i would have to agree and say that Hall of Triumph would work well, creatures such as Brain Maggot aren't very beefy when it comes to toughness and they could be holding out some important cards in your opponents game-plan, not to mention it boosts other creatures to take over late game.

Master of the Feast seems to work against what Shrieking Affliction is trying to accomplish.

Also, how do you expect to pull off 5 CMC spells with only 21 mana? You won't consistently be able to drop it until T7, T8

@MrEM4N: Waste Not is really good at giving you the extra mana to play the spells you need, also two of his 5 cmc spells have convoke, so they arent really meant to be played as 5 drops.

I fully support the use of Master of the Feast with Shrieking Affliction because that extra draw for the opponent makes all of the discard spells relevant on turn 5 and 6. Without that, opponent gets 1 draw on their turn, typically will play that card, and you spend your whole turn with a fist full of thoughtseize and duress and nothing to do. Really like the use of Master with waste not and shrieking affliction decks.

Still don't like Hall of Triumph here, though. Or Indulgent Tormentor . I don't like those cards here.

I'm playing a similar deck except with some blue for Whispering Madness , Dictate of Kruphix , and Chasm Skulker those squids get big!! Liliana is a big star for me especially when I can ult her :))

Awesome build though! Strong black cards sure are strong.

I still think Pack Rats make the best use of dead discard cards late game if theres no Master of the Feast giving your opponents cards then why not convert them into rats. I know that the rats have been over-done but thats only because they are effective.

I find Athreos, God of Passage in these types of deck very powerful. Your opponent does not want to see Black Cat , Brain Maggot , nor Desecration Demon returning to the field once they get rid of it. He will make every other creature a nightmare. I would consider him, he serves a lot of card and life advantage for only 3 mana.

The only use I see in Hall is against aggro decks it makes your 2/2 zombies 3/3 but at the same time against aggro I wouldn't want to waste turn 3 dropping it. I'd lose hall

Okay! After much playtesting I have come to agree that Indulgent Tormentor and Hall of Triumph could be replaced with better cards. Took them out, for +1 Devour Flesh , +1 Desecration Demon and +1 Master of the Feast . The curve graph now looks very pretty.

@Dreno33: I love Athreos, God of Passage - this deck is based on my Orzhov Athreos build getting out of hand which was super fun and I will probably go back to at some point. However - this build is going to stay pure mono-b and focused. Check out getting out of hand to see my Athreos thoughts.

Do you plan on taking this to FNM again?

@mpapp591: Yes, I will be taking this modified build to FNM this week. Hopefully none of you are from my local area! LoLz

How'd it do at FNM?

Drove 30 minutes to get to my local FNM only to have it cancelled because there were only 4 of us. Usually there are between 20-25 people... sigh

This deck looks awesome! It's my deck of the day on my blog! Check it out, and show some love! mtghotspot.blogspot.com

I built a very similar deck the other day What you discard, I waste not. after realizing that almost all of my current mono-black Attack you? Why would I do that? was leaving standard.

With how popular your deck is, I feel pretty good about how similar the decks are. I just don't have the money for Thoughtseize , and I am trying to do almost all post-rotation so I switched out Desecration Demon for Indulgent Tormentor . Though, after reading your descriptions, I realize, I will probably want Master of the Feast in there. Great deck. +1

Decided to test this against my Here There Be Dragons deck. Let's just say it didn't do so well.

Hands starting hand: 4 Swamp , Thoughtseize , Duress , Shrieking Affliction . Not a good starting hand, but Thoughtseize and Duress can make up for that.

Dragons starting hand: 2 Mountain , Forest , Temple of Abandon , Scourge of Valkas , Courser of Kruphix , Elvish Mystic . Thats a solid hand.

Hands wins the dice roll and goes first.

H1: Swamp then Thoughtseize (H-18). Dragons hand reveals 2 Mountain , 1 Forest , 1 Temple of Triumph , Scourge of Valkas , Courser of Kruphix , and Elvish Mystic (but no valid targets for a next turn Duress . Luckily for Dragons, the deck only has 8 targets for Duress ). Courser is discarded, pass

D1: draws Burning-Tree Emissary . Forest , Elvish Mystic , pass

H2: draws Swamp . Swamp for turn, Shrieking Affliction , pass

D2: draws Mutavault . Temple of Abandon , revealing Xenagos, The Reveler (ha). He will stay on top. Pass

H3: draws Swamp (these landpockets). Swamp for turn, pass.

D3: draws Xenagos, The Reveler (a turn too late for Hands to hit it with Duress ). Mountain , Burning-Tree Emissary , tapping remaining land and mystic for xenagos. Xenagos makes a 2/2 satyr token, swinging for 2 (H-16). Pass

H4: draws Waste Not (finally, but no good discard cards). Swamp , pass.

D4: draws Dragon Hatchling . Mutavault , use xenagos +1 to generate 3 red mana and tap 2 lands to cast Scourge of Valkas . Valkas ETB ability, dealing 1 to Hands (H-15). Emissary and satyr token swing for 4 (H-11). Pass

H5: draws Duress (not helpful). Swamp , pass.

D5: draws Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . Animate Mutavault , tap land and mystic to cast Dragon Hatchling . Valkas ability, dealing 3 to Hands (H-8). Xenagos +1 to generate 6 red mana to use for valkass firebreathing. Swing with emissary, satyr token, mutavault, and a 10/4 valkas for game.

