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21-05-2001
 ShadowDrifter's Rants: "We are the Men in Black... Dominia Defenders..."
"We are the Men in Black. Dominia defenders... Uh huh, uh huh..."
Good thing you can't hear me singing that. No one should be subjected
to that kind of torture. Ahem.
I was driving home from work the other day, and, out of the blue, I
started thinking about how good a mono-black deck I could make. OK,
I'll be honest; I started thinking about how I could improve my
Worship deck without using blue. Damn control decks, GRR!!! Oh, pardon
me, I digress. I've been tinkering with a mono-black Discard deck as
of late (which will probably become B/U discard), but that's still
being developed. My thoughts then turned to a deck I'd used many times
when Saga was still in the format, around the time Nemesis was just
being released, my Suicide Black deck. This was the deck I'd used then
(a few cards may be off as it's been awhile since I'd thought about
it). Suicide Black 4 Rishadan Port 14 Swamps 4 Peat Bog 4 Phyrexian Negator 4 Skulking Fugitive 4 Skittering Horror 4 Skittering Skirge 4 Twisted Experiment 4 Parallax Dementia 4 Duress 2 VictimizeThis deck was very risky to use, due to the severe drawbacks of the creatures involved. Those creatures (Negator, Horror, and Skirge) have left, and, after six or so months of waiting, their replacements have finally arrived in full force (Foul Imp, Phyrexian Scuta, Chimeric Idol, and Serpent Warrior). The creatures Suicide Black uses from 7th, Invasion, and Planeshift may not offer as much fat for as little mana, but their drawbacks are far less severe, making the new Suicide Black deck far more stable than its Saga counterpart. Phyrexian Scuta, Chimeric Idol, Plague Spitter, and the few other potential Suicide Black candidates have just not given the deck enough strength to keep the deck together as of late. The reentering of a few cards (Duress, Foul Imp, Unholy Strength) in 7th Edition gives Suicide Black the edge needed to fill the holes left by Saga when it rotated out. Once again, Suicide Black is a viable archetype. Here is the deck I am currently testing. MAINDECK 4 Peat Bog 14 Swamp 4 Rishadan Port 4 Duress 4 Unholy Strength 4 Dark Ritual 4 Foul Imp 3 Sinister Strength 4 Tangle Wire 4 Plague Spitter 3 Serpent Warrior 4 Phyrexian Scuta 4 Persecute SIDEBOARD 4 Massacre 3 Tsabo's Decree 4 Cremate 4 UnmaskGuess what's next? THAT'S RIGHT!!! The Hey-I-can't-figure-out-why-you're-using-those-cards analysis that we all love and enjoy... MAINDECK 4 Peat Bog - Increased speed, though not necessarily always your first turn drop. You won't miss this mana when it's gone, trust me! 14 Swamp - 22 Land in the deck seems to be the correct number. 4 Rishadan Port - Good disruption for slowing down your opponent to allow for more time to bring the beats. 4 Duress - It's back. Most black decks will carry four copies of this card. It's too good not to use. It helps you out by knowing how to play your hand against their deck, or knowing what color to call with a second turn Persecute. 4 Unholy Strength - One of the original Suicide Black cards. Yeah, I think we'll need four of these. 4 Dark Ritual - No explanation needed. 4 Foul Imp - Not as good as Skittering Skirge was, but a whole lot better option than Phyrexian Battleflies. Plus, it's a good first turn 4/3 flyer with an Unholy Strength. 3 Sinister Strength - 4 Unholy Strengths just aren't enough. While I would much rather use another 2cc creature than this (more threats), the only real option is Ravenous Rats. Plague Spitter kills it, and this is not a Discard deck, so it doesn't fit too well. Sinister Strength is about as good as it gets for now (which isn't bad at all). 4 Tangle Wire - Most of the time, you'll have the ability to drop this on the second turn. About the only time you'd drop it then is against a control deck, and even then only if they go first. Most of the time this will be your third turn drop, after you've cast a threat. The disruption this provides, along with the low mana curve of the deck, buys more time to beatdown with your guys. Goes along with Rishadan Port very nicely as well.
ShadowDrifterX |
