Compared to red lists, black has a hard time accumulating as much damage, as the spells are less effective and not as versatile. Maybe try a B/R version to have the best of both worlds?

Appreciate the input. Definitely can’t argue with that idea. It would be far more competitive for sure.

But I’d really like to keep it mono black, just for the challenge of trying to build it. I’d never take this to FNM or anything, but I think it could be fun to surprise the kitchen table crowd and pull out a mono black burn deck. It has that ‘wait, what?’ unexpected surprise value.

I would add Dash Hopes. While it gives your opponent a choice, in both situations it helps you out

I like the idea of Dash Hopes. What should I remove to include it, and how many copies?

maybe remove Remorseless Punishment and Mental Agony for 4 copies of Dash Hopes. However, I'd have to playtest to really know how many you Dash Hopes you should add.

Maybe Alms of the Vein? It goes well with Collective Brutality.

Also, since black doesn't have the same potential as red for burn, maybe play more cards like Geth's Verdict that helps you controlling the board but also make the opponent keep losing life. Smallpox could help with that, and can also trigger madness effects like Alms of the Vein. Maybe Burden of Greed and Circle of Affliction for sideboard.

Interesting idea, I’m thinking that you could go creature-less to focus exclusively on removal and control, while running Dash Hopes and Smallpox. But then it may start looking like an old school The Rack deck. If you want to go that route, you can focus more on discard too. Liliana of the Veil is a good enabler for discard and sacrifice as well

I agree with zAzen7977. To take more time, the deck should be more focused on discarding and removal imo. And black can do that while also dealing damages.

Smallpox and Collective Brutality are two very good cards to use with Alms of the Vein and Liliana's Caress.

I made a similar list featuring those combos if you want to take a look at my idea of the deck. Maybe it could help.

Gonti's Machinations is crying rn.

Almost no one remembers it XD

All you need are fetchlands.

You are playing a lot of bad cards to make this deck work, I made a list a while ago and I tried to avoid doing that here is the link if your interested.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-06-20-VVK-mono-black-burn/?cb=1593466095

However, from a competetive standpoint, rakdos burn is so much better. Here is another link :)

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-06-20-rakdos-burn/?cb=1593466220

However this list could still be improved significantly.

Flooremoji thanks for pointing out Gonti's Machinations, that’s going in for sure.

And yeah, after I cobbled the initial build together I surveyed what I had and wasn’t impressed. I haven’t had a chance to play test this yet but it didn’t exactly scream ‘good build’.

I know I could lean heavily into a couple other colors and/or archetypes, but I never intended to play this one even remotely competitively. It was just a silly idea for ‘kitchen-table-with-neighbors’ games. I’m going to keep it mono black and primarily burn, with light hand disruption. I’m mostly looking for any standout cards I missed that are categorically better than versions of what I already included, and this helpful community has already boosted the build considerably. Thanks to everyone.

Also, this is my least favorite deck I’ve constructed by a large margin yet it has the most likes. XD

Also if you don't care about legality there are a few good cards such as Forsaken Wastes Tyrant's Choice and unlikely but possibly Strongarm Tactics :)

I'd sub Kalastria Healer and Zulaport Cutthroat for Blood Artist and Blood Seeker. They have more interaction with your opponent's board than yours. I'd also add Sleeper Agent, it's a solid 1 drop that deals consistent damage.

This deck is the most ORIGINAL concept I have ever seen! And while it's honestly not as efficient as red burn, it's not at all bad! Good work sir! Also, I answered your question that you asked on my Fire and Lightning deck. I hope it clarifies things for you.

Hey Balaam__,i hadn't noticed this deck ^^.Put some ideas:1) Cryptic Caves or Barren Moor in the mana base? 2) Sanctum of Stone Fangs or you want to do damage only with istant and sorcery? 3) Play Serrated Scorpion,it's very strong!!!

