Finding the Best Build of GDS
In the current meta, Grixis Death’s Shadow is undeniably one of the top decks in modern. The deck has a potent mix of threats, interaction, and card advantage, while still having a very low curve. However, I wanted to try and gain an edge on the competition, which left me trying to improve on an already very good and successful deck.
At this point, the stock build of Grixis is pretty well established.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4575997#paper
I tried many different things to improve this deck, and while most of them were unsuccessful, they were quite informative, so I will take you through the journey of the different versions I tried.
?
The first question I asked in building Grixis is whether the deck should be a deck at all. MH2 brought the format several excellent threats in the grixis colors, most significantly Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Dragon’s Rage Channeler, so I tried a list that cut for some extra interaction, a Snapcaster Mage and a main deck Tourach.
Pros: Eschewing Death’s Shadow lets you play a less painful mana base. Additionally, Shadow is often just answered 1 for 1, whereas the cards I replaced it with mostly generate card advantage. Finally, Shadow can also expose you to getting blown out by Solitude.
Cons: Death’s Shadow has the ability to win you games no other card can. Death’s Shadow is your fastest clock when you need to play offense and close the game out quickly. When you need to play defense, Shadow’s giant body can hold back your opponent’s board and let you gain traction. It is also by far the best card against burn. I also discovered that while Tourach is incredible against a significant portion of the metagame, it is far too lackluster in general for the main deck and is better off in the sideboard.
Verdict: Shadow is still worth it. I really wanted to like this build, but in a format as diverse as modern, it helps to just have a big beater and to be able to slam the door shut on games. Even without Shadow, Grixis has a very painful mana base, and against burn, I’d rather have Death’s Shadow and the more painful mana than a couple of fast lands without a way to close out the game. The most important thing I learned from this is that the solution to Solitude for GDS is not in deck building but rather in play. Generally, you can just play around getting blown out by Solitude, and that is a much better approach than warping your deck because of it.
Grixis?
The next question I asked myself was if Grixis Death’s Shadow should be Grixis. Lists splashing white for Prismatic Ending and Kaya’s Guile had been moderately successful online, and it seemed worth a try.
Pros: These are compelling cards. Kaya’s Guile helps against burn, which is one of the worst matchups for Death’s Shadow. Ending is flexible and is particularly useful against the Hammer deck. Both of these cards make answering Kroxa in the mirrors much easier.
Cons: It’s simple, but the mana gets more painful and less consistent.
Verdict: It’s close, but I think it’s better to keep the clean three-color mana base. The more painful mana offsets much of the advantage Guile gives you against burn, and otherwise, these cards are mostly solving problems that Grixis can already solve. Nihil Spellbomb can clean up Kroxa, and Unholy Heat, Lightning Bolt, and Fatal Push give you highly effective removal. The hit to the mana is worse than it would seem at first glance. Hallowed Fountain is far too bad a land to play, and without it, there is no combination of 2 lands that gives you all 4 colors while letting you cast both Drown in the Loch and Expressive Iteration. It’s also important to have double black and double red early so that you can double spell. In the end, I just think that the white cards don’t do quite enough to make up for the worse mana.
Dragon’s Rage Channeler?
At this point, I was starting to get a little frustrated. I felt pretty strongly that the stock lists weren’t perfect, but I wasn’t having any luck improving it. Finally, I was inspired by the Jund Saga decks cutting DRC for Elvish Reclaimer. This gave the deck a more controlling angle while keeping the raw power of Shadow. Because of this, I quickly found that the white splash was more appealing in this version, mainly because a permanent answer to Kroxa was more crucial in the mirrors when you lacked closing speed.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4565475#paper
Pros: Cutting DRC has many of the same advantages as cutting Shadow. You are replacing a card that is easily answered 1 for 1 with grindy card advantage tools. This deck was exceptional in the mirrors. My opponents would draw DRC, which I could easily answer, but I would be drawing Snapcaster Mage and using it to bury my opponent with Expressive Iteration and Kolaghan’s Command. It also made the deck more resilient to graveyard hate.
Cons: The deck loses some of its aggressive angles without DRC. You feel this particularly vs. 4c Blink and UW Control. In those matchups, putting the opponent on the back foot forced them to make disadvantageous exchanges. DRC provided a vast number of relatively free wins in the deck. However, It’s not entirely clear that losing these free wins is actually a downside. A win is still a win, regardless of how easy it is to get.
Verdict: Despite being the most unconventional change I made to the deck, I believe it was also the most promising. The advantage I got in the mirrors was really significant, and I still had game against the other decks. The loss of flexibility really hurt against the Solitude decks and combo decks like Belcher or the recently rising Creativity decks, but it did not make those matchups unwinnable. This version of the deck is a valuable tool to have in my back pocket in the right metagame. Unfortunately, I do not think we are currently in that spot.
The Final Form
Now is when we get into metagame considerations. For several weeks modern was ruled by the triumvirate of Hammer, GDS, and 4c Blink. However, the Hammer deck has recently fallen slightly behind, likely because it struggles against the other two top decks. This shift in the meta deserves a shift in the build of Death’s Shadow.
