Thanks!

Very interesting deck. I don't know how the deck plays and its matchups, but with a devotion board control plan, a sideboard card that instantly came to mind was Night of Souls' Betrayal. I have no idea if infect or token decks are a problem matchup, but this is an instant hoser for them that also adds two devotion to black. Just a thought honestly.

Hi chazy13, I'm a fan of Night of Souls' Betrayal but the problem is it kills our 1 drops. Against matches like infect, we are likely dead by turn 4 if we can't resolve a removal spell anyway. Those are just my initial thoughts but it would be worth testing. Thanks for the suggestion!

Very cool deck. Works both the zombie and devotion themes, and has several interesting choices. With those choices, I'd love to pick your brain on the deck to get a better understanding of it myself, as it seems incredibly unique. First, you seem to have decided to not run hand discard in the mainboard, why is that? I figure it is because you would rather commit to your own gameplan rather than throw off your opponent's, but maybe there is something else I am overlooking. Another thing I found intriguing was that there are more copies of legendary lands than I would expect. While I normally see 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and 1-3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, you seem to have opted for the more greedy option of a playset of shrines and 2 tombs. Why did you choose to go with that, and do they often become a problem, or do you just pitch extra copies to cards like Liliana, Defiant Necromancer  ^Flip and Cryptbreaker? Another odd inclusion that I'm sure that you've been asked about is Garza's Assassin. While a really cool card, I just wanted to ask how reliable he has been. He obviously has really cool synergy with AEther Vial, he has the crazy devotion, and the life can be made up with Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but I would just like to know where that decision came from (he isn't in your description), as it isn't something I've seen very often (or at all, which is incredible to me how well you seem to have made it work). Lastly, I wanted to ask you why you opted to splash green instead of the other colors like red, blue, or even (it might be a bit of a stretch) white. I see some crazy synergy in the green splash with cards like Deadly Allure when used on Phyrexian Obliterator and Relentless Dead and it can cover black's weak spots such as trouble dealing with planeswalkers, artifacts, and enchantments. I just wanted to know if you had ever played around with alternative splashes and what the decision to land on green looked like. Anyway, incredible deck, and I look forward to hearing your reply!

Really nice build, I hadn't seen anything like this before. Looks super fun, +1

Hi WhisperingBlade, thanks for the comment. Although hand attack is one of the most powerful things black has to offer, there wasn't really a spot for it in this build. Turn 1 is committed to AEther Vial or other 1 drops and hand attack spells get increasingly worse as the game goes on. I needed to reserve most of the space in this deck for creatures, and the rest had to be committed to removal. I do indeed run a greedy mana base and it can cause problems every so often. The reason I do is because AEther Vial allows me to cheat on mana and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx capitalizes on, and amplifies this effect. Sometimes I tap into Nykthos, play another, and tap into it again which allows me to dump my hand or combo off with certain cards. I run two Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth because getting 3-4 black mana can sometimes be challenging with Arena and Nykthos. As you mentioned, extra copies can get tossed by Liliana, Defiant Necromancer  ^Flip and Cryptbreaker but perhaps dropping down a copy of each for some basics is the right move as it reduces the chances of me getting mana screwed and makes Blood Moon less devastating. Garza's Assassin is one of my favorite cards in this deck (I'll have to update the description). AEther Vial can essentially make him a Slaughter Pact with no upkeep cost. His 3B devotion is great, and he really just provides insurance on the board. Against aggressive decks it's nice to be able to block one attacking creature and blow up another, and he's another way to trigger Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip. His recover ability I honestly don't use much, but there have been times when it was useful. Splashing green just seemed like the most logical choice. This deck started as purely mono-black and I've played around with other colors like red for Lightning Bolt and Terminate, and white for Path to Exile when Tron was bigger in the format, green for it's removal, but ultimately I settled on green when I discovered Deadly Allure, which is hilarious to admit. The GB removal package is just incredibly efficient and powerful, and helps make up for what B lacks on its own. I'm glad you like the deck! I'm going to play around with those lands and see what happens.

