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[Santiako]

EDIT: It's also worth mentioning that mono white D&T has a good Eldrazi Tron matchup, in no small part thanks to the eight wastelands with pressure to back them up.

So Death and Taxes is Death's Shadow's biggest enemy?

Can anyone explain a bit? Out of the modern loop.

Between their land disruption, hard removal, creatures with protection and/or evasion and vials to outmanoeuvre them, D&T has a really good death shadow matchup.

Okay, so Grixis Death's Shadow runs 18-19 Lands, but of these, only about 6-8 are Mana producing. It's possible for Death and Taxes to lock Grixis out of their Mana producing lands+activating Fetches with the Leonin Arbiter/Ghost Quarter Interaction(which basically is a 2 card strip mine)

Even without Arbiter it's really easy to make them run out of basics or to just cut them of a colour entirely.

 

[Infinite Stars]

Yeah, it's really, really easy for D&T to hurt Shadow because of The general lands. It's just Arbiter is generally gravy(Arbiter+Thalia+ is the dream team for fighting Shadow due to the low Mana curve)

The one bit of spicy Tech I've seen is that decks are now running Weathered Wayfarer, which wasn't common until recently.

I hadn't really looked too hard at the decklists before but this:

Is actually a strong argument for a Street Wraith ban if you're going to hit the deck. (This is an abnormally low number of lands)

Yeah, it's kind of absurd when you think about it. I included the range because of the deck itself has fluctuated a bit in terms of Mana base.

It's basically a legacy deck playing in Modern right now, because Game 1 of the finals was Triple Cycle Wrath, Fetch Shock, Thoughtseize, Turn 2 Tasigur +Stubborn Denial Mana iirc.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Why not Abzan? You aren't looking at a bunch of cards with double colored mana costs. Pretty much everything is colorless or colorless + single color, except for maybe Grasp of Darkness if you want it. I'd mock up an Abzan build and see if it fits your taste, because you're right you do need that better removal to make sure your dreadnoughts get in for damage.

Yeah, I have been mulling it over and I think 3-colour might be "correct". I had forgotten about Grasp (am a dummy), also. Not sure if I can reliably run it though... I think untapped mana is super crucial with Dreadfather, but maybe I overvaluing it. In my mind, it's aggro, but it might be more controlly.

To be honest, I think I want to try to hit an actual FNM with this dumb deck lol, I have never actually gone to one before

 

[Violet_0]

Yeah, I have been mulling it over and I think 3-colour might be "correct". I had forgotten about Grasp (am a dummy), also. Not sure if I can reliably run in though... I think untapped mana is super crucial with Dreadfather, but maybe I overvaluing it. In my mind, it's aggro, but it might be more controlly.

To be honest, I think I want to try to hit an actual FNM with this dumb deck lol, I have never actually gone to one before

you invest a lot to try to activate a 7/11 vehicle without evasion or trample that can be chump-blocked, hit by push or best case scenario gets 7 damage in. You need two creatures to activate it, and all but Greenbelt Rampager (your only other energy cards are Aethergeode Miner and Hub) and Lambholt Pacifist (which can't attack on her own without one of your vehicles) get killed by any removal. One of your pilots is Audacious Infiltrator, when it should be Veteran Motorist. You only play one Peacewalker Colossus, which would be the most resiliant way to activate your other vehicles (but needs 4 power to be crewed, which you don't have). Should play more Heart of Kirran, preferably with Gideon. Compulsory Rest is a draft card, play something like Declaration in Stone instead. Sram could be worth a consideration. 3x Key and Mirror is questionable

I'd consider switching to WR or Mardu vehicles, but they will lose Gideon and Avacyn soon. But really, I just don't think that Consulate Dreadnought is worth all the trouble

I have played some games against Dreadnought decks on Duels, for it to work you need to draw the right cards and the opponent doesn't get their single target removals.
The deck would have a really hard time against something like Zombies, for example

