The darkness will feast. On the menu: your life!
This deck is centered on the life drain mechanic. Build up the board until you drop a melt your face Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or simply extort your way through it all with
Thrull Parasite
and Crypt Ghast
Nightveil Specter and
Desecration Demon
help build up Devotion to black for Erebos, God of the Dead, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel, while also having strong board prescence for low CMC flyers.
Liliana of the Dark Realms and Crypt Ghast ramp to speed up your game. Taking swamps out of your deck means you wont topdeck them, and double mana + extort is insane.
Doom Blade and other removal spells to stall the game until turn 5 and on, when this really comes alive.
Considering splashing white for Debt to the Deathless. Suggestions and advice welcome.
EDIT: Changes to smooth out mana curve
-2 Liliana of the Dark Realms Too many cards with 4+ CMC. This card is nice, but too slow to be effective. More often than not, opponents won't bother removing and just plow through your life while you draw swamps.
-1 Crypt Ghast again 4CMC. Once this guy hits the board, your turns last a lot longer, you extort everything, and drop bombs twice as fast. The downside - 4 mana for a 2/2. Relying on this means no big plays till turn 5, and that's IF it survives the turn.
-2 Corrupt without liliana, this doesn't seem worth running.
-1 Rescue from the Underworld would like to run this as a 2 of, but need to test and see what I can move around for it.
- 1 Swamp just felt like too many, especially now with new, more shallow curve.
-2 Sanguine Bond 5CMC for a combo piece is pretty steep. Just wasn't working for me in real games.
+3
Returned Phalanx
needed a 2 drop with decent board presence. This seems to do what I want - act as a deterrent for attackers, and give some devotion to black.
+3 Underworld Connections card draw AND double black devotion.
+2
Desecration Demon
this card is one of the best bombs. It deserves 4 slots in probably any mono black deck.
+1 Whip of Erebos all of the lifelink. needs more merchant procs.
Minor update 17/10/13
-2 Underworld Connections-1
Returned Phalanx
+2
Dark Prophecy
+1 Abhorrent Overlord
