You should run 4 woodland cemetery so that you at least have a chance of not shocking yourself every turn with birthing pod. Also, skinrender seems like a good idea as a way to kill any unwanted creatures when you have pod out.
I don't use Liliana very much since I hate discarding. And I feel my deck would be a little heavier on the kill spell side. The sideboard Killspells are great if playing against the right deck but not so much otherwise. Tribute to hunger and Geth's Verdict kill hexproof which is why I have them there. So does Black Sun's Zenith but they compromise my own.
Also if I find I need more cannon fodder with creatures against a RDW or something I throw in the Rats as a 1/1 deathtouch chump blocker
@Lifekills the deck curves out at four mana, so i'd much rather play an obliterator for four than solemn in the deck, and that means no grave titan either... although i love those cards. Sticking with mono black specifically because I feel messenger makes it viable
@Yorutenchi I really like the idea of using metamorph. I may try to work those in as well.
I like Lili here because I can discard Gravecrawler and cast from the yard or just discard a land.
@chickenfist that's not a bad idea, but it weakens Lashwrithe so I don't think I will
General thoughts - someone in the geralf's messenger scd mentioned maybe running smallpox... good with gravecrawler and messenger so i may try it.
I really like Vault Skirge because he can pod up to messenger and gains me all kinds of life back with Lashwrithe.
@Lifekills the deck curves out at four mana, so i'd much rather play an obliterator for four than solemn in the deck, and that means no grave titan either... although i love those cards. Sticking with mono black specifically because I feel messenger makes it viable
@Yorutenchi I really like the idea of using metamorph. I may try to work those in as well.
I like Lili here because I can discard Gravecrawler and cast from the yard or just discard a land.
@chickenfist that's not a bad idea, but it weakens Lashwrithe so I don't think I will
General thoughts - someone in the geralf's messenger scd mentioned maybe running smallpox... good with gravecrawler and messenger so i may try it.
I really like Vault Skirge because he can pod up to messenger and gains me all kinds of life back with Lashwrithe.
except that the messenger is a 3 drop. Which means blackcleave cliffs/darkslick shores are the perfect mana fixing, considering that they give you the right mana AND allowing you to reliably play messenger on turn 3 if you so please. This opens the door to splashing. Since you are running all swamps, you lose nothing but playing 4 darkslick/blackcleave and 4 drowned catacomb/dragonskull summit. Heck you can run 4 woodland cemetary to allow hardcasting of Birthing Pod/noxious revival (which is supremely useful in birthing pod lists) which do not slow you down whatsoever and allow you to still play obliterators and messengers reliably on turn 3 and 4. Outside of lashwrite what are you getting from a monoblack list?
it just seems like you lose a lot going black pod. Mbc/mba seems much better and it seems like that is what you wanna play. For pod to be truely good its gonna need multiple colors
except that the messenger is a 3 drop. Which means blackcleave cliffs/darkslick shores are the perfect mana fixing, considering that they give you the right mana AND allowing you to reliably play messenger on turn 3 if you so please. This opens the door to splashing. Since you are running all swamps, you lose nothing but playing 4 darkslick/blackcleave and 4 drowned catacomb/dragonskull summit. Heck you can run 4 woodland cemetary to allow hardcasting of Birthing Pod/noxious revival (which is supremely useful in birthing pod lists) which do not slow you down whatsoever and allow you to still play obliterators and messengers reliably on turn 3 and 4. Outside of lashwrite what are you getting from a monoblack list?
