Dauthi Mercenary
Set Price Alerts

Combos Browse all Suggest

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy 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
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Dauthi Mercenary

Creature — Dauthi Knight Mercenary

Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)

: Dauthi Mercenary gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

mal099 on Official missing/incorrect card/token thread

4 years ago

Dauthi Mercenary should be a Common in Vintage Masters, but is listed as Uncommon.

HalbrechtHalbrecht on Death in the Shadows

5 years ago

What you said about Endless Scream and Dauthi Mercenary makes sense. Even as I typed that up, I was thinking you might never get to the late game. But sometimes it's hard to tell just by looking at a deck.

After further contemplating the deck, and doing some actual playtests with it, I have a couple further thoughts that might be worth considering:


First, I feel like the inclusion of Infect might be dividing the focus of the deck, if ever so subtly. Several times in playtests, I'd have 2-3 creatures in play but only one with Phyresis, causing them to hit two different "life" totals (effectively). It was further complicated when I had a Rite of Consumption in hand, as it made sense to put the enchantment buffs on the Infect creature, but that also made the Rite pointless.

So I tried focusing more on Infect, to ensure all creatures I controlled would deal Infect damage, but the only other pauper card that grants it is Tainted Strike . Also, sometimes I'd have only one creature but redundant sources of Infect (the only consolation being the +1 poison from Tainted Strike). Ultimately, I just tried cutting Infect entirely and focusing solely on normal damage, which I personally preferred.


Second, have you considered going with instant/sorcery buffs rather than enchantment buffs? Obviously, voltron can be very powerful when it works, but enchantment-based voltron is hurt a lot more by removal. You seemed to imply that you run into a lot of removal when you said "the opponent has probably removed enough creatures that it's almost impossible to get back into the game".

Going with instants and sorceries presents less optimal targets to your opponent, it usually gives you the same power boost for 1 less mana, and adding in a little card draw gives some resilience to the deck. Basically, you sacrifice a turn or two, but you also can keep the steam going a little longer.


I copied your deck and tinkered with it this afternoon, doing both of the above things. Here's what I came up with:

I playtested it quite a bit, as well as your original version. Although it can't get the turn 3 wins yours can, it will consistently win by turn 4-5. I'll keep my version up for a while, in case you want to play around with it a bit on T/O and see how it compares in your eyes.

I removed Rite of Consumption as it no longer worked as well without permanent buffs. In its place I added card draw.

I also never liked Skittering Skirge any time I had it in hand. It was always a disappointing play for me. In its place, I tried several low-mana evasion creatures, like Guul Draz Vampire and Stronghold Confessor . I found that the former "auto-scales" better for both early- and mid-game, whereas the latter is only good on turn 4 if you actually cast it that turn. But they have different types of evasion, which may make a big difference.

mal099 on Death in the Shadows

5 years ago

Thanks for the +1 and the suggestions!

The problem with Endless Scream and Dauthi Mercenary , as much as I love especially the latter, is that both of these cards are really only useful in the late game, and this deck is not designed to ever get that far - you either win between turn 3-5, or the opponent has probably removed enough creatures that it's almost impossible to get back into the game. The deck also doesn't have any way of defending itself, so by that point, they should have done a substantial amount of damage. Some more playtesting might be in order to see if those cards might have value against control, but I feel like going for maximum speed is still my best bet.

Bonesplitter , again, sacrifices speed for long term viability, but in that case, I feel like it might be worth the cost. Will also require some testing. Same with Infernal Scarring , and I probably wouldn't want to play both. So it's a choice between definitely keeping an equipment after a removal, or potentially drawing a creature, which is often more important... not an easy choice, but I'll keep them all in mind. Will probably go for either Predator's Gambit or Bonesplitter , since I've already bought those.

HalbrechtHalbrecht on Death in the Shadows

5 years ago

First off, love this deck! You got a +1 from me! I've always been attracted to Shadow as a mechanic, but I've never gotten around to delving into it too much.

I like Dauthi Mercenary * better than Dauthi Marauder . Both are 3-drops with shadow, but while the Marauder starts out with one more power, the Mercenary has the potential to be pumped up higher, especially if you have a Dark Ritual and nothing else to play with it. It's a good late-game mana sink when you've run out of cards in hand (and considering your curve is so low, I imagine that that's easy to do).

* T/O claims that Dauthi Mercenary isn't pauper legal, but Scryfall disagrees, because it's a common on the MTGO-only set Vintage Masters. From my understanding, MTGO legality is currently also used for paper pauper.

Another card that scales for the late game is Endless Scream . Maybe try a 1-of?

I also like Infernal Scarring , probably in place of Predator's Gambit . It's 1 more mana, but Gambit's toughness boost and Intimidate are irrelevant, whereas the death-trigger card draw makes the creature a less attractive target for removal, while being a much better target for your own Rite of Consumption .

Alternatively, have you considered equipment as well as auras? The only one I'd suggest is Bonesplitter (in place of Predator's Gambit ). Sure, it costs 1 more mana for the very first time, but against a removal- / bounce-heavy deck, it'll be way better in the long run. You won't get 2-for-1-ed then, and subsequent re-equips are just as cheap as Gambit.

Raging_Squiggle on Evasion in Black

7 years ago

Intimidate/Skulk/Menace:
Accursed Spirit, Blind Zealot, Blood-Chin Rager, Brain Weevil, Cavern Lampad, Farbog Revenant.

Shadow:
Cutthroat il-Dal, Dauthi Cutthroat, Dauthi Ghoul, Dauthi Horror, Dauthi Jackal, Dauthi Marauder, Dauthi Mercenary, Dauthi Mindripper, Dauthi Slayer, Dauthi Trapper, Dauthi Warlord, Faceless Devourer.

Horsemanship:
Cao Ren, Wei Commander, Wei Elite Companions, Wei Night Raiders, Wei Scout, Wei Strike Force, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed, Zhang He, Wei General