MTG Salvation

Overview of the Deck
Grixis Death’s Shadow, as a deck, is quite similar to Jund Death’s Shadow(herein known as DSJ) in playstyle, and Grixis Delver in card composition. This deck was built to be played as a midrange deck (Jund style) while having an edge in the mirror. This deck, similarly to DSJ, has a fast clock that can go under some of traditional Grixis’ (Delver or Burkhart-style control) more difficult matchups, such as Tron, and is packed with many disruption spells to interact with some nasty strategies such as Ad Nauseam.
Being in Grixis colors grants access to Snapcaster Mage to outgrind the other Midrange and Control strategies while having some “immunity” to the “best removal” in the format Fatal Push. This deck plays with Delve threats fueled by Thought Scour instead of Tarmogoyf powered by some suboptimal spells like Tarfire and Mishra’s Bauble, which blanks their Abrupt Decay and Fatal Push. In a field that is ruled by Fatal Push, Delve threats invalidate removal whilst providing an efficient clock to close games quickly.

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Deck contents
The deck can be built in different ways but there are certain cards that can be considered “stock”:

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Sample Decklists

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Individual Card Choices
Here I’ll go over some of the cards that could be on the maindeck/sideboard depending on your meta.

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Variants
There are some players that have thought of including a white splash similarly to the DSJ deck. It grants access to Lingering Souls, a premium card at dealing with the mirror, and Ranger of Eos, a great card for the grindier matchups.

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Resources
This deck can be built in different ways. Some players have experimented with incorporating Delver of Secrets on this deck making a hybrid between both decks. If you want to know more about Delver of Secrets you can check on its thread. Also both decks were discussed on that thread before the creation of this one by Lantern (Thank you Lantern!!!!), so there’s definitely some interesting posts there for you to check out. ~Grixis Delver

Since this deck is born from the philosophy of Death’s Shadow Jund you might want to check out the Death’s Shadow Jund deck for some information. ~Death's Shadow Jund

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Matchups and Sideboard Plans
Matchup Guides:

-As Matchups seem to become more ‘solved’ by the general community, we will post notes for each relevant Matchup in this section.

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Frequently Asked Questions


Created By:
DaveJacinto

Beta’d By:
Buwalda98

So what matches do we bring in Lingering Souls for? I like the idea of the white splash for Souls and Ranger but I'm finding Ozerov to be very meh in the main deck.

At last! Great job guys!

First off, current decklist I use:



About splashing 4th color for mainly Lingering Souls and Ranger of Eos, it's not clear to me that we should go that route. A potential problem is a scenario where you mill your one and only Godless Shrine.

I will kick if off with a mini quiz where you could answer if you want with (Y/N) or (No.X)
[QUIZ EDITED A LITTLE BIT SO THAT WE CAN MINE SOME EXTRA INFO]
1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?
3)[edited] How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?
6) [added] What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?
7) [added] What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!

My answers can be found on my decklist I suppose.

Thoughts on Night's Whisper vs Painful Truths? Sometimes hitting the 3 land can be difficult so having a cheaper draw spell might be good

Another diamond/secret tech I am currently testing is: Plunge Into Darkness!

Hey everyone! This is my very first post on mtgsalvation. First, thank you to Lantern for starting this thread. I've been reading the posts on the grixis delver thread but never posted because it didn't feel right posting about grixis shadow there. Been playing magic since the 90's but took a long break in the 2000's. Been playing again for the last 2 years and I mostly play modern. Been jamming grixis for a while now and I recently built grixis shadow.

Here's my list.




This deck is so much fun to pilot. Having access to blue and delve creatures makes this deck seem better than the jund version. The deck recently got 2nd at SCG Modern Classic Worchester.

@Sp3lls123: The deck you listed is actually 77 cards, you have 27 spells main deck.

Here's the first list I came up with. I feel like my mainboard is ok, although I might go -1 Push +1 either Terminate or K Command. The mana seems fine. I'm really unsure of the sideboard though:



I do like Fulminator over Stone Rain mostly for the ability to buy them back with Kommand. I'm thinking of going -1 Spellbomb and +1 either Surgical or Rakdos Charm. I think I need to drop a Collective Brutality for another counterspell, probably Countersquall. I'm also not completely sold on Kozilek's Return over Anger, but I'm still trying it out. But yeah, other than that, I don't really know what I'm doing, lol.

