Knight of Dusk's Shadow

Creature — Human Knight

Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)

Your opponents can't gain life.

{1}{B}: Knight of Dusk's Shadow gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (6)

jamochawoke on Wacky Waving Infallible Life Flailing Masochists

7 months ago

This is a really solid deck!

But how would you deal with things that mess up your lifegain?

I mean stuff like Erebos, God of the Dead, Forsaken Wastes, Everlasting Torment, Havoc Festival, Knight of Dusk's Shadow, Leyline of Punishment, Giant Cindermaw, Rampaging Ferocidon, and Witch Hunt.

I've seen people just scoop and leave when they were running a lifegain-based deck when they run into those cards. You've definitely got removal for sure, but you should either run more or have ways of digging for them just in case since those are total hosers for your strategy.

Also, to note, Atarka's Command, Molten Disaster, Sudden Shock, or Skullcrack could kill you in the middle of doing stuff so you shouldn't get too low if you've got a red player on the board. I've seen this very thing happen to someone running a K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth deck. Just something to keep in mind!

Andromedus on Waste not, want not, greed not

1 year ago

Oops! You're right, I was indeed thinking of Black Vise. I play more legacy than modern tbh and get those two mixed up.

In any case, one more thing I wanted to mention. I see lifegain as a problem for this deck. Some sideboard you may want to consider: Erebos, God of the Dead, Everlasting Torment, Knight of Dusk's Shadow, Rampaging Ferocidon, Roiling Vortex, or Tibalt, Rakish Instigator are all possible options.

Apollo_Paladin on lifelink 1-1 chains

1 year ago

Personally I would add in at least some creature removal here. (Ossification is a great start)

Why? Because I know a LOT of builds that run Knight of Dusk's Shadow and/or Blightbeetle in their decks just because Lifegain/Countergain is so common and can be such an easy strat to shut down. If either of those cards hit the board Turn 2 you're dead in your tracks. You also might look out for some enchantment hate since Solemnity has a few uses in a couple of different builds, and it similarly would shut you down. There's also Tainted Remedy floating around in some decks, just because so many effects include some kind of lifegain bonus that it's easy to flipping it all to damage instead works against a wide variety of builds to varying degrees.

Light of Hope is good for enchantment hate in your case since (in the event you don't need Enchantment hate) the other 2 options are very useful for your build & keep with its synergy.

Further, I think Lunarch Veteran  ^Flip would serve you better in the slots in place of your Impassioned Orators. Not only are they cheaper to get out, they can come back into play if they're killed giving them a lot more versatility than the 1 extra pwr/tgh that the Orator gets you for that 1 extra mana.

Also I 100% agree with the above comment that Blue splash in here is doing you NO good at all (it's even increasing the number of 'enters tapped' lands you're running since you're using the guildgate; go straight Black/White with this puppy, either a Plains or a Swamp basic even would be better to draw in those slots.

Hope some of this helps give you some direction, and either way it's nice to see another fellow Arena player here using the site! +1 just for that!

PhyrexianPraetor on

1 year ago

BotaNickill

Thanks for the upvote, comment and suggestions. Believe it or not, this deck originally started it’s life in modern as a mono-black aggro deck that used self-reanimating creatures and Foul-Tongue Shriek with Phyrexian Obliterator at the top of the mana curve. I did kind of ok with that deck, but as time went on I had a much harder time due to everyone else switching to more midrange and control style decks. That’s when I built this deck and haven’t looked back. I’m not going to lie, this deck used to be an attention getter in my area for being a good and solid deck. But with War of the Spark, Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2 a lot of other decks got upgrades and new decks came to be a thing. This deck sadly fell behind due to this, I did get some new upgrades… but almost every other deck that was played in my area became even better due to getting more additions.

I might switch out one Phyrexian Obliterator for a single copy of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Obliterator is ok, but being able to shock the opponent every-time they draw a card is a big attraction to me.

I have been considering Misery's Shadow for the reasons you pointed out. My only struggle is that it only deals with creatures that die. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a very potent card.

I guess it would come down to a meta call between Dauthi Voidwalker and Misery's Shadow, both have their respective upsides and downsides.

I have been considering Invoke Despair for a few weeks now. In essence, it can functionally act like Gray Merchant of Asphodel with draining life. On one hand it deals six damage and draws me three cards, on the other hand it makes my opponent sacrifice three permanents for five mana. It’s for these two aspects as to why I might even cut one Phyrexian Arena for it.

