It seems like P&K has worked out well for you.. I'm going to give it a try. What kind of matchups do you bring them in? Assuming it's as simple as "in games where you need more threats". I'm assuming P&K took the slot for Liliana, the Last Hope?
I'm also tempted to ask how you've found LotV and Leak, a combination that doesn't seem to work well in tandem at face value
gifts is pretty curious in a snapcaster+claim/fame deck. Maybe genius even..
In a deck like this I'm pretty sure I don't want to be running TBR with the loss of two Anglers. Pretty clever I must say. however, cmc 4 is a real thing
I played around with Claim//Fame and agree that it doesn't seem that good in our shell here. I think it'd be more interesting in Death's Shadow Jund, but similar problems arise in both
1. It attacks on the same axis as our plan A and makes us weaker to GY hate
2. Grixis only has 8 targets. Think recurring tarmagoyfs in Jund Shadows is better, but I still question how good it'd be.
3. Generally speaking, the way to beat Grixis Shadows falls under one of these axis: GY hate, chalice, swarm. Claim//Fame likely means you cut KCommand which makes us a lot weaker to chalices. I don't think Grixis lacks grind power.
4. I spoke earlier about the synergy Claim//Fame has with JVP. Playing with these made me re-realizing its problem in Grixis Shadows - it attacks on the same axis (graveyard), dies to every removal and I don't think more grind power is what we need.
All in all I think this card could be very interesting, but in another shell. Could be proven wrong though with more testing.
seeing some cool interactions online with claim/fame and Jace, Vyrn's Prodigy. I'm curious to try and fit a few Jaces into grixis shadows, perhaps cutting some snapcasters?
Man, the deck feels so damn powerful, it feels like it has the answer to almost everything.
It's definitely got its weaknesses. I'll recap the last 50 pages for you so you don't have to go through it all, lol:
1. Enchantments: We have no way to deal with resolved enchantments. If you run EE you can deal with Rest in Peace and Bitterblossom, but you can't deal with Blood Moon unless you already had your basic swamp and island out, or set an EE on 3 beforehand, and we have no way to deal with Leylines unless you run Echoing Truth in the side, which most of us don't. Leyline of the Void seriously slows us down. You probably won't get to 6 or 7 mana to start hardcasting your delve fatties, although it does happen, so you just have to hope to draw Shadows and beat down with your Snapcasters in the meantime. We're less vulnerable to it than the Jund version, but it still hurts a lot. Leyline of Sanctity is also a beating, because most decks that run it against us are combo or control decks where discard is our best way to interact.
2. Tokens and go-wide decks: These kinds of strategies can be difficult for us to punch through, but we do have some good sideboard options. Sweepers are good, as is LtLH, Staticaster, and TBR.
3. Pro-black creatures: This is a newer plan of attack people are picking up on. A lot of us had dropped Lightning Bolt entirely, but I think we're going to have to go back to at least 1, if not 2 again.
4. Certain Planeswalkers: LotV is an absolute beating if she resolves. Some control decks have been playing the new Gideon, which forces us to extend into Verdicts. Gideon AoZ is also pretty good against us, as he can pump out chump blockers. Elspeth is practically unbeatable if she resolves. Some people play Dreadbore in the side, but I don't love it. You just have to take these problematic walkers with your discard, even if they're a few turns away, unless you have more discard in hand already. Going back to Bolt will probably also help a bit here.
Grixis definitely feels better than DSJ, it doesn't feel so "all in", where the blow-outs can be real. The deck isn't playing with 6x bad cards (4x Baubles, 2x Tarfires). The fact Angler and Tasigur dodge push just make them better than a 7/8 Goyf. Can't believe DSJ even lasted as long as it did.
Eh, there are pluses and minuses to both. Jund is faster and more consistent at applying pressure, but has a much harder time if the game goes long. Goyf getting hit by Push does hurt them, but he's also easier to cast and usually bigger than our delve guys, which is relevant. They also have better general answers like Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse. The real reason why Grixis is doing so well, though, is Stubborn Denial. It can protect our game plan against other interactive decks, and protect us from some dangerous top-decks. Even without ferocious turned on, you'll often be able to force spike something important. Nothing feels better than force spiking a Tron player's Ugin on turn 4, lol.
I'm seeing people trying to shove Crusaders and other anti-grixis cards in their 75, which is why I put in Flaying Tendrils and EE, along with my 1 of bolt in the main. I really dislike only having 2x Rejections, but I'm not sure what I'd cut...
It's a matter of preference, but I would change the Tendrils to a Kozilek's Return. Also kills the pro-color creatures, but instant speed means you can kill manlands with it. The exile effect on Tendrils isn't all that great because it doesn't kill Prized Amalgam.
I don't believe Surgical is right for Valakut/Tron matchups, especially without Fulminator. Scouring them and hoping to get lucky seems highly ambitious likely a bad use of Scour. If big mana is a problem my preference is to tune the deck by putting in Disdainful>Rejection and put a clock on them+disrupt them through countermagic and discard.
I also don't believe Extraction is that good vs. Storm, but I could be wrong.
Card choices: *No bolts: I wasn’t very happy about this and wanted to fit 1 bolt in, but ultimately I made the call to build the deck to beat the mirror and big Eldrazis, a theme that will be prevalent in the following notes. I would play a bolt going forward for its reach, prevalence of collected company decks, affinity and Mirran Crusaders
*2 Crypts, 1 Vents. I know the argument that it’s better to have the single vents over the single crypts in a hand with 1 land and cantrips, but I preferred to draw the Crypts naturally if it came to that, as we are much heavier on black business spells *3/1 Denial split. I wasn’t too pleased with this either, as I didn’t like flooding with Denial in game 1s. In hindsight I would’ve put one of the Lilianas in this slot, likely LotV, as its floor is astoundingly high
*Rejection>Disdainful Stroke. I highly considered putting Strokes over Rejections, as I believe Valakut is well positioned right now (good matchups vs Shadows and Eldrazi Tron) and didn’t want to be dead to them, as well as helping vs. Ad Nauseam/Gifts/PiF and other random shenanigans (also it dodges Chalice on 1 vs Eldrazi Tron). Ultimately, I did not expect combo to be prevalent and liked the mana efficiency as well as the ability to counter chalices on 1. This can definitely change according to the meta
*SB package vs. Swarm (single TBR/Staticaster/Anger/Last Hope). When I was charting out sideboard plans, I noticed that Last Hope wasn’t a card that I was eager to jam 2 of them into in many matchups. I did have 2 Last Hopes originally, but as I noticed that I didn’t have enough cards coming into the Affinity/Eldrazi Tron, I made the change to swap one Last Hope for Kcommand. Staticaster has served me well breaking matchups, such as vs. Souls, non-knight builds of counters company, Storm (where their plan A post-board is to Empty asap) and Affinity. I know some people do not like TBR and some pros contend that TBR and Denial do the same thing by letting you win a turn faster, but I disagree. TBR is great at giving you games you otherwise have no business of winning. I see TBR more as mainly for swarm creature decks such as Dredge and Affinity, with the added application of being a card to bring in vs combo. I would not cut TBR at all.
*Graveyard package (1/1/2 LLotV/Extraction/Spellbomb). I hemmed and hawed on this, as I considered this to be a key part of the metagame preparation. I expected the mirror and Dredge to be a huge presence, and wanted something to break those matchups. I initially tested LLotVx3-4 online; and the testing went as expected – great when you start with them, awful when you don’t. In the end, I still wanted to devote 4 slots to this and ended up going with a singleton and give myself a ~10% chance to break the matchups at t=0, and otherwise minimize the chance of drawing it. This could definitely be wrong
*1 Liliana of the Veil. This isn’t in many Grixis Shadows list, but I wanted a mirror breaker and I believe LotV was the one, as well as having a very wide spectrum of matchups she’d be useful in. I was initially skeptical about her, reasoning that you are a reactive deck that wants to hold cards. However, after testing, I saw that she was a backbreaker in games where I did want her in.
*Sweeper: Anger vs. KReturn vs. Flaying Tendrils. First, Tendrils is a distant third for me, as I believe the benefits of being BB rather than R or RR are overstated and it importantly hits neither Amalgams nor the (B)Inkmoth Nexi. I like Kozilek’s Return as it hits Etched Champion and manlands. It was more of a gut call to try and hate out Dredge (as well as being marginally better vs humans/elves/merfolk before their lord effects come in). This slot(s) can certainly change.
