Mono Black ramp optimization
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on April 2, 2019, 7:47 a.m. by uuaapeli
Hey!
(This is my first post here)
Here's the deck I'm trying to optimize: Death will come
I'm in a dead end with this. It's good but I wanna make it better.
I'll go through most of the cards from most obvious category to least obvious:
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Main creatures: 4x Vampire Nighthawk , 3x Gifted Aetherborn , 3x Gatekeeper of Malakir (Each have deathtouch or forced sacrifice to keep the battlefield busy and/or secure in whatever is the current situation. None of these cards are a completely bad draw at any point of the game)
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Removal: 3x Doom Blade , 3x Geth's Verdict
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Hand Optimizers: 4x Sign in Blood , 3x Diabolic Tutor
Then for the stuff more specific for this deck: - Crypt Ghast doubles the amount and will quickly enable a win con from even one Consume Spirit .
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Just some nice stuff: 3x Divinity of Pride , 1x Sorin Markov
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Game changers: 2x Sanguine Bond , 2x Exquisite Blood (not sure if i need 4 cards like these... too high of a probability to get too many of these in one game/hand)
The help I need:
I've been playtesting this thing for a while now, and I'd believe the starting hands could be a little better. I just don't know how yet.
It seems many times I start with 2 swamps, Doom Blade and cards with CMC or greater but the deck doesn't have an immediate solution to those starting hands. Many times this is followed by "empty turns". Ofcourse it's not terrible since i can remove one creature from opponent if i need to. Anyway my goal is to optimize this part at least.
All other ideas are very welcome as well. Just single card ideas etc, gimme everything.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #3
It looks to me like the top end of your deck is too heavy. Most modern decks don't play anything above cmc 3. The midrange and control decks will have only 4ish cards with cmc 4 or 5. Basically, you should only need to draw 1 card with cmc 4 or 5, which means you only need to run at most 5 such cards. Exquisite blood and sanguine bond are overkill. You are very unlikely to get the combo off. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is a great option for a finisher. He turns the corner vs aggro decks.
I highly highly recommend playing 4 Fatal Push and 4 Cast Down for your removal. Doom Blade misses Gurmag Angler and Death's Shadow (among other relevant creatures too). Cast Down only misses Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and the 1-of Lyra Dawnbringer from UW Control sideboards.
lagotripha says... #2
This list isn't up to date with the latest sets, but its my big pile of 'I found this useful once' black cards. Mono black deckbuilder's toolbox
The mono black ramp I've made work best is built around Korlash, Heir to Blackblade , and to a lesser extent Lashwrithe 's amazing synergy with lifelinkers. The goal is to go over burn/pure aggro with lifelink/deathtouch, pressure control (and side in Distended Mindbender ), and take midrange to low enough life that a single burn spell ends the game. Damnable Pact is amazing in that shell, as it can both kill your opponent outright and refill your hand.
Painful Quandary tends to outperform sanguine/blood in that deck if you need an enchantment, as you should be taking your opponents low enough that taking them 20-0 isn't needed, taking them from 7-0 is more likely. If your meta sees stuff like solemnity combo or finks combo, cards like Memoricide are more practical.
As much as I love divinity of pride as a card, it is best served in variants on the Phyrexian Obliterator / Gray Merchant of Asphodel shell where you find yourself with a lot of life. If you are dead set on making it work here, you need to look to close out the game with gary and pack a lot of hand disruption.
April 2, 2019 10:29 a.m.