Creature (20)
- 4x Blood Artist
- 4x Bloodghast
- 2x Crypt Ghast
- 2x Grim Haruspex
- 2x Nether Traitor
- 2x Pawn of Ulamog
- 4x Viscera Seer
Planeswalker (1)
Land (25)
Enchantment (6)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Hello everyone, and welcome to my personal, little corner of hell: my personal, little mono-black modern deck.
Building mono-black in modern is like writing a novel as E. L. James: you know you'll never like the result, it will never work properly but people will love how it looks from afar, as a closer inspection will put in danger your credibility as mtg player.
Let me start off with the basic theme: it's a vampire DEATH (please read reanimate) deck. A black DEATH deck. No Golgari necromancers or Blue stitchers, simple Bram Stoker vibes with a sprinkle of Lovecraft... and DEATH.
Don't run away just yet: it's a lifegain-burn combo-control deck as well! And that's many strange words to say a simple thing: while everything dies (Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, ecc.) or triggers when stuff dies (the classic Blood Artist, Grim Haruspex, ecc.), I gain life and others lose it , but at the same time I clear their board.
Bloodghast, Eldrazi Spawn tokens and Nether Traitor serve as sacrificial meat.
Thanks to their entirely spontaneous and unending will to DEATH we gain:
- Card Advantage with the liver-studying duo, Viscera Seer scry and Grim Haruspex card draw;
- Removal with our favorite necromantic spells, Dictate of Erebos keeps threats under control, thanks to the constant stream of DEATH on my side of the board and Bone Splinters for a more chirurgical elimination;
- Lifedrain (lifegain/burn) with our vicious Blood Artist accompanied by the somewhat vintage Claws of Gix (still a very valid trigger), both enhanced and completed by the worst ship ever shipped in magic: Sanguine Bond x Exquisite Blood, walking hand in h... eww! Gross, that's blood! Nevermind.
Blood Tribute is a scary scary card. Scary for the opponent, because it allows for some unbelievable comebacks (trust me, I was there... I think), even ever-burning last-1-life one-turn-kills (I sure love my hyphens). But also for us, since black is not really known for mana-ramp, and 6 cmc is not a joke... so one copy.
Sorin Markov helps in a lot of ways, particularly when... can I just be honest here? His destiny is... DEATH. He is going to get beaten up while we set up our board real nice. "Sometimes" he "works" and kills some little guys, halves the lives of people... but mostly DEATH.
And, last but not least, Brainspoil . "Why is it here?" you might be awkwardly asking your clueless neighbours. Well, you all heard about tutoring in Black Modern, you all heard how bad it is if you don't want to empty your wallet for a heavily played set of Demonic Tutor... well, it's not! I give you Transmute, our Lord and Saviour! With Brainspoil I can tutor in for anyone of my core enchantments, and it can double as removal when I'm in a pinch!!!
For time-saving purposes (yours and mine) I'll list here every "sacrificial lamb in the deck" (Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, Eldrazi Spawn) as the self-explanatory Progenitus.
[Caution]: not reading the above explanation might leave you pleasantly surprised.
The Classic: Blood Artist + Viscera Seer + Progenitus = Damage/Healing as well as sweet scry
Pawn of Ulamog + Progenitus = Mana and/or sacrificial meat
Grim Haruspex + Viscera Seer + Progenitus = piloted card draw
Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond = GG (it's the most exploited combo in black... why should I explain it...?)
Blood Tribute + Sanguine Bond = GG (it's obviously kicked and more of a panic button: "Gosh... am I losing? Let me just Tribute here...")
- Turn 1. [1 mana] Viscera Seer
- Turn 2. [2 mana] Bloodghast, Nether Traitor or Blood Artist (start scrying)
- Turn 3. [3 mana] Artist, Traitor or Ghast, complete the core combo saving mana for removal or reanimation
- Turn 4 [5 mana w/Nykthos] Dictate of Erebos to clear the board or Grim Haruspex/Pawn of Ulamog + Traitor/Ghast OR Sanguine Bond
- Turn 5 [8-10 mana w/Nykthos] First infinite combo piece in OR kicked Blood Tribute for GG (if you have the Bond out)
- Turn 6 You are a big boy, I'm sure you'll figure it out... it's an easy deck u-u
The point is: stall your opponent removing their threats, let the light swings in (1-3), you can easily recover that much and let your already suicidal Progenitus block the heavy ones (almost never chump block, just avoid the damage). Your goal is either to outlive your opponent (booooring... as well as ineffective, given how adaptable are modern Modern decks: they'll find a way to crush you with those pesky Qasali Pridemages) or strike a one-turn-kill.
And Conclusions...
Throw at me your advice! The deck is always evolving, and feedback is just what it needs. I am currently looking for sideboard material (I'm really bad at SBs... does it look like I'm bad at sideboards?). If you have a card in mind that might interest me, or even if you think I've got the whole deck wrong, write it here! I'll look into it and cry for an afternoon because Phyrexian Tower is not in Modern!!!
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| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 3 years |
| Splash colors | W |
| Key combos | |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 2 - 0 Mythic Rares 22 - 0 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 2 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.83 |
| Tokens | Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Morph 2/2 C |
| Folders | Inspiration, Decks, Favorites, Looking At |
| Votes | |
| Ignored suggestions | |
| Shared with | |
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