BlackLegendary Creature — Human AssassinShadow, Mysterious Assassin
Mana value3Rank#6,483
The Commander
Deathtouch
Throw — Whenever Shadow deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice another nonland permanent. If you do, draw two cards and each opponent loses life equal to the mana value of the sacrificed permanent.
Guide
Gameplan
Connect with Shadow's deathtouch (which makes blocking suicidal), then trigger Throw to sacrifice your most expensive nonland permanent, drawing two cards and draining each opponent for its mana value. You play a sacrifice/aristocrats midrange deck that recurs fodder, leans on evasion or deterrents to keep Shadow swinging, and grinds the table out one trigger at a time.
Strengths
- Deathtouch deters blockers, making the cheap commander hard to stop in combat
- Built-in card advantage refills your hand every connect, fueling a grindy long game
- Each trigger is also reach—hitting all opponents for the sacrificed permanent's mana value
- Synergizes with token makers, dies-triggers, and recursion engines for value loops
- Mono-black gives access to deep tutors, removal, and reanimation
Weaknesses
- Needs to deal combat damage to a player, so it's vulnerable to fogs, chump-resistant defense, and removal
- Only triggers once per combat unless you give it extra combats or copies
- Sacrificing a high-MV permanent each turn can strip your own board if not careful
- Mono-black struggles with enchantment/artifact removal and big flyers
- Drain is incremental—slow against fast combo decks
Key Cards
- Whispersilk Cloak — Grants unblockable so Shadow's combat trigger is guaranteed every turn while protecting it from removal.
- Rogue's Passage — Cheap repeatable evasion to push Shadow through to land the Throw trigger.
- Pitiless Plunderer — Turns every sacrifice into Treasure, ramping you and fueling more expensive things to throw.
- Meren of Clan Nel Toth — Recurs the creatures you sacrifice, creating an engine of fodder to feed Throw.
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed — Gives your non-Human creatures undying so they return after being sacrificed, looping value.
- Ashnod's Altar — Sacrifice outlet and ramp that lets you dump high-MV permanents at instant speed for value.
Upgrade Path
Add free or repeatable sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Tower) and recursion (Meren, Mikaeus, Reassembling Skeleton) so you never run out of fodder. Lean into extra-combat effects and unblockable enablers to multiply Throw triggers, and include aristocrats payoffs (Blood Artist, Bastion of Remembrance) to turn every sacrifice into extra reach. Top-end tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor let you find the right high-MV permanent to throw for game-ending drains.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Incremental life loss from repeated Throw triggers draining all opponents
- ▸Sacrificing very high mana value permanents for huge single-turn drains
- ▸Aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat amplifying each sacrifice
- ▸Going wide with reanimated threats and finishing with an overrun or extra-combat alpha strike
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Throw is a built-in sacrifice payoff that converts permanents into cards and damage.
- Reanimator — Recur the high-MV creatures you sacrifice and throw them again for repeated drain and draw.
- Voltron-lite — Suit up the deathtouch commander with evasion to reliably connect and trigger Throw each turn.
- Midrange Value — Mono-black grind plan using removal, tutors, and steady card advantage to outlast the table.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
