Discard has evolved with M15. Waste Not is awesome. Appreciate feedback to help make this competitive.
MAINBOARD
Waste Not: So we finally have it - a card that may have the potential to take discard into tier 1. Give me a couple Zombies, extra mana, or additional cards - I'm happy.
Black Cat: The Cat makes a good early drop for chumping and triggering Waste Not.
Brain Maggot: Superb hand disruption.
Desecration Demon: Hard-to-handle beater.
Master of the Feast: This is the one build that actually wants the opponent to have more cards. Why? To maintain the utility of other cards (late game Mind Rot not so shabby now)... more things to discard, more things to see and decide which to Stain the Mind.
Stain the Mind: So here we have a great opportunity to mainboard an oft-overlooked card - we look at the opponent's hand a LOT here, and can always make a good decision when this card comes up. Also the first to come out when sideboarding against aggro. Best play? T1 swamp & Thoughtseize or Duress (remove counterspell if found), T2 swamp & Brain Maggot (remove counterspell if found), T3 swamp & whatever (nice to make sure no counterspell), T4 convoke Stain the Mind to remove their win condition. Done.
Mutavault = I have 4... so I make use of them where I can. I find very often the board is clear and no cards in hands, so this little beauty just keeps pecking away.
Devour Flesh: mostly-unavoidable removal of early creatures.
Hero's Downfall: Because sometimes they top-deck elspeth late game.
Thoughtseize: discard engine.
Mind Rot: discard engine.
Duress: discard engine.
Finally... Liliana Vess: They brought her back, and here is where she truly belongs.
SIDEBOARD
(still work in progress!)
Shrieking Affliction: This card has been back and forth a few times in the deck. I did not have it in the original build, but subsequently tried it in mainboard after much discussion. After some underwhelming real-life play I have decided to move it to the sideboard. We shall see what situations it really comes in handy for...
Lifebane Zombie: Was in mainboard, moved to side. Still an obvious include.
Bile Blight: aggro & token hosers.
Dark Betrayal, Doom Blade, Devour Flesh, Ultimate Price, Hero's Downfall: selection of spot removal.
Pithing Needle: Best weapon against AEtherling. And some other things like Pack Rat.
Duress: Because "non-creature, non-land" describes a LOT of cards.
UNDER CONSIDERATION
Indulgent Tormentor: I had 1 in MB and it was good, but wasn't a perfect fit so came out for +1 Devour Flesh to eat those early creatures.
Endless Obedience: tried it in sideboard against midrange but was not useful enough.
Corrupt: I thought against midrange this could be great and tried it in sideboard, but was not good ever.
Hall of Triumph: I had 2 in MB originally as my creatures are typically small and this thing helps speed up the doom engine. But I took it out to focus more on what works (+1 Desecration Demon and +1Master of the Feast).
Drainpipe Vermin: I had 2 in MB but cut them to make room for Shrieking Affliction. Not once was useful during first FNM play.
Black Cat: I feel I could run 3 of these instead of 4.
Stain the Mind: I tried 3 and admittedly they popped up and I had no clue what to name. I am now running 2 and I may yet end up moving them to SB.
Hall of Triumph: It has been questioned, but won me a few games at FNM so stays in for now. We'll see how the future evolves.
Liliana's Reaver: At first I had this in, then decided I didn't want 4-drops, then changed my mind and added Desecration Demon instead. Why did I skip the Reaver? Only because there is no guarantee that his trigger will ever go off and he is easily lightning bolted or bile blighted. I figured a stronger "win" card deserves the slot.
Disciple of Phenax: same argument as the Reaver.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: They were in an early version of this deck but were rarely relevant.
Shrieking Affliction: I gave in! But as to why I was not using it? Two reasons: #1 - I love Waste Not but it isn't required to win. Enchantment hate is far too prevalent right now. Shrieking Affliction will just die, I'd be lucky if it was relevant in one game per round. #2 - I enjoy the opponent having cards in their hands, hence the Master of the Feast being so relevant here, because of my sorcery-speed discard spells. I really do want to win with creatures.
~~~ SPLASH OF BLUE, RED, or GRIXIS ~~~
I have considered these, as there are many blue and red cards that would love to interact with this build. My decision here is to keep the deck pure mono-black and focused. I want no mana issues, EVER. I don't want to hurt myself with shocklands or painlands. Focus, focus, focus!
Please feel free to copy this deck and change it to add blue or red or both... and let me know how it goes! I'd love to see what you come up with.
If Playtesting please post back here with what beats this! Thank you!
