So, I've always loved reading the old articles about the big decks back then, and it always seems like it would have been hell of a lot of fun to play. One of those decks was Suicide Black.
So, here is my take on it. Please critique it, let me know if it'd be any good at all, etc.
I'll be playing this in a vintage tournament once in a blue moon, and a casual tourney every Saturday that is the vintage ban list plus no power, no insta win combos, etc.
I'll be playing this in a vintage tournament once in a blue moon, and a casual tourney every Saturday that is the vintage ban list plus no power, no insta win combos, etc.
You're probably better off asking in casual, because that's not vintage you're describing. Its a bit closer off to legacy, but then you'd still have to define what you mean by "insta combo". Does dredge count? Oath of Druids? FCG?
That makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine if your deck is good or bad.
For example, from your description, its entirely possible to play powerless oath of druids. In which case, this deck simply outright loses.
What's null rod for? If there is no power, there is no call for null rod.
What's masticore for? Believe me when I say that masticore will not save you from an aggro deck. Zoo will run over you even if you maindeck it.
Ahh... Suicide Black! One of my favorite decks ever. This brings back MANY good memories.
The bad news is that SuiBlack was a metagame deck. It was designed to thrive in a blue dominated meta in which the decks crushed you with card advantage. The most powerful decks ran almost no creatures and no burn. Against these decks, Phyrexian Negator was a devastating turn 1 play that could sneak under counter magic and could kill a player before they found removal. Hand and land disruption made it even harder for the opponent to recover and react.
Today's Vintage is quite a bit different than back then. The advent of the fetch lands severely reduced the power of land destruction. Fetch lands also made Brainstorm much better so blue players could find their answers much more quickly and easily.
The power level of creatures has also risen over time and creatures are present in every type of Vintage deck now. This makes Negator virtually unplayable since you are almost guaranteed to meet a blocker in every match-up (especially in budget metas). Flesh Reaver could be sided against decks that ran burn, but I'm not sure they'd help much in this meta game. To top it off, the one-drop 2/2 zombies and Nantuko Shade just haven't survived the power creep of recent years.
Treacherous Pit-Dweller is a pretty neat idea. In the era of creatures being everywhere, Dross Harvester is a good choice, too. It dodges a lot of burn, white removal, some black removal, and can drop on turn 1. Tombstalker is another idea, but as we will see, it doesn't go particularly well with some of the other options you have. Sure it is a beater, but it works against Yawgmoth's Will and creatures that reanimate themselves.
If you want to focus on the Hatred win, Nether Traitor is pretty awesome. Bloodghast is a solid choice in general and both go very well with your Carrion Feeder.
I'd probably also find a space for Necropotence. Can't go wrong with the skull in mono-black. Plus, it is really, really, really good with Soul Spike.
On the other hand, Necro and Hatred are at odds. Actually, a lot of cards in this deck are at odds with Hatred. That doesn't make it a bad card, though. Still you might consider running Blood Artist to make it a slower suicide. (And this is another card that goes well with recurring Traitors and Ghasts.)
You could also consider Smallpox. Sinkhole was a mainstay in SuiBlack until fetch lands. Smallpox gets around their protection and works well with your recurring creatures. You'd have to do some testing to see if it was viable with your land base and strategy.
A good sideboard option is Contagion for dealing with weenie decks (and fueling Dross Harvester). Another one that I really liked was Dystopia. Of course, I am a huge fan of making players repeatedly sacrifice their permanents. It's also one of the only ways in black to remove enchantments. Since green and white are seeing more play across formats, it is a definite consideration. Without knowing much about the meta, it is difficult to make suggestions.
All-in-all, SuiBlack isn't viable in it's previous form. However, you can still put those Rituals to good use. Hopefully, I've given you some ideas for a deck that has nice internal synergies. For more mono-black ideas of a different kind, check out a deck called "The Gate."
So, here is my take on it. Please critique it, let me know if it'd be any good at all, etc.
