The Literal Dark Knight

Commander / EDH Aggro Mono-Black Vorthos

FiniteMTG

Rogues Gallery (16)

• 1x Ascendant Evincar
• 1x Blade Juggler
• 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip
• 1x Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Endling
• 1x God-Eternal Bontu
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Knight of the Ebon Legion
• 1x Massacre Girl
• 1x Mirri the Cursed
• 1x Nightshade Assassin
• 1x Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1x Toshiro Umezawa
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Criminals (9)

• 1x Asylum Visitor
• 1x Audacious Thief
• 1x Azra Smokeshaper
• 1x Big Game Hunter
• 1x Mardu Strike Leader
• 1x Nekrataal
• 1x Silumgar Assassin
• 1x Thorn of the Black Rose
• 1x Thrill-Kill Assassin

Accessories to Crime (5)

• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Inscription of Ruin
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Gothic Elements (11)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Bad Moon
• 1x Basilica Screecher
• 1x Dirge Bat
• 1x Magnifying Glass
• 1x Manor Gargoyle
• 1x Oubliette
• 1x Spectral Searchlight
• 1x Twilight's Call
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Warden of the Wall

Crime (9)

• 1x Corrupt
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Greed
• 1x Grisly Spectacle
• 1x Hatred
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Murder
• 1x Price of Fame
• 1x Victim of Night

Gadgets and Vehicles (8)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Fleetwheel Cruiser
• 1x Leonin Bola
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Shuriken
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Viridian Longbow
• 1x Weatherlight

Commander (1)

Gotham (35)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Cryptic Caves
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Mishra's Factory
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 26x Swamp
• 1x Throne of the High City
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Batman Family (6)

• 1x Clockwork Servant
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 1x Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1x Nightsquad Commando
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk

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Welcome to my take on the Batman DragonShield deck challenge!

Commander Choice

Ihsan's Shade's type line reads Shade Knight. Shade is defined as a form of darkness, meaning Ihsan’s Shade is a literal Dark Knight! The outstanding artwork by Daarken is icing, and even the artist’s name fits the theme!

Ihsan's Shade fits best as Bruce Wayne during Batman Begins. Bruce is briefly a member of the League of Shadows (hence being a shade) and uses a sword (as in the art). He then betrays the League (as in the flavor text) and must become something else. Before the betrayal, Ra’s al Ghul instructs Bruce to become fear, to become a wraith, to become one with the darkness. But in order to redeem Gotham and himself, Bruce must become the Batman. Once Bruce has become the Batman, protection from white symbolizes his ability to evade law enforcement.

About the Deck and Staples Disclaimer

While building this deck, my priorities were to create something flavorful and functional. To be sufficiently flavorful, every card either represents something concrete in the DC Universe or something generic that suits Gotham, such as a gargoyle or bat. To be sufficiently functional, the deck has an aggressive theme and low curve.

I find it hard to think of a deck that wouldn't benefit from great mana rocks like Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, etc. However, my priority in EDH is brewing, so I’d rather avoid always playing the same staples, even at the cost of power level. Instead of running the best mana rocks, I opted for flavorful ones like Warden of the Wall and Magnifying Glass. I did include some nonland staples such as Damnation and Underworld Connections because they fit the Batman theme.

Batman Family

Expanded to include Commissioner Gordon and Detective Blake from The Dark Knight Rises, this is our host of heroes!

• Clockwork Servant = Alfred. He's as reliable as a clock and a butler is a chief servant!
• Drana, Liberator of Malakir = Batwoman. Drana's original art shares a color scheme with Batwoman!
• Glint-Sleeve Siphoner = Batgirl. She’s missing a cowl, but again the color scheme is spot-on!
• Nighthawk Scavenger = Robin. He’s acrobatic and a newer version of Nightwing/Vampire Nighthawk.
• Nightsquad Commando = Commissioner Gordon and Detective Blake. There are almost zero monoblack cards that do the GCPD justice, but one is enough!
• Vampire Nighthawk = Nightwing. Along with the similarity in names, the art features the classic perched-on-a-rooftop-in-the-moonlight motif.

Rogues Gallery

In The Dark Knight, the Joker says to Batman, "You complete me," and the Rogues Gallery certainly completes this Batman-themed deck!