As I scoured around on Thursday and Friday I saw a lot of Shadows and Affinity in the Last Chance Trials. I had last minute thoughts about swapping Anger for KReturn but I told myself I’m willing to lose to Affinity rather than Dredge (Affinity’s presence online was waning, but there’s the adage about Affinity being way more popular in paper..). My observation on the popular decks was foreshadowing for what’s to come, but in a way that I didn’t expect.
Saturday
I also played with 2 BYEs in the Legacy event with a dumbed down version of Grixis Delver with Death’s shadow. I told myself I wanted to make day 2 there but knew it wasn’t realistic because I’m playing a tier 3 deck essentially and I’ve never played legacy in paper before. I ended up losing two win-and-ins in Legacy but was fine with my performance. Today though I told myself my goal is absolutely to make day 2 and have a good performance into day 2.
Round ½ - byes
Round 3 – vs. Weston (Humans)
G1 I am OTP and IoK to see something like 2 lands, 2 paths, Champion of the Parish, Hiearch and Pilgrim. I let out an inaudible groan as I’ve gotten a lot of reps online vs. Humans and it’s not a great matchup. I have some lands, snapcaster, push and Shadows s o I take a path, plan on snapcaster+discard the other path and slam a shadow after t3. Unfortunately he draws into Thalia and another path and screws up my plans. I ended up dying to dorky human beats lead by the Mayor and Champion
SB:
+1 TBR, +1 Anger, +1 Staticaster/+1 Last Hope (not sure about this – Mayor and Lieutenant invalidate these, but otherwise great)
-1 Scour (not great against Thalia, graveyard generally will fill itself interacting with them), 1 IoK (doesn’t hit CoCo), -2 KCommand (high cost card that doesn’t have too big of impact)
G2 Weston mulls to 6 and I IoK into Township, Township, Thicket, Champion, Hierarch, Cavern. I take the Hierarch and he basically doesn’t get to play the game as I remove all of his threats and beat down
G3 Weston again mulls to 6 and I IoK into Coco, Guardian of Thraben, Champion, Path, Reflector, land. I have a hand without threats but ~3 lands, snapcaster, push SV. I take the Thaila but he draws a land+another Thalia and we start trading resources. Late in the game I’m at the game state of empty battlefield. He has 3 lands in play and I know he has Coco+x. I am at 4 and fire off a Thoughtseize hoping to take Coco but then I see it’s Coco+Reflector mage. My hand is Scour+TBR+SV and after thinking for a while I realize I have to take Reflector Mage and hope he bricks on land. Next turn I play a 11/11 DS and an Angler and he draws another Coco+Thalia. He’s at 18 and I attack with both (a small mistake to attack with both, as if he pathed my TBR’d Thaila and take Gurmy’s damage I’d be dead). I Battle Rage onto the DS FTW.
3-0 (2-1)
Round 4 vs. Steve Rubin
I recognize his name as a MTG pro and I begin bracing for a tough battle. When the round starts ,however, he is not here. I start googling and realize he was 10-1 in the Sealed event at the time and therefore unlikely to come. I count my blessings and take the free win
4-0 (N/A)
Round 5 vs. Guillermo Hernandez (Affinity)
A nice Mexican fellow. G1 He is OTP and spews out Welding Jar, Blinkmoth and Vault Skirge. I thoughtseize to see Ravager, plating, Inkmoth, Master. I have a hand of Kcommand, 2nd land, threats and 1 push. I take the Plating but then he slams another Plating and start giving me the business. I never see the third land and die a horrible death
G2 I keep fetch, Tasigur, Scour, Push, KCommand, Seize and SV. Questionable but I keep. I lead with SV and line up a second land. He plays t1 Skirge+Blinkmoth+Mox Opal. T2 I thoughtseize him again to see: Thoughtseize (I think I was better off SVing to line up lands) and see Plating, Champion, Plating, Overseer, Negate (?!), land and Skirge. I take the Champion and plan on never letting him connect with a creature. He t2 Overseer. T3 I draw the second KCommand and though that’s great I wanted to see the third land. I push the Overseer at this point. Next turn he plays and equips plating and puts him to 6. At this point he has 4 mana available and I know he has the negate. I only have a terminate and if I let him untap he has negate him and lethal. Not sure if there’s a mistake for him to make him but I terminate on my turn and he untaps, equips his Blinkmoth and attacks FTW and I die with 3 Kcommands in hand.
4-1 (0-2)
Round 6: vs. Tyler (Affinity)
G1 I am on the play and he mulls to 6. I grown inside when I play IoK and see it’s another Affinity matchup: Champion, drums, opal, overseer, ravager, overseer. An ambitious keep, for sure, but a keep that is a card away from being very good. I take the drums and he never sees another land or gets to play Magic
SB: Same as round 5
G2: He mulls to 6 again and plays Spire Opal Ornithopter go. I IoK again to see RIP, Plating, and Blood Moon. My hand is full of Shadows rather than Delve creatures and I can fetch for basics so I just take Plating. He again does not get to play Magic and I breathe a sigh of relief
5-1 (2-0)
At this point I am bemoaning the fact that I haven’t gotten any good matchups so far (other than the bye!) and am hoping to see a Sleight of Hand played vs. me.
Round 7: vs. Jeffrey (Elves)
G1 he is on the play and he leads with Gilt leaf into Heritage Druid. Great. I t1 IoK to see: Canopy, Chord, Devoted Druid, Dwynen’s Elite, Cavern. I take the Elite as I had a push in hand. He plays a t2 druid and doesn’t draw much else. I end up pushing the Druid, Thoughtseizing away his Chord, play a Tasigur and proceed to put him into the Abyss.
SB: +2 brutality +1 Anger +1 Last Hope (this may be too slow OTD? Not sure) +1 Staticaster +1 TBR
-1 IoK -2 Wraith -2 KCommand -1 Scour
G2 he mulls to 6 and leads on t1 Heritage Druid again. I thoughtseize to see: Shaman of the Pack, Ewitness, Devoted Druid, Coco. I take the DD to deny him acceleration. He’s stuck on a land for a bit but eventually puts me to 4. I brutality/snap brutality to get rid of the Ewitness/Coco for good. I anger away the on-board Shaman and Nettle Sentinel and put him into the Abyss for the win.
2-0 (6-1)
I was ecstatic to have made day 2 vs. a set of matchups I didn’t consider to be favorable at all. I turn my focus back to playing tight after a brief moment of celebration as I know there’s still a long road ahead
Round 8: vs. Austin Johnson (Bushwhacker zoo)
While shuffling he inadvertently flashes a Burning Tree Emissary and I let out another inaudible grown. Bushwhacker Zoo is extremely aggressive and hard to interact in time.
G1 He is OTP and mulls to 5, scrying bottom. He has a very creature light hand and only hits me with Goblin Guide a few times. I take control with a few removals and win with Tasigur+snapcaster
SB: +2 brutality (killing a GG+taking away Atarka’s/Boros Charm/Path/Palm seems good)
+1 Anger (very questionable and slow but Wraiths are horrible in this matchup)
+1 TBR
+1 LotV (pretty bad but at least I’m on the play and it’s a 3 mana removal at worst and better than wraiths)
-4 Wraiths
-1 Thoughtseize
G2: I see a 4 land IoK TS SV hand which simply doesn’t work. My 6 card hand is 3 lands, denial, Thoughtseize and IoK. Not what I wanted but I didn’t think I can go to 5 from this (which begs the question as to whether the 7 card hand was keepable). He has a t1 nacatl. I draw a DS and IoK into Atarka’s Command, Foundry, Nacatl, Nacatl, Path. I take the Nacatl and deny him a potential turn of land into double Nacatl, planning on taking the Path with Thoughtseize after . He plays a single Nacatl and attacks me with the t1 Nacatl. I draw a TBR next turn, Thoughtseize away the Path and play a 2/2 DS. He attacks me with his two 3/3 Nacatls, I block and go to 8. He is at 15 and I have a fetchland, so I fetch to 5 and TBR FTW.
7-1 (2-0)
I again feel very fortunate to have beaten tough matchups, and am beginning to think I can make a deep run in this event.
