Eldrazi Processor decks are based on a CBR list piloted by ETERNALLYRAMZA (Sho Yamasaki) on Magic Online that went 5-0 in a Modern League. Here is an article by Sho. Zac Elsik, a Modern pioneer who took 1st and top 8 at two GPs with Lantern Control, later endorsed the deck as having a lot of potential after he took it to a 4-0 victory at Friday Night Magic. It has seen huge amounts of online success and has been slowly creeping into the paper tournament metagames ever since. In its first month since inception it jumped to a mind boggling 11.1% of the online metagame, which has brought it to Tier 2 status as an archetype according to Modern Nexus.
So what is it? The deck is a big mana midrange deck, or ramp. It has a great combination of powerful threats and potent interaction. The biggest allure to this deck is the main deck graveyard hate, such as Relic of Progenitus and Scrabbling Claws. Utilizing the cards exiled by those cards are the new Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi Processors, whose abilities allow them to put a card an opponent owns from exile into their graveyard to achieve some sort of effect. The deck has an excellent matchup against fair midrange and control decks. Decklist
Engine Lands
Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin are both completely unreal in this deck, as they act like Ancient Tombs with no drawbacks. If you play an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Eye of Ugin goes from Ancient Tomb to Mishra's Workshop. Just like Mishra's Workshop makes cards like Juggernaut and Slash Panther playable, Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin have made mediocre cards like Blight Herder and Oblivion Sower not only playable, but staples as well.
Utility Lands
One of the many benefits of playing with colorless spells in an otherwise monocolor deck, is that utility lands are easy to fit quite a few of into the list. A few of this deck's weaknesses (Tron and Scapeshift) can be shored up by land destruction comboed with Surgical Extraction in the main or sideboard. Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge are really good for that. They can also deal with problematic lands such as Inkmoth Nexus.
Bokuka Bog is a great land as it taps for our color while providing a free graveyard exile. The downside is that it comes into play tapped.
Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is also a great card to help you stabilize against fast aggro decks once you've managed to play out quite a few threats. Some people say that it has helped them win games they otherwise would have lost.
Mana Fixing
In a deck with many utility lands and big mana lands, it can be important to make sure you're hitting all the right land drops. For that reason Expedition Map is a staple in this deck for the same reason it is a staple in all versions of Tron.
Pain lands like Caves of Koilos are also considered mana fixing as they provide both colorless and black while coming into play untapped. With Urborg in play, they can be tapped painlessly for both as well. One could argue for the use of filter lands over pain. The problem with those is that you cannot consider them a turn 1 color source. And the more of those you run in place of other color sources, the lower the odds you'll be able to cast the turn 1 discard spell or turn 2 removal spell. You would also need more other color sources to be able to reliably use it as a color source on turn 2, which sort of negates the need for them in the first place.
Processors
The term "processing a card", which means to put a card from exile into its owner's graveyard, was recently coined for the Eldrazi creatures with such abilities whose creature types are Eldrazi Processor. These creatures take advantage of the various ways this deck has of exiling the opponent's cards to produce an effect.
The two primary candidates for this deck are Blight Herder and Wasteland Strangler. Blight Herder produces 7 power and 8 toughness over 4 bodies for 5 mana. In this deck, we can pull this off with as little as 3 lands. Wasteland Strangler acts as a removal spell or an early threat depending on the opponent.
Going Big
Oblivion Sower is one of our ways of ramping into Ulamog and being able to activate Eye of Ugin as soon as possible. In addition to that, it's 5/8 body is very difficult to kill with damage while representing a significant clock. The lands you get will sometimes be off color fetchlands, but with an Urborg in play, you can still tap them for mana.
Newlamog has, since its inception and inclusion into Tron decks, become somewhat of a boogeyman of the format. It's cast trigger is very relevant in many matchups. And its attack trigger often puts your opponent on a 1-2 turn clock regardless of whether or not they have blockers. In this regard, it is very similar to Oldlamog, but Newlamog's lower mana cost and cast trigger have proven to be the more powerful.
Enablers
The idea of this variant of Eldrazi is that we run main deck graveyard hate, which is really good when the format is flooded with decks with reanimation, delve spells, Tarmogoyf, flashback, dredge, etc. These cards really impact those strategies in a major way. In addition to being pre-sideboarded hate, they're also engines to enable our processors. In combination with our removal and discard, you should often have a way to start exiling cards very early on.
