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Mono-Black Dick Deck

Commander / EDH

TheSpawnMan


Overview:

This deck is my pride and joy. For several years now it has been seen as one of the best decks in our casual/semi competitive meta. It can be described neatly: Few to no creatures, stax, a slow inevitable death, and an answer for all situations.

The deck relies a lot of politics and sometimes bluffing, and slowing gaining ground until your opponents have wasted their resources and you can swoop in with a lock or win. It isn't a tier-one competitive deck, but is a lot of fun to play with and against (to an extent) as you always have something to do, options to take, and your opponents still get to 'play', just in a very restricted way with difficult decisions to make (which is where most of the fun comes with this deck!). Most decks will struggle against this deck with its multiple answers, and the way it goes against the norm with relying on very few creatures.

Powerful enchantments like Tainted AEther, Lethal Vapors and Night of Souls' Betrayal are the crux of your gameplay. A lot of these enchantments are relatively cheap for their effect and significantly slows the board amassing any creatures. Any creatures that get through are met with removal, board wipes or to further your slow pinging onto your opponent's life totals.

There are multiple win cons, with the most common being large life assaults with Thrashing Wumpus , Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Exsanguinate. Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief can swing for lethal damage, as well as being removal on a stick and a flying blocker in a pinch. Sorin Markov is always there as an easy way to win the game.

I hope you enjoy this deck as much as I have over the years. May you shut down boards and games with it for as long as your black heart gets joy from the anguish of your opponents.

Combos/Synergy:

Forbidden Orchard - A very powerful card in this deck. Most people will not expect it and even think you are running group hug effects. But lo, you are not. You want opponents to have creatures and for them to die to ping them with cards like Massacre Wurm and Dingus Staff , or to eat them with Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief (nothing like giving a player many, many spirits, then killing them with a surprise Massacre Wurm).

When you combine Forbidden Orchard + Tainted AEther you can get the spirit to die almost immediately; you can take it a step further by adding in Night of Souls' Betrayal or Virulent Plague, as due to state-based actions resolving first, the spirit will immediately die, but then your opponent will need to still sacrifice a creature or a land to Tainted AEther. If you get this combo going, weenie token decks will never recover. Kill multiple lands a turn with Deserted Temple as well!

Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Lots of mana! Add in Deserted Temple to get insane amounts of mana. In fact, Deserted Temple is amazing with a lot of the lands in the deck like Maze of Ith and Forbidden Orchard as above.

Tainted AEther - As touched on above, this is a powerful enchantment with a lot of synergy. Since you control the triggers, you can stack it with cards like Portcullis or Lethal Vapors and get rid of their creature, and an additional creature or land, and then also trigger any other cards you have out like Dingus Staff or Massacre Wurm.

Thrashing Wumpus + Whip of Erebos - Get these two out with a stack of mana and creatures on the board, and if you don't outright gain a hundred life, you're not doing it right. Especially good with Exquisite Blood on the field as well.

Ill-Gotten Gains + Leyline of the Void - A disgusting little combo. No one ever expects you to exile your opponents' entire hands while returning the best bits from your own. I've never played a game where I've gotten this off and not been able to completely lock down the game soon after while my opponents are in top-deck mode.

Meek stone + Staff of domination - Tap those big creatures your opponents control, and forget they exist. Also works with Mystifying Maze.

Answers:

This deck is all about those answers, so here are some of the ways this deck deals with different strategies.

Life gain - Erebos, God of the Dead/Sorin Markov. Life gain kills this deck's slow, attrition-based nature. Make sure you stop it early with these.

Mono-blue control - Boseiju, Who Shelters All/ Infernal Darkness . Just when they think they're countered everything with that Force of Will, replay it and shut them out with a timely Yawgmoth's Will.

Mill - Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Nuff said.

Graveyard decks Leyline of the Void/Bojuka Bog.

Purphoros or Symmetrical burn - Exquisite Blood. Everyone loses life at the same time, but yours seems to stay the same. Really puts Nekusar decks under the pump.

One card combos - Each play group has them. That one deck that mills to find Lab maniac or Omniscience. Hit them with Memoricide after you've played with them once and you'll never have to worry about the deck again.

Creatures - Yes, this deck hates creatures! All kinds: Indestructible, hexproof, huge... there are ways to kill them. All Is Dust. Karn Liberated . Chainer's Edict . Toxic Deluge. Arcane Lighthouse. Mutilate. And my favourite big red stop button Sudden Spoiling.

Alterations:

Depending on your meta, you may want to make adjustments. If your meta is quite fast (the complete opposite of mine), then you may want to add in more cantrips and early game pressure or manarocks.

If you have issues with players using targetted removal spells like Naturalize, then I would toy with Imp's Mischief. A great little tool (works against counter-spells too) but sadly not worth in my meta where removal is usually attached to creatures.

If your meta is very slack on removal or wiping permanents, then consider adding more stacks for ultimate fun. Other cards I have tested over the years are Spreading Plague and Ward of Bones, to name a couple that fit the genre.

I will update here if there are any new additions or removals. Enjoy, thanks for reading, and +1 me!

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 6 years
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

16 - 0 Mythic Rares

39 - 0 Rares

17 - 0 Uncommons

2 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.92
Tokens Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders Edh ideas
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