You have a very good base for your deck. In fact, I can only come up with a few cards that you might want. One of these would be Hunted Horror , as you can easily deal with the creatures you give him, and it is a two mana creature. However, this is probably a little more than you would want to spend on a budget deck. I would also consider O-Naginata , because most of the creatures you would like to attack with have the requirement stated. The last suggestion I have is Vorrac Battlehorns . I think that the trample would be good for those limited situations in which you might not have removal, as well as providing a place for a Phylactery counter.

The tokens that Hunted Horror makes have protection from black, so the only way to deal with them is with two Gatekeeper of Malakir s or a Mutilate . If I can't deal with them, then they just block all my stuff forever. O-Naginata is an interesting idea, but I have plenty of artifacts and the ones I have are more effective on any of my creatures. Vorrac Battlehorns is the most promising of the three, but Shadow Alley Denizen fills the same role, and is a creature, which is what I really need.

remove the 4 Lashwrithe s, they are only powerful for 4 mana. Instead, put 4 Vampire Nighthawk , they have lifelink and deathtouch.

The thing is, I already have a clogged 3 cmc slot. 4 Phylactery Lich , 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir , 3 Geralf's Messenger , and 1 Vampire Nighthawk . I'm going to miss out on things to do on the third turn. Yes, 4 Lashwrithe is maybe a little excessive, but they're extremely strong, especially in conjunction with Mutilate. I'll cut 1 or 2. Thanks for the feedback?

Sorry. I'm NOT going to want more things to do on the third turn. I'm only playing 3-drops into the fourth and fifth turns, so I wanted a strong higher drop. If you still think I should go with the Vampire Nighthawk , let me know why.

ok then :) personal choices :) but still, add more lands. You really screw your opportunity to win. The least you must add is 2 swamps, and, if still casual format, why not Cabal Coffers ? or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

I have been considering adding more land. But I almost always get more than I need. I'll often end the game with 8+ lands. Sign in Blood really help with that. I had 23 lands originally, but it was too many. If I ended up getting mana screwed a lot, I'll add another Swamp or two. As for Cabal Coffers and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx , it really seems like a great option. But I figured it out. Coffers doesn't provide any mana on turn 1 or 2. Turn 3, with 2 other lands, it'll give you 2. A Swamp instead would give me a total of 3. Turn 4, it finally gives me 4 mana. By adding that land, I'm essentially undermining my own deck for the first 3 turns, which is when I want to drop the Phylactery Lich . It also isn't a swamp, which keeps the count down for Mutilate and Lashwrithe , and I want those to be high. It would be a great card in monoblack decks that go longer, but this one is too fast to handle it. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

You should really consider putting in Crippling Blight over Shadow Alley Denizen . The reason why cause she is a 1/1 for an intimidate ability that will last until end of turn. At least with Crippling Blight the creature will get -1/-1 can't block at all until the creature or enchantment is destroyed. You have plenty of removal so it will actually work out a lot better if there are other creatures on your opponent's field, which can be sweeped pretty quick. Shadow Alley Denizen is only good for one turn she is useless for the rest of the game depending how the game goes for you. I can see why you might have her in there though cause she does have a bit of synergy with cards like Phylactery Lich when equipped with Inquisitor's Flail or Lashwrithe same with other creatures equipped the same way, but that's it. But that's my opinion. She's good and bad!

Also, you should consider replacing Dismember for another Vampire Nighthawk cause the life gain is much better to have plus deahtouch/flying or a Grasp of Darkness since it's a lot cheaper and does the same and remove one land and add another Tragic Slip or Grasp of Darkness . Hope this helps!

Overall I love this deck compared to my own. FTW Phylactery Lich !!!!

Upvote +1

I just put in Shadow Alley Denizen yesterday to see how it works. If I don't like it, it's coming back out. One reason was that I wanted to up my creature count, since if I play against any deck with removal and can't draw a Lich, my creatures get slaughtered. I also like the ability to drop a Phylactery Lich turn 3, then a Lashwrithe turn 4. The Germ comes out, activates the Denizen, and then I can pay the Phyrexian mana to equip the Lich and attack for 9 intimidate on turn 4, which is pretty good. I'll see if I like it and edit accordingly.

About Crippling Blight : I really do think I'd rather stick to a "real" kill spell. I just realized that it handicaps my Gatekeeper of Malakir : They can just sac the crippled creature, which is not what I want.

I have been playing around with the spot removal slots. I don't know if I want to add more Nighthawks now because I have such a clogged-up turn 3 (talked about it above), but I'll think about changing it up.Phylactery Lich !

