Explanation:
Suicide Black is a lightning-fast aggro deck that eschews concepts such as card advantage and card quality in favor of sheer aggression. It achieves this by loading up on 1-drops that deal AOE damage to your adversaries and maxing out on Dark Rituals and Throne of the God-Pharaohs to create the most explosive openers possible. Your goal is typically to cast a slew of 1-drops (ideally 3 on turn 1 ) into a turn 2-3 Throne of the God-Pharaoh and proceed to burn the table out. Vampire Neonate, the newest addition to the archetype, is a beefy attacker who brings some additional resilience to the list. At 3 toughness he can attack into most 1-2 drop blockers (to continuously trigger Throne of the God-Pharaoh) and his activated ability is a relevant mana sink for the strategy. Suicide Black, as with every other aggressive strategy, is extremely susceptible to mana flood which is why it employs mana sinks such as Thrull Parasite and Vampire Neonate which mitigate the risk of losing due to land-heavy draws.
Notes:
All of your nut draws involve Dark Ritual. Jam creatures first and spells second. An idea turn 1 play involves Dark Ritualing any combination of 3 "Pulse Trackers" into play followed by a turn 2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh. Even if you don't have a Dark Ritual, that's still fine, just cast your 1 drops for the first 2 turns and save your Throne until it's draining for 3 or more (ideally). Things like Gonti's Machinations, Thrull Parasite and Vampire Neonate are all secondary considerations and should typically be played after your initial flurry of spells.
Assuming that you don't have a slew of 1 drops then Ankh of Mishra is your next-best turn 1 ritual play. It's virtually guaranteed to deal at least 8 damage to each of your adversaries and punishes Fetchlands immensely.
Play Vicious Conquistador first. 2 toughness means that it can attack into most 1-2 drops and Thornbow Archer often gets blanked by mana producing Elves such as Deathrite Shaman. It should be prioritized over the 1-toughness critters however but Vicious Conquistador is the safest and most consistent card to open with. Next is Night Market Lookout since it gains life and then Pulse Tracker since there's nothing special about it. Finally, play Mardu Shadowspear last since you can always Dash her for immediate value. This is actually one of your strongest mana sinks given that you can get multiple Extort triggers out of the deal assuming that she survives.
Vampire Neonate a solid blocker, a reasonable mana sink and it doesn't need to attack to provide value. As such you don't need to worry about casting them early on. The only time that you should prioritize jamming them over "Pulse Trackers" is when you have a Throne of the God-Pharaoh in play and each of your adversaries have a blocker larger enough to blank your attackers. After all, you wouldn't want to chump attack a Pulse Tracker into a Courser of Kruphix but Vampire Neonate couldn't care less about the 2 powered blocker.
Gonti's Machinations doesn't typically need any support but Thrull Parasite and Snuff Out can forcibly trigger it as needed. This can sometimes matter if you need a quick shot of life.
This isn't a Thrull Parasite value deck. Given the choice of jamming attackers or maximizing Extort triggers you should take the most aggressive line possible. Thrull Parasite is fantastic in land-heavy draws and/or in board stalls (since it can tap itself without attacking) but you're not looking to Extort 100% of your spells or anything. I'll note that you can tap him for no reason whatsoever, you absolutely don't need to remove a counter (it doesn't even need to exist) and this matters a lot once the board gets stalled. You'll often squeeze the last point of damage via by tapping your Thrull Parasite to trigger your Throne of the God-Pharaohs and activate your Gonti's Machinations.
Other Cards: Springleaf Drum boasts immense synergy with Night Market Lookout and Throne of the God-Pharaoh but competes with Dark Ritual for deck slots. You also can't easily shave lands for Drums since A) Drum requires at least 1 land and B) 1 land, 1 Drum draws tend to be extremely awkward to sequence. I think that you can make a reasonable argument for either but both is too many mana sources for a deck of this nature.
Winter Orb is another fantastic addition against slower strategies (Control, Stax, Ramp, etc.) given that it barely affects your ability to enact your strategy. My only issue with the card is that it doesn't work with our primary gameplan of burning the table out. That being said it's still an amazing 1-2 of, especially if you cut some of the mana sinks (such as Vampire Neonate).
Slaughter Pact, Deathmark, Vendetta, Fatal Push, Tyrant's Choice, Dismember and Curtains' Call are fantastic additions for creature-heavy metas. After all, you only need to be able to attack one player to push damage through. If needed you can cut the Gonti's Machinations for more removal to ensure that you're consistently connecting with someone. When it doubt field Deathmark since it's cheap, painless and will work against someone.
I find lists like these to be veryvery risky. Named appropriately.
