I'm not sure if there is a dedicated Mono-Black Legacy deck on this site. You can always look through the Legacy forums over here for one or start a thread there if one doesn't exist.
It's an all-in combo deck. It doesn't have an alternate game plan. You can't have an alternate game plan without diluting the combo. If you want to run an alternate game plan then you're missing the point of the deck by a mile and a half.
Besides, the deck is more resilient than you might think. Control decks are always a problem for dedicated combo, but you deal with it. You run Twincast to deal with counterspells or Leyline to deal with disruption and Lightning Bolt.
Nobody will fault you for playing Mox Opal, it's a good card, but it doesn't work in my list and I personally don't feel like it contributes anything important to the deck. Turn four is mostly the standard for going off because that's when a suspended Lotus Bloom will hit the table, not because KCI costs four. Etherium Sculptor lowers the cost anyway.
The only one of those cards legal in this format is Victim of Night. In Modern you can only play cards from core sets and expert-level sets printed from 8th Edition-onward.
Trust me, Emrakul is not the right move. It's much worse than the loop. Each individual loop piece can further your combo (in the Bauble version, Bauble and Spellbomb both draw more cards, in the Shredder version the Shredder can be eaten for more mana or can be used to get back Reward/Vaults when you need it). Emrakul does nothing in this deck except take up a slot that could be better spent with a different card. Cut it and never look back.
I did some testing with Automaton and I'm not impressed. It seems much better on paper than it actually is.
I ran 3 Opal in the earlier days of my deck and I it rarely paid off. One extra mana rarely matters and they're just as dead as land mid-combo, except you can't thin them away with Ghost Quarter. Plus they cost a fortune. In Affinity they're essential, but this deck is not Affinity. It's nothing even resembling Affinity.
I don't think the aura build can compete in this environment at all but I guess we'll have to see how it pans out.
I've run Goblinslide as a wincon on cockatrice for a few games and i think it makes a great alternate wincon in the sideboard but in the maindeck it's just win-more, so I dropped it for a third Twinflame.
I can't say I'm a fan of having the full playset of Dig Through Time, but as a 3-of it's put in some serious work. I think I'll test Treasure Cruise in its slot to see which I prefer but I'm definitely happy with the Digs.
The best answer Turbo-Fog has for burn is Riot Control, and I think the white splash would definitely be worth it. Clinging Mists also seems pretty mana-intensive compared to Defend the Hearth and both Riot Control and Blunt the Assault seem more practical. Defend the Hearth is also Scepter-able.
I don't really get what Fate Unraveler is doing in this deck? I think Ebony Owl Netsuke puts in much more work and is less vulnerable to maindeck removal.
The ___ of Empires suite is tempting but honestly I think in this deck it's incredibly win-more and pretty gimmicky. If I were you I'd lose that entire deal and the Unwinding Clocks for two more Ebony Owl Netsukes, a couple more Isochron Scepters, and more fogs.
I know it got mentioned earlier and then not really talked about, but Goblinslide seems completely degenerate in this deck. I'm really excited standard has a combo deck again and I'll probably sleeve a build up for FNM next week.
EDIT: Also, how does this deck sideboard for the G/x Devotion match? Circle of Flame and Swan Song are both pretty much completely dead and Crippling Chill doesn't seem very effective.
Hi SpeedGrapher! I'm glad to see other people are interested in bringing this thread back to life. I have some comments on your deck and answers to a few of your questions (as I said before, I've been playing with this deck since about April).
Whether your win condition is the original Spellbomb-Bauble-Sunrise loop or ramping into a Banefire is mostly up to your own personal preference. I prefer having at least two different wincons in case one (probably Banefire) eats a Slaughter Games. Alas, Elixir of Immortality does basically nothing when you're trying to set up a loop except make you do the entire process of drawing your deck over again. It's not a beneficial card and unlike Conjurer's Bauble, it doesn't cantrip. Bauble's cantripping is by far the most important part of it as a card, making it useful before you have the loop set up (you don't have to place anything on the bottom if you don't want to). Banefire undoubtedly makes for a faster game. Some other possible wins, if you aren't sold on the loop, are Laboratory Maniac, Grapeshot, and Bitter Ordeal, but none of these are quite as reliable as Banefire.
Emrakul is right out. It doesn't win you the game immediately and enables your opponent to respond (Emrakul can die to Oblivion Ring, Liliana, etc.). It's not worth wasting a slot on.
KCI is pretty much never useless, even if you already have mana. While the ramp it nets you is nice (necessary for Banefire strategies), the important thing is that it lets you sacrifice Ichor Wellspring and Terrarion to draw into more gas. If you have the mana to Reshape for it and you don't already have one, do it. If you do already have one, Reshaping for Wellspring is almost always a great move. In the scenario you described with your Reshape difficulties, going for a Chromatic Star is far from a worthless move. One draw can make or break this combo.
16-24 is typically the right number of Eggs. It depends on the rest of your build, really.
With regard to your deck specifically, I definitely think the Prisms should come out in favor of Elsewhere Flask. Flask can sacrifice itself, letting you potentially combo off without an Ironworks or try to dig into one. I used Prisms in my build for about two months, and they were dead draws compared to the Flasks 90% of the time.
I'm intrigued by the Mindless Automaton. The ability to exchange dead draws for gas is very useful, but it seems to compete with KCI for a turn-four play. How does it work for you when you get it?