Round 8: vs. Austin Johnson (?!) (Mardu midrange)
I did a double take when I saw the pairing, but then I saw a four digit number after his name and realize there’s more than one Austin Johnsons in the tournament. I greet my opponent and we laugh at the pairings and how I’ve already met his evil twin. He is playing his first Grand Prix and remarks that he is playing some sort of a review. I shuffle and present in eager anticipation as to what it is
G1 Austin is OTP and plays an Arid Mesa. I play a discard and see: Plains, Crypt, Bob, Dreadbore, Bolt, Push. Seems like a Rakdos or Mardu midrange. I take the Dreadbore as I have a push already. The game is unexciting but ends in an awful manner for me. I’m at 8 with a shadow and he EoT Bolt, untap bolt+Helix. Interesting.
While sideboarding, I’m not aware what the threat base a Mardu midrange deck typically has. It completely escaped me that they may very well be playing Pyromancer/Mentor (I saw neither). As a result, I boarded in as I would vs a grindy matchup
G2 I play a discard into: Mentor, Helix, Blessed Alliance, Swamp, Mire, Mesa, Push. I am blindsided by the mentor and realize that he must be running Pyromancer too and lament the fact that I didn’t even consider Staticaster/Anger. I take the Mentor as I have no answers. I get into a weird stalemate where He has a mentor out with a known push, and I have a 4/4 DS in play and Push+KCommand in the hand. My DS is being brickwalled by mentor tokens and I have not been making any headway. I cannot Kcommand the Mentor for its Prowess and I would not be able to Kcommand back a DS from the inevitable push. I do not draw a fetchland or a terminate and he eventually casts a Young Pyromancer. I have to remove it with KCommand and get less than ideal value from it. I end up getting overrun by tokens
7-2 (0-2)
A decent Day 1 with byes, but I continued to lament the fact that I should’ve seen through the Mardu matchup and that I didn’t consider Anger/staticaster. But x-2 is still decent and I could put myself in position for a big finish tomorrow.
Sunday
Round 10: vs. Leo (Jund)
A nice fellow Canadian and we make some small talk before starting. I t1 discard to see: Scooze, bob, LotV, Maelstrom Pulse, Blackcleave Cliffx3. That is a lot of goodies. I take the LotV as my hand would not be able to beat her. I expect the modified Jund (4 pushes, minimal bolts) to be slightly favored vs. Grixis Shadows. However in this game I have enough answers for his removals and ride my Gurmag to victory
SB: +1 Anger (Scooze, Bob, potential huntmaster)
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 LotV
+1 Last Hope
+1 Kolaghan’s Command
-3 Denials
-3 Wraiths
G2 He greets me with a t0 Leyline of the Void and I barely get to play
G3 I play a t2 discard to see: Swamp catacomb fulminator Bob Scooze Scooze Terminate. I take the terminate but he draws into a bunch more removals even after I remove the Bob and I again don’t get to play much and get junded out
7-3 (0-2)
R11 vs Mason (Blue Moon)
G1 he is OTP and is on an innocuous start of island, Ancestral Vision into steam vents untapped. I just automatically process that as Jeskai control/flash/tempo but am in for a rude awakening when he slams a t3 blood moon – it never even occurred to me as a possibility. I should’ve occurred to me that Jeskai Control typically does not play Ancestral Vision and prefer to play a tempo/burn out game. Blood Moon gets me good. I do see a main deck Roast.
G2 I see Island, Island, Spell Snare, Relic, Relic, Cryptic, Blood moon t1 and take Moon. I have a LotV that I can slam if I can draw one land within 2 draw steps. I don’t find it on curve but slam a t4 LotV. Unfortunately he had drawn a Mana Leak in between that. We end up playing a grindy game trading counters and threats. I start beating down with Snapcaster But there is an end step of mine where he bolts me down from 7 to 4 with just one red mana available. Alarm bells are going off as I think he must have drawn a Snapcaster. I stop attacking with Snapcaster in the fear of snap+Bolt eot (he did have the snapcaster). There is a sequence of brutality pitching a card getting remanded, then brutality pitching a card getting snap+cryptic Commanded. I cannot recover and end up getting out-controlled.
7-4 (0-2)
That was a bad loss I think in a matchup that is definitely winnable. Not feeling too great at the day’s start
R12: vs. John (Grixis Shadow)
A real cool dude to talk to and finally the mirror I was expecting. Not much to say about these three games. G1 and G2 were your typical grindy matches. G3 I see a hand of Leyline, fetch, spellbomb, DS, Tasigur, Thoguhtseize, Terminate. If I draw a land this hand is pretty nutty. I slam my Leyline t0 and proceed to never see another land in 6 turns and I die a horrible death to his 6/6 Death’s Shadow
7-5 (1-2)
Really not feeling great now especially losing g3 with a reasonable hand with Leyline. I was admittedly getting pretty tilty.
R13: vs. Robert (Bant Spirits)
G1 is not much of a game. He slams double Droskol captain and their synergies are too much
SB: +1 Anger
+1 TBR
+1 LotV
+1 Last Hope
-1 Scour
-3 Wraiths (I don’t like Wraiths in agro matchups. Flyers are a nightmare for Grixis Shadows)
G2 we grind each other out and we arrive at an interesting board state where I made a huge mistake:
Opponent (14 life, 2 lands, Tapped Rattlechain, Untapped Bird. His hand is known as Path, Queller, Engineered Explosives and Captain)
Me (5/5 DS, 10 card graveyard, tapped swamp, watery grave, Steam Vents, Polluted Delta with a Tasigur+Angler in hand)
My opponent announced go to damages? After I attack with my DS. I should’ve taken the free 5 damages (I suspect he was saving path for a delve fatty and use his EE to destroy the shadow. Instead I fetch to 5 like an idiot and now he paths. Stupid me… My second mistake was fetching a Vents in case I draw an anger but I should’ve fetched a Crypt. Now I could not cast double delve fatties.
There was also the question of who I push. I am now at 5 facing down a Rattlechain and a Bird while he’s at 14. My inclination was to push Bird, hope he never draws a hand, and leave him without answers for my Delve fatties that would win the race vs. his Rattlechain. My opponent later said I should’ve Pushed the Rattlechain as that’d force him to take a turn off to play a threat or answer my DS. That is true but I think Pushing the bird and praying he doesn’t draw the land had the highest upside. The moment he untapped he’d be able to deploy a queller or captain and overwhelm me in the air. Still unsure on what the best move was but I’m comfortable with my decision to Push the bird (didn’t matter in the end because I had fetched a Vents and could not play both of my delve threats). As played, he drew his land anyway and I died a horrible death in the air
7-6 (0-2)
I’d now lost my last 5 matches in a row and I’d argue all of them were even/unfavorable matchups. I lament my luck but realize that I am beginning to play looser and tell myself to hold it together and play the last few rounds tightly and go home with at least a winning record
R14: vs. Jay (Burn)
G1 I keep a 2 land hand with DS, wraith, push, Gurmag, Push. I cycle/fetch to 15 digging for t1 action and do not find any. I am then greeted with a Swifty->GGx2 start and I am quickly down to 12. I cast a 1/1 shadow and take a GG hit, block a GG and push a swifty. I end up stabilizing as I draw another DS and play Gurmag and he shows me a hand of all lands
SB: +1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+1 TBR
+1 LotV (not great in this matchup but wraiths are infinitely worse and arguably worse cutting one kcommand for)
G2 Both mulls to 6. I keep a risky DS, 3xDenial, swamp, crypt hand and bottom a snap. I need any blue source to make this hand good. He has a t0 Leyline… of sancitity (?!). He feeds me a steady diet of dorks and burn but I eventually find a Watery Grave. I slam a 5/5 shadow with swamp, grave and crypt in play. He paths it twice and things are looking bad as I go to 2. I had also stupidly scried an IoK top when he has leylines. We end up on an empty board and I have to fade a million topdecks at 2. Thankfully his business spells off the top are creatures which I have terminates/Kcommands for. I put my shield down for a turn and snap+SV into a DS. He doesn’t draw the winning spell and I ride the DS+Snap with Denial backup to victory
8-6 (2-0)
R15: vs. Travis (Affinity)
Felt very fitting that the last round was vs. an archetype I had dismissed/felt OK to skimp hate on. G1 and G2 were pretty standard. G1 he does Affinity things and I get got. T2. I outcontrol him and stabilize at 3 while running him out of threats and his Plating looks very lonely. G3 is an interesting one where he slams an early Champion and puts me down to 10. I slam two shadows and we get in a weird Mexican standoff where he has a champion with plating (4 total power) but he needs to keep up lands to provide metalcraft for the Etched Champion and attacking me would result in his death on the crackback. He eventually finds another etched champion and attacks me down to 6, holding back the champion with the plating. I am at 6, he is at 18 and has a champion plus a potential blinkmoth activation. Thoughtseize an empty hand, fetch+shock down to one. Attack, TBR, game.
