The Unwilling Betrayal (Ihsan's Shade)

Commander / EDH Demons Equip Lifelink Mono-Black Voltron

grievances

Creature (22)

• 1x Dream Devourer
• 1x Painter's Servant
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Draugr Necromancer
• 1x Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Rakshasa Debaser
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Lorcan, Warlock Collector
• 1x Lord of the Void
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Archon of Cruelty
• 1x Reiver Demon
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Virtus's Maneuver
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Overwhelming Forces

Artifact (18)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Blackblade Reforged
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Manascape Refractor
• 1x Mask of Griselbrand
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1x Lashwrithe

Instant (11)

• 1x Defile
• 1x Hero's Demise
• 1x Infernal Grasp
• 1x Power Word Kill
• 1x Withering Boon
• 1x Blood Pact
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Vona's Hunger
• 1x Drag to the Underworld
• 1x Stinging Study

Commander (1)

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 23x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x War Room
• 1x Witch's Clinic

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Exquisite Blood

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Maybeboard

Creature (13)

• 1x Thirsting Shade
• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Grimdancer
• 1x Stromgald Cabal
• 1x Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Cavalier of Night
• 1x Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Lord of the Void
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Spirit of the Night

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Innocent Blood
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Consume Spirit
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will
• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Sanguimancy
• 1x In Garruk's Wake
• 1x Plague Wind

Artifact (3)

• 1x Nightmare Lash
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Bolas's Citadel

Instant (7)

• 1x Darkness
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Liliana's Triumph
• 1x Victim of Night
• 1x Bone Harvest
• 1x Footbottom Feast
• 1x Gravepurge

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Shade's Form
• 1x Greed
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Wound Reflection

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The Discovery of a Seldom-used Commander

One fateful night on MTGO, I ran into a fun, resilient mono black Voltron deck helmed by Ihsan's Shade. I asked the guy to share his list and thoughts on the deck - b/c as a mono black player, I loved the way he took all the tools and turned it into a Voltron deck of all things. And he used cards I hadn't seen before. Thankfully, he (sleeper_agent007) generously shared his deck, located here.

Before that, I had previously tried to recreate it on my own, wholly unsuccessfully, and so having something to kick off my research really helped. I have since been on a quest to make this my own deck... I switched out many cards, played with different strategies, and I even experimented with different commanders, like Erebos, God of the Dead... just to see whether there was any advantage in a lower CMC leader, and whether it opened up some other lines to victory. Ultimately though, cards like Erebos felt a little too vanilla, and I wanted to go back to the flavor captured in Ihsan's Shade. There's a nice appeal to playing a commander that not many others play.

The Gameplan (with seeds in his lore)

I also read into his lore and the backstory behind him is really great, which inspired the title of this deck. I think it can also inform a little of the mechanics as well, which I would summarize as (a) Draw and kill spells, many of which require payment of life (this is the way.... in black), (b) some lifelink to help keep the fuel tank full, (c) good ramp which is easy in black, and (d) fun ways to win with either Ihsan himself or mass lifedrain (for example, I throw in a couple weapons as well to lend a little help to the "voltron-ish" strategy, and I have Exsanguinate in here).

The result is this deck that I'm going to continue to playtest extensively. I tried to keep this a fun deck, in the spirit of what I ran into on MTGO back then. I also wanted to build more interaction into it, since many of my black decks care less about what others do and more about getting to my win. In any case, this will the deck I keep on tweaking as I find more and more fun cards to try out. But during that time, please, all comments and ideas are appreciated!

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.56
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Demon X/X B, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B