Mono black deckbuilder's toolbox

Modern* Netdeck

lagotripha

4 (123)

• 1x Aether Poisoner
• 1x Aether Snap
• 1x Aetherborn Marauder
• 1x Ashling, the Extinguisher
• 1x Asylum Visitor
• 1x Balustrade Spy
• 1x Basal Sliver
• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Blackcleave Goblin
• 1x Blighted Fen
• 1x Blood Scrivener
• 1x Blood Speaker
• 1x Bone Picker
• 1x Bone Splinters
• 1x Caustic Rain
• 1x Chainer's Torment
• 1x Colfenor's Plans
• 1x Creeping Dread
• 1x Cry of Contrition
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dark Withering
• 1x Death Pits of Rath
• 1x Deathmark
• 1x Deity of Scars
• 1x Demon of Catastrophes
• 1x Demon of Death's Gate
• 1x Demonic Rising
• 1x Descent into Madness
• 1x Desecration Elemental
• 1x Devour Flesh
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Dire Undercurrents
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Disfigure
• 1x Distended Mindbender
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Doomwake Giant
• 1x Drain the Well
• 1x Dread Shade
• 1x Elusive Tormentor  ^Flip
• 1x Empty the Catacombs
• 1x Endless Whispers
• 1x Erebos's Titan
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Flaying Tendrils
• 1x Flesh-Eater Imp
• 1x Fleshwrither
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Ghastlord of Fugue
• 1x Glen Elendra Liege
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Grave Scrabbler
• 1x Guul Draz Specter
• 1x Hand of the Praetors
• 1x Haunted Dead
• 1x Haunting Echoes
• 1x Human Frailty
• 1x Immortal Coil
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Inverter of Truth
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Kalastria Highborn
• 1x Kulrath Knight
• 1x Liliana's Mastery
• 1x Marsh Flitter
• 1x Memoricide
• 1x Midnight Entourage
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Morsel Theft
• 1x Mortal Combat
• 1x Mortician Beetle
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Nameless Inversion
• 1x Nantuko Husk
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Necrotic Plague
• 1x Needle Specter
• 1x Never / Return
• 1x Nezumi Shortfang  ^Flip
• 1x Nighthowler
• 1x Nightmare Void
• 1x Nightveil Specter
• 1x Noggin Whack
• 1x Oblivion Crown
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Persecute
• 1x Phylactery Lich
• 1x Phyresis
• 1x Phyrexian Etchings
• 1x Phyrexian Vatmother
• 1x Plague Sliver
• 1x Poison the Well
• 1x Polluted Bonds
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Quest for the Gravelord
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Ravenous Rats
• 1x Remorseless Punishment
• 1x Risen Executioner
• 1x Ritual of the Returned
• 1x Scarscale Ritual
• 1x Sea Gate Wreckage
• 1x Sengir Autocrat
• 1x Sly Requisitioner
• 1x Smother
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Soul Snuffers
• 1x Stillmoon Cavalier
• 1x Stromkirk Condemned
• 1x Sultai Scavenger
• 1x Tar Fiend
• 2x The Eldest Reborn
• 1x Tombstalker
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Triskaidekaphobia
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Vengeful Pharaoh
• 2x Whisper, Blood Liturgist
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

3 (83)

• 1x Ashenmoor Liege
• 1x Bad Moon
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Bloodthrone Vampire
• 1x Call the Bloodline
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Conspiracy
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Creeping Chill
• 1x Crux of Fate
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Darkness
• 1x Deathbringer Liege
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Demonic Pact
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Doom Blade
• 1x Dregscape Zombie
• 1x Drown in Sorrow
• 1x Duress
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Everlasting Torment
• 1x Evershrike
• 1x From Under the Floorboards
• 1x Funeral Charm
• 1x Glaring Spotlight
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Griselbrand
• 1x Head Games
• 1x Indulgent Aristocrat
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Larceny
• 1x Lich's Mastery
• 1x Lich's Mirror
• 1x Lich's Tomb
• 1x Lifebane Zombie
• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Liliana's Contract
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Lost Legacy
• 1x Makeshift Mannequin
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Memory Plunder
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Mind Sludge
• 1x Mirri the Cursed
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Nyxathid
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 2x Phyrexian Scriptures
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Shadowborn Demon
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sinister Concoction
• 1x Slaughter Pact
• 1x Spiteful Visions
• 1x Stain the Mind
• 1x Stinkdrinker Bandit
• 1x Storage Matrix
• 1x Thought Gorger
• 1x Tyrannize
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vampire Hexmage
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vault Skirge
• 1x Vendetta
• 1x Witchbane Orb
• 1x Worm Harvest
• 1x Yahenni's Expertise

