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Editor: Rebecca Mitchell. Sunday 11 August 2002.
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When Black is Back (with decklist!)
One for Sorrow two for Joy Everyone is excited in Sydney with the worlds coming up. The formats
being played in the main event will be Type 2 constructed, OBC booster draft
and OBC constructed. At the moment, Type 2 is a relatively dead format since
we all know that the most popular decks are limited to Deep Dog, Opposition,
variations of Psychatog and possibly a Hunting Grounds deck so there isn't
really much worth talking about. OBC booster draft is also a complicated
subject as it's nearly impossible to pass the right signals if you happen to
open one of the shaft packs. I am sure that there is skill involved in
drafting OBC, it is just that I haven't quite figured out what it is yet. So
the only format that is remotely worth a mention at the moment is OBC
constructed. Before the release of Judgment, mono-black was a particularly popular
deck archetype due to the amount of good black cards that were offered in
Torment. However, even though the deck was good, it was still not the best
deck in OBC when compared to U/G, due to the lack of evasion creatures, and
the lack of answers to problematic enchantments such as Squirrel's Nest.
Thus mono Black players were forced to play with sub-optimal cards like
Rancid Earth in order to destroy the card that could single handedly lock
the entire deck down. With the addition of Judgment, U/G received further power boosts in the
forms of Quiet Speculation and Wonder, which made the U/G deck even more
dangerous then before. Black, on the other hand, has been handed a bunch of
shaft cards and none of them seem to be able to add to the power of the mono
Black deck. Therefore, most mono Black decks posted online these days are
still revolving around the same idea, but if that version of the deck
couldn't beat U/G then, it sure isn't going to beat it now. Things seem hopeless at the moment and it would appear that we Black
fanatics will have to conform to the majority and play U/G until I notice
one card in the new set that could possibly change the fate of mono Black.
Not only does this card allow you to surpass problems like Squirrel Nests
without the use of Rancid Earth, it is also capable of killing your opponent
on the 5th turn on a frequent basis. The card I am referring to is Balthor the Defiled. Though the idea of a reanimator Balthor deck with Laquatus's Champion is
certainly nothing new and the decks that are built around that combination
to win are terrible due to their over reliance on the combo. However, in the
new version of my deck, the combo is only an additional win condition and it
is totally capable of winning even without the combo. It combines the
positive aspects of both pre-Judgment mono Black and Balthor reanimator,
melded into one beating monster. During the creation process, many cards were considered to be part of the
deck but some were discarded due to various reasons. The development details
of the deck are as follows: Balthor the Defiled: One of the keys of the combo, Balthor allows you to
kill on the 5th turn if you have the right cards (Balthor, Buried Alive and
4 Swamps) in hand. Also, with the majority of players playing U/G, the
advantage that Balthor can bring is enormous allowing you to sacrifice early
creatures only to bring them back. When playing this deck, one should
remember that Balthor's ability does not require tapping, thus you can do it
as soon as you cast him with the right amount of mana. In addition, since
Balthor's ability is a cost, there is no way that your opponent can disrupt
it by trying to kill Balthor in response to his ability. Laquatus's Champion: The card that literally scares the life out of your
opponent and even if your opponent can afford to loose 18 life, they will
find it difficult to handle 3 6/3 creatures with regeneration. Shambling Swarm: In a field where nearly everyone is playing with Roar of
the Wurm, the Swarm is the ideal blocker for these token monstrosities since
Mutilate can often take a while to set up. The key in playing the Swarm is
that you should try to cast it when your opponent has two creatures on the
board (provided that they are not as big as the Wurm) so that you can cut a
2 for 1 deal every time they attack. Nantuko Shade vs. Mesmeric Fiend: Nik Smith and I have debated over the
decision between which cards to play for quite a while now. Nik argues that
the fiend is better in this deck because it offers early disruption and
ensures that the combo can go off without fear of counter spells. Chainer's Edict vs. Ghastly Demise: Chainer's Edict is no doubt a much
better card than Demise and the only reason why Demise was even considered
is because instant removal is good against Reckless Charges and other
similar effects. However, upon testing, Chainer;s Edict was still chosen
over Demise because Demise is found to be useless against Wild Mongrel,
which is often the prime target of the Charges these days. Diabolic Tutor vs. Skeletal Scrying vs. Tainted Pact: Between the combo
and Chainer's Edict, most of this deck is heavily reliant on its graveyard
and therefore, playing cards that remove cards from the game are sub-optimal
at best. Also, Tainted Pact is easily broken in a mono color deck and you
usually cannot afford the life that is required for Scrying against more
aggressive deck since mono Black is pretty slow to start by nature.
