Thank you For reading. Upvote if you like. The List currently being shown here is not my own. However, I have been playing with this list and feel as if I have a good understanding of it. This is Mattia Rizzi's GP Wining deck. I am just giving a tutorial on how to pilot the deck to its best.
After this weekend of GPs and SCG Opens it is evident that Grxis Death's Shadow is the best Shadow variant for the time being. Grixis Shadow utilizes the power of Blue mana to outplay many other decks. The deck uses cards like Serum Visions and Thought Scour to keep a full hand and utilizes the power of Snapcaster Mage to recast any vital spell. This paired along with the incredible power of Death's Shadow creates a super power deck in the Modern Format.
How to Play the Deck
Here I will go through a turn by turn analysis of how to pilot the deck to its full potential.
Turn 1
The first turn of any Shadow build is extremely important. There are really 2 different ways that you want your first turn to go. 1. Cracking a fetch land into either Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek is a very good play that gives you vital information on your opponent's deck. 2. Cracking a Fetch land into a Serum Visions or holding up mana for a removal spell like Fatal Push or Lightning Bolt. Both lines of play are very good, however, I feel that if you have the Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek you should play it. Both of these Lines of play can be accompanied by the cycling of a Street Wraith.
Turn 2
The second turn of play largely revolves on your life total at the start of the turn. You should be hoping to be in the 13-17 Range by the end of your first turn. If you are closer to 13 or 14 life and have the ability to lower your life total to 9-10 go out and play a Death's Shadow. If you are closer to the 15-17 range you can A. Be very aggressive and attempt to play out a Shadow. Or B. Play some Hand Disruption or card draw to put yourself in a good spot for the following turns of the game. If you did use some Hand disruption and saw a removal spell in your opponent's hand you may be reluctant to play an Early Shadow. One important thing to always remember is not to lower your life total to much in the early turns of the game unless you have a well thought out plan for the following turns.
Turn 3
By turn 3 you want to be at 13 or less life. By this time if your Turn 2 shadow is still around you can change the game state by being very aggressive. You may also consider wanting to play a Gurmag Angler or Tasigur, the Golden Fang to continue pressuring your opponent. By turn 3 you really want to have a Shadow on the battlefield because of how crucial it is to your victory.
Rest Of The Game
By Turn 4/5 your gameplan will vary heavily on your Match Up and Board state so I'm not going to get into that.
Tips
Always remember that while you do have card draw and counterspells you are playing a Aggressive deck. It is never wrong to try to play a fast game and deal 20 points of Damage ASAP. Remember never to lower your life too much without the creatures/removal to be able to keep yourself alive.