Conclusion: Bad draws (that's an understatement; I didn't get anything) and land pockets. I don't know, stuff just happen.

brokendwarf imo, you also misplayed the Thoughtseize. Turn one, looking at 1 mana ramp spell, you take the Elvish Mystic . Never let green ramp from turn 1 to turn 3 if you can avoid it.would still lose due to bad draw, but it steals xenegos that way, and stalls the game longer.

I don't play Standard, so mistakes will be made. I'll try again and maybe the deck won't get bad draws.

Here's another game. You won this time, basically just by Master of the Feast beatdown.

Hands starting hand: 3 Swamp , Mutavault , Thoughtseize , Shrieking Affliction , Black Cat

Dragons starting hand: 2 Temple of Abandon , Stomping Ground , Forest , Elvish Mystic , 2 Dragon Hatchling

Hands wins the roll and goes first.

H1: the usual start. Swamp then Thoughtseize (H-18), taking out the Elvish Mystic . Pass

D1: draws Stomping Ground . Temple of Abandon revealing a Burning-Tree Emissary , which stays on top. Pass

H2: draws Desecration Demon . Swamp then Black Cat . Pass

D2: draws Burning-Tree Emissary . Stomping Ground enters untapped (D-18), then Burning-Tree Emissary for 1 of the Dragon Hatchling . Pass

H3: draws Mutavault . Mutavault , then Shrieking Affliction . Pass

D3: draws Sylvan Caryatid . Temple of Abandon revealing a Forest , which goes to the bottom. Cast Sylvan Caryatid , pass

H4: draws Master of the Feast . Swamp then out comes the Desecration Demon . Pass

D4: draws Courser of Kruphix . Cast Courser of Kruphix , revealing a Xenagos, The Reveler on top. Stomping Ground enters tapped, gain 1 life (D-19). Pass

H5: draws Swamp . Swamp , then Desecration Demon comes swinging in. Dragon Hatchling dies horribly. Pass

D5: draws Xenagos, The Reveler . Courser shows the next card is a Stormbreath Dragon . Forest , gaining 1 life (D-20), casts Dragon Hatchling for some flying defense while waiting for stormbreath. Pass

H6: draws Swamp . Mutavault , then Desecration Demon comes in again. Another Dragon Hatchling dies, pass

D6: Dragons is hit by Shrieking Affliction (D-17), draws Stormbreath Dragon . Courser shows a Mountain , which is played, gaining 1 life (D-18). Cast Xenagos, The Reveler , +1 to generate 3 red and tap 2 lands for Stormbreath Dragon . Pass

H7: draws Black Cat . Swamp , and Dragons sacks Burning-Tree Emissary to tap down the now 7/7 Desecration Demon . Casts Master of the Feast , pass

D7: another Shrieking Affliction hit (D-15). Draws Burning-Tree Emissary . Cast Burning-Tree Emissary , +1 xenagos for 4 red, and tap a land to monstrous Stormbreath Dragon , dealing a measly 1 damage to Hands (H-17). Courser and burning-tree swing in. Black Cat chumps the courser, and an animated Mutavault trades with the emissary. Pass

H8: Dragons draws Burning-Tree Emissary off of Master of the Feast . Draws Duress . Desecration Demon swings and Master of the Feast swings at xenagos. Dragons is forced to trade their stormbreath with the demon, and feast master annihilates xenagos. Pass

D8: Shrieking Affliction (D-12), draws Temple of Abandon . Courser reveals a Mountain which is played, gaining 1 life (D-13). Courser reveals a Crucible of Fire under that. Courser swings for 2 (H-15), pass

H9: Dragons draws Crucible of Fire off of feast master (now a valid target for Duress ). Draws Swamp . Swamp , Duress takes out Crucible of Fire . Feast master swings for 5 in the air (D-8), casts Black Cat . Pass

D9: draws Sylvan Caryatid . Courser reveals another Crucible of Fire , which goes to the bottom with Temple of Abandon (D-9), revealing another Courser of Kruphix . Pass

H10: Dragons draws Courser of Kruphix . Draws Swamp . Swamp , feast master swings in again for 5 (D-4). Pass

D10: draws Dragon Hatchling (some flying defense). Cast Courser of Kruphix , play the Mountain on top, gaining 2 life (D-6). Cast Dragon Hatchling , pass

H11: Dragons draws Courser of Kruphix . Draws Hero's Downfall . Dragons has enough mana open to buff Dragon Hatchling to trade with Master of the Feast . Feast master swings in, and Hero's Downfall claims the Dragon Hatchling (D-1). Pass

D11: draws Elvish Mystic . Courser reveals a Siege Dragon for flying defense a turn too late and is forced to pass.

H12: draws Swamp , Master of the Feast swings in for the kill.

Conclusion: you mention it in your description: Waste Not isn't required to win, and Shrieking Affliction is kind of annoying.

@mtghotspot - Awesome, thanks! I checked out the site and love it.

@brokendwarf - Great playtesting, thank you for the detailed reports. I am still thinking of taking out the Shrieking Affliction and putting in Pack Rat instead as per Ixthinon's suggestion. Or maybe simply more Hero's Downfall .

@omnipath Thank you, it's a hobby to write, and why not write about something you enjoy :)

I'm curious as to why you wouldn't always mainboard Lifebane Zombie . Especially with Stain the Mind considered. You could actually accurately call out a card from their hand and wipe it from the game. It also gives you a nice aggro base.

Also more Liliana Vess . You need her for her discard ability. I'd suggest as high as three of her.

Oh and a one of for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx . You have enough permanent devotion in here. It's worth it.

Very solid deck, certainly a few issues against rush but I think your side board should handle it