Fish Five-0: Grixis Midrange (Standard, Magic Arena)
A decent amount of you have requested some Grixis action so this week we're going to try to see if Grixis Midrange has a shot at winning a few matches!
Gameplan
The deck plays exactly like a midrange deck and something about playing Grixis makes me enjoy the play style of one for ones and attacking the opponent's hand. The play style might be dated but we do have enough power to get there with synergies of Lazav, the Multifarious and Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger.
For two mana, we can immediately copy Kroxa and get the attack trigger off of Kroxa and that feels so deliciously Grixis! Other things we have in the deck to copy is Thief of Sanity and Cavalier of Night. Right now, there isn't too much graveyard hate so it does feel nice to play freely with our graveyard with the exception of Elspeth Conquers Death and Ashiok, Dream Render to exile things. Thief of Sanity is another card I want to touch on as this card saw tons of play early but not so much anymore. The card has a ton of upside right now as it shines brightest against Simic Ramp as they don't really interact with it outside of trying to block it with Hydroid Krasis and Cavalier of Thorns. This is important as I feel our weakest Matchup has to be Simic Ramp and being able to steal their cards and use it against them is huge in helping us close out games. Another card that has benefited us is Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths!
This card is a way for our deck to get more cards in our hand as I was trying Gadwick, the Wizened before but the triple blue mana cost was a real stinker. It's entirely possible that I should be playing three to four copies as I think this is good in any deck that is able to cast it. It makes Teferi, Time Raveler think twice before bouncing it and the fact that it has menace has definitely been clutch in sniping planeswalkers!
Outside of our creatures, we're looking to win with our friends Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God and Ashiok, Nightmare Muse.
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God has been a staple of any Grixis deck in standard as its an extremely powerful card with a passive that is often overlooked. The casting cost of triple black does make the card have a real cost but being able to come down and pick anything off the board is just what we need. Ashiok, Nightmare Muse gives us more ways to interact with enchantments like Wilderness Reclamation and can quickly reach the ultimate ability so this card was an easy include.
Conclusion
The deck definitely had some power as we ended at 4-2 but the deck still feels anemic to any of the flash decks running around as witnessed in our last match against the Izzet Flash matchup. At the end of the day, we're playing one creature a turn and any deck that is heavy on removal will give us a fight but luckily we have a ton of hand disruption. My Biggest concern for this deck will be any of the flash decks and Simic Ramp as the one for one gameplan feels real bad against Simic Ramp as they have Hydroid Krasis. I'd love to add Narset, Parter of Veils but we run too many creatures in our deck so we'd often miss on Narset's activation. I think the only changes I'd like to make are to add more Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths as Nightmare Shepherd is really there as a way to make it tougher on the Azorius decks and their boardwipes but I think I'd rather load up on more cards.
This list is fun but I don't think I'd recommend it for grinding the ladder as it like decks like Jeskai Fires and Simic Ramp dunk on us for days. However, if you're looking for a fun Grixis list just to play Lazav and Kroxa, this list is close! Anywho, back to throwing darts at Grixis ideas until something sticks!
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-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger
Twitter: @TheAsianAvenger || Twitch: twitch.tv/TheAsianAvenger || Email: theasianavenger@mtggoldfish.com
