i had the same probem as you and i removed the dragon and the deck runs faster and i got an extra win con out of it.... the dragon does pose and immediate threat but only if you have th mana to make it montorous so with that being said i run 3 master of cruelties and 3 demons and trust me ppl see that demon and just try to get rid of it more so than the dragon... yes it had prot from white but... is it realy worth it.... thats your call but i know my deck is running smooth and i use lots of crature removal and board wipes with Mizzium Mortars and usually i do not ven have to deal with them blocking or sacking because they cant sack wht they dont have... keep the dragon if you like but... still i favor using Mogis, God of Slaughter over Stormbreath Dragon

i reccomended Shock becuase it deals 2 damage nd if you swing and hit with master of cruelties then theair health is at 1.. so 2 dmage for one mana is efficient in that aspect... also it is effieenct against the r/g monsters since it cam kill off their Elvish Mystic turn one when they like to play it

xantos: You make some compelling arguments, and again I'm left struggling with a choice. Actually, everything you said are the reasons I originally put her in there but in practice, she's hit-and-miss and underperforms more often than I'd like. I do love that her +1 is very often a "Kill target Lifebane Zombie," since my meta loves mono black, but her 0 is something I rarely used for reasons I mentioned; namely, I'm not often without sufficient removal to handle a situation, which is the card type I'd most likely draw with her based on my deck composition. You basically run into a "use it or lose it" scenario, which backfires often. You make very good points about the downsides of Underworld Connections (and I really appreciate you pointing me to those decks, as they do help me quite a bit), and I may sideboard them. To Chandra's -7, again, I'm not often so without removal that I need to blow off 3 of anything to clear a board, and while Slaughter Games x3 certainly would be devastating against a good many decks, I only have 1 mainboarded and 1 SB, so the odds of hitting them are slim. The other thing is that there is a good chunk of time that I'm not able to defend her from aggro attacks while taking damage. Although, you could argue that in that case, she's saving me points off my life total when she's dying. I get a similar effect with Domri Rade in my RG Monsters deck, The Restless Rabble - 6-1, 2x Game Day Champ! - people FREAK OUT and it's full-bore kill Domri while I cast other things.

I'll have to consider what to do a little more here, it seems. Please all, keep the great discussion coming!

omenrai, do you have your deck posted on TappedOut? I didn't see it under your profile.

it is not ... yet but i am working on it gimme a few and ill get it posted

@regulus1010 heres the link to my deck i think youll like it http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/black-death-with-a-touch-of-flair/

Indeed I was responding to somebody else's deck on the latter half of my comment. Sorry! Nice edits. I would keep the deck as is right now. It looks wicked.

I feel like Demon is something you would want more than 2 of - not really sure where to make cuts though. Seems strong & I like seeing a brew that could compete in T2 or even T1.5

Thanks, valendras! I appreciate the feedback. I would love to include more Desecration Demon but you said it, where to make the cuts? Similar decks have less diverse win-cons and more copies of demon and Stormbreath, but I like that it keeps my opponents on their toes and it's harder to sideboard against. What's better is when they don't see 2-3 of my creatures in games 1 or 2, and don't have answers to them when they do come out. Not to mention that Pack Rat turns late-game dead draws into threats.

Here's my deck if you wanna look:

@xantos: Thanks for that! I did look at that a week or two ago and gave you a +1. We have largely the same deck although some stylistic preferences obviously show, for example we have different wincons but the theme is there. I chose to sideboard Doom Blade because I never, ever want to draw a dead card on game 1 in the event that I'm facing a black deck - I'd be concerned with your 3 MB copies for fear of drawing 2 in the opening hand, keeping, then not being able to kill anything right away. I think your switch to Crypt Incursion MB was a great idea, which is something I did about a week ago as well. I prefer Mizzium Mortars mainboard to both take out mid-level fatties and double as a more powerful Anger of the Gods when I haven't drawn my copies - plus Mortars gets rid of that pesky Blood Baron of Vizkopa , which is a killer, especially since Devour Flesh won't always snag him.

Love it overall!

