PlanesRack Guide Foreword:
First of all i would like to thank the original designer of 8rack archetype (Robert Leva, aka MemoryLapse from MtGSalvation or vizierfennin on Youtube) for influencing me to create this deck. Since cards like Pox and rack were created and decks running hypnotic specter, megrim and duress came to existence i was always fascinated by this unconventional type of control.
Many thanks to all those playing, promoting and playtesting this degenerate archetype!
Disclaimer: This deck is in playtests and will change adapting more and more to the current meta.
Now some of you might know the vicious mono black discard archetype. Those of you who do not might find information below helpful, because the deck approach is mostly different from what you experienced in standard arena metagame so far.
The main goal of the deck is to create card advantage and remove threats from your opponent hand before they can land on the battlefield. After reducing your opponent's ability to respond to your win conditions you can close
If you have any constructive criticism, don't be afraid to comment on it. I would appreciate it! Thanks.
Additional Disclaimer: I am not a native English speaker being mostly self taught. I am sorry for any misspellings or awkward sentences i committed.
The rules of engagement "To play or not to play":
If you are facing any deck other than Aggro/mirror draw first instead of playing first. It might be counter intuitive, but in reality it creates a card advantage which will help you win the game. When playing Vs aggro postboard play first as you want to curve out to play Cry, soot and blastzone as soon as possible to deal with those small pesky creatures.
Once you start the game, you also want to know what deck are you facing, and by having 4 duresses your are more than capable of removing key low cost noncreature spells from your opponent hand before they can use them. If you see a green land, think twice before tossing random Vicious Rumors getting that Nulhide (tho you have Triumph to deal with that problem).
Win conditions (mainboard):
Chaos Wand - this is the nexus answer. Imagine a world where you can take their Nexus over and over again just before they used chemister's or anticipate. Imagine also that you hold it for when you need to counter Taferi using their Absorb or Veto. This is a situational card, but it have it's uses, and is a full surprise mainboard. Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage - By turn 3-4 your opponent should have few answers for this one. He ensures further discard, so your opponent is forced to play cards they would like to hold on, he also chips a bit of health every round since usually by the time Davriel lands on the battlefield your opponent usually have 2 or fever cards in his hand. It is there to be depleted if you have another one, and works as a "fog/rootsnare" effect most of the times unprotected (since his card advantage value is to be dealt with immediately) Dreadhorde Invasion - A Bitterblossom of standard. This card is nuts. Yes it's limited to one creature, but on the other hand it can be rarely addressed early on growing a monstrous 6/6 lifelinker who will swing some games for you. More often than not however it will simply be a blocker and occasional Raid proccer. God-Eternal Bontu - Where to start. Oh - a card advantage guy. Don't be afraid to drop him on curve burning 2 lands and let's say gimped Amass token for 2-3 cards. He will rarely be answered and sometimes be the answer to an unwanted Dreadhorde Invasion enchantment if you are running low. Couple of times he also saved my skin as an Arguel's land sac proc giving me 6 life - enough for mono red to concede. Mobilized District - Manlands are good. 3/3 vigilance that also becomes cheaper to activate with our planeswalkers & legendary creatures is even better. Nightmare vs control if you discarded their removal answers. It's also very effective on midgame protection and enables your raid proc for both Pillage and Wake. Raiders' Wake - This one is a bit situational, but because oftentimes enemy is hellbent turn 4+ you can land it, and get that additional damage if he decides to keep casting Chemister's. It becomes even better when you realize it can be used in conjunction with a somewhat "underwhelming at first glance" Fraying Omnipotence. Combine Fraying taking half opponent life, then add to it the fact that he might have had some cards in hand.
