Dread Shade
Creature — Shade
: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Dominaria Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #22355
Dread Shade is a 3/3 for three black mana that can pump itself to absurd sizes — every black mana you spend turns it into a legitimate threat that closes games fast. The triple-black cost is the real price: outside a mono-black shell, it's often uncastable.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Dread Shade is best in mono-black Commander builds where its activation cost is trivial — Crypt Ghast or Nirkana Revenant doublers turn it into a one-shot threat from nowhere. In Modern and Pioneer, it competes with a crowded three-drop slot against creatures with more immediate impact or built-in resilience, making it a fringe consideration at best. Legacy has too many faster, more efficient threats for Dread Shade to carve out a role. Oathbreaker works similarly to Commander — if your planeswalker is generating black mana, the shade scales well.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Price data isn't available for Dread Shade at this time — check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market prices. As a mono-black build-around with a narrow casting requirement, it tends to sit in bulk-rare territory outside any reprint-driven spikes.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.