Well, Friday I had the pleasure of playing 4 Color Death’s Shadow in a 10 round modern PTQ online (approximately 430 players).  Came up a little short, ending in 10th place on breakers.  Wanted to give a “little” write up and give some notes about the deck.  I apologize for the post length ahead of time, I may have gotten a little overzealous. Enjoy!

Decklist: 

• 1 Scourge of the Skyclaves
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Death's Shadow
• 4 Street Wraith
• 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
• 1 Cling to Dust
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 4 Fatal Push
• 3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 4 Stubborn Denial
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 2 Dismember
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 2 Temur Battle Rage
• 4 Mishra's Bauble
• 2 Nurturing Peatland
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Blood Crypt

Sideboard:

• 3 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Mana Leak
• 1 Plague Engineer
• 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 2 Kolaghan's Command
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 2 Veil of Summer
• 1 Aether Gust
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy

Round 1: spiderbyte12 on UG Reclamation (2-1, 1-0 Overall)

In: 2 Ashiok, Mystical Dispute, Mana Leak, 3 Nihil Spellbomb, Aether Gust

Out: 4 Fatal Push, 2 Dismember, 1 Traverse the Ulvenwald, Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Game 1, I open on thoughtseize to see remand, growth spiral, fof, double cryptic command, and double polluted delta.  Immediate thought is Uro pile, so my thoughtseize, shadow, double fetch plus fatal push hand isn’t looking spectacular. I’m able to get a goyf and lurrus down under counter magic, but my clock is too slow and my opponent’s cryptics are able to take over the game while I draw more removal spells than I remember having in my deck.  Game 2, I keep a 7 of fetch, peatland, wraith, bauble, thoughtseize, stubborn denial, and Ashiok.  Can’t ask for more.  Seize on turn 2 takes a remand (leaving fof and 5 lands) to clear the way for turn 3 Ashiok, which bridges in to turn 4 shadow and turn 5 scourge (all with stub backup) to close out the game extremely quickly.  Game 3 sees a mull to 6 containing shadow, stub, ashiok, bauble, fetch and peatland.  Soft stub a wrenn & six on their turn 2 lets us thoughtseize remand on our turn 2, leaving fof, growth spiral, jace the mind sculptor, and field of the dead. We get down a 1/1 shadow and pass, letting opponent main phase growth spiral which misses their fourth land.  From here it’s chip in with shadow before it gets taken out by and engineered explosives, and slam goyf with stub backup.  Thicc boi carries us across the finish line.  

Sideboard tips: Goal number 1 is to keep Uro off the field.  Their hands are fairly expensive with Jace, cryptic command, and wilderness reclamation, and stub plus thoughtseize can do a good job of keeping haymakers off the stack.  Which means we need to focus efforts on the un-stubbable pieces.  Ashiok does a fantastic job of locking up Uro plus preventing mystic sanctuary fetches.  Beware of veil of summer.  If you have a chance to force the action on it early with discard, do it.  You don’t want an ashiok minus or stub getting countered later for maximum punishment.  

Round 2: starfall on Amulet Titan (2-1, 2-0 Overall)  

In: 2 Ashiok, Aether Gust, Mana Leak, Assassin’s Trophy, 1 Kolaghan’s Command  

Out: Lurrus, 2 Traverse, 2 Fatal Push, Cling to Dust, 1 Stubborn Denial   

Game 1, mull to a 6 of double fetch, bauble, traverse, stub, and shadow.  Play out fetch and bauble and pass with stub up.  Rewarded with opponent playing turn 1 snow-covered forest in to amulet of vigor.  Easy soft stub. Unfortunately our hand doesn’t develop well from here, as we miss out on ways to lose life with a shadow in hand and 14 life for a few too many turns.  By the time we get a goyf and the shadow out, our opponent has chained some arboreal grazers and a dryad.  A top deck pact later an they’re able to burn us out with valakut.  Game 2 has fetch, double wraith, inquisition, bauble, traverse, and Ashiok. Bauble gets us an easy shadow, and inquisition takes a dryad.  Turn 2 yields double shadow in to turn 3 Ashiok, and we’re able to close the game out a turn later with traverse for a fetch plus battle rage.  Game 3 we both mull to 5, us keeping fetch, wraith, shadow, double thoughtseize.  We dodge amulet on their turn 1, and our thoughtseize reveals... 4 lands... Uh oh.  We draw a bauble, which we fire off on their turn 3 upkeep, seeing dryad.  And are rewarded for drawing the fatal push the turn before and good sequencing.  2 Turns later we can finally get a 2/2 shadow down, which we dismember at the end of our opponent’s turn.  They, meanwhile, are being flooded with mana sources, including amulet, bounce land, and azusa, but no payoff.  We start pressuring with shadow before finding a second copy, they draw in to a Karn that meets an untimely stubborn denial for the match.    

