Death's Shadow vs Eldrazi Winter | Quarterfinals 2 - Quest for the Best Modern Deck Ever

What was the best Modern deck ever? We made our community vote for one deck to represent each year since 2011, played four rounds of Swiss, and now we bring you each match of the Top 8. Jamin is playing Thoralf and either Death's Shadow or Eye of Ugin could be knocked out of the tournament.
👻👾 Decklists: bit.ly/457AxJm
Find the breakdown of the Swiss matches here: bit.ly/46l6Kyc
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[@CardmarketMagic]

👻👾 Decklists: bit.ly/457AxJm Find the breakdown of the Swiss matches here: bit.ly/46l6Kyc

[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

21:21 Wish we could've seen the look on your face when you extended the handshake at lightning speed. :D Great game guys.

[@threekeymcgee135]

“It’s a thoughtseize.” That man is rediculously talented at reading his opponents. Obviously a top tier player

[@JoshuaDominguez-i4d]

And when he said “deaths shadow” and I saw his opponent draw it, I’m like yeah he’s good.

[@dangerdean9066]

Thoralf is a Mythic Champion for a reason

[@jacktorborg9862]

This series is absolutely fantastic. And the editing is constantly out of this world. You guys do a perfect job explaining just enough that someone not savvy with modern could follow, but without over explaining later on

[@aesir112]

I've heard the legends of Eldrazi winter, but this really showed off why it's so infamous ❤

[@JohnFromAccounting]

UW Eldrazi was the more controlling version of the deck. UR Eldrazi was a lot more explosive and very terrifying.

[@necrow4155]

You didn't witness the double mimic thought knot start, that is nightmarish.😂

[@ondrejbehavka165]

@@necrow4155you mean the double mimic, SSG, reality smasher start?

[@elleeVee]

@@ondrejbehavka165 turn 1 eye of ugin, triple mimic, turn 2 temple + SSG for reality smasher, 20 damage gg

[@AdamPearsonVideos]

You weren’t there man!!!

[@traviscochran9253]

I was rooting for the Eldrazi Winter win, but man do I wish Jamin could have gotten to that third game. But it was hard to believe Thoralf wouldnt see the play. GG folks.

[@SeleenShadowpaw]

The editing in your newer videos just keeps getting better and better. You're certainly among the highest quality gameplay channels out there. Not even just magic, but period. Thanks for keeping up the amazing work

[@CardmarketMagic]

That's so kind of you to say :) thank you!

[@alexparsons3295]

Eldrazi gonna take it imo. Sol lands are hard to compete with.

[@akorthouwer]

I dont know hogaak kind of busted as well

[@owithalineybutitsupsidedow923]

@@akorthouwer they already tested Hogaak vs Eldrazi and the Eldrazi won

[@Ahayzo]

​@@owithalineybutitsupsidedow923Hogaak is up against Scam though for the top 8 so still could take it. I don't expect it to, since almost every time anyone has tested the two together Eldrazi eats Hogaak for breakfast, but when you base it solely on one match, anything is possible!

[@NeoHellPoet]

Nope on Eldrazi, nope on Hogaak Both decks are fully unbanned and have even more cards they can use in Legacy and they see zero play. Modern Horizons 2 kills them dead. If the swiss hadn't put the the 2020 decks together I would be betting they take all 4 spots.

[@Ahayzo]

@@NeoHellPoet If you don't understand the difference in context between the legacy card pool and the modern card pool, with or without MH2, I don't know what to tell you. The decks weren't great in legacy even before MH2, and in fact MH2 actually brought back Hogaak for a bit in that format.

[@gotic1926]

I love this format. But what happened to Jarmin? Where the Eldrazi to hungry? I hope this will heal soon.

[@CardmarketMagic]

He fell off of his bike in his way to work :) he was fine though, though guy

[@nathanielreichley4640]

​@@CardmarketMagic Wishing him well!

[@gotic1926]

I hope the bruises will go away soon and he will recover complete.@@CardmarketMagic

[@choingler]

Really impressed with the production quality and Toralf's psychic powers!

[@1986Om3ga]

Love the mind games from both players this match. "You still have two turns till you have to worry about the Thought Knot..." and Jamin extending the hand at the end when he attacks into the Displacer. A+ content. You guys are quickly becoming my favorite Magic channel to watch. Looking forward to the rest of the top 8.

