Thoughtseize
Todays decks are well oiled machines that display a lot of synergy and an ordered tempo that rivals some of the greatest symphonies. This pure-evil, extremely cheap, reviled sorcery is pure cacophony to those decks. Duress is a powerful card, displaying early disruption and late game counter-proofing. This powerhouse of a card is all of that and much more. Some games are won on the first few turns, decided by who drew the Thoughtseize first.
Pack Rat
Deal with me now or die. Once it hits the table, whether early game because it is also very cheap at 2 mana, mid-game once it can already spawn a copy, or late game when it turns into an army in the blink of an eye, this card has to be dealt with, with extreme prejudice. Turning dead cards into potent critters that also help with devotion even though they are tokens is just wrong.
Devour Flesh
Premier creature-removal at its finest. Instant. Low-cost. It evens has defensive uses in some circumstances when life-gain is needed. Pro-black? Hexproof? Indestructible? Its all yummy food to this badboy.
Read the Bones
Ive said it before and now, at least in the mtgonline meta, it has come to pass. This card is gaining popularity by the minute. Its fast becoming an unavoidable staple of any deck that splashes black. Card-drawing, card-filtering, madness.
Underworld Connections
Affordable card-drawing engine. 2 black to devotion that is hard to remove. Any deck that runs black as a main color now includes this at the very least in the sideboard.
Erebos, God of the Dead
A solid 4-mana choice with only one of its abilities, this guy has 3. Indestructible, strong (5/7 what?), and cheap drawing engine that gets you to your devotion needed that much faster. This card has so much synergy with all the other ones that opponents will often concede when he hits the board.
Desecration Demon
Lets go over this slowly. 4 mana. 6/6. Flyer. WTF. The alleged drawback is the opponent killing one of his own creatures while this gets stronger.
Liliana of the Dark Realms
Never too much of a good thing. Getting swamps for
Corrupt
, card in hand for Pack Rat, thinning the deck in general, absorbing damage from aggressive decks, indestructible beating creature removal, or game winning boost to that final attack. Oh and 2 devotion to black and some random 3rd ability that give a ton of mana for fun.
Whip of Erebos
2 more devotion to black on an enchantment. Lifelink to help with card-drawing drawback. Return of creatures from beyond to restart an army (Pack Rat) or deal more immediate damage (Gray Merchant of Asphodel) or do a nice 12 point life-swing (
Desecration Demon
).
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Gary is the poster-boy for mono-black devotion. All that life that we pay early on is returned to us as this comes into play.
Corrupt
Sorely overlooked by a lot of mono-black, this gem of a 12 point life swing (minimum) is a godsend (sometimes literally when drawn using Erebos ability) that goes straight for the jugular.
The only card I've yet to get my hands on is Mutavault.
Please give me feedback!
Astuce
