UPDATE:
Dark Prophecy
is back! I just couldn't bear to see it go...
Still looking for feedback, ideas for combos. Want to make this at least somewhat competitive. (at least for a mono-black that isn't 8-rack).
Plenty of ways to keep yourself alive while you draw, Gray Merchant, Blood Artist + Viscera Seer + tokens.
Consuming Vapors
. Bitterblossom and Will-o'-the-Wisp help stall for time while you put the machine in motion. The plan here is to flood the board, but keep back for defense, so by the time the board is cleared it's too late for your opponent.
Originally I thought opponents preventing lifegain would be a problem, but after playing a few games against Everlasting Torment I found that that card actually works to this deck's favor, because it simply means things die more often. Against decks that run
Leyline of Punishment
/ Skullcrack you will need to side out Blood Artist and put in some IoK, Tragic Slip or whatever. Witchbane Orb obviously flat out kills burn and discard, so no worries there. You can easily grind out 8-rack until turn 4, saving your plays and saving your draw cards until then, then bounce back. Ensnaring Bridge is not a problem as you will almost NEVER use your creatures to attack... Running this deck against my own 8-rack even without sideboard I did surprisingly well, but I know that deck inside-out.
Yes, Erebos, God of the Dead prevents lifegain too, but he will just get sacced. lel.
Viscera Seer + Bitterblossom are absolutely key here, providing both board presence and card advantage/ deck filtering. They also unlock every combo in the deck.
Win-cons:
This deck REALLY struggles against flat-out aggro as it is, with affinity, zoo and RDW just killing it. I'm hoping Will-o'-the-Wisp helps with this somewhat, but I haven't tested it.
If your opponent is running Ratchet Bomb too, and you've set all this up, they will probably not want to wipe you if they miss that all important window of opportunity...
-Grave Titan is nuts, the extra bodies are amazing in this deck if you have the machine up and running and pretty damn good even if you don't. He gives a way to win without combos.
-Hell's Caretaker is just a fun card in this deck. A bit slow and clunky, but he fits this deck so well, being a sac outlet and a way to recur any of your missing pieces or bombs (Merchant, Titan).
- sided a little Maralen of the Mornsong +
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
combo. If your opponent doesn't answer to her with removal STRAIGHT AWAY you will have Ob Nixilis in your hand, (or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, if you haven't already got it). Ob Nixilis is an incredibly powerful win-con in his own right, and he's even more scary here, with the potential to become absurdly huge by gobbling faeries if he doesn't kill the opponent right out when they tutor. This is a great meta call, stall the game with blockers while you draw into this combo and crush any non-mono color deck. This kills the Tron
This deck has performed really well for me at FNM, winning for me with even more consistency than my 8-rack. (at least since my opponents started carrying Leyline of Sanctity in their sideboards.
Only had three major losses, (running this on and off in different iterations for a few months) one to a really nasty B/W fated hour token deck with Odric, Master Tactician that I did NOT at all see coming, and another to an incredibly fast and relentless mono-red/ splash black aggro that carried life hate in its sideboad Rain of Gore, Skullcrack AND Everlasting Torment... (I think someone tipped him off.) The last one was your standard affinity.Strongish- Strong vs Elves, Twin, Soul-sisters, B/W tokens (sometimes), Tron and any kind of mid-range/ late-game combo.
50/50 against Jund mid-range and Grixis control (the last one isn't really a thing any more but has come back with khans fetch lands)
bad against Zoo, RDW, burn, delver, affinity. Anything that gets out of control on turn 2.
This deck will probably never be that competitive, but it's surprisingly strong for a little idea I had combining mechanics that were only strong in their own standard environment.
