Rolling, rolling, rolling got me stargazing (MonoShadow, Masters)

This deck was made more or less because I needed to get Masters and found myself running out of time before the season ended, inspiration drawn from elle992's deck, LocoPojo's deck and some ideas I stole from CoffeeParasol.

This deck, while it probably wouldn't shape up around to be the best ever (because of the fact that I don't have campaigns really) is based off of using Severin as he's meant to be utilized, which is just a Oni Ronin that comes back sometimes to allow aggro plays.

Before I delve into what I did do I'd like to first explain what I didn't do...

YUNO?

Multifaction: The most powerful relic by far in Shadow is Marionette Cross which has an incredibly steep influence cost of triple shadow, additionally recursion decks such as Ambition/FJS will absolutely annihilate our tempo without Devouring Shadow, also Severin's ability only activates on 5 shadow influence, which means that any non-shadow sigil is a wasted pool.

Use Rat Cage: Rat Cage, despite being somewhat alluring for more face damage, doesn't really interact positively with anything else in the deck, you don't want something that can't block versus aggro and mono-shadow doesn't really have the tools to utilize the additional minions.

Use Ripknife Assassin/Vara/Argentport Sewers: I'm free to play and I started playing fairly recently, so these campaigns aren't available to me (though I'm working on getting Dead Reckoning now.)

Now, card choices!

Xenan Lifespeaker This is a really good card for the aggro matchup, as it either eats torches that would otherwise allow the opponent to clear our Marionette Cross. It also provides a decent midgame option since you can sink power to make it bigger and return it with Dredger.

Curator's Spear A utility pick, this serves as not only another tool to clear annoying units like Hojan, Rakano Outlaw and Crownwatch Paladin which otherwise completely run us over. Additionally it summons Severin and helps to push for damage in the mid-lategame so it's not entirely worthless.

Fenris Nightshade and Miris Nightshade: Fenris simply the ideal minion for this deck, on curb stats that provides some midgame handfixing. Miris however, was why I made the entire deck. Her ultimate is the only halfway decent on-curb way to resummon Severin and she's resummonable via Dredger.

Devouring Shadow The best removal in the game bar none, low cost, scaling effect and most importantly makes it impossible for an opponent to bring back that minion. Varas, Maktos and Caiphuses cry when they see this.

Kerendon Merchant Our only actual lategame card, but thankfully the only one we need. 90% of the time used to fetch Azindel's Gift vs minionless or Dizo's Office versus just about everyone else.

Marionette Cross Best drop we have, don't ever drop two though! Cross has the benefit of forcing a reaction in the vein of a market from the opponent in the vein of Bore or Disjunction, which is absolutely great because it allows us to keep hitting their face. Very difficult to clear and a absolute monster at swings.

Rhysta, Acantha's Herald I was originally skeptical about this card, but given I usually have earlier drops and the possibility of giving her lifesteal via Xenan Lifespeaker I decided to give her a shot and she works great. Fixes a lot of unplayable hands, forces torches and gives a valuable bit of card advantage.

Memory Dredger There are a lot of people who underestimate this card and I have no idea why. Returning a Miris, buffed Lifespeaker or Fenris is absolutely gamechanging. Ideally this would be a Vara, but I'm more then happy with the work Dredger has put in.

Veteran Mercenary He'll rarely win you games, but having a solid body with a potential extra body or removal or even just an extra card to market will win you games in aggro where other decks would run out of steam. Another minion that could be replaced with Vara.


Market: Deathstrike should be In Cold Blood if you have it available, otherwise I'd say this is a pretty standard list, Devastating Setback for Aggro, Burglarize for relic focused decks or just anytime you get Avigrafted, Azindel's Gift for greedpiles that don't play a lot of minions and Dizo's Office for those that do. I wouldn't recommend crafting this deck without access to this market, as it's essential for winning grindier matchups.

The deck's playstyle's pretty simple, play minions, use ultimates when you can to bring back Severin and keep on swinging 'til they die. A regenerated Severin is more annoying then you'd think in such an aggressive deck and enemies generally don't go out of their way to stop his recursion, so just the tempo of being able to hit face a bunch should be able to nail you a couple of games.

Hope you enjoy and happy hunting!