This deck has worked pretty well, despite the fact that all three times I've played it so far I haven't drawn into a Dark Confidant.
My main problem is that I need something better than Banshee's Blade. I went through enough trouble getting 4 Confidants, at the moment I'm not planning on picking up four Jittes. Any other better substitute?
Also, is Blight worth running if I can't afford Sinkhole?
Bonesplitter if you want it fast and simple. Empyrial Plate costs as much as Blade, but unless you overextend will make some huge shadow creatures. Bad Moon if you plan on swarming.
Blight alone probably not.
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Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.
We define the boundaries of reality; they don't define us.
Strip Mine is restricted (depending on your group's rules), so maybe -3...and a little pump would be good...I like Wicked Reward +3.
Also, Skittering Skirge and Fledgling Djinn are both really good in my sui deck, if you want other options.
There are really no restrictions in my group. Trust me, running four strip mines is nothing compared to my friends combo deck made up almost entirely of restricted cards
You have absolutely no defense in this deck. You need some sort of removal. I would add four Tendrils of Corruption as they serve as spot removal and life gain.
Also, as far as the equipment goes I would consider Grafted Wargear .
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"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
311 "Who's Got the Herb"
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You have absolutely no defense in this deck. You need some sort of removal. I would add four Tendrils of Corruption as they serve as spot removal and life gain.
Also, as far as the equipment goes I would consider Grafted Wargear .
The point of an aggro deck is to kill the opposition before they can kill you. It's theme is "A good offense is a good defense."
Great deck idea by the way; really looks to the stars. Unfortunately, Banshee's blade requires a few turns before it's amazing. I would replace it with Trusty Machete to give it an instant +2 power. Bonesplitter is another great card, but the machete (even costing one more) gives you an extra defense. Up to you tho-- they're both great for aggro.
I would agree re: defense...you don't really want any defense in a sui deck...just blaze through.
What you do want is a way to push that damage through...ie, clear the way of blockers. My sui deck is R/B, for access to Lightning Bolt, Incinerate (for those pesky Will'O'The Wisps, River Boas, etc) and Fireblast to help finish the job. Also, 4 Blood Lust, and some Brute Force to kick it up a notch. Its basically a B/R Sligh, or adding what red does best to a black sui deck. Check my sig for a decklist if you care to :).
Why do I say all this? You should run some removal to clear the way. You probably don't need much with all your shadow...maybe only 3 or 4 Doomblade/Terror.
DrDrum: "You should run some removal to clear the way."
That is exactly what I said! Add some removal, just four Tendrils of Corruption . Also Tendrils of Corruption is strictly a superior card to Doom Blade or Terror , both of which are completely worthless when facing another black deck, and Terror is worthless when facing Affinity.
Also I would say Grafted Wargear is strictly better than Trusty Machete . An equip cost of 2 for a equipment that only gives you +2+1 is ridiculously high.
Bonesplitter is also of course a great option, as almost everyone has said.
Also honestly, adding four Bad Moon may be better than adding any equipment, unless you go for the uber equipment (jitte & the swords)
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"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
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DrDrum: "You should run some removal to clear the way."
That is exactly what I said! Add some removal, just four Tendrils of Corruption . Also Tendrils of Corruption is strictly a superior card to Doom Blade or Terror , both of which are completely worthless when facing another black deck, and Terror is worthless when facing Affinity.
Also I would say Grafted Wargear is strictly better than Trusty Machete . An equip cost of 2 for a equipment that only gives you +2+1 is ridiculously high.
Bonesplitter is also of course a great option, as almost everyone has said.
Also honestly, adding four Bad Moon may be better than adding any equipment, unless you go for the uber equipment (jitte & the swords)
Hey man, I know what you meant :lol:
I was reacting more to the OP regarding "defense".
Your comments on why doomblade & Terror are no good are very valid. Both are much cheaper than Tendrils, but you're right, very conditional. truthfully, that's why I went Red/Black with my suicide deck...lightning bolt is a heckuva'lot cheaper (CC-wise) than Tendrils...hrmmm, tendrils is a very good card, but its expensive.