Like I said it's a good and bad card but yea definitely try it out...but I understand now why not Crippling Blight makes me reconsider Gatekeeper of Malakir in my own deck. I'll have to find an alternate. You do have a point another option I guess I would suggest is Tormented Soul ...I think that card would fair better...

Your call. I'd rather have Gatekeeper of Malakir that Crippling Blight . Why Tormented Soul ? Yes, it can hold equipment and get in, but I'd rather have something that synergizes with Phylactery Lich (For everyone else, xKrenko's deck that we've been discussing is Conspiring with the Lich).

With the recent changes you made! For a midrange deck i think it works just fine, If anything I would remove 1 Duress for an extra Vault Skirge (I would of recommended it at first besides all others). One last thing to add and this is something I noticed a couple of play tests I did, you should add some Vault of Whispers to your deck in exchange for at least 3-4 lands. A lot of times I ran into having Phylactery Lich in hand and no artifacts by turn 7 not sure why. I would of thought I would get 1 or 2 at least by then like most draws. Anyways, with a land card as an artifact it would help plus it gives black mana so you couldn't go wrong with it.

I'm loving the Vault Skirge ! It makes the deck so much faster and I can win with one of them alone. Thanks for the idea. I'm trying to be budget, don't know if I can afford Vault of Whispers and it's banned in Modern anyway. Not that it really matter, but I couldn't enter it into a modern tourney.

Saw this deck yesterday and didn't even know it was yours. I've always like Phylactery Lich . A Phyrexian Obliterator or two could make a scary finisher. +1 from me. :D

Whoa. I never really thought about that card, just because I'm very budget and I think it's pretty expensive. But it would be insane in this deck, because of Inquisitor's Flail . It deals and receives double combat damage. That means they sacrifice twice as many permanents as they would, plus you're dealing double damage. I might have to shell out for some of those. Thanks for the idea!

Remove Vault of Whispers , it's not modern and except if half of your deck is artifacts, you will never be able to use Cranial Plating at his most potential :( For casual purpose, you can keep them. So... it sounds good, but excepts in artifact aggro and affinity, I will never get you to win more. But be advised if you use your decks in FNM. Vault Skirge is a perfect 2-drop, I see you want a more midrange-control approach, I'm all aggro in black me xD I use many many evasive creatures and boost them at my own risk. You can use Darksteel Citadel , which is legal, colorless (can be problematic with your choice of creatures) and also, an indestructible holder for your Philactery!

anything with Vampire Nighthawk s Lashwrithe s gets a +1 from me nice deck. I'm going to go put it together right now.

@Diresam12 Yeah, I know Vault of Whispers is illegal. I mentioned this before, but I can just take them out when I go to a tournament or play against someone who really cares. I mostly play casual, so it won't be much of an issue.

I don't like Darksteel Citadel because many of my cards like Sign in Blood , Geralf's Messenger , Gatekeeper of Malakir , and Phylactery Lich cost all black mana, so that would be a useless land drop for much of my deck.

I've been on the fence about Cranial Plating , not sure if it's good enough here to put in. I kinda wasn't thinking so either. Thanks for the feedback!

@JamestheJoo Thanks! Let me know how it runs for you.

Sounds Good, Looks Good = +1

Thanks! Any suggestions?

Why not Go for the Throat over Victim of the night, I also just realized you got Mutilate which can kill all your creatures. Is it meant for situational purposes? say when you have no creatures or only have four lands with a Phylactery Lich on the board? I would also recommend at least one more Vampire Nighthawk problem is what to take out!

You know what card has sort of got my attention as of late that works well with the lich is Worldslayer , However, it's an expensive card to play but a mean card if it resolves..

no Cranial Plating ? i feel like that would be pretty good here.

Or perhaps Swiftfoot Boots ? I was running a very similar deck about 6 months ago, and boots on a lich make for one very-hard-to-remove creature.

I've been toying with Cranial Plating . I only have 14 artifacts, and 4 of them are 1-toughness creatures. It's not often that a Cranial Plating will be bigger than a Darksteel Axe . Plus, they're just a little bit more pricey (I'm super budget) so I don't really want to shell out for them.

Swiftfoot Boots might be better, but Phylactery Lich is already really hard to remove anyway. I'm open to the idea, but I don't know if it will do enough to be worth the slots. Thanks for the feedback!

Just being indestructible isnt a huge threat. he's still subject to Path to Exile Vapor Snag , All Is Dust ect, and haste is just a good thing to have.