[Hell no. Being unprepared gets you killed. Wash can personally attest to that.]

Believe me, if they think it'll work to their advantage, they'll make it personal.

They make it sound good - trading whatever magic you have for shadow magic. It's versatile, it can create things, and it...kind of takes over after a while. I fought someone a while ago who was in the later stages of a shadow deal. It wasn't pretty.