Win conditions (sideboard):
Ashiok - for when you want to completely shut down grave/search effects, or mill explore kept answers. Both works. Against control it works wonders, against grave/azcanta/phoenix shenanigans it's amazing. Liliana, Dreadhorde General - For when the game is long and full of terrors (pun intended). Lili will absolutely rule the table and become an instant win in many occasions. Against planeswalker heavy decks when you also board Elderspell she could become an instant win. She is a sweeper, a wincon with infinite value. The only problem is her casting cost in a deck which oftentimes sacs it's own lands. She is just there if you need to win by snowballing. Massacre Girl - Because having a sweeper against midrange is a crucial thing. Her cost says it all, but we can squize 1 copy if you need that win against snowballing board full of low trash such as Gruul or Mardu. And she leaves an able body to finish your OP later on the line. Also works well against Mono white as it can deal with loxoson provided you were able to survive that long :).
Discard Package:
Duress is there to look at your opponent hand and remove early game cards that can create card advantage for your opponent or deny your strategy for turn 2/3.
Combo Discard:
+
By turn 2 your deck also gets an open combination of both cards to bait land discard followed by another (usually after duress) direct hand disruption taking key card from their hand.
Turn 3 Plays (if your are not aggroed):
&
Both will help you to force uneasy choices from your opponent increasing the card advantage even further and activating your discard win conditions. It's important to note, that both cards require only 1 black mana making them both much easier spells to cast with the amount of colorless mana producing utility lands.
Removals and sweepers (mainboard):
Liliana's Triumph - works around hexproof, and does occasionally activate second clause of the card if you have Liliana on the board postboard. Walk the Plank - sorcery speed card removing most of the threats. I think in the current meta filled with legendary creatures it is much better than cast down is. Ob Nixilis's Cruelty - for when you need to exile bigger toughness Cry of the Carnarium - anti low toughness aggro Ritual of Soot - for when your cry is not enough Price of Betryal - when you realy need to deal with a planeswalker fast without paying 4 mana Blast Zone - This is a wildcard of this deck. It enables you to shred Wilderness Reclamation deck to pieces, sweep mono white 1drops on turn 4, remove pesky low cost pernaments immediately, and create a constant psychological threat on the board. All star working well with our sideboard crucible combo. Field of Ruin - Ah yes. The question is not why, but how many. This is our answer to cards like Blast Zone, Azcanta and post sideboard land removal versus likes of Esper Control and Reclamation. Most decks running triple color combination will be hurt by this card, and making them unable to Absorb you, or fix their color for other color heavy spells might make their life that much more miserable.
Removals and sweepers (sideboard):
Fraying Omnipotence - Against draw heavy decks, or boardstate heavy opponents it might be a winbomb. Yes it can sometimes be a win more, that and the fact it's 5CMC keeps us from using more, but the "Pox" effect on life, creatures and opponent hand might be detrimental or even deadly. Dropping this baby with Raiders' Wake on the table and even one Mobilized district can win you a game on the spot. Fungal Infection - against mono decks, aggro. Leaves fungus token on the board which might enable you to benefit from Raider's Wake, Hearless Pillage or become bontu's draw fodder later on. Elderspell - helps you deal with planeswalker heavy decks (Tamiyo is your sworn enemy), also prolonging discard on your Davriel or mill on Ashiok Sorcerous Spyglass - not only enables you to deal with activation abilities which means also shutting down planeswalkers. This card might be debatable, but it helps you deal with Blast zones, mobilized districts. If you can't deal with permanents that activate otherwise, or you want to prevent early ramp from let's say Domri, put this on and laugh at them having their pawn fungaled and then domri Spyglassed before it can even land. Needle effects are always welcomed, and when your enemy is bolasing shish out of you, you know what to do
Additional Commentary AKA Disclaimer 2.0:
This deck is best suited against control heavy meta. It is not a material for Bo1 as the purpose of it is to side hate versus specific deck.
There are cards that i am still testing, but because the meta is still shifting and forming i can only do as much and just playtest it as i go both on paper and on MTGA.
