First turn drop that completely hoses a LOT of graveyard strategies. This guy is Relic of Progenitus, only you choose what to exile and you get benefits for it! The biggest noticeable downside is that he can't stop artifact recursion, but given that Scars just vanished, who cares? As far as one drops go, Deathrite Shaman is way up there, especially since he acts as a mana dork on top of everything else if your opponent is running fetchlands.
Posted By:
LordRandomness
(9/27/2012 5:11:02 AM)
Love this card, I would like to know, however, how Wizards wrote the rulings for this almost 8 years ago...
Posted By:
OWNdizzaled
(9/27/2012 3:47:53 PM)
Methinks it is playable in legacy to counter RUG Delver decks, good sideboard material at least if there isn't room for it in the main.
Posted By:
pedrodyl
(9/28/2012 9:19:37 AM)
@HappyJackington, steinburger1109 and darkrai88
You can't use the bottom 2 abilities if there is no card to target because there is no card to target... You can't cast counterspell from your hand if there are no spells on the stack because it needs a target when you cast it, so same goes for here, you don't even have the option to tap it as long as there are no legal targets in the graveyard. The way it is formatted means that when you do use, say, G, T: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. You gain 2 life to exile a arbor elf in your opponents graveyard, The card is exiled after it resolves as opposed to before so an opponent could still use a card like noxious revival in response to you using the ability to save it.
Posted By:
Caspalta
(9/28/2012 10:49:07 AM)
Bajeezus. There's so much going on here, and I love all of it. I didn't use to, but then I learned how to use him properly. He just seemed so weak, first of all because I had no idea how to put lands into the grave that early, and second of all because I didn't think the lifegain was that relevant.
Then I realized (as Lotsofpoopy has suggested) that Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse turn Deathrite Shaman into an almost-Lotus Cobra, and that the creature exile is ALREADY a bonus, since it turns off an opponent's reanimator.
Posted By:
RAV0004
(9/28/2012 11:43:06 PM)
Birds of Paradise and Grim Lavamancer apparently had an unwanted child they tried to abort,
but somehow came to life anyways - as a result as a being with graveyard-embracing interest.
Odd stories aside, does anyone else find it rather ridiculous that a hybrid one-drop (that is half black) with
three considerable abilities was given a 1/2 body? This would have easily seen play even as a 0/1.
The second ability alone can drain your opponents' (all at once, even) life considerably -
even if you don't play those sorceries and instants and especially if you're playing against control decks,
flashback decks and/or decks with Snapcaster Mage.
The first ability will also be rather reliable in formats where fetchlands are heavily played.
The third ability has good use against reanimator decks or similar stuff like Golgari's Scavenge effect.
Of course Deathrite Shaman is a Golgari himself and can exil... (see all)
Posted By:
Mode
(9/29/2012 11:20:01 AM)
I'm going to go on record right now: This card is a MONSTER.
Also, it seems like his mana ability is getting the most attention especially in comparison to Birds of Paradise. If that's a fair comparison then I think he also needs to be compared to Grim Lavamancer.
Given that in most formats he will be a Golgari Lavamancer more than he will be a Birds of Paradise I don't understand why people are so geeked over his mana ability. He can take all of your removal spells and turn them into Shocks. Then turn around and use the creature you killed to gain life.
Grisly Salvage and this guy are going to be atrocious bedfellows.
Posted By:
alphagprime
(9/29/2012 3:55:09 PM)
Look at this. Anti-Snapcaster and Zombies. And the hybrid mana is very convenient (not to mention the mana-producing ability). About half of my wins at the prerelease were because of him.
Posted By:
Gcrudaplaneswalker
(9/29/2012 8:59:48 PM)
I drew this in my Golgari guild booster yesterday, such a wickedly powerful little monster.
Today, I played Azorius and learned that if my opponent has mana over (and targets in the graveyard), you can't even detain the bastard, they just activate it in response, and they usually use it end of my turn anyway.
Posted By:
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
(9/30/2012 12:50:59 PM)
I think this will be more widely-used in EDH than Modern. Depending on the relevance of graveyard-based decks in standard, this guy might not be important at all.
Still a damn good card though.
Posted By:
Valtiaal
(9/30/2012 1:00:06 PM)