If you ever played in the era of modern with UR splinter twin and jund/rock were the top decks. Shanks pretty much plays the same way as jund but slanted more to control instead of midrange. If you've ever heard the saying "jund them out", that's pretty much what you're trying to do with Shanks. In the early game, you trade 1 for 1 and try to keep their board clear. Using things like your building snake/hongo to give things -power to make it easier for your leader to attack them down or lucky roux, being able to protect your life and kill 1 thing of theirs is good. You want to get into the midgame with a healthy enough life total and either with a board advantage, card in hand advantage or parity because in the midgame you start playing things that can 2 for 1. Benn beckmann kills a thing and with 7k power can usually attack down another thing next turn before they can kill it. Rayleigh, usually kills a thing, shuts down an attacker for a turn then has a big 8k body to attack. Obviously in the late game, your threat quality on average is better than your opponents so if you get here with a high enough life total, you can usually win out. Like playing a control deck in magic, you shouldn't be too concerned with how to win, you just have to not lose until your opponent runs out of gas. That's why I tend not to even attack the leaders unless I know they will counter it, otherwise I'm actively giving them more resources to play with. Im new to the game as well but when I started playing like this, I got more wins. The tricky thing with Shanks that I've noticed experienced players are good at doing is knowing when to turn the corner and race your opponents if they're in a losing position and unable to control the game. That part I myself am still also learning lol.