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Vengeance Control (1st place FNM last week)
My attempt at a Vengeance Control deck. The idea is to hand rip and clear the field until you can successfully score a Sorin Markov -Sorin's Vengeance combo, or a double Sorin's Vengeance for the win.
Liliana of the Dark Realms is only in here, because I had some card spots left in the deck. She helps thin out your deck, obtain mana, can target remove creatures, and/or end the game with Inkmoth Nexus .
Thoughts and suggestions?
UPDATE: I've found that this deck is highly adaptable. It is more than capable of beating a wide variety of decks; including: aggro, control, combo. Its worst matchup so far has been an extremely fast goblin deck with planeswalkers in it.
Try before you whine.
@keeblerz, I thought about that, but came to the conclusion that I probably can't afford to be pitching my own cards. All of the serve a purpose, even the land drops are vitally important. If you have a strong argument validating the use of Liliana of the Veil , I'm all ears.
Maybe a few Vampire Nighthawk for great all around cards that add to your 3rd turn drop choice?
If you are worried about mana, Mycosynth Wellspring and Pristine Talisman are amazing choices, even in a control deck.
@RealityShock, creatures aren't necessary for this deck and will fall apart to my own kill magic.
I don't think you need four Liliana of the Dark Realms . Liliana of the Veil offer's board control and hand control. Maybe go 2 of each?
The current setup looks to be quite a slow build.
I would suggest replacing Diabolic Tutor with Mycosynth Wellspring , replacing 3 Swamp s with card:Phyrexia's Core (just to sac them wellsprings), Liliana of the Dark Realms with Solemn Simulacrum (throw a land into play instantly, chump block and draw a card), and bumping up card:Sorin's Vengeance and Sorin Markov to 3 each. Probably throw in a few instant-speed spot removals instead, where my choice would be Doom Blade over Go for the Throat thanks to very bad encounters with Inkmoth Nexus es.
Not sure about the place or group you're playing with, maybe you can try cutting down on the number of discard spells you have, considering the current average meta-game to be quite fast. Usually after T3, T4 or so, drawing a discard spell would be quite...useless.
12 four-drops is too much without any ramp, especially the number of Diabolic Tutor seems too high. Why not play more Sorin Markov and card:Sorin's Vengeance instead as those are the primary tutor targets anyway?
I agree with NDRue's points except for the Doom Blade /Go for the Throat question: Zombie decks are pretty popular right now and you don't want to have too many Doom Blade s mainboard against them (not more than 1-2 i would say).
Finally, Pristine Talisman and Sphere of the Suns are good ways to accelerate into your sweepers and finishers. Maybe you want to add a few of each.
I really like this build. The early game hand destruction looks to be ridiculously strong, coupled with the Surgical Extraction it's just devastating. Then you are in place to T4 Liliana, never miss another land drop, tutor up your kill cards, and rip them to shreds.
+1 from me...I took first for the first time tonight with my mono black build, with some similarities, but mine's more of an aggro/control build. I really dig yours though...here's mine if you'd like to check it out!
deck:mono-black-aggrocontrol-03-08-12-1
The ONLY suggestion I might make is Sign in Blood because it's so powerful, and something that black usually lacks, but I could see how it might be hard to fit in here, and dangerous to lose 2 life. Just a suggestion though! =D
Crap, one final suggestion...there are times when Barter in Blood may outshine card:Black Sun's Zenith, simply because to kill 2 titans, you'd have to have 8 mana, while with Barter, 4 will kill 2! (assuming that's all they have). I might do a 2/2 split.
@Tyqar, thanks for the comments bud. I'm not worried about Titans. Hand-rip them early game, plenty of mana late game to empty a card:Black Sun's Zenith, Mutilate , or the second ability of Liliana of the Dark Realms .
I beat a control deck, aggro deck, flicker deck. My build is very versatile. It's bane is planeswalkers that hit the field. Remedy is to side in creatures.
You most definitely want Barter in Blood at least in sb because you need more kill spells to add a decent control affect, or Killing Wave if you get lily's final. Otherwise it's great!
Any reason you don't have card:Life's Finale?
Also, I would consider card:Praetor's Grasp. Even if you can't cast it, it will still exile something they might be hoping to draw. And it's only 3 mana.
card:Praetor's Grasp is card disadvantage (unless you can cast the card which is not easy with a mono-colored deck) and takes just a single card out of their deck that they might never draw otherwise. I don't think that's the kind of card you want in this deck.
@vishnarg, you have missed the point. A turn 4 Liliana of the Dark Realms ensures all the land drop you need. It is almost a guaranteed win, or at least a huge stall if the battlefield is empty at that point.
