Ramunap Red proved last season that an aggressive deck that tops out with Hazoret the Fervent can do a lot of damage. Unfortunately, red lost its best one drops with the rotation. Meanwhile, black is blessed with a plethora of one drops that can swing for two. The first few iterations of this deck tried to use the black one drops as the foundation for mono black aggro. Unfortunately, black lacks a real heavy hitter in the four or five drop slot and also has pretty pathetic reach. This allowed opponents too much opportunity to stabilize the board. We would lose a lot of games after getting the opponent down to five life or so.
Pedro Carvalho over at CFB put everything together in a list that has captured several 5-0 finishes in competitive leagues:
I've personally found it can be a problem to be totally cold to Hazoret and The Scarab God so I've been playing Carvalho's suggested list with a couple of Vraska's Contempt in the sideboard.
As time has gone by, the deck has continued to put up results online in leagues and PTQs:
Jump on the opponent early. The ideal start is a one drop into a one drop plus Fatal Push or another one drop. One drop into two drop is also good. If you don't at least have a two drop to play you should probably mulligan the hand. Keep an eye out for nice tempo opportunities where you can remove a blocker while also adding to your board.
Dread Wanderer is the best of the lot. It trades with two toughness creatures and brings itself back from the graveyard. It can sometimes be annoying that you can't play it and use it to crew immediately but overall it's well worth it.
Night Market Lookout is the best if you have a free run at your opponent, as you gain one life while your opponent loses two. It also combos nicely with Aethersphere Harvester. It can get outclassed quickly when the board starts getting crowded, but it does always get in for one point of damage.
Bomat Courier commands a removal spell and gets in some haste damage. It does get stonewalled easily but you can always at least cycle it.
Two drops:
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner dies a lot. When it doesn't die it gives you some sweet card advantage along with an evasive beater. It also serves as pseudo color-fixing by fueling Aether Hub.
Scrapheap Scrounger hits for three and comes back from the dead. Sweet card.
Gifted Aetherborn isn't really what we're looking to do here. It's a stronger defender than attacker, it doesn't do anything but attack for two if it survives, and it doesn't give you any value if it dies. If your meta is very heavy on red you might consider it over Siphoner.
Seekers' Squire might merit some consideration if it were a base 2/1. As it is I don't think it does enough for you to warrant a spot.
Three drops:
Yahenni, Undying Partisan has haste and is hard to kill. Also, on turn three your opponent is often looking to trade with your one or two drops. Yahenni punishes that plan. She also has nice utility value with random stuff like semi-fizzling Settle the Wreckage by dumping your recursive guys into the graveyard.
Aethersphere Harvester is evasive, dodges most sweepers, and gives you some incidental lifegain. It combos nicely with Night Market Lookout and even lets you get some use out of Hazoret when your hand is too full. It doesn't have haste and doesn't bring a whole new attacker to combat but it does give your one drops new relevance in the late game.
Ahn-Crop Crasher made the transition from limited bomb to constructed staple. It gets in for hasty damage while also faltering a blocker. The only issue is the colored mana requirement. You probably want to wedge in another mountain or Canyon Slough if you're looking to run a maindeck red three drop.
Ruin Raider seems like it should be good. We're extremely aggressive and don't want to run out of gas. The problem with it is that it doesn't offer anything itself in terms of breaking a board stall the way the other three drops do. Also, considering our average card quality, drawing cards is a little lackluster compared to just having a more useful three drop body.
Ammit Eternal is a big old meh. It can do a lot of damage if it can rumble through unopposed but Temur energy can stonewall it easily and nobody has trouble killing it. The afflict is kind of nice, I guess.
Four drops:
Hazoret the Fervent. The woman. The myth. The legend. The reason to be in red, the reward for playing 28 cards that cost two or less, the straw that stirs the drink. Hazoret gives us a lot of late game punch to go along with some built in burn damage.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury doesn't really fit with the mission of the deck. We're not really looking for value, especially at four mana.
Sanctum Seeker could be interesting if we get a little more vampire support in the future. We're surprisingly close already with Vicious Conquistador, Gifted Aetherborn, and Yahenni as decent curve-out vampire options. Hazoret is still just massively better unless we get multiple good one drop vampires, though.
Interaction:
Fatal Push. We are most concerned with early drops getting in our way, we love cheap spells, and we're not terrible at triggering revolt. Mandatory four of.
Lightning Strike is the other reason to go red. Clears out most of the format's annoying three drops (and the occasional Regal Caracal) and can go to the dome as a finisher. Lovely card.
Unlicensed Disintegration is at a bit of a low ebb right now. It used to be one of the big draws to RB aggro, but (1) we don't play as many artifacts as we used to (RIP Smuggler's Copter), and (2) the format has moved towards bombs that UD doesn't deal with in Hazoret, The Scarab God, Bristling Hydra, and even Regal Caracal. It can still be good but it's not as amazing as it was when you were sniping down Archangel Avacyn.
Vraska's Contempt does take care of a lot of the bombs in the format but the casting cost probably keeps it firmly in the sideboard. Our main deck plan for those bombs is usually to try to kill the opponent before the bomb can take over the game.
SIDEBOARD PLAN :
Basically post board you have to expect the opponent to be better equipped to handle the pure zerg rush aggro plan. We therefore want to sideboard so that we're better equipped to win a longer game. We also look to bring in cards that are good against a particular deck.
Duress and Doomfall let us attack the opponent's hand. We can't cycle them away when they're dead or else I'd strongly consider Duress at least for the main deck (I'd play Thoughtseize in a hot minute). They come in for control matchups.
Bontu's Last Reckoning has major blowout potential. People don't see it coming until they've been hit by it. It's extremely good against Temur energy. Between our vehicles, recursion, and indestructible guys we are often well positioned to survive a wrath while most of their board will just be gone. The combo with Yahenni can just be game ending.
Pia Nalaar and The Scorpion God are there to give us some percentage points against Ramunap Red. The matchup is fairly favorable already. The Scorpion God could also theoretically be good against decks that put a lot of x/1s on the board. It's a little underwhelming as a bomb. Unfortunately our mana won't really support Glorybringer or Chandra, Torch of Defiance and the mono black five drops in standard right now are very underwhelming.
Rampaging Ferocidon is probably worth exploring as an anti-tokens option if that deck catches on.
MATCHUP NOTES:Ramunap Red:
The key to success in this matchup is to remember that we are the aggressor here. We have more one drops, we have better one drops, and we have Fatal Push for good tempo based interaction. Our three drops are also both great against red, as is Hazoret. They are favored if they draw Hazoret and we don't, but otherwise it's a good matchup. The key is not to focus on blocking. Keep attacking and rely on incidental life gain and removal to stay alive long enough to kill them.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in two Vraska's Contempt and remove two copies of your least favorite one drop (I would suggest dropping Conquistador on the play and Courier on the draw). They are going to be packing a lot of removal post board to go along with a bunch of bombs. Personally I like to have access to a card that removes Hazoret, Chandra, or Glorybringer as needed.
Temur Energy:
Game one you need to be aggressive. Especially about using removal early to clear the way for your cheap attackers. You really need to hit them early. If you're lucky their hand will be a little creature light and you can beat them just by going wide. If you're less lucky you can get them low enough that your evasive stuff can finish them off before they kill you. If you're unlucky they will curve removal into Whirler Virtuoso into Bristling Hydra and just bury you in energy bombs.
It's possible to win by riding Hazoret to victory even if you don't get a good early push, but they have a lot of ways to stop her from getting home (sufficiently large Bristling Hydra/Longtusk Cub or Confiscation Coup). The longer the game drags on the worse your odds.
Sideboard suggestion (no Scarab God): bring in three Bontu's Last Reckoning and two Doomfall. Remove five of your least favorite one drops, usually two Conquistadors, two Couriers, and one Lookout. The reason being that your 1/x attackers are pretty terrible in this matchup. If your opponent has a weak hand it is possible to scrape out a win by grinding through with strong attackers and removal. If the opponent has a strong hand you can mise out a win with Bontu's Last Reckoning. Doomfall is in mostly as hand disruption. They have a lot of bombs to rain down on us in turn four and five, and surprisingly few good contempt targets.