Relic of Progenitus and Scrabbling Claws allow you to put a steady stream of tax on the opponents graveyard and also act as an out to Surgical Extraction in a pinch. Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb can quickly strip the opponent's entire graveyard. The most important reason why we run these over cards like Leyline of the Void is because they cantrip and can be guaranteed by turn 1.
Hand Disruption
One of the best parts about running black is that we have access to very efficient ways of disrupting our opponent's hand to deal with problem cards before they become an issue. Cards like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are format staples.
Thought-Knot Seer is a great cross between Vendilion Clique and Thoughtseize. It has a good body that passes almost every test Modern can throw at it. It doesn't die to Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay and Inquisition of Kozilek. It also permanently exiles the card, enabling processors, and replacing it with a random card when it dies. One downside to it is that it is almost dead if your opponent has a Blood Moon. Under a Moon, none of your lands will be able to produce colorless. You will need either Mind Stone or an Eldrazi Scion token to be able to cast it. So while it's not impossible to get around, it drastically limits its effectiveness.
Removal
The removal slots are quite flexible really depending on what matchups you face most. All of these are great removal and you should really figure out what works best for you and go with that. The need for different removal varies as the format changes from month to month.
Alternatives
After a lot of testing, I can definitely say that Matter Reshaper is a viable alternative to Wasteland Strangler. The nice thing is that you really don't need to put any additional strain on the mana base to cast it on curve. Another nice thing about this is that by reducing the number of processors in the deck, you can cut non-Relic enablers for other more broad interaction. For example, adding a Liliana of the Veil to the deck alongside Reshaper can net you a free planeswalker after your opponent commits to trading one if their creatures in combat with your Reshaper.
Flaying Tendrils - Flaying Tendrils is a miniature Anger of the Gods for black. During my testing, I've found that it is too often dead at its mana cost to matter. Affinity can nullify it with Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer. Zoo and Merfolk rapidly produce x/3's. BW Tokens doesn't care because you can't process tokens and they can easily make more. However, if you can make it work, then it is a good enabler. It's great against Elves. Damnation - Most powerful black wrath. Unfortunately it kills our creatures too. Better suited for more creature light decks like control, Gifts, and Bring to Light Scapeshift. Languish - Seems good on paper as most of our creatures dodge it. However, so do most other decks. It's great against Elves. Slow against Zoo, Infect, and Affinity. Affinity has Arcbound Ravager and manlands. Infect has Inkmoth. Merfolk has Spell Pierce, Negate, and Unified Will. Sun Droplet - Generally best as a 3-4 of. I don't feel like giving it that many slots for a narrow answer to burn. Reality Smasher - iostream: "The triggered ability is actually not as impactful as you might think since most decks have so much garbage against us anyway (Lightning Bolt? Spell Snare?). The biggest problem is that when you're behind, he does nothing to help, whereas Blight Herder is great. He kinda feels like an Eldrazi Lava Axe, and I'm not sure if there's a place for that in this deck." me: It seems to belong more in a more aggro shell than a grindy one. Eldrazi Mimic - I really don't like this card in a grindy shell either. It just feels way too aggro to me. I'd rather be playing discard, relic, removal, map, etc in that early stage of the game. Then in the mid to late game we should just be dropping fatties. Void Winnower - It feels like a sideboard choice for me or as a possible replacement for a 2nd Ulamog for budget reasons. It costs a lot of mana, but doesn't immediately win the game in most cases. All that work for not a lot of upside doesn't seem worth it to me. In the right meta, sure I could see it making an impact.
There is one major reason why mono black is sometimes favored over two color lists. It is that we have to consider colorless as a color during the process of building our mana base. For that reason CBW, CBU, CBR, and CBG are all technically 3 color decks. In other words, CB is really a 2 color deck under that mind set. This allows us to have a much more stable and painless mana base than the other variants while running larger quantities of basic lands and utility lands like Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge, Sea Gate Wreckage, and Tomb of the Spirit Dragon.
Frank Karsten's article demonstrates that in order to be able to play a turn 1 discard spell on turn 1 90% of the time, you'd need to have 14 black sources that come into play untapped. In order to play a turn 3 Lingering Souls 90% of the time, you'd need 13 white sources that come into play tapped or untapped by turn 2 or 12 untapped by turn 3. Having that many colored sources can limit your ability to include basic lands. It also limits your colorless utility lands if you also desire to have more utility as well as colorless sources for Oath of the Gatewatch Eldrazi. For that you'd basically be forced to run a playset of pain lands alongside fetches and shocks. Ouch!
