Shadow, Mysterious Assassin is a brand-new Commander we received from the Final Fantasy set. Shadow sacrifices nonland permanents whenever he deals combat damage. As a reward for sacrificing a nonland permanent, Shadow rewards us with two cards and drains our opponents. This deck operates very similarly to a Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow deck, without being as oppressive as Yuriko tends to be. If you are a fan of Yuriko's design or you have to constantly tell your pod it's "not that Yuriko deck," you should consider Shadow in the Command Zone instead. Let's dive into how you can crush your opponents' life totals in an instant with this brand new legend!

Shadow EDH | Commander | Nigel Kurtz

• Commander (1)
• 1 Shadow, Mysterious Assassin

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Ancient Stone Idol
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• 1 Boggart Trawler
• 1 Chitin Gravestalker
• 1 Dross Golem
• 1 Gorex, the Tombshell
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Hollow Marauder
• 1 Huskburster Swarm
• 1 Interceptor, Shadow's Hound
• 1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
• 1 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1 Marshmist Titan
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Metalwork Colossus
• 1 Myr Enforcer
• 1 Nine-Lives Familiar
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Puppeteer Clique
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Shadow of Mortality
• 1 Sojourner's Companion
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stitcher's Supplier
• 1 Troll of Khazad-dum

• Instants (8)
• 1 Bitter Triumph
• 1 Dark Ritual
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Fake Your Own Death
• 1 Fanatical Offering
• 1 Fell the Profane
• 1 Not Dead After All
• 1 Tragic Slip

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Incarnation Technique
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Persist
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Will of the Abzan

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Demonic Embrace
• 1 Heartless Summoning
• 1 No Mercy
• 1 Oversold Cemetery
• 1 Ripples of Undeath
• 1 Wound Reflection

• Artifacts (21)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Codex Shredder
• 1 Demonic Junker
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Fireshrieker
• 1 Genji Glove
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Jet Medallion
• 1 Key to the City
• 1 Leyline Axe
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mephitic Draught
• 1 Mycosynth Wellspring
• 1 Prized Statue
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Cauldron of Eternity
• 1 Tithing Blade
• 1 Ugin's Nexus
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (31)
• 26 Swamp
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Vault of Whispers

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Getting Huge Permanents

The goal of a deck around Shadow, Mysterious Assassin is fairly simple: get huge permanents onto the battlefield and sacrifice them for value. Keep in mind that we are in mono Black. We don't have access to huge dinosaurs or dragons. So what exactly do we put into play and how do we get them on the battlefield?

Luckily for us, we can rely on an artifact subtheme to help us cast a lot of these larger permanents. Spells such as Demonic Junker, Metalwork Colossus, and Sojourner's Companion are easy to cast as long as we have enough artifacts in play. Early game pieces that are also artifacts help us ramp into these spells even faster. Simple ramp options (such as an Arcane Signet) are essentially making us double the amount of mana on some of these artifacts. We also can play a couple of artifact lands such as Treasure Vault and Vault of Whispers to get us there too. It kinda feels like we are playing a Pauper Affinity deck instead of a Commander deck.

Black doesn't do a terrible job of ramping on its own. Dark Ritual, a staple that has been in the game since day one, casts our Commander instantly, or helps us throw out a larger spell on an earlier turn in the game. K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, helps make our spells with Black pips in them cost less by having us pay life for them instead. K'rrik is also a seven mana permanent we could sacrifice to Shadow if we need to.

Reanimating Creatures

Black is also known for reanimating creatures. We can either fill our graveyard and reanimate multiple creatures or just reanimate one big creature over and over again. Reassembling Skeleton and Interceptor, Shadow's Hound are creatures that can keep coming back from the graveyard after sacrificing them. These two cards don't have a large mana cost, but at least we can keep the cards flowing with our Commander in play.

The bigger creatures are what we are aiming to reanimate. Codex Shredder, Ripples of Undeath, and even Bitter Triumph will help get creatures into our graveyard. Key to the City serves two roles: putting cards into our graveyard and making sure Shadow gets in for damage. We also get to play lots of creatures with cycling that will put themselves into the graveyard. Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Incarnation Technique are the easiest ways to bring these creatures back and deal massive amounts of damage with our Commander.

Filling our graveyard with creatures can also help reduce the cost of some of our spells. The Cauldron of Eternity fits perfectly into this strategy as it helps reanimate creatures and has a ginormous mana cost. Huskburster Swarm, Gorex, the Tombshell, and Hollow Marauder are creature spells that will constantly be cheaper the more we fill our graveyard.

The Finishing Blow

Shadow, Mysterious Assassin can end the game on his own, however it takes a couple of turns. His ability triggers on damage so we can find a way to double up on this with some equipment.

Genji Glove is a brand-new powerhouse from Final Fantasy that will give us FOUR Shadow triggers if we connect for damage each time. Now, we will need something to sacrifice each time in order to feel the true power of this combination, but it definitely makes the list for a great finisher. Fireshrieker is a classic example of granting double strike in Black. Ugin's Nexus is not double strike, but it does give us an extra turn. One extra turn in this deck could be enough of a push to finish off the entire table at once. Combining some of these effects with our huge permanents help finish off our opponents faster. Here's some more cards that help end the game:

Wound Reflection is a must in this list. Combine this enchantment with our double strike effects and it's game over for our opponents. Bloodletter of Aclazotz pretty much has the same words on it as Wound Reflection so we might as well throw it into the list. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is such a great drain effect in any deck, but us being able to sacrifice it to our Commander and having the option to Reanimate it later is very powerful. Massacre Wurm is also in this list to serve as a backup Gray Merchant. I even considered the brand-new Super State for this list, but it might be a stretch.

Shadow, Mysterious Assassin is a very unique legend in mono Black. It allows us to play some neat combat matters cards as well as some massive creatures to drain our opponents for lethal. I am a huge fan of this Commander as it offers something unique, while also staying true to Black's aristocratic side. I hope you enjoyed this look at Shadow and you consider brewing him up yourself.

See you on the battlefield!

-Nigel