Mono black in Standard?
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on June 18, 2015, 1:16 p.m. by MagnusMTG
I did the mono-b devotion thing last season, and I'm wondering if i can just tweak it a little to make it work in the new meta. I saw somewhere that a monoblack deck got 5th place at a pretty big tournament...If this dream isn't viable, what about b/g or b/r?N.b. I haven't played Magic in months, so i still need to learn about a lot of new cards.
After investigating the current meta some more, it looks like the most popular decks have a lot of hate vs. mono-black (understandable after last season).
I might try B/U Control, but monored and R/G both look very strong.
Abzan is apparently the deck to beat - very popular and makes top-4 pretty often . . .
Oh, Mono-Black, I'll miss you. :'-(
June 18, 2015 11:44 p.m.
MagnusMTG what happened last season? I'm JUST starting the game (no deck built yet) and of course black is the deck I decided to start with - going mono mostly because I want to understand the game more and get some experience before I go B/R hybrid and start getting my dragons.
So, what about last season? I'm going to simply play either standard, or just play against friends, but I'm curious.
June 19, 2015 2:07 a.m.
When Standard was Return to Ravnica and Theros blocks, Mono Black Devotion (MBD) was popular and pretty strong. I put together my own version of it (because I didn't have all the tech and couldn't afford to buy any more cards at the time): Devoted to the Dark Realms.
It was fun to play and pretty strong, but not as much a winner as the version everyone else played.
I've been a monoblack fan for a long time (like 15+ years) and it was cool to use the archetype competitively.
Anyway, it seems like a lot of the new cards from the Khans block were made to make MBD less attractive (plus the loss of some of its best cards from M14 and Ravnica.)
June 19, 2015 2:48 a.m.
Hrm, how long ago was standard Return to Ravnica and Theros? I picked up a few booster packs from both of those and I thought they were fairly new.
Plus, I still think black is one of the coolest, but I'm hoping to make one deck of each color.
June 19, 2015 10:37 a.m.
Magic expansions have come in - usually - 3-set blocks (plus a yearly core set). A new set comes out roughly every 3 months. This pattern is currently being phased out. See here: Mark Rosewater, WotC article on changes
[Summary: At the end of this year, Magic set releases will go from one 3-set block + 1 core set per year to two 2-set blocks and no core set. Standard-legal cards will rotate out every 18 months instead of every 24 months, with older blocks rotating out twice per year instead of once per year.]
You can use this site to see what is currently in Standard, and when it will 'rotate out.' What's in Standard?
The Return to Ravnica block rotated out of Standard when Khans of Tarkir came out (October, 2014).
For detailed information on when each set is released, check Wikipedia
June 19, 2015 12:42 p.m.
rotate out means "cards no longer legal in standard format tournaments", yes?
I'm just not sure what all those changes mean for the game. I read the whole article, but the newbie in me isn't totally sure what it all means.
Without studying some of Magics history, and doing some research I'm not sure I'll be able to understand it because I've never participated in the meta game. Thank you for the link to the article though, as well as the website for what's currently legal in standard.
In the case of Magic, guessing 1v1 is only one perspective?
June 19, 2015 2:17 p.m.
"rotate out means "cards no longer legal in standard format tournaments", yes?"
Yes.
For you, the changes won't matter, but the article does describe well what you have to expect in the future.
"In the case of Magic, guessing 1v1 is only one perspective?"
Oh, that's a big YES. There are many formats - competitive and casual - 'Constructed' and 'Limited;' there are multi-player and team variants (Commander and Two-Headed Giant are both popular.), and of course there's always: Get a group of friends together and do whatever the hell you want with the game.
The Standard rotations and metagaming aspects just happen to be the most popular (and to Wizards' benefit, the most expensive long-term).
I think the only reason I play Standard at all is it's the only option in my area for regular, active play (Same with Draft). For some reason, it is very difficult to just find some people who want to play other formats just for fun.
June 19, 2015 2:30 p.m.
So, before I completely scrap this idea and do R/G or RDW or something . .How could I keep my deck mostly black, but maybe splash in another color for support?
I'm considering red for either more aggro or burn support, but a little blue for some tricksy business could be fun too.
Another problem I have with multi-color decks is the idea of having to spend 100$ just on land to have a stable manabase.
June 20, 2015 7 a.m.
Here are other cards I'm considering. This is just some cards in a pile, and shouldn't be considered a deck yet. I'm trying to work out what to cut.I don't know if bothering with Constellation or Heroic will be worth it.
Quagmire, Giggity Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 0 | 1 COMMENTS | 6 VIEWS
June 21, 2015 4:29 p.m.
I'm now leaning more towards the MBD that I'm used to; though, someone today recommended I try R/B Heroic. Could that be a thing?
MagnusMTG says... #2
Here's what I have so far:
Moist & Dirty Playtest
Standard* MagnusMTG
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 27 VIEWS
June 18, 2015 1:56 p.m.