Written by Hiroshi Okubo, translated By Tsubasa Tomita

Black cards are so cool.

Like the beauty of the evil. The mana symbol placed in the area for mana costs recalls your immorality feelings. They give you the flavor of “Death” or signing a “Pact” with the evil, or even just pure “Power” Especially when the mana symbols increases, they never speak out but are eloquent and expresses the dark side to the player that comes upon.

From what dark feeling this has, we have seen “Mono Black”, an archetype from the past with lots of fans. Any format or period of time “Mono Black” decks appears everywhere.

So, we are happy to introduce a card that makes all the “Mono Black” lovers drool, a new creature from Dominaria, 《Dread Shade》!

The first thing that your eye will catch is the 3 black symbols at the mana cost. Since the cost is so black, you will be fascinated I’m sure. To see if this is playable, to land this creature on turn 3, you will want over 23 black mana for resources: this means that the best home for this creature is “Mono Black”.

Now looking at the power and toughness, it’s a 3/3. Seems like an ordinary creature, but when you compare with white which has cheap cost decent creatures, and with a color black that is usually behind in red and green, this is one thing we must respect.

In 25 years of Magic history, there are only 17 mono black 3 drop 3/3’s that exist, and they include 《Servant of Volrath》, 《Serpent Warrior》, 《Marauding Boneslasher》, which have downsides and at this point,《Dread Shade》can be recognized as a powerful card.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at the text box. I believe lots of you have seen this activating ability before? An ability where feeding black mana makes this grow, yes It looks just like 《Nantuko Shade》.

This 《Dread Shade》 is a《Nantuko Shade》 with some small changes. Adding a mana cost, this has improved in stats and has gained more power coming into the standard format.

For players not familiar with 《Nantuko Shade》, it might seem like some random ability, but when you play《Dread Shade》 on turn 3, and on your net turn you add a black mana, you can pump this creature into a 7/7. It is very difficult to remove this creature with firepower and just imagine this 3 drop 3/3 trading off with a 《Carnage Tyrant》.

Regarding the fact that 《Nantuko Shade》 use to be “THE CARD” that represented “Mono Black”, 《Dread Shade》 this is not a weak one. In standard, we have efficient creatures such as 《Scrapheap Scrounger》, 《Gifted Aetherborn》, or even 《Gonti, Lord of Luxury》.

Come back and step into the lands of Dominaria, and consider having a 《Dread Shade》deck for your partner through this journey. You won’t regret it.