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5 years ago ::
Jan 22, 2008 - 11:52PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2007
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     Why Mono Black Rogues?Mono Black Rogues are very fun to use, and incredibly fast. And the deck itself has an extremely solid manabase, requiring only swamps, and any colorless only producing lands like mutavault are extremely easy to use without messing up your manabase. Also, most of the creatures have evasion, and the one's that don't have crazy abilities (like recursion, searching through an opponents library and removing 3 cards from the game, buffing the rest of your rogues, etc.) And the rogues themselves are very cheap, maxing out at 3 if you pay the prowl cost, which leads to fast games. Any deck that doesn't have some way of handling your early game will die before they get to mid game. The different builds have different speeds and some are designed for midgame so they don't run out of steam too fast, but still, the rogues will be a pain for pretty much any deck you play against. Card Choices Spoiler:
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Lands Spoiler:
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Swamp  : Your classic black mana producer.
Mutavault  : A land, a creature. it enables prowl, and can be used to do that last bit of damage. it's also not too bad on the manabase for this deck, since almost everything takes only 1 black mana, and the rest colorless
Creatures Spoiler:
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Prickly Boggart  : A 1/1 evasive creature for 1. A great prowl enabler.
Nightshade Stinger  : A 1/1 evasive creature for one. Great for prowl.
Oona's prowler  : A 3/1 flier for 2 with a small drawback of letting your opponent debuff it a little for one card.
Squeaking Pie Sneak  : Can work in a rogue deck with a lot of goblins,
Frogtosser banneret  : Makes things cheaper, if you get it out early it can be devastating(3 two drops on turn 3.)
Oona's Blackguard  : Makes every rogue that comes into play after this into almost a hypnotic specter. And it buffs them. and this card itself has evasion. And it only costs 2 mana.
Dunerider Outlaw  : Good against any green deck, but is probably sideboard material.
Auntie's Snitch  : A non-evasive rogue that keeps coming back as long as you keep doing damage and it has prowl.
Stinkdrinker Bandit  : Gives a global +2/+1 buff for all of your creatures that aren’t blocked. For it’s prowl cost it’s very good. The only downside is that it’s a creature and it only has one toughness, so it dies easily.
Marsh Flitter  : 3 rogues for 4 mana. Is better with global buffs like Stinkdrinker Bandit, Bad Moon, and Oona’s Blackguard.
Earwig Squad  : A 5/3 for 3 that lets you get rid of wog's or whatever major threat your opponent may have. A great card.
Shriekmaw  : A good removal card, or a good creature + removal card. Only drawback is it isn’t a rogue, and it can only target nonblack creatures.
Artifacts and EnchantmentsSpoiler:
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Bitterblossom  : Gives you a 1/1 token with flying each of your upkeeps at the cost of one life. Only real drawback is the life loss.
Bad Moon  : Can toughen up your creatures to survive through burn. Otherwise a Pyroclasm  can wipe out almost every creature in the deck.
Cloak and dagger  : A great card because of the free equip for rogues. Good with stinkdrinker so he can survive long enough for the rest of the team to do lethal damage.
Other SpellsSpoiler:
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Thoughtseize  Good early discard. Only drawback is the life loss.
Distress  An easier to get version of thoughtseize for one more mana.
Nameless Inversion  : Great removal, and if you use the banneret it only costs 1 mana.
Terror  : Cheap removal. Only drawback is it won’t work against black creatures or artifact creatures.
Morsel Theft  : A “Lightning Helix” that can only work on players. It lets you draw a card, and it’s life loss, so it can get past story circle and other damage preventers.
Noggin Whack  Good cheap efficient discard.
Decklists Spoiler:
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Patrick Chapin's Mono-Black RoguesSpoiler:
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w4ffl35's Deck Spoiler:
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Doom.Exe's Deck Spoiler:
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Matchups Spoiler:
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Many more are being tested. I'll update this to match my logs every so often
Goblins: Seemed to go about 50/50, more testing is needed. This seems to be a bad matchup for us so far, they have plenty of removal to handle early prowl enablers.Earwigging their Wort and/or their Gargodon seemed to work pretty well, you can't reliably earwig them twice in one game though, but when you do, you can pretty much tell what's in their hand. You need to make them run out of steam, or race them with an early flier with the equipment on it. Bitterblossom was ridiculously helpful in this matchup.
Mirror Match: Whoever went first, or got prowl going first usually won
Elementals: Completely destroyed before they could go too crazy, need more testing to be sure about this matchup.
Green/Blue Control: Completely destroyed over and over. I think it's a really good matchup, since they have no mass removal.
Teachings: Won a few times against it, more testing is needed though.
Elves: Won. by a lot. they couldn't really handle rogues at all. after sideboarding in duneriders, they usually die quickly game 2.
Turbofog: A very bad matchup for us. Early discard is one of the only things we can do about it.