One could argue for the use of filterlands over pain. The problem with those is that you cannot consider them a turn 1 color source. And the more of those you run in place of other color sources, the lower the odds you'll be able to cast the turn 1 discard spell or turn 2 removal spell. You would also need more other color sources to be able to reliably use it as a color source on turn 2, which sort of negates the need for them in the first place.
"But Grim, your list includes 4 pain lands. Aren't you advocating that mono black is better because you don't have to run them?" Well it's better for mono black for a couple reasons. The first is that we generally run more Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth than other variants allowing us to more reliably tap them for mana painlessly for the only 2 colors we care about. In testing I've only had to tap them for pain a few times out of a couple dozen test games. The other reason is that we don't have any fetch or shock lands to make that pain really start to add up over the course of a game. Overall we have more painless black sources that come into play untapped than other variants of the deck.
Thank you for doing this! Have you done any testing with Reality Smasher or Eldrazi Mimic? I am pretty on the fence with them, specifically Smasher; in the games where you want him he is an all star but doesn't help much with our Ulamog/Kozilek game plan. Mimic is another one that can be very good or suboptimal depending on the game.
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
Thank you for doing this! Have you done any testing with Reality Smasher or Eldrazi Mimic? I am pretty on the fence with them, specifically Smasher; in the games where you want him he is an all star but doesn't help much with our Ulamog/Kozilek game plan. Mimic is another one that can be very good or suboptimal depending on the game.
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
I've tested just Reality Smasher, and it's fine but not incredible. The triggered ability is actually not as impactful as you might think since most decks have so much garbage against us anyway (Lightning Bolt? Spell Snare?). The biggest problem is that when you're behind, he does nothing to help, whereas Blight Herder is great. He kinda feels like an Eldrazi Lava Axe, and I'm not sure if there's a place for that in this deck.
I don't see expedition map in the card choice descriptions. Also i would probably list tomb of the spirit dragon in the "other" section. The card has single-handedly won me several games vs burn. Endless one is also still played by some, but i doubt it will remain in the deck when thought-knot seer hits next week... But still it is probably worth mentionning.
Other than that Good job, nice to see a forum for mono-B players!
So i went 3-0 (again) yesterday at my LGS with this list:
Glad this is here. I've been sticking with mono black and the other thread is discussing every variation under the sun. The new cards seem to make staying mono black a viable option for now.
Thank you for doing this! Have you done any testing with Reality Smasher or Eldrazi Mimic? I am pretty on the fence with them, specifically Smasher; in the games where you want him he is an all star but doesn't help much with our Ulamog/Kozilek game plan. Mimic is another one that can be very good or suboptimal depending on the game.
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
I personally have done no testing with Smasher or Mimic. I don't like Smasher for the reasons that iostream said. I feel like a grindy shell like this just isn't his home. As for Mimic, I really don't like this card in a grindy shell either. It just feels way to aggro to me. I'd rather be playing discard, relic, removal, map, etc in that early stage of the game. Then in the mid to late game we should just be dropping fatties.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't include it over any other land I listed in my list. Card advantage is nice, but we do have reactive spells and fatties that sometimes clog up the hand too much for the ability to be relevant. I'd still prefer to go with Tectonic Edge in my lands' flex spot. Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is also really nice if you go up against burn often.
I don't see expedition map in the card choice descriptions. Also i would probably list tomb of the spirit dragon in the "other" section. The card has single-handedly won me several games vs burn. Endless one is also still played by some, but i doubt it will remain in the deck when thought-knot seer hits next week... But still it is probably worth mentionning.
Other than that Good job, nice to see a forum for mono-B players!
So i went 3-0 (again) yesterday at my LGS with this list:
Awww, how sweet it is to be home I've been advocating a thread just for the Mono B crowd for a while. I still think Bw will be viable when the new set hits, but I want to test both decks to see where I land going forward.
Thank you for doing this! Have you done any testing with Reality Smasher or Eldrazi Mimic? I am pretty on the fence with them, specifically Smasher; in the games where you want him he is an all star but doesn't help much with our Ulamog/Kozilek game plan. Mimic is another one that can be very good or suboptimal depending on the game.
