| |
| Author |
Message |
Rate this article!
| 5 (Best) |
| [ 2 ] 25% |
| |
| 4 |
| [ 3 ] 37% |
| |
| 3 |
| [ 3 ] 37% |
| |
| 2 |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
| 1 (Worst) |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
Total Votes : 8 |
|
| Barry Gibb |
![]() Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:22 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Posts: 15
Location:
|
“Back in Black”
How cliché but oh so true!
Mono Black Control (MBC) is once again going to be a viable deck thanks to the upcoming release of PC (Planar Chaos). PC has a good addition of cards suitable for MBC, enabling it to once again become a staple of the standard format. MBC will be back to the days of Death Cloud and even the Judgment block. The two cards that are receiving most of the press are Damnation, the color shift of possibly the most famous card in the game being Wrath of God, along with Extirpate, Cranial Extraction’s cousin. Both of these have everyone buzzing about black again and are the reasons why I felt MBC is back.
Lands:
Urza’s Factory:
I feel that Factory is a great land for control. In control you try to gain virtual card advantage in the quality and power of your cards while dealing with the opponents greatest threats. You play a very defensive game and answer their threats until you have a substantial mana base. This then becomes an uncounterable recurring creature source, which allows you to slowly improve your board position to where you will inevitably win. The 7 mana seems harsh but you will not use this until turn 10 or so, when you deck finally starts going on the offensive. The main reason this is a great card is it allows you to recover after Damnation even if your hand is empty. Factory can make it so you don’t have to over extend against other mass removal decks and counter based decks despise it.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth:
It simply makes all my nonbasic into swamps this makes Consume Spirit and Tendrils of Corruption amazing and fixes any possible mana screw.
Dreadship Reef and Molten Slagheap:
These storage lands are very useful because they allow you to have a reusable mana fixer, which isn’t a large deal in a mono deck but there are a few colorless sources so it shouldn’t hurt the mana base. The other benefit is that it allows you to grow your mana supply to above normal levels for the abuse of cards like Skeletal Vampire and Consume Spirit and still could possibly allow you to gain a few extra mana in the early game for vital spells like damnation if you get land screwed. The other possibility is that the possible 2 extra colors could come in handy for any abilities of creatures you steal with Enslave.
Mouth of Ronom:
This is a great card and kills most creatures, but he is in here mainly to kill that guy who doesn’t let you play cards as instants, you know he is really annoying. Yes, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir there is nothing Dralnu or any of those other control decks can do thanks to Mouth being a land. How can they counter that? They only have one answer and that is a silver bullet Trickbind, not much to worry about there. Also, it is another good removal that doubles as a land, what is better then that?
Creatures:
Skeletal Vampire:
I think it’s safe to say that Skeletal is probably the best black finisher in standard. This is the main finisher in the deck, which should be played around turns 6 through 9. Skeletal could be played by turn 5 through Phyrexian Totem or storage lands even though that may not be the best idea. The reasons why Skeletal is a wonderful creature are:
1. Skeletal has regeneration for limited times but all be it existent,
2. It creates 3 targets for removal not just 1,
3. Creates a net gain of 2 in CA in terms of board position,
4. Is a reusable source of uncounterable creatures,
5. Has flying along with its bat tokens.
6. Can create some cool and beneficial Combat tricks.
Instants:
Sudden Death:
This card is amazing even though I personally think the art is horrible. This is one of the better answers in standard to many creatures, since it is of course at instant speed, which everyone loves, -4/-4 can prevent damage and get around indestructible creatures (Stuffy Doll, anyone?), finally your opponent is unable to respond to the say all be all mechanic of split second, just pray he does not have a morphed Willbender. The -4/-4 allows you to take care of almost all viable and played creatures in standard with the help of blockers and desert let alone most just by its lonesome. The only ones that don’t make you so happy are our untragetable friends like Giant Solifuge, SSS, Calcidirm, and Legwalker but thank god we have Damnation. Another important aspect of Sudden Death is it’s ability to help MBC’s match up against Dralnu by destroying Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.