SB: Same as before
Final record: 9-6 (2-1)
Conclusion:
*My opponents were Humans, Affinity, Bushwhacker Zoo, Elves, Affinity, Mardu, Jund, Grixis Shadow, Spirits, Blue Moon, and Affinity. Arguably only Blue Moon was a favorable matchup for me
*The old adages turned true: When (graveyard/artifact) hate is skimped, (dredge/affinity) comes out of nowhere and crushes. Also, everyone plays Affinity in paper.
*TBR did a lot of work for me and I would not think of cutting one
*Leyline is still questionable, but I think a single Leyline in this meta makes a lot of sense. I will be continuing to test with this configuration.
*the 17 land, 4 sleight build that Ari Lax piloted is interesting, but I’m going to need to test more to see if it’s better. I don’t see it as a delver-esq tempo deck, but a midrange deck with a switch. I value the top end of KCommand+Snapcaster, and believe this configuration is better than the Sleight build. Who knows though.. Will keep testing
*I think it’s mandatory we re-include a bolt or two. Mirran Crusader is not beatable for us, plus with the dorky company/creature decks running rampant there’s not a huge cost to playing a few bolts
*I saw the Dismember in Owen Turtenwald’s list. It’s not bad, but I believe you’d often reach a point where you have to cast it for 3 or snapcaster it back for 5. It also misses on a lot of Shadows, Titans and other random shenanigans. I prefer the Terminate
*3 Denials main may be too much. I may add a Liliana in the main deck
TLDR: Second Grand Prix experience, played Death’s shadow to a 7-1 start, then 2-5 finish. Good times were still had, deck is still powerful, and deck has the tools to adapt to the changing metagame
7-2 day 1 at Vegas. Came packed with heavy grind/graveyard hate/artifiact hate package on the side but my matchup list was who's who of bad matchups with Dredge missing from there. Bant Humans, Affinity, Affinity, Elves, Bushwhacker Zoo, Mardu midrange/pyromancer/mentor (?!). I plan on doing a report after this but in general deck feels fine and I think I got super lucky a few times but mostly have played pretty tight, except an awful brain fart in the last round where I got burned down from 8 to zero in an end step/upkeep sequence from Mardu with 2 bolts and Helix, but it never occured to me that Mardu would 100% have lingering souls (I didn't even see a mentor/pyro g1) and promptly got punished and swept. Alas I came prepared for the mirror and was wanting to play Sleight of Hand decks but didn't get any! Although near the top tables there were a lot of shadows and UWx decks.
ya that's why I've been pondering cutting a last hope for a third kcommand in this configuration. the other basic question is do I want to lose percentage points to affinity/lantern/arguably eldrazi tron (can't tag chalices but gets under a chalice. i think its a slight negative if you play stroke over rejection) and gain a meaningful chunk of percentage points vs valakut. generally speaking I'd be more comfortable risking percentage points vs affinity given what I've seen online but people always say affinity is bigger in paper. so still not sure
Also I furiously scribbled together a SB guide for myself as well as general commentary for what to watch out for for the top tier matchups. It's quite possible there are some philosophical errors in how I approach certain matchups (for example, I think the best chance we have vs. UW control is to disrupt the hell out of them and protect the queen with a fatty - meaning no fatal pushes/terminates for silly Colonnade/resto shenanigans). Would welcome comments on any of these
Grixis Shadow
*Look out for Strands/Godless Shrines as clues for SB Souls
In:
+2 Last Hope
+3 Leyline of the Void
+1 LotV
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraiths
Affinity
*Kill/counter platings and champions on sight
*Potential singleton SB Blood Moon
*Some discards are likely fine to snipe overseers/platings/champions/masters
Burn
*Mulligan aggressively for a t2 delve fatty, or shadows with permission
*Watch for Paths/Palms post game. Thoughtseize likely ok to leave in some number to discard those, or at the very least save 1-2 life and gain full information
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Brutailty
+1 TBR
+1 LotV
Out:
-4 Wraith
-1 Thoughtseize
Vizier Company
*Do not be too careless with the life total as their Coco/Township Plan B can be tough to handle. Also, Knights can just overwhelm you
*Likely correct to not bolt/push a t1 dork. Save your kill spell for their t2 play
*Watch for signs of chord for X=3 for Magus (more magi as bullets in recent lists)
Out:
-1 Denial (this could be wrong)
-2 KCommand
-3 Mix of Scours/Wraiths/IoK (if they can put on pressure reasonably with a Plan B, cut Wraiths)
Dredge
*Likely need a way to kill a Stinkweed at least once. Anger and TBR helps but maybe leave in a terminate/bolt
*Be extra vigilant in watching for conflagrates/pharoahs in live play. Easy to miss certain cards in live play graveyards vs. online
*A lot of lists have SB leyline of the voids. Maybe consider skimping on a scour/snapcaster/fatty? not sure
*If you are playing Extraction, watch out for the interaction with Bloodghasts and fetchlands. They can trigger Landfall twice if you wait until they trigger Landfall the first time to Extract Bloodghast
In:
+2 Anger
+1 Staticaster
+3 LLotV (any graveyard hate if not playing LLotV)
+1 TBR
+1 Denial
*TBR can bypass Wurmcoil's death touch if it is a 6/6 or higher
*Most likely correct to forego a t2 play to leave up Denial on t2
*If you see them bring in multiple hangarback walkers post board, consider bringing in an anger (also cleanly answers Reshapers)
*Keep in mind a Smasher with a Collar can always trample you for 4 (deathtouch=only 1 damage needs to be assigned onto the blocker)
*Leave fetches to revolt Push TKS'
Out:
-2 IoK (misses on TKS, Smasher, Endbringer, Karn, Ugin, Wurmcoil, All is Dust)
-1 Scour (hedge against Relic/chalice)
-1 Push
(-1 Push)
Jund Shadow
*Watch for blowouts with Maelstrom Pulse
*Watch game 1 for Strands/Godless Shrines for Souls/Ranger
*Discard/Counters post board to proactively take out their answers/planeswalkers
*Manage Goyf sizes through selective Delving
In:
+2 Last Hope
+3 LLotV
+1 LotV
+1 Staticaster*
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraith
-1 Wraith*
*if splashing Souls
Gifts Storm
*Watch out for SB Blood Moon ,sometimes madcap (bring back in KCommands if you see it)
*Do not be too careless with life totals in fear of natural grapeshot kills. ~7 life shoudl be fine
*Their plan A post-board is Empty. Therefore, Anger is great as a tokens sweeper and also kills their enablers
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Anger
+1 LotV
(+2 Disdainful Stroke)
No Leyline of the Void (results are too binary, would rather have more consistent cards that are already good)
Out:
-1 Angler (not about threat density)
-2 KCommand
-1 Terminate
(-1 Terminate)
(-1 Thought Scour)
Abzan
*Watch out for SB Damnation for blowouts. Also Pulse blowouts
*Manage Goyf sizes with selective delving
In:
+1 Staticaster
+2 Last Hope
+1 LotV
+2 LLotV (doesn't feel good bout wraiths are probably bad enough to want to force out)
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraith
Living End
*SB Blood Moon, Ricochet Trap
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+3 LLotV
+1 TBR
0 Liliana of the Veil?
Out:
-4 Push
-2 Kcommand
-1 Fetchland
Elves
*Watch chord for Selfless Spirit/Forge Tender
*Leave revolt up for Pushing Archdruid/Ezuri
In:
+2 Brutality
+2 Anger
+1 Last Hope (very good but too slow to have 2?)
