A bit of a splurge ($5) but Phyrexian Metamorph looks pretty great in this list in place of 1-3 Brass Squires. You can have it come into play as a copy of Phylactery Lich, and then when you play your second Lich just have it put its counter on your artifact Lich!

Note: you can almost (so close!) have the metamorph Lich put the counter on itself, but can't actually since it's technically not on the battlefield at the time it places the counter. Still, lots of good synergy as it can be a copy of half of the cards in the deck (it can even be a copy of Darksteel Citadel and won't count as your land for turn!

I definitely like that as a non budget option!

Can anyone explain the Darksteel Relic + Phylactery Lich + Gruesome Deformity + Worldslayer combo to me, sorry I'm new to magic.

The Lich needs an artifact to put his counter on so he's indestructible. The Relic is indestructible. Worldslayer destroys everything on the board unless it's indestructible. Gruesome Deformity makes the Lich mostly unblockable so that he can get Worldslayer to destroy everything but himself.

Ok thank you.

Soot Imp would be great in either this or your other mono black decks

And Cranial Plating could be satisfying in here

Oh yeah and Signal Pest to replace Vault Skirge

Sagarys Could you tell me what blue cards you would add if you would make it a blue/black deck? So what lands exactly and what cards other than Aqueous Form?

I can't remember the names off the top of my head, but the blue black lands that come in untapped for 2 life and untapped if you already control a Swamp or Island. Maybe even the one that turns into an unblockable creature to have another option to slip Worldslayer through. Then Aqueous Form obviously. Probably a counterspell suite to protect your assets. Negate is probably fine. And then probably just some blue or dimir creatures swapped in that synergize well. I don't have gatherer up so I can't be much more specific than that right now. Things with unblockable or flicker effects to survive the wipe come to mind first.

this deck is really fun to play! I always love a good budget deck. +1 from me

you could maybe run some board wipes such as Life's Finale or Extinguish All Hope for a little bit of late game to break your opponents line. Otherwise you would have to get a hit through with Worldslayer, which is difficult against other black/artifact decks

Thanks man! I love it! I generally play in a super competitive group that this would be no fun in but I am currently deployed and only have 3 guys that are still on my level of competitiveness. I needed something for the other dudes that won't wipe them on turn 3 or make them scoop and have no fun and I didn't want to spend a lot of money I think I'm gonna order this straight up as is and call it good! I love it! +1 from me!

Awesome man enjoy it! Let me know how it goes!

I added in Rogue's Passage to help out with the unblockable for my personal version. Works very well!

Sounds awesome podracer1994, I'm glad to see you're having fun with this deck! It really is a blast. Especially if you're running the dark ritual version.

colin13 I welcome everyone to customize this deck to their tastes. Your suggestions seem like they'd totally work. Give it a shot and let me know how it works! Personally, I'll just send my flyers in with Worldslayer against Black or artifact to wipe the board for Mr Lich.

Thanks for the reply Sagarys, I've looked at the possibilities with blue and decided to stick with mono black. I've removed 2x Darksteel Relic and 1 swamp for 3x Sign in Blood for card draw (and possible nuke to finish your opponent if necessary). Instead of 4x Gruesome Deformity I have 3x Prowler's Helm and 3 Undying Evil instead of 4x. The Prowler's Helm has a big benefit it can be reequipped if the current creature gets destroyed, and it removes the problem vs other black or artifact creatures. And I've added 2x Soulflayer, this is a backup for if Phylactery Lich is destroyed or to get another flyer with lifelink and deathtouch.

Because you don't lose the Prowler's Helm when a creature gets destroyed you can use it on all your creatures combined with Darksteel Axe + Inquisitor's Flail to deal some nice damage and possibly with lifelink. Through this you can stay alive long enough to get the Worldslayer ready combined with Undying Evil if necessary. Or straight up defeat your opponent with the unblockable damage output with lifelink with Undying Evil as a safety guard if they use a removal spell.

I believe this makes the deck more balanced, what do you think about it Sagarys?

Saerchy, sorry I missed this post. It must have been buried in some other notifications I got. Your restructuring looks excellent. I was wondering how Prowler's Helm would affect the curve by adding extra equip costs to the mix, since the Squire can only do so much. But it seems like you've pieced it together very well. I really like the Soulflayer addition as well for its fallback potential. I considered adding him early on but I didn't like the idea of getting him in my opening hand and never being able to cast him. Has that been an issue for you using this deck?

Also, this is now the 11th highest rated deck on the whole site! And some of the ones ahead of it are joke decks or have been around for years! You guys really dig this thing. Thank you so much!

+1 for how fun this looks id toss in Doom Blade or some other removal

Saerchy, after some testing, I think you're right to add Prowler's Helm. I trimmed some 1 flail, 1 axe, and 1 deformity to add 3 copies of it. Thanks man!

shadow63, that's definitely a viable option. You could always bump the Helm count to 4, cut the Deformities entirely and run removal in that slow. I encourage people to modify all my decks to taste :)

also Whispersilk Cloak might be a good sub for prowlers helm orr even 2xprowlers and 1x whispersilk

I considered the Cloak actually. The only reason I didn't go with it originally is that equipping it stops you from being able to equip other stuff without first unequipping it. And you can't save with Undying Evil either if your opponent somehow manages to kill it.

thats why id only use it as a 1x i could see it doing work after you already have an equipment or two on a guy already. i may have to build this or something similar i wanted to build around Phylactery Lich i just coudnt find out how

Go for it man. I can see it working. Build it, test it, and let me know how it goes!