Sultai Energy:
Very similar to Temur Energy. You don't have to worry about Whirler Virtuoso but you will have to worry about Hostage Taker and The Scarab God. They also usually run a Winding Constrictor/Glint-Sleeve Siphoner/Walking Ballista package that can snowball surprisingly quickly. Overall the matchup feels a bit worse than the Temur matchup thanks to the Ballista but fortunately Sultai seems less popular overall.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in three Bontu's Last Reckoning and two Vraska's Contempt. If you have Abrade in the side you might want to bring them in as well. You really want to have immediate removal available for snakes and hostage takers. Take out all of the Couriers and Lookouts before any Conquistadors to reduce your Ballista exposure.
UB Control:
Grind grind grind. Recursive attackers are the mvps here. Be smart about running into counters and Gearhulks and try to keep the pressure on.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in a little bit of discard, but don't over board. Expect them to have Gifted Aetherborn post board. They may also have Hostage Taker and Kitesail Freebooter. Something like two Duress, two Doomfall, and one Vraska's Contempt is pretty reasonable. Pull Conquistadors, Lookouts, and one or two Fatal Push.
UW Control:
Game one you just want to smash face ASAP. It's a race between your attackers and their Approach. You can't interact with their wincon, so you just need to keep up the pressure. Try not to run face first into Settle the Wreckage if you can help it (i.e. if you can hold back Hazoret while still doing decent damage, you can then finish them with the shock ability; Yahenni also lets you dump your recursive guys into the graveyard instead of exiling them).
Sideboard suggestion: bring in all the discard (typically four Duress, two Doomfall), remove all the Fatal Push and two Lightning Strike. You want a little bit of ability to zap Regal Caracals or your opponent's face, but the big thing is the ability to yoink their wincons and sweepers. Lost Legacy is also strong here if you have it but usually isn't necessary.
Edited to put the original post in a spoiler:
Don't look now, but there are awful lot of nice aggressive black one drops in the format. We also now have access to Orc Bob. There were a couple of interesting mono black aggro decks back in the previous standard, and mono black aggro is once more showing up as a niche deck at the SCG Open:
Eleven one drops that swing in for 2 damage a turn. It really brings a tear to the eye. We also see 8 recursive threats and 8 card draw creatures, helping to supply a flow of gasoline. Eight pieces of cheap and efficient removal and some utility artifacts round out the show.
What are the options for tweaking this deck? One thing that I noticed is that it could go harder on the pirate theme. From playing around with UB pirates I have been extremely impressed by Fathom Fleet Captain as an evasive dude that makes other evasive dudes. The Kitesail Freebooter is also frequently awesome if the opponent is running a removal-light hand or deck.
A more pirate heavy mono black list might look like:
You could even go with Fell Flagship over the harvester if you wanted to go nuts with it. I'm not sure how to balance everything so that you can hang with Ramunap Red on the one hand and UW Approach on the other (with Temur/Sultai energy in the middle).
ETA: After running through a league with the initial decklist, I would compare this deck to Ramunap Red as follows:
Better one drops.
Better card draw.
No haste.
No reach.
Much weaker late game.
You pretty much win crushing defeats or die after the opponent kills your early pressure and turns the corner. The recursion on Scrounger and Wanderer are nice, but (a) a lot of people run exile based removal now, and (b) bringing back a wanderer late is pretty underwhelming if the opponent has any kind of board presence.
We don't really have the tools to break our opponent's grip on the game like Ramunap Red does (Lightning Strike, Ramunap Ruins, Hazoret the Fervent, Earthshaker Khenra). I love drawing cards as much as the next guy, but if you're drawing purely into underpowered junk it gets pretty sad.
My best guess is that if this kind of deck has legs it will involve at least a red splash, but we'll see.
Would Bone Picker be good here ? Having an evasive threat could really help the deck.
It can be cast for 1-mana rather easily by either removing a blocker, chump-attacking (with Wanderer/Scrounger)
or just getting a creature removed during combat.