Just sayin, battle of wits would destroy this deck, even with all the hand disruption, all the counters taking it down, then once it hits the field it's over
may i suggest siding 2 Karns for unusual circumstances like this
With all the land drop it'll come out
Needs Lashwrithe. Slap one on a Inkmoth and do some damage.
@JoeFoxe, I really don't see Battle of Wits in competitive modern any time soon, and it is an infinite loop combo, so actually This deck will mill 1,000,000 cards before the opponent can cast a Battle of Wits .
@Larz_the_Techno_Viking, I use Lashwrithe too in my modern deck. It probably is a better win condition than Korlash, Heir to Blackblade because it can go on anything, get in the extra damage quickly, combos for a 1-2 punch kill on an Inkmoth, etc. Highly reccomended.
@shedidthistome, with 21 lands, it is very possible that you will stall out before even drawing your fourth land. Liliana is good, but running a four of any planeswalker is usually going to backfire. You'd be better off insuring yourself more open hand swamps.
You can also sideboard Consume Spirit to deal with planeswalkers. It will also serve as creature removal if you need it to and if you ultimate Liliana it gives you an easy alternate win con, so it's going to be more versatile. Not to mention the life game could potentially be a game changer in certain circumstances.
This deck is very very good against the current meta game. I agree with the others with Lashwrithe but otherwise, it is a really nice build. +1
@vishnarg, just sayin but.. I haven't had ANY problems with land as of yet. My average land count in finishing a game is over 10. Also, I've had more than one instance when I've thinned out my entire swamp stock from my deck before pulling off my win conditions. Try before jumping to conclusions :)
I would remove a Liliana of the Dark Realms for a Sorin Markov because he's half of your win condition, but since you're playing Diabolic Tutor you might not need to. Just something to keep in mind. +1 from me!
@bagthesnoot, you don't need the extra Sorin Markov ; in-fact, I've won when both of them have been disspiated. I only play two, because I don't want it in my opening hand; whereas, I would not at all mind having a Diabolic Tutor in opening hand, as it can search out the tools I need.
Well it doesn't really matter either way because rotation in 2 months is going to decimate this deck. An ideal candidate post rotation would be Vampire Nighthawk , he should be in the deck now though, because he's still way above the power curve for creatures.
@vishnarg, rotation in two months. This is NOW.
I'm thinking maybe Consume Spirit might be pretty good here. Though before I solidly make that suggestion I have to ask: How often do you get lili's emblem?
card:Life's Finale and card:Praetor's Grasp should at least be in side board.
I think diaboli tutor could be swapped with lili of the veil... think about it, turn 3 cast and use second ability, turn four cast lili of the dark realms, at the very least she serves as a versatile kill spell, ignore the fact that she forces you to discard, to an extent you could use that to your advantage against decks that lack draw-power and she's quite effective against decks that need to stay on the offensive, less presence in hand= less presence on the field, probably enough to make her second ability count
@gheridarigaaz, T3 Liliana of the Veil , T4 Liliana of the Dark Realms and both Liliana are placed in my graveyard. Not so versatile :)
@Ohthenoises, that is a good idea. I have the opportunity to obtain the emblem quite often actually, but I never do, because it's necessary. I wish the third ability of Liliana of the Dark Realms had synergy with her second ability...
i know vishnarg was joking earlier but i had to agree. Dude if this came in first place i need to see where you play because if you played this at my FNM you would get wrecked before you even got your liliana out. And even if you did get liliana out turn 4 there would be no coming back from the damage you would've already received. Maybe this is good for your local meta but definitely not for mine.
You said you have problems with opposing planes walkers. Have you considered Appetite for Brains ??
Lilis Ult has synergy with x cost spells espically if they are drains.
soz I thought her second ability killed her for some reason, it's safe to assume that the opponent will see her as a threat at the very least
@Valentine35, try before you whine. A deck similar to this placed in a SCG-open with more than 200+ players. The early game hand removal, board wipes, and insurance of mana lets you stall and safely drop your win conditions. Again, try before you whine.
Seeing a deck like this makes me so sad that Haunting Echoes didn't get a reprint...
You definitely need another Elixir of Immortality in side board, because MILL will devastate your deck and it's better safe than doomed if you know what i mean.
| Date added | 9 months |
| Last updated | 9 months |
| Legal formats | Extended, Legacy, Vintage, Commander / EDH, Modern |
| Illegal cards | Black Sun's Zenith , Despise , Diabolic Tutor , Distress , Surgical Extraction , Inkmoth Nexus , Sorin's Vengeance , Sorin Markov |
| Sets | |
| Cards | 59 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.80 |
| Top rank | #5 on 2012-08-08 |
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keeblerz says...
Liliana of the Veil would be great for this deck.
July 23, 2012 9:09 p.m.