Overall it is a very interesting build, and I have a few suggestions for it, which I can offer with more certainty based on my understanding of your thought process on the deck. First, I would consider Big Game Hunter over Garza's Assassin. While Garza's Assassin provides 3 devotion, this is harder to cast than Big Game Hunter's 1BB. I understand that Garza's Assassin hits smaller creatures, and for that reason it may be better than BGH, BGH can hit black creatures such as a Kalitas or Gurmag Angler that threatens to get out of hand. BGH also has a madness cost that is relevant for your discard outlets. It is overall a tough call simply because Garza's Assassin can stay on the field and again has the option of going back to your hand in dire scenarios. But if you have a black-heavy meta or have trouble casting Garza's Assassin reliably, you might want to consider BGH. Also, I wondered if you had ever considered a Gatekeeper of Malakir over Geth's Verdict. I imagine that while the Gatekeeper's cost would be harder to hit and would come in a turn later, it would benefit your devotion and would synergize with Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. In rare cases you could also simply use it too add devotion to a play, like flashing it in with AEther Vial to generate lethal with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Also with the multitude of zombies, have you ever considered Cavern of Souls? I understand that it maybe would be less than optimal considering the hodgepodge of creature types this deck has, but making sure that Gray Merchant of Asphodel gets to hit the battlefield may very well solidify a win against control (unless you do well enough control as it is, I imagine you could do fairly well with all of the pesky creatures you have that are so hard to get rid of).

Oh, and if you'd like to make a "fun play", you could always run Imp's Mischief, especially as a sideboard card against red decks so that you can redirect damage to Phyrexian Obliterator.

I've considered Big Game Hunter as a sideboard option but he's really limited as to what he can hit, and when. Garza has proven to be a solid addition and I'm not really too worried about big grixis stuff because Obliterator provides great stopping power. Although I think Gatekeeper of Malakir is a great card, he's a bit bad in this build. Geth's Verdict can be super important against certain match ups and is relevant because of it's instant speed. I'd run him as a 4 of in most other mono-black builds. As for Cavern of Souls, I think it would do more harm than good with this mana-base and diversity in creature types. I do appreciate your suggestions tho!

Thanks n0bunga!

I would take out those pack rats and put in 2 Thoughtseize, Fulminator Mage, or Demigod of Revenge. Love the garza's assassin mainboard though. +1 from me.

Pack Rat actually works very well here and can take over games. I was never a fan of the card personally, but it does surprisingly well in this deck and can create value where there is none. Its copies also add 1b devotion which is nice.

Pit Fight ?

BX223Hunter, I believe that he'd prefer to run Arena over Pit Fight because he can use Arena more than once (even if the creature does tap), and on occasion Arena should provide extra mana when Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is on the field.

Considered some fights cards but they're only really good with Obliterator and not much else. Deadly Allure on the other hand has good synergy with Relentless Dead as well, and has flashback

I'm actually considering just dropping Arena. It's kind of clunky and feels like it hurts more than it helps. Such great flavor tho it's a hard cut

not that i usually like suggesting it to people, but Tarmogoyf is pretty solid. especially if you switch your Pack Rat to Spellskite as you mentioned you might in the post.

and i personally wouldn't play 4 Liliana. but thats just my 2 cents.

No Tarmogoyfs in this build because I'm sticking to the black devotion route. Wouldn't replace Scavenging Ooze with it either because its utility is more valuable than simply a big beater. Only flex spot is Pack Rat

Withered Wretch instead of ooze for added devotion?

I've considered Withered Wretch in the past but it's just god aweful compared to ooze

Grim Flayer needs to sneak its way into this 75. Too good of a card for you not to play.

you're absolutely right. cutting gatekeepers

I love your deck. I've got to say, its hard to improve on the old The Rock deck-lists, but I think you have done it. However, you call it The Rock with Devotion, but you only use 2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel to take advantage of this devotion. Now, this is where your deck is supposed to shine, but only TWO cards. I recommend Pharika, God of Affliction and Erebos, God of the Dead as 1-ofs to add to this, but overall I was kind-of underwhelmed by my gatherer search of black cards with devotion. Still love the deck though. Also, I recommend to change some of your key-card counts. For example, I would increase Arena to 2 in the deck-list, and (MAYBE) decrease Phyrexian Obliterator to 3 as you have ways of digging through your deck. Overall, great deck-list!