MTG Salvation

Wouldn't Mimic Vat and Shriekmaw just be a lot easier to pull off then Haakon and Nameless Inversion? Plus the vat would just be more useful overall.

So I think I will toss together my old Suicide lists and have a go at this format. This is one fast format. Anything over 4 mana or over better win the game on the spot.

as a member of clan mono-black, had to check this out. i like it, but a nitpick that bothers me is that "mono-black control with green" sounds kinda funny. its not really mono-black anymore when adding green. i'd call it something else.

Quote from tomathan88

as a member of clan mono-black, had to check this out. i like it, but a nitpick that bothers me is that "mono-black control with green" sounds kinda funny. its not really mono-black anymore when adding green. i'd call it something else.

I didn't really know what kind of name to give it. I guess I should just call it Eva Green as Magicmilton suggested or BG control.

a modern gate deck list looks viable.. just a couple of tweaks and its all modern ready. but, would that be still called the gate minus the bitterblossom shell?

An odd trick, though decidedly non-mono-black is to use gifts ungiven and "fail to find" anything but Haakon and nameless inversion. It's kind of a "double-entomb" for four mana.

assuming i give in to my darker desires and play MBC in modern, what should i be considering for 12-post match up? what do we really have? I mean assuming they dont have more than 3 Eldrazi and they dont have any in hand then Sad Sac is the nutz, but what do we have thats more consistent?

also, what kind of clock can we really expect to put opponents on with just black creatures? RB would have alot more in the way of damage and GB has better dudes (goyf) so how are we competing?

dont get me wrong i love MBC (sick in standard) but i want it to be faster in modern and it just feels like itl be the exact same speed as standard (win cons at 4 cmc) only a bit more efficient...am i wrong?

Quote from Errtu Signore dei Balor

In each MBC thread the "spalsh" topic comes out. And I'm always a little bit surprised since it is called Mono-Black.
Going multicolor simply gives away the spirit of the deck and some strenght.
You weaken all swamps-matter cards or black intensive, you make your manabase more vulnerable and and less trustable.
I think we should really stick to Mono Black.

I understand what you mean. Once you splash a second colour it's not truly "Mono" black anymore, and it can get pricey adding all the fetches and duals. Afterall we do have oblivion stone and ratchet bomb that can deal with artifacts and enchantments while staying mono colour. Splashing still gets mentioned in most MBC threads because in some situations, like for example when artifact or enchatment decks are prevelant in your area adding a second colour like green or white is neccessary as black's own options are limited in dealing with those permanets. Thankfully it doesn't seem like there'll be any enchantress like decks in modern. For the most part though staying MBC is perfectly fine.

Quote from forgedinhell

assuming i give in to my darker desires and play MBC in modern, what should i be considering for 12-post match up? what do we really have? I mean assuming they dont have more than 3 Eldrazi and they dont have any in hand then Sad Sac is the nutz, but what do we have thats more consistent?

also, what kind of clock can we really expect to put opponents on with just black creatures? RB would have alot more in the way of damage and GB has better dudes (goyf) so how are we competing?

dont get me wrong i love MBC (sick in standard) but i want it to be faster in modern and it just feels like itl be the exact same speed as standard (win cons at 4 cmc) only a bit more efficient...am i wrong?

For 12 post I think we'll have a better matchup then most other decks. After all there's plently of cheap land destruction in black such as smallpox and fulimator mage which can slow them down considerably. Korlash and Phyrexian Obliterator are both pretty effective creatures for winning quickly. Unless Extraplanar Lens ends up being the next Cabal Coffers I wouldn't expect the deck to much faster then it's standard counterpart, since most of the spells are the same cmc. The difference in modern is that the cards are much better for a similar cost. Eg Thoughtsieze>IOK, Phyrexian Arena>Sign in blood.

I think that the consideration of "splash" is an important part of any deckbuilding discussion. Just like any other aspect of a given deck it is necessary to evaluate the costs and benefits of specific decisions. Being "mono-black" vs. being "mostly black" matters for some cards, but not for others. Given that, the added vulnerability and hassle of a multicolored manabase may or may not be a boon to the deck's overall goals. The point is, if one doesn't discuss it (and hopefully test) it will be very difficult to tell what will be most effective. Basically, I feel like any deck that seeks to capitalize on the heavy black cc spells that exist will play similarly to MBC, even if it features a splash.