A sui deck oughta' win in 5 turns, or fold...so early game disruption/removal is key...
Thanks guys, didn't expect this thread to get a lot of comments. Here are my thoughts -
@Rchrhds
You have absolutely no defense in this deck. You need some sort of removal. I would add four Tendrils of Corruption as they serve as spot removal and life gain.
This is true, I run no removal. However, that's really only a problem for my Nantuko Shade. Dauthi Horror, Dauthi Slayer and Nether Traitor have great evasion, and they're the ones most likely to get equipped/enchanted. The Nantuko Shade is just too good not to run, and it can force them chump block with important creatures due to how threatening it can be if it goes unblocked.
Also, if I were to run removal, it would probably not be Tendrils of Corruption. 100% agree it's a better card than Terror or Doom Blade, but so far I've managed to keep the curve under three for everything except Hypnotic Specter who very well might come out of the deck. Also, drawing into one with Dark Confidant could put me in a bad spot against a fast deck.
Also honestly, adding four Bad Moon may be better than adding any equipment, unless you go for the uber equipment (jitte & the swords)
That may be exactly what I do. I might want to run them in tandem. If so, I'm thinking Bonesplitter still just for speed. I'm not to worried about defense on my shadow guys, they're not going to get blocked and their power would go up to three max, still within Lightning Bolt range.
Also, as far as the equipment goes I would consider Grafted Wargear .
That's a baller card, but I think it's too much mana to get online. I will try playtesting it on MWS.
@DrDRum -
A sui deck oughta' win in 5 turns, or fold...so early game disruption/removal is key...
Its a connundrum..thoughts?
I will absolutely consider splashing red, if for nothing else than Terminate. It's much better than Doom Blade or Terror, and while lifegain from Tendrils would be nice, the CMC of Terminate puts it over the top for me. I'll playtest this too on MWS before committing.
My other option is hand disruption, but I dunno how I feel. I'd rather drop a Nether Traitor on T2 than a Hymn to Tourach.
The point of an aggro deck is to kill the opposition before they can kill you. It's theme is "A good offense is a good defense."
Great deck idea by the way; really looks to the stars. Unfortunately, Banshee's blade requires a few turns before it's amazing. I would replace it with Trusty Machete to give it an instant +2 power. Bonesplitter is another great card, but the machete (even costing one more) gives you an extra defense. Up to you tho-- they're both great for aggro.
Thanks! I agree that Banshee's Blade really isn't cutting it. Never had too much of a desire for a Jitte till now, and I have a couple swords but they're too much mana for this deck.
My thoughts were definitely that a good offense is a good defense, but I am tempted to throw a couple Dragonskull Summit and/or Graven Cairns in there.
DrDrum: "You should run some removal to clear the way."
That is exactly what I said! Add some removal, just four Tendrils of Corruption . Also Tendrils of Corruption is strictly a superior card to Doom Blade or Terror , both of which are completely worthless when facing another black deck, and Terror is worthless when facing Affinity.
Also I would say Grafted Wargear is strictly better than Trusty Machete . An equip cost of 2 for a equipment that only gives you +2+1 is ridiculously high.
Bonesplitter is also of course a great option, as almost everyone has said.
Also honestly, adding four Bad Moon may be better than adding any equipment, unless you go for the uber equipment (jitte & the swords)
The problem with adding all those cards to an aggro deck... It makes it not aggro anymore. Aggro needs a lot of power really fast in order to take out the target--defensive spells like Terror and Doom Blade, or expensive "Tendrils of Corruption" slow the deck down farther, because it gives you choice on what you want to play. In aggro, obviously the creatures take priority, leaving no mana for all the spells.
With the artifacts, or equipment, at least you can safely play them when you have extra mana; you don't need to worry about "needing" the mana. Also, that Grafted Wargear is a very nice equipment, but would only be worth it on the Nether Traitor, which you can afford to go to the graveyard. Otherwise, you'd be losing creature were you to reqeuip it to one that it would be more useful on.