I am not opposed to running cliffs, cemetaries or shores for the splash, lashwrithe is the only real reason two run all swamps. I like the idea of an all-black list... I guess we need to see the rest of the set tomorrow to determine whether something really pulls me in another direction. Noxious revival is a great idea.
you cant deal with enchantments, artifacts or PW's, all of which would be taken care of by green, with naturalize or beast within
that's an excellent point. So Woodland Cemetary maindeck and Beast Within, Naturalize in the side, perhaps? Is Hex Parasite still viable as an answer for pw's if I kept monoblack? and ratchet bomb for pw's/ enchantments?
interesting idea to run say in... Modern? Where you have the lands to use for it without killing yourself (Overgrown Tomb, Twilight Mire, Llanowar Wastes, etc). in Standard as our dual land colors are right now it is inadvisable to cut Green completely from any Pod deck
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard: Testing for new standard
Modern: :symw::symg: Death and Taxes
EDH: :symur::symug: Animar
:symw::symr::symb: Kaalia, of the Stax
:symr::symw::symg: Uril, the Miststalker
except that the messenger is a 3 drop. Which means blackcleave cliffs/darkslick shores are the perfect mana fixing, considering that they give you the right mana AND allowing you to reliably play messenger on turn 3 if you so please. This opens the door to splashing. Since you are running all swamps, you lose nothing but playing 4 darkslick/blackcleave and 4 drowned catacomb/dragonskull summit. Heck you can run 4 woodland cemetary to allow hardcasting of Birthing Pod/noxious revival (which is supremely useful in birthing pod lists) which do not slow you down whatsoever and allow you to still play obliterators and messengers reliably on turn 3 and 4. Outside of lashwrite what are you getting from a monoblack list?
If you want to top your curve out at 4 mana then it is completely unnecessary to run Pod at all. I would rather run 4 additional creatures personally. Pod is an extremely inefficient tutor unless you actually build your creature base to use it properly
The messenger is pretty good and will probably be run as a 1-of in GB Pod decks purely because it has Undying, but it's not going to carry the game for you. I feel the same way with Obliterator. Sure, if you're playing against RDW, he's an unstoppable force, but most decks have ways to deal with him and he still doesn't race a Titan
That's the main reason Pod decks are so incredibly hard to build. You need to choose the perfect creature base for it with the right mix of utility and power. At the same time you need to make sure you're not being too cute with it and can still win the game. Shoehorning it into a mono-black aggro deck is never going to work
interesting idea to run say in... Modern? Where you have the lands to use for it without killing yourself (Overgrown Tomb, Twilight Mire, Llanowar Wastes, etc). in Standard as our dual land colors are right now it is inadvisable to cut Green completely from any Pod deck
If you want to top your curve out at 4 mana then it is completely unnecessary to run Pod at all. I would rather run 4 additional creatures personally. Pod is an extremely inefficient tutor unless you actually build your creature base to use it properly
The messenger is pretty good and will probably be run as a 1-of in GB Pod decks purely because it has Undying, but it's not going to carry the game for you. I feel the same way with Obliterator. Sure, if you're playing against RDW, he's an unstoppable force, but most decks have ways to deal with him and he still doesn't race a Titan
That's the main reason Pod decks are so incredibly hard to build. You need to choose the perfect creature base for it with the right mix of utility and power. At the same time you need to make sure you're not being too cute with it and can still win the game. Shoehorning it into a mono-black aggro deck is never going to work
If I drop 'Writhe and go down a few copies each on obliterator and messenger I could go BG toolbox, maybe I'll try building it both ways. the point of shoehorning it into black aggro was drastically increasing the odds of getting obliterator into play t4 every game, plus wasting a counterspell of thiers without losing the actual obliterator, all while taking advatage of the messenger's undying.
I like using mono black a lot of the times simply because of Phyrexian Obliterator. Its pretty much the only non-Planeswalker card that is more than 15 bucks (might be 14 so don't quote me on it) that is NOT used in that many tournament decks. I seriously have NEVER played against one in a tournament before and have yet to see a Pro player win with it.
Despite being the most amazing 4 drop (arguably) in standard. However its pretty much only for people that use Pod decks or Mono Black. That I do believe is the only reason that its not tha useful. Mono black has its weaknesses. Though if you use pod you can technically use any color creature you want in the deck. I'm working on a 5 color Phyrexian Mana and Pod deck currently Though its got its kinks.
