If you're playing black, you might as well play a Shade. But if you absolutely MUST play a Shade-like mechanic in a thouroghly multi-colour deck, I guess this would be it. Yes, the Shades cost less, but the colourless activation is fairly helpful. Again, in mono-black, that point would be invalid.
Since it's compatable across colours, it might fit well with a casual black/green strategy, using some handy green acceleration to get to scary numbers before any removal comes out. But, that said, the amount of resources you'll need to sink into it would probably be better spend on big green creatures. Even though you can't use the Shade tactic on a solid green creature (that is to say, leaving mana open on the attack and pumping it just enough after blockers are declared to keep it alive, or pumping for big damage if it's not blocked), other creatures have more than enough benefit to compensate, for similar costs.
Anyway, if you're running it, be smart with your lands. Never pump it until the last possible moment. Don't sink more mana into it than you need to. And when deciding if you should run this or any other Shade-like creature, ask yourself: Is the chance of large damage worth the mana you'll be investing? Is it worth holding back on playing certain spells to put the mana to use here? Do you have the means to protect it or replace it when you are low on mana? If so, then by all means.
NARFNra
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
It's also nice for a black insect tribal. I ran one in a tribal tournament a few years back, and thus baby actually got me to the semi finals with a few well timed Dark Rituals.
Zazzles_88
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Stupid question maybe, but is it possible too use more mana too pump it up?
Tiggurix
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
But can shades be saved by Swarmyard? Hmm, can they? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Especially valid since this partially hinders removal from destroying them the instant they come out, when you cannot pump them above incoming burn, which is an annoying issue with shades.
Comments (6)
Since it's compatable across colours, it might fit well with a casual black/green strategy, using some handy green acceleration to get to scary numbers before any removal comes out. But, that said, the amount of resources you'll need to sink into it would probably be better spend on big green creatures. Even though you can't use the Shade tactic on a solid green creature (that is to say, leaving mana open on the attack and pumping it just enough after blockers are declared to keep it alive, or pumping for big damage if it's not blocked), other creatures have more than enough benefit to compensate, for similar costs.
Anyway, if you're running it, be smart with your lands. Never pump it until the last possible moment. Don't sink more mana into it than you need to. And when deciding if you should run this or any other Shade-like creature, ask yourself: Is the chance of large damage worth the mana you'll be investing? Is it worth holding back on playing certain spells to put the mana to use here? Do you have the means to protect it or replace it when you are low on mana? If so, then by all means.
Especially valid since this partially hinders removal from destroying them the instant they come out, when you cannot pump them above incoming burn, which is an annoying issue with shades.