Sometimes a planeswalker comes along that’s just a bit odd. Actually, in recent years, we’ve had a fair few of these oddballs, and while they’re fun to play with, figuring out where to put them can be a challenge in itself.
One of the most unusual in the last year has to be a reprint of a legendary hero, but now with added mutliversality. That’s not a real word, at least we don’t think so. Anyway…
What is Dakkon, Shadow Slayer?
Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
Dakkon enters with a number of loyalty counters on him equal to the number of lands you control.
+1: Surveil 2.
−3: Exile target creature.
−6: You may put an artifact card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.
is a three-mana white, blue, and black planeswalker that reads, “Dakkon, Shadow Slayer enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on him equal to the number of lands you control.” Then their abilities are, “+1: Surveil 2. −3: Exile target creature. −6: You may put an artifact card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.”
In short, they do a little bit of a lot of things. The loyalty thing isn’t something that really fits with the color identity, but it does mean that you can ultimate them on the first turn as long as you don’t mind waiting for a little bit. It’s also especially good if you can flicker them, as you can not only get another use out of an ability, but also increase their loyalty like that. You’ve then got deck manipulation, removal, and recursion too.
So, all we need now is to find a commander for them.
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Dakkon of the Hidden Ways
Sefris of the Hidden Ways
Sefris of the Hidden Ways
Whenever one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere, venture into the dungeon. This ability triggers only once each turn. (To venture into the dungeon, enter the first room or advance to the next room.)
Create Undead — Whenever you complete a dungeon, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
is a three-mana white, blue, and black 2/3 that reads, “Whenever one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere, venture into the dungeon. This ability triggers only once each turn. Create Undead — Whenever you complete a dungeon, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.”
In essence, aside from being good with the dungeon mechanic, shockingly, Sefris is also a great fit because they work with both the surveil ability, and work with recursion. It means that you can fill your deck with powerful creatures like
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Swampwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls a Swamp.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player sacrifices a creature of their choice.
and
Ashen Rider
Ashen Rider
Flying
When this creature enters or dies, exile target permanent.
to get the most out of both of these pieces.
We’re also big fans of flickering in this, and basically any other deck. That means both
Teleportation Circle
Teleportation Circle
At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target artifact or creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
and
Conjurer’s Closet
Conjurer’s Closet
At the beginning of your end step, you may exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
are huge boons. Also, while we’re on the subject of artifacts, let’s talk about the next commander.
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Sharuum the Shadow Slayer
Our second pick is
Sharuum the Hegemon
Sharuum the Hegemon
Flying
When Sharuum enters, you may return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
, a six-mana white, blue, and black 5/5 with flying that reads, “When Sharuum the Hegemon enters the battlefield, you may return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.” As you can tell, that means we’re going to stick with recursion here, but look more at artifacts.
We still recommend the flickering bits from above, but now we’ll be recurring cards like Darksteel Forge, [tooltips]Blightsteel Colossus, and
Platinum Angel
Platinum Angel
Flying
You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game.
. They’re all good, for sure, but it’s also worth talking a bit about how we’ll be filling our graveyards in both of these decks.
So, to get the good stuff into the graveyard, we’ll be using the likes of
Thirst for Discovery
Thirst for Discovery
Draw three cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard a basic land card.
,
Thirst for Knowledge
Thirst for Knowledge
Draw three cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard an artifact card.
,
Fact or Fiction
Fact or Fiction
Reveal the top five cards of your library. An opponent separates those cards into two piles. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard.
,
Frantic Search
Frantic Search
Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Untap up to three lands.
, and basically anything else that allows you to specify which cards are going in your graveyard. These are all going to help you make sure you’ve got great choices when resurrecting from the graveyard, and that’s what we’re all about. Not in real life, obviously, we definitely don’t condone necromancy.
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