I literally have no idea why you aren't using undying evil in this deck. And why even have the bsz's? They're going to do you more harm than good. You're creature based, not control.
I don't use Liliana very much since I hate discarding. And I feel my deck would be a little heavier on the kill spell side. The sideboard Killspells are great if playing against the right deck but not so much otherwise. Tribute to hunger and Geth's Verdict kill hexproof which is why I have them there. So does Black Sun's Zenith but they compromise my own.
Also if I find I need more cannon fodder with creatures against a RDW or something I throw in the Rats as a 1/1 deathtouch chump blocker
the desk looks Ok / i would suggest removing 3 doom blade and add in 3 geth's verdict , you already got / tragic slip /Dismember / i would also take out the 3 go for the throats and try to get 4 black cats in / cause it would be i sac black cat to pod get messanger and you discard a card at random/ or it can block / ppl are afrade to loose cards they have in hand / my deck will have 4 black cat and 4 small pox /the deck will be fun and if you use the green land there must use atleast 1 glissa the trador / well that is all i got for now.
the desk looks Ok / i would suggest removing 3 doom blade and add in 3 geth's verdict , you already got / tragic slip /Dismember / i would also take out the 3 go for the throats and try to get 4 black cats in / cause it would be i sac black cat to pod get messanger and you discard a card at random/ or it can block / ppl are afrade to loose cards they have in hand / my deck will have 4 black cat and 4 small pox /the deck will be fun and if you use the green land there must use atleast 1 glissa the trador / well that is all i got for now.
Your actaully right. I'm gonna put some Geth in that. Though I"ll just side Go for the thorat rather than remove it.
and black cat is a good idea. I don't usually play hand control. Though I might take it on.
Find space for Undying Evil and Hex Parasite. Hex takes the counter off things with undying for almost endless returns, pair that with undying evil for things like grave titan or obliterator that got spot controled.
4 Gravecrawler
4 Lashwrithe
4 Tragic Slip
4 Dismember
4 Vault Skirge
4 Birthing Pod
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Black Sun's Zenith
this feels like a rough outline for an fnm winner deck to me. the pods are practically Obliterator 5-8.
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!
He IS the best creature if you're wanting to play mono-black, so yes. What else would you want for 4cmc?
Standard:
GBWAggressive Junk TokensGBW
"Some convictions are so strong that the world must break to accommodate them."
Also, I think it is unnecessary and unadvisable to stick to mono-black with Birthing Pod. Green gives you so much
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
4 phyrexian obliterator
4 Geralf's messanger
4 Vault Skirge
2 Phyrexian Megamorph
ARTIFACTS 7
4 Birthing Pod
3 Lashwire
4 Tragic Slip
4 Dismember
3 Doom Blade
3 Go for the Throat
3 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Geth's Verdict
4 Tribute to Hunger
3 Victim of the Night
4 Typhoid Rats
I don't use Liliana very much since I hate discarding. And I feel my deck would be a little heavier on the kill spell side. The sideboard Killspells are great if playing against the right deck but not so much otherwise. Tribute to hunger and Geth's Verdict kill hexproof which is why I have them there. So does Black Sun's Zenith but they compromise my own.
Also if I find I need more cannon fodder with creatures against a RDW or something I throw in the Rats as a 1/1 deathtouch chump blocker
@Yorutenchi I really like the idea of using metamorph. I may try to work those in as well.
I like Lili here because I can discard Gravecrawler and cast from the yard or just discard a land.
@chickenfist that's not a bad idea, but it weakens Lashwrithe so I don't think I will
General thoughts - someone in the geralf's messenger scd mentioned maybe running smallpox... good with gravecrawler and messenger so i may try it.
I really like Vault Skirge because he can pod up to messenger and gains me all kinds of life back with Lashwrithe.
