Xumuc Shaman is a card unknown to practically all players. It doesn't appear particularly dangerous and is very often ignored as a target. However, just 1-3 effects
-X/-X played in one round routinely create a surprising front of 6+ attack units that immediately end the game.
There are 22 cards with either
Decay or
-X/-X type effects in the deck. They are unimpressive and stall the game until I draw a Xumuc. As the weakening effects are typically not sufficient to stem the tide beyond the first 4-5 rounds I had to add a few hard removals. There are better removals that drive the core combo such as
Nullblade (does this trigger Xumuc?),
Shrivel or
Devouring Shadow.
I added a side theme of creature removal from the deck consisting of 4
Fallen Oni, and one
Eremot, the Gathering Dark and
The Unforgiven each. The idea was to thin out the number of units as the
-X/-X weakening was often not enough as threat removal.
The deck could need a few more accelerators, both to stabilize the power curve and to draw Xumuc more reliably.
Proposals welcome.