Awesome deck, I played this a bit on MWS tonight and ended up beating belcher, ascension, all in red and monowhite control. Phyrexian Obliterator is such a house, I would almost run him over shriekmaw in this deck. A bigger body with a smaller mana cost that will potentially net you more card advantage. With GftT and Doom Blade, shriekaw's evoke was never worth using. I was often waiting till turn 5 to cast shriekmaw just to get damage in. Just my two cents.

Edit:
This was the build I ended with tonight:

Quote from Qfx

I am thinking of taking my current MBC build for standard and modifying it for this format. The deck only gets stronger by adding some of Blacks more powerful cards from the recent past into it. With that said here is my take on a MBC list Modern:

EvincarCrovax's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Land 23 Swamp CMC 1 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Thoughtseize 2 Extirpate	CMC 2 3 Go for the Throat 3 Doom Blade 3 Gatekeeper of Malakir CMC 3 3 Dismember 2 Damnation 4 Vampire Nighthawk 3 Phyrexian Arena	CMC 4 3 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade 3 Phyrexian Obliterator 3 Lashwrithe

The Side is still being thought about. I know that Fulminator Mage and more copies of Extirpate have to go there for 12/8 post. The other two copies of Damnation for token decks and ones that are faster then us. Maybe Leyline of the Void for helping deal with Goofy based decks.

Thoughts folks?

I would remove the three dismembers and add in one more Gatekeeper, Korlash and another land. Extripate could be moved to the sideboard as it's really only effective against a few decks. Also I would include at least 2 Tectonic Edges, just in case you need to deal with troublesome lands such as Academy Ruins or manlands.

Quote from Magicmilton

I don't really like Shriekmaw either. I prefer the Gatekeeper of Malakir because, even if it's a bit more difficult to use sometimes (not that much when you already have GFTT and DB) it can be a 2/2 for 2.

Oh, and where is Geth's Verdict in the post of the OP ?
It's an amazing new edict and need to be listed

I think that both gatekeeper and shriekmaw are good cards. Maybe in this format 5 mana might end up being too much but so far I've been pretty happy with it. The evasion has come in handy in quite a few games.

I've been running the following list on MWS playing against Melira, Jund, Dstorm, Merfolk, Zoo, 12-post, etc. and absolutely crushing it all:



So this deck plays out very simply. Turns 1 and 2 are used playing discard, ideally chaining a Thoughtseize into a Wrench Mind. Smallpox may seem out of place, but I love it in the current meta. Everyone needs 4 lands or tons of combo pieces in hand to do anything, whereas our deck does not. It also massively fuels Tombstalker, which is an absolute monster. Nyxathid is Black's version of Tarmogoyf, and will always be monstrously large once he hits the field. If anyone is curious about the fetchlands, again, this is all about fueling Tombstalker and Death's Shadow. I'm not sure if I like the idea of going up to 4/4 though, and the 2/2 split is to dodge thing like Pithing Needle.

The fun part of this deck is Death's Shadow and Hex Parasite. While this deck is already good at throwing away life, the Hex Parasite can drop you to 1-2 for free. This will give you the biggest threat on the field by far, and it's not uncommon to simply beat combo players to death by turn 4. The Parasite also om noms things like Aether Vial, which is great against Merfolk. It kills PWers too but that doesn't seem to be very relevant in Modern sadly.

The SB is pretty basic. Against combo decks like Living Death, Melira, Hulk, etc. you remove Gatekeepers and Smallpox for Cranial and Leyline. Rain of Tears comes in for any control and some combo matchups, because it destroys 12 post (alongside Smallpox and GQ obviously) but also punishes decks like Esper Teachings that try to field shaky as Hell mana bases. Dismember is a generic anti aggro card that also fuels Death's Shadow, since I often find myself subbing out the Parasites vs aggro. Shadows stay though, they are amazing threats that are nigh impossible to beat past. Keep in mind that my deck doesn't have Pithing Needle in the SB for say Merfolk because I can already deal with Vial with Hex Parasite, and GQ can deal with Mutavaults and the like. Also keep in mind that the whole Hex + Shadow package can come out for pure combo hate, since we still have amazing beaters to carry us to victory once we stop their combo. It kinda depends on the situation, because some decks like Dstorm have no blockers and can easily be killed before they go off. Hitting for 8 on turn 3 and 12 on turn 4 is pretty much an instant win with all of our discard, so I sub out the Gatekeepers and often times Night's Whisper to keep everything in vs Dstorm.

The one card that I really want to add to this deck is Profane Command. I feel like I might even remove Smallpox for it. I love it's ability to straight up win games with the fear + lifeloss activation. Killing a creature and reviving a kicked Gatekeeper is pretty awesome too though. I dunno, it feels like it has tons of uses. The biggest weakness of this deck is beating past "chump" walls to finish people off. PC is tons of reach, I'd like that.