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
except that the messenger is a 3 drop. Which means blackcleave cliffs/darkslick shores are the perfect mana fixing, considering that they give you the right mana AND allowing you to reliably play messenger on turn 3 if you so please. This opens the door to splashing. Since you are running all swamps, you lose nothing but playing 4 darkslick/blackcleave and 4 drowned catacomb/dragonskull summit. Heck you can run 4 woodland cemetary to allow hardcasting of Birthing Pod/noxious revival (which is supremely useful in birthing pod lists) which do not slow you down whatsoever and allow you to still play obliterators and messengers reliably on turn 3 and 4. Outside of lashwrite what are you getting from a monoblack list?
I am not opposed to running cliffs, cemetaries or shores for the splash, lashwrithe is the only real reason two run all swamps. I like the idea of an all-black list... I guess we need to see the rest of the set tomorrow to determine whether something really pulls me in another direction. Noxious revival is a great idea.
What are my main weaknesses running all black?
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
that's an excellent point. So Woodland Cemetary maindeck and Beast Within, Naturalize in the side, perhaps? Is Hex Parasite still viable as an answer for pw's if I kept monoblack? and ratchet bomb for pw's/ enchantments?
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
Modern: :symw::symg: Death and Taxes
EDH: :symur::symug: Animar
:symw::symr::symb: Kaalia, of the Stax
:symr::symw::symg: Uril, the Miststalker
If you want to top your curve out at 4 mana then it is completely unnecessary to run Pod at all. I would rather run 4 additional creatures personally. Pod is an extremely inefficient tutor unless you actually build your creature base to use it properly
The messenger is pretty good and will probably be run as a 1-of in GB Pod decks purely because it has Undying, but it's not going to carry the game for you. I feel the same way with Obliterator. Sure, if you're playing against RDW, he's an unstoppable force, but most decks have ways to deal with him and he still doesn't race a Titan
That's the main reason Pod decks are so incredibly hard to build. You need to choose the perfect creature base for it with the right mix of utility and power. At the same time you need to make sure you're not being too cute with it and can still win the game. Shoehorning it into a mono-black aggro deck is never going to work
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Yes! I can't believe this hadn't crossed my mind yet. Excellent call. Opens up Maelstrom Pulse instead of Beast Within, too.
Overgrown Tomb. Me gusto.
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
If I drop 'Writhe and go down a few copies each on obliterator and messenger I could go BG toolbox, maybe I'll try building it both ways. the point of shoehorning it into black aggro was drastically increasing the odds of getting obliterator into play t4 every game, plus wasting a counterspell of thiers without losing the actual obliterator, all while taking advatage of the messenger's undying.
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
This is not entirely true.
However, I do believe OP is missing out of the higher cost beauties. such as
7drop-rune scarred demon, Sheoldred
6 drop-Grave titan
5 drop-Morkrut Banshee, Vengeful Pharaoh
Despite being the most amazing 4 drop (arguably) in standard. However its pretty much only for people that use Pod decks or Mono Black. That I do believe is the only reason that its not tha useful. Mono black has its weaknesses. Though if you use pod you can technically use any color creature you want in the deck. I'm working on a 5 color Phyrexian Mana and Pod deck currently Though its got its kinks.
My Haves/ Wants List
My Commander Decks: Kozilek - Bruna - Sigarda - Gisela - Avacyn - Braids - Olivia - St. Traft - Scion
Standard: :symu::symw::symr: Miracle Superfriends - Legacy: Wild Defiance Infect
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
art by sig.rizlawerks.
the desk looks Ok / i would suggest removing 3 doom blade and add in 3 geth's verdict , you already got / tragic slip /Dismember / i would also take out the 3 go for the throats and try to get 4 black cats in / cause it would be i sac black cat to pod get messanger and you discard a card at random/ or it can block / ppl are afrade to loose cards they have in hand / my deck will have 4 black cat and 4 small pox /the deck will be fun and if you use the green land there must use atleast 1 glissa the trador / well that is all i got for now.
Your actaully right. I'm gonna put some Geth in that. Though I"ll just side Go for the thorat rather than remove it.
and black cat is a good idea. I don't usually play hand control. Though I might take it on.