Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {2}{B} · Black 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.
Build a Shadow, Mysterious Assassin deck →
What Shadow, Mysterious Assassin actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · deals_damageWhenever 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
- Keyword · deathtouchdeathtouch
What a Shadow, Mysterious Assassin deck needs
Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and tokens to sacrifice (the commander is a sacrifice outlet)
- drain and life-loss payoffs (the damage is not combat damage)
- evasion and protection for the commander (the trigger needs its combat damage to connect)
The Shadow, Mysterious Assassin deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 14× Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- 9× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- 18× Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- Zulaport Cutthroat2 mana
- Leechridden Swamp0 mana
- Marionette Apprentice2 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
- Mirkwood Bats4 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
- Bastion of Remembrance3 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Ninja Teen3 mana
- Interceptor, Shadow's Hound4 mana
- Shadowspear1 mana
- Bilbo's Ring3 mana
- Cliffhaven Kitesail1 mana
Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- Nurgle's Rot1 mana
- Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead5 mana
- Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
- Exquisite Huntmaster4 mana
- Grixis Slavedriver6 mana
- Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer3 mana
- Hangarback Walker0 mana
- Enduring Tenacity4 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
- Brotherhood Regalia2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana