Mono-Black has a surprisingly devastating advantage when it comes to the EDH scene. It lags a small amount in overall board presence - mono black creatures tend to be a little more expensive and a little more underwhelming - but it excels in four main categories -
- Mana Ramping
- Card Draw
- Board Control
- Specific Card Searching
Mono black mana ramp is honestly quite insane if done properly. Crypt Ghast, Magus of the Coffers, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Cabal Coffers, Black Market... Any of these on their own are rather insane in a single-card format.
Throw in Erebos, God of the Dead and you have something rather insane - a nigh-unremovable source of card draw, for a rather low price.
Erebos is a 4 drop that does some pretty nasty things. Blocks your opponents from gaining life - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Is less than pleased - Gives you the ability to stay above your opponents in card advantage, if not life, and even gets you nice blocker to stop some mid-game threats against aggro players.
And mono-black has some of the most diverse and powerful board control spells and creatures. Board wipes, targeted removal, Stax - hell, even artifact and enchantment removal.
Damnation or Black Sun's Zenith will utterly ruin anyone attempting to run any sort of creature-based deck. Your enemy running Animar, Soul of Elements? Pro-black isn't very helpful against board clears. Combine this with the fact that this deck focuses on Enchantments and not creatures, and you have the twin advantages of slowing down your opponents advance and keeping you safe. A turn 5 Black Market into a turn 6 Damnation against two or more people can get you more mana than you know what to do with and your opponents lagging ever farther behind you.
The few creatures this deck runs are important, but not vitally so. Sidisi, Undead Vizier Is a great tool for tutoring, but a simple Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor will do the same thing, but much sooner. Combine Sidisi with Butcher of Malakir however, and you start seeing your advantage over your opponents growing greater and greater. mikeaus, the unhallowed with Sidisi can get you two tutors if Sidisi targets herself.
One pretty major downside is that most of our card draw costs health. Erebos, God of the Dead costs 2 mana and 2 life for one card, which may not seem like much when you have 40 life to start with, but can be pretty steep. Kothophed, Soul Hoarder costs one life for one card, but often will cost you a lot more than you expect, expecially when you start mopping away the boards with Damnation.
This is where Mono-Black's suprising lifegain kicks in. Exquisite Blood, Exsanquinate, Gray Merchant of Asphodel - in a multiplayer battle, you can play one of these and suddenly rake in dozens of life per turn. Disciple of Bolas is a decent card draw and life-gain mechanic, allowing you to pop a creature such as
Wormcoil Engine
and get some marvelous feedback.
Pontiff of Blight
Allows you to use that excess mana you will surely be getting for even more lifegain.
Some synergies -
Conjurer's Closet + Sidisi, Undead Vizier/Grey Merchant of Asphodel/Rune-Scarred Demon Is a good way to stay ahead of your opponents just by existing.
Your mana dorks are Crypt Ghast,Caged Sun,Magus of the Coffers,Nirkana Revenant, Black Market, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power and Cabal Coffers. Liliana of the Dark Realms would be wonderful if you can get her last to trigger, but shouldn't be something you need to do.
Exquisite Blood and Sanquine Bond is the only infinite combo in the deck, and shouldn't need to be explained.
Blood Artist/
Last Laugh
+ Damnation/Black Sun's Zenith/Decree of Pain/Mutilate/Life's Finale/Toxic Deluge/Plague Wind is a good way to utterly ruin everyone's day.
A late-game Army of the Damned or a Rise of the Dark Realms is a good way to sink all that excess mana you will be getting into a win. Throw in
Endless Ranks of the Dead
and suddenly its Day Z all over again.
Venser's Journal,Reliquary Tower and Spellbook will let you keep that massive hand with no problems.
Necropetence, Phyrexian Arena and Erebos, God of the Dead are your constant draw outlets - you really don't need much more.
Bloodchief Ascension, Grave Betrayal, Dictate of Erebos and Painful Quandary will keep make your opponents make painful choices. Do I lose life in order to take out that creature? Do I play this removal spell and take damage? Do I discard this combo piece or this creature?
All in all, this deck is a monster in multiplayer. Prepare to be focused.
Be aware that this deck has little to no early game impact without drawing into a mana creator, and can leave you low on health and unable to do much of anything without proper planning.