Tendrils of Corruption:
This spell plays a double role in the deck. The card deals at least 3 damage to any creature, we can target at instant speed, and he gains life equal to the damage it deals. This is wonderful against aggro because not only does it get rid of an attacker but also helps undo all those early turns work on our life total and this makes aggro players very sad pandas.
Sorceries:
Damnation:
This is one of the staple cards of the deck, which also happens to have one of my favorite arts from the set. This is our mass removal, which is the key in a control deck because it allows the deck to drop a land and pass and still not get blown out by aggro. This goes great with the discard because it forces the opponent to over extend on the board almost guaranteeing the same great card advantage against aggro decks which made Wrath of God an amazing card.
Cruel Edict:
This is a fun card when used at the right time. If you are able to keep control of the board and the opponent manages to drop a threat after damnation, oh my, I am sorry you are untargetable. I think since I can’t kill him, you will have to do it for me. If nothing enormous is on the board you are still able to live to fight another day. This does have the weakness of being bad against creature decks with multiple creatures in play. That is fine because that is why the deck runs damnation.
Stupor:
This is a good 3 drop that helps us immensely against control decks. This card can also hit some of the other decks bombs by turn 3-4. It can be a dead card at times but it makes it very hard for an opponent to hold cards for later use, which could make them over extend into a devastating damnation. This is a good 2 for one and it also gets rid of a card randomly, which also gives a good chance of hitting a highly relevant card.
Persecute:
This deck unfortunately doesn’t have any acceleration for a turn 3 persecute but it can still be devastating against a variety of decks. As of now, this can severely hurt decks like Dralnu (even though it won’t resolve many times), MGA, and Dragonstorm. This massive card advantage could be exactly what you need to win.
Nightmare Void:
This is our main deck control killer. Not many control decks can stand a discard spell that allows the opponent to choose from their hand every single turn. This eats up counters or takes out their threats and with an Arena out you will still be having a draw every turn. If you do not choose to reuse it, it at least gets rid of a card and allows you to see your opponent’s hand. Knowledge is power and will help you plan the rest of your game, maybe if you’re lucky you take out their bomb before they can play it or get their hand control-card free to force through that Skeletal Vampire.
Consume Spirit:
This is one of the other main finishers. It can also function as a creature removal spell, along with gaining some life to live a few more turns against burn and aggro. This is very vital since ideally you will be losing life from Arena to be getting those extra cards. This card is always a bomb in a mono black deck seeing how you can only do damage with black mana.
Enchantments:
Debtors’ Knell:
This is a wonderful enchantment other then it costs 7 to play. It goes well with the idea of the deck since the goal is to kill everything the opponent plays and then we play this and start taking back the creatures we killed. If you can resolve this against a heavy counter deck, which should be possible with the discard, you can start playing creatures that can’t be countered and even if they have an answer you can bring it back the next turn. It can also bring back our Skeletal Vampires if they manage to get through the regeneration or we have to Damnation late game. However, there could always be something better in the other side’s graveyard.
Enslave:
This is another win condition that is a nice swing around in the fact that you are taking your opponents creature for your own use. This is really only a 1 for 1 but it also can switch the board position in your favor by taking away a threat of theirs and giving you one. Plus, it deals an extra 1 damage to the creature’s owner during each upkeep which could come in handy.
