Mono-Black Control

Modern* LordJiblet

SCORE: 17 | 41 COMMENTS | 4649 VIEWS | IN 10 FOLDERS


razvaniorga says... #1

How has it been testing out for you?

October 15, 2014 6:42 p.m.

LordJiblet says... #2

So far, pretty solid. I playtested on untap.net and beat a Jund Planeswalkers(Which was copied from a Pro Tour deck) with only one land. I think this decks success boils down to how I play off the starting hand and what I draw into. Most of the time, when I keep a mostly land starting hand I get flooded. My fastest win(so far) was 5 turns, while the average is seven. During playtesting, I found that aggro and mill really disrupt my plays i.e waste a turn putting out a blocker v.s playing a Wrench Mind. Knowing this, I might sideboard in some removal spells in the form of Doomblade. I'm going to play it this Friday so I'm hoping it does well.

October 16, 2014 10:41 a.m.

Verstaka says... #3

Have you considred Augur of Skulls ?

November 4, 2014 10:58 a.m.

LordJiblet says... #4

I have never seen him before, cool card. I can see him as a solid side board card when I know I'm going against a creature heavy deck. Will def keep him in mind. Thanks for the suggestion.

November 4, 2014 11:03 a.m.

Saljen says... #5

+4x The Rack, -3x Liliana Vess (too expensive if you run Smallpox. +2x Smallpox, -2x Mind Shatter (again, too expensive with smallpox, and smallpox is way better), +3x lands, probably just Swamp for budget, or Bojuka Bog. With a Smallpox deck, you want to have extra lands so you can sac them w/ Smallpox and discard them with Raven's Crime. You should run 4x Raven's Crime too, because this is a powerful combo when you have them top decking late game while your The Rack and Shrieking Affliction tick off at their life. A few targeted removal spells would be good as well, Murderous Cut would be a great use of your graveyard as a 2x of, and then maybe a Doom Blade or two. Other than that, I think you have the right idea. If you ever want to get into Legacy, this a budget version of my Legacy 8-rack deck, you can check it out for some ideas: *Budget Legacy* - 8-Rack

November 9, 2014 3:08 p.m.

LordJiblet says... #6

Awesome suggestions. I was looking to put The Rack in, but due to money problems I couldn't do it at the time, but now that I have some prize money(from this deck, go figure) I will definitely make some orders. Thanks again for the cool ideas.

November 10, 2014 10:28 a.m.

Kjartan says... #7

Pack Rat is a great budget card, for the build :)

November 20, 2014 3:09 p.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #8

Quest for the Nihil Stone probably shouldn't be in this deck, drop that for some Necrogen Mists

December 2, 2014 10:45 a.m.

LordJiblet says... #9

I will consider that. Nihil Stone has actually won me some games, giving me the chance for 7-9 damage in a turn. I might run some tests with the Mist, and then I'll look into ordering it. Thank you for the suggestion!

December 2, 2014 10:52 a.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #10

Yea but u didn't have The Rack then... Quest was playing the roll of The Rack.

Necrogen Mists plays the role of Liliana of the Veil

Maybe consider swapping a Waste Not for a Mind Shatter

December 2, 2014 11:02 a.m.

LordJiblet says... #11

This is true. I can see a possible synergy with Waste Not+Necrogen Mists. I have tried Mind Shatter in the past and found that I can actually do better without it. When I did run the card(I placed third). I found myself with either A. Not enough mana to put it to use. or B. Too much mana and the opponent had no hand. Seeing this, I took it out 4 of them for 4 Raven's Crime and had more success there due to the Retrace effect.

December 2, 2014 11:30 a.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #12

well I'd only run 1x Mind Shatter running 4 is asking for dead draws. I run 3x Raven's Crime and 1x Rakdos's Return in my build & I'm almost always glad to see the Rakdos's Return

December 2, 2014 12:36 p.m.

Sweet_Nectar says... #13

No Thoughtsieze???

December 5, 2014 10:25 a.m.

LordJiblet says... #14

I would totally use it, but I'm trying to keep the deck price low. Thoughtseize in itself is a great card, but it is also $16. Putting 2 in boost the decks cost to $123. But, when I start winning more FMN and getting the monies, I would definitely consider it.

December 5, 2014 10:33 a.m.