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

you invest a lot to try to activate a 7/11 vehicle without evasion or trample that can be chump-blocked, hit by push or best case scenario gets 7 damage in. You need two creatures to activate it, and all but Greenbelt Rampager (your only other energy cards are Aethergeode Miner and Hub) and Lambholt Pacifist (which can't attack on her own without one of your vehicles) get killed by any removal. One of your pilots is Audacious Infiltrator, when it should be Veteran Motorist. You only play one Peacewalker Colossus, which would be the most resiliant way to activate your other vehicles (but needs 4 power to be crewed, which you don't have). Should play more Heart of Kirran, preferably with Gideon. Compulsory Rest is a draft card, play something like Declaration in Stone instead. Sram could be worth a consideration. 3x Key and Mirror is questionable

I'd consider switching to WR or Mardu vehicles, but they will lose Gideon and Avacyn soon. For this deck, you don't even really need White outside of Colossus, you could just as well play GR Voltaic Brawler, Ronas, Longtusk, Glorybringer, Harassed Lightning

all in all, though, I just don't think that Consulate Dreadnought is worth all the trouble

Fair points for sure. I think you're right and need more of the Peacewalker. My biggest struggle is the creatures. I like the Miner because it can crew the Dread on its own, but I def may be over-investing.

As for the deck in general, it is certifiably stinky, lol. I just want to play the 1-mana 7/11

But yeah, Red isn't a bad look either. My goal is cheap, so, I could definitely use Gideon but I only have 1. I didn't like the double White and 4 cost though. But he is absurdly powerful, no question.

Current dumb list
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/abzan-consulate-dreaddy/

After thinking about it, the Dreadliest One is pretty hilair- 6 power to crew for 7 damage. The 11 toughness is such a weird number. Chump blocking is problematic, maybe more Dec In Stone?

 

[Violet_0]

link isn't working

you could consider a BU+r or w deck. A mix between artifact improvise and vehicles. Dreadnaught can be used for improvise, Tezzert's Touch to activate it early, and then stuff like Heart, Harvester, Herald of Anguish, Scrap Trawler and so on. Spire of Industry and Hub let you splash a third color of your choice

just keep in mind that no Dreadnaught deck is going to be particularly competitive

the problem with zombies is that they go wide and large quick, have nearly unlimited card draw, token generators and recursion late game and you have no means to reset the board. The white token deck will quickly fill the board with lots of tokens, kill all power 3+ creatures and bring back their graveyard. RU control lets you play your vehicles and then counter or kill all the pilots

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Considering Wizards made an artifact block right after a graveyard block, they failed tremendously at one particular aspect.
That is making artifact enablers to delirium for slower decks, you're either playing Walking Ballista or you're not playing delirium.

The same is true for any improvise decks whatsoever. Kaladesh as a block failed to push anything but agressive artifact strategies.

 

[blindrocket]

It's basically a legacy deck playing in Modern right now, because Game 1 of the finals was Triple Cycle Wrath, Fetch Shock, Thoughtseize, Turn 2 Tasigur +Stubborn Denial Mana iirc.

It really is, just look at a deck list and it's like, damn this is Legacy. Even the Shock Lands are useful when considering Death's Shadow.

It is mostly a deck of CMC 1, there are zero four drops and the only three drop consists of Kolaghan's Command and only as a two of.
EDIT: Obviously the Delve creatures have a high CMC but they aren't actually cast for that.

Personally I'd rather see Death's Shadow get banned over Street Wraith, but either way it's not a very fair deck considering what it does and I'd probably just have to support whichever direction Wizards decides to take it.

I have ever card necessary to build Grixis Death's Shadow except for the actual DS play set and Fatal Push. This weekend my LGS was having a B1G1 sale and I passed on the chance to pick up a couple of DS for only $10. I just don't really want to move into this deck when I feel like it's going to get banned in some fashion eventually.

 

[alternade]

I'm so close to finishing this damn Breya deck. Just need to get a few duals and ill be done

Spoiler

and so will my wallet

 

[Tunoku]

I just randomly ordered a second Beta Mountain for my Burn deck. Modern season time!

 

[blindrocket]

I'm so close to finishing this damn Breya deck. Just need to get a few duals and ill be done

Spoiler

and so will my wallet

I'm making a Breya deck too, actually. Do you have a deck list by chance?
I'm just using the MTGO 1vs1 meta deck list as a starting point. I have almost all of the cards, just lacking a few.

