"May your suffering equal your weakness" Probably one of the coolest looking Legends in the game. He's really awesome in Battlegrounds.
Gaussgoat
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Anyone else think this guy might make a cool General in EDH for mono black? I know he isn't insanely powerful, but thematically it might be cool.
Teotanek
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
I like the art a lot, rush makes good artwork, he really looks like a darklord, and considering homelands, he is like overwhelmingly powerful.
pwdrrider
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm also curious about using Ihsans's Shade in my discard/LD monoblack EDH deck. I'm using Ink-eyes, anyone think this guy is a better choice?
Arthindole
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
He was fairly powerful, and more playable than the Baron. Still a solid classic.
getz19
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Definitely one of the coolest looking Legends in the game. Baron Sengir may be no. 2 and Greven Il-Vec could be no. 3 IMO.
achilleselbow
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Hovercraft: Good point, but don't people play Putrefy? Or is that only in Extended?
Cyberium
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
For old schoolers, this creature is beyond STP, beyond Bolt, beyond most black removal. A 5/5 body that beats up most green creatures at the time.
4/5
seydaneen
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
One of the coolest cards ever. Awesome flavor text as well
Long_Con
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Definite Lord Soth inspiration here, I'd say.
land_comment
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Wow. Way better than bog elemental. How did this make the Homelands set? aren't good cards banned from it?
Hovercraft
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(7 votes)
Few decks in Legacy play Terminate or Maelstrom Pulse . There are few other spot removal answers for this card which will see regular play. Probably the best black creature in Legacy. He's great because he can close a game quickly and against most decks that play Swords To Plowshares for removal he will stick. Was great at least until they printed Go For The Throat (too good - overturns whole history of removal for black in the game...makes black the standard for removal over stp). He's a tank and gets chumped and looks dumb but hes a sentinel in black which is unmatched.. Malakir Bloodwitch dies to lots of burn and 4 is not the same as 5. 5 makes your opponent waste 2 burn spells on him after discarding the heck out of them all game.
Andrew's Occasional Random Card of the Day #13 - 7/9/2011 - Ihsan's Shade
Usually I know how to pronounce—or at least feel as though I know how to pronounce—Magic card names. But the 'h' and 's' here always flip-flop in my mind. EE-sahn? It probably sounds different if you pronounce it in the Black Speech of Mordor.
This is one of the many cards that came before my time and which make me wish I'd played back then . . . so that I could have an idea of how powerful this guy was, or how scary he was in a playgroup metagame. Before Spikes were prevalent, and before many Johnny cards existed, my sense tells me that most people were Timmies, and this guy seems like a pretty solid black Timmy card. It still just trades with Craw Wurm, though, and we all know how good that guy is! (Right?)
This card also makes me wish I knew more of the Homelands storyline. Who is Ihsan? A fallen paladin of Serra? How'd he get all corrupted, and why does he have a shade?
Paladin85
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Still a solid card today, the only modern card closest to its pro white ability, relative P/T and CC is Malakir Bloodwitch. Even then, Shade is out of reach of Flametongue Kavu and more red burns than the vampire and does not require heavy tribal support.
Many people forget that black has trouble dealing with enchantments, which is a main weakness of many black creatures such as Phyrexian Obliterator. Pacifism and Oblivion Ring are both popular creature stoppers being used today by decks with white. Both Ishan and Bloodwitch bypass this and allow for constant attacks, forcing players to either double up on burn or return spells on it
This can fit into any mono black deck looking for a finisher against white decks or even red decks
Edit: I just noticed its now a Shade Knight, which means Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can be used as a reanimator of sorts for him. +points for that!
Evil_Tactics
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Bonus points for being a legendary shade knight, and for having a useful body and ability for that mana cost. This was in homelands?!--Impossible!!!
I'd make a much better deal about Ihsan if he had first strike or something. Just imagine that... 5/5 with first strike? Almost as absurd as Glissa, the Traitor's deathtouch tomfoolery
Crackmore
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
this is not a real shade, just because shades are known for the "this creature" gets +1/+1 untail end of turn
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Abbey Matrons everywhere cry themselves to sleep because they can't block the only efficient 5/5 in the set.
Doaj
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
As much as I wish he had the Shade's ability, for the sake of creature type (and a sweet Shade legend) he's still pretty badass.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A shade that isn't a shade.
BongRipper420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Really sweet artwork.
TheWrathofShane
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This is junk by today's standards. If it had one extra ability it could pass for playable. But for homelands this card was great.
