Introduction
It all started after the painful realization that I wasn’t winning a single match with any of Tier 1 decks anymore. Jeskai Fires, Rakdos Sacrifice, Mono Red… Nothing seemed to work for me. Add to that the fact that I overdosed on Standard (I’ve been playing it non-stop since the beginning of February) and you can have an idea of how unmotivated I was with the first MagicFest Online Weekly Championship played on MTG Arena on the weekend of the 28th of March.
With the confinement in vigor for the last two weeks, it’s also been hard to find time for activities outside of streaming or taking care of things at home. Testing Standard was also very low in my list of priorities.
Trying to Find Something New: Mono Black Aggro
If I had to play, might as well play something new or something different. I had built a few decks, none of them very competitive: Adventures with 《Fires of Invention》, Mono White Aggro, Mono Black Aggro. What I liked about the latter two was that with the amount of main deck 《Aether Gust》 decks were playing nowadays, they could be in a good spot in the current metagame. Mono Black had the extra advantage to have a strong sideboard against pretty much everything.
This is the deck I played at the Weekly Championship:
Decklist
- Raphael Levy
- – Mono Black Aggro
- MagicFest Online Weekly Championship 1
- (Standard)
20 《Swamp》
4 《Castle Locthwain》
-Land (24)- 4 《Gutterbones》
4 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》
3 《Foulmire Knight》
3 《Blacklance Paragon》
3 《Order of Midnight》
3 《Smitten Swordmaster》
1 《Tymaret, Chosen from Death》
4 《Murderous Rider》
3 《Midnight Reaper》
1 《Ayara, First of Locthwain》
4 《Spawn of Mayhem》
3 《Rankle, Master of Pranks》
-Creature (36)-
4 《Castle Locthwain》
-Land (24)- 4 《Gutterbones》
4 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》
3 《Foulmire Knight》
3 《Blacklance Paragon》
3 《Order of Midnight》
3 《Smitten Swordmaster》
1 《Tymaret, Chosen from Death》
4 《Murderous Rider》
3 《Midnight Reaper》
1 《Ayara, First of Locthwain》
4 《Spawn of Mayhem》
3 《Rankle, Master of Pranks》
-Creature (36)-
-Spell (0)-
4 《Duress》
4 《Leyline of the Void》
3 《Noxious Grasp》
2 《Disfigure》
2 《Agonizing Remorse》
-Sideboard (15)-
4 《Leyline of the Void》
3 《Noxious Grasp》
2 《Disfigure》
2 《Agonizing Remorse》
-Sideboard (15)-
Before we go further into details:
The above list was submitted without much testing, in a rush (I had one minute to spare before getting a penalty for late submission) and I realized what the deck was missing as I was playing the rounds of the tournament.
(Click to Enlarge)
Why I Thought the Deck Had Potential
The problem was, it was hard to find a home for all these cards to be together. 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》 is excellent when you can play it on turn one, curve other creatures and pump it on turn three. That means you can’t really play it in a two color deck where you’ll have to find an untapped source of black on turn one, and be able to play your cards without worrying about your mana.
《Spawn of Mayhem》 meets the exact same requirement. It needs aggressive creatures to connect before turn three so you can use its Spectacle cost. The demon hits hard, doesn’t die to 《Deafening Clarion》, can’t be stolen by 《Claim the Firstborn》.
《Leyline of the Void》 alongside an aggressive deck can completely shut down some of this format’s strategies as long as you can close games quickly while your opponent is trying to find an answer.
I talked about how miserable discard spells felt in Rakdos Sacrifice in my previous article. You don’t want to waste your turn looking at your opponent’s hand just to find out that they’ll have a replacement card for whatever you discard. That statement is widely different when you already have pressure on the board. Play 《Gutterbones》, 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》 on the first two turns, and 《Duress》 your opponent’s sweeper on turn three. That’s a winning strategy. The other upside of 《Duress》 in Mono Black is that you can cast it on turn one to plan out your next turns. Something you’re not able to do when you have to play your Temples or 《Fabled Passage》s on the first turns to fix your mana.
The Core
The deck is basically:
Main Deck
4
4
4
3
Sideboard
4
4
3
Everything else is part of the support cast.
Other Support Cards
For this first version, I decided to have a Knight subtheme and used 《Foulmire Knight》, 《Blacklance Paragon》, 《Order of Midnight》, 《Midnight Reaper》 and 《Murderous Rider》 in addition to a few cute Legends in 《Tymaret, Chosen from Death》 and 《Ayara, First of Locthwain》.
The biggest mistake I made was to cut 《Epic Downfall》 at the last minute (remember I submitted the list with a minute to spare). I should have had 4 in the 75 instead of zero. My plan to beat Rakdos with only 《Murderous Rider》 to deal with 《Mayhem Devil》 and 《Midnight Reaper》 was completely flawed and I regret it. The Mono Red matchup could actually be fine with 《Epic Downfall》, but with none, it’s close to unwinnable.
