MTG Salvation

Your point is well made, but let me lay out why both Plunge into Darkness and Spoils of the Vault are both poor choices for a Legacy Death's Shadow tempo deck. Ideally, in a tempo deck, you establish velocity by using your mana efficiently. That means that you trade favorably as often as possible. Ideally, you never take time off from producing threats and disrupting your opponent. Even more importantly, nearly every single card in this deck is either a threat or a universal answer. Daze, Thoughtseize, Force of Will, all do the same general thing. As such, tutor effects aren't relevant at all. There are no silver bullets in this list. There are no combo pieces. Taking time out of your high-velocity disruption to cast either of those tutors is a poor choice, strategically, for a deck of this type. Beyond that, I still stand by the idea that Spoils is better than Plunge in a deck of this style. One mana cheaper is much much more valuable. Additionally, it allows you to find exactly what you want, rather than hoping what you want is in the X top cards.

On a parallel note about Lim-Dûl's Vault. Yes I'm aware it doesn't put a card you want in your hand. That's not its point though. Vault is designed for when you've run out of gas. It allows you to construct the perfect set of draws to close out the game. It's not part of the tempo-strategy, but instead is a crutch to support this deck through the mid-game. In a way, it serves the same purpose as Dig Through Time does in other decks. I don't think either needs to be included in this deck, much like RUG/BUG Delver have no late-game card draw. I think this deck already loses enough life that all of these tutor and pseudo tutor spells are unnecessary.

So I like the tempo oriented idea you have going on here. Totally honestly, I think Snuff Out Deserves more credit than you're giving it. The only widely things it doesn't hit are Deathrite Shaman and Germ Token. It hits everything else, for free, with upside for you. It's also an amazing tempo card. Also, I dislike Hymn to Tourach in your list. I understand that it's a guaranteed 2 for 1, but that's not what you're looking to do on turn 2. Personally, I believe Spoils of the Vault is better than Plunge into Darkness and Lim-Dûl's Vault is better than both if you're going to run a tutor at all.

Additionally, while I appreciate your reasoning for Tombstalker over Tasigur, I would counter with these points. 1) In a tempo list, 1 mana is very different than 2. 2) Tasigur gives you a mid/late game mana sink, unlike Stalker.

A full bore BU Death's Shadow tempo list would look like this in my mind:


Let me know how you feel about this. I think it's a bit more stable. My only concern is that there aren't enough cantrips in it. I could see 2-3 Ponders in there somewhere.