> "The biggest problem with a Shade lord is because of the mechanical tie of Shades with self-pump, they don’t tend to work well in the same deck. Unless you play the lord, they are anti-synergistic."
- Mark Rosewater, Blogatog

Hmmm...

So I guess this powers other shades up more than itself, since its shade ability is costly compared to the norm?

I'd think stuff that messes with blocking, Lure, Sirens Call etc. would be more synergistic.

Neat thought to try and make this a real tribe though.

1B: Each Shade you control gets +1/+1 UEOT.

Or

Shade creatures you control have menace.

Or

Whenever a Shade enters or leaves the battlefield, search for swamp and put onto the battlefield.

The first one is the lord. The other ones would be a useful lord, but still lords.

To make it work as a tribe, you need something that works sensibly in multiples even without a lord. Personally; I'd play up the "Ok, so I can power up my shades freely, but I only have so much power to play with" angle, by having shades that they absolutely have to deal with.

I'd suggest saboteur abilities - but, well, they already have "I deal X extra damage" if left unblocked.

Published as mtgnexus Card of the Day 2020-03-01.