I used to run a budget Legacy deck focussed on duels, with a similar concept. I would play everything quick and drop Ensnaring Bridge.
Yeah it was budget back then, I can't believe the price of Bridge now! Considering your focus & lack of draw, a card with a similar effect might be useful. Have you considered something like this, or maybe something cheaper like Meekstone etc.?
Or have you considered ways to simply keep them alive for repeated attacks, like Behind the Scenes?
I know this isn't a fantastic enabler, but it's the only one I can think of on-colour, off the top of my head right now...
Shortest version I could muster. I don't ever expect to win arguments in here anymore, so this is more of a PSA.
Very nice Tribal Blitz Aggro deck you have here. With all respect, this really ain't "Suicide Black". Suicide Black: Black-centered. Super fast disruption paired with super fast aggro that also TRADES your OWN life total to achieve tempo shortcuts and a faster clock.
Hopefully no arguments there. Now take a look at your deck..
No, not specific card choices--those always change. Creatures are a million times better now--no more garbage Carnophages.
But where are the disruption elements? Part of Suicide Black's approach has always been to cripple their hand/manabase ALONG THE WAY. (Thoughtseize, Sinkhole, Hymn to Tourach, Wasteland, etc.)You have none of this. That is fine. However, it means you're no longer really playing 'Suicide Black' because that deck has always contained these. Why? It is part of the deck's basic recipe for success. You don't stand a chance without this. It's the difference between winning vs flooding the board with Vampires and then getting pantsed. That's why you want run these things.
I don't mean to sound inflexible or some dusty old 'purist' or beat anyone down. I'm just pointing out some (I believe) some very relevant differences.
TLDR: This deck ignores about twenty years of established archetype history but name it whatever you want.
Speaking of Deathrite Shaman... shouldn't it be on the list somewhere?
In an ideal world this deck would have DRSes and Fetches but I'm trying to keep things budget friendly. I should probably note that you can add them however. I'll update that in a bit.
Have you considered something like this, or maybe something cheaper like Meekstone etc.? Or have you considered ways to simply keep them alive for repeated attacks, like Behind the Scenes?
Considered? Yes. Willing to play? No. Behind the Scenes is expensive and marginal since you only need a single open adversary to profitably attack for damage. Meekstone is cool, but it doesn't help against blockers and I'm not worried about being raced. Neither card does enough to earn a deck slot. If I'm worried about blockers I'd rather run removal (cheaper, more versatile, more flexible) and there's no room for defensive spells in burn/aggro decks.
I'll change the name if it'll help you sleep at night :P.
Ah..I thank you.
FWIW I was strongly considering Arterial Flow but the problem is the 3 CMC cost. Maybe I should be playing it though :).
Yes, that is a VERY good option here. I'm running it in my Vampire/Drain tribal build and it's absolutely brutal. But yes, waiting until turn 3 to hit their hands is playing it a bit risky.. MP you USUALLY have a bit more time allowance though..hard to say..
The other card that really puts in work for me is Tyrant's Choice. If you manage to do two back-to-back (effectively draining them for EIGHT from out of nowhere)..chances are very VERY high you can just alpha strike one opponent and drain ALL of them out at once. So good. I did it just last night..had absolutely no business winning that game. "Oops, I win."
This deck seems like a lot of fun just for the sake of wreaking havoc at the kitchen table and perhaps forcing play errors from your adversaries. Win percentages seem like they would be quite low in general, BUT with the caveat of forcing quick games and not allowing others to durdle. Seems like a win-win situation to me
I'm thinking about building a Mono B Deck at the moment. Would this be better than a tortured existence control shell?
No. A TE deck will win more games, play more Magic and teach you more in the long run. This is more of a joke deck. Not in the sense that it can't win, but sometimes you'll deal 12-14 damage to your adversaries and still have no hope of winning. I only play it if I'm looking for a quick game (win or lose) where I'm doing something silly. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy playing this style of deck, but only as a "break" from "real" decks. I wouldn't want this to be someone's only shell.
Ok, thank you for your reply then. So I will concentrate on building a TE Deck for my black Deck (ATM I am trying to build balanced MP Decks for each color). Is there an updated List for the Sample TE Deck in the Mono Black primer?
Nothing that isn't wildly outdated. Are you looking for something Monoblack or can it be Golgari? Or, if it has to be Monoblack, is Diabolic Intent too expensive or would that work within your budget?
18x Swamp
Creatures (26)
4x Vicious Conquistador
4x Thornbow Archer
4x Night Market Lookout
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Mardu Shadowspear
4x Thrull Parasite
2x Vampire Neonate
4x Dark Ritual
2x Gonti's Machinations
4x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
2x Ankh of Mishra
4x Snuff Out
Explanation:
Suicide Black is a lightning-fast aggro deck that eschews concepts such as card advantage and card quality in favor of sheer aggression. It achieves this by loading up on 1-drops that deal AOE damage to your adversaries and maxing out on Dark Rituals and Throne of the God-Pharaohs to create the most explosive openers possible. Your goal is typically to cast a slew of 1-drops (ideally 3 on turn 1 ) into a turn 2-3 Throne of the God-Pharaoh and proceed to burn the table out. Vampire Neonate, the newest addition to the archetype, is a beefy attacker who brings some additional resilience to the list. At 3 toughness he can attack into most 1-2 drop blockers (to continuously trigger Throne of the God-Pharaoh) and his activated ability is a relevant mana sink for the strategy. Suicide Black, as with every other aggressive strategy, is extremely susceptible to mana flood which is why it employs mana sinks such as Thrull Parasite and Vampire Neonate which mitigate the risk of losing due to land-heavy draws.
Notes:
All of your nut draws involve Dark Ritual. Jam creatures first and spells second. An idea turn 1 play involves Dark Ritualing any combination of 3 "Pulse Trackers" into play followed by a turn 2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh. Even if you don't have a Dark Ritual, that's still fine, just cast your 1 drops for the first 2 turns and save your Throne until it's draining for 3 or more (ideally). Things like Gonti's Machinations, Thrull Parasite and Vampire Neonate are all secondary considerations and should typically be played after your initial flurry of spells.
Assuming that you don't have a slew of 1 drops then Ankh of Mishra is your next-best turn 1 ritual play. It's virtually guaranteed to deal at least 8 damage to each of your adversaries and punishes Fetchlands immensely.
Play Vicious Conquistador first. 2 toughness means that it can attack into most 1-2 drops and Thornbow Archer often gets blanked by mana producing Elves such as Deathrite Shaman. It should be prioritized over the 1-toughness critters however but Vicious Conquistador is the safest and most consistent card to open with. Next is Night Market Lookout since it gains life and then Pulse Tracker since there's nothing special about it. Finally, play Mardu Shadowspear last since you can always Dash her for immediate value. This is actually one of your strongest mana sinks given that you can get multiple Extort triggers out of the deal assuming that she survives.
Vampire Neonate a solid blocker, a reasonable mana sink and it doesn't need to attack to provide value. As such you don't need to worry about casting them early on. The only time that you should prioritize jamming them over "Pulse Trackers" is when you have a Throne of the God-Pharaoh in play and each of your adversaries have a blocker larger enough to blank your attackers. After all, you wouldn't want to chump attack a Pulse Tracker into a Courser of Kruphix but Vampire Neonate couldn't care less about the 2 powered blocker.
Gonti's Machinations doesn't typically need any support but Thrull Parasite and Snuff Out can forcibly trigger it as needed. This can sometimes matter if you need a quick shot of life.
This isn't a Thrull Parasite value deck. Given the choice of jamming attackers or maximizing Extort triggers you should take the most aggressive line possible. Thrull Parasite is fantastic in land-heavy draws and/or in board stalls (since it can tap itself without attacking) but you're not looking to Extort 100% of your spells or anything. I'll note that you can tap him for no reason whatsoever, you absolutely don't need to remove a counter (it doesn't even need to exist) and this matters a lot once the board gets stalled. You'll often squeeze the last point of damage via by tapping your Thrull Parasite to trigger your Throne of the God-Pharaohs and activate your Gonti's Machinations.
Other Cards:
Springleaf Drum boasts immense synergy with Night Market Lookout and Throne of the God-Pharaoh but competes with Dark Ritual for deck slots. You also can't easily shave lands for Drums since A) Drum requires at least 1 land and B) 1 land, 1 Drum draws tend to be extremely awkward to sequence. I think that you can make a reasonable argument for either but both is too many mana sources for a deck of this nature.
Cards like Bloodchief Ascension and Ankh of Mishra are fantastic in Control-heavy metas that field plenty of mass removal but limited ways to interact with noncreature permanents. Turn 1 Bloodchief Ascension, turn 2 Ankh of Mishra or turn 1 Dark Ritual + Bloodchief Ascension + Ankh of Mishra is nearly impossible for Control/Stax/Ramp/etc. to beat.
Winter Orb is another fantastic addition against slower strategies (Control, Stax, Ramp, etc.) given that it barely affects your ability to enact your strategy. My only issue with the card is that it doesn't work with our primary gameplan of burning the table out. That being said it's still an amazing 1-2 of, especially if you cut some of the mana sinks (such as Vampire Neonate).
