+1 for black devo and Gary

could take out some removal for more devotion with Gatekeeper of Malakir. The sac kicker could be super useful for matches against hexproof decks, is never a dead draw in the game, and provides good tempo early game by adding a crature to your side and removing theres.

I tried Gatekeeper of Malakir first and the removal was nice but in the more recent update I did i subbed them out for Geralf's Messenger which i like because he is sticky and adds more devo as my potential 3 drop. I do think however that maybe instead of the two Gatekeeper of Malakirs I have that perhaps Vampire Nighthawk would be useful for early game healing and flyer protection

Best idea is to take out some of your instant removal for Gatekeepers. They really are good cards and you can have those AND Messengers and Nighthawks. You are trying to get high devotion after all.

Either that or I'd take out the equipment as those seem kind of tacked on in this deck.

The Lashwrithe I'm thinking of removing because I haven't had many benefital uses as of yet but the Batterskull has been a life saver in more then one scenario for me, I also I'm really wanting to add 2 Liliana of the Veil which would give me devo with removal, in addition to possible +1 discard Bloodghast into land for the turn for a free Bloodghast

If you wanna follow a semi-mono shell like that, my call is to run those 3x Blood Moon. BM is the all star of Modern, shutting down for good half the decks in the meta, a not-so-soft lock you can power easly since you only splash for Red.

My call: + 3 Blood Moon, - 1 Lashwrithe, -1 Lightning Bolt, - 1 Terminate

I debated throwing in Blood Moon for a bit the only downfall is that I run so many fetches to fish out my dual lands (also good to revive a Bloodghast when I don't have a land play) that it could end up hurting me unless I went down on fetch count, also shuts down Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

True, but the shut down you are accepting will be much more devastating to the enemy. After all, your good things play in Black. People have been very greedy with their manabases lately.

You have so little R around that it wont be missed. Just make sure to run some more Swamps.

I've seen where it totally destroys some decks, but maybe I could do -2Polluted Delta, -1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth +2 Swamp, and +1 Blood Moon, then fit one or two into my sideboard as well, see how that runs for a bit.

Also considering if I should +1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, since it is really good ramp for devo

Have you ever considered Faithless Looting? It's the best Bloodghast support you will ever find. It also plays nice with Demigod of Revenge, another possible include for this deck. I also like it because it allows you to dig for more lands, that removal spell you are dying for, or those sideboard cards you brought in for games 2 and 3 that screw your opponent. I really love it. Late game it plays even better because you can topdeck Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize and then flashback it from the grave to discard the dead draw and find a useful card. It's synergy with Kolaghan's Command is unmatched - turn 1 you looting to discard an (at the time useless) Phyrexian Obliterator and then on turn 3 you Kolaghan's Command to get back the Obliterator so you never lost card advantage, and then cast the Obliterator on turn 4 for a perfect curve.

I really think you should consider it in here. It improves consistency and, surprisingly, generates card advantage, both actual and virtual.

Definately likeing the Faithless Looting idea, unsure what I should remove for some though? Possibly an instant removal and a Batterskull? and add a couple of them in?

Well, I'd run a playset because if you draw multiple you can just discard the extra copies because of flashback. Let's just say it's my favorite card to see in my deck. I'd move both batterskull to the sideboard or maybe even cut them altogether. Your curve is super high and with big midrange giants like Phyrexian Obliterator and Gray Merchant of Asphodel, I don't see you needing them. The skulls are also really out of place. I have to say I actually like your current removal package in a format where all of the top decks (Twin, Jund, Merfolk) can be beaten on the back of a ton of spot removal. I have to say I don't like the Murderous Cut though because it is slower than Terminate and costs about the same in mana most of the time. Uggh these deck lists get so tight so quickly. I think you can cut the Bitterblossom to make room for the final copy. Your deck has some amazing midrange capabilities at the moment so the Blossom feels a little slow and dead. That gives you 4x Faithless Looting.

I like the idea of 3x Nykthos because the ramp is fantastic - if you draw a duplicate you don't care because you have a lot of mana anyway. 4x is a bad idea though.

May I suggest you look at the deck Rakdos Moon? I think something right in between your deck and that deck would be awesome.

Good luck!