Sideboard tips: Bojuka bog can give goyf, traverse, and lurrus some fits.  We can’t afford to have dead cards in our hand, so trimming on some of these pieces makes our hands much more efficient at dodging their disruption attempts.  Aether gust, mana leak, and ashiok are additional titan answers.  K command helps with late game top decks, as well as bridge/artifacts off karn or amulet.  Don’t get too wrapped up in using trophy on field of the dead, it’s a trap.  Once field makes a couple zombies, the time that buys is more than enough for them to close out the game.  Trophy is often better as a tempo play to clear a blocker or take out a bounce land.  Otherwise, I don’t fault anyone for not bringing them in at all.    

Round 3: jvidarte on Burn (0-2, 2-1 Overall)  

In: Mana Leak, Aether Gust, 2 K Command, Assassin’s Trophy  

Out: 4 Wraith, Lurrus (move to board as companion)  

Oh man, what a quick loss.  Game 1 our 7 in the blind is double wraith, fetch, watery grave, bauble, stub, and trophy.  Opponent leads on goblin guide and we’re basically dead in the water.  We draw another two more fetches, a peatland, and another bauble while opponent spams the burn button on us.  Game 2 we keep a decent 7 of double fetch, breeding pool, fatal push, inquisition, goyf, and traverse.  Getting basics to save as much life as possible.  Opponent draws more than enough lethal burn to kill us anyway, including a boros charm while we’re at 7 before we would untap with lethal goyf and shadow.  Rough, but it happens.  Picking up the first loss early is a pain, but have to rebuild!  

Sideboard tips: Moving Lurrus to the companion slot is a great option we have available.  If you’re able to stabilize the board, the life gain can pull you ahead extremely quickly.  Hands with goyf are typically preferred to shadow hands (unless they are extremely quick – think seize, shadow, battle rage, stub, triple fetch). Most of our spells trade up slightly on life (thoughtseize to prevent 3 damage, dismember to prevent guide/swiftspear dealing 4/5).  Keep that in mind when evaluating spells.    

Round 4: PieGonti on BW Hammertime (2-1, 3-1 Overall)  

In: Engineered Explosives, 2 K Command, Plague Engineer, Assassin’s Trophy  

Out: 3 Street Wraith, cling to dust, 1 Inquisition of Kozilek  

Opening 7 of game 1 includes thoughtseize, bauble, traverse, double push, and double fetch against the revealed Lurrus.  Opponent shows that affinity is alive and kicking with turn 1 inkmoth, springleaf drum, ornithopter, memnite, and giver of runes. We take the opportunity to bauble them and see hammer off the top, but our thoughtseize yields two lands.  We find battle rage for our turn 3 and are able to traverse for a shadow.  Opponent has Lurrus and get back give, but dismembering lurrus is enough to get our life total low enough to force a shadow through on the next turn for 20 trample.  Game 2 we mull to 6, keeping forest, fetch, inquisition, goyf, EE, and K command.  Inquisition sees double hammer, plains, push, and paladin (which we take).  Opponent passes on 2, and we get goyf down, but they immediately draw a black source for push.  We find a shadow as they find second push and add Lurrus to the hand.  After they Lurrus back paladin on the next turn, K command is able to take out Lurrus and rebuy shadow, setting us up to EE away the paladin to clear the board, which we do.  So we’re left with shadow plus battle rage in hand, setting up for lethal in 2 turns.  Opponent attacks for an infect, we thoughtseize, putting ourselves to 6 with them at 17.  We can fetch down to 5, but no more shock lands means we can only battle rage for 16, so have to wait another turn.  We attack for our 7 and pass. Opponent top decks sigarda’s aid for the lethal infect kill.  Game 3 we again mull to 6, keeping double inquisition, wraith, push, double fetch.  Not spectacular, but clears the way fairly well for a threat, and sets up easy delirium.  Inquisition takes giver, leaving plains, godless shrine, bauble, double hammer, and stoneforge.  We take stoneforge on turn 2 after they steelshaper’s gift for a shadowspear.  And play our drawn 1/1 shadow.  From here we sandbag a third inquisition until they add Lurrus to hand, chip in with our shadow. Opponent finds Sigarda’s aid, but can’t find a threat until it’s too late, and we have the push ready and waiting.    