I think Yahenni, Undying Partisan is too good to pass on. He also opens you up to run Bontu's Last Reckoning in the board vs Energy or Dinos. Give my dude indestructible, wipe the board, put a bunch of counters on him, swing...Seems good. He also enables Fatal Push and Bone Picker. I dunno if the bird gets there, but you could really use a flyer. I like the thought of black based aggro, but I also think that adding 3 Hazoret to any of these lists instantly makes the better. Maybe the splash is the way to go.
I think Yahenni, Undying Partisan is too good to pass on. He also opens you up to run Bontu's Last Reckoning in the board vs Energy or Dinos. Give my dude indestructible, wipe the board, put a bunch of counters on him, swing...Seems good. He also enables Fatal Push and Bone Picker. I dunno if the bird gets there, but you could really use a flyer. I like the thought of black based aggro, but I also think that adding 3 Hazoret to any of these lists instantly makes the better. Maybe the splash is the way to go.
From your lips to the modo community, a new 5-0 list appears:
There's two UD in the board. But no artifacts, which tells me he thinks the MD would support it. Notable exclusions are Cut // Ribbons and Bomat Courier. I guess the Courier is too low impact? But it would give you a potential draw engine against AotSS. Even popping it early might be okay if you're discarding Scroungers and Wanderers. I hate Vance's Blasting Cannons. I just do. I'd rather see Bontu, the Glorified there or just about anything else. Sorcerous Spyglass, even. I could also see Ammit Eternal coming in as a bigger beater.
A card I'm surprised no ones brought up is gonti's machinations. It seems to slot in pretty well.
It triggers off of both glint sleeve, and orc Bob. It can supply glint sleeve with enough energy to draw every turn. It can help fuel harvesters. It also can squeeze in for those last points of damage or just get us some more health so we don't die to aggro/draw. It also just sits there ready to trigger revolt for push. It seems like a perfect fit for the deck.
From playing both with and against the deck, Gonti's Machinations seems like it should fit. This certainly seems like a deck that could use a Lava Spike to force the last few points of damage through (RIP Collective Brutality, you are missed). I'd almost run Raiders' Wake or Painful Lesson just for the reach.
I'm a little surprised they aren't running Ruin Raider. It does seem like this deck is always attacking and is happy to trade life for cards. I guess the Yahenni/Reckoning synergy is too good to pass up.
Count me among those unimpressed with Vance's Blasting Cannons. It's hard for this deck to flip it, since we're usually hellbent when we play it and don't have Bomat Courier for the instant hand refill. I'd rather use Midnight Oil or Arguel's Blood Fast if we want repeatable card draw.
FINALLY someone else recommending machinations. The card is excellent. 6 point swing for 1 mana.
Like come on.. modern burn runs rift bolt
Modern burn also runs machinations.
So how high a premium do people put on hand disruption? Is it just for the side board against u/w, or do you use it against other decks? What about main board?
Also opinions on lost legacy for the approach decks?
For the most part, I agree with his analysis of RR and of the format in general. What do you think about maybe Claim // Fame? It sorta fits what we want to do. Pretty good if we find room for Kitesail Freebooter, as well. Bloodcrazed Paladin is another card I've looked at.
As to Macinations, I can see the appeal. Maybe it comes out of the board for other aggro decks? I just don't feel like we produce enough energy main, so it would be reliant on being attacked. Which, oddly, isn't guaranteed in this format.
I think we have enough action coming out of the graveyard that Claim // Fame isn't enough of a payoff most of the time. It's not like we can reanimate Death's Shadow or anything like that.
I tried a couple leagues with the updated list from the article and I was impressed. You don't quite have the Ramunap Red late game (no Earthshakers or Ramunap Ruins) but you come screaming out of the gates. I think you almost have to mulligan into a one drop. Maybe a strong enough two drop hand is also a keeper.
I did find that the three Doomfall in the side was too many. I would rather take out one or two and put in an additional The Scorpion God (fights Grixis improvise and token decks) or Lost Legacy (more percentage points against Approach).
Both Temur and Sultai energy feel like bad matchups. They brick wall our one drop plan very effectively and apply a lot of pressure of their own. You definitely want Bontu's Last Reckoning out of the side to try and mise them out with the Yahenni combo (or just sweep away their terrifying board in general). Other than that, I don't know. I've been experimenting with The Scorpion God as a big dumb beater that kind of neutralizes Whirler Virtuoso. It can be good if they don't draw a ton of action.