Dragonstorm: Maybe one of our hardest matchups. you need to go as fast as you can, and you need targeted discard. And if you can get an earwig off you get rid of 3 of the dragons, you still need to go fast. That deck after sideboarding is brutal. Pyroclasm and stuff like that can tear you apart. More testing is needed, other than thoughtseize and earwig, there isn't a whole lot we can do. This deck has tons and tons of cheap removal cards. Cloak and Dagger could possibly keep an evasive guy alive.
Doran Rock- It really depends on the kind of mbra deck you're using. some versions of the deck destroyed Doran, others died to it. speed is the key here, and eyeblights ending is important too.
Blink- It was pretty close. More testing is needed.
Skred Red- It depends on if you can win before stuffy gets out. The artifact creatures that block fear are incredibly annoying. So is all the removal. If you get going fast enough you win. Speed is definately the key here.
Deck Doctor:hunt5037 Special Thanks to: Doom.exe and w4ffl35 for helping me with massive amounts of playtesting since a little before the pre-release. And to everyone else that we've played against. And to Hodoku for the dividers. And Akira Everhate for the banner. If there's something I've overlooked, please, tell me. I'll update here as often as I can. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. and if you want to playtest with me, send me a private message. thanks.
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 1:55AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2007
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22 Land 4 x Mutavault 18 x Swamp 23 Creature 4 x Nightshade Stinger 4 x Prickly Boggart 4 x Oona's Prowler  4 x Frogtosser Banneret  4 x Stinkdrinker Bandit 3 x Earwig Squad 15 Spell 4 x Nameless Inversion 4 x Thoughtseize 1 x Distress 3 x Morsel Theft 4 x Bad Moon Sideboard 4 x Noggin Whack 1 x Morself Theft  1 x Earwig Squad 2 x Distress 3 x Bitterblossom 4 x Deathmark  This is what I'm going to try out for monoblack Rogue Aggro. Thoughtseize is an absolute must, especially with Chameleon Colossus  coming out. I've actually included 1 Distress main and 2 in the side as extra protection against this. Thoughtseize/Distress is also your best bet against mass removal like Wrathnation or Pyroclasm. Mutavault is undeniably good, of course, and it's about friggin' time that mono-black got a playable man land. I think the 8 EVASIVE 1-drop critters is what makes this deck awesome. It helps guarantee prowl mechanics while maintaining great tempo. The one-drops also synergize beautifully with the mass pump like Bad Moon and Stinkdrinker Bandit. Bad Moon is totally fundamental in a mono-black weenie deck, which is basically what Black Rogue is. The fact that we get to run it alongside Stinkdrinker for even more pump is simply phenomenal.
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 3:28AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Nov 16, 2007
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 5:13AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2007
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Madmagemax: Hmm, I don't think I even considered the colossus in playtesting. I believe you've got some good reasons for running discard instead of more removal or creatures, but when you've got such a low curve, is the banneret really necessary? For the same cost you could get a Blackguard or Snitch's prowl cost, which I think are better choices. chaosraider: First of all, You can't really run two colors and call it a mono deck. besides that, there's no reason not to run 4 prickly and 4 stingers in a rogue deck. Also I'd up the count of throng to 2 or 3, drop the banneret to 2, and put in 2 more secluded glen and 4 River of Tears  . I'd also drop either the morsel thefts or the noggin whacks for counters of some sort. Lastly, I think a deck like that fits better under Faerie-Rogue than it does under MBRA.
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 8:11AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2007
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I've been running MBA for some time now, and Thoughtseize is just plain awesome. I've cleared many wraths that would have otherwise jammed me up, and when I've got beatdown advantage over another aggro deck, I typically use Thoughtseize get removal out of their hand to make sure it stays that way. It can often clear an early Doran, too. Another reason to consider running Bad Moon is that Stinkdrinker won't affect your board the turn you play him unless you pay 4 mana for him. Bad Moon can be played 1st main phase to immediately give your critters the extra damage and toughness. While it's effect is not as powerful as Stinkdrinker's, it is faster in terms of tempo, and it's also harder for the opponent to remove. Actually, the biggest reason I've included Frogtosser is because of the Haste. Being able to follow up Stinkdrinker Bandit with a hasted Rogue is pretty awesome, and it gets around Stinkdrinker's primary flaw. *sigh* If only Nether Traitor  were a rogue....
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 8:45AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jul 10, 2007
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I've been running MBA for some time now, and Thoughtseize is just plain awesome. I've cleared many wraths that would have otherwise jammed me up, and when I've got beatdown advantage over another aggro deck, I typically use Thoughtseize get removal out of their hand to make sure it stays that way. It can often clear an early Doran, too.
Another reason to consider running Bad Moon is that Stinkdrinker won't affect your board the turn you play him unless you pay 4 mana for him. Bad Moon can be played 1st main phase to immediately give your critters the extra damage and toughness. While it's effect is not as powerful as Stinkdrinker's, it is faster in terms of tempo, and it's also harder for the opponent to remove.
Actually, the biggest reason I've included Frogtosser is because of the Haste. Being able to follow up Stinkdrinker Bandit with a hasted Rogue is pretty awesome, and it gets around Stinkdrinker's primary flaw. *sigh* If only Nether Traitor were a rogue....
