My favorite color to play is black, it just has so much I love. While five-color decks will always be my bread-and-butter, black isn't far from the top. And when Yahenni was spoiled, I knew I would have to make a deck based around his sick ability and black's many board wipes.
So for creatures that we sack with Yahenni we have some of the new Aetherborn creatures Midnight Entourage and Weaponcraft Enthusiast especially. They provide a sack outlet and are decent in their own rights.
Duty-Bound Dead
is one of the best cards Yahenni can sack, as it can regenerate itself and has Exalted, which can further Yahenni's power.
Knight of Infamy
,
Duskmantle Prowler
, and
Servant of Nefarox
have similar purposes, but are worse.
Dauthi Trapper
can give Yahenni Shadow making him virtually unblockable.Bitterblossom is also an amazing card in this, as it gives Yahenni a 1/1 creature to sacrifice at the beginning of each of your turns. Call of the Bloodline serves a similar purpose, at a much less convenient cost. Renegade's Getaway also gives you a Servo that can be sacrifice the turn after.
As for Removal we have a large and encompassing selection to choose from. Nevinyrral's Disk is the best card we have, since it hits artifacts and enchantments which Mono-black can't really do. Shamble Back may not seem like much, but it can interrupt combo decks and provides a way to give Yahenni indestructible.
Crux of Fate
can work well against Dragon tribal and is otherwise simply a wrath. Damnation needs no explanation. Decree of Pain is actually worth more to cast than not this time around, as the -2/-2 can actually kill Yahenni.
Extinguish All Hope
is a bad wrath, but no wrath is bad in Yahenni unless you're up against an Enchantment based deck.
Forced March
is a brutal wrath that can destroy your opponents Weenies, or just wipe the board if you feel like X should be 10. In Garruk's Wake is a brutal card that can easily pump Yahenni into lethal if he wasn't already. Life's Finale lets you peak at your opponent's deck at can shut down combos before they can even begin. Necromantic Selection is a wrath that can steal an opponent's creature or one of your own from the grave if it was popped by Necromantic Selection. This can result in nabbing an incredibly powerful card like Rune-Scarred Demon. Finally, we have Yahenni's Expertise which doesn't synergize with Yahenni at all, but is a good board wipe early game nonetheless.
For individual creatures, the deck sports a Doom Blade,
Snuff Out
, and
Slaughter Pact
Now, no voltron deck is complete without a way to pump your commander to absurd degrees. First and foremost we have [Hatred] which basically says 'Pay 20 life, win the game if your commander isn't blocked' and Unspeakable Symbol is a worse version of it. Lashwrithe can pump so hard, so fast, and doesn't cost mana to equip and Strata Scythe is a slightly worse cousin of Lashwrithe. Grafted Exoskeleton or Glistening Oil or Tainted Strike halves the damage you need to do with your commander, and Fireshrieker can half it again. Umezawa's Jitte goes without saying as an amazing equipment.
Sadistic Glee
,
Vampiric Embrace
, and Eternal Thirst are all brutally effective in upping the value of board wipes. Finally, Subtle Strike which is an early game pump spell that can push Yahenni out of bolting range faster.
Now, we need Yahenni to hit so we need a bit of discretion. Power Matrix can provide a plethora of useful abilities onto Yahenni either Flying or Trample. Whispersilk Cloak protects Yahenni and makes him unblockable, while
Prowler's Helm
does something similar. In Commander especially Trailblazer's Boots are almost always likely to work and provide a path for Yahenni to strike and
Rouge's Passage
reveals a back alley to travel along..
Now, ramp is important in any deck, but mono-black is lacking in ways to do this. Caged Sun is a good way, as is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Mana Crypt and Sol Ring can lead in some colorless mana, and Sword of Feast and Famine untaps lands and provides an extra use of them. Phyrexian Arena can draw extra cards, which isn't really ramp but lands are usually appreciated.
And some generic, very mean, control that all Voltron decks have. Static Orb
+
Winter Orb
to brutally destroy the opposition's mana base,
Infernal Darkness
to destroy their colored mana and lock them out of playing and Vampiric Tutor along with Demonic Tutor to search out these answers.
Reminder that if you enjoyed this decklist, to hit that +1 button and support the deck.