Tenacious Underdog is a card I have been evaluating and am unsure of. At base it is a 3/2 for two, with the ability to gain haste and draws a card for four mana. It’s for this reason as to why I have looked at it a bit, but unlike Invoke Despair it doesn’t have the potential to change much of the game-state and requires four mana to consistently bring back.

With the way modern is, four and five mana has to either impact the board in a big way or sway the game in your favour. Paying four mana to potentially deal three damage and draw a card might not be worth it. All in all though, I have yet to actually get back into the modern scene where I live. So it is entirely possible that I am being overly critical and am wrong about this card.

I honestly didn’t know about Knight of Dusk's Shadow. I like how it can stop a food token deck from gaining lots of life and all for two mana. I might test it out.

Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip is something that I tried before. In my build it sadly doesn’t work. But in a deck that has four Leyline of the Void, more creatures and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx it can be really devastating. Perhaps that style of devotion deck can run Tenacious Underdog for continuous value.

Bojuka Bog, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Field of Ruin are all lands that I have played in the past or have been considering for a while. I originally ran Bojuka Bog as my choice of graveyard hate. I liked how it couldn’t be countered or discarded. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is yet another card I have had my eye on. There are a lot of legendary creatures that I could fit into this deck to make it cheaper. Field of Ruin and all of the lands like it, are a bit awkward sadly. I have tested these types of lands before with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and I am always left with a negative opinion of them. I originally ran a set alongside two copies of urborg to fight against Tron and Valakut.

One card you should consider for your black deck is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. It is cheaper in monetary cost than Obliterator, fixes your mana since it can fetch non-basics, gets bigger with fetching and it is very hard to remove without exile effects. I ran both it and Obliterator at one point.

BotaNickill on

1 year ago

Dude, This looks mean! I would not want to play against that deck. I can't really see to much that needs improved, it looks like you have all your bases covered. I like using Sheoldred, the Apocalypse as a finisher but only because I don't have the Phyrexian Obliterators. I also have a black aggro style deck that I keep a Gary in the board for that devotion damage, and it has some similar aspects to your build. Some cards I use that you might consider are as follows:

Misery's Shadow , good early threat, gets rid of potential creatures returning from the grave, and pumpable in the late game.

Invoke Despair, absolutely devastating board removal when resolved, can be a finisher, and/or provide card draw.

Tenacious Underdog, great early threat and can be Blitzed over and over resulting in card draw if nothing else.

Knight of Dusk's Shadow can be an option for pesky lifegain decks. Also pumpable in the late game.

Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip can be a good late game finisher or at the very least, another black source.

Bojuka Bog, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Field of Ruin for a lil more depth to the land package.

Like I said tho, your build looks solid to me bud, just wanted to throw out some more options. Good luck to you!

Apollo_Paladin on Rakdos Menace (MTG Arena Build)

1 year ago

@ enraged

Hey, glad you liked the build. It's quite a fun one to play.

On your suggestions, I've already looked over every single 1-mana burn spell legal in the format and End the Festivities, Blazing Volley, and Dual Shot are unquestionably the best options to pair with Pestilent Spirit (In that order, too). If I need Instant speed, I don't see a value in Spikefield Hazard when I could just as easily Dual Shot. Mana isn't even close to a struggle in this build as it's all quite low cost, and I already have 4x Goldhound in there just in case things get really dire, so I don't ever see the Land side being used either.

The Neonate isn't bad at all, but I don't know what I'd drop to put her in honestly. My other 1-drop Menace creatures all have pretty well-definited versatility within the build (Goldhounds for mana, Valentin for converting destruction to exile), compared to Card Draw - which while nice - is nowhere near as predictable a benefit overall.

Lastly, I toyed with Rampaging Ferocidon for a while when I first built the deck, but anymore he's just not anywhere near as threatening as other 3-drop creatures. I ended up with Pestilent Spirit as my 3-drop, but I used to run Sonorous Howlbonder, who for all intents and purposes makes large chunks of my deck simply unblockable. So, that's the standard I'm comparing against currently for 3-drops. Figure in the fact that the Ferocidon punishes Creature spells (and I run mostly Creatures myself) and this feels like it'd just be working against my own Lifelink most of the time. I can fill the same overall function with Knight of Dusk's Shadow now; for less mana, and no downsides to me.

I do appreciate the interest and suggestions though, and I'd be happy to hear if you have some additional thoughts that maybe I've overlooked.

Either way, Cheers!