MTG Salvation

Dauthi Slayer

This black two-drop was removed from more and more cubes over the time. But why? Two unblockable power, with an irrelevant drawback since its anyway attacking all the time, is great for black aggro. The BB cost is a bit prohibitive, but since it is basically unblockable it is still a relevant play also in the later stages of the game. Shadow is also great in combination with equipment. The WW Soltaris see play everywhere, is the protection what's pushing them over the top? I'm testing Dauthi Slayer over Nezumi Graverobber which was underperforming lately. What were your experiences with Dauthi Slayer? Why was he cut / is he included?

Yeah, he's good. I was looking at him again before I cut down. It's a bit harder to justify the BB in black though because the black BB cards are as deep as the white WW ones. No-one should be cutting Bloodghast or Nantuko Shade, and Vampire Hexmage is really good as well. So he's competing in a very restricted slot. If two of those didn't exist, I would be running it even now.

It's a reasonable black aggro card, but the Graverobber's a complete boss. Maindeckable graveyard hate, a good body in both forms and a sick mid-late game ability after it flips. He's much better and more versatile than the Slayer.

I wish the Slayer wasn't BB.

Quote from wtwlf123

I wish the Slayer wasn't BB.

Compared to the Dauthi Horror, I don't know why Slayer costed BB and has a drawback and lost a pseudo-upside for only 1 toughness. If the Slayer costed 1B, I'd be running it for sure.

There are better black 2-drops, but he still represents 2 unblockable power. And the 2 toughness does actually matter against a few removal spells.

Quote from wtwlf123

I wish the Slayer wasn't BB.

As a thrash metal band, I would say that Slayer is more like RB anyway.

Slayer was one of the best metal shows I've seen. And one of the only ones that I wasn't willing to go into the pit during.

This card is amazing in C/Ubes, but in a rare cube it is just harder to justify...

This card is awesome, dunno what you guys are really talking about. I'd also run Dauthi Marauder even with his flaws (3 mana, 1 toughness).

Slayer will get in damage for aggressive black decks that you can't get anywhere else, and I've found most of my aggressive black decks have black as the main color (your mileage might vary) which decreases the BB liability.

I'd play Dauthi Slayer in every cube 450+, and in most 360 cubes.

I would say Dauthi Slayer is roughly as good as Vampire Interloper. His cost is harsher, but he is almost always completely unblockable and is a bit more resistant to some burn spells.

I agree that Dauthi Marauder is pretty good.

Quote from wtwlf123

Slayer was one of the best metal shows I've seen. And one of the only ones that I wasn't willing to go into the pit during.

This looks like even more proof that Slayer is more Rakdos than monoblack.

Dauthi Slayer's "drawback" is pretty much just flavour text anyway. He's mostly the same as Dauthi Horror, but harder to cast. The one extra point of toughness could be relevant I guess.

I just recently cut him from my cube, he never saw play, the BB really hurts him, double of a specific color in 2 color aggro decks have to be really good to justify playing, and he just isn't good enough.

Yes, double black is a drawback, but he is much better than cards like Black Knight, Stromgald Crusader or Skittering Skirge. He is one of the 10 best black 2-drops, if you support black aggro. While he may not make it into small cubes, 450+ cubes should run him.

Quote from Nof

Our Dauthi Slayer's MD%, compared with other black 2 drop creatures:

Reassembling Skeleton 65%
Stromgald Crusader 62%
Dauthi Horror 60%
Fledgling Djinn 60%
Oona's Prowler 59%
Average black creature 56%
Bloodghast 54%
Vampire Hexmage 53%
Black Knight 52%
Nezumi Graverobber 50%
Dark Confidant 48%
Dauthi Slayer 45%
Nezumi Cutthroat 44%
Skittering Skirge 44%
Onyx Mage 43% (Small sample)
Nantuko Shade 41%
Child of Night 40%
Vampire Interloper 40%
Nezumi Shortfang 38%

Sure, it's below average, but only being 3% points less than Dark Confidant? I don't know how reliable this data is if bob's being played less than half of the time, and if Reassembling Skeleton is the most played of any black 2 drop.

Exactly. Dark Confidant is one of those narrow, but powerful cards in cube that you can't just jam into every black deck.