I've been playing Esper Control for quite some time in the current standard, and I've been looking for a change of pace. I was looking for the closest I could get to a "suicide-y" black-ish type deck... and then I came up with this!Almost Mono Black but the splash of blue adds for a little more pep in the form of some control cards and more diverse side options!
Cyclonic Rift is an amazing card for tons of reasons in this deck. You can bounce an annoying Detention Sphere that luckily has caught some of your Gravecrawlers or Geralf's Messengers at EoT for some unexpected damage... Or you can bounce a problem permanent at EoT. Don't even talk about the overload because if it goes off, you've probably won.
Duskmantle Seer
: Definitely the star of the show and definitely my favorite card to come from Gatecrash. At the highest point of the mana-curve sitting at a pretty 4 CMC, he caps out the deck with a beautiful effect, attached to a 4/4 Flying body.
Treacherous Pit-Dweller reminds me of some good old-fashioned suicide black cards, so I figured I should try him out. I have plenty of removal and even some recycla..bili...ty..? with Cyclonic Rift.
Vampire Nighthawk is a great blocker/attacker for this deck, since you'll probably not care about leaving blockers open. He can sustain you for a couple more turns, just long enough to win, or force an answer from your opponent, leaving some of your other problem cards unanswered.
Then, there's the core of the aggro (other than Treacherous Pit-Dweller).. Gravecrawler,
Diregraf Ghoul
, and Geralf's Messenger.
I have to say Rapid Hybridization is probably my second favorite card from Gatecrash. It is SO good in this deck just because cards like Sever the Bloodline and Detention Sphere exist and are quite popular. Just Rapidly Hybridate one of your Bloodline-targeted Geralf's Messengers, you get a 3/3 Frizard, and a 4/3 that pings them for 2 damage on EtB. Another GREAT use out of Rapid Hybridization is killing your Treacherous Pit-Dweller... Yes, that's right. After he dies the first time, undying triggers, he enters the battlefield. When his effect that switches control of him triggers... use the Rapid Hybridization and get your 3/3 Frizard! Your opponent could have possibly used a kill-spell, banking on the fact that he gets a 5/4 attacker/blocker!
Think Twice
bro!
Sideboard Explanations!Snapcaster Mage can come in pretty effectively for Treacherous Pit-Dweller against decks that seem to have a ton of kill-spells. He gives all your kill-spells more value, and if you're playing against a control or any deck with a big bomb card like Sphinx's Revelation or Rakdos's Return, giving a Negate/Psychic Strike flashback could just win you the game/match.
A 4th Vampire Nighthawk made the sideboard mainly because, well, he gives aggro and even mid-range problems.
Negate and Psychic Strike are very nice counters and having accessibility to both of them game 2 is quite nice. Psychic Strike is a "counter-any" that can definitely go in against mid-range to stop that clutch 4th-5th turn opposing Thragtusk, to give you the game. Negate is a super efficient choice against all types of control, tempo, and super-friends decks.
Victim of Night.... Gets the job done. And for cheap. When you find yourself using your Ultimate Price JUST to kill your "Traitorous" Pit-Dweller... Then it might be time to pop in the Victim of Night.
Knight of Infamy
is an obvious sideboard option against white... and it benefits the turn one Gravecrawler/
Diregraf Ghoul
so well! Tbh, I'd like to fit a 3rd in there... Help me out!
Any questions, suggestions, or profound, philosophical occurrences are welcome!