Sideboarding tips: Your two primary concerns are Auriok Champion and Sigarda’s Aid.  Those are pretty prime targets for hand disruption.  We can usually fight through champion as long as we keep it from getting equipped.  Holding hand disruption after turn 2 or so can be great for nabbing Lurrus out of hand.  Redundant hammers are a huge problem with Aid out, but not too impressive otherwise.    

Round 5: Purple_Rain on Oops, All Spells (2-0, 4-1 Overall)  

In: 2 Kolaghan’s Command, Mana Leak, Assassin’s Trophy, 3 Nihil Spellbomb, Mystical Dispute  

Out: 4 Fatal Push, 2 Dismember, 1 Traverse the Ulvenwald, Lurrus  

Opening 7 of fetch, peatland, double bauble, double goyf, and shadow is pretty acceptable on the play.  I’d consider shipping on the draw with no turn 1 interaction of any kind, but powering out threats on the play can be a solid win condition.  Bauble them on 1 sees pentad prism, so we narrow it down to ad nauseum or oops.  Second bauble sees dismember on our library, which we shuffle away rather quickly.  The two baubles draw inquisition and thoughtseize, absolutely perfect.  Turn 2 we double hand disruption and take both pentad prisms, revealing that our opponent on their mull to 5 does not have a payoff or a black source.  We get down shadow and goyf on turn 3 and opponent scoops before seeing a black source or creature.  Game 2 mull to 6 yields fetch, watery grave, wraith, goyf, mystical dispute, and nihil spellbomb.  Solid, but folds to leyline of sanctity. We dodge leyline, and drop turn 1 spellbomb in to turn 2 2/2 shadow while our opponent sets up mana with a pentad prism.  From here, we feel good against the spy effects with spellbomb, and hard casting mystical dispute protects us from charbelcher out of the board.  The game ends after a few turns of opponent dropping balustrade spys to target us, and a hard cast creeping chill, but we have a cling to dust to gain enough life, keeping us out of lethal range.    

Sideboard tips: Go fast, don’t have dead cards.  We can’t afford to spin wheels, we need to close out the game.  Spellbomb and Soul-Guide Lantern are fantastic against their primary plan, but fold to charbelcher.  Be careful on keeps that are too reliant on spellbomb/hand disruption as leyline can ruin your plan very quickly.  Mystical Dispute as a 3 drop mana leak is better than removal.  I wouldn’t keep a hand without grave hate, as you need to stop their primary plan before you can race them.   

Round 6: Traft on Ad Nauseum (2-1, 5-1 Overall)  

In: Mana Leak, Mystical Dispute, 2 K command,  1 Veil of Summer, 1 Assassin’s trophy  

Out: 4 Fatal Push, 2 Dismember, 1 Cling to Dust (on play)  

Blind opening 7 of double fetch, forest, push, double stub, and goyf.  Opponent starts off on temple of deceipt, which gives away ad naus pretty quickly.  We play fetch and pass before getting to soft stub a turn 2 pentad prism.  Goyf comes down on turn 2 while opponent develops their mana.  We find bauble and thoughtseize over the next two draws to get traverse for scourge online (bigger than shadow, and had an ironic effect of disguising a stubborn denial).  Goyf and Scourge are able to force out a couple angel’s graces in quick succession before closing out the game while opponent can’t assemble a lethal line.  Game 2 our opener has mana leak as our only real interaction, which gets blanked by double lotus bloom very quickly.  We do find an assassin’s trophy for phyrexian unlife in response to an ad naus while opponent has exactly 1 card left in hand.  Unfortunately that card is pact of negation.  Game 3 we keep a 6 of fetch, bauble, mana leak, goyf, trophy, and veil of summer.   We wiff on second land for a couple turns before a turn 3 thoughtseize on ad naus leads to turn 4 and turn 5 goyf while opponent spins wheels for a few turns.  We pick up K command and an additional veil of summer before our third land comes around and we can start attacking lotus blooms to activate mana leak.  Finally, double goyf closes it out on turn 8 when opponent can’t draw out of our minimal disruption.  Definitely fortunate to steal that game.    