Slaughter Pact, Deathmark, Vendetta, Fatal Push, Tyrant's Choice, Dismember and Curtains' Call are fantastic additions for creature-heavy metas. After all, you only need to be able to attack one player to push damage through. If needed you can cut the Gonti's Machinations for more removal to ensure that you're consistently connecting with someone. When it doubt field Deathmark since it's cheap, painless and will work against someone.
Sample Variations:
18x Swamp
Creatures (26)
4x Vicious Conquistador
4x Thornbow Archer
4x Night Market Lookout
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Mardu Shadowspear
4x Thrull Parasite
2x Vampire Neonate
4x Dark Ritual
4x Deathmark
4x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4x Snuff Out
18x Swamp
Creatures (24)
4x Vicious Conquistador
4x Thornbow Archer
4x Night Market Lookout
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Mardu Shadowspear
4x Thrull Parasite
4x Dark Ritual
4x Bloodchief Ascension
4x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4x Ankh of Mishra
2x Winter Orb
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I used to run a budget Legacy deck focussed on duels, with a similar concept. I would play everything quick and drop Ensnaring Bridge.
Yeah it was budget back then, I can't believe the price of Bridge now! Considering your focus & lack of draw, a card with a similar effect might be useful. Have you considered something like this, or maybe something cheaper like Meekstone etc.?
Or have you considered ways to simply keep them alive for repeated attacks, like Behind the Scenes?
I know this isn't a fantastic enabler, but it's the only one I can think of on-colour, off the top of my head right now...
Very nice Tribal Blitz Aggro deck you have here. With all respect, this really ain't "Suicide Black". Suicide Black: Black-centered. Super fast disruption paired with super fast aggro that also TRADES your OWN life total to achieve tempo shortcuts and a faster clock.
Hopefully no arguments there. Now take a look at your deck..
No, not specific card choices--those always change. Creatures are a million times better now--no more garbage Carnophages.
But where are the disruption elements? Part of Suicide Black's approach has always been to cripple their hand/manabase ALONG THE WAY. (Thoughtseize, Sinkhole, Hymn to Tourach, Wasteland, etc.)You have none of this. That is fine. However, it means you're no longer really playing 'Suicide Black' because that deck has always contained these. Why? It is part of the deck's basic recipe for success. You don't stand a chance without this. It's the difference between winning vs flooding the board with Vampires and then getting pantsed. That's why you want run these things.
I don't mean to sound inflexible or some dusty old 'purist' or beat anyone down. I'm just pointing out some (I believe) some very relevant differences.
TLDR: This deck ignores about twenty years of established archetype history but name it whatever you want.
In an ideal world this deck would have DRSes and Fetches but I'm trying to keep things budget friendly. I should probably note that you can add them however. I'll update that in a bit.
Considered? Yes. Willing to play? No. Behind the Scenes is expensive and marginal since you only need a single open adversary to profitably attack for damage. Meekstone is cool, but it doesn't help against blockers and I'm not worried about being raced. Neither card does enough to earn a deck slot. If I'm worried about blockers I'd rather run removal (cheaper, more versatile, more flexible) and there's no room for defensive spells in burn/aggro decks.
I'll change the name if it'll help you sleep at night :P.
FWIW I was strongly considering Arterial Flow but the problem is the 3 CMC cost. Maybe I should be playing it though :).
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
4 Gonti's Machinations
4 Bloodchief Ascension
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Mardu Shadowspear
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Pulse Tracker
4 Thornbow Archer
4 Vicious Conquistador
2 Thrull Parasite
4 Deathrite Shaman
6 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blood Crypt
4 Luxury Suite
Ah..I thank you.
Yes, that is a VERY good option here. I'm running it in my Vampire/Drain tribal build and it's absolutely brutal. But yes, waiting until turn 3 to hit their hands is playing it a bit risky.. MP you USUALLY have a bit more time allowance though..hard to say..
The other card that really puts in work for me is Tyrant's Choice. If you manage to do two back-to-back (effectively draining them for EIGHT from out of nowhere)..chances are very VERY high you can just alpha strike one opponent and drain ALL of them out at once. So good. I did it just last night..had absolutely no business winning that game. "Oops, I win."
No. A TE deck will win more games, play more Magic and teach you more in the long run. This is more of a joke deck. Not in the sense that it can't win, but sometimes you'll deal 12-14 damage to your adversaries and still have no hope of winning. I only play it if I'm looking for a quick game (win or lose) where I'm doing something silly. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy playing this style of deck, but only as a "break" from "real" decks. I wouldn't want this to be someone's only shell.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Nothing that isn't wildly outdated. Are you looking for something Monoblack or can it be Golgari? Or, if it has to be Monoblack, is Diabolic Intent too expensive or would that work within your budget?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold