I've been working on this deck for a while now but I feel it still needs some work. The premise of the deck is to stall and control the board by removing land and creatures until you can get a soft lock with Tainted Aether then work you way into winning with a spell like Consume Spirit . This is a fun deck to play at a kitchen table and can be built even if you are on a modest budget. This deck works best in one vs one games but can work on teams as well.
Card Choices
These are your primary land destruction spells. They all cost less than 3 mana which means if you go second, you can remove a land with the help of Dark Ritual and if you go first you can play Blight on turn two. Blight is a budget substitue for Sinkhole and if money is not an object you should definatly run the latter. The other 3 spells are all essentially identical with the exception of Rancid Earth. Late game Rancid Earth can get rid of pesky critters and small tokens so you should always run 4 of those.
These are your creature control options. There's a wide array of options. Mostly edicts and board wipes but some Go For The Throat is solid spot removal and instant speed. Mutilate really needs no introduction and in some cases is a better card than Damnation (because it can hit indestructible stuff). Innocent Blood is a solid turn two play and is one of the best black removal spells in the game.
Tainted Aether is the star of this deck and can be brutal if played early. With help from Dark Ritual it can literally be played on turn two and some decks just can't answer it. Reoccuring land destruction and creature destruction for only 4 mana. This thing is an absoute monster in many scenarios.
Phyrexian Arena is your draw engine. It is still is one of the best black draw engines in the game and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. A fantastic turn one play is Dark Ritual into Phyrexian Arena . Losing 1 lifea turn is not a big deal, especially when your win conditions gain you life.
These cards are you win conditions.Consume Spirit and Corrupt , both these cards late game are incredibly powerful and casting 2 or 3 of them should easily win the game, especially if you are able to run them with Cabal Coffers (with Cabal Coffers , often just casting one can do the trick). Cabal Coffers does hurt the wallet, but it is one of the best mono black cards ever. Don't worry though, this deck certainly is playable casually without Cabal Coffers .
Strip Mine is the best land removal spell in the game but Swamp s are still your best friend. Don't forget you can only run one Strip Mine . Dark Ritual is essential, especially if you aren't running Cabal Coffers because they make your win conditions bigger. They also allow for turn one land destruction or Phyrexian Arena along with turn two Tainted Aether .
I plan on adding an additional section on match-ups, so please do not hestitate to state what decks would perform poorly against this deck along with which decks would have an upper hand. Thanks for taking the time to read over my deck. I'm free to answer any questions about the deck and I strongly encourage them, I would also love to hear any feedback or alternative options for the deck. I really feel that this deck is missing something but I'm trying to keep it budget friendly.
Habitat Destruction (Mono Black Land Destruction) IntroductionI've been working on this deck for a while now but I feel it still needs some work. The premise of the deck is to
I notice a lot of creature removal. Would the deck do well against control or combo? I'd at least play a little hand disruption I think, since it's good in most matchups. Befoul is an option that gives you utility, but it is a little expensive on the mana side of things.
I notice a lot of creature removal. Would the deck do well against control or combo? I'd at least play a little hand disruption I think, since it's good in most matchups. Befoul is an option that gives you utility,
Wouldn't it be easier to have a constant stream of mass LD (like catastrophe ) along with some artifact mana sources to simply lock everybody down? That probably sounds like a completely different deck, though.
I see your deck focusing on several different things at once...which isn't really a focus. My main concern is the single-shot LD spells. Not only do they cost 3 on average, you don't have a way of re-using them. Not to mention the fact that you are only slowing your opponent down a little bit when compared to what you could have played on your turn instead of a LD spell.
The other focus of the deck is creature destruction. If you are devoting half of the deck to LD, and half to kill-spells, then your deck is only going to accomplish whatever it wants to accomplish half of the time. If you had a bit of discard, then you could deal with threats before they even become threatening.
I honestly believe you could make this deck a mono-black control deck, especially because your wincon is to drain your opponent with consume spirit . If you decide to do this, card advantage is king. There are plenty of MBC builds online, just google it.
Wouldn't it be easier to have a constant stream of mass LD (like catastrophe ) along with some artifact mana sources to simply lock everybody down? That probably sounds like a completely different deck, though. C
Wouldn't it be easier to have a constant stream of mass LD (like catastrophe ) along with some artifact mana sources to simply lock everybody down? That probably sounds like a completely different deck, though.
I see your deck focusing on several different things at once...which isn't really a focus. My main concern is the single-shot LD spells. Not only do they cost 3 on average, you don't have a way of re-using them. Not to mention the fact that you are only slowing your opponent down a little bit when compared to what you could have played on your turn instead of a LD spell.
The other focus of the deck is creature destruction. If you are devoting half of the deck to LD, and half to kill-spells, then your deck is only going to accomplish whatever it wants to accomplish half of the time. If you had a bit of discard, then you could deal with threats before they even become threatening.
I honestly believe you could make this deck a mono-black control deck, especially because your wincon is to drain your opponent with consume spirit . If you decide to do this, card advantage is king. There are plenty of MBC builds online, just google it.
Yeah, that would be a competley different deck. You are talking about a mono black control deck that isn't budget at all. The 5 lands you are talking about alone cost more than this deck as a whole. I do have a mono black control deck that I'll post sometime that's pretty solid and is fairly budget (with the exception of Cabal Coffers ).
The deck isn't for multiplayer, so Exsanguniate is identical to Consume Spirit except it costs more money and can't hit planeswalkers.
This is a budget mono black land destruction deck. That's what it is so while stuff like Catastrophe , and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are solid cards, they certainly don't fit into this deck.