Saljen says... #15

Mutavault is getting cheaper, and Ghost Quarter is dirt cheap. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth has come down a ton as well, running about $5/ea. I feel like fixing up your lands from just basics to being 4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, 4x Mutavault, 2x Ghost Quarter, 2x Tectonic Edge, 12x Swamp would be a much better land base. I'd add this as part of your upgrade path, even if it waits a while.

Also, decks that run 4x Smallpox and 4x Raven's Crime need between 24-25 mana. 20 lands is too few. You need the extra land so you can recover from Smallpox and so you can pitch lands late game to Raven's Crime to keep them top decking.

Your creatures are your biggest weak spot though, by far. None of them do enough to be worth playing. Most Mono-Black Pox/8-rack decks run no creatures, or just a couple creatures to ping for extra damage. Mutavault can fill that role without wasting spots in your deck that could be useful spells. 2-3x Bloodghast is also very popular as a secondary win-con since he is repeatable by playing lands, which you should have 24-25 of. Dark Confidant is okay, but crazy expensive and more belongs to suicide black. Nyxathid is playable as a 1-2 of. Pack Rat can hold his own. Any of those would be a better place than 4x Black Cat and 4x Hypnotic Specter though. The idea with 8-rack is to keep your opponent controlled through spells that cause discard or disrupt their mana base, so they cannot play things. you don't need beat sticks, since Shrieking Affliction and The Rack function as your beat sticks as long as you play your other cards.

December 5, 2014 11:19 a.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #16

A good budget card that works exceptionally well in 8Rack (& about nowhere else) is Dash Hopes. Both options are optimal for 8Rack.

December 5, 2014 3:35 p.m.

LordJiblet says... #17

Thank you all for the great suggestions!! I will def look into the creature and mana source thing. I'm actually in the midst of build this deck for next week. The Rack(as I'm finding out) is actually hard to find. I am talking to the local shop about seeing if they know anyone who would like to cough 4 of the suckers up. Thank all of you for the cool suggestions.

December 6, 2014 1:18 a.m.

Saljen says... #18

Looks very solid after the changes. I'd probably +1 Wrench Mind, -1 Despise for a little extra power, since it'll trigger Waste Not twice and can force opponents to discard lands or other things they might not want to if their hand is small. Other than that small tweak though, looks like you've got yourself a solid deck with a good upgrade path. Eventually work in 4x Liliana of the Veil in place of 3x Necrogen Mists and 1x Waste Not, and add in 4x Thoughtseize in place of Mire's Toll and Despise and you've got yourself a tournament ready deck. +1 from me, GL at FNM!

December 6, 2014 3:16 p.m.

kameenook says... #19

You have a very interesting meta. I don't know anybody that plays slivers outside of commander.

December 9, 2014 11:29 a.m.

LordJiblet says... #20

Thank you(Not entirely sure if you are praising the the deck, or my sliver deck Slivers of All Shapes and Sizes). I find this deck to be VERY effective in a Sliver match-up. I played 2 matches(Pre-land update) and lost both, but I found that controlling their land and making them discard cheap things like Predatory Sliver or Sinew Sliver really affects the outcome of the match.

December 9, 2014 12:01 p.m.

APPLE01DOJ says... #21

Have you considered using Norn's Annex as a budget option for Ensnaring Bridge?

December 9, 2014 12:05 p.m.

LordJiblet says... #22

Never even heard of it XD Looks like a cool card. Seeing as Ensnaring Bridge is $15.00 v.s. the 95 cent price tag on Norn's Annex. I will see if I can get any off trade or order it. I should be getting a paycheck here soon. I think I will start on getting the lands first and then hopefully The Rack will be in soon.

December 9, 2014 12:14 p.m.

Sweet_Nectar says... #23

If your'e not running Thoughtsieze then I suggest Inquisition of Kozilek or Duress or maybe even the Cabal Therapy slash Gitaxian Probe combo.

December 9, 2014 3:28 p.m.

LordJiblet says... #24

I've actually considered all of the cards you listed. I've found that Duress is more suitable in the sideboard if I were to use it. Cabal Therapy is a fun, effective card that I can see working well with Waste Not, but I would be confused as to what to take out or if I would even use it at all. Inquisition of Kozilek would be in my sideboard if I ran with it(I can see it being really effective v.s. White). The price on it is going down too, so it's an option.

December 9, 2014 3:49 p.m.

Kjartan says... #25

Other than being a 12$ card Cabal Therapy is not modern legal

December 9, 2014 3:55 p.m.

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