Mono Black Aggro

[dpaine88]

Mono Black Aggro





Overview: While Red Aggro gained very little from the Born of the Gods set, Black aggro recieved some interesting cards: Pain Seer and Herald of Torment. Combined with other good threats such as Lifebane Zombie and Pack Rat,the creatures are there. Backing up these strong creatures are two of the best spells in Standard: Thoughtseize and Hero's Downfall. The deck gains additional strength and
consistency by virtue of being mono-colored, allowing extremely consistent mana and ability to run Mutavault in high numbers.

State of the Deck First weekend of Born of the Gods led to debut of a couple Mono Black Aggro Decks. Here they are courtesey of Johnny and his shell based on decklists.

[deck]Mono-Black Aggro
Klass Gruber
Top 4 at Super Sunday Series Championship on 2/8/2014

Creatures (24)
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Mogis's Marauder
3 Pain Seer
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Pack Rat
4 Tormented Hero
4 Herald of Torment

Lands (24)
20 Swamp
4 Mutavault

Spells (12)
3 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price

Sideboard (15)
1 Bile Blight
2 Devour Flesh
4 Dark Betrayal
3 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Lifebane Zombie
4 Duress[/deck]




Also, while I'm at it:

[deck]Mono-Black Aggro
Sean Rice
17th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 2/8/2014

Creatures (28)
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Mogis's
Marauder
4 Pain Seer
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Tormented Hero
4 Herald of Torment

Lands (22)
19 Swamp
3 Mutavault

Spells (10)
2 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard (15)
1 Pithing Needle
4 Xathrid Necromancer
4 Dark Betrayal
1 Doom Blade
2 Ultimate Price
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Duress
[/deck]

So I guess the shell is:

[deck]Shell
Creatures (24-28)
3+ Lifebane Zombie
2+ Mogis's Marauder
3+ Pain Seer
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Pack Rat or Rakdos Shred Freak
4 Tormented Hero
4 Herald of Torment




Spells (10-12)
4 2+ Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize

Lands (22-24)
4 19+ Swamp
4 3+ Mutavault

Sideboard (15)
4 Dark Betrayal
4 1+ Erebos, God of the Dead
2 + Duress[/deck]

Card Choices

1- Drop
This is basically set in stone...

Rakdos Cackler- through thick n thin, this guys always been there
for us red mages

Tormented Hero- Simple 2/1 for 1 mana, just fine. Nifty synergy with Herald.

2 Drop
Lot more decisions here

Rakdos-Shred Freak Nothing spectacular but hes a 2 power haster that gets the job done, but dies to absolutely everything. We dont yet have a good way to take advantage of his devotion. Probably better ina control heavy meta.

Pack Rat Awesome card. Even better with Mutavault. Lets us ditch our late game cacklers etc.

Pain Seer New card from BNG, but untested. Yet appeared in both decks posted above. Seems good especially with the great removal in the deck and Herald/ Maraduder

Thrill-Kill Assasin Another option...abeit unexciting

3 Drops
Lots of great 3 drops for this deck.

Lifebane Zombie A good value card overall...in
most cases an unblockable 3 power guy. Gives you information on opponent no matter what. Best case, you get to steal a BBV, Polukranos etc.

Herald of Torment A great aggro card, 3 power flyer for 3 mana? When you hit 5 mana he is great, nice and flexible. Brings the deck together really.

[card]Mogis's Marauder[/card] This card wins games. Not the best vs Black but hes still a haster. The rest of the creature decks he is awesome as he always gives you a live shot to win the game any second.

Enough 3 drops we dont need to dive into 4 drops.

Matchups/Sideboarding

All assuming Gruber's list.

VS Mono Black Devotion:
-2 Mogis's Marauder,-3 Lifebane Zombie, -3 thoughtseize.
+4 Dark Betrayal, +3 Erebos, God of the Dead, +1 Bile Blight

VS Mono U Devotion
-4 Rakdos Cackler,
+1 Lifebane Xombie, +1 Bile Blight, +2 Devour Flesh

VS BW
-3 Bile Blight, -1 Ultimate Price, -2
Mogis's Marauder
+1 Lifebane Zombie, +2 Devour Flesh, +3 Erebos, God of the Dead

VS UW/X Control
-3 Bile Blight, -1 Ultimate Price, -3 Lifebane Zombie
+4 Duress, +3 Erebos, God of the Dead

VS GR Monsters
-3 Bile Blight, -3 Tormented Hero
+1 Lifebane Zombie, +3 Erebos, God of the Dead, +2 Devour Flesh

[dpaine88]

Disclaimer: I wrote this up real quick for 2 reasons...

1) This deck looks to be legit now and could be a very solid option since red got basically nothing from BNG.