+1 Staticaster
+1 TBR
Out (some of these are good enough to stay in but too many good cards to bring in):
-2 IoK
-2 Thought Scour
-2 KCommand
-1 Wraith
UW Control
*Best way is to play the tempo game and ignore pushes/terminates post -board
*Removals to watch: Condemn, Blessed Alliance (watch life total, attack with snappy when appropriate), Detention Sphere, Verdict (don't overextend if you don' thave to)
Did a lot of Brainstorming and theorycrafting on the plane to Vegas and I think I feel OK about the list above. I have not had the time to test LotV but works well in theory and I will take the words of the more experienced players in the thread that suggested this.
Comments:
1. the 76th card is probably lightning bolt. I do want one for bolt/snap/bolt and because it still has a lot of utility against the top tier decks (Affinity, Vizier coco, Burn, Dredge relative to push/terminate, Storm)
2. 75th card is probably TBR, but I've been happy with it so I'm fine here.
3. I tested Leyline and have felt it's impactful enough in the games I open with it that I'm happy with that being in my deck for GP Vegas. It does make for some awkward decisions though (for example, you'd bring in spellbombs/extractions vs storm, but would you bring Leylines in vs them? I'd lean no)
4. I'm on the fence about replacing one Last Hope for Kolaghan's command, with the logic being that they are both good in grindy matchups but artifact hate is becoming incerasingly valuable with Eldrazi Tron's rise, and random hate like Chailce/relic in Valakut decks.
o yea, totally forgot about the bolt there. I think I'll cut that first.
I do get your affinity for leak and I've tried it over IoK for a bit, and was iffy on them. 2 mana investment felt like too much a lot of the times and I did miss the praoctivity of a turn 1 discard.
Do you make other changes from the stock list when you are using leaks, like Rejection over Disdainful Stroke for example?
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I'm also tempted to ask how you've found LotV and Leak, a combination that doesn't seem to work well in tandem at face value
In a deck like this I'm pretty sure I don't want to be running TBR with the loss of two Anglers. Pretty clever I must say. however, cmc 4 is a real thing
..
What?!
SORT BY:
Creature (16)
4 Death's Shadow
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Claim // Fame
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
3 Fatal Push
2 Gifts Ungiven
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Thought Scour
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
60 Cards
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
1 Echoing Truth
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Temur Battle Rage
1. It attacks on the same axis as our plan A and makes us weaker to GY hate
2. Grixis only has 8 targets. Think recurring tarmagoyfs in Jund Shadows is better, but I still question how good it'd be.
3. Generally speaking, the way to beat Grixis Shadows falls under one of these axis: GY hate, chalice, swarm. Claim//Fame likely means you cut KCommand which makes us a lot weaker to chalices. I don't think Grixis lacks grind power.
4. I spoke earlier about the synergy Claim//Fame has with JVP. Playing with these made me re-realizing its problem in Grixis Shadows - it attacks on the same axis (graveyard), dies to every removal and I don't think more grind power is what we need.
All in all I think this card could be very interesting, but in another shell. Could be proven wrong though with more testing.
This is a pretty good summary. I'd like to add two more points:
1. Fliers. A resolved Sigarda is bad news bears. Those dorky spirits too. I've had a lot of trouble beating Bant spirits specifically
2. Graveyard hate. Obvious, but a Leyline of the Void/RIP seriously cripples the deck
I also don't believe Extraction is that good vs. Storm, but I could be wrong.
My deck list:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
4 Thought Scour
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Temur Battle Rage
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Kolaghan's Command
Card choices:
*No bolts: I wasn’t very happy about this and wanted to fit 1 bolt in, but ultimately I made the call to build the deck to beat the mirror and big Eldrazis, a theme that will be prevalent in the following notes. I would play a bolt going forward for its reach, prevalence of collected company decks, affinity and Mirran Crusaders
*2 Crypts, 1 Vents. I know the argument that it’s better to have the single vents over the single crypts in a hand with 1 land and cantrips, but I preferred to draw the Crypts naturally if it came to that, as we are much heavier on black business spells
*3/1 Denial split. I wasn’t too pleased with this either, as I didn’t like flooding with Denial in game 1s. In hindsight I would’ve put one of the Lilianas in this slot, likely LotV, as its floor is astoundingly high
*Rejection>Disdainful Stroke. I highly considered putting Strokes over Rejections, as I believe Valakut is well positioned right now (good matchups vs Shadows and Eldrazi Tron) and didn’t want to be dead to them, as well as helping vs. Ad Nauseam/Gifts/PiF and other random shenanigans (also it dodges Chalice on 1 vs Eldrazi Tron). Ultimately, I did not expect combo to be prevalent and liked the mana efficiency as well as the ability to counter chalices on 1. This can definitely change according to the meta
*SB package vs. Swarm (single TBR/Staticaster/Anger/Last Hope). When I was charting out sideboard plans, I noticed that Last Hope wasn’t a card that I was eager to jam 2 of them into in many matchups. I did have 2 Last Hopes originally, but as I noticed that I didn’t have enough cards coming into the Affinity/Eldrazi Tron, I made the change to swap one Last Hope for Kcommand. Staticaster has served me well breaking matchups, such as vs. Souls, non-knight builds of counters company, Storm (where their plan A post-board is to Empty asap) and Affinity. I know some people do not like TBR and some pros contend that TBR and Denial do the same thing by letting you win a turn faster, but I disagree. TBR is great at giving you games you otherwise have no business of winning. I see TBR more as mainly for swarm creature decks such as Dredge and Affinity, with the added application of being a card to bring in vs combo. I would not cut TBR at all.
*Graveyard package (1/1/2 LLotV/Extraction/Spellbomb). I hemmed and hawed on this, as I considered this to be a key part of the metagame preparation. I expected the mirror and Dredge to be a huge presence, and wanted something to break those matchups. I initially tested LLotVx3-4 online; and the testing went as expected – great when you start with them, awful when you don’t. In the end, I still wanted to devote 4 slots to this and ended up going with a singleton and give myself a ~10% chance to break the matchups at t=0, and otherwise minimize the chance of drawing it. This could definitely be wrong
*1 Liliana of the Veil. This isn’t in many Grixis Shadows list, but I wanted a mirror breaker and I believe LotV was the one, as well as having a very wide spectrum of matchups she’d be useful in. I was initially skeptical about her, reasoning that you are a reactive deck that wants to hold cards. However, after testing, I saw that she was a backbreaker in games where I did want her in.
*Sweeper: Anger vs. KReturn vs. Flaying Tendrils. First, Tendrils is a distant third for me, as I believe the benefits of being BB rather than R or RR are overstated and it importantly hits neither Amalgams nor the (B)Inkmoth Nexi. I like Kozilek’s Return as it hits Etched Champion and manlands. It was more of a gut call to try and hate out Dredge (as well as being marginally better vs humans/elves/merfolk before their lord effects come in). This slot(s) can certainly change.
As I scoured around on Thursday and Friday I saw a lot of Shadows and Affinity in the Last Chance Trials. I had last minute thoughts about swapping Anger for KReturn but I told myself I’m willing to lose to Affinity rather than Dredge (Affinity’s presence online was waning, but there’s the adage about Affinity being way more popular in paper..). My observation on the popular decks was foreshadowing for what’s to come, but in a way that I didn’t expect.
Saturday
I also played with 2 BYEs in the Legacy event with a dumbed down version of Grixis Delver with Death’s shadow. I told myself I wanted to make day 2 there but knew it wasn’t realistic because I’m playing a tier 3 deck essentially and I’ve never played legacy in paper before. I ended up losing two win-and-ins in Legacy but was fine with my performance. Today though I told myself my goal is absolutely to make day 2 and have a good performance into day 2.