• Ascendant Evincar = Darkseid. Pretty accurate apart from Crovax’s weapon.
• Blade Juggler = Harley Quinn. I considered Phage the Untouchable and Avatar of Woe for this role, but ultimately they were just too much mana.
• Bloodline Keeper  = Dracula. He's not the best-known Batman villain, but he does show up in _The Batman vs. Dracula_.
• Bloodsoaked Champion = The Red Hood. Like Jason Todd, the Champion doesn’t stay dead long.
• Dark Confidant = The Riddler. Bob is better here than most EDH decks thanks to our low curve, not to mention to the resemblance to Jim Carrey in _Batman Forever_!
• Dire Fleet Ravager = Bane. Aside from the lack of a mask, this guy looks the part.
• Endling = Clayface.
• God-Eternal Bontu = Killer Croc. Bontu is a crocodile-headed god, after all!
• Gonti, Lord of Luxury = Black Mask.
• Knight of the Ebon Legion = Mr. Freeze. The Knight's got the blue head, and the armor is pretty similar too.
• Massacre Girl = Talia al Ghul.
• Mirri the Cursed = Catwoman. Self-explanatory.
• Nightshade Assassin = Poison Ivy. She's got the red hair, not to mention nightshade is a plant with poisonous berries!
• Rankle, Master of Pranks = The Joker. "Master of Pranks" is very Joker, but I thought the original art didn't quite do him justice.
• Toshiro Umezawa = Ra’s al Ghul. They're both master swordsmen and even have somewhat similar facial hair.
• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician = Hush. Yawgmoth bears some resemblance to Hush without the mask, but more importantly both are physicians!

Gotham

One flavor payoff for building Batman in monoblack is sleeving up a bunch of Swamps to represent Gotham! You can’t go wrong with any Ravnican Swamp--I picked this one because it reminds me of Batman: Arkham Asylum. The nonbasics all represent specific Gotham sites:

• Blast Zone = Gotham General Hospital, post-Joker.
• Castle Locthwain = Wayne Manor.
• Cryptic Caves = Batcave exit.
• Geier Reach Sanitarium = Arkham Asylum, of course!
• Mishra's Factory = Batcave interior.
• Rogue's Passage = Batcave entrance.
• Shizo, Death's Storehouse = Gotham sewers.
• Throne of the High City = Ra’s al Ghul’s temple in _Batman Begins._
• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth = Gotham Cemetery.

Accessories to Crime

These villainous instruments might require a bit of context.

• Charcoal Diamond = One of Mr. Freeze’s diamonds. These power Knight of the Ebon Legion’s suit.
• Inscription of Ruin = A Mother Box. Ascendant Evincar (Darkseid) used one of these “living computers” to heal himself.
• Malakir Rebirth  = The Lazarus Pits. Because of the Pits, Toshiro Umezawa (Ra’s al Ghul) is nearly immortal.
• Mimic Vat = The vat of acid that transformed the Joker. This is where Rankle, Master of Pranks got his look.
• Whip of Erebos = Catwoman’s whip. Mirri the Cursed is very skilled with this thing!

Combos

• Geier Reach Sanitarium + madness. This is the most flavorful combo of the bunch--the maddened villains belong at Arkham Asylum!
• Viridian Longbow + deathtouch. Several cards in this deck have incidental deathtouch, and this is a nice way to leverage that.
• Azra Smokeshaper/Malakir Rebirth  + ETBs. Nightshade Assassin (Poison Ivy) and Gonti, Lord of Luxury (Black Mask) are great for the previous combos respectively, but even better here!
• Shuriken + 2 creatures, one with toughness > 2.This is a complicated interaction that amounts to **activating Shuriken and retaining control over it even without a Ninja:**

1. Equip Shuriken to a non-Ninja.
2. While holding priority (Ctrl on MTGO), equip to a second creature.
3. In response to step 2, activate Shuriken’s damage ability targeting an opponent’s creature.
4. Let steps 3 and 2 resolve. Shuriken will end up attached to your creature but controlled by an opponent, as per its reminder text.
5. Finally, activate Shuriken’s damage ability targeting your creature with toughness > 2. Now you’ve dealt 2 damage to an opponent’s creature and retained control of Shuriken.
6. Rinse and repeat! Variations of this trick can kill higher-toughness creatures.

Alters

Except for Hero's Downfall, I created all the alters (while crediting the original artists) for this deck! I only altered cards that I thought already fit the Batman theme and tried to do so sparingly. Here are the 10 cards I altered:

1. Clockwork Servant
2. Damnation
3. Darksteel Plate
4. Drana, Liberator of Malakir
5. Nightsquad Commando
6. Rankle, Master of Pranks
7. Shizo, Death's Storehouse
8. Shuriken
9. Spectral Searchlight
10. Viridian Longbow

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Clue, Copy Clone, Energy Reserve, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, The Monarch, Vampire 2/2 B, Warrior 2/1 B