Thanks Saccox. I’m still in the process of updating this deck (it was one of my earliest I posted to this site, and was in rough shape), so I’m taking any and all suggestions. I think the idea behind Barren Moor and Cryptic Caves is to utilize them for their draw power, and I’d have to say Yes the deck needs some of that. But I’d lean toward adding in Sign in Blood over the lands since it’s a bit more effective for us, or can burn the opponent in a 2-points-to-go scenario.

I like the idea of Sanctum of Stone Fangs but I get the feeling I’d need to rebuild most of the deck to get the maximum value from the card. I think I’ll pass on that one, but I can envision a deck it would do quite well in.

Oh, and I’ll be sure to replace Bile Urchin with the scorpion. Thank you for your input, as always!

How about Dread Presence. You could cut 1-2 Syphon Life for it. Cool build! +1

Hmm...I hadn’t seen that card before, Chasmolinker! I’ll add it to the maybeboard for now, until I have a chance to playtest it. Seems like it would be better, but I want to be sure. Thanks for the suggestion!

Desecration Demon is a nice finisher. Not a burn spell but sure hurts like one.

Nice build! As someone who plays Mono-black in Legacy though I would strongly advocate using at least two Leechridden Swamps as part of your draining land package though, it can't be overstated how useful being able to keep activating it if you flood out is. Might also be worth considering more discard - I know you've got Vicious Rumours but knowing what the opponent has in hand is key, especially when you don't have the impulse draw/looting mono-red uses as card advantage. Doesn't have to be a pricy Thoughtseize to strip counterspells and Castle Locthwain might do work ensuring you keep ahead too. Agree with Dread Presence being a beast, could even consider Gray Merchant of Asphodel if you don't mind that being draining rather than burn. Finally just a thought but how about sideboard Pestilent Spirit as a way to remove creatures using Sorin's Thirst or whatever?

Thanks for posting, loricatuslupus. I can’t believe I overlooked Leechridden Swamp—I think it’s because this originally began as a Pauper build before I switched formats. It’ll most assuredly go in.

As for the other suggestions, I can see their value but I’d prefer to keep this as close to true burn as I conceivably can. Options are limited and I realize I’ll be painting myself into something of a corner with this stipulation, but I think the uniqueness of it all makes it a worthwhile pursuit. If I ever decide to retool this to make it a more competitive build, I’ll take your suggestions to heart. Thank you for your input.

I like this deck, I have built a lot of black burn builds, and I’ve found that less black burn spells works a little better, Because, black burn spells don’t change the board state, And it helps to add a little creature hate or land hate, or both, or you could add some hand disruption, yeah that works too, but I do like this deck, good job.

Thank you for your interest in the deck, HobbyMan5000. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accommodate any of those suggestions, however. Changing the boardstate can certainly be advantageous, but is not necessarily always the best tactic. It does highlight why a true Red burn deck is better in this archetype; most burn spells in can target a creature OR player, thus being much more versatile. If Black had access to spells of that sort, all would be well. Unfortunately we basically have to pick and choose.

As for adding more creatures, more discard, more removal or whatever other cards can impact the boardstate—well, we wouldn’t have a ‘burn’ deck any longer. That would be some sort of middling mid range/control deck. That’s a perfectly reasonable and possibly quite successful deck, it’s simply not what I intended to build when I envisioned this.

I'm really liking this deck. How about Bond of Agony for a surprise finisher. As for the Land destruction that HobbyMan5000 mentioned above. Contaminated Ground or Pooling Venom could do some work. Vampire Lacerator could be an pseudo Goblin Guide. Or Bloodghast if budget is not an issue.

Gingerbrute or Banehound might actually be better T1 creatures

Bond of Agony is exactly the sort of spell I was looking for—great call, Chasmolinker.

I’ll pass on the land destruction, mostly because I recently built a deck abusing all sorts of cards in the Pooling Venom/Contaminated Bond wheelhouse. Bloodghast would definitely combo nicely with Zulaport Cutthroat’s LTB effect, but without him it doesn’t ‘burn’ in and of itself, so I can’t bring myself to include it. Again, it’s probably a bad call as far as winning games is concerned, but this deck was more of a thought exercise to me than something I’d expect to perform well. I appreciate the input as always.