[@betabrett0223]

I think Thoralf guessed every top deck when Jamin reacted

[@waves-]

The more-intense-than-usual music really added to the atmosphere! I love watching Eldrazi Winter decks.

[@muditjohar5323]

Wow, glad the deck that won won. Really excited to see that last bit of the quarterfinals with hogaak vs rakdos scam. 2 newer decks that are prob some of the most broken things we can do in modern with the power creep

[@ryanjacobs3089]

I feel like it depends which hogaak version we are playing if it has 4 maindeck leyline of the void like a lot of the lists did during the time its so over

[@Michael.032]

You guys consistently make such good videos, and the high quality play combined with the super clear editing makes these some of the best MTG gameplay videos I've ever seen!

[@TheLoinclothLegend]

I hope the finals are a best of 5. Eager to see who reigns victorious.

[@miyomiyo1050]

Best video editing on Magic games in the business! So fun to watch and easy to follow. It would be really cool to see Cardmarket edited videos of major pro matches (like the Worlds finals) with explanations and commentary from your team.

[@alexparsons3295]

Was Jamin in a bike accident or are we not talking about fight club?

[@CardmarketMagic]

We are not talking about bike accident club 🤐

[@YourPalJamieEllis]

Eldrazi were always going to be the New England Patriots of this tournament. They're going to make the finals and if they don't win it will still be nail bitingly close.

[@alejandrorivas4585]

For non American sports fans, this is barcelona in la copa.

[@janmelantu7490]

Eldrazi Winter: what if we let Ancient Tomb into Modern, but only for 1 deck

[@samanthalouise641]

Eye is way better than ancient tomb. Tomb is 2 mana, if you have an eye on the board and seven eligible cards in your hand that is 14 mana. Yeah it’s an extreme case but since it’s a passive effect it is easy for the eye to essentially generate more than 2 mana.

[@estelaguarda5423]

Also without the 2 damage.

[@j.s.kennedyofficial9426]

These videos are so fun to watch. I would love to see you guys to search up decklists of various sets or blocks that 3-0, 6-0'd a draft and have them battle it out the same way. Let's find out what the most powerful limited format was. It would also be cool because you'd have all different cards, no Thoughtseize every game, not two Glorybringer decks in the finals :p

[@kaneto9974]

Banger game and a great format. Letting the community partake in the voting for the decks was a great idea to involve the viewer and be more invested in the matches, even if you didnt play the format. Best of luck to you guys❤, but it seems you dont need it😉

[@fionathegayesttiefling9867]

God, Thoralf just calling that card Jamin bottomed with the second opt in game 1 a thoughtsieze. How does he do it?

[@fnaw17]

I think it has to do with knowing jamin's wincon at that time is getting the dismember out of his hand to push for lethal with temurs battle rage, but also knowing he bottomed it because his life total would be too low had he casted it

[@smarthipan]

that level of experience and intuition is mind blowing to me :0

[@eliomolla8659]

Great video. Even with Toralf nerfing drowner by paying a mana for its abbility, Eldrazi still dominated. What a deck.

[@francoisaubry6394]

For the second puzzle, the solution was found through experimentation so it's a bit hard to see what was the actual difference between the attempts. It would have been nice to just recap quickly. Great content. I love this channel so much.

[@vince1345]

I guess the final will look like the old video "Eldraine Winter vs Hoogaak Summer " ahaha

[@uselesscommon7761]

Hogaak VS Rakdos Scam is basically MH1 vs MH2: Duel of the Titans

[@keithbarlow9701]

I expected the Grixis Shadow deck to be playing Gitaxian Probe. Probe was still legal at the very beginning of January 2017. Of course, it was banned later on that month but it was still technically legal in 2017, if only for a few days! 😂

[@aaronmcnally9876]

super fun to watch you all! Thanks for the great content!

[@AlexP6081]

Love the play of Jamin at the end. I know a lot of player who would probably fall into the trap. Amazing Video by the way !

[@reecepruis6322]

Thoralf with the backwards cap is an absolute vibe :) 7 mana - look at your hand playing uncomfortably perfect for Death's Shadow lol.