Sideboard tips: Veil is a little better than some of the other options, as it at least allows you to fight pact/flusterstorm/etc on the stack.  Removal is pretty easy to cut, and from there it’s just boarding in live cards.  Permanent removal like trophy and k command help take out mana rocks, phyrexian unlife, and such.  From there, it’s just getting a clock.  Often the best disruption is getting a threat on board to force premature angel’s grace/spoils of the vault.  Making them draw to the combo helps our hand disruption by not giving them time to sandbag spells.    

Round 7: BoltTheBirds on UR Gifts Storm (2-0, 6-1 Overall)  

In: 1 Nihil Spellbomb, Engineered Explosives, Plague Engineer, Mystical Dispute  

Out: 2 Dismember, 1 Fatal Push, 1 Street Wraith  

Opening 7 in game 1 sees fetch, overgrown tomb, wraith, inquisition, goyf, traverse, and trophy.  Easy keep. Opponent’s UR pathway start gives away storm/kikki combo pretty quickly.  Not much to say about this game, inquisition takes a ritual, we drop goyf on turn 2 before getting a few attacks in.  We eventually find a shadow to drop down while opponent isn’t doing much.  They drop double reducer in to ritual, manamorphose, second baral, and grapeshot our goyf, leaving the shadow alive.  Big mistake.  We untap with fetch shock, traverse for a wraith, and battle rage for more than lethal.  Game two is a little tighter.  Opening 6 of double goyf, wraith, mystical dispute, watery grave and blood crypt.  Sketchy keep, but on the draw with a wraith gives a few looks for a green source, plus interaction for their turn 2 bear.  First draw ends up being a green source and we’re off to the races.  Opponents wiffs on a pieces of the puzzle as we chip away with a very thicc goyf (6/7 off bauble and wraith from us plus aria that got flipped to pieces from them).  Two turns later we’re battle raging for lethal.   

Sideboard tips: Aria of Flame and Empty the Warrens are the two killers post board.  Storm typically boards down on reducers and graveyard dependency to play a more value plan with pieces of the puzzle, aria, and their cantrips.  EE/ plague engineer/ kozilek’s return all act as great answers to goblin tokens, while the best interaction for aria is stubborn denial/ hand disruption.  It’s often suggested to bring in trophy for an aria, but typically if aria hits the battlefield, the trigger does more to set us back than the actual card’s effects.  Either look for goyf hands to ignore aria or shadow stub.  Be careful about being overly aggressive.  You don’t want to die to a “back to the wall” chain of spells plus a grapeshot for 5-7.  

Round 8: Hemsley on UB Mill (2-1, 7-1 Overall)  

In: Engineered Explosives, 3 Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Veil of Summer, Mana Leak, 1 Kolaghan’s Command, Mystical Dispute  

Out: 4 Street Wraith, Lurrus (to companion), 2 Temur Battle Rage, 1 Fatal Push, 1 Traverse   

Opponent starts off with revealing Lurrus, so I keep a 7 of double fetch, goyf, cling to dust, inquisition, fatal push, and dismember.  Very interactive for creatures, especially against our opponent’s mull to 5.  Our opponent’s turn 1 hedron crab is met with dismember before they archive trap us, surgical our shadows, and drop a second crab.  They miss second land, which means hand disruption takes their only card left in mesmeric orb before killing the second crab.  From here, opponent top decks air, we get down goyf in to second goyf and that leads to a quick concession.  Game 2 starts off with another crab that we don’t have an answer to, this time backed up with lands.  Second crab eats a mystical dispute, third one eats a mana leak before opponent fetches again to set up visions of beyond.  Our hand disruption on our turn reveals 2 more crabs, one of which is able to land next turn and continue their clock while we have no pressure.  We top deck a 4/4 scourge of the skyclaves to get on the board with 14 cards remaining, but opponent top decks an archive trap to put us to 1 card in deck.  Can’t finish them off in time.  Game 3 we keep a very good 7 of double fetch, bauble, push, mystical dispute, and thoughtseize. Bauble ourself sees shadow on top and thoughtseizing them takes archive trap, leaving a crab as the only spell. Crab meets push and second crab off the top meets dispute. We untap and play shadow to get our clock going while opponent blanks for a turn.  We draw stubborn denial, add lurrus to our hand, and are able to race to the finish line, ignoring a couple mill effects that aren’t killing us while we sit on stub.    