I agree with all of that, that's what my original intention was. Red's not a terrible idea though since you can at least throw damage to the dome and boost creatures at instant speed.
If you want instant speed aggro non-creature cards, I would throw in (for black) Vampire's Bite. With Shadow creatures, that's basically a Black Lava Spike to their face. (And as a bonus, if you have the mana, you gain all that life.)
If you want cheap removal that isn't limited (like terror and doomblade) then run an old favorite of mine: paralyze. 1cc, the only thing it won't hit is shroud/pro black, and really, your opponent will never pay to untap the thing unless it unless he already has 4+ lands in play, by which time you should already be winning since this is already likely turn 6.
As for not running disruption: it doesn't work. It hasn't worked since the time of Urza block. Sui black at that time had 4 mox diamonds, 4 lotus petals, 4 Yawgmoth's Will, and 4 hatreds, which meant it could kill an opponent on turn 2. This deck cannot kill on turn 2, 3, or 4 for that matter. Likely not turn 5. This is important, why? Because this means your opponent will be putting blockers in front of you, or worse wrath of god.
Frankly, I won't run this deck without some form of disruption, at the very least duress.
Skullclamp alleviates the problem somewhat, so if you're not packing any disruption, skullclamp will be the one to save your bacon. As such, you will want to abuse the clamp as much as possible. Find some space for tutors. demonic consultation is the cheapest and it works due to the redudancy of the deck. bloodghast makes skullclamp even more powerful.
Here's another tip: nantuko shade and dark confidant don't like each other. In fact, mr shady does not like working with other low cost creaturee, but he really doesn't see eye to eye with dark confidant. If you have dark confidant in play, you will NEVER have the mana to pump shade. At the end of the day. he'll just be a 2/1 because all you other mana will be used to cast other creatures.
Here's another tip: nantuko shade and dark confidant don't like each other. In fact, mr shady does not like working with other low cost creaturee, but he really doesn't see eye to eye with dark confidant. If you have dark confidant in play, you will NEVER have the mana to pump shade. At the end of the day. he'll just be a 2/1 because all you other mana will be used to cast other creatures.
That actually makes a lot of sense. However, do I really want to go down to less than 20 creatures by replacing him with disruption? Bloodghast+Skullclamp is nice, I run it in other decks, but I feel like that's devoting 12 cards to draw more than damage, (Confidant, Clamp, Ghast). Also, you can do the trick to a certain degree with Nether Traitor instead.
Because this means your opponent will be putting blockers in front of you,
That's why I run cheap shadow creatures.
If you want cheap removal that isn't limited (like terror and doomblade) then run an old favorite of mine: paralyze. 1cc, the only thing it won't hit is shroud/pro black, and really, your opponent will never pay to untap the thing unless it unless he already has 4+ lands in play, by which time you should already be winning since this is already likely turn 6.
Believe it or not I'd thought about this...I've been reading about Paralyze more and more on the forums and I still have my old copies.
The problem with shadow creatures is that they're small for their cost. 2cc 2/2? That sucks.
Being unblockable is not worth it if you're sacrificing power/toughness. A bigger creature is better because it plows through blockers early game. This is why shadow creatures never really made it a huge impact competitively, outside the urza builds (note that the urza block builds, the high point of sui, had 15 to 16 creatures, and around 12 cards devoted to mana acceleration and disruption; even those decks didn't pack a lot of shadow creatures)
Shadow creatures are useless against combo and control. Against another aggro deck (which you shadow should be useful against, since you bypass blockers) you are at a disadvantage because your opponent's creautres will likely be bigger than 2/2 for 2cc, and that means you will take more damage than you will dish out.
To put it another way: sure, your shadow creatures can bypass blockers, but that means your opponent is hitting you with his 4/5 tarmogoyf or a 6/2 piledriver.
An old card in sui black builds (before dark confidant was printed) was phyrexian negator. Negator was 5/5 and trample for 3cc, making it superior to shadow creatures 2/2 for 2cc. The problem was, well, negator didn't handle blockers well, the complete opposite of shadow creatures. Instead of using shadow, players put it contagion. opponent blocks, sometimes with 2 creatures, hahah, contagion those suckers.
