I think for Modern you're way too creature heavy and too light on control. I would take a look at some Inquisition of Kozileks or Thoughtseizes as a t1 play. I've been working with this deck: Mono Black Devotion and it's been playing great.

Ideally with mono black you're looking at something like this:t1 - land + hand disruption t2 - land + relentless or spot removal t3 - land + gatekeeper, arena, lili or geralfst4 - land + oblit or board wipe if they're going super wide earlythen from then on you can keep on controlling with lili/removal/gatekeepers etc. and keep the pressure on with geralfs/relentless/oblit etc until you eventually drop a gary.

I'm a fan of the build in general, just seems like it may take a bit of tweaking to get it competitive.

retropman Thanks for the comment. I definitely need a solid T1 spell. I prefer Blackmail over Thoughtseize in a lot of matchups as I don't need to shock myself for it and as an added bonus I can hit their lands. This is my 8-RACK ATTACK deck that worked pretty well without Thoughtseize main board. I'll try one or both maybe with Surgical Extraction for a bigger hit.

Not a bad deck. I was also working on a deck like this. My suggetion is run Bloodghast, Leyline of the Void, and Demigod of Revenge. Also I feel that Crypt Ghast is not needed.

Kevaka Thanks for the input. I am slowing coming to that realization. Crypt Ghast is more often than not a 4 cmc top deck that I don't need. Very rarely is he actually there early enough to make a difference. He also doesn't do anything when he ETB and is likely blown up next turn. I love the idea of Bloodghast. $$ But really works well with the amount of land drops and Liliana of the Dark Realms (+1) ability. Demigod of Revenge could take the place of Sheoldred, Whispering One at the top of the curve with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I guess I would need to run at least two of Demigod in order to make its relevant.

Go for the Throat in place of Victim of Night maybe and Lost Legacy for Infinite Obliteration is a possibility as well.

A singleton Arena, is good with phyrexian obliterator, Forces a fight and is just another swamp with urborg down.

CptZutii I'll try one. Thanks for the suggestion.

saturn999: in mono black devotion, Geralf's Messenger is mandatory for the same reasons as Strangleroot Geist in green stompy decks. its mana cost gets your devotion up, and the undying helps it stay up.

Chasmolinker: how are you exiling lands that produce red mana (or any mana for that matter) with Relic of Progenitus? it only exiles cards in graveyards. but the only lands that would be there are fetchlands. so i'm not sure how you could "exile all of his red mana sources"

saturn999 I understand where you're coming from. But the deck either curves into Gary draining for 10+ on turn 5 or it gives you off curve Geralf's Messenger and you wind up at 5 or less life because of it. At that point resolving Gary is the only out. But when you do go off, that resilient 3 devotion really adds up and swings the game back in your favor.

DankStompy It seems I left out some key details in that statement. I think he was using Grim Flayer and dumping his fetchable red sources in the graveyard. I'm trying to think back to it, but I think Relic of Progenitus was simply forcing him to exile every card in his yard including the lands. I landed a Surgical Extraction early on and hit all of his Verdant Catacombs. It eventually got to the point where he had no red shock lands in his deck and was only able to draw into red sources. I don't really remember the exact sequence to be honest. All I know is that the combination of Grim Flayer, Phyrexian Obliterator, Surgical Extraction, and Relic of Progenitus left him with no red mana in play or in his deck towards the end of the game.

Towards the end of the game he cracked a Bloodstained Mire and stated that he had no red mana left.

I would cut 2x Torment of Hailfire for 2x Phyrexian Arena.

I'd also cut all 4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. In my experience the card does nothing more than mana screw. 4x Urborg is clearly here to offset it but your deck wants 5 to operate not 2 so having to check extra urborgs can also be a set back.

I think the 4th Gary is a necessity. Also while I understand if it's for budget reasons but Liliana of the Veil works great in MBD.

Lastly, it's a complete "win more" card but I've won games off the back of Whip of Erebos.

Appreciate the input APPLE01DOJ. I’m revisiting this deck after a long time away from the archetype. I’ve been jamming Jund and I got inspired to build this deck again after thumbing through my collection and stumbling across an old skeleton of the deck.

A 4th Gary makes sense. Liliana of the Veil could be tricky because she makes T3 really clunky with Geralf's Messenger and Lingering Souls. From what I remember anyways.

Torment of Hailfire acts as additional Garys no? More mana sinks for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. I could see cutting one Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for a Liliana of the Veil

No Geralf's Messenger ? Seems like it would combo well with Restoration Angel .

I go back and forth with Geralf's Messenger . I’ve decks run a full playset but unless you draw your finishers it tends to be too clunky in my experience. By T3 you need to get a strong foothold with the current meta and Liliana of the Veil is a better play imo. I could see running one though. It’s definitely good later in the game or whenever you get an opening to cast it without much downside. Coming into play tapped causes some tough spots some times. It does feel good when you get one down.

As for Restoration Angel bouncing messenger it’s a cute play after undying happens. I’m looking more at bouncing Gary . Or an Obliterator in response to path .

I have to agree with you about Geralf's Messenger being clunky, actually. I've been playing a similar mono-black midrange list for about 6 months now and I too find that dropping him on turn 3 just doesn't cut it for most match-ups. I've tried combinations of Nyxathid , Nightveil Specter and even Phyrexian Crusader in his place and they generally have more of an impact when they hit the board. Nyxathid especially has caught a lot of people off-guard.

I really hope we can make a deck viable for Phyrexian Obliterator in the current meta, as he (she?) is probably my all-time favourite card!

God speed good sir.

Same to you EasterEllis!

I have Nyxathid . Never tried it in devotion though. Only ever in 8 Rack. I’ll test it out.

Did you ever get a chance to try Nyxathid in this deck? If you did how’d it go?

I haven’t sleeved this up yet. Might try it next week. I’ll let you know if I run it.

I love this deck. I would also consider Nightveil Specter for the sideboard

That’s a cool card. I’ll have to try it out one day

Spicy Banehound !

I can’t wait! Mono Black Aggro is gonna be a deck

Please don't bother with Banehound, it will only lead you to disappointment

metalevolence I’ll agree to disagree. I’ll take a chance on it as it is only a common. I see it as the Goblin Guide