[@uryuurayleigh]

This kind of content is pure gold

[@adammartin2431]

Great game, epic background music. Praise our Eldrazi overlords

[@RhadeBoss]

The editing and music were great 😁👍 Thanks for the awesome episode 😊😁🎉

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :) I'm happy you enjoyed it!

[@rol9834]

5:57 those boops from the music start actually startled me lol. Could you consider excluding that part the next time you play that track?

[@Sethsters]

Good games. Feels like Eldrazi v Hogaak is inevitable.

[@Wintersmith12]

Kind of weird to not see Splinter Twin on a list of the top 8 Modern decks of all time, but I guess iconic doesn't necessarily mean most powerful.

[@TheCommandSphere]

I like the hair thoralf, i was rooting for you at the world championship 😢

[@KuzaFkto]

Awesome decks piloted by awesome players, I love this series

[@turndownforwatts5760]

Winter came when I first played against it, turn 1, 5 permanents in play and my turn I thought seize cause it’s all I had and ripped nothing. Truly felt like I was in game of thrones right there

[@jeandouyeth6682]

love this serie and the energy of you guys 🔥

[@Verlisify]

I have always been an Eldrazi fan

[@modernminded5466]

You can make colorless mana with Cavarn. It just won't give the uncounterbility

[@beforememory]

Great video, really enjoying this series!

[@jacktorborg9862]

16:40 I've been playing magic since the eye of ugin days but was a total newcomer to the game at that point - but I have to this day never seen that interaction before (not being able to cavern to cast displacer etc since eye makes it cost just the 1 colorless). Cool revisiting that era and learning about the competitive sides of both decks and some of those niche interactions!

[@capsaicinJT]

jamin should not have been able to kolaghan's command the eldrazi mimic at 7:49, when thoralf cast the drowner of hope it became a 5/5 until end of turn

[@CardmarketMagic]

Jamin did it before Toffel went to combat, implying that the trigger is still on the stack

[@alexandersepa3037]

4:57 toralfs hand says he drew a flooded stand for the turn but then plays a hallowed fountain

[@cautiousdissolute5780]

Wish I could've seen Jamin's facial expression when he initially extended his hand for a handshake 😂

[@CardmarketMagic]

We have an issue with Jamin being too tall for the graphic overlay 😅 we have a conflict of waiting to see Jamin's face but also the card.

[@arkanim94]

eldrazi with the aggro early game, control mid game and ramp late game.

[@garageink74]

Just like in the current modern meta loving deaths shadow is a heartbreaker 😢

[@chapmanandchapmanproductio974]

3:55 damn dude, the rent, salty, AF big time!

[@xwraiths]

Nice game, Eldrazi are deadly. Just one small correction, I believe you don't need to pay mana to tap with Drowner of Hope.

[@qq1933]

Small mistake, at about 4:55 Thoralf drew and played a Hallowed Fountain but the visual aid on screen says he drew and played a flooded strand

[@donaldbrorson4583]

Final: Summer vs. Winter. calling it rn

[@ajpbrunet]

If complimenting Carl on the editing & animation gets us more sick animations like that Thought Scour thing, then by god I'm gonna keep complimenting Carl on the editing & animation :)

[@CardmarketMagic]

Flattery will indeed get you more funky animations 😎 thank you!

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

Eldrazi Displacer is a seriously powerful card. A three (or one) mana creature that can really take over the game against creature-combat based decks.

[@jamesowens74]

FYI: Hand display for the eldrazi in game one showed flooded strand when a hallowed fountain was then played

[@lytking2646]

Great video as always!

[@LoKoSwargins]

“I’m the realest” we said it at the same time

[@cloaking111]

I wanted to comment but I don't want to spoil anything for people snooping around in the comments😅 Great games!

