Dark Confidant is easily my favorite black creature and arguably the best 2cc creature in my cube. I've won many a draft on the back of a first-pick Bob.
I cut Bob a few years back because of similar issues people have already expressed in other posts, but then added him back in a few months ago. While he does take players willing to use him, and less experienced players will not want him, he is powerful, which makes he a good card for most cubes.
All colors (well, except blue...) have aggro creatures of varying strengths and sizes, and black is no different. Whereas red also has burn, white has removal/swarm and green has bigger creatures, black's strength is disruption in the form of Sinkhole, Duress and the like. I'm never unhappy to get these in my b/x aggro deck.
As far as specific creatures go, just take a look at some other veteran cubes around here. Most run Sarcomancy, Vampire Lacerator and Carnophage as 1 drops.
There's also a lot of 2-drops that are personal preference, depending on the size of your cube and how much you want to push black aggro, again just take a look around.
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He's incredible, but should be built around. My cube supports BX aggro, and he can be nuts. Here's an example of the variance. In the past two cube drafts we've had (4man and 8man respectively), there've been games where he did 14 damage to his control, and games where he drew lands 6 turns in a row (i.e. no damage, free extra draw for 6 turns). He's really important for aggro decks because they can run out of gas so easily. In a MBC deck, he's not good, but that's ok because the individual spells are more powerful.
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i am wondering what you guys consider are the key cards in black aggro.
Nether Void is black's armageddon, and is well worth including.
As well as the black cards, consider the colourless aggro cards. Apart from equipment, I have found that adding things like Winter Orb, Cursed Scroll, Ankh of Mishra and Black Vise have done wonders for the viability of aggro as a strategy in my drafts.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
i am wondering what you guys consider are the key cards in black aggro.
You need creatures that are above the curve like Carnophage and it's brethren. You need solid early beaters like Black Knight and Nantuko Shade. Then there's the evasive guys like the Dauhi's (Horror and Marauder) and Oona's Prowler. Perhaps even Skittering Skirge. Once you've got solid beats, then good disruption is the second half. Easy to cast removal like Doom Blade and the Edict variants are definitely necessary. Once you've got all that, something like Dark Confidant is just the gravy that makes your deck so much better.
Actually, the rest of your post holds up surprisingly well in 2016! I'm glad we now have much better options for black 2-drops than Black Knight and Skittering Skirge, though.
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What's your cutoff for Bob? I'm always really hesitant to include more than 3-4 four drops. But would you play a Shriekmaw and a Bob in the same deck ever?
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I think a lone expensive card isn't a dealbreaker, but I don't like multiple 5+cc cards & Bob in the same deck.
Pretty much this. The highest I might go would be a Gurmag Angler or Tasigur or even a Grave Titan, but if I include one of those I go very much out of my way to keep the curve as low as possible outside of them
Mono Black aggro comes in two varieties in my cube: Bob aggro, and aggro splash reanimator for Griselbrand. In either version, I'll be eager to include Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Shriekmaw, but besides that I try to keep the curve at 4cmc and less when running Bob. I don't generally try to limit the number of 4-drops when building with Bob, but after picking Bob, I do think I prioritize lower CMC while drafting.
I would prefer my Bob decks cut off at four and have very few at that slot. I have spun the roulette wheel with Greater Gargadon in my Rakdos Aggro deck a few times, though. That's one of those things, though, that I feel like just makes for some really fun cube stories.
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As far as specific creatures go, just take a look at some other veteran cubes around here. Most run Sarcomancy, Vampire Lacerator and Carnophage as 1 drops.
2-drops varies, but along with Dark Confidant, there's a good number of Nantuko Shade, Black Knight, Bloodghast, Bitterblossom, Dauthi Horror, Oona's Prowler, etc.
There's also a lot of 2-drops that are personal preference, depending on the size of your cube and how much you want to push black aggro, again just take a look around.
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Nether Void is black's armageddon, and is well worth including.
As well as the black cards, consider the colourless aggro cards. Apart from equipment, I have found that adding things like Winter Orb, Cursed Scroll, Ankh of Mishra and Black Vise have done wonders for the viability of aggro as a strategy in my drafts.
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Solid aggro beaters and disruption.
All 3 Carnophage clone cards, good 2-drops, and cards like Duress, Hymn, Thoughtseize, Sinkhole, Mind Twist and the like.
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You need creatures that are above the curve like Carnophage and it's brethren. You need solid early beaters like Black Knight and Nantuko Shade. Then there's the evasive guys like the Dauhi's (Horror and Marauder) and Oona's Prowler. Perhaps even Skittering Skirge. Once you've got solid beats, then good disruption is the second half. Easy to cast removal like Doom Blade and the Edict variants are definitely necessary. Once you've got all that, something like Dark Confidant is just the gravy that makes your deck so much better.
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Mods, could this thread be moved to the Cards and Archetype subforum?
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
What's your cutoff for Bob? I'm always really hesitant to include more than 3-4 four drops. But would you play a Shriekmaw and a Bob in the same deck ever?
EDH: UGEdric
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 49th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from MKM!
Pretty much this. The highest I might go would be a Gurmag Angler or Tasigur or even a Grave Titan, but if I include one of those I go very much out of my way to keep the curve as low as possible outside of them
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•A single 5-drop.
•If I’m feeling lucky or stupid...Tasigur.
I try to pair things like Profane Command or Mind Twist with Bob if I’m looking for mid/late game effects.
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The decks he fall in also get better with each cubeable confidant variant, as he's such an important part of that deck.
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