Sideboard tips: Veil of summer is an absolute all star if you see it.  Otherwise, mystical dispute is huge, and spellbomb can often be a great way of interacting with surgical extraction, visions of beyond, and drown in the loch.  EE is solid for crabs and mesmeric orb.  K command is solid for rebuying milled creatures and taking our annoying permanents like orb and ensnaring bridge.  Moving Lurrus to the companion zone gives us a reliable value piece every post-board game.  I usually board out a traverse, which seems counterproductive since they’re milling us, but it’s a hedge for leyline of the void.  Opponent didn’t reveal Lurrus game 2 or 3, which could be an indicator of leyline or ensnaring bridge.    

Round 9: Gigy on RB Scourge (2-0, 8-1 Overall)  

In: Engineered Explosives, 2 K Command, 2 Veil of Summer, Assassin’s Trophy, 1 Nihil Spellbomb, Plague Engineer  

Out: 2 Street Wraith, 2 Stubborn Denial, 2 Battle Rage, 2 Inquisition   

Game 1 is one of the best games of Magic I got to play the entire tournament.  Not just both sides playing well, but the back and forth advantage swings of this game was pretty fantastic.  On the draw, we keep breeding pool, traverse, bauble, dismember, stub, shadow, and inquisition.  Typical traverse for a basic swamp opening option if we don’t top deck the black source.  Scourge typically leads on 1 drops, so I feel pretty confident being able to get the traverse off. They mull to 6, play catacombs, and pass, and we get to fire off inquisition with a top deck blood crypt.  We take scourge, leaving bolt and 3 lands.  You’d think smooth sailing from here.  We see dismember on their upkeep off bauble, draw an overgrown tomb and bauble, and have to slow down pretty heavily since we can’t get this shadow out protected.  Finally we draw a wraith and fetch to get traverse online for a second shadow, opponent gets to Lurrus plus the discarded scourge, we dismember Lurrus, untap, and drop double 6/6 shadow with a fetch up (no shocks left in deck). Opponent is at 11 with a 9/9 scourge, we know about dismember and bolt in their hand.  They kick off their turn with swiftspear, then inquisition, which eats one of the stubs in our hand, and a fatal push on a shadow which eats the other, leaving bolt and dismember.  Opponent swings both, dismembers the shadow that blocks the swiftspear to wrath our board, and passes.  We draw... scourge of the skyclaves.  Our 13/13 scourge can at least trade with theirs, but we do have a battle rage in hand as our last card.  We’re both at 7 life, opponent plays bomat, attacks in with the squad, we block scourge and battle rage it to eat theirs, taking a bolt to the face in the process and going down to 1.  Opponent cracks bomat, and plays a scourge.  We draw shadow, force the scourge trade, and play out our 11/11. Opponent baubles, and passes, we attack with shadow to force the chump.  They night’s whipser, going to 2 as well and push our shadow.  We draw push and pass, they draw shadow, which we push eot, and draw goyf for our turn.  Opponent scoops after drawing.  Come to find out, they had a tough line of whether or not to shock a couple turns earlier to make their shadows bigger than ours and chose to, resulting to them going down to 2 life.  They died with thoughtseize in hand, which would have taken push to protect their shadow.  But I still believe they made the right call.  Game 2 we keep peatland, fetch, traverse, shadow, goyf, scourge, and thoughtseize.  Easy keep, we have plenty of threats to help lock up the board.  Despite their best efforts, they aren’t a removal heavy deck.  Thoughtseize takes angrath’s rampage, leaving double shadow and bolt.  They find a second swiftspear but miss their second land.  We play shadow and back it up with a top deck veil of summer on their inquisition.  We untap, swing in with a shadow, play a scourge and opponent has to start playing out shadows one at a time to stay alive.  A push one the first shadow and k command to the face is all she wrote, and we’re able to take advantage of our opponent’s mana stumbles to close it out before their second land comes around.    

Sideboard tips:  It’s a grind fest.  Creatures will likely die, so setting yourself up for the most possible two for ones is your best bet.  Think K command, veil of summer, Lurrus, etc.  They’re going to trade 1 for 1 as often as possible, so we need to get the extra leg up.  Don’t overdo the grave hate for Lurrus, but you can up it slightly if you see or expect Kroxa.  If you can afford to play around blood moon, it’s not the worst idea. But keep an eye on your opponent’s resources.  If they have no basic swamps and have missed land drops, the blood moon chances are lower.  Did they fetch out swamp early? The likelihood increases.  