2) I plan on playing it this weekend and more, wanted to get the ball rolling.

If anyone wants to help with formatting, sideboard info, etc PLEASE DO!! DO NOT BE SHY.

[rcwraspy]

DPaine, you headed to the PTQ on Saturday hosted by Pandemonium on the UMass Boston campus? I like the look of this list. Any insight or tips re: how to play out your hand? What's a hand to mulligan or not?

[dpaine88]

Shit, I was planning on just doing a TCG Silver on Sunday back in my hometown but hell yea I'll do the PTQ!

I think the hardest decisions in the deck will be what to do once you hit 3 mana. 12 creatures in that spot and Downfall and making Pack Rats.

Another thing to remember is if you are later on in the game and drawn Mogis Marauder, make sure you activate Mutavault FIRST so you can give it intimidate/haste.

Lifebane CAN hit Xenegos, the God.

Pack Rat tokens DO give devotion.

Herald Bestow on Tormented Hero is pretty sweet..

RE:Mulligan - Luckily with the deck being mono-colored and no splash, you should rarely have to mulligan. Most hands with a 1 or 2 drop are keepable.

[rcwraspy]

thanks man. Some things about the list remind me of that B/g aggro pile I took and completely scrubbed out with. I think that list basically just played underpowered things at each point on the curve (Cackler into Lotleth Troll into Dreg Mangler into Reaper of Wilds) but this kind of list has some added versatility to it.

The biggest problem I had with that B/g list, which also ran Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize, is that I would often draw the wrong half of the deck, especially game 1 against an unknown opponent. Any similar issues here?

[Pedros]

I am/was playing this deck pre BTG and loved it. Problem I saw was really bad red agro matchup, while really strong UW, B, devo Red and devo green matchup.

My list pre BTG:

4 Tormented Hero
4 Rakdos Cackler

8 1 drops with 2 Power? Sign me in.

4 Pack Rat
4 Thrill-Kill Assassin

Pack rats allows you play mono black game with turn 1 thoughtseize and turn 2 rat when you see coast is clear. It is also amazing when you want to play control post board vs some decks.
As for Assassin - 2/3 with deathtouch is good, can attack into everything from mono u and mono black. Basicly plays amazing offense and defense. (non trampling green guys gets stopped by it)

4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Desecration demon

bigger threats, demon can be stopped by assemble / elspeth / mutavaults, however generates solid punch. Lifebane zombie gives information, has evasion and in almost every matchup can take something (red devo has BTE and
Reckoners, Green devo is ... green, takes obzedats and barons from BW control, archangel of thune, paladin and brimaz post btg from uw)

4 Thoughtseize
4 Ultimate Price
4 Hero's Downfall

Removal and distruption.

18 Swamps
2 Temple
4 Mutavaults

24 lands needed for desecration demon, also can be turned to creatures with pack rats.

Sb:

4 nightveil specters - awsome when you play control role post board. Stops early pressure from U, G and R devo/agro. Gains card advantage over time. Playing mono black gives you this option, which is huge and can be important. Awsome vs mono black / BW.

1 Erebos - I played only 1, however can be quite useful vs UW, B and BW + exchanging life for cards isnt bad in those matchups. Can be turned quite easily with specter/demon/zombie.


After playing a lot with this deck and having resonable success (13 QP in like 5-6 dailys and 1 premier) I found those problems:

No reach - sometimes you leave oponent on ~3 life, and you dont have options to close the
game anymore.
Desecration demon can easily be turned of and cant close out the game.
Red Agro matchup is terrible, need some lifegain from sb (whip, wings or pharika's cure)
No control over deck - only 2 scry lands.

To solve those problems I can see having small red splash for some amount of burn / Tymaret / Rix Maadi Guildmage (last 2 gives you reach in sacing creatures for burn or changing combat math and breaking steal mates)

[dpaine88]

@rcwraspy - I understand your concern for the wrong half of the deck but I think this is fixed in a few ways. The curve is nice and low, topping out at 3. Yet you still have the 5cc Bestow ability. You won't get clogged with 4/5 drops in your hand.

The variants we are looking at are running only 10 spells, so you should have plenty of creatures. Pack Rat allows you to turn your "wrong half" cards into powerful rats.
The spells it runs are incredibly powerful as well, Thoughtseize, Downfall and Bile are some of the best spells in the format currently.

The deck hypothetically should play out like your typical fast red aggro deck, except it has evasion and doesn't fold to Master of Waves.

@Pedros - Great to have you in here man. I have very little experience with this deck in particular so I am happy to hear you can provide that!!

