Hi all. So this is pretty much my attempt at a mono black control deck in a budget friendly manner. With all the multicolored decks out there right now I wanted to give this idea a go and i've testing it on MWS (probably not that atm though). None of the cards go over $10 in value (or by much at least). With that here it is
Where the deck has worked:
Against a few aggro decks the deck has managed to hold its own and even win. Rise from the grave has more often than not failed me by not BEING there than by being in my hand. Thanks to the removal and discard, their board tends to be small and i've managed to grab a thrag for stall and a thundermaw hellkite for win.
Where it's failed:
When the removal isn't there in time aggro decks overpower it. Mana shortage has been a problem which is why there's main deck ghost quarters now. Late game the deck sometimes can't get anything out that can kill and Grislbrand and army of the dammed have been two suggestions so far. Discard is generally useless by that point though so my rats, cats and rots do nothing late game generally. Against control it's difficult to say; one game it was holding except for a single tamiyo being out. It's lost a few times in that area. The most hopeless case was a deck that abused omniscience, thrags, serenity angels, and door to nothingness of all things. For the most part it works but not as consistantly as I'd like.
24 land looks about right, once Lilliana comes out you are golden.
With 4x Lilliana I would like to see some win conditions with her ultimate.
The obvious synergy would be 4x Rakdos's Return and the swamp/mountain shockland. Not exactly budget friendly though.
Once you get all your land in play, you need better ways to utilize it.
I think you need more card drawing, be it Sign in Blood or Underworld Connections. Disciple of Bolas probably would not fit the bill because so many of your creatures have very low power.
A very good point about Lili's ultimate. As it just so happens she gets to 6 loyalty counters pretty often. By that point she's just fetching land waiting to to kill something and then later waiting to die. I experimented with Griselbrand a bit and both him and his drawing ability end up working well with Lili's emblem.
While I did want to keep it mono black the possibility of red splash and rakdos's return is a tempting idea, and still less pricy then running four lili's of the veil. As it just so happens I own 2 blood crypts and one rakdos' return so it's actually doable. I since Liliana fetches swamps out anyway two blood crypts might be enough, and devil's play is a possible alt to rakdos as a finisher (all of this would be easier if exanguinate were still around :D)
As far as drawing I thought lili's swamp fetching would thin the deck, but topdecking land like a boss still ends up occuring now and then which another reason I was thinking of tossing in Griselbrand.
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4 Black Cat
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Desecration Demon
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Mutilate
4 Rise From the Grave
4 Liliana of Dark Realms
20 Swamp
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Curse of Death's Hold
3 Duress
4 Pithing Needle
Where the deck has worked:
Against a few aggro decks the deck has managed to hold its own and even win. Rise from the grave has more often than not failed me by not BEING there than by being in my hand. Thanks to the removal and discard, their board tends to be small and i've managed to grab a thrag for stall and a thundermaw hellkite for win.
Where it's failed:
When the removal isn't there in time aggro decks overpower it. Mana shortage has been a problem which is why there's main deck ghost quarters now. Late game the deck sometimes can't get anything out that can kill and Grislbrand and army of the dammed have been two suggestions so far. Discard is generally useless by that point though so my rats, cats and rots do nothing late game generally. Against control it's difficult to say; one game it was holding except for a single tamiyo being out. It's lost a few times in that area. The most hopeless case was a deck that abused omniscience, thrags, serenity angels, and door to nothingness of all things. For the most part it works but not as consistantly as I'd like.
With 4x Lilliana I would like to see some win conditions with her ultimate.
The obvious synergy would be 4x Rakdos's Return and the swamp/mountain shockland. Not exactly budget friendly though.
Once you get all your land in play, you need better ways to utilize it.
I think you need more card drawing, be it Sign in Blood or Underworld Connections. Disciple of Bolas probably would not fit the bill because so many of your creatures have very low power.
I would think Liliana of the Veil could find a home here instead of Liliana of Dark Realms. She's not budget friendly but she works.
H/W List http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=112656
While I did want to keep it mono black the possibility of red splash and rakdos's return is a tempting idea, and still less pricy then running four lili's of the veil. As it just so happens I own 2 blood crypts and one rakdos' return so it's actually doable. I since Liliana fetches swamps out anyway two blood crypts might be enough, and devil's play is a possible alt to rakdos as a finisher (all of this would be easier if exanguinate were still around :D)
As far as drawing I thought lili's swamp fetching would thin the deck, but topdecking land like a boss still ends up occuring now and then which another reason I was thinking of tossing in Griselbrand.