You could probably drop Slaughter Games , Crypt Incursion , and a Mountain to squeeze in +1 Chandra, Pyromaster and 2 more creatures. If you don't want to drop one of those, drop a Read the Bones .

For the sideboard, drop Whip of Erebos (not enough creatures) and Crypt Incursion to add 2x Sire Of Insanity for the U/W control matchup.

Doom Blade > Ultimate Price - more relevant in the Mono-B matchup.

Drop the Drown in Sorrow for another Pithing Needle .

I disagree with some of meecht's choices - I play mono-black, and I play it HARD (5-2 at a 172 person PTQ) Both Ult Price & Doom Blade are cold to the only 2 creatures you really give a shit about. They don't hit Nightveil Specter, and they don't hit Blood Baron. Devour Flesh does. Your spot removal should kill everything else (Most of it will take care of the specter, but you're gonna have to make them eat the Baron). I'd run Bile Blight over Drown in Sorrow, as it costs one less, is an instant, and kills more things (Again, Specter - it's a real card). I understand your earlier comment about wanting to keep them guessing about what's in your list, but at the same time, too many 1-2 of's starts to create inconsistancies for you, and you don't want to be on what I call "the hope & pray plan", going "Shit, I need [insert card name here], but I only have 1!".

Again, I'm running mono-black, but maybe something on my list will give you an idea?

He has Mizzium Mortars and Devour Flesh for Blood Baron of Vizkopa . Granted, I would like to see another Mortars somewhere in the 75.

Nightveil Specter dies to literally every removal spell in the deck, so I don't think he has to worry about it much.

Ultimate Price only blanks on a few creatures here and there, but what it misses is killed by the other removal. On the other hand, Doom Blade blanks against not just an entire deck which also happens to be the #1 deck right now.

I agree, Mizzium Mortars is a 3 of, and Doom Blade is bad, now that people have realized black is insane in the format. And, I will reiterate that Bile Blight is better than Drown in Sorrow , but you should run 2 of each in the side. 2 Bile Blight are probably also correct in the main.

It's both interesting and highly informative to read your comments back and forth, meecht and valendras - thanks for taking the time! (+1 me please, meecht! Trying to get this deck farther into the top 100).

Every single card you've both talked about, including how many to run and whether to MB/SB is something I've considered and in some cases, flip-flopped on. So, in order:

• Dropping Slaughter Games isn't something I want to do because even in game 1, it gives me access to their hand and library if my guess for a card is wrong. That helps me tremendously in games 2/3 for sideboarding and is worth it's 1-of in the mainboard. A 2nd out of the SB can be devastating to any deck with key cards, or just things you'd rather not deal with.

• Crypt Incursion is the only thing in the deck that gains me life. If I'm unlucky in removal draws or get mana flooded and take damage before getting creatures out, this card helps me stabilize. It's a new addition, so it's still in test mode and might go.

• I was at 24 lands before, and I can tell you, missing land drops is a death sentence with this deck. Taking out a mountain isn't an option, and the extra land is my 61st card. 26 felt like too many but 24 seemed like not enough. Amazing how much better it runs with that 1 extra land.

• I wouldn't mind getting more creatures in but the ones I have are 4-5 CMC, which means that adding them = less removal, which means lower chance of survival while getting to turn 4-5+.

• Whip of Erebos is in sideboard for matchups running heavy removal/mirror since my wincons actually need to stay on the board, as I have so few. I have no way to get any creatures back if mine die, and a hand full of removal in the mirror does nothing to help me win other than live longer. Whipping back a Pack Rat could effectively end the game with a card in hand to spare and 7 mana.

• A copy of Sire Of Insanity has literally been on my desk next to the deck for 2 days trying to find a way in, so it's funny that you mention it. I would replace Drown in Sorrow , I think, with that. I was looking for a 4th sweeper SB, but not sure I need it with 3x Anger of the Gods MB.
  

• Not sure I need another Pithing Needle , but maybe. It's really only for AEtherling , at least off the top of my head. I have 6 direct Planeswalker removal spells, and my other removal hits every else, so I'm not extremely worried about them. I wouldn't want to also stop my own Mutavault . Any arguments against my logic? Am I forgetting something here?