Phyrexian Arena:
This is a key card that allows us to hit most or all of our land drops. More chances to get the kill cards we need to survive until late game where we start going on the offensive. This is one of blacks few draw engines which is only comparable to dark confidant in standard. Confidant is not usable in a control deck since the casting costs of the cards that are run are much too high. “During my upkeep, Confidant. Reveal… Debtor’s Knell…. I’ll take 7…”
Artifacts:
Phyrexian Totem:
This is a great card for this deck. It helps to accelerate our mana base and can possibly be a win condition in this deck, which has so much board control. If there is nothing in your path this is a very lethal 5/5. Against control decks, this might be the MVP once it gets going. I would not advise to activate it if the opponent runs burn spells and still has a hand. You could always use this as a last resort but you might lose a lot of tempo and possible board position from sacrificing permanents. However, just this past Friday, I watched a guy playing Solar Flare ride his way to victory with the Totem playing against Boros so anything is possible.
Side Board:
Extirpate:
This maybe a new staple to this deck but I don’t believe you can run this card in your main deck unless you have it as a one of in a deck with search possibilities such as Dralnu. It can plausibly be used against any deck with its one black casting cost, instant speed, and unrespondabiltity (I like to make up words) thanks to possibly the best mechanic ever: Split second. Everyone would want to get four copies and manage to get one of their opponent’s best 4 cards in the grave to swiftly remove these threats from the game. Yet, we all know this is highly unlikely. This card is rarely ever a dead card, but it can easily become a very sub par card. This is however one or our better side board options and completely kills decks that run graveyard recursion such as Solar Flare, Martyr variations, and to a smaller extent Dralnu.
Shadow of Doubt:
This is well known as the Dragonstrom tech that most people know of. It is possible to use it against Dralnu when they cast Mystical Teachings, which would defiantly hurt them. This could be used against Jesters Cap if you are playing against the Panda Connection and you could use it against any other decks with searchable land acceleration but that is not the best idea because there may be better options. Also, we get to draw a card out of this with its cantrip.
Darkblast:
This is a great card against Boros and Scryb and Force because they have many creatures with 1 and 2 toughness. This is a reusable kill on those guys and if you do not know the trick of how to use this on 2 toughness creatures ill let you in on it now: During you upkeep, play Darkblast targeting the 2/2 creature, go into your draw step and dredge the Darkblast back, and replay it. Blast also gets around damage prevention and regeneration and destruction because it gives -1/-1 and not in fact doing any damage. So in case Stuffy Doll gets big in your meta with Skred, Shivan Meteor, and Volcano Hellion. “Why are you putting it in the graveyard? I thought it was indestructible!”
Deathmark:
It is not an instant but who can pass up killing a green or white creature. This is very relevant against MGA, Scryb and Force, Boros, Zoo, Gruul, and Ghazi Glare. Then there are decks that have either Lightning Angel or Firemane Angel like This Girl, Angel Fire, etc.
Nightmare Void:
This in the side because it is so pivotal against those control decks and helps for use to gain an advantage against them. Having more gives you a much better chance to draw a copy.
Persecute:
This is also in here because it is a very relevant card against a single color heavy deck or counters.
Sudden Death:
This is always good to have 4 of because this card allows us to kill all those great 4 or less toughness creatures. The best part is your opponent can’t respond. A full set of Sudden Deaths is needed to be able to beat Dralnu, which is a major problem right now.
Lands:
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Molten Slagheap
1 Dreadship Reef
2 Urza’s Factory
4 Mouth of Ronom
13 Snow-Covered Swamp
Creatures:
2 Skeletal Vampire
Spells:
3 Consume Spirit
2 Nightmare Void
4 Stupor
3 Persecute
3 Cruel Edict
4 Damnation
3 Sudden Death
3 Tendrils of Corruption
3 Phyrexian Arena
2 Enslave
1 Debtors’ Knell
3 Phyrexian Totem
Side Board:
4 Shadow of Doubt
3 Extirpate
2 Darkblast
3 Deathmark
1 Nightmare Void
1 Sudden Death
1 Persecute
Match-Ups:
Dralnu du Louvre: This is the main deck in my meta and is also one of the top decks in the MTGO meta. This deck runs many counters and uses Mystical Teachings with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir out to look for the win conditions or Dralnu, Lich Lord, which allows them to use so many counters and other cards from the grave.
