[MtG] [t2] [B] monoblack control.dek

[Cirrus]

My take on mbc in the current Standard, which has always intrigued me since Black Summer.

Mainboard - 60 cards

Creatures - 16 -
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Abyssal Persecutor
2 Vampire Hexmage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch

Sorceries - 10 -
3 Mind Sludge
3 Consuming Vapors
4 Sign In Blood

Instants - 10 -
3 Consume the Meek
3 Smother
4 Tendrils of Corruption

Planeswalkers - 3 -
2 Liliana Vess
1 Sorin Markov

Lands - 21 -
19 Swamp
2 Dread Statuary

Sideboard - 15 -
2 Vampire Hexmage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 All is Dust
3 Pithing Needle
2 Hypnotic Specter
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Smother
3 Doom Blade

Fairly simple breakdown. Gatekeeper is awesome, Persecutor is awesome (plus Consuming!), Bloodwitch is awesome, Nighthawk is awesome, Sign is awesome... need I say more? Maindeck Hexmages can alternatively hate on Bushwhacker decks with first strike and more importantly any and all Planeswalkers (screw Jace the 50 dollar bill - okay, so he's still good...). Bloodwitches have protection from white which is awesome against Baneslayer. 2 Liliana and 1 Sorin are fairly common, and I sort of wanted to cut a Liliana for a Grim Discovery but then decided not to...

Point your Smothers at random things like Putrid Leech and such. It hates on White Weenie quite effectively as well, as does Consume the Meek (awesome B wrath sort of...). But I won't bore you any more with this incessant rambling - the deck is fairly linear and should be able to explain itself well.

R&R please, and thank you for reading.

 

[Kenny_C.002]

Persecutor isn't really THAT good in MBC and really you can do without if you don't want to shell out the bucks. I'm not even sure if he's THAT much better than say bloodwitch against PW's and stuff.

Rest of the deck looks pretty standard, except 21 lands is going to hurt you a lot as a control deck as you'll be missing drops starting turn 3. You really need to up the land count to at least 24 (preferably 25) to really be effective as a control deck. 2 sanctuaries are perfect at 25 lands.

Hexmage is a good call against PW's. I find MD'ing 3 is usually the right number if you want it timely against a PW. IMO this is more of a metagame call. I can see 2 being the right number as well.

SB needs another mind sludge. Decks like superfriends are simply wrecked by T5 mind sludge with barely any way to recover. You really do want mind sludge to show up timely here. This is also the reason why 21 lands isn't enough. You'll never hit T5 Mind sludge if you run less than 24 lands.

 

[DonRoyale]

I'd drop two Persecutors for a Marsh Flats and a Verdant Catacombs. If needbe, cut the other two for one more of each fetch.

Fetches are great because although you are running one color, Ken's right; you don't want to be missing land drops. Plus, fetches help when you're set on land and want to draw into more relevant spells.

I also see a few problems with your sideboard.

First of all, what is Hypnotic Specter doing that Liliana can't, except eat a Terminate/Bolt/Burst Lightning/virtually anything? I just see them as redundant.

Also, Haunting Echoes is nice, but in MBC I prefer Suffer the Past for the life swing.

Also, I agree with Ken; 3 Hexmage in the MB is the way to go. A lot more decks are relying on 'Walkers and she just wrecks them.

On the same note, perhaps a third Bloodwitch in the main helps to deal with that stupid Elspeth/Gideon combo pretty hardcore.

Not bad otherwise. If you experience further problems with Planeswalkers, a second All Is Dust might be a good idea to board.

 

[Cirrus]

I wanted to run 8 fetches at first, but then saw little point in running them because of the lack of Grim Discovery, as well as the deck-thinning that fetches promote by allowing me to draw fewer land when I'm already at a precarious 21.

With some games it's true that it's difficult to hit 5 land for Mind Sludge, which is an extremely important card because it massacres control (and most decks tbh), being one of the must-counter spells of standard.

The Persecutors were really there in the first place because at first I wanted to build GB aggro with maybe a splash of R - Abyssal Persecutor into Momentous Fall seemed awesome. They're good for getting damage in but Nighthawks do that too - so it's possible to cut them. I'll have to run with it to see if my win condition still stands after they're cut, but I'll do that for now.

Hypnotic Specter is faster than Liliana, jumping over Wall of Omens and swinging for damage - and forces UW control to either Path/O-Ring or Day of Judgment the board (or Baneslayer, but we deal with that - Tendrils, Consuming, Bloodwitch etc) and is generally good card advantage. I'd run Sedraxis Specter except this deck obviously can't support such a profligate mana cost such as UBR...

Suffer the Past is inferior to Haunting Echoes because Haunting Echoes removes all copies of a card from the deck after removing it from the graveyard, and it's generally a stronger card for its mana cost, being very useful against any deck as long as they have a large graveyard (and they will probably have a large graveyard due to Gatekeeper and removal, etc etc).

I think 24 lands should be sufficient, with 6 fetches and 2 manlands, perhaps. Maybe 8 fetches.

Mainboard - 60 cards

Creatures - 13 -
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Vampire Hexmage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch

Sorceries - 10 -
3 Mind Sludge
3 Consuming Vapors
4 Sign In Blood

Instants - 10 -
3 Consume the Meek
3 Smother
4 Tendrils of Corruption

Planeswalkers - 3 -
2 Liliana Vess
1 Sorin Markov

Lands - 24 -
16 Swamp
3 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Dread Statuary

Sideboard - 15 -
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Mind Sludge
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 All is Dust
3 Pithing Needle
2 Hypnotic Specter
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Smother
3 Doom Blade