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
I've tested just Reality Smasher, and it's fine but not incredible. The triggered ability is actually not as impactful as you might think since most decks have so much garbage against us anyway (Lightning Bolt? Spell Snare?). The biggest problem is that when you're behind, he does nothing to help, whereas Blight Herder is great. He kinda feels like an Eldrazi Lava Axe, and I'm not sure if there's a place for that in this deck.
I honestly don't care much about the triggered ability, but a 5/5 hasty trampler for 3 that can come down on turn 2 seems like he needs to be tested. He may not be great for Mono B but he is a good beater and can put opponents on a clock early. I've been going back and forth between including him and not including him in testing and the results have been inconclusive.
Great work, I'm glad we're starting to differentiate between builds. I believe this is the most consistent of the available options, especially as the deck is still in its early stages.
Expedition Map has been really slow for me, and very weak in multiples so I think playing 3 copies is fine. On a similar (and fairly obvious) note, any hand which starts with a Relic or Claws has been so much stronger than one without. I'm going to add in a third claws for the map.
With Maps, playing a singleton Sea Gate Wreckage seems worthwhile. Have people tested it?
Thank you for doing this! Have you done any testing with Reality Smasher or Eldrazi Mimic? I am pretty on the fence with them, specifically Smasher; in the games where you want him he is an all star but doesn't help much with our Ulamog/Kozilek game plan. Mimic is another one that can be very good or suboptimal depending on the game.
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
I've tested just Reality Smasher, and it's fine but not incredible. The triggered ability is actually not as impactful as you might think since most decks have so much garbage against us anyway (Lightning Bolt? Spell Snare?). The biggest problem is that when you're behind, he does nothing to help, whereas Blight Herder is great. He kinda feels like an Eldrazi Lava Axe, and I'm not sure if there's a place for that in this deck.
I honestly don't care much about the triggered ability, but a 5/5 hasty trampler for 3 that can come down on turn 2 seems like he needs to be tested. He may not be great for Mono B but he is a good beater and can put opponents on a clock early. I've been going back and forth between including him and not including him in testing and the results have been inconclusive.
Like I said, I've tried him and he's fine but not incredible. But let me say one thing more: all our other cards close out the game quickly, this is not unique to Reality Smasher. Reality Smasher has a place if we feel that the threat density of the deck is too low. With Thought-Knot Seer, my intuition is that this is unlikely.
I'd rather be playing discard, relic, removal, map, etc in that early stage of the game. Then in the mid to late game we should just be dropping fatties.
Agreed, but do you think there needs to be more T1 discard? I wouldn't mind throwing in 1-2 more Duress/Seize. Running 4 is juuuust few enough to not see one in my opening hand reliably and a T2 TKS isn't necessarily guaranteed.
I'm all in on mono black as well. Glad that this thread finally exists. Excited for the release of the new OGW cards - especially TKS and Sea Gate Wreckage.
Rich Shay (5-0 league) was using a Darkblast sided in his mono black version, and also a single Night's Whisper maindeck, which he wanted probably just 1 more of sometimes. Darkblast was used against Tooth and Nail.
Great work, I'm glad we're starting to differentiate between builds. I believe this is the most consistent of the available options, especially as the deck is still in its early stages.
Expedition Map has been really slow for me, and very weak in multiples so I think playing 3 copies is fine. On a similar (and fairly obvious) note, any hand which starts with a Relic or Claws has been so much stronger than one without. I'm going to add in a third claws for the map.
With Maps, playing a singleton Sea Gate Wreckage seems worthwhile. Have people tested it?
Agreed, but do you think there needs to be more T1 discard? I wouldn't mind throwing in 1-2 more Duress/Seize. Running 4 is juuuust few enough to not see one in my opening hand reliably and a T2 TKS isn't necessarily guaranteed.
I could see cutting 1 Expedition Map for a Thoughtseize. Thoughtseize also works with Surgical Extraction, but TKS does not. I'll give it a shot and find out
If you feel like there's anything missing or there's something you disagree with let me know.
At this stage of the game, it may be nice to have a small section that lists the advantages and disadvantages of this relative to BW and Heartless.
This. The whole Eldrazi deck-mania that seems to be sweeping the internet is still a really new thing. There are a bunch of threads for the various decks, but they all seem riddled with people asking about other versions or for pros and cons and whatnot. Lots of interest, I think it'd be really helpful to have that addressed from one perspective. I love that this deck gets to run so much more LD, but miss the Paths B/W runs, as well as all the wonderful sideboard bombs White brings.