This is a fairly good match up pre-side for this deck thanks to that large amount of discard it packs. Also, the problem card is always Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, which we have 2 answers to and both are uncounterable: Sudden Death and Mouth of Ronom. My favorite way to make a Dralnu du Louvre player cry is to recur Nightmare void every turn till there is nothing left. This gets even better with graveyard hate, more uncounterable removal, and more discard.
In:
+3 Extirpate
+1 Nightmare Void
+1 Sudden Death
Extirpate is a wonderful card against a graveyard based deck. If you can manage to kill Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir through the many different ways, but most likely being Mouth of Ronom or Sudden Death, you can then Extirpate him and they have no way to respond. This then makes it impossible for them to search their deck for creatures. Then, of course we add in more Sudden Deaths and Nightmare Voids because what is better against control?
Out:
-2 Damnation
-3 Tendrils of Corruption
We take out Damnations because we rarely will need mass removal and there are much better options. Dralnu du Louvre is not a deck that we need to gain life against and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir abuses instants so Tendrils of Corruption becomes less powerful.
U/G Scryb & Force: This is an aggro-control deck that runs mana acceleration such as Bird of Paradise and Llanowar Elves to get to their bomb, being Spectral Force that is backed up by counters. Scryb Ranger is used to untap their mana producers and to untap Force against non-black decks.
This is an interesting match up since they can get damage going fast. That is not the main problem; the main problem is they have counters to answer our answers. Luckily if they empty out their hand to get some board position then that opens up our discard to get ride of their counters. We do have answers for most of there creatures. Letting a Spectral Force swing with Stonewood Invocation really hurts. The worst part is he may be able to untap next turn, even without Scryb Ranger.
In:
+2 Darkblast
+3 Deathmark
U/G does not really like the cards we side in at all. Darkblast gets ride of 4 of there creatures, being: Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Yavimaya Dryad, and Scryb Ranger. Deahtmark can kill every creature in the deck upon resolving. Both of these are very cheap and can do lots of damage which should eat up their counters along with discard to allow Damnation to resolve.
Out:
-3 Persecute
-2 Nightmare Void
Persecute isn’t so great since they do have blue cards and this is a more expensive discard spell. You want faster cards against this deck. The same goes for Nightmare Void; you can’t be using your draws for discard, since they will rarely have more then 2 counters in hand. The board will be a bigger problem to control. Cards like stupor will deal with the counters.
U/W Tron: This is a counter based deck that also runs Wrath of God and Faith’s Fetters to gain life and clear the board. Then they can play spell burst with buy back with tron and with Brine Elemental and Vesuvan Shapeshifter, you never untap again. This also runs the infamous Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.
This is a fairly good match up just like Dralnu du Louvre. This is a fairly heavy counter based deck. I some what feel that this is a worse match up compared to Dralnu because if they get a good hand, it is able to get rolling faster then most control decks thanks to tron. It is really fun getting smoked by spell burst with buy back. This deck is mainly for a little more aggroish meta since it has Wrath of God and Faith’s Fetters. This is not a big deal, but if the version runs Akroma, Angel of Wrath it could be more trouble since all of our removal is black we are going to be hoping for Damnation.
In:
+1 Sudden Death
+3 Extirpate
+1 Nightmare Void
You always need the extra Sudden Death when going up against Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and the fact that you can kill Brine Elemental and Vesuvan Shapeshifter without it being countered sits well in my stomach. If they compulsive a Tron piece or you make them discard it, the game could almost be over from there if you can extirpate them before they play that piece. Then you can always use Nightmare Void against those decks with a lot of counters.
Out:
-3 Cruel Edict
-1 Tendrils of Corruption
-1 Damnation
As I said you might not take out damnation if they play Akroma, Angel of Wrath but otherwise you don’t need too much mass removal since they will almost never have more then 1-3 creatures. Tendrils and Edict are less important here, in the control match up, because we will be too worried about discarding to worry about them playing anything.
