Death from the Shadows (Rogue Tribal)

Modern Aggro Budget Lifegain Tempo UB (Dimir)

slaftergames

Creature (23)

• 1x Audacious Thief
• 2x Deathcult Rogue
• 4x Frogtosser Banneret
• 4x Invisible Stalker
• 4x Oona's Blackguard
• 4x Slither Blade
• 4x Stinkdrinker Bandit

Land (23)

• 4x Drowned Catacomb
• 7x Island
• 10x Swamp
• 2x Underground River

Sorcery (8)

• 2x Morsel Theft
• 4x Notorious Throng
• 2x Serum Visions

Instant (6)

• 1x Clutch of the Undercity
• 4x Fatal Push
• 1x Murderous Cut

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Sideboard

Creature (5)

• 3x Earwig Squad
• 1x Master Thief
• 1x Notion Thief

Instant (8)

• 4x Countersquall
• 3x Doom Blade
• 1x Hero's Downfall

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Knowledge Exploitation

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Maybeboard

Creature (14)

• 1x Blade Juggler
• 1x Brinebarrow Intruder
• 1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1x Dunerider Outlaw
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Marang River Prowler
• 1x Merfolk Looter
• 1x Nightveil Sprite
• 1x Oona's Prowler
• 1x Surveilling Sprite
• 1x Sygg, River Cutthroat
• 1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1x Triton Shorestalker
• 1x Vampire Cutthroat

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Noggin Whack
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Voidwalk

Instant (3)

• 1x Dispel
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Unsummon

Land (4)

• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Watery Grave

Artifact (2)

• 1x Cloak and Dagger
• 1x Pithing Needle

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Shrieking Affliction

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This here is a U/B rogue tribal deck. The sideboard is sort of in flux, so bear with me. If you want to make it more competitive, fetch lands and perhaps a copy of Oboro, Palace in the Clouds would be great (not least for triggering Fatal Push ), and at that point you might as well throw in a set of shock lands as well. Expensive U/B staples like Cryptic Command and Bitterblossom probably wouldn't be too shabby either (though the latter might bring life loss to a critical mass when coupled with the shock lands). But that's all beyond my budget.

Mana Costs

With rogue decks such as this one, spells often look more expensive in theory than they are in practice. In fact the use of the prowl mechanic on cards such as Morsel Theft , coupled with the inclusion of the Frogtosser Banneret , will make casting spells dramatically cheaper in practice than this sort of deck's stats would suggest. In the four-drop slot, for example, seven cards have a two mana prowl cost, and the eighth gets used more often for its three mana transmute ability than its actual cost, leaving only four cards. The deck's only five drop, Murderous Cut , has delve, and two of the three drops have a one mana prowl cost. All of which is merely to illustrate that even if one fails to draw a Frogtosser Banneret , this deck will almost never have to play spells at full cost.

The other major technical difficulty for rogue decks is figuring out what to do on turn three, a dilemma to which this deck has a number of answers. With the Deathcult Rogue ; Clutch of the Undercity 's transmute ability; and the Frogtosser Banneret , which lets me play all sorts of different combinations of cheap cards, there's almost always something to do on this crucial turn. The recent inclusion of Fatal Push in favor of other, more expensive removal has added further flexibility when tackling this tricky turn.

Card Breakdown Show

Audacious Thief - Three copies of Deathcult Rogue seemed excessive but I didn't want to decrease the number of cmc3 creatures (a real dearth for this build), so I thought I'd run a single copy of this fellow; I've been playing against creature-less or low-creature strategies (mostly storm) so regularly that I don't care especially about him not being unblockable.

Clutch of the Undercity - In a pinch one can certainly cast this card for its normal effect, but I find it much more valuable as a tutor for some of my powerful four mana cards like Notorious Throng and the Stinkdrinker Bandit , either of which can end a game.

Deathcult Rogue , Invisible Stalker , and Slither Blade - Serving as my chief unblockables, these three cards are key to satisfying the prerequisite for prowl.

Frogtosser Banneret - Since there's only a few cards in this deck that don't have the "rogue" subtype, this creature makes the whole endeavor a lot cheaper and faster.

Morsel Theft - This card offers a six point life swing and lets me draw a card, all for two or even one mana (if I have the Frogtosser Banneret out). Given that this deck tries to end the game before turn six or seven at the latest, that can make all the difference.

Murderous Cut and Fatal Push - These cards constitute the deck's removal suite. I've done my utmost to find the most versatile options so that I don't have to clutter my sideboard with too much alternative removal.

Notorious Throng - This card is one of the most expensive in the deck, though the Frogtosser Banneret can decrease its price a little. Although it's certainly possible to play it for its normal cost in an emergency, the real purpose of this card is to create a bunch of tokens (hopefully augmented by counters from Oona's Blackguard ) and then use my extra turn to finish my opponent.

Oona's Blackguard - Initially I was planning on putting this gal in the deck in conjunction with Mental Vapors and Noggin Whack . Then she worked so well that the other two cards became redundant. It's not at all difficult to very rapidly rob my opponent of her hand, and the additional damage provided by the counters is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Prickly Boggart - This is a marvelous little one-drop against decks with no black or artifact creatures. Otherwise it's fodder (though the +1/+1 counter garnered from the presence of Oona's Blackguard can help keep it relevant in any game).

Rogue's Passage - I actually didn't start running this card until quite recently because I figured it would never see any use. It turns out that this assumption was quite correct, because in fact I don't think I've activated its ability more than half a dozen times, but since it also hasn't interfered with me getting the colored mana I need, I've kept it just in case I ever need that one extra unblockable to finish the job.

Serum Visions - I had two of these lying around and exchanged them for the copies of Thieves' Fortune that I used to run in this deck.

Stinkdrinker Bandit - That 1/1 Invisible Stalker or Prickly Boggart becomes a lot more threatening with this little villain on the field, but most importantly he has the potential to augment the number of tokens acquired through Notorious Throng .

The Sideboard Show

The deck's sideboard is fairly self-explanatory; Countersquall , Earwig Squad , and Knowledge Exploitation offer a formidable suite for removing or turning the key cards in an opponent's deck. Notion Thief provides a means to curb card advantage if the game goes longer than you'd like, which proves quite useful against blue and black in particular. Master Thief is nice as a wildcard against affinity, and Doom Blade is sort of a placeholder because I dropped some other cards that weren't very useful and haven't found very good replacements for them yet.

Generally speaking, however, I'm loath to side in too many cards; it slows the deck down, and whenever it's practicable I stick to the principle of just killing the opponent outright as quickly as possible.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 7 Rares 18 - 5 Uncommons 15 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.49
Tokens	Faerie Rogue 1/1 B
Folders	Budget Modern, New Deck Ideas, Gruul, decks i like, Modern, Cool Decks, Casual Decks, Tribal Decks