The idea I had behind Murderous Cut was that it is another potential 1 drop like dismember can be without the suicidal phyrexian mana which helps for cheap removal, Bitterblossom was my only line of defense against flying for some time if I didn't have removal and it added some devotion while giving me blockers, it's been helpful for a few games but not helpful enough to run more.

Ok. Well, there aren't many fliers in modern. There aren't any fliers that you can't remove with your spot removal. Tokens, I guess, but you have other ways to beat them. You don't need Bitterblossom. It feels out of place in here.

In my opinion, cheap removal is the most relevant in the first 2-3 turns because after that you have more mana, so I'd say that Murderous Cut is still unecessary, but I don't know.

Your sideboard worries me a lot. What are the leylines for? I'd replace them with Rakdos Charm because it is good against Affinity, Twin, and has grave hate if you need it. Actually, the rest of it looks pretty solid, but you have to have artifact hate, and Rakdos Charm is perfect for the job. 2 Kolaghan's Command is usually too little too late.

I'm still fiddiling with my sideboard a LOT, this is my first ever deck as I've been playing mtg for a short 4 months now maybe, so learning other decks I'm trying to find way to counter them.

So then Figag would you think running a Blood Moon or two sideboard would be worth it if I maybe went down on a couple fetches for some more basic Swamps? Perhaps the only other sideboard I was considering since it shuts down lots of greedy manabases so well; was also brought up as a suggestion.

Honestly, I don't think you need to adjust your manabase at all because you can get your 2 swamps turns 1 and 2, then be set for game with your mana. Adding 2 sideboard replacing Fulminator Mage is the best thing to do. Phyrexian Obliterator will be hard to cast, but easier than you'd expect. Maybe not turn 4, but you can also wait on the moon so you play Obliterator turn 4 and follow with a moon turn 5 for a devastating lock.

If I get time later I'll copy this deck, playtest for awhile, and report back on what worked. I love the idea here!

So I did some playtests and I'm still doing more, and I've found that this deck has some amazing synergies and plays, but some cards are definitely out of place and there are some holes.

The deck plays best when it is the beatdown and the opponent is the defender, which is difficult to do when your creatures are pretty slow to hit the field. They are fantastic when they finally hit play, but they are slow right now.

But I don't want to change your creature base because it is really good right now. So the answer is to slow your opponent even further.

The Phyrexian Arenas seem out of place as well. They are just too slow. Card advantage is great, but most decks will win before you benefit from it. Modern is just so fast these days with burn and affinity as top decks. So I'd drop the Arenas.

Unfortunately I didn't find Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to be useful at all. It made me sad because I love the potential it has, but it makes sense that it wouldn't work. Outside of Elves, it really doesn't belong in modern. In this deck, Nykthos is useable on turn 3, but you never have devotion by the start of turn 3, so it really isn't helpful until turn 4, but by then you can be casting Phyrexian Obliterator anyway, so there is no point to Nykthos. Well, the turn 5 Gary, but you can drop him anyway because you have 5 lands; the devotion doesn't help much at all. In the later game scenarios it is redundant because you will win anyway so jamming extra spells through doesn't help much. I actually found it to be more of a bother than an asset because it only makes colorless mana without devotion, preventing me from playing Phyrexian Obliterator sometimes. On the plus side, cutting Nykthos allows you to play Blood Moon mainboard which is huge because in game 1 no one expects it and it will be devastating. Maybe run 2 mainboard and 1 side? It is sooooo good. Also, may I suggest 1 Swamp and 2 Lavaclaw Reaches to replace the Nykthos's?

To make room for the Moons, you have 2 spots open from Phyrexian Arena, but I also think you should add 1 more Inquisition of Kozilek. Hand disruption is fantastic against every deck these days, so I wouldn't go without it. The final card I think you can cut is 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel because it is only good when you have 5 mana to spend on it. Your curve is just a little too high and dropping 1 Gary will help.

Now for the sideboard. There are still cards in there that you don't want and don't need. To start, creature-based aggro is fairly big in the meta right now (elves, merfolk, and zoo are all tier 1 or 2) so I'd make room for 2 more Vampire Nighthawk sideboard. I know from experience how powerful it is against the aggro decks. If you move the 2 Blood Moon to the mainboard, then I'd add 1 Sowing Salt (for versatility, and it's better vs Tron) to the side to have extra available.