[@flymybigtrees9216]

This felt like a standard deck vs a modern deck

[@henkdachief]

in the last video i was thinking "wow toffel is my age but with that hair he already looks like someones grandpa!" today he has a new hat.. how do you do fellow kids :D

[@banditolombardo2867]

Can't wait for some Hoogakin' to take place

[@ian-kr8kc]

Hope jamin heals quickly, thst bike will never stop him

[@popanda9685]

I would love to see a similar tournament for Pauper

[@superyahoo1822]

I don't know why it took this long but we can see the scrying now. 🎉

[@CardmarketMagic]

I've been adding the scrys in the animations for almost a year now :)

[@superyahoo1822]

@@CardmarketMagic really i only just noticed while i've been watching for a while now

[@CardmarketMagic]

@@superyahoo1822 that's OK :) I guess the scrys really mattered in this one

[@seanclark4071]

I do love some eldritch horrors

[@MTG-and-more774]

Thanks for making amazing content. I'm chearing for eldrazi Winter to win

[@peruru84]

I love this series!

[@nathanielreichley4640]

Oh man even with mediocre openings Toffel got it done! Hope everyone is doing well :)

[@AbesOnAPlaneFilms]

❤ this series! Keep it up! 🎉🎉🎉

[@aaronbloomer4387]

I NEED MORE!!!

[@alexandrelima2766]

I thought the most "meta" list back in the day was RG eldrazi with simian spirit guide and chalice

[@CardmarketMagic]

We pooled a few pro players from the time to pick the lists and the general concensus was that the UW list with drowner and displacer was the most oppressive. Mainboard chalice wasn't even good anymore since everyone played eldrazi 😅

[@nomatyx5789]

Cavern of Souls can still cast an uncounterable Matter Reshaper. Eldrazi temple makes CC to cast it, and cavern just makes a mana of any color. edit: Oops I forgot about the Eye of Ugin. My bad, ignore me

[@TheSaprolingEnthusiast]

I am high as fuck, and the music in the first match is so epic! Dude update, the music in the whole video slaps!

[@joshknisley7149]

Bro, we did the First things First at the same time🤣🤣

[@kendrickvickers2610]

it said he had a flodded strand in hand while it was a hallowed fountain

[@usernamepinto]

I hope you do vintage and legacy as well ;) commander ? do every format just to be safe xD

[@ralfparakenings2634]

Hey, what a cool match. I'm looking forward to the upcoming games. 😀 Just one question: Tapping creatures with the drowner doesn't cost mana, right? Or am I missing something. 🤔

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thorald just didn't read drowner of hope 😅

[@laurelkeeper]

Never clicked on a video so fast

[@ElGrandeFatso]

Did Jamin getback from a crime scene and used this match as an Alibi or something? Poor guy had blood on his arm the whole match, too bad now his alibi won't work for him no more! Hope Carl wasn't the victim lol

[@CardmarketMagic]

He just fell off of his bike :) he was fine in the end. Luckily, I lived to answer comments for another day (or this could be Jamin, impresonating Carl, post murder)

[@therobbyfitz]

Eldrazi Winter deserves the win but I’ll also say that those were very slow Shadow games as well.

[@lloydlineske2642]

I feel the need to correct you. At the end of the video one of you attempted to counter a spell that cannot be countered. The statement was it doesn't resolve. Meaning the counterspell doesn't resolve. It totally does resolve and actually does counter the spell... But in Magic can't beats can. So can't be countered wins out. I had a friend win a PTQ and he was so far ahead that just for fun he cast an Evasive Action on a Blurred Mongoose in the finals. The Mongoose player called over a judge to figure out what happens. The judge said Mongoose is on the stack. Next is Evasive Action. Evasive Action resolves so now you have to pay 5 mana or the Mongoose is counted. Evasive Action resolves. Do you pay the 5 for Mongoose? The player was confused and worried but said no. The judge says okay. The Mongoose resolves unless another player wishes to add to the stack.

[@bki9840]

It doesn't resolve because it's a 1 mana counter and chalice counter it automatically.

[@mosesmckinney1373]

Chalice really is like counter target deck

[@gfrancagm4017]

what happened to Jamin's elbow? 😢

[@CardmarketMagic]

He fell off à bike on the way to work :) he was OK though

[@uucue]

Excellent

[@arielgomes7989]

Oh, its this version of eldrazi. I think this actually reduces it's chances quite a bit.This build was better into a field full of mirror matches, but into an open field like this, the colorless spirit guide + chalice version would have been superior. Without it, I think Hogaak might be the favorite to take it all

[@CardmarketMagic]

We actually tested both eldrazi decks against the field before doing the tournament to pick which one we'd use :) this one ended up being far stronger. The pro tour was more glass canon-y and would fold to most decks with good interaction

