What beats Mono-Black???
Standard forum
Posted on Jan. 29, 2014, 7:28 p.m. by TheBolas
I see a ton of mono black along with mono blue devotion decks. I myself have a mono-blue devotion deck. What are ways to beat lets say Mono-black consistently at a competitive level along with mono-blue devotion? Is there decks out there that can do it???
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #3
pshhh mono black has been not good for so long let it shine for a little bit!
My suggestion would be some sort of gruul aggro deck.
January 29, 2014 7:38 p.m.
InconspicuousPotato says... #4
@AnagonLordofSnakes are you kidding? It had 2 top 8s at GP Vancouver, Owen Turtenwald won 2 GPs with it, and there's even more (use the link and search for MBD)
January 29, 2014 7:48 p.m.
Dalektable says... #6
InconspicuousPotato I'm pretty sure he just meant in previous standard seasons. There hasn't been a good mono black build in standard for awhile until now.
January 29, 2014 7:51 p.m.
ryuzaki32667 says... #7
It wasn't dominate, but I loved playing Travis Woo's black wolf run last standard, just enough green for Farseek and Thragtusk bc why not it's what everyone did before rotation, and just enough red for Olivia Voldaren and Bonfire of the Damned , and Crypt Ghast with all swamps and shocks made for giant Kessig Wolf Run activations and huge Bonfires, even when hard casting from the hand. This is the exact list I ran at a tourny and got 9th,I switched the Skirsdag High Priest for the bonfires, I remember them doing nothing the entire day lol. Favorite thing to do was a turn 4 Griselbrand , and then a turn 5 swinging 13/7 Griselbrand
January 29, 2014 8:02 p.m.
Try packing some Ratchet Bomb next time you go up against MBD, they can be a big help. Ratchet Bomb can take out multiple Underworld Connections at once denying their draw engine, or kill off all of their copies of Pack Rat (I think, not 100% sure if the copies have the same CMC as the original), or just be held in reserve against Desecration Demon . There is very little that mono black can do to take out artifacts, so that should be a big help to you.
To answer your question, I feel like super fast aggro decks (RDW) as well as powerful control decks (Esper) both can perform pretty well against MBD. I'm no expert though since I don't pilot one myself. This is mainly because both of these decks usually can deal with a turn 1 Thoughtseize better than most of the other decks right now. However, asking for a foolproof way to beat a certain deck is just bad magic if you ask me. It's the player that makes the deck, not the cards; it's much more important to be able to counter their style of play rather than just thinking you have already won because your deck has a good matchup.
January 29, 2014 8:23 p.m.
InconspicuousPotato says... #9
Ratchet Bomb does indeed kill all copies of Pack Rat . The copies still have a CMC of 2, and a casting cost of 1B, that's why they were used originally and count towards devotion. G/R monsters is good against MBD because you have so many threats that Thoughtseize becomes much weaker. And they will eventually run out of Hero's Downfall for all of the threats.
January 29, 2014 8:38 p.m.
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #10
@crazypotato mbd wasn't a viable standard deck even with Phyrexian Obliterator and Blood Artist available.
I was implying pre theros, no need to be thinking so close-minded!
To add on what's already being said, you need to be able to recover from a turn one Thoughtseize so "keep that in mind"
January 29, 2014 8:41 p.m.
InconspicuousPotato says... #11
@AnagonLordofSnakes its InconspicuousPotato, not crazy potato. Sorry, I misunderstood about the Mono-Black not being good for a while.
January 29, 2014 9:13 p.m.
Main board some Domestication s in your MUD deck to have an advantage against other MUDs and MBDs by stealing their nightveils.
January 29, 2014 9:16 p.m.
unholycookies says... #13
Cyclonic Rift is a good bet. Would have to overload, but it works.
January 29, 2014 9:57 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #14
I run a MBD that splashes U for some sideboard cards. One thing this lets me deal with is, the aforementioned, Blood Baron of Vizkopa .
Beating MBD is tricky, you have to dodge the removal long enough to get in a few hits, Thassa, God of the Sea and Judge's Familiar are the most threatening things that MUD has. If you aren't at 4x on both of those I would suggest starting there. Being in U you have access to counter magic, nothing ruins a MBD player's day like Negate on a Hero's Downfall (targeting your Master of Waves for example).
Personally G/R monsters doesn't really scare me all that much as a MBD player. MUD actually has a better matchup in most cases just because of the sheer speed.
Don't forget about Rapid Hybridization either. It's a great kill.
kmcree says... #2
It obviously depends on what specifically about MBD is causing you trouble, but I run an Esper build, and it handles black reasonably well. Things like Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict are the best ways to deal with Pack Rat , a decent removal package can usually handle Desecration Demon and Underworld Connections , and the only real way to avoid Gary is to counter him, which blue can do. Additionally, MBD tends to have a relatively difficult time dealing with Blood Baron of Vizkopa , which can be a great win con for Esper. It's started to fall off a little bit, but I think Esper is still one of your best bets for beating MBD.
January 29, 2014 7:38 p.m.