Lately i've been trying to make Death's Shadow work in Legacy. And I must say I'm pretty impressed with the results so far. Nonetheless I think my list could use some changes and improvements.
I played 4 weeklys and a team constructed event at my LGS and I also attended Mkm Series Milan, all with the built down bellow.
My records are:
weeklys: 3:1, 3:1, 3:0:1 and 4:0
team constructed: 3:1 in rounds, won semis, lost finals
Mkm Milan: 3:2:1 drop
Legacy BUg Suicide Delver
14 Creatures
4 Death's Shadow
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Gurmag Angler
27 Instants and Sorceries
4 Brainstorm
4 Thoughtseize
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Ponder
3 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Dismember
1 Berserk
1 Other Spell
1 Sylvan Library
18 Lands
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Watery Grave
1 Breeding Pool
4 Wasteland
Sideboard (15)
2 Golgari Charm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Hooting Mandrills
1 Painful Truths
1 Sylvan Library
1 Pithing Needle
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Winter Orb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Force of Will
1 Dismember
1 Fatal Push
I'll take the deck to Eternal Weekend Paris and need some help to optimize the list.
Your suggestions and experiences(with similar decks) are welcome! Feel free to ask, if you have any questions.
Fatal Push and EE are very played and the decks that don't play them prey on your low life.
Additionally Miracle is a thing and if you give them a clock a simple Vendilion Clique becomes an Emrakul
Thank you for your thoughts.Originally Posted by Poron
Fatal Push hits a lot of other Bug Delver creatures to and costs the same amount of mana Deaht's Shadow does.
Engineered Explosives is a one-off in the lists playing it and against miracles you comit only one threat to the board anyway.
The decks praying on your lifetotal grow your Shadows for every they get in.
I played against a variety of decks and my record against fatal push decks is positive - swords to plowshares is actually a bigger problem
Snuff out seems to me like a worse dismember, not able to hit leovold, dark confidant, deahtrite shaman or gurmag angler and you can't actually choose to lose less life casting it. In addition dismember can be cast on death's shadow to grow it next turn.
There's a thread on here somewhere with a deck that runs 3 death shadows and a lot of the draw 4 spells (pay half your life + bbb)
It's a fun deck, take a look for it.
-rob
Sounds fun indeed, i'll look it up, thank you
I've seen a UB version of this going heaver on delve guys and running Mental Note to fuel them. If you run enough of them, Stubborn Denial turns into a hell of a card, and opposing Fatal Pushes become dead. Also makes main deck Deluge more defensible, which is nice if you're expecting a lot of TNNs and/or Leovolds.
Recently started brewing on this deck. Right now I have Street Wraith over 4 Ponders. Through your testing what do you prefer?
Street Wraths, Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Shocklands and Night's Whisper.
In my opinion you are already there.
The big problem is that Shade has no evasion.
Often a simple Delver makes more damages at the end of the day.
Yes there are plenty of great ways to get DS online but I wouldn't worry about his evasion. Tarmogoyf doesn't have evasion and he loves fitting in Sultai Delver decks. DS fills Goyfs role but potentially better, the whole reason to try this deck.
I agree just be sure you don't run short of Fatal Push and L.Bolt/Kholgan's Command on the way
Life total management is apart of the deck. Fatal Push? Everything dies to Murder, guess I better play Storm.
I haven't played with street wraith so far.
I think ponder gives you better card selection and also more cards to pitch to a force of will. Also my list doesn't have any reanimates (another card i need to test) and so the street wraith is a little weaker.
Ponder gives you more options and doesent push you as hard into the death's shadow plan.
I played the deck at the eternal weekend in paris and it was super fun. I went 5:4 in the end.
I won against: Imperial Painter, Eldrazi Stompy, Sneak and Show, Death and Taxes and Food Griffin.
I lost to: Bug Delver, Ur Delver (very bad matchup imo), reanimator (2xturn1 combo) and another Death and Taxes (I told him to block as it was the last round and he saw the dismember witch turned my shadows lethal as i flipped my delver)
What is your honest confidence in this deck? I'm just a little concerned how DS really gets to work in Legacy.
If it helps this has been a back up deck for me but I did pilot it to the top 8 finish of a 71 person event out here in LA. My list was as follows:
7th Joey Valente [Suicide BUG]
Main Deck
4 Death's Shadow
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Gurmag Angler
Creature ( 14)
1 Bayou
1 Breeding Pool
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
Land ( 18)
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Berserk
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force Of Will
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
1 Sylvan Library
2 Thoughtseize
Other ( 28)
qty: 60
Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
2 Disfigure
1 Dismember
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Krosan Grip
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Toxic Deluge
Sideboard ( 15)
I wanted to play a Leovold but couldn't find one for the event at the time. Recently I have been moving off of the Anglers and Berserks to add a Leo, Dismember and some other control based and not be exposed to 2 for 1s via Swords. I want to try and find some space for Nimble Mongoose but haven't tried a build yet. I feel the deck is amazing against just about any Delver list you are up against. The worst match-ups are DnT, Elves and Lands for various reasons but the mind games of shocks making it look like you can't afford duals and being offered duals to borrow in the future has always made for great moments with the deck when you finally play a Shadow.
Your list looks crispy. What is your record against Swords decks? Why no Street Wraith? How was the mana base? I know, lots of questions.
I honestly think that Death's Shadow can be a real card in Legacy and that a Delver shell supports the shadows best. It's all about effiency and tempo, which Death's Shadow offers both. Your lifetotal isn't a huge concern in a format dominated by midrange and control decks. The problems in my opinion at the moment that I experience with my built so far aren't the sword decks. Actually I think that the worst matchups are some other delver decks at least the ones either playing a lot of burn (more than just 4 bolts) or the one's that rely on value cards like liliana or hymn to tourarch.
The Death and Taxes in my opinion depends a lot on the sideboard like it does for many delver decks.
I love the fact that you were playing two berserks, the card has such a blow-out potential :)
My question here is: if you move away from berserks, what makes the shadow better than a goyf? It's also quite interesting that our lists are similar but we are both experiencing problems against different decks. I personally don't think that this decks wants to go more midrange by adding Leo, but it might be worth a try. Your list above plays way less lifeloss than I am. Isn't it really hard for you to get out a Shadow against decks that don't pressure your lifetotal? Congrats to your finish by the way ;)
I believe I only played 1 Swords deck but those MU tend to only rely on one card so you have to plan and play accordingly. Street wraith isn't really needed which I'll explain in more in the next paragraph. Mana base was great but the Wasteslands can be awkward at times.
The only reason I would move off berserk is if I chose to drop the anglers since you lose your good targets. I like shadows over goyf since they only cost 1 and easily outgrow most creatures of the format, keep the curve super low plus you you get pure benefits out of library and deluge life loss.
Leo is a 1 of and in the colors with DRS there is almost no reason to play one with all that he can do.
With fetches, shocks + Daze, probes and thoughtseizes life total has never really been an issue unless playing against Grove of the Burn willows.
When it comes to other Delver decks your creatures are equal or bigger then there's when you have berserk. They have be careful with bolts since what tried to kill you only makes shadow bigger :p. Plus berserk can be a kill spell that gets you lower to make shadow even bigger.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Reply With Quote
/