The Lurking Shadow

Many Black spells in Magic are extremely powerful and with a relatively low mana cost; however the downside is that very often these spells require the caster to also spend their life points in addition to mana. With the printing of Death's Shadow, it turns life loss into an advantage. In fact, the more life you lose the stronger Death's Shadow will become. Today's deck is focusing on the interactions between life costing spells with Death's Shadow. Let us examine this deck list together.

The Lurking Shadow 

Creature (8)

4x Death's Shadow

4x Geralf's Messenger

Sorcery (12)

3x Duress

2x Infernal Contract

4x Night's Whisper

3x Rite of Consumption

Instant (14)

4x Dark Ritual

2x Diabolic Edict

2x Dismember

4x Fatal Frenzy

2x Plunge into Darkness

Enchantment (4)

4x Death's Shadow

Land (22)

4x Dragonskull Summit

3x Sulfurous Springs

12x Swamp

3x  Tainted Peak

This deck is essentially played like a control deck that uses Duress as a hand disruption which at the same time controls the board with creature removal spells such as Diabolic Edict and Dismember. The disruptions clear the way to ensure that Death's Shadow can strike your opponent without any hindrance.

Obtaining key cards to defeat your opponent is vital to the victory of this deck. The combination of Night's Whisper, Infernal Contract and Plunge into Darkness allows you to draw the key spells more efficiently while at the same time making your Death's Shadow stronger.  

The original design of this deck was intended to make use of Berserk which can provide trample and a sudden power surge to Death's Shadow, so that your opponent would be destroyed with one attack. However, Berserk is a very expensive card that does not fit into budget deck building. Instead, Fatal Frenzy is used to replace Berserk. Although Fatal Frenzy costs three mana, it is worthwhile considering the unstoppable effects it is able to grant to your creature. In addition, Fatal Frenzy works extremely well with Rite of Consumption, together they could elicit a massive amount of damage and rejuvenate your life points for casting more life costing spells.

The muscles of this deck consist of Death's Shadow, Lurking Evil and Geralf's Messenger. Death's Shadow is the MVP in this deck as it is able to get very strong with other supporting spells that you are casting. However, it is still possible to defeat your opponent by simply using spells such as Fatal Frenzy on Lurking Evil or Geralf's Messenger.

Lurking Evil is a formidable 4/4 flyer with only three mana. Lurking Evil 's ability may be activated even when it has already become a creature. Which means you are able to repeatedly halve your life total to allow Death's Shadow to reach its full potential. The creature that has the most interactions with the supporting spells is Geralf's Messenger. Its ability to cause pain whenever it enters the battlefield and Undying allow it to interact perfectly with Fatal Frenzy and Rite of Consumption.

The mana fixing for this deck is assisted by an variety of budget Black/Red dual lands. Although this deck is composed of almost entirely Black spells, the Red mana produced by these lands is essential for us to cast Fatal Frenzy at the critical point of the game. Dark Ritual dramatically improves the speed of this deck by allowing you to have a very powerful turn one play by casting Lurking Evil, Geralf's Messenger, Infernal Contract or an combination of 

Plunge into Darkness plus Death's Shadow :).

Though keeping your life total low may be a dangerous play, this deck can often cause a massive amount of damage that is often enough to defeat two players' life total at the same time. A fun deck to pilot if you like to play a game with high stakes.

Until next time keep on surprising your opponent with a frenzied Death's Shadow!!

Block Rotation Shopping List

It is the season of block rotation again! With the introduction of Theros on September 27th, the entire Innistrad block and M13 will be rotated out of the Standard format. As the market will be flooded with these soon to be retired cards, you will have the opportunity to purchase some great singles at a lower price. Today's article will be discussing what "Casual Staples" should be picked up from Innistrad block and M13 Core set.

Casual Staples are the singles that in addition to their low price (ideally $5.00 or under), can also be easily incorporated into different types of decks. If a card can only be used in one type of deck, it is in my opinion not good enough to be considered as a Casual Staple. After all, you want to stretch every single buck you spend on your purchase. With this in mind let us take a look at these Casual Staple candidates:

The Buddy Lands: This new generation of dual land is arguably the second best budget dual land just behind the Pain Lands. Being able to acquire these lands will certainly make the mana base of your deck more consistent and therefore improve the overall efficiency of your deck. The Buddy Lands that are from M13 have been printed four times since M10, as a result they showed an almost 40% price drop since last week. In comparison, the ones that were only printed in Innistrad did not drop as much in terms of value; however, the current price for these lands is still a very good deal.

These Buddy Lands' low price may not stay forever because some of them are currently being used in competitive Modern decks. In order to get the best deal for these cards you will have to make the purchase within the next month or so before the prices on these lands bounce back up again.

Thragtusk: A solid five-drop which also possesses great abilities that trigger both as it enters or leaves the Battlefield. This powerful utility creature is suitable for inclusion in almost all kinds of decks that use green mana. Thragtusk's price should drop even further after the official release of Theros. It is definitely a card that is worth keeping an eye on for its price change. 

Sliverblade Paladin: A creature with double strike while at the same time providing another creature you control the same ability for merely three mana. Currently at around 2.00 dollars, Sliverblade Paladin can be fitted into any white based Aggro deck.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: Thalia is commonly used in creature based Aggro decks to slow down Combo decks. This card is played in all of the eternal formats both in main board or as a sideboard card. Thalia is a good card to pick up as the price may not stay low for long due to her impact on the eternal formats.

Craterhoof Behemoth: A popular card that is used in competitive Standard, Legacy and casual decks. Essentially Craterhoof Behemoth makes your alpha strike almost unstoppable, especially for decks that are packed with small mana ramp creatures such as the Elves deck variants. As a Mythic rare with high popularity amongst the casual community, it would be great to acquire a few copies of this card during the block rotation period.

Other than the Mythics and Rares there are also some uncommons that are worth buying.

Strangleroot Geist: This critter hits hard, fast and will come back from the grave to cause your opponent more pain. Strangleroot Geist is a very versatile creature that brings the mono green Aggro decks to a whole new level..

Rancor: A reusable, cheap and powerful aura enchantment that can make even small creatures problematic for your opponent. Definitely worth owning a playset.

Vampire Nighthawk: In addition to being a perfect candidate for a vampire deck, Vampire Nighthawk has the ability to provide both offensive and defensive maneuvers in any black-based decks. It is considered to be one of the best three-drop black creatures.

These are all the cards that I have selected as Casual Staples from Innistrad block and M13.

Until next time, may you find good deals during this block rotation season.