In regards to the problems you ran into, I have the following thoughts.

nWith Herald of Torment, you can ditch the inconsistent Demon, and lower the curve to 3 of the deck, making it even more consistent. Yet , still with Bestow giving a very solid late game option.

No Reach - that is annoying but you have a 3/1 intimidate guy, Mogis Marudaer and a 3/3 flyer that can be bestoyed and essentially haste. I think those give you something close enough to the reach you are looking for. Thats 12 cards that can help.

Bad Red Matchup - Don't really care that much....after like 0 decks in the top32 of SCG and it getting nothing from BNG, I think I can live with that and have better other matchups.

[dpaine88]

What do we think about 4 Mutavault and 18 Swamp??

Without Shred-Freak, you only need BB on turn 3 so I think this is doable.

[Purp]

So the only answer to BBV is to hope you can steal it with Lifebane?

[Self Medicated]

So the only answer to BBV is to hope you can steal it with Lifebane?

Or Thoughtseize. I'm also running Devour Flesh in the SB. This is a good question, though. Would the deck benefit from a red splash for Mizzium Mortars?

[dpaine88]

LifeBane and Thoughtseize. Also possibly Bestow Herald on a guy.

Devour Flesh is a solid answer and belongs in the board.

How prevalant is BBV?

[LaZerBurn]

Been chatting with Pedros about the deck for a while so thought I may as well put my latest thoughts up here

Addressing Pedro's issues - I agree with dpaine about Herald over Demon going a long way to dealing with the inconsistency. The bestow adds reach too as the flyer can't just be blanked like the Demon and it sticks around when it's host dies. I'd be inclined to keep the land at 24 so you can afford to lose a Vault and still hit bestow mana comfortably.

While I'm inclined to agree with dpaine again about Red it will still be a thing on MTGO and the 3 options you mentioned are your best bet - I'd be looking at 2 Whip or 2 Wings in the SB, not sure which is best.

Veering slightly off topic but I'll be concise - if you want to add Red for reach you can run 4 Blood Crypt and 4 Temple Of Malice for Strike and extra scrying
goodness. If you do go down this route then I think Exava is worth considering. Even with the 8 Red sources I think 4 Vaults is fine but I'm greedy like that

BBV will likely be a thing. Devour Flesh (or Mizz if you go for the Red splash) in the SB does the job if you're not happy with Lifebane and Thoughtseize.

EDIT - I'm prepared to be proved horrifically wrong but I'm currently not a big fan of Pain Seer in the deck

[dpaine88]

I personally do not do MTGO so consider that with everything I say.

Why do you not like Pain Seer?

I think he has some good synergy with a lot of the deck. Maurader's ability, Bestowing Herald, all the spells in the deck make it easier for him to swing as well.

He is also easier on the mana as far as running Mutavault goes.

[Tyrael]

Fuck yeah this is exactly what I wanted to build after I read Owen's last article on the deck

I think Xathrid Necromancer could be a solid SB option if we're running a heavy human-based MB (hero, shred-freak, seer, Marauder). I'm also thinking about a small splash to red for Exava and Dreadbore, for some extra punch. Then again, the deck probably doesn't need it.

[dpaine88]

Necromancer is def a solid SB option against MBC and U/W/x. Easy swap for Lifebane Zombie or Marauder. Def has more synergy with Shred Freak vs Pack Rat so theres that, too.

In my opinion- red is unnecessary. Hero's Downfall is already better than Dreadbore since it is instant and its easier to cast.

Exava is good-I played the last 2 months with her in my deck. She could be worth the splash but it would have to be for Marauder/Herald/Lifebane but those 3 seem really great and keep the curve down. She was almost never bad at all. But how much of an upgrade is she over the 3 drops?

[Tyrael]

I just figured she'd be a massive slammer post-wrath

a 4/4 haste is a big deal

As I said tho, the deck probably doesn't need it

By the way, I feel that the SB should at least be:
1-2 Ultimate Price
1-2 Doom Blade
0-3 Devour Flesh
0-2 Bile Blight (depending on MB)
1-4 Erebos, God of the Dead
2-4 Duress
3-4 Dark Betrayal
0-1 Lifebane Zombie (again, depending on MB)

and, depending on the list: 3-4 Xathrid Necromancers

Oh and Pedros is right, this deck has a horrendous matchup vs RDW but that doesn't really matter since wizards pretty much killed any chance of the deck being competitively viable

[dpaine88]

That seems about spot on to me for sideboard. Not really sure what there would be for other options..

[Tyrael]

I have thought about sb'ing Whip of Erebos to shore up the aggro match a bit but I don't think there's any need for it tbh. Only other thing I could think about is Pithing Needle since we can't always rely on having Hero's Downfall ready, especially versus G/R Monsters where we often will be forced to use it on some big creature instead.