Dragonstorm: This is a combo deck that can go off turn 1, although I have never seen it happen. It usually goes off by turn 5 but can wait around if it must against counters and tap out the control player with Gigadrowse on their upkeep and then go off for the win on their turn.
This is a very iffy match indeed. If you don’t get some early hand disruption you can kiss your arse good bye. Now if you do you could ruin their game, or you could hope you get tendrils to survive and then have enough kill to take out them next turn.
In:
+4 Shadow of Doubt
+3 Extirpate
+1 Persecute
One thing I can say about Shadow of Doubt is that it is without any doubt the best card against this deck. One of the better tricks would to be let one storm copy resolve and then in response kill it with tendrils of corruption and follow that up with a shadow of doubt. If you are really lucky you can Extirpate that dragon and for the most part win the game from there. If you can Persecute for red before they go off they will most of the time scoop unless they have an Ignorant Bliss.
Out:
-3 Sudden Death
-2 Damnation
-1 Cruel Edict
-2 Nightmare Void
Sudden Death is useless for the most part since it is unable to kill any creature in Dragonstorm. Damnation is most of the time a last hope in case you survive the fist blow. I would rather them not go off at all and that is the game plan. Cruel Edict is ok if you do survive and it would have more copies taken out other then it can kill a creature for 2 mana. Nightmare Void gets the cut, sadly, there is just something about tapping out on turn 4 for just one card. Hopefully, Stupor can do well in the discard spot. We need to stay untapped for Tendrils Of Corruptions, Shadow of Doubts, etc
Boros Deck Wins: This is an aggro deck that plays effective cheap beats to get you in range to burn you out once the beats can not get through your blockers or after a mass removal spell. You will see Savannah Lion, Soltari Priest, and Knight of the Holy Nimbus (just to name a few) along with your classic burn such as Char and Lightning Helix.
MBC is built to beat Boro’s Deck Wins. This is a match up you want to see. We have all the creature kill you can dream of along with -X/-X removal that gets rid of their one regenerator. We have the early discard to get rid of their burn and then they also have to over extend into Damnation and god knows what else. Tendrils sures up any loose ends in the life department if they manage to some how get a great start and we draw horribly.
In:
+2 Darkblast
+3 Deathmark
+1 Sudden Death
This is a fun deck to side against because all 3 of the cards we side in wreck shop. The only worry ever would be if they run Paladin en-Vec in their side but… oh… wait! We have cruel edict and Damnation.
Out:
-3 Persecute
-2 Nightmare Void
-1 Enslave
Enslave isn’t not really worth running since there creatures are small and minor and should be dead by the time you get mana for it. I would take out both copies but it’s the sixth card. Persecute is also too slow, they will have an empty hand usually. No point in having recurring discard in this match, since everything will go to play and soon be in the grave yard.
I think MBC is “Back in Black” and could make a great showing in standard for some time to come. You gotta love a mono deck thanks to the much cheaper land base and the lack of mana color screw. Over all, this deck is cheap, other then finding Damnation and Extirpate. Thank you for spending the time to reading my first article, that Cobra and the other fellow members have interested me into |
| Last edited by Barry Gibb on Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:10 am; edited 5 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
| mojo |
![]() Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:06 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 32
Location: your mom
|
| good article overall, but u didnt mention black mail a good turn one card just cause it puts added pressure on control decks, also sudden spoiling is a great against agro or pesky creatueres with annoying abilities like brine elemental and shapeshifter...it’ll give u an extra turn to kill them and then take over the game agaisnt pickles and such. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:55 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
Looks to me like you got stuck playing some pretty bad cards because mono is tough.
Tendrils is marginal because it’s bad against control. Nightmare void is just... comon man. Better to agressively make discard happen.
Consume spirit... makes me cry. On 15 swamps, you’ll probably be able to run it for about 2-3 damage.
Too many 1-of’s, not enough creatures.
