MTG Salvation

Quote from Victor Sant

Yes, because lingering souls and many others small fliers aren't on the format.
Chumpblocking your 5 drops for 4 turns with a single card.

Let's see, Lingering Souls, Vault Skirge, Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus, Birds of Paradise, and Delver of Secrets. I don't think that is many small fliers.

So I have a serious question.

How in the world does mono black deal with artifact decks like torn and affinity?!?! I play mono black aggro in the form of vamps and they ONLY way I can kill those decks is hitting my curve perfectly and having nocturnous go off on turn 4. we win 1/10

Quote from gypsyhummus

So I have a serious question.

How in the world does mono black deal with artifact decks like torn and affinity?!?! I play mono black aggro in the form of vamps and they ONLY way I can kill those decks is hitting my curve perfectly and having nocturnous go off on turn 4. we win 1/10

Um...that might be an uphill fight. A lot of hand disruption against Tron I guess. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek could delay them for a bit (RG Tron anyway). You might have a tougher time against U Tron with all the counters that get run.

Affinity is tough. Hand disruption is good obviously to get rid of Pestermite/Arcbound Ravager/Mox Opal. If you can survive to turn 4 and drop Damnation, well, that'll obviously help.

If we can see your deck list we could probably give better advice

Splash green for Abrupt Decay and Naturalize. Black Sun Zenith, Shrivel, and especially Darkblast can do serious work.

Quote from Venomous72

Um...that might be an uphill fight. A lot of hand disruption against Tron I guess. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek could delay them for a bit (RG Tron anyway). You might have a tougher time against U Tron with all the counters that get run.

Affinity is tough. Hand disruption is good obviously to get rid of Pestermite/Arcbound Ravager/Mox Opal. If you can survive to turn 4 and drop Damnation, well, that'll obviously help.

If we can see your deck list we could probably give better advice

Haha, no problem, here is my decklist



As you can see, I try to run my deck as aggressively as possible. I was thinking about maybe adding in a nythos or erebos, since I am very mono black heavy.

I think phyrexian obliterator is better than demigod of revenge because it curves out better with grey merchant of asphodel

Quote from Buttface37

I think phyrexian obliterator is better than demigod of revenge because it curves out better with grey merchant of asphodel

I'm glad someone stated the obvious , obliterator might even help against the living end match up....

Do you think hypnotic specter would be good for this deck

Quote from doodling123

Do you think hypnotic specter would be good for this deck

I think he considered it for a bit, I don't think its all that good my self.


Edit: also Cactus in version 3 your misspelled verdant catacombs and Whip of Erebos ,just an FYI

Quote from Cactuscorpus

Second, I have been to two more tournaments, and have only lost one match since the primer was made, so that makes it one loss in a tournament, 1 out of tournament in playtesting (I have done quite a bit of playtesting, at least 3 times a week). The loss was to Living End, and that deck is super frustrating for this deck. I dont see the deck alot, and none of my friends have it built, so I dont know of it is something that I should take into serious consideration, but for now I have changed the Surgical Extractions to Leyline of the Void since that slows them down enough for me to try and take over the game.

that was to me (I don't branch out to the modern forums, bare with me) it was a painful game as I remember... fun though. Just need about 200 bucks to to finish it

Also interesting question what about Fulminator Mage?

Green for decay is good, so is infest. I have 4 decay and 3 infest in my side, it helps a lot against affinity and other fast decks we are bad against.

I have been messing around with a mono-black control deck that sort of morphed into a Devotion deck, and have been really impressed with my matchups against Jund.

I know it runs red, but only for a couple of multicolored cards and a manland, and it eschews a few creatures that you have in the deck in the OP, but it seemed the best place to post it. I really like a heavy removal package against GBx and Jund and that is why I went for a more controlling shape to the deck. I find that rather than trying to out-jund jund by playing a similar curve and early creatures I win more by out controlling them. I have no interest in curving out to midrange creatures when I can drop Obliterator and shut down whatever they have left swinging. Messenger is great in that it comes back, but I would rather keep Gouger in play with a four toughness and force them to have to draw into non-bolt removal. Liege is great at taking my late game over the top, and Erebos helps be draw out of binds.

My SB needs work as I need to start considering low-creature decks and be capable of transforming a bit games two and three.

Quote from DrWorm

I have been messing around with a mono-black control deck that sort of morphed into a Devotion deck, and have been really impressed with my matchups against Jund.

Black Control DevotionMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 4 Phyrexian Obliterator 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel 2 Ashenmoor Gouger 2 Ashenmoor Liege 2 Erebos, God of the Dead Other permanents 3 Phyrexian Arena 2 Whip of Erebos 3 Liliana of the Veil Other non-permanents 2 Devour Flesh 2 Dismember 1 Extirpate 3 Terminate 1 Dreadbore 1 Infest 3 Thoughtseize 3 Inquisition of Kozilek	Land 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Blood Crypt 4 Dragonskull Mountain 2 Lavaclaw Reach 2 Tectonic Edge 7 Swamp	Sideboard 3 Hero's Return 1 Dreadbore 3 Extirpate 2 Smother 2 Infest 2 Rakdos Return

I know it runs red, but only for a couple of multicolored cards and a manland, and it eschews a few creatures that you have in the deck in the OP, but it seemed the best place to post it. I really like a heavy removal package against GBx and Jund and that is why I went for a more controlling shape to the deck. I find that rather than trying to out-jund jund by playing a similar curve and early creatures I win more by out controlling them. I have no interest in curving out to midrange creatures when I can drop Obliterator and shut down whatever they have left swinging. Messenger is great in that it comes back, but I would rather keep Gouger in play with a four toughness and force them to have to draw into non-bolt removal. Liege is great at taking my late game over the top, and Erebos helps be draw out of binds.