I also feel like you should fit in some Ghost Quarters maindeck. They're pretty much the only way to compete with GR Tron and the ability to ramp, color-fix, and thin your deck when going off is a crucial part of the deck. Etherium Sculptor is also fairly useful, mid combo it saves you mana and it can enable a turn-3 win if you're lucky.
On a more general note, I'm not impressed with Altar of the Brood. It dodges Leyline, which I guess is useful, but it honestly seems very, very win-more when you get it early and a waste of a draw when you get it mid-combo. Plus, Echoing Truth deals with Leyline pretty well already.
I'm also not sold at all on Mox Opal in this deck.
I've been running this list for a few months and have been doing reasonably well with it (won a few FNMs, etc.). I think I'm gonna playtest Altar of the Brood for a while and see how it goes. The whole deck is very much a work in progress.
Besides, the deck is more resilient than you might think. Control decks are always a problem for dedicated combo, but you deal with it. You run Twincast to deal with counterspells or Leyline to deal with disruption and Lightning Bolt.
Nobody will fault you for playing Mox Opal, it's a good card, but it doesn't work in my list and I personally don't feel like it contributes anything important to the deck. Turn four is mostly the standard for going off because that's when a suspended Lotus Bloom will hit the table, not because KCI costs four. Etherium Sculptor lowers the cost anyway.
I did some testing with Automaton and I'm not impressed. It seems much better on paper than it actually is.
I ran 3 Opal in the earlier days of my deck and I it rarely paid off. One extra mana rarely matters and they're just as dead as land mid-combo, except you can't thin them away with Ghost Quarter. Plus they cost a fortune. In Affinity they're essential, but this deck is not Affinity. It's nothing even resembling Affinity.
I've run Goblinslide as a wincon on cockatrice for a few games and i think it makes a great alternate wincon in the sideboard but in the maindeck it's just win-more, so I dropped it for a third Twinflame.
I can't say I'm a fan of having the full playset of Dig Through Time, but as a 3-of it's put in some serious work. I think I'll test Treasure Cruise in its slot to see which I prefer but I'm definitely happy with the Digs.
I don't really get what Fate Unraveler is doing in this deck? I think Ebony Owl Netsuke puts in much more work and is less vulnerable to maindeck removal.
The ___ of Empires suite is tempting but honestly I think in this deck it's incredibly win-more and pretty gimmicky. If I were you I'd lose that entire deal and the Unwinding Clocks for two more Ebony Owl Netsukes, a couple more Isochron Scepters, and more fogs.
EDIT: Also, how does this deck sideboard for the G/x Devotion match? Circle of Flame and Swan Song are both pretty much completely dead and Crippling Chill doesn't seem very effective.
Whether your win condition is the original Spellbomb-Bauble-Sunrise loop or ramping into a Banefire is mostly up to your own personal preference. I prefer having at least two different wincons in case one (probably Banefire) eats a Slaughter Games. Alas, Elixir of Immortality does basically nothing when you're trying to set up a loop except make you do the entire process of drawing your deck over again. It's not a beneficial card and unlike Conjurer's Bauble, it doesn't cantrip. Bauble's cantripping is by far the most important part of it as a card, making it useful before you have the loop set up (you don't have to place anything on the bottom if you don't want to). Banefire undoubtedly makes for a faster game. Some other possible wins, if you aren't sold on the loop, are Laboratory Maniac, Grapeshot, and Bitter Ordeal, but none of these are quite as reliable as Banefire.
Emrakul is right out. It doesn't win you the game immediately and enables your opponent to respond (Emrakul can die to Oblivion Ring, Liliana, etc.). It's not worth wasting a slot on.
KCI is pretty much never useless, even if you already have mana. While the ramp it nets you is nice (necessary for Banefire strategies), the important thing is that it lets you sacrifice Ichor Wellspring and Terrarion to draw into more gas. If you have the mana to Reshape for it and you don't already have one, do it. If you do already have one, Reshaping for Wellspring is almost always a great move. In the scenario you described with your Reshape difficulties, going for a Chromatic Star is far from a worthless move. One draw can make or break this combo.
16-24 is typically the right number of Eggs. It depends on the rest of your build, really.
With regard to your deck specifically, I definitely think the Prisms should come out in favor of Elsewhere Flask. Flask can sacrifice itself, letting you potentially combo off without an Ironworks or try to dig into one. I used Prisms in my build for about two months, and they were dead draws compared to the Flasks 90% of the time.
I'm intrigued by the Mindless Automaton. The ability to exchange dead draws for gas is very useful, but it seems to compete with KCI for a turn-four play. How does it work for you when you get it?
I also feel like you should fit in some Ghost Quarters maindeck. They're pretty much the only way to compete with GR Tron and the ability to ramp, color-fix, and thin your deck when going off is a crucial part of the deck. Etherium Sculptor is also fairly useful, mid combo it saves you mana and it can enable a turn-3 win if you're lucky.
On a more general note, I'm not impressed with Altar of the Brood. It dodges Leyline, which I guess is useful, but it honestly seems very, very win-more when you get it early and a waste of a draw when you get it mid-combo. Plus, Echoing Truth deals with Leyline pretty well already.
I'm also not sold at all on Mox Opal in this deck.
4 Open the Vaults
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Ichor Wellspring
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Codex Shredder
4 Reshape
1 Banefire
8 Island
2 Plains
3 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Blind Obedience
2 Torpor Orb
4 Echoing Truth
1 Wipe Away
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Silence
4 Leyline of Sanctity
I'm glad to be here, finally.