Shadow of doubt is only tech if your opponent is a bad player. Seriously, I don’t know how many times I have the say this. They gigadrowse anytime after your untap phase the turn before going off and you can’t do anything. Comon. It’s not rocket science. I’m really getting tired of repeating myself.
With the exception of shadow of doubt, your sideboard looks pretty good. If you make more consistancy, your maindecked cards could be pretty good, too. Right now, it looks like you’ll see a different hand every time, and none overly powerful. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Barry Gibb |
![]() Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:45 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Posts: 15
Location:
|
I have always been a strong believer in the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That is why i would like to replay to your comments La_Sin_Grail.
La_Sin_Grail wrote:
Tendrils is marginal because it’s bad against control.
1. Even if Tendrils is a bad against control, that is why I run a side board. The card is not in there for Control. It is there to be used a removal in a aggro match up not only does it get ride of a threat, but it gains my some life. I need the life gain to make up for the loss from Arena and early attacks.
La_Sin_Grail wrote:
Nightmare void is just... comon man. Better to agressively make discard happen.
2. Nightmare void is amazing against the many counter based discard decks. You will be able to make them counter this every turn or you get to take what you want from their hand. If they miss a counter draw they are in bad shape. Then you again have to remember that with Arena out you will be drawing 2 cards a turn. This means you will still be getting your draw because of Arena even if you dredge Nightmare. Then of course you can play other discard along with it such as stupor to completely demolish their hand.
La_Sin_Grail wrote:
Consume spirit... makes me cry. On 15 swamps, you’ll probably be able to run it for about 2-3 damage.
3. The only time i would play Consume so early that i only have 4-5 swamps is if I have to kill a creature. Other wise i would play it much later in the game with more then 5 swamps in play. You must realize that i also run Dreadship and Molten to pump up for very large Consumes. I believe 15 of a single land is a large amount. I also play control which does not win early with an Arena or even my natural draws i think i would have around 10 lands or so with the majority of them being swamps or storage lands which are even better for Consume.
La_Sin_Grail wrote:
Too many 1-of’s, not enough creatures.
4. A.The 1-of’s are Debtor’s Knell which I would not want more then one of since you would like to draw that very late into the game. The other one of’s that do not include lands are in the side board. I do this so i can run 3 of’s of those cards because in some decks you do not need 4 and if i do need the forth copies i can side them in. Most importantly that allows me to run a extra card in the main deck as a 3 of to give the deck more versatility.
B. I run to Skeletals which allow me to make creatures. I run 2 Urza’s factorys, which also allow me to make creatures. I run 2 Enslaves which allow me to steal the opponent’s creatures. I run Debtor’s Knell which allows me to bring creatures back into play. Finally i run Consume Spirit which does the same thing as creatures, it does damage.
La_Sin_Grail wrote:
Shadow of doubt is only tech if your opponent is a bad player. Seriously, I don’t know how many times I have the say this. They gigadrowse anytime after your untap phase the turn before going off and you can’t do anything. Comon. It’s not rocket science. I’m really getting tired of repeating myself.
5. They will have to build up a fair amount of mana to keep me from having 2 black sources. The longer they take building up their mana, the more time I have to make them discard. Then i could also draw into Tendrils, which could potentially allow me to live the first wave. Then i will possibly be able to clear their threats after words. If you watched or played Dragonstorm they build up the Gigadrowses against decks that run counters or trick bind some times Shadow, but these deck more often then not do not run discard. If DStrom is messing around trying to tap me out the could very well lose the pieces they need to go off in the first place.
Thank you for your comments though because you are making us expand our thought process to come up with answers to the thing you point out. The only grief i have with your posting is you provided no facts or examples just thoughts. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| physcosick |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:01 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 229
Location:
|
I’m sidin with Barry on this one
@mojo: Sudden Spoiling is horrible and the deck obviously already has a good enough game against aggro decks. Blackmail is very iffy. Even though the deck doesn’t have any one drops, blackmail is just subpar, imo. Everytime I had it used on me, it was basically as if I was choosing which card to discard. In that sense, it was strictly worse then cry of contrition, and I wouldn’t run cry in this deck.
