Death's Shadow

Creature — Avatar

This gets -X/-X, where X is your life total.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Stardragon on Cheap Creatures

3 weeks ago

Looking for cheap white or black creatures with high power like Death's Shadow or Rotting Regisaur. There downsides if they have them don't matter just there mana cost (prefer 3 and under, though four mana isn't terrible), and there power (preferably 4 or greater).

Balaam__ on A Means to an End

6 months ago

@kamarupa It’s great for grabbing a Death's Shadow but I prefer the more controlled method of bringing down my HP through fetchlands, Thoughtseize etc. I’ll maybeboard it but I didnt have much luck with Spoils of the Vault in testing.

capwner on A Means to an End

6 months ago

Yes that is correct, in fact it gets better because Death's Shadow's characteristic defining ability will amend its p/t as you pay the life so generally it will not die to Toxic Deluge even if you already had your shadow in play.

Balaam__ on A Means to an End

6 months ago

@capwner refresh my memory: the spell only affects creatures currently in play at the time it resolves, correct? So by casting a Death's Shadow afterward (should the mana be available), I wouldn’t kneecap my own creature?

psionictemplar on Self Damage

7 months ago

Definitely not sure what format you are looking for but Death's Shadow and life swapping strategies are some of the more common examples for what you are looking for.

TheVectornaut on King of the Skull Servants

7 months ago

As a fellow enjoyer of Grass Looking Greener (mostly Lightsworn but also some Zombie/Vampires, PK+Paleos, and Skull Servants), I do think the idea is interesting. You're always going to be in a bit of a battle between thematic consistency and power level. For instance, a grave-counting creature like Wight of Precinct Six or Nighthowler would fit the idea of King growing with more guys in the yard, but they would also be disappointingly weak right now since you don't have a lot of mass self-mill at the moment (Stitcher's Supplier and Overlord of the Balemurk are the first things that comes to my mind). On the subject of getting what you want in the GY, it probably is best to have a few more ways of getting specific targets buried at least. With Entomb off the table in modern, I could see Unmarked Grave being the best cheap option instead of or in addition to Buried Alive. This only negatively affects Maha who I already think is worse than reanimator staples like Archon of Cruelty or Sire Of Insanity. Fewer legendaries also makes Persist a great choice. There's also Lively Dirge if you want to stick to the low mana value plan and can afford to pay more mana. Finally, I'm partial to Burning-Rune Demon as a way to extend into more reanimations while being a reasonable threat in its own right. I think it would be cool to run more skeletons for the theme too, although most aren't that helpful. Cards like Reassembling Skeleton or Persistent Specimen could be sac fodder to a Victimize or Hell's Caretaker. Another one that I know can be good in black reanimator is Emperor of Bones, although he has some unfortunate anti-synergy with other cards in the deck like Twilight Diviner. Death Baron is always an option if you find the Corpses of the Lost backup plan doesn't have enough oomph.

Some final notes: It may be more consistent to focus on just the Xu-Ifit negated reanimations. That would involve going up to 4 Death's Shadow and adding in some similar options like Moonshadow or Yargle and Multani. The EDHRec page for Varolz, the Scar-Striped could be a place to start. That all said, having the more powerful effects of non-negated creatures may still be worth the inconsistency of the two plans not always meshing whan you need them to. You do want to have the best options available in either case though. My first cut suggestions would be Gloom Sower, Avatar of Woe, Inkwell Leviathan, and lastly Maha, Its Feathers Night. Finally, I second cutting some lands and would suggest Bitter Triumph as a replacement for Cast Down that comes with a Cabal Therapy option built-in.

capwner on Grixis moonshadow

7 months ago

I only see 4 shadows here, still a cool grixis aggro pile though. Because Moonshadow trigs on perms maybe Street Wraith could be good over Consider, then again Consider is good with DRC and this doesn't have OG Death's Shadow but does want more mill for Oculus. Ok hear me out this might actually be wild... Sinister Concoction??? lol

moo1234 on Card creation challenge

8 months ago

Euron, the black hearted {B}{B}{B}{B}

Legendary creature - human warlock

flying, deathtouch

Hellbent - whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent ~ deals X damage to target opponent where X is half that players life total round down each time, X cannot be less than 0

You can't win the game and your opponents can't lose the game

5/5

'It's not everyday you get to see a dead body, so you have to make the most of it'

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I really like cards like Abyssal Persecutor One with Nothing and Death's Shadow. Going back to alpha the most powerful card ever printed can arguably be Contract from Below. I think these perfectly encapsulate how I view black in mtg, so I love hellbent as a mechanic.

Glaze for black aside make another black card that gets more powerful as you get weaker in some way (you may use hellbent or the above cards for inspiration)