1 Breya, Etherium Shaper

1 Dack Fayden
1 Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

1 Dark Confidant
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique

1 Armageddon
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Grim Tutor
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Night's Whisper
1 Ponder
1 Portent
1 Preordain
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Upheaval
1 Vindicate
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Daze
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dismember
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Will
1 Force Spike
1 Hide // Seek
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Mana Leak
1 Miscalculation
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pact of Negation
1 Peek
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tainted Pact
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Azorius Signet
1 Boros Signet
1 Chrome Mox
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Dimir Signet
1 Expedition Map
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mox Diamond
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Skullclamp
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Winter Orb

1 Bitterblossom

1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Command Tower
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Dust Bowl
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mana Confluence
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Shambling Vent
1 Steam Vents
1 Tolaria West
1 Tundra
1 Underground River
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I'm making a Breya deck too, actually. Do you have a deck list by chance?
I'm just using the MTGO 1vs1 meta deck list as a starting point. I have almost all of the cards, just lacking a few.

that's just 4c control. Control does much worse in 4 player free for all than 1v1, you gotta have a lock, combos or another wincon. It's gonna be a mighty task to out trade 3 other players and presenting a timely clock.

 

[blindrocket]

that's just 4c control. Control does much worse in 4 player free for all than 1v1, you gotta have a lock, combos or another wincon. It's gonna be a mighty task to out trade 3 other players and presenting a timely clock.

Yeah, I mostly play 1v1.

 

[alternade]

I'm making a Breya deck too, actually. Do you have a deck list by chance?
I'm just using the MTGO 1vs1 meta deck list as a starting point. I have almost all of the cards, just lacking a few.

I'll put it up when I get home. Its for paper multiplayer though but I've had good success with it in 1v1 too After Leovold got banned, I'm trying to make this my 100% tuned competitive deck.

 

[blindrocket]

I'll put it up when I get home. Its for paper multiplayer though but I've had good success with it in 1v1 too After Leovold got banned, I'm trying to make this my 100% tuned competitive deck.

Okay great. I have a Torrential Gearhulk I'm going to throw into there. I'm looking for ideas on how to tweak it a little bit perhaps.

Other good Commander decks I have which work good for 1v1 and multi are Prossh, Leovold (still building), Daretti, and Oloro. So Breya is my fifth Commander. Yikes.
Leovold is my only Commander that wasn't a precon, but he's just as broken he may as well have been. I know that not all are legal in French / Duel Commander. My friends and I kind of stopped going by that format's rules.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I'm working on a handful of decks but when Taigam comes out in August I'll make my 8th deck.

I already have a promo Ojutai from my DTK prerelease for flavour.

I've been lusting for a control/lock deck ever since I switched Zur to Ad Nauseam.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Solemnity was indeed an energy-hoser
Red could steal creatures for more than one turn if not for memory issues
More blue/black overlaps coming

mathhombre asked: Is Solemnity a design card, development card or from the new play team?

Development, I believe, as an answer to energy. Play Design did not exist yet.

==

shadowknight1224 asked: If there was a set where Black and Red were themed around controlling creatures (vampires or demons, for example), could Red be allowed to take control of a weaker creature for more than one turn (but not permanently) or is that still a break?

For memory issues we tend to do effects either for a turn or permanently. If we were doing some mechanic with counters to mark time, red could probably steal for two turns. Much longer starts feeling permanent though.

==

natsoumal asked: Hi mark! For the first time, I'm able to request my trivia here at Blogatog! I complete my 30th birthday today. I currently write about color pie for a website and working in a Magic store, so I owe thanks to all the members of Wizards who work to give continuity to this amazing game! To celebrate, I'd like some trivia on the Dimir or the Blue/Black pair - preferably, that it be unpublished and, if possible, some personal opinion of you about it. Thank you!

Dimir is the hardest two color pair to design around. It has the least amount of overlap and is the two colors with the most amount of speciality (no one does the effect but then).

We’ve actively been working to find more overlap between the two colors. There’s a few changes we’ve made that you all haven’t seen yet.

