That's SUPPOSED to be Stronghold Overseer, my dumb self keeps mixing them up. Type 2 is NOT my usual format, guys.:p
Oops.
I was thinking Plague Boiler, but the only thing I dislike about that is in MBC, you have no way to control the counters. It's probably better than the awful Curse, though. Also, in the build I came up with, none of your permanents would be affected, because their CC are too high.
Phyrexian Totem is always an option as well, since it taps for black, beats for 5, and speeds the clock of a slow deck. Besides, I'm a sucker for Phyrexian Negator.
Guys, Soul Spike is an awesome card. Seriously. Potentially free instant speed life drain is something I am very much in favor of.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
I was thinking Plague Boiler, but the only thing I dislike about that is in MBC, you have no way to control the counters. It's probably better than the awful Curse, though. Also, in the build I came up with, none of your permanents would be affected, because their CC are too high.
In Standard, most opponents will actually allow you to suspend-cast your Curse, considering they figure that the Braids ability will hurt them in the long run (this is early game); the only exception that I've seen to this trend is when any player (well, it's an opponent that you'd target with this, so opponent then) is low on lands; they have counters; they have an army of Saps already; or they can win with the creatures that they have already amassed so far.
Quote from AoK »
Phyrexian Totem" target="blank">Phyrexian Totem is always an option as well, since it taps for black, beats for 5, and speeds the clock of a slow deck. Besides, I'm a sucker for Phyrexian Negator.
Guys, Soul Spike is an awesome card. Seriously. Potentially free instant speed life drain is something I am very much in favor of.
There aren't only guys here, AoK! Must I need to change my font-colour to pink?
No, or so I believe.
Anywise, yes, Soul Spike is an awesome card. Only aspect that I'm not particularly in favour of is that they alternate cost is two black cards, plus the Soul Spike (well, you are playing it, so it's obvious that you need to "discard" it [put it into a graveyard]).
I'm surprised that you've chosen the Phyrexian Arena over the overplayed (in my opinion) Dark Confidant, but I can see logical reasons as to why you have done that.
A. not worry about the life loss because the average CC of their cards is four or less
B. recover from said lifeloss due to lifegain
C. don't care about lifeloss in general (i.e. Sui)
Arena is much, much better for control decks, for several reasons. One is the fact that you don't have to reveal whatever you're drawing, which is advantage in my eyes. I don't want my opponent to know I drew the Sudden Death that will kill off his Hierarch/BTS/whatever. I don't want my opponent to know that his manabase is about to be lunch for my 'Dozer. I REALLY don't want my opponent to know that I just drew the Consume Spirit that might win me the game. Another is that the lifeloss is static- one per card, instead of the horrible topdeck of Soul Spike while you're only at six life.
I'm surprised that no one has quesioned my addition of Dark Depths- you'd be amazed at how fast you can get Marit Lage out using Gauntlet. Plus, you get access to what I call the "WTF" factor- your opponent will be too busy saying WTF at your stupid land to pay attention to the fact that you just Consumed him or her for 45 or so.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
A. not worry about the life loss because the average CC of their cards is four or less
Possibly - just from observation, the average is probably about four-ish; but it's never fun revealing a seven-to-cast Soul Spike, even if it can (and probably will) create an 8-point life-swing.
Quote from AoK »
B. recover from said lifeloss due to lifegain
It's got Soul Spike, and Consume Spirit, so it can work, but Phyrexian Arena suffices.
Quote from AoK »
C. don't care about lifeloss in general (i.e. Sui)
Similar point to B., but with a twist.
There's only one real reason that you need Dark Confidant - you need creatures - but still Arena is better as you explained.
Your expertise apparently applies to Standard as well!:D:thumbsup:
I, too, myself created a mono-black deck, though constructed from a TS-pool; I have yet to test this with serious decks, and can only hope that it will pass so that MtGS's Mom can approve of this deck, and possibly improve, especially with her know-how. (It's probably a casual deck, as opposed to a Time Spiral competitive, but it does have "chase-rares"-of-old [AoW].)