God if only he was! Anyways i think that bad moon is good but both, bitterblossom and cloak and dagger are better. So it may have a hard time getting a slot.
Heres my take
MBA rogues
Lands-2 x 2 
4 x *Muta vault 
18 x *Swamp 
Creatures-2 x 3 
4 x *Prickly boggart 
4 x *Nightshade stinger 
4 x *Oona's blackguard 
4 x *Oona's prowler 
4 x *Stinkdrinker bandit 
3 x *Earwig squad 
Spells-1 x 5 
4 x *Thoughtseize 
4 x *Bitterblossom 
3 x *Cloak and dagger 
4 x *Morsel theft 
Sideboard-1 x 5
4 x *Nameless inversion 
3 x *Deathmark 
3 x *Auntie's snitch 
4 x *Noggin whack 
1 x *Funeral charm 
Sb is a little whacky, but i think the rest is pretty solid.
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 2:37PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2007
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I've been running MBA for some time now, and Thoughtseize is just plain awesome. I've cleared many wraths that would have otherwise jammed me up, and when I've got beatdown advantage over another aggro deck, I typically use Thoughtseize get removal out of their hand to make sure it stays that way. It can often clear an early Doran, too.
Another reason to consider running Bad Moon is that Stinkdrinker won't affect your board the turn you play him unless you pay 4 mana for him. Bad Moon can be played 1st main phase to immediately give your critters the extra damage and toughness. While it's effect is not as powerful as Stinkdrinker's, it is faster in terms of tempo, and it's also harder for the opponent to remove.
Actually, the biggest reason I've included Frogtosser is because of the Haste. Being able to follow up Stinkdrinker Bandit with a hasted Rogue is pretty awesome, and it gets around Stinkdrinker's primary flaw. *sigh* If only Nether Traitor were a rogue....
Glad to see you MadgMagemax.... I remember you from the old mono black aggro thread... Thoughtseize is a great card... I'm just not using it because of how expensive it is in real life... I really don't like the banneret that much myself... it just seems a little pointless to lower the cost, when instead you could be massively pumping your creatures, or playing another threatening creature... I'm not saying it's bad... I just don't like it that much..
Thanks for the decklists people, keep em coming! I wanna see as many good variations as possible...
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 3:27PM
#8
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You missed thoughseize  and urborg, tomb of yawgmoth  ... turn 2 banneret, turn 3 bitterblossom, blackguard, oona's prowler ain't gonna happen if you have mutavault  s. 2-of urborg has worked out great for me. Shriekmaw is better than terror  , and nameless inversion  has little tribal interaction anyways - you'd end up wanting to use eyeblight's ending  instead. Lastly, dunerider outlaw  is awesome (seeing as 70% of all decks run green these days and it works with oona's blackguard  ), and so is bad moon  ... bitterblossom  tokens are just that much scarier if they're 2/2's or 3/3's. Look at it as stinkdrinker bandit  5-8. Curve is also very important, you want to empty your hand turn 3-4. Rogue Rack  requires a different strategy, less beatdown and rogues, more focused discard ( augur of skulls  , distress  over bitterblossom , morsel theft  ).
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 4:03PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2007
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You missed thoughseize and urborg, tomb of yawgmoth ... turn 2 banneret, turn 3 bitterblossom, blackguard, oona's prowler ain't gonna happen if you have mutavault s. 2-of urborg has worked out great for me.
Shriekmaw is better than terror , and nameless inversion has little tribal interaction anyways - you'd end up wanting to use eyeblight's ending instead. Lastly, dunerider outlaw is awesome (seeing as 70% of all decks run green these days and it works with oona's blackguard ), and so is bad moon ... bitterblossom tokens are just that much scarier if they're 2/2's or 3/3's. Look at it as stinkdrinker bandit 5-8. Curve is also very important, you want to empty your hand turn 3-4.
Rogue Rack requires a different strategy, less beatdown and rogues, more focused discard ( augur of skulls , distress over bitterblossom , morsel theft ).
I haven't had much problem at all with getting enough black mana... i really don't think urborg is needed... I'll try it out though...
Dunerider works against green, but i'd use it for sideboard... inversion isn't for the tribal interaction, it's for cheap removal...
And you don't always want to empty your hand, against a deck with WoG or Damnation, you can play a bitterblossom and hold back a little bit... then if they do use a WoG effect, you can punish them the next turn...
Oh and by the way, the banneret doesn't reduce the cost of bitterblossom... so you've been playing it wrong if you have actually played a bitterblossom and two other 2 drops on turn 3 after playing the banneret turn 2...
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5 years ago ::
Jan 23, 2008 - 4:27PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Nov 25, 2007
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I've been playtesting against RG Wariors, RG Shammans, UB Rogues, and MG Elves. My decklist has a 6-5 record ATM, and has gone some changes. I find that Stromgald Crusader fits very nicely in the SB, even if he's not a rogue. He's great, especially against MW Kithkin decks and as an anti-oblivion ring creature. This guy single-handedly keeps Thoughtweft Trio, Kinsbaile Borderguard, Knight of Meadowgrain, and Preeminent Captain at bay.
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