I have always been fascinated with Death Shadow Decks. Being a long time kitchen table player I'm new to Modern and 'Competitive' Magic at all.
The deck seems pretty standard (I looked at many other Death Shadow decks as an 'Inspiration').
Since I'm a new player: What are the biggest weaknesses of this deck and how can I build around them? Are there any promiment, much played cards or deck archetypes I missed while building?
But first, enjoy reading!
The goal of the deck is to get my own life down quickly to deal the finishing blow with
Death's Shadow
and
Temur Battle Rage
or even a pumped up
Tarmogoyf
.
Tarmogoyf
is a nice beater which grows relatively fast and is able to punch holes into the opponent's defenses and lifepoints.
Death's Shadow
is the main creature and threat of this deck. It needs some careful setup to even hit the battlefield. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, since it needs my life to be low to become stronger.
The biggest pro for Goyf and Shadow is their low mana cost which let's them easily been cast. The only other creatures in the deck are Street Wraiths, which are only there to cycle and get through the deck faster (and lose some life while doing that).
Other cards that help getting through the deck are
Mishra's Bauble
and
Serum Visions
. Those are also great support for Fetchlands, because they give me insight on what I would draw the next turn (and so, if I want to crack my fetch right now or wait another turn, if possible).
Traverse the Ulvenwald
is mainly there for fetching creatures, if in need.
Kolaghan's Command
is a great and versatile utility card, which can deal some damage, destroy a pesky artifact or bring back a Shadow or Goyf to my hand, if one gets destroyed or even a Wraith, if I need to draw.
Stubborn Denial
is a lifesaver more often than not, being able to neutralize killing spells, planeswalkers or spells that would deal too much damage to me in order for me to win.
Tarfire
is a bit risky, dealing 2 damage is often a bit too less, but being a tribal, it can power up my Goyfs if in a pinch.
Inquisition of Kozilek
,
Thoughtseize
,
Fatal Push
and
Assassin's Trophy
are the best discard/removal spells there are and I don't think they need to be explained further,as well as
Liliana of the Veil
, who brings a lot of bord control when in play (and eventually a quick walker in the yard to boost goyf).
Dismember
is a very cool card. It can kill many creatures - in most cases for only one mana (and 4 life) at instant speed. This in conjunction with Fatal Push can kill potential blockers to land fatal blows while boosting Shadow at the same time.
Temur Battle Rage
is the key, the gamechanger. It gives double strike + trample to either a big goyf or an even bigger shadow which will often win the game (or clear the path for doing so).
The land base consists mostly of Fetch and Shock Lands. Those bring down my life total amd allow me to choose between multiple colors to cast spells.
Llanowar Wastes
is there to even damage myself a bit more often when needed.
The Sideboard consists of some typical picks.
Thought Scour
is always a cool ccantrip to get some cards in the graveyard for Tarmogoyf, and drawing 1 for 1 is always nice.
Nihil Spellbomb
and
Surgical Extraction
are typical graveyard hate (while not providing the best synergy with
Tarmogoyf
. Good against Reanimator, Delve, Dredge, Phoenix, Vengevine decks.
Hurkyl's Recall
is a nice and cheap kind of artifact hate.
Engineered Explosives
are another good removal option in a four-colored deck if I know my opponent's key cards (and their cmc).
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
is a good option to recast that clutch
Thoughtseize
or
Fatal Push
from the graveyard as well as to just stall with his first ability.
Plague Engineer
is another good sideboard option as it massively hinders tribal or tribal-heavy decks as it weakens them or just kills small creatures directly. Plus, it's a nice blocker with Deathtouch.
I have to play test the deck a bit more to see, what's really lacking. I was thinking to maybe change
Traverse the Ulvenwald
to
Once Upon a Time
because Traverse sometimes resulted in being a dead card and slowing down the deck unnecessarily when it is supposed to accelerate it.
I also want to add 1-3
Mishra's Bauble
to further accelerate the deck and have a guaranteed artifact in the graveyard as well as 2 more
Serum Visions
.
Besides, I was thinking of playing
Lightning Bolt
over
Tarfire
, forgoing the Tribal boost for a more reliable source of damage.
Another option I was opting to try was adding
Mutagenic Growth
which essentially gives +4/+4 to a
Death's Shadow
, but can also be dead on my hand for a long time (same as
Temur Battle Rage
).
Claim / Fame
seems like a good and reliable card to revive a Shadow or Goyf and give it a small boost and haste which can be gamechanging.
Other options I want to give a try are
Collector Ouphe
as a sideboard option against artifacts and the obvious
Snapcaster Mage
for whom I have to save some coin.
Problems are in my eyes Control and creature-heavy decks. The first can be annoyed with
Stubborn Denial
, the latter with my spot removal options. But I always fear to get overwhelmed and not having enough counter or removal options.
**
UPDATE:
**
Swapped some cards. Added 1
Mishra's Bauble
(two more are on their way), 4
Thought Scour
, 2
Once Upon a Time
and 3
Nurturing Peatland
to prevent mana flooding. I took out all basic lands to playtest. I'll maybe put 2 back into the deck if I notice a lack of them.
Once Upon a Time
proved to be quite good as it nearly always finds something worthy and if it doesn't it still accelerates the deck overall. Same thing with
Thought Scour
which proves to be a bit more risky (especially without
Serum Visions
and the Scry effect. Bauble is cool with it, but still risky), because it will lose me a creature sometimes (which I potentially can bring back using
Kolaghan's Command
but I took one out and only play 1 atm). Will playtest a bit more. If I get the land base, I will probably attempt to build a grixis variant of this deck, as 4 colours are hindering sometimes (but Tarmogoyf plus the other green spells are just too good)... will update eventually :)
Added 2 more
Mishra's Bauble
,
Liliana of the Veil
and one
Assassin's Trophy
went into the Sideboard.