Moving Dress Down to the sideboard is a decision that seemed obvious once I did it. It’s a powerful card, but its value varies wildly between matchups. The proactive plays with Dress Down (pumping Death’s Shadow or sneaking in a Kroxa) come up, but not enough to justify the card’s inclusion in the deck. The Hammer matchup is the big sacrifice with moving Dress Down to the sideboard. However, in practice, it’s not that big of a sacrifice. While Dress Down is great in the Hammer matchup, we still get it in more than half of our games, and even without it, Death’s Shadow is still favored in the matchup.
Snapcaster Mage has simply been phenomenal for me recently. It’s a much more well-rounded card than Dress Down. While it’s worse than Dress Down, it’s no slouch in the hammer matchup either. Flashing back the right piece of interaction is often game-winning, and the body is helpful for chump blocking creatures with a hammer or trading with unequipped creatures. However, where it really shines is the mirror matches. Not only does it generate the card advantage that is so critical to the matchup, but it also makes your other card advantage spells far better. Kolaghan’s Command and Lurrus are already some of the best cards in the matchup, but getting back a Snapcaster Mage with either of them is game-breaking.
The Details
There are a few small things about my list that I think are worth mentioning.
3 Drown in the Loch, 1 Spell Pierce: Drown in the Loch is great, but it can be a little clunky to draw multiples. Spell Pierce is exceptional right now, as there are very few decks where it is dead. Additionally, this opens up more sideboard space.
2 Fatal Push 0 Lightning Bolt: The stock lists of Shadow play different mixes of Bolt and Push, but I feel pretty strongly about 2 Fatal Push. Firstly, Push plays much better against Hammer than Bolt because it does not let the Hammer player use additional Hammers as protection. Secondly, Push hits important things that bolt misses: Death’s Shadow in the mirrors and Omnath vs. the 4c decks. Finally, there has been a frustrating rise in main deck protection from red creatures, like Burenton Forge-Tender, in off the wall builds of Hammer, and Fatal Push gives us good insulation against those.
Sideboard Aether Gust: Not much to say other than I think the card is good right now. It’s flexible and gives a unique spread of coverage.
Sideboard Pyrite Spellbomb: It’s not an impressive card, but it’s the price Shadow has to pay for being the top deck. You need to be prepared for the hate, and no card is more hateful than Sanctifier en-Vec.
Matchup guide
There is a lot of depth to different matchups, and the most important thing is to get lots of practice, but I’ll try to put you on the right track for a few of the most important matchups and give you a rough idea of how to sideboard.
The mirror (and similar matchups):
Not a lot of tricks to this matchup. Just try to play good magic. Taking the draw post board is an interesting idea that I’ve been trying out, and I know other experienced Shadow pilots have been experimenting with it as well. I’m still not sure if it is correct, though. Bring in Dress Down vs. the decks with Urza’s Saga.
-4 DRC
-1 Spell Pierce
+2 Kolaghan’s Command
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Fatal Push
Hammer:
You are 100% the control deck in this matchup. Oftentimes you win by simply casting Dress down with Lurrus every turn in your end step. Keep Sanctifier en-Vec in mind in post board games.
-4 Ragavan
-2 Kroxa
-1 Death’s Shadow
+1 Pyrite Spellbomb
+2 Dress Down
+2 Kolaghan’s Command
+1 Spell Pierce
+1 Fatal Push
4c Control:
The matchup looks terrifying on paper, especially as 4x Veil of Summer has become more common in their sideboards. However, in practice, the Shadow deck is efficient enough that you have plenty of play in the matchup. The goal is to strike a balance where you put them under enough pressure that they have to use their resources inefficiently, but you don’t overextend into their answers.
-2 Fatal Push
-2 Death’s Shadow
+2 Tourach, Dread Cantor
+1 Spell Pierce
+1 Aether Gust
UR Murktide:
A pretty straight forward matchup, your decks, are pretty similar except that you have more card advantage, but they have Murktide Regent, which can absolutely steal games.
-4 Dragon’s Rage Channeler
+1 Spell Pierce
+1 Fatal Push
+2 Terminate
Burn:
A really tough matchup. The card Death’s Shadow is by far your best plan. Dress Down comes in to do a very poor impression of Temur Battle Rage.
-2 Expressive Iteration
-4 Thoughtseize
+1 Fatal Push
+1 Spell Pierce
+2 Kolaghan’s Command
+2 Dress Down
UW Control:
An excellent matchup. It’s like the 4c match up except they don’t have Ice-Fang Coatl or Veil of Summer, which makes it much more manageable. There are two primary ways to lose the matchup. First, you can get cheesed by Chalice, this plan isn’t very consistent against you, but you can lose games this way. Second, you can get severely punished for overextending and giving your opponent the opportunity to 2 for 1 you with a Supreme Verdict or a Solitude.
-2 Fatal Push
-3 Death’s Shadow
+1 Spell Pierce
+2 Tourach, Dread Cantor
+2 Kolaghan’s Command
Death’s Shadow is one of the best decks in the format and an absolute blast to play. However, making small changes can significantly impact how your games play out. I hope you have as much fun playing and tuning the deck as I have!
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