Mono-Black Hand Hate (MTG Arena Build)
Historic
SCORE: 19 | 5 COMMENTS | 6266 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS
Some Reworks —Jan. 26, 2021
I took out Nightmare Shepherd entirely, because while nice, the only real uses it was serving (beyond the * very rare* win condition of simply having a 4/4 flier or two) was to recur Yarok's Fenlurker and occasionally Blightbeetle just to keep his control on the board.
More often than not, however, decks that Blightbeetle shuts down are along the lines of Mono-White Lifegain decks, and they usually tend to have Banishing Light or some other equivalent Exile-based removal which prevents me from doing this. So, not so much with the useful creatures to recur. Plus, Nightmare Shepherd is a 4-mana drop, so I've been able to put a little more speed in since removing them.
Mind Drains have gone altogether, as I've found that between all of the other discard in the deck that the only real use for such massive hand hate is against blue Draw Decks (which, it can't really keep up with 100% anyway, running both Inscription of Ruin and Mind Drains is usually nothing but a simple delay for decks built completely around Draw. I added in extra copies of Inscription of Ruin to help compensate for taking them out. I prefer the options on them (plus the more powerful late-game capacity when the Kicker can be paid, usually drawing another Yarok's Fenlurker out in addition to Discard and Destroy.
I added in a couple copies of Torment of Hailfire because they fit so well with the overall theme of the deck and can be strategically useful both mid-game and late-game as a finisher. I avoided adding these in at first because I already have a deck construction solely dedicated to Torment of Hailfire (see: Golgari Torment (MTG Arena), but I'm in love with the card and it's also been consistently a more powerful late-game draw than Nightmare Shepherd (who was my previous big-mana drop).
I added some Gary's to the Maybeboard. He was in the original build, but I'm not sold on him as a finisher here as there's not a ton of permanents in the build. The Yarok's Fenlurkers do power up his Devotion nicely, but this build is still far from relying on him. Still, I'll likely play around with him in this construction as I continue to update it as other sets release and I obtain more back-set packs.
Apollo_Paladin says... #2
@ Profet93:
Every once in a while I do get overrun, but for the most part all of the Hand removal means I can pick away at an opponent's early plays rather than having to try and pick out the biggest overall threat. I can leave higher mana cost threats in an opponent's hand to be picked away later on by Mind Drain, Inscription of Ruin, and/or Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage.
The Creature/Enchantment destruction I have together here has proved quite effective in dealing with threats that manage to avoid being removed directly from Hand.
As far as win conditions, most games I win by using a combination of Davriel attrition and/or Nightmare Shepherd attacking once I've cleared the board/opponent's hand of threats. Also, for what it's worth I have two lifegain cards here: Mind Drain and Murderous Rider and while you are correct that it is not anywhere near enough for the amount of self-drain in this build, I find that I don't often have to self-drain all that much once I've established control of the board and hands.
Still, you make a valid point and I'd be lying if I said that sometimes this deck wasn't just completely overrun. Those seem to be pretty isolated cases though, and require a fairly solid "dream hand" from an opponent to pull off for the most part.
Out of curiosity, what all would you suggest to change to compensate for this? I'm open to ideas...
Profet93 says... #1
I dont play historic, but with all the removal, sell life loss and only 1 card for small lifegain, how do you fair against other decks such as aggro?
December 19, 2020 5:14 p.m. Edited.