1 Blast Zone
4 Vicious Rumors
4 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
2 God-Eternal Bontu
2 Field of Ruin
2 Mobilized District
2 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Ritual of Soot
4 Duress
3 Dreadhorde Invasion
3 Drill Bit
3 Liliana's Triumph
1 Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
2 Raiders' Wake
3 Heartless Pillage
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
2 Walk the Plank
1 Chaos Wand
1 Price of Betrayal
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 The Elderspell
3 Fungal Infection
1 Blast Zone
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
1 Massacre Girl
1 Fraying Omnipotence
1 Cry of the Carnarium
PlanesRack Guide Foreword:
First of all i would like to thank the original designer of 8rack archetype (Robert Leva, aka MemoryLapse from MtGSalvation or vizierfennin on Youtube) for influencing me to create this deck. Since cards like Pox and rack were created and decks running hypnotic specter, megrim and duress came to existence i was always fascinated by this unconventional type of control.
Many thanks to all those playing, promoting and playtesting this degenerate archetype!
Disclaimer: This deck is in playtests and will change adapting more and more to the current meta.
Now some of you might know the vicious mono black discard archetype. Those of you who do not might find information below helpful, because the deck approach is mostly different from what you experienced in standard arena metagame so far.
The main goal of the deck is to create card advantage and remove threats from your opponent hand before they can land on the battlefield. After reducing your opponent's ability to respond to your win conditions you can close
If you have any constructive criticism, don't be afraid to comment on it. I would appreciate it! Thanks.
Additional Disclaimer: I am not a native English speaker being mostly self taught. I am sorry for any misspellings or awkward sentences i committed.
The rules of engagement "To play or not to play":
If you are facing any deck other than Aggro/mirror draw first instead of playing first. It might be counter intuitive, but in reality it creates a card advantage which will help you win the game. When playing Vs aggro postboard play first as you want to curve out to play Cry, soot and blastzone as soon as possible to deal with those small pesky creatures.
Once you start the game, you also want to know what deck are you facing, and by having 4 duresses your are more than capable of removing key low cost noncreature spells from your opponent hand before they can use them. If you see a green land, think twice before tossing random Vicious Rumors getting that Nulhide (tho you have Triumph to deal with that problem).
Win conditions (mainboard):
Chaos Wand - this is the nexus answer. Imagine a world where you can take their Nexus over and over again just before they used chemister's or anticipate. Imagine also that you hold it for when you need to counter Taferi using their Absorb or Veto. This is a situational card, but it have it's uses, and is a full surprise mainboard.
Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage - By turn 3-4 your opponent should have few answers for this one. He ensures further discard, so your opponent is forced to play cards they would like to hold on, he also chips a bit of health every round since usually by the time Davriel lands on the battlefield your opponent usually have 2 or fever cards in his hand. It is there to be depleted if you have another one, and works as a "fog/rootsnare" effect most of the times unprotected (since his card advantage value is to be dealt with immediately)
Dreadhorde Invasion - A Bitterblossom of standard. This card is nuts. Yes it's limited to one creature, but on the other hand it can be rarely addressed early on growing a monstrous 6/6 lifelinker who will swing some games for you. More often than not however it will simply be a blocker and occasional Raid proccer.
God-Eternal Bontu - Where to start. Oh - a card advantage guy. Don't be afraid to drop him on curve burning 2 lands and let's say gimped Amass token for 2-3 cards. He will rarely be answered and sometimes be the answer to an unwanted Dreadhorde Invasion enchantment if you are running low. Couple of times he also saved my skin as an Arguel's land sac proc giving me 6 life - enough for mono red to concede.
Mobilized District - Manlands are good. 3/3 vigilance that also becomes cheaper to activate with our planeswalkers & legendary creatures is even better. Nightmare vs control if you discarded their removal answers. It's also very effective on midgame protection and enables your raid proc for both Pillage and Wake.
Raiders' Wake - This one is a bit situational, but because oftentimes enemy is hellbent turn 4+ you can land it, and get that additional damage if he decides to keep casting Chemister's. It becomes even better when you realize it can be used in conjunction with a somewhat "underwhelming at first glance" Fraying Omnipotence. Combine Fraying taking half opponent life, then add to it the fact that he might have had some cards in hand.
Win conditions (sideboard):
Ashiok - for when you want to completely shut down grave/search effects, or mill explore kept answers. Both works. Against control it works wonders, against grave/azcanta/phoenix shenanigans it's amazing.