Match 10: Laplasjan on WB Hammertime (1-2, 8-2 Overall)    

In: Engineered Explosives, 2 K Command, Plague Engineer, Assassin’s Trophy  

Out: 3 Street Wraith, cling to dust, 1 Inquisition of Kozilek  

Comes down to this.  A win locks us in top 8 and a loss sends it to tie breakers.  Opponent reveals Lurrus and we keep a 6 of double fetch, watery grave, wraith, stub, and shadow.  Not the most disruptive, but hoping a turn 2 shadow should be enough to get there against whatevever we’re up against.  Their turn 1 on the play includes plains, memnite, ornithopter, bauble, and sigarda’s aid.  Affinity is alive and kicking.  Their turn two involves strapping a hammer on a bird, bashing in for 11, and passing, to which we drop a turn 2 11/11 shadow with stub backup.  Opponent passes with no attacks, we play out goyf plus a fetch to get blood crypt in case we can spike a battle rage off the top.  Opponent stoneforges for a second hammer and passes, flashing it in on our end step for added insurance.  We could have stubbed it, but were dead to their 3 attackers if we didn’t find a removal spell off the peatland on board anyway.  Game 2 we keep fetch, watery grave, thoughtseize, double push, and assassin’s trophy.  Seize takes sigarda’s aid, leaving plains, marsh flats, giver of runes, steelshaper’s gift, and paladin.  Opponent plays giver, which we push on our turn, then double gifts for 2 hammers... oh boy.  We draw land, they add Lurrus to hand, and we’re able to strip it away with a top deck thoughtseize.  From here, opponent plays an auriok champion, we draw a bauble to traverse for a 5/5 shadow with a fetch up, but it immediately eats a fatal push.  Looking bad for us.  We do find push for the ornithopter and EE for the auriok champion before double push and trophy takes care of double ornithopter and paladin.  Their give comes down, and a steelshaper’s gift finds shadowspear to strap it up and get us to 1 life.  We top deck a k command to blow up the spear and rebuy a 12/12 shadow.  Need to fade a draw.  Opponent plays stoneforge for 4th hammer and passes.  We attack with shadow, holding battle rage.  They have to with at least stoneforge plus another creature to survive.  They go for the triple block, giving the stoneforge pro-black, preventing lethal, but losing give and inkmoth.  We pass and opponent attacks back for what should be lethal, if it weren’t for a pesky cling to dust in our yard.  We gain up to 4, take 1, and untap with a battle raged shadow for the win.  On to game 3 for all the metaphorical marbles.  Opponent keeps 7 and starts with plains plus aid.  Oof.  We thoughtseize to see double paladin, shadowspear, stoneforge, inkmoth, and plains.  We take stoneforge to prevent them from tutoring a hammer.  They play paladin on 2 and we play goyf.  Their paladin plus shadowspear on 3 draws a couple cards, but no attacks.  Our goyf swins in and lets us drop a 1/1 shadow with a trophy backup.  Opponent plays Auriok Champion, we eot trophy the equipped paladin, to which opponent responds with a hammer on an auriok champion and 2 new cards.  We untap, swing again with a 5/6 goyf, holding up k command to blow up a hammer if opponent decides to block with the champion, but they don’t, tying the game up at 10 life.  We could play out a scourge, but decide to sit on k command plus stub to our opponent’s 3 cards.  They draw, play a plains and crack a silent clearing.  Steelshapers gift goes and finds another hammer. Our plan becomes k command to kill the hammer on the champion plus the k command, and stub the new hammer, which would leave us with a shadow and a goyf, a scourge in hand, against a naked auriok champion, shadowspear, and an inkmoth.  Unfortunately our line has a fatal flaw.  Third hammer.  Which they have.  That extra hammer gets under our interaction, straps up auriok champion, and bashes us for 11 to the face for lethal.  I don’t believe any line we had available beat triple hammer.  Oh well, ggs.    

Additional thoughts on the deck.  

Four color shadow is sweet.  If you’re looking for a variant that’s fairly flexible and gets to play a lot more haymakers than other color combos, I’d give this deck a shot.  Matches are a ton of fun, and you have a bit of game against pretty much everything.  The mana base can certainly be painful at times, so life total management is crucial.    

Sorry this went on for so long!  Thanks so much for reading, and I’m happy to answer any and all questions you guys can come up with.  Insert shameless plug: If you’re interested in seeing more about the deck or other shadow variants, you’re always welcome to come hang out on our stream at twitch.tv/the_cntrlfreak where we have a lot of extremely talented brewers, players, and theory crafters in the chat at almost all times.  We’d love to have you stop by with questions and recommendations! Hope everyone has a fantastic rest of their day, and look forward to hearing what you all have to say about the deck!