Death's Shadow

Death’s Shadow is a midrange Modern deck. The deck loses life quickly and uses Death’s Shadow and other creatures to win through combat damage. Currently, Grixis is considered the best Death’s Shadow variant and is a top-tier deck.

Strategy
Death’s Shadow is similar to other midrange decks in that it plans to win by playing efficiently costed creatures and attacking. What sets Death’s Shadow apart is that the namesake card comes with a drawback that forces its controller to lose eight or more life before it can even exist on the battlefield.

In order to quickly cast Death’s Shadow, decks are built with a number of different ways to lose life, namely fetch lands, shock lands, Street Wraith, and Thoughtsieze. The deck also made use of Gitaxian Probe before it was banned.

The Grixis Death's Shadow build uses Thought Scour, other cantrips, fetch lands, and Street Wraith to fill its graveyard quickly so it can make use of the delve mechanic. Thus Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler act as back-up threats alongside Death's Shadow.

The Grixis build interacts with its opponent's deck using a mix of discard spells; removal spells; and Stubborn Denial</c>, which is often Ferocious mode due to the high power of the deck's creatures. Snapcaster Mage</c> is another common inclusion, allowing the deck to generate value in later turns by re-using its instant and sorcery spells.

Zoo
Death’s Shadow emerged as a competitively viable deck in 2015 with the printing of Become Immense</c> in Khans of Tarkir and Temur Battle Rage</c> in Fate Reforged. MTGO user PTPaul created a Zoo-like deck that tried to use these cards in conjunction with Death’s Shadow</c> and a host of aggressive creatures to kill the opponent as quickly as possible, ideally on turn three.

In June 2016, Sam Black used a modified version of this deck to place within the top eight at Grand Prix Charlotte. His version of the deck cut Tarmogoyf</c> and Tasigur, the Golden Fang</c> from PTPaul’s build in favor of the more aggressive Monastery Swiftspear</c> and main-deck Thoughtsieze</c>.

<deck title="Death’s Shadow Zoo - Sam Black - Grand Prix Charlotte 2016"> Creatures 4 Death’s Shadow 4 Monastery Swiftspear 3 Steppe Lynx 4 Street Wraith 4 Wild Nacatl

Spells 3 Become Immense 4 Gitaxian Probe 2 Lightning Bolt 4 Mishra’s Bauble 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Temur Battle Rage 3 Thoughtsieze

Lands 1 Arid Mesa 1 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Stomping Ground 2 Verdant Catacombs 4 Windswept Heath 1 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Dismember 1 Forest 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 3 Hooting Mandrills 2 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Lightning Helix 1 Natural State 1 Phyrexian Unlife 1 Pyroclasm 1 Stony Silence 1 Tarmogoyf

Jund
In January 2017, Gitaxian Probe</c> was banned in Modern. Although many assumed that this would be the end of Death’s Shadow, the deck proved resilient. Even before the banning, players had been experimenting with a less aggressive Jund variant that used Tarmogoyf</c> and Death’s Shadow as its only two finishers, and Traverse the Ulvenwald</c> to tutor for these creatures.

After the banning of Gitaxian Probe, this new build of Death’s Shadow had a dominating performance at Grand Prix Vancouver 2017, where three out of the top eight decks were Jund or other black/green Death’s Shadow variants. Josh Utter-Leyton won the Grand Prix with the following Jund build (splashing white for several sideboard cards).

<deck title="Jund Death’s Shadow - Josh Utter-Leyton - Grand Prix Vancouver 2017"> Creatures 4 Death’s Shadow 1 Ghor-Clan Rampager 4 Street Wraith 4 Tarmogoyf

Spells 1 Collective Brutality 3 Fatal Push 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Kolaghan’s Command 2 Liliana of the Veil 4 Mishra’s Bauble 3 Tarfire 2 Temur Battle Rage 4 Thoughtsieze 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

Lands 1 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Stomping Ground 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard 1 Collective Brutality 1 Ethersworn Canonist 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Liliana, the Last Hope 1 Ranger of Eos 2 Ancient Grudge 3 Fulminator Mage 1 Kataki, War’s Wage 3 Lingering Souls

Grixis
Eventually, Grixis builds of Death’s Shadow replaced Jund at the top tier of the format.

Carson Peske finished third place at a Star City Games Modern IQ in Durham with the following Grixis build.

<deck title="Grixis Death’s Shadow - Carson Peske - SCG Modern IQ Durham 2017"> Creatures 4 Death’s Shadow 2 Gurmag Angler 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Street Wraith 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Spells 1 Dismember 4 Fatal Push 2 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Kolaghan’s Command 4 Opt 2 Serum Visions 2 Stubborn Denial 1 Temur Battle Rage 1 Terminate 4 Thought Scour 4 Thoughtseize

Lands 1 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 3 Flooded Strand 1 Island 4 Polluted Delta 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Steam Vents 1 Swamp 2 Watery Grave

Sideboard 1 Engineered Explosives 2 Ceremonious Rejection 2 Stubborn Denial 1 Collective Brutality 1 Pyroclasm 1 Temur Battle Rage 2 Young Pyromancer 1 Kolaghan’s Command 1 Kozilek’s Return 2 Liliana of the Veil 1 Liliana, the Last Hope