I'd also like to see some talk about cards that look good, but aren't in the list. Cavern of Souls, Nihil Spellbomb, Void Winnower, Thoughtseize, or whatever other things people might be curious about. I assume Thoughtseize got the axe to make room for TKS? It's one of the cards I'm considering cutting in my B/W list to make room, but it feels bad to cut down on turn one discard. Are the added Scrabbling Claws a viable alternative? Is Cavern of Souls not included because all the creatures trigger on cast, not on ETB? Getting countered loses the body, but there's always more meat to throw into the grinder, right? Void Winnower is probably just WAY too janky, but some people seem to be interested in it for Twin, I assume. Warping Wail is getting lots of talk, but only a small portion of that talk is about testing results, seems like a really good card to make mention of if you've had time to put it through its paces.
And just a more personal question: how is All is Dust working? It sucks against Affinity, but it hits everything else you'd want to hit without eating your own stuff, but it does cost seven. This deck ramps and it can ramp really hard, but seven is still a lot. Does it ever feel too clunky? And is it the kind of thing where even if it does feel clunky at times, it's still the best option available?
Either way, I really like what you've got going here already and the list looks all kinds of awesome.
So there are my 2 possiblities, i like the consistence of Mono B and is great agaisnt control and midrange, but my most games are against aggro tribals ( Folks, Vampires, Slivers, Warewolves, Knights ). So should i go and purchase extra yowgmath and 1 ando go full mono black ?
This. The whole Eldrazi deck-mania that seems to be sweeping the internet is still a really new thing. There are a bunch of threads for the various decks, but they all seem riddled with people asking about other versions or for pros and cons and whatnot. Lots of interest, I think it'd be really helpful to have that addressed from one perspective. I love that this deck gets to run so much more LD, but miss the Paths B/W runs, as well as all the wonderful sideboard bombs White brings.
I'd also like to see some talk about cards that look good, but aren't in the list. Cavern of Souls, Nihil Spellbomb, Void Winnower, Thoughtseize, or whatever other things people might be curious about. I assume Thoughtseize got the axe to make room for TKS? It's one of the cards I'm considering cutting in my B/W list to make room, but it feels bad to cut down on turn one discard. Are the added Scrabbling Claws a viable alternative? Is Cavern of Souls not included because all the creatures trigger on cast, not on ETB? Getting countered loses the body, but there's always more meat to throw into the grinder, right? Void Winnower is probably just WAY too janky, but some people seem to be interested in it for Twin, I assume. Warping Wail is getting lots of talk, but only a small portion of that talk is about testing results, seems like a really good card to make mention of if you've had time to put it through its paces.
And just a more personal question: how is All is Dust working? It sucks against Affinity, but it hits everything else you'd want to hit without eating your own stuff, but it does cost seven. This deck ramps and it can ramp really hard, but seven is still a lot. Does it ever feel too clunky? And is it the kind of thing where even if it does feel clunky at times, it's still the best option available?
Either way, I really like what you've got going here already and the list looks all kinds of awesome.
A lot of excellent points!
I am working on a write up on why mono black is good in comparison to the other splashes.
For Thoughtseize, I can definitely see arguments for still including it. I do have it listed in my card choices.
For Cavern, I actually forgot about it. I will include it in the utility land choices as well. My current explanation for not running it is multipart. The first is as you explained. Most of our threats have a cast trigger and will do something relevant even if the main body is countered. Another point is that the most commonly played counterspells (Remand, Spell Pierce, Dispel, Cryptic Command, and Spell Snare), most aren't very good against us. http://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/modern/full/spells
Void Winnower feels like a sideboard choice for me or as a possible replacement for a 2nd Ulamog for budge reasons. It costs a lot of mana, but doesn't immediately win the game in most cases. All that work for not a lot of upside doesn't seem worth it to me. In the right meta, sure I could see it making an impact. But for now I think I'll relegate it to the Other Cards section.
All of Dust is great. If you have mana issues often, I might consider running Languish in its place. Although All is Dust is a wider answer as the only thing Languish answers that All is Dust does not is affinity. And it's not even that great there as it is also fairly slow against them and answerable by Ravager. It could come down to preference.
sorry to post this here... I want to post up my new decklist, but I can't seem to make it look as nice as everyone here. What's the best way?? I'm just getting everything in one long line. THANKS!
sorry to post this here... I want to post up my new decklist, but I can't seem to make it look as nice as everyone here. What's the best way?? I'm just getting everything in one long line. THANKS!