• A week ago, I had a 3rd copy of Mizzium Mortars in my SB so I like where your head is at. Just not sure what else would come out, however. Between Devour Flesh and the 2 Mortars I have MB, I have 2 definite and a total of 5 potential killers for that bastard. Think I need another?

• Not at all worried about Nightveil Specter - as was stated, half the deck kills him - not to mention 5 flying wincons.

• I did originally have 2x Bile Blight MB but removed them for extra copies of Dreadbore and Hero's Downfall . Having 3x Anger of the Gods and 2x overloaded Mizzium Mortars means I have 3 definite and 2 situation sweepers, and I have so much single target removal it's not even funny, so I felt Bile Blight was the weakest remaining removal choice. Remember, this isn't mono black so I don't HAVE to take that entire removal suite, as many other options are available to me.

Much appreciated feedback, again! Would love further discussion on some of the points I raised.

I'm not a huge fan of Pack Rat in this deck. Master of Cruelties . Has to be one of my favorite cards for the colors. I think you should take out Pack Rat and add one more Master of Cruelties and a Mogis, God of Slaughter to the deck. I really like this combo because they are forced to sacrifice a creature at the upkeep or they lose the game, plus you don't even need a burn spell to win. Having one Master of Cruelties screams for removal, so having a second one for back is great. I ran a deck very similar to this pre-Born of the Gods that was pretty similar. +1 from me

This deck is win

+1 from me

This deck looks scary. +1 from me.

Every time I see someone that puts Lightning Strike or Shock I always tell them this. Please replace any burn spells with the card Lightning Bolt it does the same burn ability but for a cost of 1 it's a must have to my opinion.

Lightning Bolt isn't legal in Standard.

Yep, meecht is correct. Lightning Bolt would be beyond broken in Standard right now, hence why the closest equivalent at 1 red is Shock . I remember in the late 90's when I had a burn deck that could consistently kill opponents in 4-5 turns, which back then was fairly ridiculous and people wouldn't even play that deck after a while. That was only going to last for so long lol.

@Fizzz & nakayama: Thanks to the both of you! Much appreciated :)

@KYLL_YO: Thank you for your feedback. This deck originally evolved from my mono black deck which, frankly, I found very boring and formulaic. That being said, Pack Rat is a remnant that I liked because it turned any late-game draw into a threat, not to mention the favorable interaction with Mutavault . To your point, I'm not sure how much I like it in the deck anymore, either, as it's more suited to a playset rather than a 2-of. Master of Cruelties is another option which I might increase to 2x, but Mogis, God of Slaughter won't be going in this deck. It's quite a ways back up in the comments, but elaborated on why I don't like him in here (as he was originally in). The combo you mentioned will be too few and far between, and he butts heads in the curve with Desecration Demon , which is probably the other card I'd bump up a copy of. Mogis just sits in my hand because I'd rather be casting other things or saving mana for removal - in short, he doesn't have the immediate impact on the board that a non-removal spell demands from this setup.

However, this does bring me to a very major potential change to this deck. To anyone that's following this, I'm very seriously considering splashing white for more versatility and some life gain, something this deck is sorely lacking. I trade a lot of life off for early shock lands, Thoughtseize and Read the Bones with only Crypt Incursion to gain it back. I also can't deal with any enchantments, Gods or legendary artifacts outside of Thoughtseize / Duress . Aside from having to spend another $80-100 in cash/trade for shock and scry lands and a few other cards, I'm wondering whether the added utility will make the deck more effective in the long run. Please, give me your thoughts on this build, which includes the addition of Blood Baron of Vizkopa & Obzedat, Ghost Council in the mainboard and Revoke Existence & Sin Collector in the sideboard. Please also leave comments on this page, as this is where any changes will show up.

Thanks again for everyone's support and feedback, and please keep it coming!

Rakdos Charm deals with artifacts and any graveyard stuff.

Gild can deal with Gods once they're turned on.

You're SOL about enchantments, though. B/R is weak to them by design.