Liliana, Dreadhorde General - For when the game is long and full of terrors (pun intended). Lili will absolutely rule the table and become an instant win in many occasions. Against planeswalker heavy decks when you also board Elderspell she could become an instant win. She is a sweeper, a wincon with infinite value. The only problem is her casting cost in a deck which oftentimes sacs it's own lands. She is just there if you need to win by snowballing.
Massacre Girl - Because having a sweeper against midrange is a crucial thing. Her cost says it all, but we can squize 1 copy if you need that win against snowballing board full of low trash such as Gruul or Mardu. And she leaves an able body to finish your OP later on the line. Also works well against Mono white as it can deal with loxoson provided you were able to survive that long :).
Discard Package:
Duress is there to look at your opponent hand and remove early game cards that can create card advantage for your opponent or deny your strategy for turn 2/3.
Combo Discard:
By turn 2 your deck also gets an open combination of both cards to bait land discard followed by another (usually after duress) direct hand disruption taking key card from their hand.
Turn 3 Plays (if your are not aggroed):
Both will help you to force uneasy choices from your opponent increasing the card advantage even further and activating your discard win conditions. It's important to note, that both cards require only 1 black mana making them both much easier spells to cast with the amount of colorless mana producing utility lands.
Removals and sweepers (mainboard):
Liliana's Triumph - works around hexproof, and does occasionally activate second clause of the card if you have Liliana on the board postboard.
Walk the Plank - sorcery speed card removing most of the threats. I think in the current meta filled with legendary creatures it is much better than cast down is.
Ob Nixilis's Cruelty - for when you need to exile bigger toughness
Cry of the Carnarium - anti low toughness aggro
Ritual of Soot - for when your cry is not enough
Price of Betryal - when you realy need to deal with a planeswalker fast without paying 4 mana
Blast Zone - This is a wildcard of this deck. It enables you to shred Wilderness Reclamation deck to pieces, sweep mono white 1drops on turn 4, remove pesky low cost pernaments immediately, and create a constant psychological threat on the board. All star working well with our sideboard crucible combo.
Field of Ruin - Ah yes. The question is not why, but how many. This is our answer to cards like Blast Zone, Azcanta and post sideboard land removal versus likes of Esper Control and Reclamation. Most decks running triple color combination will be hurt by this card, and making them unable to Absorb you, or fix their color for other color heavy spells might make their life that much more miserable.
Removals and sweepers (sideboard):
Fraying Omnipotence - Against draw heavy decks, or boardstate heavy opponents it might be a winbomb. Yes it can sometimes be a win more, that and the fact it's 5CMC keeps us from using more, but the "Pox" effect on life, creatures and opponent hand might be detrimental or even deadly. Dropping this baby with Raiders' Wake on the table and even one Mobilized district can win you a game on the spot.
Fungal Infection - against mono decks, aggro. Leaves fungus token on the board which might enable you to benefit from Raider's Wake, Hearless Pillage or become bontu's draw fodder later on.
Elderspell - helps you deal with planeswalker heavy decks (Tamiyo is your sworn enemy), also prolonging discard on your Davriel or mill on Ashiok
Sorcerous Spyglass - not only enables you to deal with activation abilities which means also shutting down planeswalkers. This card might be debatable, but it helps you deal with Blast zones, mobilized districts. If you can't deal with permanents that activate otherwise, or you want to prevent early ramp from let's say Domri, put this on and laugh at them having their pawn fungaled and then domri Spyglassed before it can even land. Needle effects are always welcomed, and when your enemy is bolasing shish out of you, you know what to do
Additional Commentary AKA Disclaimer 2.0:
This deck is best suited against control heavy meta. It is not a material for Bo1 as the purpose of it is to side hate versus specific deck.
There are cards that i am still testing, but because the meta is still shifting and forming i can only do as much and just playtest it as i go both on paper and on MTGA.
You can also export the deck here: https://aetherhub.com/Deck/Public/100174
This guide is still work in progress, and because of my occupation i can only do as much every day.
If you got this far I am grateful! Thanks!
Sideboarding:
coming soon...