Round ½ - byes
Round 3 – vs. Weston (Humans)
G1 I am OTP and IoK to see something like 2 lands, 2 paths, Champion of the Parish, Hiearch and Pilgrim. I let out an inaudible groan as I’ve gotten a lot of reps online vs. Humans and it’s not a great matchup. I have some lands, snapcaster, push and Shadows s o I take a path, plan on snapcaster+discard the other path and slam a shadow after t3. Unfortunately he draws into Thalia and another path and screws up my plans. I ended up dying to dorky human beats lead by the Mayor and Champion
SB:
+1 TBR, +1 Anger, +1 Staticaster/+1 Last Hope (not sure about this – Mayor and Lieutenant invalidate these, but otherwise great)
-1 Scour (not great against Thalia, graveyard generally will fill itself interacting with them), 1 IoK (doesn’t hit CoCo), -2 KCommand (high cost card that doesn’t have too big of impact)
G2 Weston mulls to 6 and I IoK into Township, Township, Thicket, Champion, Hierarch, Cavern. I take the Hierarch and he basically doesn’t get to play the game as I remove all of his threats and beat down
G3 Weston again mulls to 6 and I IoK into Coco, Guardian of Thraben, Champion, Path, Reflector, land. I have a hand without threats but ~3 lands, snapcaster, push SV. I take the Thaila but he draws a land+another Thalia and we start trading resources. Late in the game I’m at the game state of empty battlefield. He has 3 lands in play and I know he has Coco+x. I am at 4 and fire off a Thoughtseize hoping to take Coco but then I see it’s Coco+Reflector mage. My hand is Scour+TBR+SV and after thinking for a while I realize I have to take Reflector Mage and hope he bricks on land. Next turn I play a 11/11 DS and an Angler and he draws another Coco+Thalia. He’s at 18 and I attack with both (a small mistake to attack with both, as if he pathed my TBR’d Thaila and take Gurmy’s damage I’d be dead). I Battle Rage onto the DS FTW.
3-0 (2-1)
Round 4 vs. Steve Rubin
I recognize his name as a MTG pro and I begin bracing for a tough battle. When the round starts ,however, he is not here. I start googling and realize he was 10-1 in the Sealed event at the time and therefore unlikely to come. I count my blessings and take the free win
4-0 (N/A)
Round 5 vs. Guillermo Hernandez (Affinity)
A nice Mexican fellow. G1 He is OTP and spews out Welding Jar, Blinkmoth and Vault Skirge. I thoughtseize to see Ravager, plating, Inkmoth, Master. I have a hand of Kcommand, 2nd land, threats and 1 push. I take the Plating but then he slams another Plating and start giving me the business. I never see the third land and die a horrible death
SB:2 Rejection, +1 Staticaster, +1 TBR, +1 Kcommand, +1 Anger
-4 Wraiths
-3 Denial
G2 I keep fetch, Tasigur, Scour, Push, KCommand, Seize and SV. Questionable but I keep. I lead with SV and line up a second land. He plays t1 Skirge+Blinkmoth+Mox Opal. T2 I thoughtseize him again to see: Thoughtseize (I think I was better off SVing to line up lands) and see Plating, Champion, Plating, Overseer, Negate (?!), land and Skirge. I take the Champion and plan on never letting him connect with a creature. He t2 Overseer. T3 I draw the second KCommand and though that’s great I wanted to see the third land. I push the Overseer at this point. Next turn he plays and equips plating and puts him to 6. At this point he has 4 mana available and I know he has the negate. I only have a terminate and if I let him untap he has negate him and lethal. Not sure if there’s a mistake for him to make him but I terminate on my turn and he untaps, equips his Blinkmoth and attacks FTW and I die with 3 Kcommands in hand.
4-1 (0-2)
Round 6: vs. Tyler (Affinity)
G1 I am on the play and he mulls to 6. I grown inside when I play IoK and see it’s another Affinity matchup: Champion, drums, opal, overseer, ravager, overseer. An ambitious keep, for sure, but a keep that is a card away from being very good. I take the drums and he never sees another land or gets to play Magic
SB: Same as round 5
G2: He mulls to 6 again and plays Spire Opal Ornithopter go. I IoK again to see RIP, Plating, and Blood Moon. My hand is full of Shadows rather than Delve creatures and I can fetch for basics so I just take Plating. He again does not get to play Magic and I breathe a sigh of relief
5-1 (2-0)
At this point I am bemoaning the fact that I haven’t gotten any good matchups so far (other than the bye!) and am hoping to see a Sleight of Hand played vs. me.
Round 7: vs. Jeffrey (Elves)
G1 he is on the play and he leads with Gilt leaf into Heritage Druid. Great. I t1 IoK to see: Canopy, Chord, Devoted Druid, Dwynen’s Elite, Cavern. I take the Elite as I had a push in hand. He plays a t2 druid and doesn’t draw much else. I end up pushing the Druid, Thoughtseizing away his Chord, play a Tasigur and proceed to put him into the Abyss.
SB: +2 brutality +1 Anger +1 Last Hope (this may be too slow OTD? Not sure) +1 Staticaster +1 TBR
-1 IoK -2 Wraith -2 KCommand -1 Scour
G2 he mulls to 6 and leads on t1 Heritage Druid again. I thoughtseize to see: Shaman of the Pack, Ewitness, Devoted Druid, Coco. I take the DD to deny him acceleration. He’s stuck on a land for a bit but eventually puts me to 4. I brutality/snap brutality to get rid of the Ewitness/Coco for good. I anger away the on-board Shaman and Nettle Sentinel and put him into the Abyss for the win.
2-0 (6-1)
I was ecstatic to have made day 2 vs. a set of matchups I didn’t consider to be favorable at all. I turn my focus back to playing tight after a brief moment of celebration as I know there’s still a long road ahead
Round 8: vs. Austin Johnson (Bushwhacker zoo)
While shuffling he inadvertently flashes a Burning Tree Emissary and I let out another inaudible grown. Bushwhacker Zoo is extremely aggressive and hard to interact in time.
G1 He is OTP and mulls to 5, scrying bottom. He has a very creature light hand and only hits me with Goblin Guide a few times. I take control with a few removals and win with Tasigur+snapcaster
SB: +2 brutality (killing a GG+taking away Atarka’s/Boros Charm/Path/Palm seems good)
+1 Anger (very questionable and slow but Wraiths are horrible in this matchup)
+1 TBR
+1 LotV (pretty bad but at least I’m on the play and it’s a 3 mana removal at worst and better than wraiths)
-4 Wraiths
-1 Thoughtseize
G2: I see a 4 land IoK TS SV hand which simply doesn’t work. My 6 card hand is 3 lands, denial, Thoughtseize and IoK. Not what I wanted but I didn’t think I can go to 5 from this (which begs the question as to whether the 7 card hand was keepable). He has a t1 nacatl. I draw a DS and IoK into Atarka’s Command, Foundry, Nacatl, Nacatl, Path. I take the Nacatl and deny him a potential turn of land into double Nacatl, planning on taking the Path with Thoughtseize after . He plays a single Nacatl and attacks me with the t1 Nacatl. I draw a TBR next turn, Thoughtseize away the Path and play a 2/2 DS. He attacks me with his two 3/3 Nacatls, I block and go to 8. He is at 15 and I have a fetchland, so I fetch to 5 and TBR FTW.
7-1 (2-0)
I again feel very fortunate to have beaten tough matchups, and am beginning to think I can make a deep run in this event.
Round 8: vs. Austin Johnson (?!) (Mardu midrange)
I did a double take when I saw the pairing, but then I saw a four digit number after his name and realize there’s more than one Austin Johnsons in the tournament. I greet my opponent and we laugh at the pairings and how I’ve already met his evil twin. He is playing his first Grand Prix and remarks that he is playing some sort of a review. I shuffle and present in eager anticipation as to what it is
G1 Austin is OTP and plays an Arid Mesa. I play a discard and see: Plains, Crypt, Bob, Dreadbore, Bolt, Push. Seems like a Rakdos or Mardu midrange. I take the Dreadbore as I have a push already. The game is unexciting but ends in an awful manner for me. I’m at 8 with a shadow and he EoT Bolt, untap bolt+Helix. Interesting.
