EDH Optimizer
Ihsan's Shade
Legendary Creature — Shade Knight · 3BBB
Color identity: Black
Ihsan's Shade is black: its deck can only run cards of that color plus colorless ones.
Rules text:
Protection from white
Reference price of the card: €0.20
Average lands in decks for Ihsan's Shade: 36
ShadesKnightsAggroSnowVoltronAristocratsEquipmentRamp
Build your Ihsan's Shade deck step by step, with in-depth analysis and AI optimization of your list.
🛠️ Build a deck for Ihsan's Shade 📥 Analyze my deck🎲 How the average Ihsan's Shade deck starts over 4,000 games
The list people actually play (the 99 most-included cards, with its average land count), simulated with the EDH Optimizer engine: hands, mulligans, lands, curve and commander. It does not model opponents; it measures whether the plan gets going.
Deck health of the average list: C (48/100)
- Consistency42
- Speed42
- Interaction18
- Resilience61
- Closing73
See the cards of the average deck · 99 cards, 36 lands (8 nonbasic, 28 Swamp)
Sol Ring · Dark Ritual · Nirkana Revenant · Dread Shade · Crypt Ghast · Misery's Shadow · Liliana's Shade · Whispering Shade · Drifting Shade · Phyrexian Arena · Crypt Ripper · Nantuko Shade · Evernight Shade · Arcane Signet · Bubbling Muck · Deepwood Legate · Defile · Dungeon Shade · Looming Shade · Sign in Blood · Undercity Shade · Author of Shadows · Jet Medallion · Frozen Shade · Darkling Stalker · Lashwrithe · Liliana of the Dark Realms · Shade's Form · Caged Sun · Thirsting Shade · Feed the Swarm · Nakaya Shade · Charcoal Diamond · Read the Bones · Night's Whisper · Gray Merchant of Asphodel · Hoar Shade · Magus of the Coffers · Nightmare Lash · Perilous Shadow · Exsanguinate · Skyclave Shade · Bad Moon · Bontu's Monument · Cover of Darkness · Go for the Throat · Blackblade Reforged · Doom Blade · Dread Presence · Mutilate · Fetid Horror · Gauntlet of Power · Nightwing Shade · Dauthi Embrace · Infernal Grasp · Diabolic Tutor · Tattered Apparition · Darkness · Slithering Shade · Tendrils of Corruption · Heraldic Banner · Black Knight · Gateway Shade · Cabal Coffers · Cabal Stronghold · Bojuka Bog · Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth · Rogue's Passage · Myriad Landscape · Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx · Witch's Cottage
🃏 Recommended cards for Ihsan's Shade
The highest-synergy cards in decks for Ihsan's Shade, with their inclusion rate.
| Card | Inclusion | Synergy |
|---|---|---|
| Dread Shade | 54% | +53% |
| Misery's Shadow | 53% | +52% |
| Whispering Shade | 52% | +52% |
| Liliana's Shade | 52% | +52% |
| Drifting Shade | 49% | +49% |
| Nantuko Shade | 48% | +48% |
| Crypt Ripper | 48% | +48% |
| Nirkana Revenant | 57% | +47% |
| Evernight Shade | 47% | +46% |
| Deepwood Legate | 45% | +45% |
| Dungeon Shade | 44% | +44% |
| Looming Shade | 44% | +44% |
| Undercity Shade | 43% | +43% |
| Author of Shadows | 42% | +41% |
| Frozen Shade | 39% | +39% |
| Darkling Stalker | 38% | +38% |
| Shade's Form | 38% | +37% |
| Thirsting Shade | 37% | +37% |
| Nakaya Shade | 36% | +36% |
| Lashwrithe | 38% | +35% |
| Perilous Shadow | 33% | +33% |
| Hoar Shade | 33% | +33% |
| Skyclave Shade | 32% | +31% |
| Nightmare Lash | 33% | +30% |
💰 The best cards for your Ihsan's Shade deck, by budget
Three tiers based on the maximum price PER CARD you are willing to pay. Paste your list and hit Optimize: you pick that cap and the AI only suggests swaps that fit under it.
Tier 1 · Budget up to €2/card
The most value for almost nothing. Coming from a precon? Start here.
- Dread Shade
- Misery's Shadow
- Whispering Shade
- Liliana's Shade
- Drifting Shade
- Nantuko Shade
Tier 2 · Balanced up to €10/card
The real step up: pieces that are no longer cheap but still sensible.
- Nirkana Revenant
- Bubbling Muck
- Cover of Darkness
- Magus of the Coffers
- Tainted Strike
- Knight of Stromgald
Tier 3 · No cap no cap
The cards your price cap was hiding from you.
- Liliana of the Dark Realms
Reference prices (cheapest English printing). They change daily.
♾️ Known combos with Ihsan's Shade
- Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood → Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite lifegain
- Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose + Exquisite Blood → Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite lifegain
- Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar → Infinite death triggers, Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers, Infinite storm count
- Exquisite Blood + Enduring Tenacity → Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite lifegain
- Pitiless Plunderer + Ashnod's Altar + Reassembling Skeleton → Infinite colorless mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite creature ETB, Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Enduring Tenacity + Bloodthirsty Conqueror → Infinite lifegain triggers, Infinite lifeloss, Infinite lifegain
Other commanders
Frequently asked questions
What is Ihsan's Shade's color identity?
Ihsan's Shade is black: its deck can only run cards of that color plus colorless ones. Color identity comes from every mana symbol on the card, including those in the rules text, not just the casting cost.
What turn does Ihsan's Shade come down, and how often does the deck get stuck?
In the average Ihsan's Shade deck (the 99 cards most played with it, with 36 lands), simulated 4,000 times, the commander comes down on turn 6.2 on average and is on the battlefield before turn 7 in 83 % of games. It misses at least one land drop in the first six turns 33 % of the time and floods 17 %. Deck health: C (48/100).
How many lands should a Ihsan's Shade deck run?
Real Ihsan's Shade decks run 36 lands on average. That is a starting point, not a rule: a lower curve can shave one or two, big-mana builds want more. The EDH Optimizer simulator tells you, over 10,000 games, how often you get mana screwed or flooded with your exact count.
What are the best cards for Ihsan's Shade?
The three highest-synergy cards are Dread Shade, Misery's Shadow, Whispering Shade. This page lists the top 24 with their real inclusion rate in Ihsan's Shade decks.
What combos does Ihsan's Shade have?
Ihsan's Shade has 6 known combos. The most popular one is Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood. Note that two-card combos raise your deck's bracket, so it is worth knowing which ones you are running before you sit down.
How much does a Ihsan's Shade deck cost?
You can start cheap: Dread Shade, Misery's Shadow, Whispering Shade are under €2 each. The "Level up" section on this page splits the best cards into three price caps PER CARD (up to €2, up to €10 and no cap), and the optimizer only suggests swaps that fit the cap you pick.