Esper Death's Shadow - An interesting Take
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on April 1, 2017, 1:52 a.m. by icehit6
Read the backstory in the description, take a look at the deck. I think it's an interesting take on Death's Shadow that could possibly be competitive and combo out consistently turn 4 and turn 5, and still have the same playability as current iterations of the deck.
Orzhov Charm is quite nice. I can definitely consider that for the deck. The one thing that I like about combo pieces is that they offer a lot of counterplay apart from the finishing the combo. And I can give some examples.
Angel's Grace makes it so you can't lose the game on your turn, and any damage that you take is put down to one. It's essentially a timewalk that can stop a combo and make you potentially win next turn. Put that with Snapcaster Mage, you can get multiple timewalks.
Rite of Consumption can be used after attacking, potentially on multiple Death's Shadow's to net you a kill. It's a nice little addition to the deck that gives you extra kill potential.
Plunge into Darkness is really interesting because it adds a weird counterplay to the table. It's instant lifeloss. So let's say you attack with Death's Shadow and no blockers are declared. If you have three mana up, you can potentially attack for more than enough by casting Angel's Grace, and Plunge into Darkness to get Death's Shadow massive to one shot, potentially netting a TURN 3 kill in a really, really unexpected way, especially if an opponent sees that you're not running red, so they'll expect to be safe from Temur Battle Rage.
I'm not saying that this version of Death's Shadow is better, however it brings some unexpected interactions to the table that can potentially sway a game in your favor, and I
April 2, 2017 2:06 a.m.
*and I think it's definitely something that could be on the same level as current competitive Death's Shadow decks with a little work.
GlistenerAgent says... #2
Have you thought about just playing a more normal version of the deck? Cutting the ~11 combo cards to have a more robust midrange/control game has suited the Jund and Grixis versions very well. Orzhov Charm is awesome.
April 1, 2017 11:25 p.m.