Want to get into Modern but don't have the cash for fetches and shocks? Then fight off your local meta with the creatures of the night in mono-black devotion! With this deck you can enter the format for under $50, and it can be upgraded to higher power levels if you so chose to sink more money into it in the future.
Card explanations:
Ruthless Ripper
- Solid early game protection if hard casted, can help squeeze in small amounts of damage later, and flipping her can be great for combat tricks and life drain.
Dismember/Doom Blade/Go for the Throat- All good, cheap removal. If you prefer one over another, swap out some copies.
Gatekeeper of Malakir- Usually played as a 3 drop, forcing your opponent to sack a creature so you can push more damage through. BB casting cost is great for devotion.
Black Knight
- Nice first striker that helps with devotion, and being pro white is a great bonus. If you don't like him as much as I do, cutting some copies for
Ashenmoor Gouger
s or another 2-drop can work well.
Herald of Torment
- Evasive creature, gives 2 devotion, and can make any guy bigger.
Vampire Nighthawk- One of the premiere creatures. Starts draining opponents life early through the air, lifelink helps you get ahead, and can be an awesome blocker.
Desecration Demon
- Second premiere creature. Forces opponent to make hard decisions, can become big quickly, and combos well with
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
Whip of Erebos- Gives everything lifelink, and reanimating a Grey Merchant can be deadly.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel- A big win condition. dropping one is usually enough to put the game in your favor. Two in one game is deadly.
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
- Big beater through the air that combos with all the sac and kill spells in the deck. And in a format that loves fetches, his ability to stop searching is great.
Lashwrithe- Pump up a dude by a whole lot, and equips for free.
Sideboard:
Creature heavy decks, like Zoo or Junk, aren't too scary for this deck. What we are worried about are combo. Specifically AmuletBloom and Twin. Duress and Sadistic Sacrament help get rid of combo pieces for both decks. For AmuletBloom we wanna hit Hivemind, because we can deal with Prime Time. For Twin, try to get rid of Splinter Twin. Illness in the Ranks Will also destroy Twin. Drop it turn one and most likely you have game. Torpor Orb is alright at stopping Prime Time, but is mostly to stop Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch in Twin. Ratchet Bomb helps kill all token strategies with Illness in the Ranks, and can be good against Delver.Pithing Needle just stops whatever you don't want activated. Praetor's Grasp is just for fun to steal other peoples Lilianas.
Future Upgrades:
If you play this deck and decide it is the one you want to stick with in Modern, there are many places you can make upgrades. Better discard like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are options, and more powerful creatures like Phyrexian Obliterator are cool too. If you want some 'walker action, the first step is Sorin Markov, and if you have some real cash you wanna spend, the infamous Liliana of the Veil is the greatest and last upgrade you can make to this deck. Deciding what you want to cut for new cards is totally up to you, and what you see working and not working for you after playing some games.
Thanks for checking out the deck! I hope newer players can get some ideas from it, and I hope Modern vets can give me some constructive criticism on my first big deck entry on this site. However this is supposed to stay budget, so if you suggest cards for replacements, please keep in mind this is supposed to be a deck for less than $50. Thanks again, and have a nice day :)
