It’s not all bleak though. GDS fetches often, turning on Archive Trap, but they also have a very fragile mana base. Most GDS decks have around 7 total mana producing lands. Let’s say you cast Glimpse the Unthinkable on turn 2 and mill one Blood Crypt and one Steam Vents among the 10 cards. You just took them off of red mana for the rest of the game. Ghost Quarters in conjunction with milling means that you can successfully attack their mana base and choke them out of resources.

Additionally, Fraying Sanity puts in work as your opponent will be putting tons of cards in their graveyard. We’ll swap the two Surgicals for an Extirpate because we don’t really need two exile effects, but we do want to stick the one that we cast. There really aren’t bad targets for Extirpate, so read the game and decide what is most important to take them off of. I usually snag Snapcaster, but it also depends on what their remaining lands look like. Liliana’s Defeat shines in this matchup, as does Damnation. Echoing Truth is a great way to bounce multiple Shadows, or a delve creature. Assuming you’re still focusing on their mana production, the tempo of bouncing can sometimes be too much for them to overcome.

In: Extirpate, Liliana’s Defeat, Spell Pierce, Damnation, 2 Echoing Truth

Out: Fatal Push, 2 Surgical Extraction, 2 Mesmeric Orb, Mind Funeral

Burn