Pyroclasm is super good in the current meta. It helps, trust me. Maybe run 2 of that as well? I haven't done extensive enough playtesting against the meta to know for sure, but it is wonderful in my deck.

Kolaghan's Command might have to go. I need to playtest more against Jund to know for sure, but I don't think you need it.

What happened to Liliana of the Veil? That thing synergizes with both Bloodghast and Faithless Looting. It's also hand removal, creature removal, and a wincon all in 1 card. It may not be super proactive, but I'd look for a way to squeeze 2 back in. Uggh these lists get so tight so quickly. Anyway, I love this deck and good luck building it! Speaking of, what's your budget? For your first deck this is getting really expensive...

1) Phyrexian Arena I've loved the card advantage this provides usually pulls out answers from my deck fast while giving devotion that is harder to remove, however with the addition of Faithless Looting I could try without.

2) i may actually have to agree with your comment on Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, I've only found a select number of cases where i actually gotten a benefit and a few times my only turn 4 land option was Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx with not enough devotion on field my my Phyrexian Obliterator in hand....however, my dream of turn 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel for 8-10 dmg would die :((

3) I did have 3x Inquisition of Kozilek and 3x Thoughtseize, was just flipping numbers around while playtesting

4) Liliana of the Veil was taken out because, for testing, Faithless Looting, was accomplishing my plan for her of Bloodghast discard, however if i get the funding to add her maybe the removal of Phyrexian Arena may work for adding her in...I also felt myself having a shit ton of 3 drops at a point when she was in, while now I seem to have a ton of 1s. the issue with so many 1 drops i found myself emptying my hand so fast without a Phyrexian Arena

You're exactly right. Right now everything is a 3-drop so your deck is pretty slow. Extremely effective once it gets going, but sadly too slow.

Not sure how I feel about dropping Gatekeeper of Malakir. I'd almost want it over Geralf's Messenger because it helps slow your opponent more, but the Messenger is some fantastic aggro, but I think it plays better as the top of the curve in a mono-black aggro deck, not as the bottom of a midrange deck. I'd swap them back, but I don't know because the Messenger does do a ton of damage and has more devotion.

I would really consider those Lavaclaw Reaches. They're good, but perhaps unnecessary and coming in tapped is a drag.

Uggh, this is so hard to optimize.

Tell you what, I'm going to do some more playtesting because vacuum theorizing does not work with this deck - I don't have enough of an idea of how it plays. After I've done a couple matches against each meta deck, I'll report back to you. It may take awhile because I don't want to do it in one sitting.

I bring you sad news after some playtesting. There are quite a few changes that need to be made.

First, swap Geralf's Messenger back for Gatekeeper of Malakir. The messenger is rather irrelevant when you have a Phyrexian Obliterator on the next turn.

You have no idea how it pains me to suggest my next piece of advice. Oh, how I wish I could recommend anything else. You should probably cut Gray Merchant of Asphodel altogether. I love Gary dearly, but he doesn't work in modern. His mana cost is too high to reliably cast and he is only useful when you are already winning. If you are behind, he is not useful and when you are ahead he is unnecessary. By cutting him you lose the devotion part of your deck which I hate to see go, but it is for the better unfortunately.

If you drop 3 Gary, then you can add 2 more Vampire Nighthawk and 1 more land. The power of Nighthawks can't be understated. At 3 mana they more or less end the game against some decks. They're too good to go without.

Then add 1 more land. You need to have 23-24 because if you get flooded, you lose. It's as simple as that.

A couple of other small changes that I'd suggest is dropping the sideboarded Slaughter Pact for something else because you have enough spot removal in the mainboard.

And then I think your deck is there! It is fast enough to disrupt and interact with the fast decks, big enough to hate on BGx, and interactive enough to beat the combo decks. I like it!

Burning Devotion copy

I think that's the best I can do. Ignore the sideboard for now, but the mainboard feels simple, elegant, and deadly. It has a nice curve with a healthy mix of creatures and removal. I like it a lot.

Hey check out my deck Budget Mono Red Burn

Nice decklist, good to see Phyrexian Obliterator in a another grixis deck. I see that Kolaghan's Command has already been recommended and your 3-drop slots are quiet full, though it's ability to bring back your creatures and it's other modalities are great. Not a devotion build but check out my deck Infinite Interplanar Genocide