I'll be playing this in a vintage tournament once in a blue moon, and a casual tourney every Saturday that is the vintage ban list plus no power, no insta win combos, etc.
Without further ado.
Suicide Black
60 main / 7 sideboard
Creatures:15
4 Carrion Feeder
3 Nantuko Shade
4 Treacherous Pit-Dweller
4 Phyrexian Negator
Spells:25
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation
4 Duress
4 Sarcomancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Unmask
3 Hatred
1 Soul Spike
Lands:20
3 City of Traitors
1 Strip Mine
15 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard:7
3 Null Rod
4 Masticore
Created with Decked Builder
I'm aware the sideboard is short, I don't know what else to run.
That makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine if your deck is good or bad.
For example, from your description, its entirely possible to play powerless oath of druids. In which case, this deck simply outright loses.
What's null rod for? If there is no power, there is no call for null rod.
What's masticore for? Believe me when I say that masticore will not save you from an aggro deck. Zoo will run over you even if you maindeck it.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Masticore was for aggro. What do you suggest instead?
I'll also repost this in the casual thread. Treat this as the forum is intended, budget vintage.
Ahh... Suicide Black! One of my favorite decks ever. This brings back MANY good memories.
The bad news is that SuiBlack was a metagame deck. It was designed to thrive in a blue dominated meta in which the decks crushed you with card advantage. The most powerful decks ran almost no creatures and no burn. Against these decks, Phyrexian Negator was a devastating turn 1 play that could sneak under counter magic and could kill a player before they found removal. Hand and land disruption made it even harder for the opponent to recover and react.
Today's Vintage is quite a bit different than back then. The advent of the fetch lands severely reduced the power of land destruction. Fetch lands also made Brainstorm much better so blue players could find their answers much more quickly and easily.
The power level of creatures has also risen over time and creatures are present in every type of Vintage deck now. This makes Negator virtually unplayable since you are almost guaranteed to meet a blocker in every match-up (especially in budget metas). Flesh Reaver could be sided against decks that ran burn, but I'm not sure they'd help much in this meta game. To top it off, the one-drop 2/2 zombies and Nantuko Shade just haven't survived the power creep of recent years.
Treacherous Pit-Dweller is a pretty neat idea. In the era of creatures being everywhere, Dross Harvester is a good choice, too. It dodges a lot of burn, white removal, some black removal, and can drop on turn 1. Tombstalker is another idea, but as we will see, it doesn't go particularly well with some of the other options you have. Sure it is a beater, but it works against Yawgmoth's Will and creatures that reanimate themselves.
If you want to focus on the Hatred win, Nether Traitor is pretty awesome. Bloodghast is a solid choice in general and both go very well with your Carrion Feeder.
I'd probably also find a space for Necropotence. Can't go wrong with the skull in mono-black. Plus, it is really, really, really good with Soul Spike.
On the other hand, Necro and Hatred are at odds. Actually, a lot of cards in this deck are at odds with Hatred. That doesn't make it a bad card, though. Still you might consider running Blood Artist to make it a slower suicide. (And this is another card that goes well with recurring Traitors and Ghasts.)
You could also consider Smallpox. Sinkhole was a mainstay in SuiBlack until fetch lands. Smallpox gets around their protection and works well with your recurring creatures. You'd have to do some testing to see if it was viable with your land base and strategy.
A good sideboard option is Contagion for dealing with weenie decks (and fueling Dross Harvester). Another one that I really liked was Dystopia. Of course, I am a huge fan of making players repeatedly sacrifice their permanents. It's also one of the only ways in black to remove enchantments. Since green and white are seeing more play across formats, it is a definite consideration. Without knowing much about the meta, it is difficult to make suggestions.
All-in-all, SuiBlack isn't viable in it's previous form. However, you can still put those Rituals to good use. Hopefully, I've given you some ideas for a deck that has nice internal synergies. For more mono-black ideas of a different kind, check out a deck called "The Gate."