This week I shall go over my sideboard guide for Grixis Death Shadow using my current list of the deck. Grixis Death Shadow is still the boogieman of the format, it’s the deck to beat so naturally you would want to know how to beat decks that are designed to beat yours.

First of all, let’s look at my current list for Grixis Death Shadow.

Ok so let’s talk about some side board choices.

Ceremonious Rejection– This card is one of the most important cards in the Grixis Shadow deck as it is a clean one mana answer to multiple archetypes within the modern format such Affinity or Eldrazi Tron, so that is why I have chosen three in my sideboard.

Stubborn Denial– This card is one of the main reasons to play Grixis Death Shadow and having the third copy in the board allows you to draw it more in matchup’s where it is relevant.

Collective Brutality– Collective Brutality is a very powerful card to have in the sideboard. It is very versatile allowing you to get an edge against burn and kill Devoted Druid while taking there Collected Company or Chord of Calling. The card is essential for any Grixis Shadow sideboard.

Liliana Last Hope– The singleton copy of Liliana, the Last Hope is in the board mainly for the mirror but it has applications against creatures decks such as Elves and Death and Taxes.

Anger of the Gods– this card is in the side for all of those pesky creature decks that like to chump block your dudes but in all serious this card is great and is a key component of the Grixis Shadow Sideboard.

Izzet Staticaster- Grixis Shadow’s most feared card is Lingering Souls. What beats Lingering Souls? Staticaster!  

Leyline of the Void- unlike the Jund we don’t care what is put into our opponent’s graveyards therefor we can punish decks trying to abuse this resource. Also, it’s a key card in the mirror and of course against Dredge.

Dreadbore– This slot is more of a flex slot for this sideboard if you are expecting a lot of Lingering Souls play illness in the ranks but for GP Birmingham I’m expecting a lot of Gideons. With the rise of U/W control it is necessary to have an answer to this card. This card.

With this sideboard here is my guide for the various key matchups.

Burn

In: 2 Collective Brutality, 1 Stubborn Denial , 2 Anger of the Gods

Out: 4 Street Wraith , 1 Thoughtseize

This matchup is pretty straight forward to play against . Don’t lose too much life whilst executing your own plan. Be smart with your counter and removal spells and always take Eidolon of the Great Revel with targeted discard

Eldrazi Tron

In: 3 Ceremonious Rejection, 1 Stubborn Denial, 1 Dread Bore

Out: 2 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Fatal Push, 2 Street Wraith

This matchup is one I find all relies on how many side board cards each player draws. On the shadow side most hands you want to keep must have something to deal with Chalice of the Void on one as this is a card they will surely be boarding in to counter half of our deck.

Affinity

In : 3 Ceremonious Rejection , 2 Anger of the Gods , 1 Izzet Staticaster , 1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Out: 4 Street Wraith, 2 Thoughtseize , 1 Liliana of the Veil

This matchup usually comes down to the sideboard games as with most decks in modern format. Luckily some cards in our sideboard that are intended for other matchups are superb in this matchup. Ceremonious Rejection is nuts in this matchup, it counters nearly the whole affinity deck and its only 1 mana. The hands you probably want to keep post board should contain one piece of removal or a Ceremonious Rejection.

Mirror

In: 4 Leyline of the Void, 1 Liliana the Last Hope , 1 Dreadbore

Out: 2 Stubborn Denial , 2 Inquisition of Kozilek  1 Fatal Push, 1 Street Wraith   

In the mirror I have been testing taking out the denials as in most of my games it comes down to grind fest where we both have big delve threats and are top decking after top decking like the old jund matchups but in those matchups you would side out the discard in the shadow mirror you would side out the denials because it is a win more card and that’s not what we really want for the mirror.

Vizier Combo (any iteration)

In : 2 Collective Brutality , 2 Anger of the Gods

Out: 2 Kolaghan’s Command, 2 Street Wraith

This matchup is fairly similar to the Abzan chord decks before the printing of Vizier of Remedies and in that matchup you would kill the key creatures and make them discard there key spells and the cards you are bringing in help massively like collective brutality.

Thanks for reading my article. I hope you found it helpful and that I will see you slinging spells in GP Birmingham. If you have any questions or would like to know how to sideboard for other matchups, please let me know in the comments.