That actually makes a lot of sense. However, do I really want to go down to less than 20 creatures by replacing him with disruption? Bloodghast+Skullclamp is nice, I run it in other decks, but I feel like that's devoting 12 cards to draw more than damage, (Confidant, Clamp, Ghast). Also, you can do the trick to a certain degree with Nether Traitor instead.
Get rid of bonesplitter and blood moon. Or run a lot less bloodmoon. Seriously, the card isn't any good. You need to hav at least 3 creatures in play before it gets cost effective, and it mucks up skullclamp.
A pure aggro approach doesn't work for black doesn't really work -- blacks creatures simply aren't big enough for the cost. Sure, "but it won't be aggro!" yada yada. Unless you can kill your opponent on turn 2 or 3, pure aggro doesn't work. running unblockables isn't enough.
Mondu makes a very good point about Bob--and I would issue a replacement for this fact. I would say Dauthi Ghoul (For Skullclamo combos) or Dauthi Horror if they have some crazy white shadow guy.
Strike that last part, you already have it. Kekeke. Anyways, the Horror is a 1/1 for 2cc, but it's nice when you skull clamp one of your poor other shadows.
EDIT: Just noticed a Dauthi Warlord who starts out as a 1/1, then gets an additional 1/0 for each shadow you have... MIght be a bit quicker than the Dauthi Ghoul listed above.
To put it another way: sure, your shadow creatures can bypass blockers, but that means your opponent is hitting you with his 4/5 tarmogoyf or a 6/2 piledriver.
I'm not too worried about that - like I said this is just for casual, no one in my playgroup owns either of those cards. I want to keep the shadow dudes for their evasion but find ways to increase their threat.
Ya'know, I know people here hate enchantments...
But a Unholy Strength and/or Feast of the Unicorn strapped to a shadow bugger can get plenty of damage through. Yeah yeah, 2for1 this, removal that...
Even if it doubles your damage for a couple turns, that's decent :).
I have plenty of copies of both those lying around...but I feel like stuff like Bonesplitter is more worthwhile cause it's reusable if they blow that creature and Feast of the Unicorn is too expensive.
Mondu the Fat: Thank you, you made my point again that you need disruption and that a aggro deck, even a suicide one cannot be only creatures and lands.
Captainahard: Here is my mono black suicide deck if it helps, it is much more zombie based. This deck is also pauper.
That is helpful. I tested my current build one last time last night before I changed it and it sucked. I was playing against my friends Knight deck, so it was a bad matchup since his White Knight shut down my Nantuko Shade. It definitely needs a lot of work though.
I'll definitely take out the shades since half the point of building this deck was to run Dark Confidant. After the last game I'm seriously considering splashing red for some disruption (though Terminate won't get rid of a White Knight either. My RDW handled Knights pretty easily.
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Dauthi Horror
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nether Traitor
4 Skullclamp
4 Banshee's Blade
Mana
4 Dark Ritual
20 Swamp
4 Strip Mine
This deck has worked pretty well, despite the fact that all three times I've played it so far I haven't drawn into a Dark Confidant.
My main problem is that I need something better than Banshee's Blade. I went through enough trouble getting 4 Confidants, at the moment I'm not planning on picking up four Jittes. Any other better substitute?
Also, is Blight worth running if I can't afford Sinkhole?
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Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
Empyrial Plate costs as much as Blade, but unless you overextend will make some huge shadow creatures.
Bad Moon if you plan on swarming.
Blight alone probably not.
Also, Skittering Skirge and Fledgling Djinn are both really good in my sui deck, if you want other options.
Otherwise, looks pretty tight
DRum
Old school group, sometimes more beer than cards. Revised thru Tempest block (and a little of Urza), sorry if I don't know all the new cards
Ye' Olde Schoole Casual Decks: BUReanimate -- GRAggro -- BWPestilence -- G10-land Stompy -- GRElfball -- GWEnchantress -- RAnkh Sligh -- BDiscard -- MUC "Draw-go" -- BRSuicide -- UWSkies -- UHigh Tide Mill -- WWeenie -- UMutated Bombers -- URThe great land-toss -- UB Molasass
Pump may be necessary. Bonesplitter looks good, especially with 1 CMC in case I grab it with the Dark Confidant. I like Wicked Reward too! I have four Bad Moon, maybe that goes in too.
