What do you think about playing Bob Dark Confidant in the deck, I know it is a far worse Phyrexian Arena, but it is never a bad draw. Also, what are your thoughts on Necropotence in mono black?

Thank you for the comment kevin105008. I don't like the chance for large life loss, I would rather run Graveborn Muse.

I used to avoid Necropotence due to my own inability to play it correct. I think it's time to give it a try again.

You need to watch out for the interaction with Necropotence and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer's plus ability though. It has the potential to bite you if you're not careful.

enpc AH! Yeah good point.

Maybe Contamination would fit into a recursion deck like this. Another possibility is Grave Pact, due to the sacrifice theme as well.

alex105008 Grave Pact doesn't have enough if an immediate I pact on the board state, and the can be hard to get to.

Contamination actual ruins Cabal Coffers...never noticed before. It's good, but I don't have enough recursion to make it a strong engine. Plus it crosses over into dick territory.

Necropotence is 100% worth the nonbo with lily's +. It is so so so strong it's hard to explain. You said above you aren't sure how to use it, but learning is worth it. I play Nath Pox and even though I have about a dozen ways to make myself discard I still run Necro because even 1 turn unanswered can be more card advantage than the opponents can deal with. Seriously reconsider it.

Why no Strip Mine? Pretty much pure value, especially if with crucible.

Although at its best in other decks, I think Blood Artist deserves a slot here. Will it often get answered immediately? Yes. Of course. But a 2-drop that can passively end a game or swing it hugely if not killed seems more than worth the slot if you ask me, especially because you will cause lots of dying.

With Rings of Brighthearth and tutors, I think a Basalt Monolith might be worth it to clinch long games. You have the Exsanguinate and could theoretically dump into Steel Hellkite. If you had to add 1 more mana dump or x spell I think it would be worth the access to an infinite win.

All I can think of for now. Feel free to ask my input on specific changes as well as general suggestions.

Didn't you run Sudden Spoiling at one point? What ever happened to that? Have I suggested it before? Now that this deck is a primer, it needs to be in here. It belongs in every deck that has the possibility to face creature combo or hatebears. SPLIT SECOND.

Death Cloud should probably be in here as well, it goes very well with planeswalkers, Black Market, discard effects, and some recurring or replaceable lands

I will address you comment illumfolly. When I find time. So probably later this afternoon.

alright, illumfolly. I did indeed run Sudden Spoiling at one point, but it's just not worth running now. It's a cute combat trick that, as you mentioned, can stop a combo...but only for a single turn. If my opponent has the combo pieces on board i'm pretty much up the creek without a paddle. I don't run enough spot removal to make the 1 extra turn worth it.

At that point I could win with my own combo but I'd need the pieces available. It's kinda like Infect, If an opponent wins with infect, they deserve the win because it's so easy to disrupt. If sudden spoiling is my only answer to something, it's too weak a strategy to be worthy of concern. Hope that makes sense.

TL:DR-> If Sudden Spoiling would save me for a turn i'm too far gone, and 1 extra turn isn't going to make a difference.

I would put in Necromancy over Beacon of Unrest

bah-bammmm why do you say that? Beacon is reusible and versatile. Necromancy is a oneshot.

Necromancy is a one shot, but, the odds of getting beacon back without a tutor is little to none. I used to run beacon, but I found 5 mana at sorcery speed was not as good as 3 mana you could use at instant speed. I know this is edh, but if you have less mana, the better. I have used both and found necromancy better.

Necromancy also only gets creatures...beacon gets artifacts. It's a more versatile card. This deck generates a lot of mana an. If you shuffle your deck thoroughly enough, the odds of drawing it again should be equal to any other card

guess it's just preferences then. I would also throw in Do or Die, which is really good in my experience.

Yep, makes sense, but always keep in mind that there are things in EDH that can only be answered by a few cards in Mono-Black.

One of those few cards is Sudden Spoiling

For instance, to deal with some combination of Tajuru Preserver, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Archetype of Endurance, Privileged Position, Asceticism, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner ... etc goodstuff that you would expect to see in Bant or Selesnya.

Well, there are some good mass removal options in the deck, but all of them are insufficient alone to deal with this situation. However, if you wrath then respond with sudden spoiling, you can take care of a very threatening board state.

Sure, infect is easy enough to stop, but is Triumph of the Hordes? Overrun? Garruk Wildspeaker's -4? Craterhoof Behemoth?

All of these cards are a scourge in EDH, that can only be dealt with by specific ETB or Attack hate and instant speed responses during combat. If you knew the attack was coming, then sure, you could have stopped it, but what if it's a Sneak Attack? What if it's Scion of the Ur-Dragon that you didn't remove in time!

A lot of "combos" are finite and vulnerable to disruption, with the definite capability to shut them down for more than a single turn. This is especially useful in multiplayer, where everyone has just seen what the targetted player has attempted to do, and can now aim their removal accordingly.

Not to mention that it completely sinks voltron and enchantress! Wait for Zur to attack, put a Unquestioned Authority into play, then Sudden Spoiling and block for some great advantage.

I get it, and I definitely don't think Sudden Spoiling is useful every game, but it is useful in most games. It provides great utility for some very sticky situations that are about to reach the point of certain doom.

The issue with Do or Die is it gives a choice. Giving an opponent a choice never ends favorably.

still helps.

To avoid pointless arguments I'm just going say "lets agree to disagree". I agree that it can be a fantastic card, but I want my cards to be versitile as possible.

It's a one time effect that may or may not have a splashy effect. It simply isn't useful enough in this deck.

Also, as of now I don't face any hyper competitive decks such as zur or Scion. I mainly face Karador and marath.

bah-bammmm if I ran cards in the premise of "it still works" I'd be running a lot more subpar cards. I've been playtesting for the last 7 months. I've tried to tune the deck to be better than decent.

illumfolly as for death cloud its good. I'll have to test it. My only fear its I have to pump a lot of mana into a symtrical doomsday button.

how about Pox? maybe Smokestack?

Ooh! Those are good suggeations. Evil, but good. I'll have to test them and how my meta reacts.

i run an edh deck that is the opposite of group hug. i run cards like Pox, Smokestack, Tainted AEther, Lethal Vapors, Smallpox, its quite a douchey deck. and, i might add, one of my favorite cards is Hatred, which i always suggest because of nostalgia, but it can one hit kill an opponent with commander damage. maybe Hatred wouldn't be good for your deck though.

Know what's dumb with lethal vapors? Pithing Needle