Legends Legends: Dakkon Blackblade part four: Finishing Moves

 Richard Kane-Ferguson

    Richard Kane-Ferguson is the artist behind the truly villaionous artwork for Dakkon Blackblade. He's captured the classic "evil swordsman" trope beautifully; everything from the glowing eyes set in the skull on his shoulder, or the spikes on his gauntlet and weapon, or his nasty snarl, RKF brought this character to life instantly.

     His style is unique and essential to early MTG. The dreamy, ethereal environments and gloomy portraits feature as some of my favorite cards in the game. His work is peppered throughout the original class of Legends Legendaries. I’ve included some RKF-art versions of staples, as well as a few flavor picks to round out the deck. 

-Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

    His new incarnation, granted a Planeswalker card type at long last. He’s a fairly simple gimmick; cast him whenever you can, generate value by digging through the deck or removing (Exiling!) a creature here or there, then grab whatever equipment you banked in your graveyard earlier with his final loyalty ability. Flames have been added for dramatic effect, and a pedestal with an orb sits within pondering distance of Dakkon. The card was also printed with a more "updated" variant, with artwork by Jake Murray, and a "sketch" variant of RKF's art. 

-Arcane Denial

When it comes to RKF, you’re spoiled for Counterspell alternatives. And by that I mean you have a single spell with two different printings in the same set (sound familiar?) Arcane Denial’s first appearance all the way back in Alliances had two separate versions, Axe (22a) and Sword (22b). Arcane Denial is a Counterspell for one and a blue instead a true Counterspell's two blue, an advantage in a deck running two other colors. The drawback is your opponent may draw up to two cards on the next upkeep. I prefer this over other disruption;  it replaces that spell you just countered (and then some), but it doesn’t do so until the following turn. In a multiplayer pod, that next turn isn’t necessarily that opponent’s turn, and board states can change drastically by the time the round actually comes back to you. 

-Korlash, Heir to Blackblade

    Ok, I’ll admit it. In this deck, Korlash is bad. He’s here for looks alone. Grandeur does basically nothing in this format (with the exception of one insane combo involving Words of Wind, Chromatic Sphere, and the timing on when you “pay” the cost of abilities). He’s only great when I can get all 7 or 8 of my Swamp type lands into play. It’s a careful balancing act when I need him as a threat but also need to continue casting nonblack spells. He also regenerates, which is just a favorite mechanic of mine, it’s not great or cost-effective, but it’s neat to have the option. 

-Profane Tutor

    You’ve got to have some tutors. Why not run the one with Dakkon in the art? At ~$3 (at the time of writing), this card is cheap alternative to Demonic Tutor. In an opening hand, this card shines. Cast as early as turn two, and resolve it when the board has developed a bit more and you’ll know better what you need. Sure, you’re broadcasting the spell for two whole turns to a board of blue commanders sometimes, that shouldn’t stop you from saving ~$40 on a card that has a retro frame printing. An interesting note: Profane Tutor spiked in price in the weeks following it's release, which I find odd considering it's always going to be a functionaly worse version of Demonic Tutor, and maybe about even with a Diabolic Tutor. 

-Blackblade Reforged (Signature Spellbook)

    Of course you must include THE Blackblade. I shouldn’t have to explain why; just know that at two mana it’s an amazing tutor target for Tribute Mage. RKF’s version, from Signature Spellbook: Gideon, rules. 

    Finally, I made the choice to not include any of the mentions of Gideon and the Blackblade, even though there are a few more cards featuring them. Most aren’t particularly exciting for this deck, and Gideon hardly deserves the Blackblade, incapable of even killing Bolas with it. (Bolas did enchant it years prior to their fight to make the blade harmless to Elder Dragons… but that’s not important). 

    That wraps up the Dakkon Blackblade primer for the Legends Legends series. Next week I'll be building a new deck instead of one I've owned and played for years. Should be fun!

view the decklist here

read part one here

read part two here

read part three here

Legends Legends: Dakkon Blackblade part 3: The Armory

Our Dakkon Blackblade deck primer continues this time. Now that Dakkon has finished assembling an army of souls for slaughtering, he peruses his personal armory of swords, plate armor, and other more sinister weaponry. 