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Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
Also, as far as the equipment goes I would consider Grafted Wargear .
--------------------------------------
"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
311 "Who's Got the Herb"
--------------------------------------
The point of an aggro deck is to kill the opposition before they can kill you. It's theme is "A good offense is a good defense."
Great deck idea by the way; really looks to the stars. Unfortunately, Banshee's blade requires a few turns before it's amazing. I would replace it with Trusty Machete to give it an instant +2 power. Bonesplitter is another great card, but the machete (even costing one more) gives you an extra defense. Up to you tho-- they're both great for aggro.
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
Check out my SELLING LIST of great pricing!
What you do want is a way to push that damage through...ie, clear the way of blockers. My sui deck is R/B, for access to Lightning Bolt, Incinerate (for those pesky Will'O'The Wisps, River Boas, etc) and Fireblast to help finish the job. Also, 4 Blood Lust, and some Brute Force to kick it up a notch. Its basically a B/R Sligh, or adding what red does best to a black sui deck. Check my sig for a decklist if you care to :).
Why do I say all this? You should run some removal to clear the way. You probably don't need much with all your shadow...maybe only 3 or 4 Doomblade/Terror.
DRum
Old school group, sometimes more beer than cards. Revised thru Tempest block (and a little of Urza), sorry if I don't know all the new cards
Ye' Olde Schoole Casual Decks: BUReanimate -- GRAggro -- BWPestilence -- G10-land Stompy -- GRElfball -- GWEnchantress -- RAnkh Sligh -- BDiscard -- MUC "Draw-go" -- BRSuicide -- UWSkies -- UHigh Tide Mill -- WWeenie -- UMutated Bombers -- URThe great land-toss -- UB Molasass
That is exactly what I said! Add some removal, just four Tendrils of Corruption . Also Tendrils of Corruption is strictly a superior card to Doom Blade or Terror , both of which are completely worthless when facing another black deck, and Terror is worthless when facing Affinity.
Also I would say Grafted Wargear is strictly better than Trusty Machete . An equip cost of 2 for a equipment that only gives you +2+1 is ridiculously high.
Bonesplitter is also of course a great option, as almost everyone has said.
Also honestly, adding four Bad Moon may be better than adding any equipment, unless you go for the uber equipment (jitte & the swords)
--------------------------------------
"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
311 "Who's Got the Herb"
--------------------------------------
Hey man, I know what you meant :lol:
I was reacting more to the OP regarding "defense".
Your comments on why doomblade & Terror are no good are very valid. Both are much cheaper than Tendrils, but you're right, very conditional. truthfully, that's why I went Red/Black with my suicide deck...lightning bolt is a heckuva'lot cheaper (CC-wise) than Tendrils...hrmmm, tendrils is a very good card, but its expensive.
A sui deck oughta' win in 5 turns, or fold...so early game disruption/removal is key...
Its a connundrum..thoughts?
DRum
Old school group, sometimes more beer than cards. Revised thru Tempest block (and a little of Urza), sorry if I don't know all the new cards
Ye' Olde Schoole Casual Decks: BUReanimate -- GRAggro -- BWPestilence -- G10-land Stompy -- GRElfball -- GWEnchantress -- RAnkh Sligh -- BDiscard -- MUC "Draw-go" -- BRSuicide -- UWSkies -- UHigh Tide Mill -- WWeenie -- UMutated Bombers -- URThe great land-toss -- UB Molasass
@Rchrhds
This is true, I run no removal. However, that's really only a problem for my Nantuko Shade. Dauthi Horror, Dauthi Slayer and Nether Traitor have great evasion, and they're the ones most likely to get equipped/enchanted. The Nantuko Shade is just too good not to run, and it can force them chump block with important creatures due to how threatening it can be if it goes unblocked.
