Hello all, Jaunty here. Welcome to my den, it is a pleasure to be introducing myself. I have written my story hoping it makes for an interesting, thought provoking, read. Keep in mind everything below is some what fictional and/or metaphoric, so you need not worry too much regarding my mental safety. So, without further ado, enjoy.

I was introduced to Magic The Gathering around the age of 10-12. As worry free as most kids around that age, I simply just stumbled across the game. Originally playing it with my brother for our own casual enjoyment. We bought a starter deck each he showed me all the common rulings and then we just got to it. Thinking back, I guess we figured the rest out together. Being of such a young innocent age, I remember us really getting emotionally invested in our cards. We looked at them in awe thinking, "how cool is this card? I have to make a deck around it". To which we set out to do so. Creating decks that suited our personalities/playstyles and after so much use, may have became a part of us.

So, we had both Created our masterpieces. Funnily enough, this sparked the age old battle of white vs black (good vs evil, as they say). He would play a variation of mono white (soul sisters), to which I created a mono black deck in hope to hold my own. The first creation included all forms of horrifying creatures with just as many kill spells, and so it began. We would battle saying things to each other as if on the battlefield ourselves, using our imagination to fill in the blanks. These games often resulted in the light narrowly pulling through with the win, life healing, powerful creature synergies and card draw would give him the advantage late in the game. At the beginning we both struggled to grasp the reasoning as to why he would slip through with a win, Still enjoying ourselves with our own personality and playstyle of cards. This being said, every time I walked away from the table the frustration of continual defeat could only be masked for so long. It started to have an effect on me, how was I loosing so often? there must be more to it than what I can only see with my eyes? These are the things you think of as a child. And so, the search began. I started looking into different outlets, constantly trying to stop "misplays" or improve at the game. I looked at every decent black card in an attempt to find the missing link, evidently the closer I got to winning the more this obsession grew. Cut a black card to replace with another black card, thinking to myself "that's all it needs". Always seeming an achievable goal yet never achieved. Eventually, it took over my life. For years I assessed every black card of its worth, investigated every black deck ever created from competitive players And read any articles I could find about piloting black decks or specific black cards, over and over, and over, again. It could not be abandoned, needing me as much as I needed it, consuming me. But then one day I woke, shaking the shadows that blinded me... it had happened. My blessed creation, game after game, blocked out all light.

So there we have it, This is where my gross obsession for dark cards was born. To put it nicely, amongst the perpetual search for Improvement in all things black, he (my brother) created a Monster. I haven't yet thanked him for it, but one day would like to, because it took me some time to realize, you don't grow in comfort. It was Nyctophilia in its most gracious form. I'll let you decide because I've spent far too long trying to, maybe it was just the continual use of black cards? Or, maybe it was inside laying dormant from the very beginning? I've let that question dissolve for now.

So now, many years later, I have started to dive into a more competitive form of play in the modern meta. I have tried to make a competitive mono black deck that nobody else is playing. Then I go back to that dark place, doing what I have done for years, research, calculate, refine and "feel out" all things dark, for the pure love of it.

Now, I have told you my story and you see where my obsession comes from, please don't be afraid. I am more than happy to hold your hand as you take your first steps into the shadows. I'm open to share my thoughts regarding any black cards or decks, what they would be good for or against, etc. There aren't many black cards that I haven't considered using at some stage. Also, I am a lot friendlier than what you might think. Never be afraid of the darkness, Embrace it.

May the dark arts guide you.

-Jaunty- Mono Black Counsellor.

Please login to comment

Friends

Saintdalesilverfish

Followers

silverfish

Specialties

Modern - Mono-Black

MTG Decks

Nyctophilia

Modern* -Jaunty-

SCORE: 5 | 8 COMMENTS | 1156 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

Finished Decks 4
Prototype Decks 2
Drafts 0
Points 0
Avg. deck rating 4.00
T/O Rank None yet
Helper Rank None yet
Favorite formats Modern, Commander / EDH
Joined 5 years