Duskmourn is now fully previewed, and everyone is scrambling to come up with what will be the best deck. I am currently doing the same, and like I always do, I am coming to you today with my best version of Mono Black for Duskmourn! The one thing I love the most about this set is that feels like Mono Black will be able to do a couple of different archetypes that will be competitive. There are combos, midrange options, and even aggro. Other colors are also getting the same flexibility. It feels like we will have a well-rounded format once all of these cards are released. The power level will be incredibly high, and the format should be wide open. While I am excited for the diversity that is to come, let's take a look at how this list works.
Combos and Play Lines in the New Deck
If you were here a few sets ago, you saw me trying to get one turn kills with Bloodletter of Aclazotz. We did have a good bit of success with that, and the combo was really fun. Today we are going to be able to tighten up that idea and hopefully make it much more consistent. We now have multiple ways to make the opponent lose half of their life total, which becomes their full life total when Bloodletter is out. We have some other options in the deck to pivot from that plan if there is simply too much removal that we are up against - because the format is still full of efficient options to remove permanents. We will also utilize the good removal that we are given, and we are now gaining access to enchantment removal that is somewhat efficient. We should be able to deal with most of the problems that we face, and I think it is safe to say that we are cooking. Let's take a look at the list itself now, and the cards that are going to be relevant.
As you can see, we got some new cards that now put combos on both sides of Bloodletter for the one turn kill. It used to be that we had to wait until turn five to pull off the combo, but now we can do it on turn four, and this is without ramping. One of the most redeeming parts about this is that Unstoppable Slasher is very difficult to remove. A lot of the newer cards are recursive, which is great given all of the removal that we have in the format. We also have ways to bring back creatures from the grave, and we can make extra copies of them when doing so, as both of the creatures in the combo are non-legendary.
Relevant New Cards
This is our new combo piece that allows us to get things going earlier. The fact that it has deathtouch is helpful too, because it makes it so that they have to block, but also makes it so that there isn't really a good block against this card. A first strike creature is about the only thing that could block it well, but even then, it gets returned to the battlefield once it dies. It will have two stun counters on it, but we are able to keep things going well enough with our other threats before we reload our combo.
This will be the other side of our combo spectrum that will allow us to attempt to win the game on both turn four, and turn five. It is a unique card because it also says that the opponent can't gain life, which is a fun ability on its own. Since it is five mana, however, we have to get our payoff somehow, and that is in making the opponent lose half of their life total. Since we have to deal damage to make this happen, it is nice to have the Bloodletter on the board since it is a flyer. The built-in evasion helps to make that combo viable if we weren't able to get it with the slasher the turn before.
This card has sparked a good bit of controversy. Many people are saying that it does not adhere to the color pie. I fundamentally disagree, because that statement ignores how black as a color seeks to have ultimate power at any cost. It costs more mana than any other spell that does that efficiently, and we still have to pay life for it. The card would be virtually unplayable in any other color that generally has enchantment removal. The card isn't that revolutionary, but we needed enchantment removal, and if it will save us from losing a game, it is worth including in the deck. The fact that it has the modality of also destroying a creature is helpful too, as sometimes we have a hard time removing artifact creatures. Something else that is beneficial here is that the spell is an instant. Previously, we were limited to removing enchantments at sorcery speed, and that was another drawback that gave the argument of us maybe not caring about enchantment removal. I think now that we have so many good enchantments in the format, this is a card that we are forced to run.
Older Cards that are Relevant
We know that this card is the other half of the combo, we see it on ladder a lot, and we have probably all died to its shenanigans at least once. It is something that most people believe to be kill on sight, because it simply cannot stay on the board for too long. We have added some cards to the deck that will allow us to get Bloodletter back, because people simply do not allow it to stay on the board. Since other pieces of the combo are resilient, we want Bloodletter to get a second chance too.
This card is a newer one, but still technically not the newest, so we put it in the old category. Rebirth allows us to get back either of our creatures for the combo, and get two copies of them, as they both are non-legendary. If we can get multiple copies of both cards on the board, it should increase the likelihood that we can resolve our combo. It also is a pretty good top deck in the late game. If we can just get two Bloodletter on the board with nothing else on it, and opponent has no cards in hand, that alone gives us a good shot to win in a couple of turns.
This is still one of the best two drops in the format, and we couldn't leave out our beloved bat from our newest mono black deck - especially when we need to be peeking into our opponent's hand to see if we can safely resolve our combo. Since we aren't worried about having a two mana spell that is a bomb, we have the two drop slot reserved for clearing out their hand, and general removal spells.
I hope that you enjoyed today's deck tech, and don't forget to come watch it during early access on Wednesday 9/18 at the Twitch link below!