Also, if I were to run removal, it would probably not be Tendrils of Corruption. 100% agree it's a better card than Terror or Doom Blade, but so far I've managed to keep the curve under three for everything except Hypnotic Specter who very well might come out of the deck. Also, drawing into one with Dark Confidant could put me in a bad spot against a fast deck.
That may be exactly what I do. I might want to run them in tandem. If so, I'm thinking Bonesplitter still just for speed. I'm not to worried about defense on my shadow guys, they're not going to get blocked and their power would go up to three max, still within Lightning Bolt range.
That's a baller card, but I think it's too much mana to get online. I will try playtesting it on MWS.
@DrDRum -
I will absolutely consider splashing red, if for nothing else than Terminate. It's much better than Doom Blade or Terror, and while lifegain from Tendrils would be nice, the CMC of Terminate puts it over the top for me. I'll playtest this too on MWS before committing.
My other option is hand disruption, but I dunno how I feel. I'd rather drop a Nether Traitor on T2 than a Hymn to Tourach.
Thanks! I agree that Banshee's Blade really isn't cutting it. Never had too much of a desire for a Jitte till now, and I have a couple swords but they're too much mana for this deck.
My thoughts were definitely that a good offense is a good defense, but I am tempted to throw a couple Dragonskull Summit and/or Graven Cairns in there.
An update for now:
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Dauthi Horror
4 Nether Traitor
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Bonesplitter
4 Skullclamp
Enchantments
4 Bad Moon
4 Dark Ritual
4 Strip Mine
20 Swamp
EDIT: or with red -
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Dauthi Horror
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Nether Traitor
4 Blood Lust
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
Enchantments
4 Bad Moon
4 Strip Mine
12 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
The problem with adding all those cards to an aggro deck... It makes it not aggro anymore. Aggro needs a lot of power really fast in order to take out the target--defensive spells like Terror and Doom Blade, or expensive "Tendrils of Corruption" slow the deck down farther, because it gives you choice on what you want to play. In aggro, obviously the creatures take priority, leaving no mana for all the spells.
With the artifacts, or equipment, at least you can safely play them when you have extra mana; you don't need to worry about "needing" the mana. Also, that Grafted Wargear is a very nice equipment, but would only be worth it on the Nether Traitor, which you can afford to go to the graveyard. Otherwise, you'd be losing creature were you to reqeuip it to one that it would be more useful on.
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
Check out my SELLING LIST of great pricing!
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
Check out my SELLING LIST of great pricing!
As for not running disruption: it doesn't work. It hasn't worked since the time of Urza block. Sui black at that time had 4 mox diamonds, 4 lotus petals, 4 Yawgmoth's Will, and 4 hatreds, which meant it could kill an opponent on turn 2. This deck cannot kill on turn 2, 3, or 4 for that matter. Likely not turn 5. This is important, why? Because this means your opponent will be putting blockers in front of you, or worse wrath of god.
Frankly, I won't run this deck without some form of disruption, at the very least duress.
Skullclamp alleviates the problem somewhat, so if you're not packing any disruption, skullclamp will be the one to save your bacon. As such, you will want to abuse the clamp as much as possible. Find some space for tutors. demonic consultation is the cheapest and it works due to the redudancy of the deck. bloodghast makes skullclamp even more powerful.
Here's another tip: nantuko shade and dark confidant don't like each other. In fact, mr shady does not like working with other low cost creaturee, but he really doesn't see eye to eye with dark confidant. If you have dark confidant in play, you will NEVER have the mana to pump shade. At the end of the day. he'll just be a 2/1 because all you other mana will be used to cast other creatures.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
That actually makes a lot of sense. However, do I really want to go down to less than 20 creatures by replacing him with disruption? Bloodghast+Skullclamp is nice, I run it in other decks, but I feel like that's devoting 12 cards to draw more than damage, (Confidant, Clamp, Ghast). Also, you can do the trick to a certain degree with Nether Traitor instead.
That's why I run cheap shadow creatures.
