will be enough to put me ahead. He draws and plays Bitterblossom. Hmm. Maybe this will be harder, but it's probably still doable since I also drew a Goyf and with Flayer’s trample I can probably kill him through the Bitterblossom anyway. Then he soon draws and slams Rest In Peace. Well. The name of that card is quite fitting for my Day 2 dreams. It doesn’t take long after that for him to finish me off as all of my pressure is gone and I can no longer flashback souls.
Overall, the deck was amazing, and I don’t think I would change anything other than maaaybe swapping the 3rd Liliana for something else. I think that might be because I played against Affinity 4 times though, so that’s probably not really fair to Lili. I firmly like this deck over Grixis, and I think the only downside is that Bauble triggers and 5c makes playing and sideboarding more complicated.
Like you, I also enjoy this deck more than grixis and i have not looked back since I switched to 5c
Thanks again for the write up
DSJ has a better game 1 against an open field and has more explosive, consistent early game than the other Shadow/GBx decks.
The deckbuilding process was quite difficult as playing 5 colors feels extremely greedy with only 6 lands that can produce mana (and 1 in the sb). I watched Reids video on CFB and liked his list, but definitely wanted to play Dismember, so I cut 1 Push for it. While testing I felt like I needed a second basic land, therefore I cut the 12th fetchland to include a forest. I am still not sure whether that was a mistake or not as I was not punished for that during the tournament, but would like to hear from some more experienced players about this decision.
Record at the trial the day before the main event: 3-1
Record at the main event: 7-3
My losses at the main event came against UW Control, 8-Rack and Grixis Control, I won against Burn (2), Tron, Lantern, Grixis Shadow and an unusual Elves build without CoCo but Lifecrafter's Bestiary instead. I had 1 bye.
I really like the deck against everything but Control and feel I was pretty unlucky to have played against it so often. I currently don't have the time to write an extensive report, but if you have questions about how certain matches went, feel free to ask.