Well, it's "spoilerised" to save space, and to allow people, who do not want to see something that awful, see something that awful.:p^_^
Considerations for a Time Spiral only, mono-black deck.
Drop out the Bad Moons for something more focused, and practical. Dauthi Slayer, if pursuing the path of mono-black suicide (variant). Pit Keeper - 2/1 creature for 1B, no certain beneficial abilities, but no drawback. Sangrophage - suicide black. Skulking Knight - suicide black, again. If this remains untargeted, all will be good, for most of the time, until the opponent plays practically any spell, whether it be Tim, Might of Old Krosa (waste?), Grapeshot copy, etc. Stupor - two-for-one discard; efficient. Sudden Spoiling - sideboard option? Twisted Abomination - non-rare fattie, with land-fixing ability.
Your list isn't horrible- there are things that I would change about it, but it's not as bad as you thought. Avatar of Woe isn't too bad in an aggro meta, because if you have enough kill, eventually you'll be able to cast her for BB...and a 6/6 creature-nerfing guy with fear is pretty nice for two mana. Nightshade Assassin is an awesome card...Nekrataal's brother, somewhat improved, as I vastly prefer -x/-x effects over kill that can possibly be regenerated. It has first strike as well, which is pretty nice.
Withered Wretch serves multiple purposes- in a creature-based deck, why not maindeck him? He screws over Reanimator and Firemane...not to mention Dredge or anything else that likes to play in its graveyard. I don't like Urborg Syphon-Mage outside of Limited- it's card disadvantage, a waste of a creature, and if you really want to drain for two, there's some card from the Rav block that does it for three mana.
I'm split on Demonic Collusion. On first glance, it seems abusable, but you don't really carry the card advantage needed to abuse its buyback. I'd actually rather run Infernal Tutor, myself.
You could always go the Phthisis route- but I can't pronounce it, so I don't play it:p . I like its effect.
For a type of Wrath effect, you could always keep in the Syphon Mage and use Living End...just don't discard or kill any of your opponent's guys. I think that would be hilarious.
Skulking Knight is actually a decent card, also, because chances are if they are targeting it, it's probably going to die from it anyway. If they're wasting pump spells to kill your guys, that's pump spells not being used on their guys to beat your face in.
As for my expertise in Standard, mono black is pretty much the same no matter what format you play it in. My Legacy deck uses many cards that are recent..and they improve it to no end. (Staff of Domination + Helldozer FTW!)
Last thing: I curse WotC for not timeshifting Mutilate.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
@AoK: Liege isn't that bad if you use him right. Just make sure you have a couple nether traitors out and you will always have food for him, and a couple of hasty near unblockable creatures. But that wouldn't be a good idea with your build.
In anycase I'm extremely dissapointed we didn't get a new sweeper to replace hidious laughter or kagamaro. They print a wrath variant every set but they can't print anything on par with mutilate once?
an alliance would be great. just don't try to set us on fire. also remeber that planar chaos will have timeshifted cards as well. perhaps death cloud or kagemaro will make an apearence. (Just for the record, if i misspell anything its not my fault, I'm dislexic.)
AoK: i thought about your dilemma with solidarity for a bit, and i have one suggestion: chalice of the void set to either 1 or 2, depending on how the other player plays. 2 can block brainfreeze, high tide, twincast, remand and impulse. one stops high tide, brainstorm, opt...i dunno. you've probably tested that, just thought i'd share.
Chalice for 2 kills my: Hymn to Tourach, kill spells (like THAT matters), Wrench Mind...all of which I need if I expect to resolve said Chalices.
Then I need the third Chalice for 3, to kill Cunning Wish.
Right now, I use Defense Grid, which sucks horribly, but I can't afford Chains...:(
I know from MWS experience that resolved Chains of Mephistopheles= 80% chance that I win. After all, I don't HAVE to use my Staff to draw cards. Solidarity canNOT win without drawing half of their deck in the process. It's impossible.
The closest I have ever come IRL is getting the player down to 4...lethal Consume on the stack, he pulls it out of his butt...I wanted to CRY.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
As one of the leaders of Clan MB, I definitely agree with your proposal, great to have alot more people here, how often are clan contests held? And how can we help?
AoK: why not use underworld dreams? if they have to draw so much then it should be a give in.
Also to all new players if we do not decline you bide for membership (say no) and you post often then your in. a lot of people haven't got that so id like to put it in writing.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks to Zaph and spiderboy4 at High~Light Studios for the kick ass sig and amazing avvy.
ok, so i want to start thinking about the clan banner; firstly, does anyone want any special "iconic" things on it, and secondly, where can i find some large, high quality images to photoshop around with?
ok, so i want to start thinking about the clan banner; firstly, does anyone want any special "iconic" things on it, and secondly, where can i find some large, high quality images to photoshop around with?
maybe I could play with my existing banner, it's changing soon:
friend me up when you have time, I'm already in another clan and an overclan, but I like monoblack and have been playing it since bottle necro
ok, so i want to start thinking about the clan banner; firstly, does anyone want any special "iconic" things on it, and secondly, where can i find some large, high quality images to photoshop around with?
Specture, dark rit., juzam, black mana symbols, yawg will, really anything that has been a playable card and a black card would work for me. Also artists sites might have the kind of images you would need. Let every one know if you need a hand looking.
I'd like to join. However, I'd like to make it very clear that I am a supporter and am often a player of mono-black. I do not play MB exclusively. Just mostly, and it is my favorite color deck to play. In other words, when there is any viability to mono-black at all, I play it.
I suggest finding a spot for a zoom in on this image of Bad Moon, as it is sort of a symbol of mono-black creatures coming to power. It would be very "Iconic," I think. Maybe weave in other images sort of under it and overlapping into the picture.
Fireball, Don't worry, i know that our clans aren't melding and i know that you are a friend. All the same, the more, the merrier.
Echo, iconic is easy with black, we have so much iconic stuff, Persecute is good, Hypnotic spectre, Dark Ritual, Necropotence, Phyrexian Negator, Sengir Vampire, But two cards that Everyone seems to overlook, despite it being absolutely Classic and becoming synonimous with creature removal: Terror and Dark Banishing. The Art for both is brilliant, and shows just what we do to our enemies.
Btw, i'm only going to start the new thread AFTER the banner has been created
YES. 6th edition terror is some of the greatest black art EVER. i'll try to look on artists' websites for the good, hi-res images.
just for fun:
hypothetically, if necropotence were reprinted in TS, would you play it? if you did, how would you use it, and with what?
as for me, neverminding the awesome goodness of 1 life = 1 card, i think i would have to use it just for nostalgia's sake/total badass-ness. as for how i would use it, i dont know. i think it would interact very nicely with soul spike...i might just think up a decklist for fun, but i have to run to class now.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
PurpleD: shure. thank you for your generouse gift. i cant wait to see it.
AoK: perhaps I'll see you on saturday. you'll be running Black of course. I would be cool to face you.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks to Zaph and spiderboy4 at High~Light Studios for the kick ass sig and amazing avvy.
Oops.
I was thinking Plague Boiler, but the only thing I dislike about that is in MBC, you have no way to control the counters. It's probably better than the awful Curse, though. Also, in the build I came up with, none of your permanents would be affected, because their CC are too high.
Phyrexian Totem is always an option as well, since it taps for black, beats for 5, and speeds the clock of a slow deck. Besides, I'm a sucker for Phyrexian Negator.
Guys, Soul Spike is an awesome card. Seriously. Potentially free instant speed life drain is something I am very much in favor of.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
In Standard, most opponents will actually allow you to suspend-cast your Curse, considering they figure that the Braids ability will hurt them in the long run (this is early game); the only exception that I've seen to this trend is when any player (well, it's an opponent that you'd target with this, so opponent then) is low on lands; they have counters; they have an army of Saps already; or they can win with the creatures that they have already amassed so far.
Phyrexian Totem - 4-ofs!
There aren't only guys here, AoK! Must I need to change my font-colour to pink?
No, or so I believe.
Anywise, yes, Soul Spike is an awesome card. Only aspect that I'm not particularly in favour of is that they alternate cost is two black cards, plus the Soul Spike (well, you are playing it, so it's obvious that you need to "discard" it [put it into a graveyard]).
I'm surprised that you've chosen the Phyrexian Arena over the overplayed (in my opinion) Dark Confidant, but I can see logical reasons as to why you have done that.
A. not worry about the life loss because the average CC of their cards is four or less
B. recover from said lifeloss due to lifegain
C. don't care about lifeloss in general (i.e. Sui)
Arena is much, much better for control decks, for several reasons. One is the fact that you don't have to reveal whatever you're drawing, which is advantage in my eyes. I don't want my opponent to know I drew the Sudden Death that will kill off his Hierarch/BTS/whatever. I don't want my opponent to know that his manabase is about to be lunch for my 'Dozer. I REALLY don't want my opponent to know that I just drew the Consume Spirit that might win me the game. Another is that the lifeloss is static- one per card, instead of the horrible topdeck of Soul Spike while you're only at six life.
I'm surprised that no one has quesioned my addition of Dark Depths- you'd be amazed at how fast you can get Marit Lage out using Gauntlet. Plus, you get access to what I call the "WTF" factor- your opponent will be too busy saying WTF at your stupid land to pay attention to the fact that you just Consumed him or her for 45 or so.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
It's got Soul Spike, and Consume Spirit, so it can work, but Phyrexian Arena suffices.
Similar point to B., but with a twist.
There's only one real reason that you need Dark Confidant - you need creatures - but still Arena is better as you explained.
Your expertise apparently applies to Standard as well!:D:thumbsup:
I, too, myself created a mono-black deck, though constructed from a TS-pool; I have yet to test this with serious decks, and can only hope that it will pass so that MtGS's Mom can approve of this deck, and possibly improve, especially with her know-how. (It's probably a casual deck, as opposed to a Time Spiral competitive, but it does have "chase-rares"-of-old [AoW].)
20 Swamp
4 Desert
Creatures - 14
2 Avatar of Woe
4 Nightshade Assassin
4 Urborg Syphon-Mage
4 Withered Wretch
4 Bad Moon
2 Curse of the Cabal
2 Demonic Collusion
2 Dread Return
4 Funeral Charm
4 Smallpox
4 Sudden Death
Drop out the Bad Moons for something more focused, and practical.
Dauthi Slayer, if pursuing the path of mono-black suicide (variant).
Pit Keeper - 2/1 creature for 1B, no certain beneficial abilities, but no drawback.
Sangrophage - suicide black.
Skulking Knight - suicide black, again. If this remains untargeted, all will be good, for most of the time, until the opponent plays practically any spell, whether it be Tim, Might of Old Krosa (waste?), Grapeshot copy, etc.
Stupor - two-for-one discard; efficient.
Sudden Spoiling - sideboard option?
Twisted Abomination - non-rare fattie, with land-fixing ability.
Withered Wretch serves multiple purposes- in a creature-based deck, why not maindeck him? He screws over Reanimator and Firemane...not to mention Dredge or anything else that likes to play in its graveyard. I don't like Urborg Syphon-Mage outside of Limited- it's card disadvantage, a waste of a creature, and if you really want to drain for two, there's some card from the Rav block that does it for three mana.
I'm split on Demonic Collusion. On first glance, it seems abusable, but you don't really carry the card advantage needed to abuse its buyback. I'd actually rather run Infernal Tutor, myself.
You could always go the Phthisis route- but I can't pronounce it, so I don't play it:p . I like its effect.
For a type of Wrath effect, you could always keep in the Syphon Mage and use Living End...just don't discard or kill any of your opponent's guys. I think that would be hilarious.
Skulking Knight is actually a decent card, also, because chances are if they are targeting it, it's probably going to die from it anyway. If they're wasting pump spells to kill your guys, that's pump spells not being used on their guys to beat your face in.
As for my expertise in Standard, mono black is pretty much the same no matter what format you play it in. My Legacy deck uses many cards that are recent..and they improve it to no end. (Staff of Domination + Helldozer FTW!)
Last thing: I curse WotC for not timeshifting Mutilate.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
In anycase I'm extremely dissapointed we didn't get a new sweeper to replace hidious laughter or kagamaro. They print a wrath variant every set but they can't print anything on par with mutilate once?
T2:
Chalice for 1 kills my: Duress, Funeral Charm
Chalice for 2 kills my: Hymn to Tourach, kill spells (like THAT matters), Wrench Mind...all of which I need if I expect to resolve said Chalices.
Then I need the third Chalice for 3, to kill Cunning Wish.
Right now, I use Defense Grid, which sucks horribly, but I can't afford Chains...:(
I know from MWS experience that resolved Chains of Mephistopheles= 80% chance that I win. After all, I don't HAVE to use my Staff to draw cards. Solidarity canNOT win without drawing half of their deck in the process. It's impossible.
The closest I have ever come IRL is getting the player down to 4...lethal Consume on the stack, he pulls it out of his butt...I wanted to CRY.
He Remanded the same Haunting Echoes THREE TIMES.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
That's all it'd take to make me cry. If only boseiju was a swamp.
As one of the leaders of Clan MB, I definitely agree with your proposal, great to have alot more people here, how often are clan contests held? And how can we help?
Also to all new players if we do not decline you bide for membership (say no) and you post often then your in. a lot of people haven't got that so id like to put it in writing.
T2:
maybe I could play with my existing banner, it's changing soon:
friend me up when you have time, I'm already in another clan and an overclan, but I like monoblack and have been playing it since bottle necro
Specture, dark rit., juzam, black mana symbols, yawg will, really anything that has been a playable card and a black card would work for me. Also artists sites might have the kind of images you would need. Let every one know if you need a hand looking.
So sign me up, hopefully.
Echo, iconic is easy with black, we have so much iconic stuff, Persecute is good, Hypnotic spectre, Dark Ritual, Necropotence, Phyrexian Negator, Sengir Vampire, But two cards that Everyone seems to overlook, despite it being absolutely Classic and becoming synonimous with creature removal: Terror and Dark Banishing. The Art for both is brilliant, and shows just what we do to our enemies.
Btw, i'm only going to start the new thread AFTER the banner has been created
just for fun:
hypothetically, if necropotence were reprinted in TS, would you play it? if you did, how would you use it, and with what?
as for me, neverminding the awesome goodness of 1 life = 1 card, i think i would have to use it just for nostalgia's sake/total badass-ness. as for how i would use it, i dont know. i think it would interact very nicely with soul spike...i might just think up a decklist for fun, but i have to run to class now.
T2:
Yep.
Me, that is.
If you guys don't include Hymn to Tourach on the banner, I may burminate you.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
ANyways, I'm the leader of that clan that doesnt exist but does enjoy the colour combination of BLue and Black
I am here to offer friendship from both myself and my clan. As a token of my friendship, I'll try to whip you guys up a banner... Give me a day or so
[Left Play Designs][Coffeehouse][DeviantArt]
Winner MTGS Weekly Sig/Banner Contest
Weeks: 37/85/87/94/135/159/160/226
AoK: perhaps I'll see you on saturday. you'll be running Black of course. I would be cool to face you.
Enjoy!
[Left Play Designs][Coffeehouse][DeviantArt]
Winner MTGS Weekly Sig/Banner Contest
Weeks: 37/85/87/94/135/159/160/226