@sin: Tendrils is not a bad card and it’s not bad against control, if you think about it. A lot of control decks play a win condition with some mana open protect it. Luckily, Tenrils is an instant so it can remove the creature from play and gain you life, or he taps out to protect it, then you you can play something on your main phase without worrying about counters. This of course does not apply to Dralnu which goes eot teferi but that is what mouth and sudden death is for.
Consume Spirit is not a bad card, it has been in MBC decks since 2005 Champs. And if you have 15 Swamps that equals 13-15 damage not 2-3.
Nightmare Void is amazing and it is extremely underestimated. I use to totally destroy control decks with it in my Gifts deck back in the day. Sure, things have changed since, but even though it may not be aggresive, it is reoccuring which is more important then being aggressive because of counters. If you aggresively discard, they can counter them and no biggy. Nightmare Void? there is no point in countering it because the card is gonna get discarded anyway, if not anything better. Over a short period of time, you can sneak some other stuff through the counters. I was very happy to see it being played in the new COMPETITIVE deck that abuses dredge. You should check it out... it runs nightmare void against control... cause it’s amazing!
There are not many one ofs execpt for the sideboard. The good thing about this type of deck is it basically has everything it needs for both aggro and control matchups. But in order to do that you have to make some cuts. This balance ensures a good first match. And after sideboarding, not only can you know exactly what to take out and put in, you can ensure your match up even more.
About dragonstorm, coming from someone who knows the deck better then most people, and the fact that i have been playing it and testing it since states, i don’t understand your claim. Ideally, you are supposed to set up your mana base and gigadrowse for a lot before going off against control decks. But thats for decks with counters. MBC has discard. You have to race against that. How can you sit around tapping storage lands for mana when he is drawing two cards a turn into stupor, or void, or persecute? You can’t or u’ll lose without a doubt! You have to go off as soon as possible before all your hand is decimated. Because once your hand starts getting painful, in comes that extirpate and there goes the game, pretty much.
@barry: nice article, good to see a different take on things. You have some good ideas and good thoughts. Matchups and sideboarding analysis was great. Seems like it could be a solid deck, gotta try it out some time or something. But welcome to cobracards and excellent first article!
PS: Nice name ;P |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| c3poquino |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:13 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 47
Location:
|
| I’m not siding with anyone, but have some things to say. Blackmail is not marginal as you say, I played Felipe Musco’s Orzhov deck some times, and it’s pretty good to have a one drop. That being said, in a mono-black deck, Funeral Carm makes for a better one drop if you only have room for one, in the sense that it’s an instant, and it acts as a removal against Savannah Lions and Dark Confidant, for starters. Then, there is the consume spirit and tendrils of corruption issue. I’d keep only one of them, basically Tendrils of Corruption, since as physcosick mentioned, it’s an instant, and I like the versatility of instants. With that, storage lands could go, and Quicksand could come in, which is a good defense against early aggro assaults, should you need it. However, playing Quicksand and Mouth of Ronom might be too much. Don’t know. Urza’s Factory could go, too, and you have way too many removal in your main deck. Enslave could also go, and you could try some Diabolic Tutors, or the Dimir House Guard transmute engine, since it finds both Damnation and Persecute. With that, you won’t need 3 Persecutes on the main deck, 2 might be enough, but that’s not an issue. Deathmark can go, too, just way too much removal. Extirpate needs to be played in 4, just too good to pass. I think Phyrexian Totem could be played in 4, too, and your deck has the same problem I found with both discard decks posted by Felipe Musco: The Rack is absent. It helps you with a quicker kill, and it’s a one drop, which the deck lacks. I don’t think Enslave is worth playing, too. Great thinking on Nightmare Void, it’s an amazing card, as physcosick mentioned. So what if it’s common? Scab-Clan Mauler is common too, and you see a Gruul deck without it? Not to mention, Volcanic Hammer is also common, and was in the Boros build that got to Top 8 at Worlds. And what about Signets? Just because a card is common, it doesn’t make them bad. Congratulations, Barry, cool deck and cool article. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:24 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
My point on tendrils was it’s so terrible against control that being pretty good against agro isn’t enough. A card needs to make a matchup change to make a sideboard top tier decks play, and while tendrils is okay, it’s either completely terrible or just pretty good.