Thanks for the answers. Quiz edited a little bit by me(2 answerds added, 1 edited) and I will answer the updated one as well. Feel free to update yours as well. The last question especially, it's very important

1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour? Pure Grixis. I would like to be more consistent regarding our mana base.
2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt? 2 Watery Grave. This land is our best land.
3) [edited] How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard? 3 Fatal Push in the MB + 1 Terminate, because I like having a way to killing off a bomb. 2 more extra Terminate in the SB.
4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package? 1 Fulminator Mage and 2 Molten rain. The extra damage is a nice thing to have. Maybe 2 + 1 is a good bet as well.
5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation? I just love Anger of the Gods as a card, and I run 2 Steam Vents and a Blood Crypt for that reason. This card can hose so many decks. I do want Street Wraith not sided out when this happens so that I can dig for more cards and find more fetchlands, but this can be difficult.
6) [added] What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)? I love Stubborn Denial and I love not having a blank Traverse the Ulvenwald and 2 mana 0/1's when I am facing too much graveyard hate.
7) [added] What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!
What's your MD card you side out more often? For me, it's Street Wraith. Vs many aggro decks, for the obvious reason and vs many midrange decks because games go long.

Quote from DaveJacinto »

I'm currently working on building the primer if any of you would like to help, specially with matchup analysis/sideboard guides I'd love to have some help!!!!

I'd love to help! Very glad this is a thing now! Been done the deck for a few feels and loving it! Now to my answers on the quiz:
1) I'm on just Grixis currently.
2) I'm currently on 2 watery grave, it's the land I'm always fetching on Turn 1.
3) as of now, I'm on the set of push, 0 terminate main with 2 in the side, and I'm also on 4 bolt, because I don't have the 4th thoughtsiezedition currently, and in my meta, bolt is very good.
4) I'm currently on 3 molten rain, because of the damage, and the wallet niceness compared to fulminator.
5) I've had no problems casting anger on turn 3.
6) I love snapcaster mage, stubborn denial, and that fact that not all our threats die to fatal push.

Experimenting with this deck, not sure how good Rise // Fall will work out. I'm running them in place of Liliana, The Last Hope. KCommand might be better being instant and with other modes.

Quote from DaveJacinto »

Quote from buwalda98 »

Quote from DaveJacinto »

I'm currently working on building the primer if any of you would like to help, specially with matchup analysis/sideboard guides I'd love to have some help!!!!

I'd love to help! Very glad this is a thing now! Been done the deck for a few feels and loving it! Now to my answers on the quiz:

Thanks man. I'd be in touch with you for some sideboard/matchup analysis then. I'll PM you about it as soon as I get around to that part. If anyone else wants to be in on this feel free to

I also love to write, so if you'd like, I can Beta the actual primer and check for spelling, grammar, and cohesion. Maybe set up a Google docs and we could work on it together?

My deck for the purposes of discussion. I am a Delver of Secrets over Death's Shadow kind of guy and have been playing this deck extreme well the past month and a half.

Adding my list and quiz answers to the fray. I'm also willing to help with the primer a little bit - I can take a look at drafts and make suggestions, but I'm too busy to do anything more substantial than that.



1) Do you play pure Grixis or do you splash White as your 4th colour?

The main advantage splashing white gives you is a better ability to grind. Lingering Souls and Ranger of Eos. But Grixis already has Snapcaster Mage, so it's hard to justify going down that route. I can imagine metagames where this is a good idea, but in a typical wide-open modern metagame I'm not interested.

2) If you play pure Grixis, do you prefer 2 Watery Grave or two Blood Crypt?

Both. 1 Steam Vents. 2 Watery Grave is absolutely correct though.

3) How many Fatal Push and how many Terminate and Lightning Bolt in the maindeck? How many in the sideboard?