^Need Bob much?

The deck started with Bob over Tombstalker since you can't exactly run both. Still, virtually every time I drew Bob I would have rather drawn a threat. This deck does not go for the long haul, it tries to win quick and dirty. Bob wound up killing me far too often because he wasn't a creature that could help me end the game. The deck plays discard early then plays a big threat and tries to win the game in a few swings. It's almost like an "all-in" deck because half of the time you're leaving yourself at 1-2 HP to win with Death's Shadow. Bob does not play well when you're trying to sit at ~3 life and win before they combo off or draw more threats then you have blockers.

Still, I've been considering playing him over Night's Whispers. I'm just worried about the "automatic" Tombstalker reveal losses though.

Edit: Been trying this version out all night:


So far my only loss in a BO3 is to Red burn, and yes I revealed a Tombstalker to Bob lol. Yeah, that's never going to end well >.>.

If you insist on running tombstalker you could always sub out night's whispers for phyrexian arena. I feel like it's more consistent card advantage.

Another advantage of arena over bob is that it's harder to remove and usually won't punish you as hard. It'll still aid Death's Shadow without potentially nuking you for the lose.

I would go fully control decklist, something like this:
Considerations:

1) we could take advante of including W in sideboard, such as Identity Crisis,Castigate, Mortify, Orzhov Pontiff

Quote from cache1988

Nobody likes Haunting Echoes? In a non-aggro monoblack control with discard i think is a bomb.

It is a hilarious bomb, but only run 1 to tutor for with Liliana.

This is my take on Modern MBC:



I always prefer a long game with MBC. I like to know when I'm winning I guess. Theoretically, the deck has all it needs to win the game, but this is untested.

Just realized I threw Augur of Skulls in at last second because I was missing cards from my original list. Those missing cards were 1 Darkblast and 3 Phyrexian Arena, which are much better than Augur of Skulls. I also had two too many mutavault.

Thoughts on Hypnotic Specter?

Why no lashwrithes? I liked to run nighthawks and lashwrithes for big lifelink.

Quote from Claymore

Thoughts on Hypnotic Specter?

Too slow without dark ritual.

you cant run 4cmc + dudes in modern cuz they get Pathed n countered n wrathed n theyre too slow to beat combo decks.

best bet is to drop early things that screw aggro and can win on their own, like Phyrexian Crusader, then have enough answers for combo between the mainboard and side, which MBC sort of lacks :/

Leyline and alot of discard is you're friend, but if you cant get the leyline turn 0 its GG vs 12post.

Other combo you can handle with Inquisition and Thoughtseize. EE for aggro and some good sac effects for midrange and work well vs everything else. Geth's Verdict can also save you vs Post with Leyline.
Sad Sac in the board can win those matches too if they're dumb enough to only run 3 Eldrazi.

So now that we know most of the top decks will be combo I thought I'd build a version specifically for beating them:



This is a rough list but it has all the tools it needs to beat 12 post, splintertwin, storm and pyromancer's ascension. Discard along with extripate and memoricide can get rid of their few wincons, while persecuter and nyxathid provide a fast clock. Against 12 post ghost quarter and small pox can slow them down. If they do land emrakul you can kill it with geth's verdict, smallpox or gatekeeper. The sideboard has some stuff to help with zoo, additional land destruction and some more combo hate. Overall I think mono black should do well in a combo meta. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Quote from EvincarCrovax

So now that we know most of the top decks will be combo I thought I'd build a version specifically for beating them:

Poopingmypants's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
18x Swamp 4x Ghost Quarter 4 Thoughtsieze 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Extripate 4 Geth's Verdict 4 Smallpox 2 Sudden Death 3 Memoricide	4 Bloodghast 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir 4 Nyxathid 4 Abyssal Persecuter	SB: 2 Damnation 4 Deathmark 2 Surgical Extraction 3 Shriekmaw 4 Fulminator Mage

This is a rough list but it has all the tools it needs to beat 12 post, splintertwin, storm and pyromancer's ascension. Discard along with extripate and memoricide can get rid of their few wincons, while persecuter and nyxathid provide a fast clock. Against 12 post ghost quarter and small pox can slow them down. If they do land emrakul you can kill it with geth's verdict, smallpox or gatekeeper. The sideboard has some stuff to help with zoo, additional land destruction and some more combo hate. Overall I think mono black should do well in a combo meta. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Tombstalker is a way better finisher.