While sideboarding, I’m not aware what the threat base a Mardu midrange deck typically has. It completely escaped me that they may very well be playing Pyromancer/Mentor (I saw neither). As a result, I boarded in as I would vs a grindy matchup
SB: +2 brutality,
+1 LotV,
+1 Last Hope,
+1 KCommand
-2 Wraiths
-2 Denials
G2 I play a discard into: Mentor, Helix, Blessed Alliance, Swamp, Mire, Mesa, Push. I am blindsided by the mentor and realize that he must be running Pyromancer too and lament the fact that I didn’t even consider Staticaster/Anger. I take the Mentor as I have no answers. I get into a weird stalemate where He has a mentor out with a known push, and I have a 4/4 DS in play and Push+KCommand in the hand. My DS is being brickwalled by mentor tokens and I have not been making any headway. I cannot Kcommand the Mentor for its Prowess and I would not be able to Kcommand back a DS from the inevitable push. I do not draw a fetchland or a terminate and he eventually casts a Young Pyromancer. I have to remove it with KCommand and get less than ideal value from it. I end up getting overrun by tokens
7-2 (0-2)
A decent Day 1 with byes, but I continued to lament the fact that I should’ve seen through the Mardu matchup and that I didn’t consider Anger/staticaster. But x-2 is still decent and I could put myself in position for a big finish tomorrow.
Sunday
Round 10: vs. Leo (Jund)
A nice fellow Canadian and we make some small talk before starting. I t1 discard to see: Scooze, bob, LotV, Maelstrom Pulse, Blackcleave Cliffx3. That is a lot of goodies. I take the LotV as my hand would not be able to beat her. I expect the modified Jund (4 pushes, minimal bolts) to be slightly favored vs. Grixis Shadows. However in this game I have enough answers for his removals and ride my Gurmag to victory
SB: +1 Anger (Scooze, Bob, potential huntmaster)
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 LotV
+1 Last Hope
+1 Kolaghan’s Command
-3 Denials
-3 Wraiths
G2 He greets me with a t0 Leyline of the Void and I barely get to play
G3 I play a t2 discard to see: Swamp catacomb fulminator Bob Scooze Scooze Terminate. I take the terminate but he draws into a bunch more removals even after I remove the Bob and I again don’t get to play much and get junded out
7-3 (0-2)
R11 vs Mason (Blue Moon)
G1 he is OTP and is on an innocuous start of island, Ancestral Vision into steam vents untapped. I just automatically process that as Jeskai control/flash/tempo but am in for a rude awakening when he slams a t3 blood moon – it never even occurred to me as a possibility. I should’ve occurred to me that Jeskai Control typically does not play Ancestral Vision and prefer to play a tempo/burn out game. Blood Moon gets me good. I do see a main deck Roast.
SB: +1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+1 LotV
+1 Last Hope
+1 Kolaghan’s Command
-4 Push
-2 Wraiths
G2 I see Island, Island, Spell Snare, Relic, Relic, Cryptic, Blood moon t1 and take Moon. I have a LotV that I can slam if I can draw one land within 2 draw steps. I don’t find it on curve but slam a t4 LotV. Unfortunately he had drawn a Mana Leak in between that. We end up playing a grindy game trading counters and threats. I start beating down with Snapcaster But there is an end step of mine where he bolts me down from 7 to 4 with just one red mana available. Alarm bells are going off as I think he must have drawn a Snapcaster. I stop attacking with Snapcaster in the fear of snap+Bolt eot (he did have the snapcaster). There is a sequence of brutality pitching a card getting remanded, then brutality pitching a card getting snap+cryptic Commanded. I cannot recover and end up getting out-controlled.
7-4 (0-2)
That was a bad loss I think in a matchup that is definitely winnable. Not feeling too great at the day’s start
R12: vs. John (Grixis Shadow)
A real cool dude to talk to and finally the mirror I was expecting. Not much to say about these three games. G1 and G2 were your typical grindy matches. G3 I see a hand of Leyline, fetch, spellbomb, DS, Tasigur, Thoguhtseize, Terminate. If I draw a land this hand is pretty nutty. I slam my Leyline t0 and proceed to never see another land in 6 turns and I die a horrible death to his 6/6 Death’s Shadow
7-5 (1-2)
Really not feeling great now especially losing g3 with a reasonable hand with Leyline. I was admittedly getting pretty tilty.
R13: vs. Robert (Bant Spirits)
G1 is not much of a game. He slams double Droskol captain and their synergies are too much
SB: +1 Anger
+1 TBR
+1 LotV
+1 Last Hope
-1 Scour
-3 Wraiths (I don’t like Wraiths in agro matchups. Flyers are a nightmare for Grixis Shadows)
G2 we grind each other out and we arrive at an interesting board state where I made a huge mistake:
Opponent (14 life, 2 lands, Tapped Rattlechain, Untapped Bird. His hand is known as Path, Queller, Engineered Explosives and Captain)
Me (5/5 DS, 10 card graveyard, tapped swamp, watery grave, Steam Vents, Polluted Delta with a Tasigur+Angler in hand)
My opponent announced go to damages? After I attack with my DS. I should’ve taken the free 5 damages (I suspect he was saving path for a delve fatty and use his EE to destroy the shadow. Instead I fetch to 5 like an idiot and now he paths. Stupid me… My second mistake was fetching a Vents in case I draw an anger but I should’ve fetched a Crypt. Now I could not cast double delve fatties.
There was also the question of who I push. I am now at 5 facing down a Rattlechain and a Bird while he’s at 14. My inclination was to push Bird, hope he never draws a hand, and leave him without answers for my Delve fatties that would win the race vs. his Rattlechain. My opponent later said I should’ve Pushed the Rattlechain as that’d force him to take a turn off to play a threat or answer my DS. That is true but I think Pushing the bird and praying he doesn’t draw the land had the highest upside. The moment he untapped he’d be able to deploy a queller or captain and overwhelm me in the air. Still unsure on what the best move was but I’m comfortable with my decision to Push the bird (didn’t matter in the end because I had fetched a Vents and could not play both of my delve threats). As played, he drew his land anyway and I died a horrible death in the air
7-6 (0-2)
I’d now lost my last 5 matches in a row and I’d argue all of them were even/unfavorable matchups. I lament my luck but realize that I am beginning to play looser and tell myself to hold it together and play the last few rounds tightly and go home with at least a winning record
R14: vs. Jay (Burn)
G1 I keep a 2 land hand with DS, wraith, push, Gurmag, Push. I cycle/fetch to 15 digging for t1 action and do not find any. I am then greeted with a Swifty->GGx2 start and I am quickly down to 12. I cast a 1/1 shadow and take a GG hit, block a GG and push a swifty. I end up stabilizing as I draw another DS and play Gurmag and he shows me a hand of all lands
SB: +1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+1 TBR
+1 LotV (not great in this matchup but wraiths are infinitely worse and arguably worse cutting one kcommand for)
G2 Both mulls to 6. I keep a risky DS, 3xDenial, swamp, crypt hand and bottom a snap. I need any blue source to make this hand good. He has a t0 Leyline… of sancitity (?!). He feeds me a steady diet of dorks and burn but I eventually find a Watery Grave. I slam a 5/5 shadow with swamp, grave and crypt in play. He paths it twice and things are looking bad as I go to 2. I had also stupidly scried an IoK top when he has leylines. We end up on an empty board and I have to fade a million topdecks at 2. Thankfully his business spells off the top are creatures which I have terminates/Kcommands for. I put my shield down for a turn and snap+SV into a DS. He doesn’t draw the winning spell and I ride the DS+Snap with Denial backup to victory
8-6 (2-0)
R15: vs. Travis (Affinity)
Felt very fitting that the last round was vs. an archetype I had dismissed/felt OK to skimp hate on. G1 and G2 were pretty standard. G1 he does Affinity things and I get got. T2. I outcontrol him and stabilize at 3 while running him out of threats and his Plating looks very lonely. G3 is an interesting one where he slams an early Champion and puts me down to 10. I slam two shadows and we get in a weird Mexican standoff where he has a champion with plating (4 total power) but he needs to keep up lands to provide metalcraft for the Etched Champion and attacking me would result in his death on the crackback. He eventually finds another etched champion and attacks me down to 6, holding back the champion with the plating. I am at 6, he is at 18 and has a champion plus a potential blinkmoth activation. Thoughtseize an empty hand, fetch+shock down to one. Attack, TBR, game.
SB: Same as before
Final record: 9-6 (2-1)
Conclusion:
*My opponents were Humans, Affinity, Bushwhacker Zoo, Elves, Affinity, Mardu, Jund, Grixis Shadow, Spirits, Blue Moon, and Affinity. Arguably only Blue Moon was a favorable matchup for me
*The old adages turned true: When (graveyard/artifact) hate is skimped, (dredge/affinity) comes out of nowhere and crushes. Also, everyone plays Affinity in paper.
