Gifts ungiven*

Sorry only 2 desecration demons. Can't find a way to edit

I would consider a Damnation for a full scale boardwipe and some draw spells like Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood or Read the Bones. I like he deck so far, black is my favorite color to deckbuild with. +1 from me

Thanks for the input. My opinion is that the Languish and Drown in Sorrow are good enough board wipes while not removing my army of 6/6's like Damnation would especially considering i have 8 specific removal spells like Doom Blade for specific individual creatures. Secondly i felt like my Underworld Connections take care of the drawing aspect but like i said i want advice as to if i should replace them with Phyrexian Arena instead

also maybe replace all Drown in Sorrow with Languish????

I'd recommend taking out Doom Blade for Inquisition of Kozilek and maybe 2 Go for the Throats for Thoughtseize. Or taking out one or two Drown in Sorrows. Hand disruption is very powerful in modern and it necessary when playing black. If you really are ready to invest money, then I'd recommend a playset of Dark Confidant and taking out 3 Herald of Torments for Liliana of the Veil.

ok maybe you can help me understand. Inquisition of Kozilek seemed kinda like a lesser version of Thoughtseize and i thought for Thoughtseize would do the job as opposed to inquisition. maybe im failing to see the advantage but thats how i feel. also i hear everyone ranting about Dark Confidant but i also fail to see the advantage. if i had Phyrexian Arena i feel like i would have to same draw advantage but without the risk of losing 4-6 life from my 4,5, and 6 drops. like i said help me understand if im failing to see how good these cards are. and thank you for the input

Ah, sorry, I forgot about those more expensive cards. I think Phyrexian Arena would be fine then. If Elves are your problem, then IoK is fine. Thoughtseize just hits the bigger bombs and anything. Since most stuff in modern is below 3 CMC, IoK pretty much hits everything without the life loss.

i feel you on that but i do play against a the gifts ungiven tron that has alot of cards with high mana cost

Haha if you really, REALLY want elf hate... I have one word for you. Languish. I can't tell you HOW many times that card has destroyed my entire board. Elves is a really linear deck. We either play everything and win, and not get board cleared, or play nothing for safety and risk losing. A playset of languish is seriously a must, must, must. Nothing in an elf deck is over three power base, so a languish is seriously devastating to an elf player, and they will not recover. Take out the Drown in Sorrows and have a playset of Languish instead.

Underworld Connections just isn't good for card draw. You lose a land, and one life. Phyrexian Arena is a much better choice.

Your creatures can seriously be upgraded. Geralf's Messenger + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Phyrexian Obliterator are all great. Keep those. Get rid of everything else. That's 10 more slots for creatures freed up. I would add these in:

4x Bloodghast

4x Stromgald Crusader

4x Gravecrawler

Because that's two slots over, take out one Obliterator and one Merchant to free up those two slots. :) This creature base is a lot more efficient in getting the job you want done.

If you want to be annoying, Whip of Erebos is pretty difficult to deal with, and probably unexpected :) Two of these could be pretty good.

Your spot removal, Go for the Throat, Doomblade and Ultimate Price can come out. They aren't really that needed, especially since you're planning on running some boardclears. In that place, I would put four Thoughtseize and three Profane Command. That leaves one slot, so what you do with it is really up to you. If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, a Liliana of the Veil, even a one of, would do you pretty well :) If not, putting another Phyrexian Obliterator isn't a bad option either :)

What are your thoughts on Phyrexian Crusader in the sideboard? I feel like he'd be pretty strong.

I think it'd be a pretty good sideboard card. Great if you're playing against red and white :P I probably shouldve included some sideboard options too!

Phyrexian Crusader is great, maybe one or two of those.

Torpor Orb against combo - at most two.

Leyline of the Void as a one of in case you're against graveyard interaction.

If you want to run four Overgrown Tomb, having two Abrupt Decay is a pretty good option for some instant spot removal :)

Beast Within if you're running that green <3

Surgical Extraction to get rid of some important cards

I always thought Gatekeeper of Malakir was pretty good if it's kicked. Really strong.

Liliana's Specter is as well okay too.

Since you're mono black with (maybe?) a splash of green, your sideboard options are fairly limited. However, you can still get a lot done :D

ok let me run through this one by one and im seriously open minded to contrary opinions and advice: Phyrexian Crusader- dope card but i just cant see myself making room for it in my sideboard thats 4 Fulminator Mage 2 Witchbane Orb 1 Orbs of Warding 4 Leyline of the Void (specifically for gifts ungiven tron). and 4 Extirpate just for extra combo stoppage

Torpor Orb SUPER INTERESTED dope card. would this cause Iona, Shield of Emeria to not activate its protection ability

Leyline of the Void YES YES this is exactly what i was thinking to stop Unburial Rites while also adding devotion

really not trying to throw in any green

Gatekeeper of Malakir i like but i just cant see me making room for it considering i have the 3 Nantuko Shade and 4 Geralf's Messenger

For your mainboard, I would look to my other post for suggestions there :) It can really be improved :P Ill repost here again as well so you can see.