Ramunap Red proved last season that an aggressive deck that tops out with Hazoret the Fervent can do a lot of damage. Unfortunately, red lost its best one drops with the rotation. Meanwhile, black is blessed with a plethora of one drops that can swing for two. The first few iterations of this deck tried to use the black one drops as the foundation for mono black aggro. Unfortunately, black lacks a real heavy hitter in the four or five drop slot and also has pretty pathetic reach. This allowed opponents too much opportunity to stabilize the board. We would lose a lot of games after getting the opponent down to five life or so.
Pedro Carvalho over at CFB put everything together in a list that has captured several 5-0 finishes in competitive leagues:
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Vicious Conquistador
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
12 Swamp
4 Duress
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
In his article, Carvalho recommends a few tweaks going forward:
4 Night Market Lookout
2 Vicious Conquistador
2 Bomat Courier
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Lightning Strike
1 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
11 Swamp
4 Duress
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Doomfall
2 Pia Nalaar
1 The Scorpion God
I've personally found it can be a problem to be totally cold to Hazoret and The Scarab God so I've been playing Carvalho's suggested list with a couple of Vraska's Contempt in the sideboard.
As time has gone by, the deck has continued to put up results online in leagues and PTQs:
4 Dread Wanderer
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
1 Abrade
3 Lightning Strike
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Cut // Ribbons
4 Aether Hub
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
11 Swamp
1 Chandra's Defeat
3 Duress
2 Abrade
1 Aethersphere Harvester
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Vicious Conquistador
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
12 Swamp
4 Duress
4 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Cut // Ribbons
4 Aether Hub
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
11 Swamp
1 Chandra's Defeat
3 Duress
2 Abrade
1 Aethersphere Harvester
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Cut // Ribbons
4 Aether Hub
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
11 Swamp
1 Chandra's Defeat
3 Duress
2 Abrade
1 Aethersphere Harvester
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Bomat Courier
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
1 Abrade
3 Lightning Strike
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
11 Swamp
1 Chandra's Defeat
4 Duress
1 Magma Spray
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Doomfall
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Bomat Courier
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Strike
2 Cut // Ribbons
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
11 Swamp
1 Chandra's Defeat
4 Duress
1 Key to the City
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Bomat Courier
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
1 Abrade
3 Lightning Strike
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
11 Swamp
3 Duress
2 Magma Spray
2 Abrade
4 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Vraska's Contempt
WHAT'S THE PLAN?
CARD CHOICES:
One drops:
SIDEBOARD PLAN :
Basically post board you have to expect the opponent to be better equipped to handle the pure zerg rush aggro plan. We therefore want to sideboard so that we're better equipped to win a longer game. We also look to bring in cards that are good against a particular deck.
MATCHUP NOTES:
Ramunap Red:
The key to success in this matchup is to remember that we are the aggressor here. We have more one drops, we have better one drops, and we have Fatal Push for good tempo based interaction. Our three drops are also both great against red, as is Hazoret. They are favored if they draw Hazoret and we don't, but otherwise it's a good matchup. The key is not to focus on blocking. Keep attacking and rely on incidental life gain and removal to stay alive long enough to kill them.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in two Vraska's Contempt and remove two copies of your least favorite one drop (I would suggest dropping Conquistador on the play and Courier on the draw). They are going to be packing a lot of removal post board to go along with a bunch of bombs. Personally I like to have access to a card that removes Hazoret, Chandra, or Glorybringer as needed.
Temur Energy:
Game one you need to be aggressive. Especially about using removal early to clear the way for your cheap attackers. You really need to hit them early. If you're lucky their hand will be a little creature light and you can beat them just by going wide. If you're less lucky you can get them low enough that your evasive stuff can finish them off before they kill you. If you're unlucky they will curve removal into Whirler Virtuoso into Bristling Hydra and just bury you in energy bombs.
It's possible to win by riding Hazoret to victory even if you don't get a good early push, but they have a lot of ways to stop her from getting home (sufficiently large Bristling Hydra/Longtusk Cub or Confiscation Coup). The longer the game drags on the worse your odds.
Sideboard suggestion (no Scarab God): bring in three Bontu's Last Reckoning and two Doomfall. Remove five of your least favorite one drops, usually two Conquistadors, two Couriers, and one Lookout. The reason being that your 1/x attackers are pretty terrible in this matchup. If your opponent has a weak hand it is possible to scrape out a win by grinding through with strong attackers and removal. If the opponent has a strong hand you can mise out a win with Bontu's Last Reckoning. Doomfall is in mostly as hand disruption. They have a lot of bombs to rain down on us in turn four and five, and surprisingly few good contempt targets.
Sideboard suggestion (Scarab God): bring in three Bontu's Last Reckoning and two Vraska's Contempt. Having an immediate answer for The Scarab God is a pretty big deal.
Sultai Energy:
Very similar to Temur Energy. You don't have to worry about Whirler Virtuoso but you will have to worry about Hostage Taker and The Scarab God. They also usually run a Winding Constrictor/Glint-Sleeve Siphoner/Walking Ballista package that can snowball surprisingly quickly. Overall the matchup feels a bit worse than the Temur matchup thanks to the Ballista but fortunately Sultai seems less popular overall.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in three Bontu's Last Reckoning and two Vraska's Contempt. If you have Abrade in the side you might want to bring them in as well. You really want to have immediate removal available for snakes and hostage takers. Take out all of the Couriers and Lookouts before any Conquistadors to reduce your Ballista exposure.
UB Control:
Grind grind grind. Recursive attackers are the mvps here. Be smart about running into counters and Gearhulks and try to keep the pressure on.
Sideboard suggestion: bring in a little bit of discard, but don't over board. Expect them to have Gifted Aetherborn post board. They may also have Hostage Taker and Kitesail Freebooter. Something like two Duress, two Doomfall, and one Vraska's Contempt is pretty reasonable. Pull Conquistadors, Lookouts, and one or two Fatal Push.
UW Control:
Game one you just want to smash face ASAP. It's a race between your attackers and their Approach. You can't interact with their wincon, so you just need to keep up the pressure. Try not to run face first into Settle the Wreckage if you can help it (i.e. if you can hold back Hazoret while still doing decent damage, you can then finish them with the shock ability; Yahenni also lets you dump your recursive guys into the graveyard instead of exiling them).
Sideboard suggestion: bring in all the discard (typically four Duress, two Doomfall), remove all the Fatal Push and two Lightning Strike. You want a little bit of ability to zap Regal Caracals or your opponent's face, but the big thing is the ability to yoink their wincons and sweepers. Lost Legacy is also strong here if you have it but usually isn't necessary.
Edited to put the original post in a spoiler:
3 Aether Hub
4 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Dread Wanderer
3 Vicious Conquistador
4 Night Market Lookout
2 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
3 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Ruin Raider
1 Key to the City
4 Fatal Push
4 Walk the Plank
1 Key to the City
2 Deadeye Tracker
1 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Kitesail Freebooter
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Doomfall
4 Duress
2 Lost Legacy
Eleven one drops that swing in for 2 damage a turn. It really brings a tear to the eye. We also see 8 recursive threats and 8 card draw creatures, helping to supply a flow of gasoline. Eight pieces of cheap and efficient removal and some utility artifacts round out the show.
What are the options for tweaking this deck? One thing that I noticed is that it could go harder on the pirate theme. From playing around with UB pirates I have been extremely impressed by Fathom Fleet Captain as an evasive dude that makes other evasive dudes. The Kitesail Freebooter is also frequently awesome if the opponent is running a removal-light hand or deck.
A more pirate heavy mono black list might look like:
3 Aether Hub
4 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Dread Wanderer
3 Deadeye Tracker
4 Night Market Lookout
3 Kitesail Freebooter
2 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Ruin Raider
1 Key to the City
4 Fatal Push
4 Walk the Plank
You could even go with Fell Flagship over the harvester if you wanted to go nuts with it. I'm not sure how to balance everything so that you can hang with Ramunap Red on the one hand and UW Approach on the other (with Temur/Sultai energy in the middle).