Use [ deck ] [/ deck ] tags (without the spaces)
Also, put double line breaks between sections of cards. Example, this:
Also happy to see a mono-black eldrazi thread at this point as well. It's likely the most consistent of the entire lot since we only are dealing with two "colors". If only they had a fetch land for wastes, we'd be set for life. Anyone else think we should probably have one or two basic wastes in the deck just in case of bloodmoon, or do you think it's not worth it?
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Sick primer! Nice work. I still content that Thespian's Stage deserves at least a mention in the Utility Lands section. Ghost Quarters and LD are going to be everywhere with this deck's popularity skyrocketing. The Stage is a way to protect your lands and frequently smoothes out color issues for decks that run less than 4 Urborgs. I urge folks to try it in a utility land spot.
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Eldrazi Processor
CBX Eldrazi Processor
CBW Eldrazi Processor
CB Eldrazi Midrange
CB Heartless Eldrazi
So what is it? The deck is a big mana midrange deck, or ramp. It has a great combination of powerful threats and potent interaction. The biggest allure to this deck is the main deck graveyard hate, such as Relic of Progenitus and Scrabbling Claws. Utilizing the cards exiled by those cards are the new Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi Processors, whose abilities allow them to put a card an opponent owns from exile into their graveyard to achieve some sort of effect. The deck has an excellent matchup against fair midrange and control decks.
Decklist
Card Choices
Sideboard
Other Cards
Why Mono Black?
Coverage
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
If you feel like a card I listed in 'Other Cards' should be considered core, let me know why.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Also how do you feel about Sea Gate Wreckage? It has not proven remotely useful in my testing aside from an alternate colorless source. I still think it is a great card but we simply rarely empty our hands and if we do the game should be pretty much over.
Other than that Good job, nice to see a forum for mono-B players!
So i went 3-0 (again) yesterday at my LGS with this list:
4 endless one
4 wasteland strangler
4 blight herder
4 oblivion sower
2 ulamog, the ceaseless hunger
instants : 4
4 dismember
sorceries : 6
4 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 relic of progenitus
2 scrabbling claws
2 expedition map
lands : 24
4 eldrazi temple
4 eye of ugin
4 ghost quarter
4 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 bojuka bog
6 swamp
4 surgical extraction
2 spellskite
2 duress
2 tomb of the spirit dragon
2 ratchet bomb
1 pithing needle
1 void winnower
1 all is dust
I personally have done no testing with Smasher or Mimic. I don't like Smasher for the reasons that iostream said. I feel like a grindy shell like this just isn't his home. As for Mimic, I really don't like this card in a grindy shell either. It just feels way to aggro to me. I'd rather be playing discard, relic, removal, map, etc in that early stage of the game. Then in the mid to late game we should just be dropping fatties.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't include it over any other land I listed in my list. Card advantage is nice, but we do have reactive spells and fatties that sometimes clog up the hand too much for the ability to be relevant. I'd still prefer to go with Tectonic Edge in my lands' flex spot. Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is also really nice if you go up against burn often.
Yep, that's planned
Good call on the tomb!
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Expedition Map has been really slow for me, and very weak in multiples so I think playing 3 copies is fine. On a similar (and fairly obvious) note, any hand which starts with a Relic or Claws has been so much stronger than one without. I'm going to add in a third claws for the map.
With Maps, playing a singleton Sea Gate Wreckage seems worthwhile. Have people tested it?
Here's the link: http://www.twitch.tv/richshay/v/33342921
I could see cutting 1 Expedition Map for a Thoughtseize. Thoughtseize also works with Surgical Extraction, but TKS does not. I'll give it a shot and find out
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
This. The whole Eldrazi deck-mania that seems to be sweeping the internet is still a really new thing. There are a bunch of threads for the various decks, but they all seem riddled with people asking about other versions or for pros and cons and whatnot. Lots of interest, I think it'd be really helpful to have that addressed from one perspective. I love that this deck gets to run so much more LD, but miss the Paths B/W runs, as well as all the wonderful sideboard bombs White brings.
