I think the thing I am the most unsure about is how to balance Doom Blade , Dark Betrayal and Ultimate Price - which should be in main, which should be in the side, and which I just shouldn't play. Thoughts?

Rakdos Shred-Freak would fit in this deck nice and snug in replace of gnarled scarhide.

dude if you are going aggro i would drop the agent of the fates and swap in some rakdos shread freaks

Those suggestions sounds good.

-4x Agent of the Fates +4x Rakdos Shred-Freak

Also moved Doom Blade to the board in favour of Ultimate Price , and added some Mogis's Marauder s to swap out with the Spiteful Returned s.

also drop the blood crazed hoplite for pack rats. i know its budget but they went down to like barely $2 each

I can see that. There always seem to be better targets than the hoplites in my goldfish tests.

So: -4x Bloodcrazed Hoplite and +4x Pack Rat .

Also, I apparently miscounted something somewhere, so I dropped a Boon of Erebos

ight looks good +1

I'd swap the Mogis's Marauder from the sideboard with Bile Blight honestly as the intimidate is good.

Other than that, looks pretty cool!

honestly, the Ordeal of Erebos isnt going to be that good in most meta games. its too slow and you could be playing more one drops or a two drop instead of playing it. I kinda agree with MrWar and i say move Mogis's Marauder to the Main deck but instead i say take out Ordeal of Erebos . and may i suggest also playing Pain Seer ?? good 2 drop that they dont kill because they are too busy killing other threats like Pack Rat or Herald of Torment . so almost every turn, you get an extra card, which means more creatures, which in time means more damage.

I like the idea of Mogis's Marauder in place of the Ordeal of Erebos , but I think Pain Seer might be a little slow compared to my other options, so I'm going to stick it in the sideboard for now.

Mogis's Marauder and Rakdos Cackler and Rakdos Shred-Freak

Definite +1.

Morac , you have created a masterpiece

Aw, shucks.

Pack Rat isn't really aggro. It's a good card, but it is pretty slow compared to the rest of your plan. If you really want to play it, maybe fewer than 4 and just use pack rat as a powerhouse of a backup plan?

Boon of Erebos is also pretty puny compared to the rest of the high power, low cost cards here.

consider Thrill-Kill Assassin and main board Pain Seer ?

Hmm. I could see dropping the number of Pack Rat s to three or possibly even two maybe. Additional rats don't do a huge amount, and aren't my main plan. Thrill-Kill Assassin doesn't seem much more aggressive, though. Alternatively, if we consider Thrill-Kill Assassin as a replacement for Boon of Erebos , I think I like the flexibility of Boon as a way of not just dealing with threats but also saving my guys or just getting in for extra damage.

I am coming around on Pain Seer , though, as in my tests I've noticed that the low land count can stop me from curving out as effectively, and some Pain Seer s could help me keep up the pressure.

Here's what I've changed:

-1x Gnarled Scarhide

-2x Pack Rat

+3x Pain Seer

I've also put 3x Thrill-Kill Assassin into the board that can swap out with Boon of Erebos or Spiteful Returned if need be.

Added some more creatures to the sideboard to swap out with kill spells against creature-light control decks and just give me general flexibility.

+2x Pack Rat

+1x Pain Seer

+1x Thrill-Kill Assassin

dude pack rats are a main board must

Pack Rat s are still main board, I've just added some additional ones to the sideboard.

i find that the deck is coming along nicely :) i definately agree, Pack Rat is indeed slow, but there are so many draws in this deck that are like 5 lands, Rakdos Cackler and Pack Rat its those kind of hands that make you win almost every time you have the rat. on any other circumstance, he is sooo far from you game plan. This deck is indeed budget, but if you could get your hands on some Hero's Downfall that would be really good. you don't have to take my opinion at all. I'm an amazing pilot at using Mono-Black Aggro as well as Mono-Black Devotion and Mono-Black Control. i definitely think that your rat count should be at 3 and the Pain Seer count be at 4. the deck has so many explosives draws and no way to get raw card advantage. although you lose lots of life, you are the aggressor in the match, you need as much pressure as possible. i also suggest that you up the land count to 24. i have a similar deck list and even with 24 i still get flooded or screwed. maybe take out the Rakdos Shred-Freak for more Gnarled Scarhide and a fourth Herald of Torment having the 24 lands also makes it likely that you can bestow the demon onto a rat and make it fly lol. i also suggest Lifebane Zombie in the Main deck and 2 Whip of Erebos in the sideboard

Hero's Downfall and Lifebane Zombie are definitely out of budget. I'll think on the other things, and see what adjustments I can make.

Out of curiosity, what would you bring Whip of Erebos in against? I have very little knowledge of the current meta.

Thats fair. whip of erebos is basicly going to come in against the decks that will kill you out of no where. so creature based decks. but only against aggressive decks, not so much devotion decks. so like mono red, green/red monsters, and you can even bring it in against Mono-black Devotion so u dont die to a random Gray Merchant of Asphodel i recommend cutting the Boon of Erebos 's and the Ultimate Price 's. the Boon is better in heroic type decks and Ultimate Price is a good card as a 2 of or 1 of. but not when your flooded wioth them. what you put in is up to you. it makes room for Pain Seer and you can even use Master of the Feast although it does provides cards for your opponent, it turns on a fast clock. i would use 2 of them if you consider them.

Dude keep the boon of erebos in. They are great for keeping stuff like pack rat alive. Because once pack rat in on the field he is an automatic target. And that regenerate will save its but.

Dude keep the boon of erebos in. They are great for keeping stuff like pack rat alive. Because once pack rat in on the field he is an automatic target. And that regenerate will save its butt.

idk why it double posted

I see your point man with the Boon of Erebos but he could be playing more pro active cards that accelerate his game plan intead of having to wait and constantly keep mana open to use the boon. plus if hes running the deck right, the loss of a Pack Rat shouldn't affect his plan at all.

Alright, I've made a few more revisions. I've cut Rakdos Shred-Freak and some of the removal in favour of beefing up the other creature counts, as well as adding two more Swamp s. I do still like Boon here, though, due to the flexibility it offers both when being aggressive and on the defensive.

Still, it looks like the lineup of this deck isn't going to change dramatically, so I'm going to start acquiring the missing pieces so I can play some actual games with it.