Rise of the Dark Realms would crush dreams into tiny, bite-size pieces here.

Tasty, tasty dreams...

Any thoughts on the balance of the rest of the deck?

Rad deck +1 for mono black badness... and the best deck name on TappedOut.

Ideas: Lashwrithe , Black Sun's Zenith , Midnight Banshee , Decree of Pain , Barter in Blood , Profane Command , Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief , Ascendant Evincar

Ehh scratch Lashwrithe it's already there... Strata Scythe ?

I'm thinking that you don't have very many cheap removals or creatures, so you may get pretty beat up early on (without tons of life gain to regain it). I'd suggest either some cheap creatures that can be sacrificed later without too much heartache (e.g. Abyssal Gatekeeper , Gravecrawler , Butcher Ghoul , Golgari Thug , Tenacious Dead , etc.) or more ramping to get to the later game (e.g. Everflowing Chalice , Wayfarer's Bauble , Journeyer's Kite , etc.)

I have to admit, I don't see how It That Betrays really fits in here. Why pay 12 for a Grave Betrayal on a stick that'll eat removal when you could pay 7 for one that's harder to remove?

babydaggers: Yep, Lashwrithe and Profane Command are already in there. The big sweepers (Black Sun's Zenith and Decree of Pain ) I was torn on. Since there are so many mutual sacrifice effects already in the deck, I'm not sure how often they would be needed. Midnight Banshee and Ascendant Evincar are favorites of mine, but I'm using them in a Vhati il-Dal deck already, and I think they fit better there. Barter in Blood and Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief are in the running, pending openings on the curve.

the5ervant: I see your point about the early game, and I'm thinking about which way to go with that. Burnished Hart is another thing I was considering there. It That Betrays is there for a few reasons: an alternative Grave Betrayal to draw into since I'm running tutor-lite, it gets all permanents as opposed to just creatures with Betrayal, and I don't think it will be difficult to cast with all the mana-multipliers this deck has available mid-game or just through reanimation (the more likely scenario).

Trial adjustment - focus on lower CMC creatures and mana ramp.

In: Butcher Ghoul , Tenacious Dead , Burnished Hart , Caged Sun

Out: Withering Boon , Apprentice Necromancer , Lashwrithe , Geth, Lord of the Vault

If you have Cabal Coffers/Urborg, consider fetching them with Expedition Map . In mono black it is also fun to play Temporal Extortion with a Wound Reflection out.

Good call on Expedition Map - probably a better fetch than Burnished Hart here. Switching to Snow-Covered Swamp to go with Extraplanar Lens . That also allows Scrying Sheets , which will be useful for a top-deck check before casting things like Pox even if it doesn't hit.

I like the deck! +1

One thing I saw that was missing that you definitely need with all the self-sacrificing and recursion: Kokusho, the Evening Star .

I'll second a recommendation for Decree of Pain . The potential card advantage here is just ridiculous, and even if you've been keeping every other player down and there's only 3 creatures on the board that's still 3 cards destroyed and 3 cards drawn for 1 card. Even if you have more creatures on the field than any other player that's more cards in your hand and your deck plays off the graveyard.

Also seconding Kokusho, the Evening Star . A fierce deterrent as a blocker on the field, a flying threat, and a great death effect. A lot like Gray Merchant of Asphodel but less dependent on you having an awesome board state.

Sort of in theme with your pox related crippling effects, I've been having a lot of fun with Eye of Doom . It's fun for the whole table, and being in control of when/if it goes off can be a diplomatic weapon. Hits problem permanents for Mono-black like artifacts and enchantments, gets around hexproof, and it's name is incredible to boot.

Thanks for the comments FancyTuesday. I'm strongly considering picking up those cards. Any thoughts on what to cut?

At a glance, here's 3 slots I'd open up:

Broken Visage : CMC 5 targeted removal spell with two restrictions: the target can't be an artifact and it has to be attacking. The token doesn't really give you anything on its own since it dies before it gets to your turn, requiring a Grave Pact effect to be in play to make it anything but a strictly worse Go for the Throat .

Tawnos's Coffin : I'm guessing this is here as a way of picking off your opponent's creatures, but artifact removal isn't rare enough to really bank on this as anything but a way of sheltering a target from a wrath. Might be funny to keep pinching enemy commanders but they're liable to just let it stay under the Coffin until they can destroy it. Faceless Butcher fills much the same role. It's a creature so it plays better with your reanimation theme and you can sac it in response to its own ability to exile a target permanently.

Mindcrank : If you're doing enough damage for this to be a real beating then you've already won. It helps decks that play off their graveyards and only really helps two of your cards, Geth and the Primordial, one of which mills them on its own.

Ob Nixilis, Unshackled . Yep.

Sadness. Braids, you served us well.

Deathrender has taken Braids spot for now.

Interesting Mikaeus deck! I invite you to take a look at mine.

One thing, you should try to make a spot for Tatterkite. Such an amazing card that fit perfectly with Mikaeus and it kind of locks the game with contamination on the board. Also, Viscera Seer. You can now see the combo coming :)