I'd also like to see some talk about cards that look good, but aren't in the list. Cavern of Souls, Nihil Spellbomb, Void Winnower, Thoughtseize, or whatever other things people might be curious about. I assume Thoughtseize got the axe to make room for TKS? It's one of the cards I'm considering cutting in my B/W list to make room, but it feels bad to cut down on turn one discard. Are the added Scrabbling Claws a viable alternative? Is Cavern of Souls not included because all the creatures trigger on cast, not on ETB? Getting countered loses the body, but there's always more meat to throw into the grinder, right? Void Winnower is probably just WAY too janky, but some people seem to be interested in it for Twin, I assume. Warping Wail is getting lots of talk, but only a small portion of that talk is about testing results, seems like a really good card to make mention of if you've had time to put it through its paces.
And just a more personal question: how is All is Dust working? It sucks against Affinity, but it hits everything else you'd want to hit without eating your own stuff, but it does cost seven. This deck ramps and it can ramp really hard, but seven is still a lot. Does it ever feel too clunky? And is it the kind of thing where even if it does feel clunky at times, it's still the best option available?
Either way, I really like what you've got going here already and the list looks all kinds of awesome.
Whatever I build from my Box-o-EDH stuff
Legacy
Sneak and Show
UR Delver
Scapeshift Nic Fit
Modern
Merfolk
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Eye of Ugin
4x Blood Crypt
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Sulfurous Springs
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Bokuka Bog
2x Mountain
1x Swamp
2x Terminate
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Anger of the Gods
1x All is dust
4x Lightning Bolt
Artifacts
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Scrabbing claws
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4x Oblivion Sower
4x Blight Herder
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Wasteland Strangler
And im thinking to purchase some extra Yawgmoth and morph it into B<>
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Eye of Ugin
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Bokuka Bog
7x Swamp
2x Go for the throat
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Languish
2x Dismember
1x All is Dust
Artifacts
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Scrabbing claws
2x Expedition map
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
4x Oblivion Sower
4x Blight Herder
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Wasteland Strangler
So there are my 2 possiblities, i like the consistence of Mono B and is great agaisnt control and midrange, but my most games are against aggro tribals ( Folks, Vampires, Slivers, Warewolves, Knights ). So should i go and purchase extra yowgmath and 1 ando go full mono black ?
BWC Processors Eldrazi CWB
UBC Emerge EldraziCBU
C Tron Eldrazi C
RBC Meld Eldrazi CBR
GU Tokens Eldrazi UG
A lot of excellent points!
I am working on a write up on why mono black is good in comparison to the other splashes.
For Thoughtseize, I can definitely see arguments for still including it. I do have it listed in my card choices.
For Cavern, I actually forgot about it. I will include it in the utility land choices as well. My current explanation for not running it is multipart. The first is as you explained. Most of our threats have a cast trigger and will do something relevant even if the main body is countered. Another point is that the most commonly played counterspells (Remand, Spell Pierce, Dispel, Cryptic Command, and Spell Snare), most aren't very good against us. http://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/modern/full/spells
Void Winnower feels like a sideboard choice for me or as a possible replacement for a 2nd Ulamog for budge reasons. It costs a lot of mana, but doesn't immediately win the game in most cases. All that work for not a lot of upside doesn't seem worth it to me. In the right meta, sure I could see it making an impact. But for now I think I'll relegate it to the Other Cards section.
All of Dust is great. If you have mana issues often, I might consider running Languish in its place. Although All is Dust is a wider answer as the only thing Languish answers that All is Dust does not is affinity. And it's not even that great there as it is also fairly slow against them and answerable by Ravager. It could come down to preference.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Use [ deck ] [/ deck ] tags (without the spaces)
Also, put double line breaks between sections of cards. Example, this:
[ deck ]
Creatures (18)
4 Oblivion Sower
4 Blight Herder
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instants (5)
2 Dismember
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Go for the Throat
Sorceries (4)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Artifacts (10)
4 Expedition Map
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scrabbling Claws
Lands (23)
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Tectonic Edge
5 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard
2 Disfigure
3 Surgical Extraction
2 All is Dust
2 Duress
2 Memoricide
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
[ /deck ]
makes this:
4 Oblivion Sower
4 Blight Herder
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instants (5)
2 Dismember
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Go for the Throat
Sorceries (4)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Expedition Map
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scrabbling Claws
Lands (23)
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Tectonic Edge
5 Swamp
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Disfigure
3 Surgical Extraction
2 All is Dust
2 Duress
2 Memoricide
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!