I think you really want Lifeline!

I have to suggest Panharmonicon here. That's your ticket to that extra point of damage, and it provides you a lot of value with all your ETBs. I would consider Dusk Legion Zealot, Skyscanner, and Shriekmaw if you go that route. Rune-Scarred Demon too.

Pitiless Plunderer and Ashnod's Altar would help you to do broken things.

Also, Hell's Caretaker and Whisper, Blood Liturgist would give you some repeated recursion. Along with Living Death .

Helm of the Host would be a very good add.

Thanks all for the suggestions.. this is definately a work in progress and all help is appreciated.

VarietyBlack - I love Panharmonicon , will be one of the first things I add once I start playing. Have to figure out what doesn't work first. For creatures though, I am trying to limit it to creatures that come in with friends, but of those 3 I like Dusk Legion Zealot . Has a nice low CMC, and will work well with recursion like Unearth . I dont know yet if card draw will be my problem in this deck, but will keep him on the backburner ( Skyscanner doesnt work as well because of Ayara's black creatures only clause.)

VampiricTooter - My playgroup doesn't play infinite combos and not sure I need the colorless mana that Ashnod's Altar would provide, but I do really like Pitiless Plunderer . I think he is going to be an auto add; might remove Diregraf Colossus because in testplays, didnt really work for me.

Hell's Caretaker and Whisper, Blood Liturgist are also both nice. I think the Caretaker will end up being an add as well, just a better exchange. Living Death would only work if Ayara was in the graveyard. Need to play a couple times to see if she ends up getting targeted a bunch (also still need to add some protection for her).

MTGundy - Yahh.. I hesitate Helm of the Host to add it only because the high CMC and equip costs... but those copies would make nice targets for sacrifice effects :)

Thanks again, if you guys have suggestions on what to ditch, I would be happy to hear them as well.. having a tough time cutting cards at this point

With Plague of Vermin you can dump 39 life into it and get 39 ETB triggers and gain it all back while draining the opponents by 39. :D

Credit goes to NickyBolas for that card; I never would have known it existed had he not put it on his list.

Ah, you have that card; Cool! May I suggest also Bontu's Monument for double ETB triggers?

The deck Seems like a lot of fun, but you're missing one of the most powerful cards in ayara... The spooky staircase. Tombstone Stairwell turns every creature in your yard into 4 damage to each opponent per turn cycle. Card is old and cumulative upkeep means it'll only stick around for a few times around the turn cycle, but it's absolutely worth playing. I'd cut Subversion for it.

Esperkyde, thanks for the view.

I have toyed with putting replacing a mana rock with Bontu's Monument , but the problem is, the mana only works for my creatures and not for everything else. I am still testing this deck out, but so far, I have become the target pretty quick when i play it. Might be nice to have a back up for when Ayara gets blasted.

LeoSushi thanks for the comment.

Thanks so much, Tombstone Stairwell is definitely going on my buy list.. I am a little afraid that it might bite me in the A because of others getting creatures.. but hey - thats the fun of mono black.

Thanks for also adding a cut card, thats always the hardest part. I agree, Subversion is nice, but in play, i have always found i have better things to play, and when i do play it, its pretty slow. And slow doesnt work in a deck where I am the automatic target of all my friends as soon as I show my commander.