Mono-Black Aggro

[BlackIsBack]

Mono-Black Aggro



THE DECK

Spoiler:

Deck
Creatures 4x Death Cutlist 4x Viscera Seer 4x Mortician Beetle 4x Guul Draz Assassin 4x Guul Draz Vampire 4x Death's Gate Demon 2x Vampire Lacerator	Sorceries 4x Blood Tithe 3x Corrupt Instants 2x Needlebite Trap Enchantments 4x Quest for the Gravelord Lands 21x Swamp	Sideboard 4x Deathmark 4x Duress 4x Vampire Hexmage 3x Malakir Bloodwitch

THE EXPLANATIONS

Creatures:
-Demon of Death's Gate: The beater and building block of the deck. This deck enables an easy turn two demon. The drawback is that removal causes a 4-for-1 scenario with a 6 point swing. It's a large drawback, but that's black for you.

-Mortician Beetle: A secondary beater. If the demon doesn't show up fast, then Mortician Beetle is your answer. Holding out for the Demon only hurts in the long run: the point is to hit hard and fast.

-Viscera Seer: Several uses. The first and foremost use is that Viscera Seer is a one-drop (like the rest of the creatures.) Secondly, Viscera provides a sac outlet for Mortician/Quest for the Gravelord and a bit of dig too.

-Death Cultist: One drop, sacrifices for it's outlets, two-point life swing.

-Guul Draz Assassin: One drop, repeatable creature kill (if not needed for sacrifice earlier on).

-Guul Draz Vampire: One drop, fear. With the big creatures and life swings this deck plays, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

-Vampire Lacerator: One drop, big for a little guy.



Sorceries
-Corrupt: High damage. Provides targetable creature kills and will replenish large amounts of life. Grants a later game play.

-Blood Tithe: Not that great, but it is a nice life swing and, additionally, your hand will likely be empty of lower mana-cost cards by T4 anyways.



Enchantments
-Quest for the Gravelord: Another outlet for early beatdown. Can provide some 5/5's quickly early on. Not as good as Demon for early damage, but it also doesn't have as large a drawback.



Instant

-Needlebite Trap: When you're trying to kill as quickly as possible, it's not very fun to watch your opponent giggle as his lifepoints get higher than his ego. A ten point swing for 1 mana is a great investment in my opinion. Of course, it won't be ten since they're gaining life...but 5 life for 1 mana still isn't bad.



Lands
-Swamp: Helps Corrupt, allows for T2 Demon. There is nothing more frustrating than staring at your Tectonic Edge and wishing that is was just a Swamp.

The Sideboard
-Duress: Provides some tech against counters and any removal that can catch the demon. The downside is that I'd have to change my Demon drop to T3 to be safe, but it also lets me know that it WILL be safe for a bit.

-Deathmark: Standard tech against Baneslayer and any other white/green annoyances.

-Vampire Hexmage: There really isn't much in the MD to deal with it, but planeswalkers could be a problem if it drags on a bit too much. So Hexmage is being thrown in to prevent any Jace bouncing or whatever else I don't really want to deal with.

-Malakir Bloodwitch: The deck runs a lot of vampires already (though if things are working out, most will be in the GY), so Malakir for Baneslayer hate/lifegain is a good choice in my book.


The deck is, to put it simply, based off of my excursions in draft. I didn't think too much of Demon of Death's Gate until my store draft last week. I happened to pull it first pack, so I decided to try for a black aggro deck. I found the card to be amazing when utilized correctly. Out of all the opponents I had faced, there was only one who even had a removal that could handle a T2 Demon and that removal was an SB Plummet. Standard is a more difficult environment, for sure, but that's not to say that there isn't some possibilities for this Demon. To put it simply, I think that a deck like this would be the only deck for it. The faster you can hit play with it, the more likely it is that opponent doesn't yet have an answer.

