I've switched to Grixis Shadow too but I tested 2 copies of DS, replacing YP in the standard Delver shell with decent success. I never had a case of them just rotting in my hand and the inherently painful manabase of Grixis made my life total fall fast enough. It's not great against decks that go wide like YP would have been though, so I think it depends on your meta. Great against burn game 1 though. They tend to be aggressive as soon as they see a delver but play conservatively if you're playing Shadow, you can psyche them out by dropping a surprise shadow when they've already emptied most of their hand.
I've even had situations where snap puts in work as a surprise blocker or an extra beater. Opening hand with 2 snaps never feel awful to me, if there's plenty of action to go with it. 3 snaps? Yeah that would be annoying but that's very rare. I could understand cutting him in delver in certain situations but in this deck that means you essentially trim yourself down to 8 threats since Street Wraith rarely comes down as a creature. The Jund version can traverse for more stuff but we can't.
In that case what would be the best cards to side against the control match up? In Delver it was AV/Painful Truths and trying to outgrind them with value but that might be harder for DS to do.
I've heard talk of doing the unthinkable and replacing Lightning Bolt with 3 ofRise // Fall,
I've been testing it out and it's been pretty solid. Snap Bolt Snap is still a great play and I'd like a single bolt somewhere in the main but having 3 more ways to get back Shadows along with other creatures, unsummoning a blocker feels great. Also, using hymn mode after a TS or IoK feels amazing. With this I no longer feel the need for the white splash,
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.
When I'm playing the white splash I have 2 bolts. If I'm not playing the splash I play the full set. Snap Bolt Snap still ends games where you need reach.
Grixis Shadow actually does OK against burn, you have a bunch of early game fatties. Post board you have collective brutalities and a full set of denial backup. If burn wins its usually very close with a topdeck burn spell and you having a stubbs
Well, as I've said I've seen Grixis Shadow listed as tier 2 as a separate entity on other sites so it would be great to have its own thread, but that requires someone creating a primer. Until then then I don't see the harm in discussing it here.
I also think it's a big advantage that nearly every spell you have is a one drop (hence why people dropped terminates for more Fatal Pushes) that allow you to have more open mana.
What do people think of one of Orzhov Charm in Shadow? My mana base already ran Strands for budget reasons so all I'd have to do is take out a Steam Vents for a Godless Shrine
Problem with Bob is that Shadow decks want absolute control over the lifeloss and want to stabilize at around 9 life. I'd fit some number of Tasigur and Anglers in there (they are very cheap) and Stubborn Denials which is the main reason to play blue in a Shadow deck.
So, I've decided to experiement with having Delvers in the side of the Grixis Shadow deck. Control decks had done something similar in the past. I'm liking it so far, it's great with decks where we want an earlier threat and it soaks up removal that would have been used on a Tasigur. The biggest weakness is the SB, I don't have any tron in my meta so I decided to remove my land destruction.
I've been testing it out and it's been pretty solid. Snap Bolt Snap is still a great play and I'd like a single bolt somewhere in the main but having 3 more ways to get back Shadows along with other creatures, unsummoning a blocker feels great. Also, using hymn mode after a TS or IoK feels amazing. With this I no longer feel the need for the white splash,
What do people think of one of Orzhov Charm in Shadow? My mana base already ran Strands for budget reasons so all I'd have to do is take out a Steam Vents for a Godless Shrine
So, I've decided to experiement with having Delvers in the side of the Grixis Shadow deck. Control decks had done something similar in the past. I'm liking it so far, it's great with decks where we want an earlier threat and it soaks up removal that would have been used on a Tasigur. The biggest weakness is the SB, I don't have any tron in my meta so I decided to remove my land destruction.
4 Death's Shadow
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instant (15)
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Thought Scour
Sorcery (10)
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
Land (19)
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Terminate