This made Diabolic Tutor the ideal choice out of the three. It allows you to
fetch for your combo pieces, Mutilate when you are being beaten down by an
arsenal of creatures, Mind Sludge when your opponent have a full hand and
Haunting Echoes when your opponent has multiple copies of Deep Analysis and
Roar of the Wurm in their Graveyard. It gets you what you want, even though
it costs a bit more. Mutilate: Although it's not as good as Wrath of God, mass creature
removal is always good, especially when you can just revived your guys with
Balthor. Mutilate also forces your opponent to play around it fearing to
commit too much, giving you more time to build up your defenses. This being
a somewhat control deck, I think playing with 4 Mutilates is important. Buried Alive: When I first built this deck, I ran 3 Buried Alive instead
of 4 because it is a pretty bad card to have multiple copies of in your
first hand. In most situations Buried Alive is a spell that you will only
cast twice so the extra copies you draw will be dead cards. However, the
more I play the deck, the more I realize how much I needed it and ended up
tutoring for it most of the time, which delayed the combo and wasted the
tutor. Thus now I run 4 to maximize the chance for the 5th turn kill. Mind Sludge: The old mono Black deck ran 3 copies of these but I only run
2 in mine because the environment is a lot faster with the release of
Judgment and by 5th turn, your opponent usually doesn't have much of a hand
for you to remove. Besides, if you are up against B/U Quiet Speculation
decks, your opponent will probably be more then happy to discard his Wonder
and Roar of the Wurm making Mind Sludge a pretty bad card to have in
general. Haunting Echoes: In an environment where graveyard is the king, it is
foolish to not run any graveyard removal cards main deck. The Echoes is
arguably the most devastating graveyard removal card in Odyssey block and
can single handedly smash Quiet Speculation deck into a pulp if it is cast
as the right time. Haunting Echoes also provide you with a solution to
remove problematic incarnations like Wonder, Glory and even Anger.
Nevertheless I only run 1 copy of it because it is extremely rare that you
will cast Haunting Echoes twice in the same game. 22 Swamps: One of the weaknesses of this deck is that it is mana
intensive with most of your spells costing four to cast. Thus you would
rather draw more lands in most situations then being stalled on 3 lands. 3 Cabal Coffers: I ran 4 of these at the beginning, but then realized how
horrible they are to have in your first draw. It is also rare that you will
need multiple copies of coffers in play, so I down sized it to 3
instead.
Men in Black offers a lot of solutions for a mono color deck. It has
disruption, combo, direct damage, graveyard destruction, search and mass
removal covering nearly every potential threat in the field. However, due to
these options, it is often difficult for a player decide what to do with
their limited turns and what cards to search for with their tutors. To cover
the many aspects of the game, the next article will be focus on how to play
this deck against other decks in OBC and sideboard options. As usual,
comments about the deck are welcome in emails. Well there you have it, the deck I will be playing in OBC (except I run
the improved 3.1 version). If you intend to play this deck at the worlds or
any side events, I would suggest that you do a bit of tweaking before hand
since the version I posted still needs a bit of work. I hate people who just
rip decks off the net so this can be seen as a bit of a trap. Use your own
brain 'tis what I say. See you at the Worlds |
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