[odorofdeath]

I really like this idea and I applaud you for thinking outside the box. Honestly with Path, Pulse, and Terminate all rotating out of standard soon, I think this deck could actually have a chance. That being said it seems very "goldfishy" and a bit gimmicky, relying on a hand with demon to do anything; otherwise your stuck with a bunch of crappy little guys. I think you should expand on the vampire subtheme with Captivating Vampire to give them some more oomph in case you dont draw the big D right off the bat. Pretty interesting idea, keep me posted.

[BlackIsBack]

Originally Posted by odorofdeath

I really like this idea and I applaud you for thinking outside the box. Honestly with Path, Pulse, and Terminate all rotating out of standard soon, I think this deck could actually have a chance. That being said it seems very "goldfishy" and a bit gimmicky, relying on a hand with demon to do anything; otherwise your stuck with a bunch of crappy little guys. I think you should expand on the vampire subtheme with Captivating Vampire to give them some more oomph in case you dont draw the big D right off the bat. Pretty interesting idea, keep me posted.

Yeah, that kind of scares me about it too. I can't really count on most of the creatures to do too terribly much and it worries me. But there aren't many good black creatures for 1CMC and 1CMC creatures are the best way to surprise your opponent with a crazy play on T2. It's especially good if you had the first turn. You might be right on expanding the vampire theme, but I want to see how it goes first. I was contemplating using Diabolic Tutor in place of Needlebite as demons 5-6. Because of the way the deck intends to play its stuff, there isn't much of a worry about playing it after tapping out on T4.

[behemot123]

woooooooooo

nice deck


love the beetle and the assesin as they could become a treath if the demon gets killed

have you consider deathgreeter he is better than the suicidal lacerator

also i will move the duress to main or add some inquisition insted of the blood thithe since a mana leak a path to exile or a day of judgement can ruin yours plans

i will consider some backup plan (somenthing like polymorph sideboard for the pyromancers deck) for the fasters deck you know versus RDW loosing 6 lifes is likee scooping

[BlackIsBack]

Originally Posted by behemot123

woooooooooo

nice deck


love the beetle and the assesin as they could become a treath if the demon gets killed

have you consider deathgreeter he is better than the suicidal lacerator

also i will move the duress to main or add some inquisition insted of the blood thithe since a mana leak a path to exile or a day of judgement can ruin yours plans

i will consider some backup plan (somenthing like polymorph sideboard for the pyromancers deck) for the fasters deck you know versus RDW loosing 6 lifes is likee scooping

Yeah, actually, I did. The problem is that he rotates way too soon. Otherwise, he'd be a definite 4of to keep my life up. The duress are SB because, the way I'm seeing it, there are very select decks who'll have a quick answer to the demon. I don't have this deck built all the way up yet, but I plan to have it done shortly after rotation making the only real problem mana leak. Blood Tithe isn't that great of a card, but it does allow me to fix up what I lose to the demon quicker than Corrupt. Hmmm...maybe replace 2 Blood Tithes with Basilisk Collar and the other 2 with some MD Duress?

[behemot123]

basilisk collar is a yes , a little guy equiped with it can take some lifepoints back or take down a big guy
and this one Zulaport Enforcer he can be used for the combo and can become big late game


a friend of mine said that maybe 3 or 4 dark tutelage
cut all cards that doesnt have a 1CMC (except the demon and the dark tutelage )
using the basilisk collar to gain some life
taking advantage of lose of life with Death's Shadow
praying the lord and using vicera seer to stop drawing the demon with the tutelage
even if you dont draw the demon you still have you army of little creatures
but it really sounds like suicide
Even though fun suicide


also with only 21 lands and no other way to put them in play, have you ever play the corrupts ? is a 6cmc :S and you wont be drawing tha lands you need so frequently
maybe a doom blade if you require removal or suffer the past for the loss-win of life

and yep things are starting to rotate out and i was just thinking to said somenthing about a splash for ranger of eos but let see if SOM bring somenthing great