Arachnos
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Deceptively powerful, very hard to remove. Black color makes him immune to most black removal, protection from white means he can't be Plowshared or Pathed to Exile, tough body puts him out of average red burn range. 6 CMC is not so much when you have a Dark Ritual at hand. Fairly lethal if you can give him Fear.
azure_drake222222
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This is the only card that begins with "ih".
elhajjaj
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Ihsan's Shade had finished off many an opponent for me in his day. I ran him in a black/splash white deck with Dark Rituals, Lotus Petals, and Soul Kiss. The deck is still together and still garners its share of wins in casuasl play. A turn 1 Shade and a turn 2 Kiss w/ some white based creature removal, and your opponent was turn 4 dead. That happened a lot. I didn't see Ihsan in the Time Spiral block, Crovax, the Ascendant Hero came back instead. Still, I hold out hope for Ihsan's redemption.
thevegetable
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i put this guy in so many decks back in the day (mostly cause of the art, now that i think about it), and he raaarely paid off
Obviously of all those cards, this one is technically the worst, but it IS the first really powerful Protection from X creature the game ever saw. It was the finisher of MBC decks all over the place, the *actual* Black Shivan Dragon or Black Serra Angel, because it takes a lot of Modern Technology to make the Sacrifice deck and Lord of the Pit actually work.
Comments (32)
Especially in Magic The Gathering:Battlegrounds, the model of this creature looks really cool.
the great think about it was it came out on turn 2 (with the help of dark rituals) was a 5/5 and couldn't be hit withswords to plowshares. great tec in a necropotence deck
Probably one of the coolest looking Legends in the game. He's really awesome in Battlegrounds.
4/5
Was great at least until they printed Go For The Throat (too good - overturns whole history of removal for black in the game...makes black the standard for removal over stp). He's a tank and gets chumped and looks dumb but hes a sentinel in black which is unmatched.. Malakir Bloodwitch dies to lots of burn and 4 is not the same as 5. 5 makes your opponent waste 2 burn spells on him after discarding the heck out of them all game.
Except for, you know, Dark Confidant, Tombstalker, Abyssal Persecutor, and all the other black creatures that are actually played in the format.
Usually I know how to pronounce—or at least feel as though I know how to pronounce—Magic card names. But the 'h' and 's' here always flip-flop in my mind. EE-sahn? It probably sounds different if you pronounce it in the Black Speech of Mordor.
This is one of the many cards that came before my time and which make me wish I'd played back then . . . so that I could have an idea of how powerful this guy was, or how scary he was in a playgroup metagame. Before Spikes were prevalent, and before many Johnny cards existed, my sense tells me that most people were Timmies, and this guy seems like a pretty solid black Timmy card. It still just trades with Craw Wurm, though, and we all know how good that guy is! (Right?)
This card also makes me wish I knew more of the Homelands storyline. Who is Ihsan? A fallen paladin of Serra? How'd he get all corrupted, and why does he have a shade?
Many people forget that black has trouble dealing with enchantments, which is a main weakness of many black creatures such as Phyrexian Obliterator. Pacifism and Oblivion Ring are both popular creature stoppers being used today by decks with white. Both Ishan and Bloodwitch bypass this and allow for constant attacks, forcing players to either double up on burn or return spells on it
This can fit into any mono black deck looking for a finisher against white decks or even red decks
Edit: I just noticed its now a Shade Knight, which means Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can be used as a reanimator of sorts for him. +points for that!
A big creature like this is always nice, but we have to remember that Wizards have made many, MANY better big black creatures from then (see Demon of Death's Gate, Reiver Demon, Massacre Wurm, Geth, Lord of the Vault and Sheoldred, Whispering One).
I'd make a much better deal about Ihsan if he had first strike or something. Just imagine that... 5/5 with first strike? Almost as absurd as Glissa, the Traitor's deathtouch tomfoolery
But for homelands this card was great.
Obviously of all those cards, this one is technically the worst, but it IS the first really powerful Protection from X creature the game ever saw. It was the finisher of MBC decks all over the place, the *actual* Black Shivan Dragon or Black Serra Angel, because it takes a lot of Modern Technology to make the Sacrifice deck and Lord of the Pit actually work.
Still, you don't even need Dark Ritual when you have Animate Dead.
4x Strip Mine
16x Swamp
4x Black Knight
4x Hypnotic Specter
4x Ihsan's Shade
4x Juzam Djinn
4x Animate Dead
4x Bad Moon
4x Demonic Tutor
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Sinkhole
4x Terror