[Purp]

Whip and Gift of Orz... Land one of those cards and you beat RDW

[Pedros]

As for BBoV in block constructed when I played BG agro I used Far / Away. It gets rid of it, and doesnt give opponent life. Plus if we use any scryland (I run 2 right now) we can get more value from it.

Noone likes Nightweil Specters in sb? Not needed? I like having proactive answer to agro and midrange deck when we play control - similar to reckoner. It stops 2/2s in mid game and then allows card advantage in late game. Is also stellar vs mono black.

I am not fan of Mogis Marauder. Intimidate is fine, however d we really need it?

[Tyrael]

Pedros, it has proven to be a detrimental player in breaking through boardstalls vs mono U, Mono R and G/R monsters in my early testing

but feel free to disagree

[Pedros]

I play this deck right now and I dont have boardstall most of the time. Good managing threats with thouightseize / lifebane / ultimate prices and hero's downfal or just pack rating them. Desecration demon is also bigger than most things from them (btw wouldnt hate havinh access to some bigger threat in demon in sb for those matchups)

Post board go mono black control and just remove all good threads and rat them / zombie them / specter them / demon dem

[Purp]

I'm sorry but Marauder is only bad verse one deck. GR popularity will rise.

[dpaine88]

Any thoughts on 19 Swamp 3 mutavaults or 18 Swamp with 4 Mutavault?

[Tyrael]

Agreed Purp, if Nashville was any indication of what is yet to come

Dpaine, I can't afford a 4th vault but I guess 18-4 will be fine since you only need 2 black sources

[dpaine88]

Im gonna test 18/4 tonight. I think the reason some decks were running 19 was because of ShredFreak and his BB cost on turn 2. Without him you dont need BB till turn 3.

I think in a deck that is light on reach like this one, Marauder really does make a big difference. It can win a game on the spot you were otherwise fucked.

I am not sure if this type of deck is really suited to sideboarding into the "control deck". Maybe, but without all the red burn spells I am not sure. I think we are racing no matter what basically.

RE: Nightviel Spectre - with 3-4 Mutavaults, BBB could be kinda hard... Think I would rather have Erebos.

[Pedros]

I played specters in 24 lands version with 20 swamps so yeah. 22 lands decks cant run him.

[Deht]

I'm sorry but Marauder is only bad verse one deck. GR popularity will rise.

I definitely agree with the GR portion. The store I play at had sealed for last Friday (BotG release) and everyone wanted to try out their standard decks in between matches --- most seem to be running GR. Lots of folks are excited by Xenagod and Courser. Lifebane Zombie is going to be working overtime.

[Tyrael]

Yeah Lifebane is gonna be a bomb if G/R really picks up

[LP, of the Fires]

Pedro's gave the best answer. You can just keep board stalls from ever happening by managing your removal properly and thoughtsezing/lifebane etc.

I'm not against marauders as a 2-of, but I have too much on my plate as far as available testing time(burn/bant/esper humans), but if my opinions worth anything, I'd test without marauders first to keep the power level of the deck as high as possible.

[Tyrael]

LP, I agree that 4 MB might be too much but he's just too much fun to cut completely imo

perfect 'oops I win' card

[Pedros]

3-0 in daily event right now destroying mono black 4-1 and esper humans 2-0.

Deck working fine. Still thinking if we should try to have desecration demon or no. He is so huge.

[Tyrael]

I'd have no idea what to cut for him though

[Purp]

I think a 2 of might be perfect

[Pedros]

Discussing with Lazer on mtgo - we think demon might be good sb card if we lower our mana to play 23 lands (4 vaults) we cant then play 4 specters.

[Purp]

What matchup is Demon good in....

[Tyrael]

Pedros, as you know I'm an awful deckbuilder so i'm awaiting your list so I can steal it

What matchup is Demon good in....

Demon is fantastic vs control but otherwise... Ehh

[Pedros]

he is good when you play control, so you have big and fast finisher.

vs Control he isnt so good as they play elspeths.

We are just testing and tweeking decks, so you know, we can be wrong. It can as well be 2 more specters ;P

Btw with Lazer we decided we forfeit small red matchup. We would need close to 6 cards (4 Pharica's Cure and 2 Wings) to make it better.

Currently testing Pain Seer and Pack rat in slot 2.

[dpaine88]

What list were you running in the Dailys Pedro?


If we are to cut 2 Mogis Marauder , which I could see....I think I would want more removal like a 3rd Bile Blight and a Ultimate Price. That or 2 Demon I suppose but is is nice keeping the curve low.

[Tyrael]

DD also synergizes really well with Pain Seer's trigger

*cough*