My SB needs work as I need to start considering low-creature decks and be capable of transforming a bit games two and three.

If your running 3 liliana's demigod of revenge MIGHT be better then Obliterator due to synergy HOWEVER if there is a lot of scavenging ooze in your meta don't do it! Regardless I think it warrant's some testing. I'd also recommend lowering your curve by making the lieges gougers since you prefer him over messenger.

Quote from thedonmega

If your running 3 liliana's demigod of revenge MIGHT be better then Obliterator due to synergy HOWEVER if there is a lot of scavenging ooze in your meta don't do it!

Well, for Modern my meta is largely MTGO, and that has been a bit hard to judge since DEs went down. That said Obliterator is just so much more of an "answer or loose" creature unless you can create a ton of tokens or have an answer, and the non-Path common answers (Maelstrom Pulse and Dismember) are not run in large numbers most of the time. Path is going to hurt a Demigod package more than Obliterator, but I admit that Path is also a problem for me.

Regardless I think it warrant's some testing. I'd also recommend lowering your curve by making the lieges gougers since you prefer him over messenger.

Gouger is great, but is only a beater and devotion enabler. One of the things that Liege and many of my creatures have in Modern is that they dodge Abrupt Decay and Inquisition of Kozilek, and Liege is just so good at bringing the game home.

The way I have been testing is focussing on decks- so I did about 25 games against Jund (one of the t8 gp lists), now I am doing the same against GBw (top GP list). After that I will tackle RWU Control and some tier 1 Combos as I think that they are going to be MUCH more of a problem for me. GBw is proving a bit more tough than Jund since it runs Dismember main, but I am still slightly favored so far.

if we're toying with devotion and having trouble vs. stuff like tron, I am a big ol' fan of evil presence and contaminated ground.

messing with mana also gives you some breathing room so you can afford to play 5 drops.

I've got 2 decklists I've been working on for awhile.



Strictly Mono-Black. I feel like Smother is very underrated card in Modern right now. 14 main deck removal spells seems pretty solid. No worries on Mana besides the awkward double mutavault hands. This is just a plain port from the Mono-Black Devotion decks that have been doing well in standard with upgraded cards.



Now, I really like the second list more than the first. Deathrite Shaman just allows you to do more powerful things. It gives us some range and allows us to power out Liliana and F. Mages on turn 2. Granted, they are in my sideboard, but maybe Liliana should be main with deathrite? I know it's a little farfetched to think that I'll be able to get them out turn 2 with so little fetches, I'm kind of relying on on my opponents for that. I'm only running 2 fetches, because I want to hit 5 mana and I feel that by running 4+ fetches reduces my chances of getting there. Maybe I'm wrong.

We could add Prey Upon, if you're into that sort of thing.

I like DrWorms deck. The added red just shows that this Devotion theme is very playable in multiple colors. How has the Extripate main deck worked out? Also, have you tried running a Nykthos and Rakdos Return in the main? That just seems devastating.

Quote from Omoza

I like DrWorms deck. The added red just shows that this Devotion theme is very playable in multiple colors. How has the Extripate main deck worked out? Also, have you tried running a Nykthos and Rakdos Return in the main? That just seems devastating.

I feel like Nykthos is at best a win-more card, though I did look at Rakdos's Return MD and I feel like it is better to concentrate on reliable answers rather than big plays. I feel like big specific plays are better out of the SB. I like a singleton Extirpate main because it is almost always hurts my opponent's game when it pops up, but does not show up all that often so that matches where it is poor get it as a bad top-deck that often.

I honestly thought about a version with green instead of black (for Decay/Pulse/DRS), but did not like the manabase as much and it tended to draw the deck away into what would better be decribed as truly BG.

Nykthos definitely isn't win more if you are running Profane command, and you really should be unless your running the one drop list that is running around. Its especially good if you are running the pumpable zombies.

Quote from Cactuscorpus

Nykthos definitely isn't win more if you are running Profane command, and you really should be unless your running the one drop list that is running around. Its especially good if you are running the pumpable zombies.

I am running my own list that controls then drops some big wincons. In playing my build I really doubt I will be in the position where I can do obscene things with Command and Nykthos. The creatures that I am playing are aimed at winning with beats or Merchant devotion backup.

Anyone think sygg, river cutthroat is worth playing? Will all the reach he should trigger fairly often, plus the devotion is nice.

If your list can consistently do three damage a turn then it could be pretty awesome, problem is that's hard to do.