Believe it or not I'd thought about this...I've been reading about Paralyze more and more on the forums and I still have my old copies.
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
Being unblockable is not worth it if you're sacrificing power/toughness. A bigger creature is better because it plows through blockers early game. This is why shadow creatures never really made it a huge impact competitively, outside the urza builds (note that the urza block builds, the high point of sui, had 15 to 16 creatures, and around 12 cards devoted to mana acceleration and disruption; even those decks didn't pack a lot of shadow creatures)
http://www.wizards.com/Sideboard/decks/USRegionals.asp
(deck #8 is an example)
Shadow creatures are useless against combo and control. Against another aggro deck (which you shadow should be useful against, since you bypass blockers) you are at a disadvantage because your opponent's creautres will likely be bigger than 2/2 for 2cc, and that means you will take more damage than you will dish out.
To put it another way: sure, your shadow creatures can bypass blockers, but that means your opponent is hitting you with his 4/5 tarmogoyf or a 6/2 piledriver.
An old card in sui black builds (before dark confidant was printed) was phyrexian negator. Negator was 5/5 and trample for 3cc, making it superior to shadow creatures 2/2 for 2cc. The problem was, well, negator didn't handle blockers well, the complete opposite of shadow creatures. Instead of using shadow, players put it contagion. opponent blocks, sometimes with 2 creatures, hahah, contagion those suckers.
Get rid of bonesplitter and blood moon. Or run a lot less bloodmoon. Seriously, the card isn't any good. You need to hav at least 3 creatures in play before it gets cost effective, and it mucks up skullclamp.
A pure aggro approach doesn't work for black doesn't really work -- blacks creatures simply aren't big enough for the cost. Sure, "but it won't be aggro!" yada yada. Unless you can kill your opponent on turn 2 or 3, pure aggro doesn't work. running unblockables isn't enough.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Also keep in mind this is a casual/fun deck, not necessarily a pure competitive build.
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
or Dauthi Horror if they have some crazy white shadow guy.Strike that last part, you already have it. Kekeke. Anyways, the Horror is a 1/1 for 2cc, but it's nice when you skull clamp one of your poor other shadows.
EDIT: Just noticed a Dauthi Warlord who starts out as a 1/1, then gets an additional 1/0 for each shadow you have... MIght be a bit quicker than the Dauthi Ghoul listed above.
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
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I'm not too worried about that - like I said this is just for casual, no one in my playgroup owns either of those cards. I want to keep the shadow dudes for their evasion but find ways to increase their threat.
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
But a Unholy Strength and/or Feast of the Unicorn strapped to a shadow bugger can get plenty of damage through. Yeah yeah, 2for1 this, removal that...
Even if it doubles your damage for a couple turns, that's decent :).
DRum
Old school group, sometimes more beer than cards. Revised thru Tempest block (and a little of Urza), sorry if I don't know all the new cards
Ye' Olde Schoole Casual Decks: BUReanimate -- GRAggro -- BWPestilence -- G10-land Stompy -- GRElfball -- GWEnchantress -- RAnkh Sligh -- BDiscard -- MUC "Draw-go" -- BRSuicide -- UWSkies -- UHigh Tide Mill -- WWeenie -- UMutated Bombers -- URThe great land-toss -- UB Molasass
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU
Captainahard: Here is my mono black suicide deck if it helps, it is much more zombie based. This deck is also pauper.
20 Swamps
Creatures: 20
4 Carnophage
4 Blind Creeper
4 Wretched Anurid
4 Sangrophage
4 Erg Raiders
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Sign in Blood
4 Dark Ritual
4 Diabolic Edict
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"STAY CLEAR OF WHITE POWDER"
311 "Who's Got the Herb"
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I'll definitely take out the shades since half the point of building this deck was to run Dark Confidant. After the last game I'm seriously considering splashing red for some disruption (though Terminate won't get rid of a White Knight either. My RDW handled Knights pretty easily.
Trades
Supreme thanks to Fio at Damnation Studios for the awesome artwork.
UMember of Clan Mono BlueU