I feel the color combination has a strong flavor but is one of the areas we’ve needed to fix for the longest time.

Happy Birthday!

 

[DrArchon]

Hope their next Blue/Black overlap works out better than Skulk did.

 

[Violet_0]

sooo ...

more actually viable mill cards for Dimir?

 

[DrArchon]

sooo ...

more actually viable mill cards for Dimir?

I wish they had taken the opportunity in Gatecrash to switch up Dimir from being the Mill Guild. I don't know what they should've gone with instead, but Mill is just so dull and worthless outside of a few powerful cards.

 

[Violet_0]

I wish they had taken the opportunity in Gatecrash to switch up Dimir from being the Mill Guild. I don't know what they should've gone with instead, but Mill is just so dull and worthless outside of a few powerful cards.

I like how they continue to throw a handful of useless mill cards into every set just to teach beginners what cards to avoid in draft

also, as a punishment for drafting blue

 

[Infinite Stars]

If it weren't for Wizards having decided that "Combat related Card Draw is Green", I'd totally suggest they should have UB's Keyword be Merfolk Looter on a stick. They're fundamentally the color that gets the most draw abilities/cards, so naturally that lends itself to me.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

isn't green above black in card draw nowadays? Nissa draws way more cards than Liliana.

 

[Tunoku]

Self-mill might be a thing in HOD-HOD-AKH limited though. Besides Embalm and Eternalize, there are some commons that care about the amount of cards (with cycling) in your graveyard.

 

[Giant Panda]

They should make cycling evergreen with primary colors being blue and black.

 

[DrArchon]

isn't green above black in card draw nowadays? Nissa draws way more cards than Liliana.

Maybe. Black still gets all the Sign in Blood variants, but we haven't had a good Phyrexian Arena variant in a long while, except for Ob-Nixilis but he's not quite the same as a good old 3 mana enchantment like Arena was.

 

[Yeef]

They should make cycling evergreen with primary colors being blue and black.

There's no need to make cycling evergreen. There are enough reusable card-flow mechanics (and new mechanics they could make) that they don't need it. Especially now that scry is evergreen.

 

[charlequin]

isn't green above black in card draw nowadays? Nissa draws way more cards than Liliana.

Black and green are supposed to be about equal. That particular comparison is just that Nissa has card advantage from the library as part of her group of theme abilities and Liliana doesn't, because she gets card advantage from discard and reanimation instead.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Black and green are supposed to be about equal. That particular comparison is just that Nissa has card advantage from the library as part of her group of theme abilities and Liliana doesn't, because she gets card advantage from discard and reanimation instead.

alright Nissa generates way more card advantage.

 

[GoutPatrol]

I hadn't really looked too hard at the decklists before but this:

Is actually a strong argument for a Street Wraith ban if you're going to hit the deck. (This is an abnormally low number of lands)

When Grixis Delver first got big in modern after Fate Reforged came out it was running that amount of lands without Wraith. Even if Grixis Shadow came out of the Jund version, it has the most similarities with Delver now. You're switching out soft counters, small creatures, and draw (delver, young pyro, mana leak, spell snare, electrolyze) for more discard, better soft counters, Lilianas, and draw from Wraith. I think the Jund deck may be better against the field now but Grixis would win the mirror. Grixis is just so much cheaper and easier to make for most people. Goyfs and Baubles are just too much of an expense, vs. a deck where I think almost all of it just left Standard or was reprinted in MM3.

 

[Big Icarus]

It really is, just look at a deck list and it's like, damn this is Legacy. Even the Shock Lands are useful when considering Death's Shadow.

It is mostly a deck of CMC 1, there are zero four drops and the only three drop consists of Kolaghan's Command and only as a two of.
EDIT: Obviously the Delve creatures have a high CMC but they aren't actually cast for that.

Personally I'd rather see Death's Shadow get banned over Street Wraith, but either way it's not a very fair deck considering what it does and I'd probably just have to support whichever direction Wizards decides to take it.

I have ever card necessary to build Grixis Death's Shadow except for the actual DS play set and Fatal Push. This weekend my LGS was having a B1G1 sale and I passed on the chance to pick up a couple of DS for only $10. I just don't really want to move into this deck when I feel like it's going to get banned in some fashion eventually.

