Managed to achieve a personal goal and made Masters, starting from Gold 1, using a Mono Shadow list.
Proof
~Notes~
- The 3-2 split on
Shakedown and
Sabotage felt correct. There were occasional games where I wanted one instead of the other but they were few and far between.
-
Vara, Vengeance-Seeker is good.
-
Dreamsnatcher does a bunch of things really well. Providing 8 copies of good, turn 2 blockers really helped against aggro. These were initially
Territorial Elf but I quickly found that I needed way more stall-the-game cards.
-
Holdup impressed me a ton. There were so many games where I would play it on turn 6 when they only had 2-3 cards in hand and it would effectively win the game. Obviously there are situations where the card is mediocre but then it just serves as
Kerendon Merchant fodder.
-
Eremot, the Gathering Dark did work as a market choice. While I would be hesitant to mainboard the card, a singleton in the market overperformed in multiple different types of matchups. Against control and midrange, he served as a win-con that could effectively dodge removal by milling it from their deck. Against aggro, it was less relevant but sometimes all you want/need is 6 toughness.
-
Devouring Shadow is one of the main reasons to play the deck. Permanent loss of a large number of stats is huge against any deck with recursion.
Overall, the deck felt playable against a variety of decks. No match-up felt unwinnable, and most games felt winnable. My favorite game was a 1 power start with 2 discard spells. Ended up stuck at 2 power until about turn 6, and then winning the game off of Lifesteal and discard spells.
Dark Return
x3
1
Sabotage
x2
1
Shakedown
x3
2
Annihilate
x3
2
Dreamsnatcher
x4
2
Ripknife Assassin
x4
2
Vara's Favor
x3
3
Devouring Shadow
x4
3
Kerendon Merchant
x4
3
Marionette Cross
x4
4
Holdup
x3
4
Vara, Vengeance-Seeker
x4
4
Veteran Mercenary
x4
5
Umbren Reaper
x4
Shadow Sigil
x10
Amethyst Monument
x4
Amethyst Waystone
x4
Cabal Standard
x4
Sealed Writ
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
Also, how awesome have the Umbren Reapers been vs. say, Impending doom (difference is owning a playset of one, and not the other)?
I think in most matchups, Reaper is preferred. Reaper is a card that still does something if it eats a kill spell, whereas Impending Doom is often pay 4 to deal a damage to yourself. Also, there were more than a handful of games where I won off killing my own Reaper for the victory. The difference between 4 and 5 cost isn't a big enough pay off to justify a card that doesn't inherently do anything. That being said, I certainly think the deck would be functional if you were to make a direct swap of the two cards. Just be aware you are going to lose some games where Reaper would normally get you those final points of damage.
Holdup like you said has been amazing! It feels like lots of decks can't recover after they're hit. They have to keep the removal to deal with your fatties and have to discard their high end threats. Marionette Cross has been surprising. 5/5 on turn 3 can singlehandedly win you the game sometimes.
Glad you're having the same results. T3 Marionette into t4 Holdup is brutal.
Let me know if you have any tweaks that have worked!
Glad you're enjoying the deck!
As far as Monument and Standard go, unless I'm super tight on power, they are my turn 1 play or I hold them to transform. The lifestealing body has been helpful and a fast spell giving quickdraw with the high density of deadly units is key to getting through Time based deck board stalls.
As far as against control, the late game feels like a coin flip, and that's where missing the Waystones kind of hurts. They are usually guaranteed to hit a draw spell anyways, and you need some access to more cards. Typically, a Vara/Vara's Favor to pop aegis into Burglarize has been the win con, and it just comes down to drawing those exact cards.
but at least it's good fodder for the merchant