(This podcast originally aired October 24 at MTGCast)

Intro

Storm in my Heart by Scarred IV Life
As usual, we start off with a look at the Comprehensive Rules for shadow.

Shadow in Time Spiral

Dauthi Slayer
Drifter il-Dal
Faceless Devourer
Looter il-Kor (a variation of Merfolk Looter)
Nether Traitor (the new Nether Shadow)
Shadow Sliver (Winged Sliver variant)
Soltari Priest
Stronghold Overseer
Traitor’s Clutch
Trespasser il-Vec
Zealot il-Vec (a throwback to Farrel’s Zealot)

History of Shadow

Where the roots of the ability may have come from, and a note about how shadow almost made it into Kamigawa.

Shadows of the Past

What shadow was like during Tempest block. The aggressive black Dauthi, the white weenie styled Soltari, and the blue Thalakos with their interesting abilities. Mention was made of the only multicolored shadow creature, Soltari Guerrillas. Also a small story on how shadow influenced Magic (for better or for worse), causing quite a stir.

Using Shadow Effectively

Possible strategies using shadow cards. Mentioned for BW aggro decks include Bad Moon, Glorius Anthem, and Crusade. Cards that give other creatures shadow: Shadow Rift and Dauthi Embrace, both of which are usable with creatures that have an ability based on hitting the opponent (like Phage the Untouchable, Raven Guild Master, and poison creatures. Bonus combo: Dauthi Cutthroat + Dauthi Trapper.

Stopping Shadow

How to deal with shadow? Pass up cards like CoP: Shadow, Maze of Shadows, and Shadowstorm in favor of more traditional methods to deal with creatures.

Favorite card and decklist

Looter il-Kor and Nether Traitor are featured in this Standard-legal deck:

This is the humble beginning of a BU aggro deck using shadow creatures. Yes, it's not nearly as good as most Zoo decks, I realize that. Maybe some constructive criticism could show me the way.

Anyway, the general idea is to play a lot of shadow creatures quickly. Once your hand is exhausted, play some draw spells to refill, and don't worry too much about having to discard a creature or two. Living End is there to dig them all back out for one huge attack next turn and hopefully finish things. Psionic Blast is supposed to be used against the opponent's life total, though the option is there if a creature is too bothersome.

Like I said, a rough draft. Give me some opinions and fixes.

Bonus: Since I originally posted this deck, I received a few interesting comments that I felt should be added.

Lowering the count of Drifter il-Dal, as they slow down the deck. They tie up mana early game, and are a first turn blue drop which interferes with a second turn Dauthi Slayer or Nether Traitor (which use double black mana).
Unholy Strength might be a nice addition to this deck.
Careful Consideration may be too slow for this deck, possibly switch for permission instead (Remands or Rune Snags).

Thanks for reading / listening to my fifth show. Be sure and let me know what you thought of this podcast in the MDV Forums! - Jesse

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

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