Other (4)

• 1x Call to the Netherworld
• 1x Consume the Meek
• 1x Damnable Pact
• 1x Fleetwheel Cruiser

44 (1)

• 1x Treacherous Urge

2 (65)

• 1x Abyssal Persecutor
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Bile Blight
• 1x Blackmail
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Bridge from Below
• 1x Call to the Grave
• 1x Captivating Vampire
• 1x Cranial Extraction
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Dash Hopes
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Death's Shadow
• 1x Delirium Skeins
• 1x Demigod of Revenge
• 1x Desecration Demon
• 1x Despise
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Extirpate
• 1x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Genesis Chamber
• 1x Geth's Verdict
• 1x Gruesome Menagerie
• 1x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Infinite Obliteration
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
• 1x Languish
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Liliana, the Last Hope
• 1x Liliana, Untouched By Death
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Crusader
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Rain of Tears
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Ravenous Trap
• 1x Raven's Crime
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Shriekhorn
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Temporal Extortion
• 1x Ultimate Price
• 1x Vampire Nocturnus
• 1x Victim of Night
• 1x Waste Not
• 1x Wrench Mind
• 1x Zombie Infestation
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

1 (31)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Collective Brutality
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge
• 4x Fatal Push
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Gurmag Angler
• 1x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Liliana of the Veil
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Shrieking Affliction
• 1x Street Wraith
• 1x Surgical Extraction
• 1x Swamp
• 1x The Rack
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Whip of Erebos

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Maybeboard

Other (1)

• 1x Torment of Hailfire

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*Edit, this list hasn't been updated in years, but it might still be useful for digging out that niche card - I'd take the ratings with a pinch of salt and make sure to pick up creatures and utility lands from more recent sets. Also key removal - a lot has been printed for mono black in that 0/1/2 mana spot recently.

I see a lot of people throwing together mono black builds using a ton of stuff, and I keep finding myself making suggestions, so I decided to put together a deckbuilders toolbox for mono black builders like myself. I'll tidy it up and flesh it out as time passes. I've probably missed a heap of stuff- feel free to comment.

This is an incomplete list- expect it to be missing cards from the last few sets, but it has a lot of tools that have been tested, and I've made work.

Some are clearly downgrades on other cards, and thats fine because you can play 8 copies this way.

A lot are spicy neicheoptions that will never see mainstream play- but all of them can compete in some modern metas. Memory Plunder is only truely great when a lot of cryptics are flying about, for example.

When you're planning a mono black deck its fairly straightforward- look at your meta, look at what their turns 1-4 are, and put in cards that ruin their gameplan, with a strong card advantage/value engine that keeps you ahead forever. Sideboards are incredibly flexible, but I reccomend going deep on hating one strategy rather than packing in 1-of golden bullets (unless you are already running tutors maindeck).

How The Devil Plays MTG: The Mono-Black Primer is one of the better and more up to date primers around. The list there excludes a lot of fringe pieces- here I've listed them in all their janky glory, for you to play with.

Have fun!

I'm tagging cards based on teir- from competitive right down to weird neiche. Feel free to comment if you think things need to be moved. Remember you can't just jam all the top teir cards and expect the deck to run smoothly (although it will run well enough)- the other options exist for reasons. Lower on the list doesn't mean less powerful or gamechanging, just less easily gamechanging.

Top Ranked	Achieved #25 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	34 - 0 Mythic Rares 161 - 0 Rares 71 - 0 Uncommons 40 - 0 Commons
Cards	307
Avg. CMC	3.42
Tokens	Copy Clone, Demon 5/5 B, Demon X/X B, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Emblem Liliana, the Last Hope, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Energy Reserve, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Goblin Rogue 1/1 B, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Myr 1/1 C, Nightmare Horror */* B, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Serf 0/1 B, Servo 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Vampire 2/2 B, Vampire Knight 1/1 B, Worm 1/1 BG, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Giant 5/5 B, Zombie Knight 2/2 B, Zombie X/X B
Folders	Tool Boxes, cool things, modern builds, Modern Reference, coolio staples, save, Modern Bible, Primers, reference, Lists of cards