I thought it would be a fun idea to adapt the current mono black deck with a splash of red when Born of the Gods hits.
The core cards:
Desecration Demon
Bread and butter beat stick with devotion perfect.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Your win condition and devotion.
Mogis, God of Slaughter
Your win condition and a goal to get active to swing.
Dreadbore
Removes a walker or a creature flat love it.
Thoughtseize
Its Thoughtseize what more must I say you play black you play this card.
Hero's Downfall
Remove a walker of a creature at instant speed.
Underworld Connections
Devotion and card draw hard to remove.
Whip of Erebos
Life gain which you need and you can cast
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
for a second time.
As I see it these cards are core to the deck, they demand answers or are answers to cards that demand an answer.
What about Lifebane Zombie? Why is it in the main?
I like
Lifebane Zombie
because it is great against WW any green deck, and can get rid of a
Boros Reckoner
It gives good devotion and has evasion it trade very well for cards and you if you play against a deck where you cant remove a card, you still get a 3/1 with good devotion and a free peek. It is one of that cards that can be sidboarded out very eay for a Pack Rat If you need it.
Herald of Torment
3/3 flying for 3 wich includeds 2 devotion, and you can bestow him wich makes him very nice to play in match ups with a lot of removal. I prefer this card over Nightveil Specter because it can bestow and has a power more wich makes it kill the Nightveil Specter someone els is playing. You can sideboard this card out without hurting the deck to much.
A sideboard is a tricky one, right now mono black is at the top of the food chain, and the mainboard is built pretty well around dealing with it as well as can be dealt with without punishing the mainboard against other decks in the Meta. We can guess that mono black will stay on top of the Meta, but in the long run we really dont know. With that thought here is the current sideboard, which can be totally irrelevant the after the first GP or Pro tour where we see what the top brewers make.
What cards are options for a sideboard?
Drown in Sorrow
This card is great, it deals really well with WW, Mono B and mono U, and its a good way to get rid of an early Pack Rat with a Mutavault active. You might think it is a great card to mainboard but I would not like to have this in my hand when I play against control or Mono R.
Mizzium Mortars
Mizzium Mortars is a board wipe for most things that Mono U B R G build up. It is great against WW and kills the Blood Baron of Vizkopa and our new friend Brimaz, King of Oreskos. Yet it is another dead card against control decks and the reason why I run Dreadbore over it.
Pack Rat
I love this card, it demands and answer the second it is played. You might ask yourself then why dont you run this card in the mainboard? My reason for that is Born of the gods. This set brings a lot of great removal that deals with Pack Rat and his buddy Mutavault really well like Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow. You can call on the argument to not play any creature because they can all be killed or removed in some fashion, but Pack Rat will die very easy with the new toys. When truly in need of a Pack Rat against a deck that does not have good removal for it you can sideboard it in. It is a great card against a lot of decks but in a Meta dominated by Mono black who is getting a lot of new toys to deal with Pack Rat I rather leave him out the main and in the side.
Erebos, God of the Dead
When playing against a deck that has
Sphinx's Revelation
or thrives on life-gain he might be good. He can draw extra cards which you could always use against a control decks.
Slaughter Games
Sideboard slots are not cheap with that in mind I still think this card is worthy of a slot. It is good against decks that have very few win conditions or single named win conditions like control or Devotion to Green. Removing a
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
from a mono black deck feels really good, I cant deny that.
Bile Blight
Good removal great way to deal with for instance Burning-Tree Emissary or Pack rat or Mutavault. I dont like it enough to run it into the main because it is yet another dead card against control decks.
Drown in SorrowMini boardwipe with scry on it good card again dead against control so I rather leave it in the side.
Rakdos's Return
Great against control and can tie up the game!
Nightveil Specter
Still a great card might work instead of a
Lifebane Zombie
great target to bestow then again so is the
Lifebane Zombie