Pestilence would be amusing here. Also for swamps... Nightmare and Liliana of the Dark Realms are fun. :)

Thanks for the comment! Nightmare is something I considered, but it's a bit late on the curve and only gives 1 devotion. Liliana is too pricy.

Pestilence looks funny, but I'm not sure what to drop for it. Any suggestions?

Lili is 4 mana...and less than $5 haha. Hmm...not sure what to drop to be honest...I just though it could be a cool card...perhaps 1 Merchant and 1 Connections? I would probably only run 2...

Ah yeah, I instantly assume Planeswalkers are too pricy because they have a tendency like that. It's available for ~2,50 euros so It could be an interesting upgrade over/besides the crypt ghasts. Liliana does fit in the curve well, was talking about nightmare at that point. I'll try out the Pestilence, 4 Connections is probably a bit too much and it would mean I have a few less 5CMC cards.

4x Hypnotic Specter4x Dark Ritual and max out the connections. A 4th ED hypnotic specter can be had for under a buck.

With a swamp and a dark ritual in your opening hand, you can play on turn one a

Hypnotic Specter

Underworld Connections

Vampire Nighthawk

These are DEVASTATING T1 plays.

If you're running casual why not just run Necropotence instead of Underworld Connections? Then just run Dark Ritual so you can play it T1. Also Hypnotic Specter and Abyssal Specter would be gold.

I'm going to disagree with Abyssal Specter, as Shimian Specter is superior IMO. Both are in bolt range, and the ability to remove threats permanently is very, very, very nice.

That being said, I do agree that you should load up your deck with as many 3 cmc as you can.

Rain of Tears is a personal favorite.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Hypnotic Specter looks sexy, except that it means even more 2-toughness creatures :P The deck is not really focused around discarding the opponent's everything, just thought Shimian was a cool card (though I could probably do with some more heavy hitting desecration demons or something to fit my playstyle). I'll try out a discarding version and a more standard punching people version :)

Necropotence seems like a nice upgrade, but it's more expensive and I don't like the part about skipping draw step a lot. It's an amazing card, more devotion, but not sure if I want to run it.

The other thing about Necropotence is that some people might complain about you using it. It is banned in legacy.

I too like Shimian Specter a lot, and it can be very, very useful.

Personally I think you are running too many kill spells. I also think you don't have a reliable enough way to trigger Tragic Slip.

If I were you, and if you want a lot of kill spells, I'd suggest the following:

3x Victim of Night1x Bile Blight2x Tragic Slip

Kitchen table magic is full of token decks. I cannot tell you how many times I've stared down an army of 2/2 wolves created by a Howl of the Nightpack. Bile Blight will take care of that problem. Tragic Slip requires you to jump through some hoops, but it will kill pesky indestructible creatures. Victim of Night is my personal favorite 2cmc black killspell. I consider it better than doom blade because aside from the occasional blue zombie or red vampire, VoN hits far more than doomblade does. Ultimate Price is also a nice kill spell.

If you find yourself with a few bucks to invest, I recommend getting some Dismember. Arguably the best kill spell there is. Can be played in any color, can be cast for 1 mana, and can kill indestructible creatures.

Good God how did we all forget Hymn to Tourach???

The best discard spell ever printed, as well as as essential and immediate 4 of in any black deck where it is legal.

4-of tragic slip was to sort out my mana curve and the -1/-1 sometimes comes in handy too, the morbid effect is mostly an awesome bonus :). VoN is amazing, especially against my friends' decks. There's indeed a few token decks being played (not necessarily swarm, orzhov just sacs everything), and almost every deck has oblivion ring/journey to nowhere, which is why I'm keeping Black Knight. I've already included the remaining bile blight in my sideboard, It's also a reason I considered pestilence a very viable card (except it made my then-present ogre's worse).

I'm fine with running less kills, I'll see what I can sacrifice to get some more permanents in :) and yeah, Hymn looks amazing! Already at my current cap of 20 euros so maybe if the other spells decrease in value I will consider a 2 euro card :P

Thanks a lot for your contribution, do you have a deck in particular you'd like me to try give some advice on?

