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Moxonomy

Maze of Shadows

Land

Dedicated counter-tech aimed at exactly one keyword, and a snapshot of how seriously Tempest took shadow as a threat. Shadow's evasion runs both ways: a shadow attacker can only be blocked by shadow creatures, so a deck without any of its own faces a swing it cannot block. The second ability is the workaround. It targets the attacking shadow creature and prevents all combat damage that creature would deal or take this turn, so the attacker neither connects nor dies to a blocker. That two-directional prevention is the practical effect the land is buying: a clean answer to an otherwise unblockable threat. The untap clause is mostly cosmetic under the rules, since the creature stays in combat regardless; it reads as a flavorful gesture, the tapped attacker being the visual of a committed swing. What earns the slot is that the ability costs no colored mana, so any deck can run it, and when no shadow creature is on the board the land quietly taps for one colorless and stays out of the way. That dual nature, a real mana source that doubles as an answer to one narrow mechanic, is the design pattern Tempest's utility lands leaned on: baking narrow hate into the manabase so it costs a deck almost nothing to maintain. As evergreen design it is a clean study in policing a single keyword without printing a card that sits dead when the matchup never appears.

Maze of Shadows (tmp)
TMP · #319uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.24
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

Tap: Add Colorless mana. Tap: Untap target attacking creature with shadow. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
Legal
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

1 set
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