-The basics; Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Darksteel Plate

The first thing every self-respecting warrior of shadows does in the morning is get dressed. Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are often seen as auto-includes, essential protection for your commander and creatures in any mid- to high-powered EDH pod. Darksteel Plate finds its way into most high powered pods, and rightly so. It’s an indestructible suit of armor! It might seem like the obvious choice, and that’s because it is. 

-Rings of Evos Isle, Ring of Xathrid

Dakkon needs to accessorize. The Ring of Evos Isle and the Ring of Xathrid come from a cycle of equipment in the 2013 Core Set; each is relatively cheap to cast and equip and puts a +1/+1 counter on the equipped creature during your upkeep if it matches the required colors. In addition, each has an activated ability for two mana. Evos Isle grants the creature hexproof, while Xathrid regenerates it. These are leftovers from my original incarnation of this deck, they’re not competitive choices, but another flavor choice. Dakkon’s only got two hands, we can’t expect him to hold every sword in the deck simultaneously! The rings are a fun and cheap way to give Dakkon some protection and some power, and he looks blinged out while he wears them. 

        -Inquisitor's Flail

        The Inquisitor's Flail is a unique piece of equipment from the original Innistrad set. The euipped creature deals double combat damage to creatures and players, but also receives double combat damage from other creatures. This is a swingy card; while the Flail can end games immediately with Dakkon, it can leave you open to a punishing punch-back if an opponent can trick you into committing to combat with him. That said, it all-but guarantees at least one player kill before the game ends. 

-Lashwrithe

I’ve been waffling on Lashwrithe for a few months now. In its current form, my deck only runs six Swamps, seven if you count the Sunken Hollow. Lately I’ve been dropping Lashwrithe too early, only to make a nonthreatening 1/1 Germ token. More expensive builds can make good use of Lashwrithe, though; Bumping up the number of two-color lands with the Swamp subtype helps, while Tomb of Yawgmoth fixes the problem completely. Take this into consideration when building with this card. 

-Sword of the Animist

Sword of the Animist is one of the real work horses in Dakkon Blackblade. At just two mana to play and equip, the Sword can come down early and change a game for you. Remember all those creatures just dying to throw themselves into the fray for Dakkon? They make perfect early game wielders of Animist’s blade. Even in the late game, the Sword of the Animist makes a great weapon for Dakkon, granting him a flat +1/+1 and then bumping his power even more whenever you swing with him. Note that this sword can also help mitigate our Swamps problem! 

-Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale

Dowsing Dagger is a casual, semi-political card I like to drop in the early game. Toss a couple 0/2 Plant tokens at the slow player, or trade them to the aristocrats player for a promise of loyalty. 

        -Obsidian Battle-Axe

     The Obsidian Battle-Axe is a sleeper threat in this deck. Dakkon gained the Warrior type in the Grand Type Update of 2008, and hence can make amazing use of the Battle-Axe. Giving him haste on the turn he drops is just too good to pass up when you’re win condition demands you connect with Dakkon. A sweet surprise for your opponents. 

     -Helm of the Host

     Helm of the Host makes your voltron deck a threat in multiplayer games. Without access to Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar, summoning these permanent reflections of Dakkon is the best way to end two or more players in a single combat.   

    Of course, there's a ton of other choices for any Voltron-style Commander deck when it comes to powerful equipment. Veteran players will notice I haven't included any of the Swords of X and Y; these cards are almost never a bad choice, but for this deck I try to keep it at a middling-power level. (Whatever that means, I'd like to go into more detail some day on why the "Rule 0" and power-level ranking of EDH decks is useless and ultimately harmful to the format, but not here at the end of a deck tech). 

    Thanks for reading. Feel free to reach out with suggestions, comments, or hate mail. 

view the decklist here

read part one here

read part two here

read part four here