"Haha if you really, REALLY want elf hate... I have one word for you. Languish. I can't tell you HOW many times that card has destroyed my entire board. Elves is a really linear deck. We either play everything and win, and not get board cleared, or play nothing for safety and risk losing. A playset of languish is seriously a must, must, must. Nothing in an elf deck is over three power base, so a languish is seriously devastating to an elf player, and they will not recover. Take out the Drown in Sorrows and have a playset of Languish instead.

Underworld Connections just isn't good for card draw. You lose a land, and one life. Phyrexian Arena is a much better choice.

Your creatures can seriously be upgraded. Geralf's Messenger + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Phyrexian Obliterator are all great. Keep those. Get rid of everything else. That's 10 more slots for creatures freed up. I would add these in:

4x Bloodghast

4x Stromgald Crusader

4x Gravecrawler

Because that's two slots over, take out one Obliterator and one Merchant to free up those two slots. :) This creature base is a lot more efficient in getting the job you want done.

If you want to be annoying, Whip of Erebos is pretty difficult to deal with, and probably unexpected :) Two of these could be pretty good.

Your spot removal, Go for the Throat, Doomblade and Ultimate Price can come out. They aren't really that needed, especially since you're planning on running some boardclears. In that place, I would put four Thoughtseize and three Profane Command. That leaves one slot, so what you do with it is really up to you. If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, a Liliana of the Veil, even a one of, would do you pretty well :) If not, putting another Phyrexian Obliterator isn't a bad option either :)"

i like this advice. maybe im just being stubborn. i really like grave titan and desecration demon but i can see why they would seem unnecessary. the nantuko shade come in clutch when i have alot of mana from nykthos so i can pump the fuck outta him. i was sriously considering just replacing all the drown in sorrows with languish but thought it would still be beneficial to keep some doom blades around for bigger guys. also the idea of them not being able to block leaves me uneasy but then thinking of what happens when i wipe they board and can bring them all back from the grave (something i cannot do with nantuko shade. which to be honest comes out turn 2 but the will get wiped turn 3 or 4 and alomst be of no value to begin with) hmmmmmmm

Yeah. There are a lot of reasons that the creature cards that I'm recommending are annoying. First it, they have graveyard interaction. So boardclears, while they effect your opponent negatively, do not effect you that much. The second reason is they're great chump blockers and game stalling creatures until you can get Phyrexian Obliterator out and start doing some SERIOUS damage to your opponent. Your opponent, unless they've got spot removal, will never, ever block or attack your Obliterator in fear of the permanent sac that it has. And as well, Whip of Erebos is pretty nasty in this deck. You have a lot of ways to win, and it's a really difficult matchup for most decks.

The cards that you're running for creatures right now are severely inefficient. They won't get the job you want done fast enough. In a casual setting they're fine, but for anything competitive, it just wont be fast enough.

ok dude this is what i need. i need someone to give it to me straight. as of right now im only playing casual and doing pretty well. but there are 2 local shops around i am interested in getting into their weekly modern matches. so thank youi can seriously see how beneficial Bloodghast can be with the haste ability. but can you answer me this, if i have multiple bloodghasts in my graveyard will they all return to battlefield if i drop a single land?

and if i make these changes do you think this deck stands a chance in competition play? if played correctly?

Yeah, definitely. If you add the better creatures, structure your sideboard properly for your meta, and play the deck right, you can definitely win. Remember! Even the most competitive magic decks should only win about half the time :P And with this deck, I'd say you stand a pretty fair chance at doing well.

And yes, because each Bloodghast has a separate ability with the landfall, if you have three bloodghast, play a land, you get all three back.

ok i think im sold. and do you think theres room to run 4 Thoughtseize and 4 Surgical Extraction mainboard?? also with the nykthos do you think i can swing less land? i find myself often having more than i need but im also hesitant to take a few out

Well, you're a devotion deck. So I think it'd be optimal to run only 20 land :) I don't think a playset of Surgical Extraction should be mainboarded. It's a fairly situational card, so it'd have a good place in the sideboard. Thoughtseize, however, could be mainboarded by removing four of your spot removal cards. If you wanna make this deck as competitive as possible, look up a mono black devotion primer and learn the ins and outs of the deck :P It'd be a lot more helpful than me haha as I only know cards, and not how the deck necessarily plays.

awesome man thank you you have been an enormous help.

Yup! No problem :)