3 Terminate, 3 Push MD, 1 Terminate in the SB. 0 Bolt in the 75. Bolt doesn't kill as much as it used to, and with Shadow in the deck, Bolt + Snap + Bolt is less important as a source of pressure. I'd rather make sure my removal kills the creatures that matter: Death's Shadow, Tarmogoy, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Tasigur, etc.

4) Do you prefer 3 Fulminator Mage or some mixture of it and Molten Rain as your land destruction package?

I prefer Fulminator mostly because getting RR is a bit of a chore in this deck, but getting BB or BR comes naturally. Absent mana concerns, I'd probably go with Molten Rain just because I have more ways to recur it than I do Fulminators. I did just get burned at an IQ for having Fulminators instead of Molten Rain vs. GR Ponza/Ramp since they pile Utopia Sprawls on top of a basic Forest typically, but that's enough of an edge case that I'm not too worried about it.

5) Can you find RR to cast Anger Of The Gods? Do you like the card or Damnation?

I can find RR and I've had Anger in my SB before, but it was really only justified vs Dredge because getting RR early is very painful. Damnation seems too expensive for this sort of effect, though it could be good. The only place I really want a sweeper is Merfolk, where Anger is painful and sometimes awkward vs double lord and Damnation is awkward to resolve through Cursecatcher. I would like to find space for a 2nd Kozilek's Return in my SB though, but that's mostly because of Affinity.

6) What do you like more in the Grixis version than the other ones(Jund, Junk, Esper, Shardless, etc)?

We're favored vs Jund Shadow because of Snapcaster Mage, and the countermagic gives us stronger game vs a lot of degenerate decks like Ad Nauseum, Storm, GR Valakut, and even Tron. Jund sometimes just loses to turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity vs Ad Nauseum or Bogles or other degenerate nonsense, but we at least still get to interact. Plus we have some insulation vs Fatal Push because of the delve creatures. The main weaknesses relative to Jund are less closing speed, especially through chump blockers, and less ability to deal with problematic permanents. Unfortunately Temur Battle Rage doesn't work as well in Grixis because delve creatures are smaller than Goyfs, and Snapcaster instead of Traverse means that we're less likely to have a fatty to begin with.

I don't really consider the other builds to be as good as Jund or Grixis, but it's worth thinking about them.

Esper: Very similar to Grixis, but instead of K Command and Terminate you have Path and SB cards. Unfortunately, many of the best white SB cards don't work in a shadow shell, so the typical benefit of being white is very much reduced. Notably, Rest in Peace and Timely Reinforcements are not options. Path is also a nombo with Mana Leak (which I'm pretty fond of in the blue shadow shells), and once you have Snapcaster Mage to grind the exiling effect is less important in the mirror IMO. Lingering Souls is also not really what I'm looking for in this deck except for in a few specific matchups.

Abzan: Very similar to Jund, but you're grindier and less explosive. One of the biggest draws to Jund is its ability to kill the opponent fast through large goyfs (thanks Tarfire) and Temur Battle Rage / Ghor-Clan. Abzan, like Grixis, foregoes this for a grindier game plan, but one that is more susceptible to decks like GR Valakut and Tron. Lingering Souls still doesn't close fast, and unlike Snapcaster Mage, also fails to disrupt the opponent.

Sultai: The removal suite is a huge problem that I don't think this shell can overcome, but if anyone figures out a way to make Whispers of Emrakul work consistently on turn 2 here I might be interested.

7) What's your MD card you side out more often?

1 Street Wraith. It always comes out in the grindy matchups, and all 4 come out in aggro matchups.

8) What question would you like to exist, so that you can answer it yourself- and of course if you'd like, answer it yourself!

In lieu of this, some comments on features of my list that aren't included in the questions above.

0 Inquisition of Kozilek, 6 counterspells (3 Stubborn Denial, 3 Mana Leak): Mana Leak serves as a great catch all in this shell that helps in a variety of matchups. Inquisition is a good card, but doesn't help much vs decks like Tron or Valakut. With shadow in the deck the clock is much faster now, so the play a threat and tempo them out plan is much more live than it was in, say, Delver shells. I've also considered Deprive in these slots, which is a bit of a pet card. Doing damage to ourselves is often good, and we function on very few lands, so it looks pretty good. But the mana requirement is harsh, especially for Snap + Deprive, since we want to have access to so much black mana.