I really don't get how anyone can say that Grixis Shadow is unfair in any way. It's not oppressively outmatched against most of the field, in fact it has several bad matchups against a lot of popular modern decks right now. Is Death's Shadow an incredibly efficient creature? Absolutely. Is it unfair to play against it? No. Nearly every tiered deck in Modern has maindeck answers for it.

Modern is in the best shape it's been in possibly ever, and people calling for any bans right now, seem to me to just not be playing it if they can't see that.

If people think a turn three Death Shadow is unfair, what do they possibly think about a turn three Master of Etherium with three 0 drop artifact creatures attacking from a Affinity deck?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I really don't get how anyone can say that Grixis Shadow is unfair in any way. It's not oppressively outmatched against most of the field, in fact it has several bad matchups against a lot of popular modern decks right now. Is Death's Shadow an incredibly efficient creature? Absolutely. Is it unfair to play against it? No. Nearly every tiered deck in Modern has maindeck answers for it.

Modern is in the best shape it's been in possibly ever, and people calling for any bans right now, seem to me to just not be playing it if they can't see that.

If people think a turn three Death Shadow is unfair, what do they possibly think about a turn three Master of Etherium with three 0 drop artifact creatures attacking from a Affinity deck?

"Glad I brought Stony Silence over RIP this weekend."

When Mirran Crusader becomes maindeckable the deck causing that isn't in the fair category.

I'm not playing modern right now because I don't want to play Grixis DS with fish.

 

[Royal_Flush]

I seriously don't get the hate for Death's Shadow. Its a X/X vanilla beater. That's like the opposite of unfair. I don't play competitive modern, so please help me out here: What's the problem for token decks that just pump out 1.5 creatures per turn on average that can chumpblock? Why is nobody playing sideboard Predator Ooze or Darksteel Myr? As far as I can see Shadow has literally no answer for those cards other than hand disruption. (They just die to -x/-x instants, derp) How come people have been able to deal with Goyf out of bolt range for ages but can't deal with a Death's Shadow?

Street Wraith, just like Girtaxian Probe, is bullshit though. I don't like decks that play with 56 cards.

 

[blindrocket]

I really don't get how anyone can say that Grixis Shadow is unfair in any way. It's not oppressively outmatched against most of the field, in fact it has several bad matchups against a lot of popular modern decks right now. Is Death's Shadow an incredibly efficient creature? Absolutely. Is it unfair to play against it? No. Nearly every tiered deck in Modern has maindeck answers for it.

Modern is in the best shape it's been in possibly ever, and people calling for any bans right now, seem to me to just not be playing it if they can't see that.

If people think a turn three Death Shadow is unfair, what do they possibly think about a turn three Master of Etherium with three 0 drop artifact creatures attacking from a Affinity deck?

Honestly, Affinity is kind of the same way in how I described Grixis Death's Shadow being so low CMC compared to other decks. It's pretty damned busted at times. Affinity can be awesome with game one but gets weaker after side boarding, usually.

I personally don't think that there needs to be any bans. I was just stating that if there has to be one, I'd rather it be DS rather than SW.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I seriously don't get the hate for Death's Shadow. Its a X/X vanilla beater. That's like the opposite of unfair. I don't play competitive modern, so please help me out here: What's the problem for token decks that just pump out 1.5 creatures per turn on average that can chumpblock? Why is nobody playing sideboard Predator Ooze or Darksteel Myr? As far as I can see Shadow has literally no answer for those cards other than hand disruption. How come people have been able to deal with Goyf out of bolt range for ages but can't deal with a Death's Shadow?

because the former costs triple green and the latter just dilutes your deck and even if it caught on would lead to temur battle rage returning to sideboards.

GDS is very disruptive and recursive. You can deal with DS but eventually you'll both be topdecking and then GDS is generally a much more threat dense decks because of all their cantrips and the low land count.

 

[Violet_0]

I seriously don't get the hate for Death's Shadow. Its a X/X vanilla beater

all the best Magic creatures are underpriced vanilla beaters!

