Death by Dagger

I've had plans for an Assassin deck for over 10 years, and finally was able to bring it to fruition with all the newer assassin creatures and spells. I play tested this deck against a friend, and absolutely foiled his every move. Between eliminating every creature he played nearly as fast a he brought them to bear, and utilizing so many Shadow creatures, which he had no ability to block...it was a lightning fast series of games. Since that initial playtest, I've added several Rat-Ninja cards to the deck and added a few other killer supplements (like Ultimate Price). The cards on the sideboard are a combo of cards that would work equally well in the deck (like Doom Blade/Snuff Out/Dark Offering) and several single color threat removers (Execute/Slay/Perish/Virtue's Ruin) that I have in my collection in case they're needed. All and all, there isn't a whole lot I need to do to make the deck more playable...maybe cut some expensive creatures and cut the volume of killer cards or pitch the pair of Sai equipment cards.

Besides all the shadow threats in this deck, Mortivore is the ultimate killer, since the bulk of the spells in this deck kill creatures (in effect, filling graveyards with creatures), he just gets bigger and bigger...and thanks to regeneration, he's difficult to kill.

Simply wipe out threats as they appear, keep your opponent reeling...especially if you can empty his hand as well...playing on a draw or getting a bad string of land draws will surely make for a short game. The nice thing about this deck is that it does just as well against black decks as it does any other color. Cards like Terror, and others which can't target black creatures (and/or artifacts) are either not present in this deck, or are quite scarce.

• Theme "assassination"