2 Thought Scour: There are only 4 delve creatures in the deck, and there are benefits to not having as much air. Street Wraith does a lot to get that first delve creature online, plus casting Serum Visions, Thoughtseize, and generic interaction. I didn't like having so many spells that cost mana and don't impact the board or otherwise interact with my opponent. That said, I've considered shaving Street Wraith instead, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I might try cutting the last 2 Scour for 2 IoK, though I'm apprehensive about that.

SB 2 Disdainful Stroke: Scapeshift, Primeval Titan, Gifts Ungiven, Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, Drowner in Hope, Wurmcoil Engine, Ugin, Karn, Worldbreaker, Ad Nauseum, etc. If you want more game vs. Affinity, Lantern, and Scrap Trawler combo, Ceremonious Rejection is hits a similar swath of cards.

@Spooly

I like your deck list and choice of cards.

Question: How would you sideboard vs Bant Eldrazi?

Sorry, posted late last night and I didn't realize that I had 4 inquisition of Kozilek and not 2.

I agree that splashing for white in grixis is not the best thing. There have been many games where I scour my only Godless Shrine and having Lingering Souls in my hand. Yeah if souls were in the grave yard it would be ok because of flashback and having a abundance of black mana. I've been testing Izzet Staticaster and it's been good against token decks.

As for land destruction, I'm curious what everyone here thinks about Rain of Tears instead of Molten Rain or Fulminator Mage? Being double black seems more easier to cast and not being dead in hand when you only have 1 red source. Also being able to snap it back seems like a positive.

Is Land Destruction really that necessary in this deck? Against Tron it could be, but Eldrazi is usually too fast and Eldrazi Skyspawner ramps them too.

Also, the sweeper that seems better is Kozilek's Return since it goes nice on our mana base and it gets Etched Champion+Nexus+Master of Waves if that makes sense. Affinity seems only troublesome if they land Etched Champion and a couple of flyers.

Finaly, i agree with the White splash notion. I prefer to combat Souls than play them. They seems to be a little too slow in our deck and milling over Godless Shrine is such a blow out that i rather stay Grixis and jam some Staticasters in the SB.

PS: I can help with the primer if help is needed. Just message me or whatever the protocol is. Never done or helped with a primer before.

Quote from thewrush »

@Spooly

I like your deck list and choice of cards.

Question: How would you sideboard vs Bant Eldrazi?

To be honest I'm not sure with this particular build + SB. But something like:
-2 Lily, -1 Street Wraith, -2 Stubborn Denial, -1 Mana Leak
+3 Fulminator, + 1 Terminate, + 2 Disdainful Stroke, + 1 K Command

They typically have too many random mana dorks and spawn tokens for Lily to be good, K Command is necessary because of Chalice, and Fulminator is there to slow them down / keep countermagic turned on.

Quote from GustavitoHouses »

Is Land Destruction really that necessary in this deck? Against Tron it could be, but Eldrazi is usually too fast and Eldrazi Skyspawner ramps them too.

Also, the sweeper that seems better is Kozilek's Return since it goes nice on our mana base and it gets Etched Champion+Nexus+Master of Waves if that makes sense. Affinity seems only troublesome if they land Etched Champion and a couple of flyers.

Finaly, i agree with the White splash notion. I prefer to combat Souls than play them. They seems to be a little too slow in our deck and milling over Godless Shrine is such a blow out that i rather stay Grixis and jam some Staticasters in the SB.

PS: I can help with the primer if help is needed. Just message me or whatever the protocol is. Never done or helped with a primer before.

Eldrazi is the deck that convinced me to try having land destruction out of the board. It's not just slowing down their mana - killing Cavern of Souls will keep your counterspells turned on. But I'm not certain of this plan or anything, and if it turns out to be bad I'll probably cut the Fulminators.

Does anyone know any good players streaming this deck? I'd love to see some tips on different mu's.