 

[Big Icarus]

"Glad I brought Stony Silence over RIP this weekend."

When Mirran Crusader becomes maindeckable the deck causing that isn't in the fair category.

I'm not playing modern right now because I don't want to play Grixis DS with fish.

Fish should actually have a decent matchup against Grixis DS. You can go wide, and you can outrace DS. And Kira can effectively give your team hexproof, and spreading seas will wreck the Grixis manabase. You can easily put the Grixis player off a color entirely if you draw two or more seas. It should be a decent matchup for you

 

[Zocano]

GP Vegas was filled with GDS all over and not one made it to top8. I dunno if that's an anomaly or a sign that the deck isn't as oppressive as people think it seems to be.

 

[blindrocket]

Street Wraith, just like Girtaxian Probe, is bullshit though. I don't like decks that play with 56 cards.

What's left that isn't banned?

Manamorphose
Simian Spirit Guide
Street Wraith

Is that it?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Fish should actually have a decent matchup against Grixis DS. You can go wide, and you can outrace DS. And Kira can effectively give your team hexproof, and spreading seas will wreck the Grixis manabase. You can easily put the Grixis player off a color entirely if you draw two or more seas. It should be a decent matchup for you

Jund Death's Shadow was a good matchup. There was a point of cutting off mana there but Grixis Death Shadow is a mainly UB deck. Turning of red is only relevant post board and turning off black impossible against an experienced player who will keep back their fetch until required.
Hand disruption is disastrous for Fish and they run more inquisition and thoughtseizes than you do vials.

GP Vegas was filled with GDS all over and not one made it to top8. I dunno if that's an anomaly or a sign that the deck isn't as oppressive as people think it seems to be.

top 8 is an arbitrary cutoff.

 

[Big Icarus]

What's left that isn't banned?

Manamorphose
Simian Spirit Guide
Street Wraith

Is that it?

Losing Manamorphose would effectively kill Gifts Storm, and it's barely hanging on as it is with so many decks playing blue for counter magic now.

Jund Death's Shadow was a good matchup. There was a point of cutting off mana there but Grixis Death Shadow is a mainly UB deck. Turning of red is only relevant post board and turning off black impossible against an experienced player who will keep back their fetch until required.
Hand disruption is disastrous for Fish and they run more inquisition and thoughtseizes than you do vials.

top 8 is an arbitrary cutoff.

I would board out the Vials against Grixis game two anyway. They have answers for that, and bringing in any extra bodies you have in the board along with Dismembers and Land Disruption is how I would deal with DS as a Fish player. Going as wide as possible and racing is how to win.

 

[Imperfected]

all the best Magic creatures are underpriced vanilla beaters!

I mean, it's almost true. You have to ignore the graveyard hate creatures (DRS and Scavenging Ooze) and hatebears, but otherwise it's not entirely inaccurate.

Goyf is really just an underpriced vanilla beater that makes you do math to figure out how vanilla he is. Gurmag Angler is, at the end of the day, really just an underpriced vanilla beater as he is played. Grixis is the underpriced vanilla beaters deck.

 

[StrategyFan]

They should make cycling evergreen

yes

it's the best mtg mechanic of all time, especially for limited

 

[Infinite Stars]

I mean, I'd figure (minus the Thoughtseize ripping apart your hand that comes with Black in Modern) that Merfolk would have a pretty decent Matchup vs GDS. You've got the greatest chump blocker in the form of MoW with frequently unlockable creatures.

I mean, I don't like Grixis Death's Shadow as a deck in the format because it confirms a lot of "soft truths" I had about Modern(1 Mana is the quintessential cost for basically any spell(Removal, Counter, Discard are all best at 1) to the point where the best Counterspell is a 1 Mana Negate that happens to be a forcespike 20% of the time; Black is fundamentally the strongest color in Modern due to the raw power of Thoughtseize/Liliana/Push; That due to the curve of Modern we're seeing it become Legacy light as time goes on without the safety valves of Legacy(namely being able to add cards via other products) as the answers still are comically outweighed by the threats.