Have you had a chance to try the deck out? Any thoughts?
Another thing that occurred to me is that there might be room for some Sunscorched Desert or Scavenger Grounds action.
ETA: After running through a league with the initial decklist, I would compare this deck to Ramunap Red as follows:
We don't really have the tools to break our opponent's grip on the game like Ramunap Red does (Lightning Strike, Ramunap Ruins, Hazoret the Fervent, Earthshaker Khenra). I love drawing cards as much as the next guy, but if you're drawing purely into underpowered junk it gets pretty sad.
My best guess is that if this kind of deck has legs it will involve at least a red splash, but we'll see.
It can be cast for 1-mana rather easily by either removing a blocker, chump-attacking (with Wanderer/Scrounger)
or just getting a creature removed during combat.
I also wonder if a combat trick like Supernatural Stamina can be playable here as a weaker imitation of Blossoming Defense.
I'm looking to test this build:
4x Night Market Lookout
4x Dread Wanderer
4x Scrapheap Scrounger
4x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Ruin Raider
4x Bone Picker
4x Fatal Push
2x Supernatural Stamina
Sorcery (4)
4x Walk the Plank
Land (22)
4x Ifnir Deadlands
2x Aether Hub
16x Swamp
4x Duress
4x Doomfall
3x Never // Return
2x Aethersphere Harvester
2x Supernatural Stamina
From your lips to the modo community, a new 5-0 list appears:
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Vicious Conquistador
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
12 Swamp
4 Duress
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
Interesting not to see Unlicensed Disintegration anywhere in the 75. I do like the sideboard against UW approach better than the mono red version.
Bontu's Last Reckoning + Yahenni + Hazoret gets bonus points as the total madman package.
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Me too. However, you'll find none in the board. Which was my point when discussing Unlicensed Disintegration.
It triggers off of both glint sleeve, and orc Bob. It can supply glint sleeve with enough energy to draw every turn. It can help fuel harvesters. It also can squeeze in for those last points of damage or just get us some more health so we don't die to aggro/draw. It also just sits there ready to trigger revolt for push. It seems like a perfect fit for the deck.
Like come on.. modern burn runs rift bolt
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Vicious Conquistador
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
3 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
4 Aether Hub
2 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
12 Swamp
4 Duress
4 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 Vraska's Contempt
From playing both with and against the deck, Gonti's Machinations seems like it should fit. This certainly seems like a deck that could use a Lava Spike to force the last few points of damage through (RIP Collective Brutality, you are missed). I'd almost run Raiders' Wake or Painful Lesson just for the reach.
I'm a little surprised they aren't running Ruin Raider. It does seem like this deck is always attacking and is happy to trade life for cards. I guess the Yahenni/Reckoning synergy is too good to pass up.
Count me among those unimpressed with Vance's Blasting Cannons. It's hard for this deck to flip it, since we're usually hellbent when we play it and don't have Bomat Courier for the instant hand refill. I'd rather use Midnight Oil or Arguel's Blood Fast if we want repeatable card draw.
Modern burn also runs machinations.
So how high a premium do people put on hand disruption? Is it just for the side board against u/w, or do you use it against other decks? What about main board?
Also opinions on lost legacy for the approach decks?
For as high as he is on discard I'm almost surprised there aren't any Harsh Scrutiny in the sideboard for the energy matchup.
As to Macinations, I can see the appeal. Maybe it comes out of the board for other aggro decks? I just don't feel like we produce enough energy main, so it would be reliant on being attacked. Which, oddly, isn't guaranteed in this format.
I tried a couple leagues with the updated list from the article and I was impressed. You don't quite have the Ramunap Red late game (no Earthshakers or Ramunap Ruins) but you come screaming out of the gates. I think you almost have to mulligan into a one drop. Maybe a strong enough two drop hand is also a keeper.
I did find that the three Doomfall in the side was too many. I would rather take out one or two and put in an additional The Scorpion God (fights Grixis improvise and token decks) or Lost Legacy (more percentage points against Approach).
If you see a lot of sultai I'd look at adding Harsh Scrutiny or Vraska's Contempt into the sideboard to give you a fighting chance against The Scarab God.