[@arielgomes7989]

@@CardmarketMagicThats interesting. This version certanly is superior vs interaction, but, I'd assume colorless is better vs combo and linear decks. But I guess not too many of those actually got voted in. Still skeptical about the hogaak matchup though, Turn 1 chalice access would help a lot

[@alizah8042]

Eldrazi knocked my socks off?! It works scary well, wow. Whichever deck wins I'll buy for myself! If it isnt too expensive lolz. Right now I'm really hoping it's Eldrazi! Can't buy it from cardmarket since I'm in the US but I wish I could!!! EDIT looked up what it would cost and I am retracting this statement I forgot it could actually be expensive lolz - what did i expect theyre legendary lands for a reason!

[@CardmarketMagic]

Hahaha! Let's hope for you that a cheaper deck wins :) but even then, no need to buy anything, I hope you enjoy the series

[@alizah8042]

@@CardmarketMagic Lol I know! But I finally just found a group to play with after almost ten years (in no small part because you guys have inspired me to get back into it!!) and excited to say, I need a deck of my own! Right now I'm thinking something like that Tempered Steel/Erayo deck from the Modern subscriber showdown!!! It seemed so fun and really intuitive to me at least lol, and would work great no matter how many opponents you have! Maybe I'll add some card protection to better keep both Erayo and Tempered Steel on the field as well...idk so many possibilities! So excited!

[@Into_The_Void69]

Judge - How did he cast the snapcaster to block with no blue mana up ?

[@disafear3674]

Love it!

[@Th3Treasoner]

2:54 GET OUT OF MY BRAIN THORALF

[@phillipmeade7640]

I called Eldrazi before the match even started.

[@Mightypi]

We tell tails of the winter for this resaon. Also, Thoralf's reads are so strong

[@jerrymcdaniel6643]

So i was building the izzet eldrazi winter list before it won the pro tour and I was taking my time thinking that no one was playing it then of course it gets banned 😅

[@Hpborges]

Jamin I know you are a very skilled player. But that deck seemed really hard to pilot. It feels control as it tries to stop your opponent early game but also aggro-ish to race your life total to smash face with death shadow. Feels like it's needed a lot of games to make this micro decisions when to control and when to be aggro. Now I am curious to see how that deck was played on the pro tour. Anyways, I am really looking forward for the next video

[@FartRainbows]

death shadow notoriously hard to pilot even in "simple" matches.

[@hopjd11]

Forgot to turn eldrazi Mimic into a 5/5 game one. Would have forced out the kolagans command early, and dealt more damage if Jamin didn't have removal. It didn't end up mattering, but still...

[@johnmiltenberger3035]

I knew it'd be Eldrazi winter!!! ❤❤❤ Nice game though!!!

[@TenPace]

I was hoping that Death's Shadow would be able to put up more of a fight, figured that Eldrazi would win. Kudos to Jamin and Toralf on a game well played. By the way, how do you guys decide who plays which decks?

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thoralf and Jamin were not available on the first day of filming so we had to have 2 matchups of Thoralf vs Jamin & 2 matchups of Andrea vs me. And then we just picked decks that we believed we could most confidently pilot :)

[@udostillhavetime]

My feedback is that i wanted to see all the previous matchups as well 😭

[@CardmarketMagic]

You have a recap in the pinned comment :) but there's no way we could have made video coverage for that 😅 it would have been crazy expensive

[@udostillhavetime]

@@CardmarketMagic any way to lower the production cost by cutting the editing? For example i'm really marginally interested in knowing which cards you have in hand, I always assume you do the best play and it's fun just to see these decks go off and ur personalities!

[@CardmarketMagic]

@udostillhavetime the matches of Swiss are all going in parallel. We'd also have to either buy dozens more cameras, microphones and table, or pay people to hang around multiple days as they wait around for each game to conclude in the studio before they get to play their next round 😅 the editing would be one big part of it, but the logistics of filming that many games as well

[@udostillhavetime]

@@CardmarketMagic gotcha. cheers!

[@Kiriranshelo911]

Bro im sry but i have to tell you, dying from aggro with a hand full of removal Is not the way ti play deathshadow

[@breadpower]

6:53 how does he KNOW. thoralf ia such a good player