Even in light of the SCG Top8, I'd probably put the top 5 Modern decks as follows:

Grixis Death's Shadow
Eldrazi Tron
Affinity
Counters Company
Burn

Hatebears is in the top 10, but that's mainly because it turns out Maindeck land hate is pretty good right now

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I mean, I'd figure (minus the Thoughtseize ripping apart your hand that comes with Black in Modern) that Merfolk would have a pretty decent Matchup vs GDS. You've got the greatest chump blocker in the form of MoW with frequently unlockable creatures.

MoW dies to fatal push, people have started shaving Masters already.
Merfolk never was good against decks that could trade 1 for 1 over and over because it's so heavily synergistic, unless it manages to cut off colours with seas.
Last Hope being able to tick up while picking off Curscatcher and Silvergill Adept makes it even worse.

Damn checked on MTGSalv, I know no authority nut fish has slipped into tier 3 there. Just a couple months ago we were on the verge if tier 1.

 

[Supast4r]

MoW dies to fatal push, people have started shaving Masters already.
Merfolk never was good against decks that could trade 1 for 1 over and over because it's so heavily synergistic, unless it manages to cut off colours with seas.
Last Hope being able to tick up while picking off Curscatcher and Silvergill Adept makes it even worse.

Damn checked on MTGSalv, I know no authority nut fish has slipped into tier 3 there. Just a couple months ago we were on the verge if tier 1.

We are literally going to a merfolk world that showed off a merfolk with Kira, the glass spinner's ability. Merfolk wil be fine in modern.

 

[Santiako]

MoW dies to fatal push, people have started shaving Masters already.
Merfolk never was good against decks that could trade 1 for 1 over and over because it's so heavily synergistic, unless it manages to cut off colours with seas.
Last Hope being able to tick up while picking off Curscatcher and Silvergill Adept makes it even worse.

Damn checked on MTGSalv, I know no authority nut fish has slipped into tier 3 there. Just a couple months ago we were on the verge if tier 1.

MTGSalvation moves the decks around tiers according to this weekly analysis, http://tappedout.net/mtg-articles/2017/jul/3/modern-tiered-list-weekly-update-7117/, Merflok has been on the downswing for a while now, especially with Death Shadow now packing Kozilek Return and Affinity regaining popularity.

Even in light of the SCG Top8, I'd probably put the top 5 Modern decks as follows:

Grixis Death's Shadow
Eldrazi Tron
Affinity
Counters Company
Burn

Hatebears is in the top 10, but that's mainly because it turns out Maindeck land hate is pretty good right now

I would swap Company for Dredge.

I really don't get how anyone can say that Grixis Shadow is unfair in any way. It's not oppressively outmatched against most of the field, in fact it has several bad matchups against a lot of popular modern decks right now. Is Death's Shadow an incredibly efficient creature? Absolutely. Is it unfair to play against it? No. Nearly every tiered deck in Modern has maindeck answers for it.

Modern is in the best shape it's been in possibly ever, and people calling for any bans right now, seem to me to just not be playing it if they can't see that.

If people think a turn three Death Shadow is unfair, what do they possibly think about a turn three Master of Etherium with three 0 drop artifact creatures attacking from a Affinity deck?

The deck is "fair" but it does the same as other decks but spending 1-2 mana less every spell, I think the deck is fine and should be left alone for now though. Modern has achieved a nice balance of decks where almost anything can win as long as you have some game against Shadow.

 

[Infinite Stars]

Merfolk has to run Kira, which isn't really a stretch. Sure, it's not a Merfolk, but she's basically on par with what the deck wants.

As for Dredge or Company in that top 5, I'd be more willing to defend Dredge on that regard except for Company decks having 3? Main combos that require 2 radically different answers. There's the Graveyard "Gain Infinite Life/Bolster Triggers" which the GY hate can kill and the Infinite Mana Combo.

 

[HK-47]

all the best Magic creatures are underpriced vanilla beaters!

This isn't true at all

 

[kirblar]

What's left that isn't banned?

Manamorphose
Simian Spirit Guide
Street Wraith

Is that it?

There's Bauble, but since it's a delayed cantrip and Delerium enabler it's probably fine.

SSG and Wraith are the two the format would be better without, but they don't want to kill Ad Nauseum by banning the former.