MagicFest Online Weekly Championship 1 Report
So I played the tournament with a suboptimal version. I streamed the event on Twitch and you can watch all the games on my Twitch channnel here.
Day 1
| Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Simic Flash | 2-1 (W) |
| Round 2 | Mono Red | 0-2 (L) |
| Round 3 | Rakdos Sacrifice | 2-0 (W) |
| Round 4 | Jeskai Fires | 1-2 (L) |
| Round 5 | Rakdos Sacrifice | 1-2 (L) |
| Round 6 | Temur Reclamation | 2-1 (W) |
| Round 7 | Temur Reclamation | 2-1 (W) |
| Round 8 | Bant Ramp | 2-0 (W) |
Total Score: 5-3
Day 2
| Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Round 9 | Temur Reclamation | 0-2 (L) |
| Round 10 | Rakdos Sacrifice | 1-2 (L) |
| Round 11 | Bant Ramp | 2-1 (W) |
| Round 12 | Rakdos Sacrifice | 0-2 (L) |
Total Score: 6-6 Drop
A day 2 finish and a 6-6 record isn’t exactly a tournament to be proud about. However, the deck performed OK considering the list was far from optimal and that I lost a big majority of the die rolls. I would have won most of the games if I was on the play, but that’s also something to keep in mind for the future, this deck has a huge advantage on the play.
How Do We Move on from There?
As I was playing the rounds I could see how this deck could be improved (something you usually do in test matches, but hey, didn’t have time for those). First of all, the Knight package was not good enough. I was happy with 《Blacklance Paragon》 as it’s a three-power creature and 《Murderous Rider》 because it’s just a good card. 《Midnight Reaper》 didn’t do as much as I expected, but I guess it’s normal since we don’t sacrifice our own creatures. The Adventure Knights were just underwhelming.
Here’s what I should have played:
Updated List
- Raphael Levy
- – Mono Black Aggro
- Updated List
- (Standard)
20 《Swamp》
4 《Castle Locthwain》
-Land (24)- 4 《Stonecoil Serpent》
4 《Gutterbones》
4 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》
4 《Blacklance Paragon》
2 《Tymaret, Chosen from Death》
4 《Murderous Rider》
2 《Midnight Reaper》
4 《Spawn of Mayhem》
3 《Rankle, Master of Pranks》
-Creature (31)-
4 《Castle Locthwain》
-Land (24)- 4 《Stonecoil Serpent》
4 《Gutterbones》
4 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》
4 《Blacklance Paragon》
2 《Tymaret, Chosen from Death》
4 《Murderous Rider》
2 《Midnight Reaper》
4 《Spawn of Mayhem》
3 《Rankle, Master of Pranks》
-Creature (31)-
4 《Leyline of the Void》
3 《Noxious Grasp》
2 《Disfigure》
2 《Agonizing Remorse》
2 《Epic Downfall》
1 《Duress》
1 《Pharika’s Libation》
-Sideboard (15)-
3 《Noxious Grasp》
2 《Disfigure》
2 《Agonizing Remorse》
2 《Epic Downfall》
1 《Duress》
1 《Pharika’s Libation》
-Sideboard (15)-
Important Changes
《Duress》 is so important to battle Jeskai Fires and Temur Reclamation in game one. There are actually very few decks 《Duress》 isn’t good against. It’s even efficient against Mono Red that holds 《Embercleave》 for a while before they play it. The deck now looks like a black from the past, a good old Mono Black midrange from the early 2000’s.
The real problem this deck has is with its fillers. 《Blacklance Paragon》 is the only three-power creature for two mana. The other cheap black drops are just not impactful enough. 《Knight of the Ebon Legion》 is the only card that can “snowball” if left unchecked. Black needs another creature like the Knight or some kind of 《Robber of the Rich》es to truly be scary.
In the meantime, the best alternative doesn’t come from black but from an artifact: 《Stonecoil Serpent》. We need a cheap creature to make sure we can cast 《Spawn of Mayhem》 on turn three, but also something that will have a bigger impact on the board on turn four to seven. 《Foulmire Knight》 just didn’t do enough.
《Stonecoil Serpent》 turns out to be really good against 《Deafening Clarion》 and 《Teferi, Time Raveler》. Bant decks will only have 《Shatter the Sky》 to get rid of it. They won’t even be able to block it with 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 or 《Dream Trawler》. It has some nice synergy with 《Midnight Reaper》 as well as you can decide to cycle it on turn three (play it for 0) if you’re looking for a fourth land to follow up with Rankle.
Conclusion
This deck is definitely not a Tier 1 deck, but it has a lot of potential. With the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths around the corner, keep an eye out for cheap black creatures that would turn this fringe deck into a Tier 1 deck!
