Dance of Shadows

Sorcery — Arcane

Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain fear until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (5)

Ravenrose on O-Kagachi, Patron Saint of Weebs

2 years ago

Dance of Shadows could be fun. Ethereal Haze suits this deck. Heed the Mists could work. Ribbons of the Reikai might also be worthy to consider.

FS4056 on Graveyard Shenanigans

6 years ago

Hi UnleashedHavok!

Thanks for posting on / upvoting my Meren primer, really glad you liked it :) Just following up with you to see if there are a few ideas I can help with - trying to stay in tune with your current deck flavor, and keep all the suggestions pretty cheap :)

• Acidic Slime - How often do you find you target lands with him? I always thought he was a little steep for the effect, and something like Sylvok Replica did 95% of the job for 60% of the cost
• What's your experience with the "pump" creatures like Bloodthrone Vampire, Lotleth Troll, etc.? I find that even with recursion engines, it's hard to have enough cards to actually feed them well enough... maybe it would be more useful to use these slots for more utility creatures (removal, ramp, etc.) and then....
• ...look at something like Beastmaster Ascension to go alongside Dance of Shadows! Seems like your wincon is a big alpha strike with creatures, so this might be a great alternative/addition. Note that Beastmaster Ascension gets the counters upon declaring attacks, so if you swing with seven creatures in one combat, they will all get +5/+5 that combat.
• Focusing on strong wincons like that would also let you turn Mortician Beetle into Elves of Deep Shadow (of course, I don't see many creatures in my playgroup so maybe I'm undervaluing that card)
• Scavenging Ooze sticks with your pump-to-win theme but adds some targeted graveyard hate
• To help speed up card draw - how about Fecundity? I assume you're playing more creatures than your opponents (and have recursion!) so this can help speed up the mid-game slog that usually happens in B/G. Foster is another option, but a little slower.
• Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip - I have no experience with him, but maybe this would be a good place for him
• Manglehorn is just so good as removal, and to slow down your opponents
• From Beyond seems a bit slower than Awakening Zone in an opening hand for a similar effect
• Cryptolith Rite turns everything into Birds of Paradise!
• Maybe Bone Shredder over Nekrataal?
• What about something like Doomgape as a swing-in fatty over Scourge of Nel Toth? Both seem combat-focused, but Doomgape gains you life and is harder to block
• How often do you use Altar of Dementia? Would something like Ashnod's Altar be more useful? Probably comes down to whether you need ramp or card draw more at that stage of the game.
• Ghirapur Orrery might be interesting tech to play with, but depending on your playgroup it could go either way. Never used it personally but it seems like it could be fun
• Aluren is on the steep side of "budget" but would be SO GOOD HERE (assuming your opponents aren't heavy on the creatures too, it's symmetric!)

UnleashedHavok on [PRIMER] Death & Staxes: Competitive Meren EDH

6 years ago

Hey FireStorm4056. I gotta say, I really appreciate the time and effort that has been put into this primer! It's so great to see a fresh, different approach to Meren (meaning not seeing the "typical" Lord of Extinction + Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord combo, Sheoldred, Whispering One etc....).

I was hoping that you would take a look at my Meren deck Graveyard Shenanigans (sorry, it doesn't want to link) and help me with thinning out the deck. It's extremely creature heavy, my thought process has been to control the board with creatures until I can set up a win with something unconventional like Dance of Shadows. I'm finding that it is entirely too slow, or I just can't slog through all the creatures to get what I want. I'd love your eyes on it, I feel like I have a fun different shell and want to figure out a way to make it work. I really liked your explanation on Minister of Pain. I had seen him in other builds, but had never thought about his one-sided use with Meren. I actually was just wrecked by a Yisan deck the other night, and really could have used the Minister to shut him down. He's exactly what I needed, and I didn't even know it.

For any suggestions you may have on my deck, please keep in mind that I'm on a budget. I do not currently have the funds for expensive shit.

landofMordor on Graveyard Shenanigans

6 years ago

Yeah, you could probably take out an artifact hate-card or two, given your recursion and tutors, unless you play a few rounds and you realize you're never sorry to see one topdeck. Hornet Queen is a great add. Maybe Yisan, the Wanderer Bard?

The list seems really tuned to me! Tons of ramp and ETB effects and sacrifice triggers, with tutors and recursion aplenty! This deck will perform for you and at least take you through the midgame no trouble.

As for win conditions, that depends on your playstyle...Pathbreaker Ibex is obviously good. I've found that Mogis's Marauder is surprisingly good, as is Kessig Cagebreakers. Vraska the Unseen is crazy if you can boardwipe, ult her, and then cast the Marauder... You can also win by attrition, using Butcher of Malakir, etc, but I personally find that strategy pretty boring, with a long time-to-kill.

I'm trying, therefore, to think of some unusual win conditions. I think this deck is good enough at tokens to use Overrun effects as your main win condition -- there are some interesting BG cards like Dance of Shadows, Dirge of Dread, Enlarge (those Lure effects would be a unique way to do it), Chorus of Might for an instant-speed alpha strike, Ridgescale Tusker for some jank grindy value...is that what you're looking for? The consistency of Craterhoof minus the annoying "seen-this-before" factor.

adanlaj on Oona's Flying Circus

7 years ago

Look at this primer to get an idea, http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-archives/220255-ub-x-faeries.

What I was seeing is that you need more permanent removal, not just tempo gainers. The Spellstutter Sprite is amazing with this permanent removal. What about some counter spells, like Faerie Trickery, Mana Leak, or Deprive? You probably need a few more counter spells,

There is a combat trick in Peppersmoke. But I don't think this will be all that helpful as your creatures will be weaker.

You also want draw, I don't think the Faerie Miscreants will do it for you. Think about adding something like Compulsive Research or maybe even Vivisection.

As you are using black I would also throw in some cheap hand distuption. Stuff like Duress or Despise, or even Transgress the Mind. This way you can rob them of the threats to your little guys. If I was going to include only one, I would make it the Duress to remove removal you will be facing. Maybe even throw in a Doom Blade just for fun.

Finally your lands, you might want to run a few Faerie Conclaves. This will help you get out faeries. You might also want to run som Bojuka Bogs for graveyard hate. While these will slow down the deck, they will provide you with answers too.

Finally the question of what to cut. I would say to cut the Faerie Miscreant, Pestermite,Cloudshift, Eerie Interlude, Essence Flux, Dance of Shadows, and Notorious Throng. All of these are very context dependent. If you draw them against the wrong kind of deck; the card will be dead in your hand. The fact that you want to bounce stuff to get the effects is great but the bounce spells are throwing off your mana base. This makes it incredibly difficult to get the mana you need when you need it. As such I would say to cut the white altogether, or go for a bounce deck and run Eldrazi Displacers.