Modern has gotten viciously efficient with the release of Kaladesh, and the best way to win is Thoughtseizing your opponent into oblivion and dropping a huge Death's Shadow onto the board. Today's deck does exactly that. With a high density of cheap interaction and hyper efficient threats, this deck can disrupt the opponent and win very quickly. Various card types will hit the graveyard, pump Tarmogoyf and turn Traverse the Ulvenwald into extra copies of our best threats. We have cantrips to increase the chance of seeing our best cards and if the game ever slows down, Liliana of the Veil and Lingering Souls will give us a way to win the long game. This week's deck is not only the flavor of the week, but just has it all going on.

Time Stamps

00:07:24 - Match 1: Puresteel Combo

00:32:42 - Match 2: Dredge

00:54:04 - Match 3: Abzan Midrange

01:13:07 - Match 4: Abzan Death's Shadow

01:31:00 - Match 5: Grixis Control

Death?s Shadow Abzan ? Modern| Andrew Boswell

• Threats (14)
• 4 Death's Shadow
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 3 Liliana of the Veil
• 3 Lingering Souls

• Answers (17)
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Fatal Push
• 1 Path to Exile
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Orzhov Charm
• 1 Selesnya Charm

• Cantrips (11)
• 4 Mishra's Bauble
• 4 Street Wraith
• 3 Traverse the Ulvenwald

• Lands (18)
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Grafdigger's cage
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Kataki, War's Wage
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
• 1 Renegade Rallier
• 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1 Ranger of Eos

Buy This Deck

Oh, I love this deck. While it still has some tuning to do, (and I still have a few things to learn about its game play), I think this deck is just too good for Modern. Having access to such efficient and powerful cards is fundamentally overpowered. If I can sit down and play a game where I can miss land drops but still cast cards as powerful as my opponent, while also interacting with them, I am going to be a huge favorite in every game. It can be summed up as simply as this: If I am fully functional on two lands, but my opponent needs three lands to be fully functional, then I am going to 1) have an advantage when we are both stuck on two lands, 2) be even when I have two lands and the opponent has three and 3) have a tempo advantage if we both hit three lands because I can cast more spells per turn than them. That being said, some of the specific card choices need to be refined. I think in the list I played, cutting the fourth Traverse the Ulvenwald was a mistake. The most important thing is to have more Death's Shadows, so four Traverse is a must. The other card I really like is Liliana of the Veil. She rounds out the removal, can be a threat, is good in any matchup, is an additional card type in the graveyard and can be a source of card advantage. She really does it all and while a lot of people are only playing two, I am pretty confident about four. I was fairly happy with my sideboard options, though not confident I sideboarded correctly in all matchups. For my next set of Leagues on my final day of testing before GP San Antonio, I will be playing the following list:

Death?s Shadow Abzan v2.0 ? Modern | Andrew Boswell

• Threats (15)
• 4 Death's Shadow
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Liliana of the Veil
• 3 Lingering Souls

• Answers (15)
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Fatal Push
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Orzhov Charm
• 1 Selesnya Charm

• Cantrips (12)
• 4 Mishra's Bauble
• 4 Street Wraith
• 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

• Lands (18)
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Grafdigger's cage
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Kataki, War's Wage
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
• 1 Renegade Rallier
• 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1 Ranger of Eos

Buy This Deck

Until next week, GLHF friends. May you smite thy enemies with a Golden Axe!

— Andrew Boswell