Nightmare void... gets remanded. All day long. At four mana, you should be able to get something better happening. And the recursion isn’t that great considering you’re playing a discard deck- that means you shouldn’t run out of discard.
I see nothing wrong with two knells. Looking at your list, I see only two playsets of spells. That means poor consistancy, no matter how you spin it.
You’re kidding yourself if you think either that D-storm can go off before you play your discard. There’s no racing about it- they have to go off as soon as they can, but not for the great chance of losing. Game one it’s fine for them to go off without protection, but almost every deck in the game boards in match two something for D-storm. They’d be an unworthy adversary to not expect a black control deck to have shadow. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:34 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
LSG is correct. And also, YOUR deck has the upper hand in this match-up! They have, what? 4 Remands? And then what? YOU are on a better position, since if you discar 2-3 cards from their hand and then Persecute for  , they are doomed. You shouldn’t have to worry about playing Shadow. |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| mojo |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:39 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 32
Location: your mom
|
well you guys obviously dont realize that if they know ur playing mono black they’ll side in ignorant bliss...so there goes that idea. then next turn they go off and u are dead. so shadow seems to me like a good idea simply because its like you did all that work to win and then opps that card gets into play...so its a major "f.U" card for them. then u make em discard afterwards cause they cant prevent all of it from happening and they’ll eventually draw into their "kill" cards.
also urza’s factory is awesome late game can i say chump block for those pesky fat creatures in control decks:-p. and nightmare void is doing what u want anyways if your...burning counters. its doing its job to set up the knell and skelly. also everyone is missing the fact that its control and its mbc, black is amzing spot removal. so ur gonan sit back and every time they play a creature its gonna go bye bye thats what makes this deck work.
and the rack does not work as a faster kill, it’s like saying you cant kill stuffy doll. i’d rather see megrim in then the rack, cause megrim is continous damage while the rack is like i am screwed if they manage to get a draw spell. as for destert i like the idea but not for this deck cause look at all the double black for the cards.
the only thing i see wrong is it needs more creatures and a good one drop. its very solid. as for the playset issue why do u want more then 3 of sudden death whuiile u have cruel edict? your missing on the synergy here between the cards. i count 9 discard, 6 life gain cards 6 spot removal, 4 mass removal and 3 Phyrexian arena’s for draw. i see alot of senergy here lsg...you should test it out before u can say it doesnt have synergy. plus 1 knell is good enough cause its an alt. win condition if it was a main win i’d say go for two also, but skelly is obviously the main kill card. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:59 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
|
Welcome to the site, Barry! Strategic nitpicks aside, you’ve got a very nicely written article here, and I hope to read more from you.
physcosick wrote: Consume Spirit is not a bad card, it has been in MBC decks since 2005 Champs. And if you have 15 Swamps that equals 13-15 damage not 2-3.
The total number of Swamps is 15; what’s relevant is how many are actually on the table.  But I’m inclined to agree with you, physcosick. Creature control and lifegain on one card, that gets better and better as the game goes on...
Is Skeletal Vampire really the best option for 6 mana?  |
| http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are UTC - 4
|
Page 1 of 3 [26 Posts] |
Goto page: 1, 2, 3 Next |
|
|
Forum index » Magic: The Gathering » MTG Strategy Article Contest