*TBR did a lot of work for me and I would not think of cutting one
*Leyline is still questionable, but I think a single Leyline in this meta makes a lot of sense. I will be continuing to test with this configuration.
*the 17 land, 4 sleight build that Ari Lax piloted is interesting, but I’m going to need to test more to see if it’s better. I don’t see it as a delver-esq tempo deck, but a midrange deck with a switch. I value the top end of KCommand+Snapcaster, and believe this configuration is better than the Sleight build. Who knows though.. Will keep testing
*I think it’s mandatory we re-include a bolt or two. Mirran Crusader is not beatable for us, plus with the dorky company/creature decks running rampant there’s not a huge cost to playing a few bolts
*I saw the Dismember in Owen Turtenwald’s list. It’s not bad, but I believe you’d often reach a point where you have to cast it for 3 or snapcaster it back for 5. It also misses on a lot of Shadows, Titans and other random shenanigans. I prefer the Terminate
*3 Denials main may be too much. I may add a Liliana in the main deck
TLDR: Second Grand Prix experience, played Death’s shadow to a 7-1 start, then 2-5 finish. Good times were still had, deck is still powerful, and deck has the tools to adapt to the changing metagame
Thanks for reading.
Grixis Shadow
*Look out for Strands/Godless Shrines as clues for SB Souls
In:
+2 Last Hope
+3 Leyline of the Void
+1 LotV
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraiths
Affinity
*Kill/counter platings and champions on sight
*Potential singleton SB Blood Moon
*Some discards are likely fine to snipe overseers/platings/champions/masters
In:
+2 Rejection
+1 Staticaster
+1 TBR
(+1 Kolaghan's Command)
Out:
-4 Wraith
-1 Denial
Burn
*Mulligan aggressively for a t2 delve fatty, or shadows with permission
*Watch for Paths/Palms post game. Thoughtseize likely ok to leave in some number to discard those, or at the very least save 1-2 life and gain full information
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Brutailty
+1 TBR
+1 LotV
Out:
-4 Wraith
-1 Thoughtseize
Vizier Company
*Do not be too careless with the life total as their Coco/Township Plan B can be tough to handle. Also, Knights can just overwhelm you
*Likely correct to not bolt/push a t1 dork. Save your kill spell for their t2 play
*Watch for signs of chord for X=3 for Magus (more magi as bullets in recent lists)
In:
+2 Brutality
+1 Staticaster (mana dorks, vizier, viscera seer, selfless spirit, EWitness)
+2 Anger
+1 TBR
Out:
-1 Denial (this could be wrong)
-2 KCommand
-3 Mix of Scours/Wraiths/IoK (if they can put on pressure reasonably with a Plan B, cut Wraiths)
Dredge
*Likely need a way to kill a Stinkweed at least once. Anger and TBR helps but maybe leave in a terminate/bolt
*Be extra vigilant in watching for conflagrates/pharoahs in live play. Easy to miss certain cards in live play graveyards vs. online
*A lot of lists have SB leyline of the voids. Maybe consider skimping on a scour/snapcaster/fatty? not sure
*If you are playing Extraction, watch out for the interaction with Bloodghasts and fetchlands. They can trigger Landfall twice if you wait until they trigger Landfall the first time to Extract Bloodghast
In:
+2 Anger
+1 Staticaster
+3 LLotV (any graveyard hate if not playing LLotV)
+1 TBR
+1 Denial
Out:
-2 KCommand
-4 Push
-1 Terminate (?)
-1 Wraith(?)
Eldrazi Tron
*TBR can bypass Wurmcoil's death touch if it is a 6/6 or higher
*Most likely correct to forego a t2 play to leave up Denial on t2
*If you see them bring in multiple hangarback walkers post board, consider bringing in an anger (also cleanly answers Reshapers)
*Keep in mind a Smasher with a Collar can always trample you for 4 (deathtouch=only 1 damage needs to be assigned onto the blocker)
*Leave fetches to revolt Push TKS'
In:
+2 Rejection (/Stroke)
+1 LotV
+1 TBR
(+1 KCommand)
Out:
-2 IoK (misses on TKS, Smasher, Endbringer, Karn, Ugin, Wurmcoil, All is Dust)
-1 Scour (hedge against Relic/chalice)
-1 Push
(-1 Push)
Jund Shadow
*Watch for blowouts with Maelstrom Pulse
*Watch game 1 for Strands/Godless Shrines for Souls/Ranger
*Discard/Counters post board to proactively take out their answers/planeswalkers
*Manage Goyf sizes through selective Delving
In:
+2 Last Hope
+3 LLotV
+1 LotV
+1 Staticaster*
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraith
-1 Wraith*
*if splashing Souls
Gifts Storm
*Watch out for SB Blood Moon ,sometimes madcap (bring back in KCommands if you see it)
*Do not be too careless with life totals in fear of natural grapeshot kills. ~7 life shoudl be fine
*Their plan A post-board is Empty. Therefore, Anger is great as a tokens sweeper and also kills their enablers
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Anger
+1 LotV
(+2 Disdainful Stroke)
No Leyline of the Void (results are too binary, would rather have more consistent cards that are already good)
Out:
-1 Angler (not about threat density)
-2 KCommand
-1 Terminate
(-1 Terminate)
(-1 Thought Scour)
Titanshift
*Watch MD relic, SB chalice (therefore leave Kcommand in post-board)
In:
+1 TBR
+1 LotV
+1 Brutality and +1 Denial (or +2 Disdainful Stroke)
Out:
-4 Push
Abzan
*Watch out for SB Damnation for blowouts. Also Pulse blowouts
*Manage Goyf sizes with selective delving
In:
+1 Staticaster
+2 Last Hope
+1 LotV
+2 LLotV (doesn't feel good bout wraiths are probably bad enough to want to force out)
Out:
-3 Denial
-3 Wraith
Living End
*SB Blood Moon, Ricochet Trap
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+3 LLotV
+1 TBR
0 Liliana of the Veil?
Out:
-4 Push
-2 Kcommand
-1 Fetchland
Elves
*Watch chord for Selfless Spirit/Forge Tender
*Leave revolt up for Pushing Archdruid/Ezuri
In:
+2 Brutality
+2 Anger
+1 Last Hope (very good but too slow to have 2?)
+1 Staticaster
+1 TBR
Out (some of these are good enough to stay in but too many good cards to bring in):
-2 IoK
-2 Thought Scour
-2 KCommand
-1 Wraith
UW Control
*Best way is to play the tempo game and ignore pushes/terminates post -board
*Removals to watch: Condemn, Blessed Alliance (watch life total, attack with snappy when appropriate), Detention Sphere, Verdict (don't overextend if you don' thave to)
In:
+1 Denial
+2 Brutality
+2 Last Hope
+1 LotV
Out:
-4 Push
-2 Terminate
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
4 Thought Scourt
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Terminate
2 Kolaghan Command
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Collective Brutality
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Izzet Staticaster
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Temur Battle Rage
1 Liliana of the Veil
Did a lot of Brainstorming and theorycrafting on the plane to Vegas and I think I feel OK about the list above. I have not had the time to test LotV but works well in theory and I will take the words of the more experienced players in the thread that suggested this.
Comments:
1. the 76th card is probably lightning bolt. I do want one for bolt/snap/bolt and because it still has a lot of utility against the top tier decks (Affinity, Vizier coco, Burn, Dredge relative to push/terminate, Storm)
2. 75th card is probably TBR, but I've been happy with it so I'm fine here.
3. I tested Leyline and have felt it's impactful enough in the games I open with it that I'm happy with that being in my deck for GP Vegas. It does make for some awkward decisions though (for example, you'd bring in spellbombs/extractions vs storm, but would you bring Leylines in vs them? I'd lean no)
4. I'm on the fence about replacing one Last Hope for Kolaghan's command, with the logic being that they are both good in grindy matchups but artifact hate is becoming incerasingly valuable with Eldrazi Tron's rise, and random hate like Chailce/relic in Valakut decks.
Comments welcome
I do get your affinity for leak and I've tried it over IoK for a bit, and was iffy on them. 2 mana investment felt like too much a lot of the times and I did miss the praoctivity of a turn 1 discard.
Do you make other changes from the stock list when you are using leaks, like Rejection over Disdainful Stroke for example?