I've got an illusion deck called There's a Hole in Your Plan... that I'm always looking for feedback on. It's been my pet project for quite some time now.

Just a quick note about mana curves: You don't take into account things like kill spells. The mana curve is about what turn you WANT to play it on. Aside from maybe Llanowar Elves or Birds of Paradise I cannot think of something that you would use a kill spell on that early. When figuring out your mana curve you want to remove stuff like that, because it will make it look like your curve is something it isn't.

I've always been a fan of mono black, so I'm thrilled to help out someone who is playing devotion.

Also, if you are running into a lot of Orzhov decks, I would recommend Hand of Cruelty. It's got great art, great flavor text, protection from white, Bushido 1, and 2 black devotion.

Stromgald Crusader is also VERY good. He's about 1.75 Euro (give or take- I'm converting from USD in my head), but if you can get yourself some, I'd recommend that. Go for hymn first though.

In terms of other 2 cmc cards, Pack Rat might be a good one. He was a staple back from the RtR/THS standard in mono black devotion, and since he makes copies of himself, each copy gives you another devotion.

If you don't already own a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, I would suggest buying instead two Leechridden Swamp.

You also need a fourth Gray Merchant of Asphodel. That is 100% non-negotiable.

I own 1 nykthos (from clash pack) and 1 whip of erebos (theros booster). The Whip is essentially taking the spot of Gray Merchant #4: gives me lifegain, besides, it synergizes with Gray Merchant's enter battlefield ability when necessary, giving me a total of 6 (provided they're killed off at some point after playing).

That's a lot of suggestions, I'll be puzzling for a while ;) Hand of Cruelty seems like a good one to complement my Black Knight, this is almost turning into a devoted-to-protection-from-white deck!

Stromgald Crusader is exactly 1.75 from stores if you wanted to know :P good job!

Not especially keen on running pack rat since there is already a rat-tribal deck being played.

no Squelching Leeches in a devotion deck?!

Well, what would i remove for it? I don't really have a lot of land acceleration cards, so to me the current 4CMC hitters I have seem better. Desecration Demon (flying, and 6/6 instead of 4/4 early) and Shimian Specter (flying, strong effect).

What happened to the Dark Rituals? They are the quintessential monoblack card.

The majority of your deck can be put out turn one with them.

Mostly a lot of games where mana was less essential than devotion happened, meaning it'd end up being a dead draw. I've put them back in, but if they don't quite do as well, I'd rather get more devo/kill spells instead. Can't really figure out how to fit all the suggested cards that have been given :P

I value first strike over +1/+1 when blocking in most cases to shut down 4/2 aggro stuff, which is why I kept black knight instead of hand of cruelty. Stromgald means 7 for a 4-of which is around 35% of my total budget that I'd like to spend on this beginner deck :)

No, yeah, Stromgald is quite pricey, and hand of cruelty was just a thought.

Here's the thing about dark ritual. It is often a dead draw late game. Even mid-game in some cases it is a dead draw. But early game, it is so powerful that the later stuff doesn't matter.

A similar card that is dead late game but still sees a lot of play is AEther Vial

Fair enough, I can stand behind that argument.

The only thing I worry about is the kitchen table meta that praises the Oblivion Ring as their lord and savior. but I guess by that point i've already had 2 turns for myself, and I should have decent enough removal to do something back.

The way the deck plays currently is really fun, thanks a lot for your help! Will let you know how it's been going, and when/if I'm going to spend some more money on it (for crusaders and hymns for example).

id swap Shimian Specter for Hypnotic Specter

Demigod of Revenge ever think about using him, i know a guy at my lgs that uses a deck very close to this and so many people cant stop demigod, and he is huge devotion to cast another one right after or a gary.

Wow, that is a really deadly card!

I've been using Desecration demons instead, because otherwise my Turn 4 is really weak, and I already have Gary as my main 5-drop. I'll definitely test it out, thanks for the suggestion!

what about Dash Hopes seems useful to have that since its very unique card in black.

Doom Blade and/or Dismember and/or Ultimate Price would be good in the site board