Can I kill an artifact with a Mono-Black Deck?
Deck Help forum
Posted on April 4, 2013, 2:05 p.m. by Bauhom
I'm trying to figure out if I can take out a Grafdigger's Cage with my Mono-Black Standard deck. Thanks in advance.
Btw, I don't think there are any ways to kill an enchantment in mono-black either.
April 4, 2013 2:28 p.m.
Aside from Duress to force the discard before they cast it, you could also try an option like Liliana of the Veil or Undercity Plague to try to force them to sacrifice it.
But yeah, not many options.
April 4, 2013 2:33 p.m.
can you link us the deck, maybe if the mono black is splashed another color there may be something to hit the cage.
April 4, 2013 5:13 p.m.
theemptyquiver says... #10
Shrieking Discard Mono-Black
April 4, 2013 5:24 p.m.
No, that's not the deck. This is the one I'm running now (much better deck): Mono-Black Undead Undying Whoopass
April 4, 2013 5:44 p.m.
This deck is built around Mutilate and Undying so it would be tough to splash into another color. I need the swamps for the Mutilate. But, a Golgari version would be interesting (I don't have the lands for Golgari, though).
April 4, 2013 6:04 p.m.
There's a decent amount of red undying things as well, so a splash of red might work.
Maybe get yourself a playset of Blood Crypt or Overgrown Tomb so you have swamps that still give you the mana necessary for Naturalize or Smelt or similar.
April 4, 2013 6:07 p.m.
That's a thought, thanks. I have 4 Blood Crypts and 4 Dragonskull Summits. If I was splashing red just to run things like Rakdos Charm or Smelt , how many red lands would you recommend after the four Blood Crypt . Or would something like Evolving Wilds with a Mountain be better than Dragonskull Summit so I can keep the swamps going? I've never splashed into a color for a small number of cards.
April 4, 2013 7:11 p.m.
While we're at it, is there anything in red or black/red that can kill an enchantment? And are Smelt and Rakdos Charm the best options for killing an artifact?
April 4, 2013 7:32 p.m.
Red's not that great at enchantment-killing, unfortunately. I couldn't find anything in Standard (at least in red), so it sounds like it'd be similar to the suggestions already given for killing artifacts. Get them to discard or sac it.
As for the mana, between the 4 Blood Crypt s and 4 Dragonskull Summit s, I would think you'd have enough for artifact hate and maybe a few red undying creatures (if you went with that). Alternatively, you could leave out the Dragonskull Summit playset and instead use two Evolving Wilds and two Mountains. With that option, if you've already got all your red mana when the Wilds show up, you can use them to fetch Swamps instead.
April 4, 2013 8:01 p.m.
@shikima: Phyrexian Tribute isn't Standard legal, so unless Bauhom wants to switch formats, that won't work.
April 4, 2013 8:02 p.m.
Yeah, thanks Kogarashi. I was just looking at my land situation and thinking about doing this:
18 Swamps4 Blood Crypts1 Mountain3 Evolving Wilds
That's still 23 swamps, plus the 3 Evolving Wilds that can become swamps. So it's better for swamps than my Mono-Black deck (which has 23 swamps and 3 special lands).
What do you think about 1 Mountain and 3 Evolving Wilds vs. 2 Mountain and 2 Evolving Wilds? The only red mainboard cards I would run are two Rakdos's Return . The sideboard would have Rakdos Charm and Dreadbore and Slaughter Games . So I really just need to get 1 Mountain out. Thanks very much.
April 4, 2013 8:16 p.m.
Sounds like a good setup to me. Just watch out for people causing you to discard your Mountain (since the Evolving Wilds can't tutor the Blood Crypts). But as for the balance of red vs. black mana, it sounds good since all your red cards need only one red mana to function.
April 4, 2013 9:38 p.m.
you could run overgrown tombs and just board abrupt decays.
April 5, 2013 7:46 p.m.
Ancient Grudge would help with artifact removal, though it's most useful if you run a bit of green for the flashback. And if you run some green, you can Farseek your basics or shocks.
Rayenous says... #2
After a fairly in depth search of Black/Artifact/Land cards currently in standard, I'm fairly confident that there are currently no cards for a mono-black deck that can get rid of artifacts.
The best option is likely Duress , in order to attempt to force them to discard it before they can play it.
April 4, 2013 2:23 p.m.