@Sleeping: Yeah, Befoul is alright, I considered it but it costs too much mana.
I'm curious what you guys would recommend for potential other win conditions in a land destruction deck like this.
Yeah, that would be a competley different deck. You are talking about a mono black control deck that isn't budget at all. The 5 lands you are talking about alone cost more than this deck as a whole. I do have a mono black control deck that I'll post
Oh. $50 odd for 4. Right you are I did not know that. Still I leave the overpriced sugestion stand. A deck with no creatures to lose could use a Damnation.
Oh. $50 odd for 4. Right you are I did not know that. Still I leave the overpriced sugestion stand. A deck with no creatures to lose could use a Damnation.
I really apperciate the feedback everyone, please keep it coming!
Trinisphere is very sexy, I never knew about that card, and although it's restricted, it couldn't hurt to run one. What should I cut? Helldozer is cool and fits the theme but I was wondering if there were alternate win conditions that were non-creatures.
Damnation will not make it in this deck, I said it before, and I'll say it again, this is a budget deck. No Cabal Coffers , no Damnation , etc. If a card costs more than $5 bucks or so I won't consider it. As the deck stands now, nothing in here costs more than $4 and that's just a single Strip Mine
I really apperciate the feedback everyone, please keep it coming! Trinisphere is very sexy, I never knew about that card, and although it's restricted, it couldn't hurt to run one. What should I cut? Helldozer
I don't see what's so great about Damnation or even Plague Wing if you aren't playing creatures anyways. Mutilate hits everything, including indestructible stuff. I guess if you really fear regeneration stuff, but that's not very popular in my play circle. On turn 4 or 5, Mutilate is probably going to get rid of everything. Barter in Blood also hits really hard on turn 4, especially after an earlier Innocent Blood or Go For the Throat .
In this deck, Plague Wind and Multiate function virtually the same, especially if I have 9 mana. Mutilate does practically everything Plague Wind does multiple turns earlier and it does everything Damnation does for a quarter of the price. Besides, Tained Aether is going to wreck hell in the deck anyways, you can't even flood the board against a card like that.
I don't see what's so great about Damnation or even Plague Wing if you aren't playing creatures anyways. Mutilate hits everything, including i
@Sleeping, I think your version of the deck is interesting but doesn't have nearly enough creature removal for a deck with no creatures. I really want to keep Tainted Aether , that card is the whole reason I built this deck. I TOTALLY forgot about Sorin's Vengeance and I should run that over Corrupt . Pretty sure I should run Trinisphere . Turn one Trinisphere through Dark Ritual is very very dirty. It might as well say "for 2 turns, your opponent can't do anything" and by then I should hit one of their lands anyways.
@Sleeping, I think your version of the deck is interesting but doesn't have nearly enough creature removal for a deck with no creatures. I really want to keep Tainted Aether , that card is the whole reason I built t
Yeah, but if you use Consume Spirit as removal, you really only have 2 solid win conditions which is a little thin in my opinon. Evincar's Justice is interesting though. Not my type of card, I never really liked buyback. Does anyone love buyback? Your recommendations are very helpful though.
I cut an Icequake , I really didn't want to but I had to make room for Trinisphere (by the way are there any other cards that are similar to Trinisphere?). Would going down to 21 lands be a better option?
Yeah, but if you use Consume Spirit as removal, you really only have 2 solid win conditions which is a little thin in my opinon. Evincar's Justice is interesting though. Not my t
I also thought of two things that might improve your deck. Lacking many solid turn two plays you might want to play something like Mind Stone . You might also want to play a couple Barren Moor since they can be land when you need them and a card when you don't.
The other thing I thought about is win conditions. You don't have to waste as many spells on win conditions if you throw a couple Mishra's Factory // Urza's Factory // Gargoyle Castle // Zoetic Cavern into your deck. Twisted Abomination is also a pretty reliable finisher (because of the regeneration), and can cycle for a Swamp if you need one. He's probably worse than one of the creature lands though, since you have to spend a turn in order to get a land off of him.
Sphere of Resistance , and my favorite, Lodestone Golem .I also thought of two things that might improve your deck. Lacking many solid turn two plays you might want to play something l
Yeah, Sphere of Reisistance is very good. There are multiple turn two plays I have. Go For The Throat is a common one, as is turn two Dark Ritual into a 4 drop. I really want this to be creatureless if possible.
Yeah, Sphere of Reisistance is very good. There are multiple turn two plays I have. Go For The Throat is a common one, as is turn two Dark Ritual into a 4 drop. I really want this to be creatureless if possible.
Trinisphere , in my opinion, is a bad card. By the time you're able to play it on turn 3, everything will cost roughly 3 mana anyway. (If you're worried about fast goblin decks or something, then just play caltrops or thunderstaff ). If you get a perfect hand with trinisphere and dark ritual to get it out on turn 1, you're essentially stalling everything until turn 3, because all of your turn 2 spells would cost a minimum of 3 (including dark ritual , which becomes a dead card for the remainder of the game).
If the goal is to play a large consume spirit or sorin's vengeance , then working to get up to that much mana is the most important thing of all. Thran dynamo and other artifact mana sources would be the best route.
For the record, I love buyback. ;) Trinisphere , in my opinion, is a bad card. By the time you're able to play it on turn 3, everything will cost roughly 3 mana anyway. (If you're worried about fast goblin decks or s
Have you thought about Tendrils of Corruption instead of consume spirit . I like it better than than spirit because it's an instant and you only need 4 mana to play it and can be used a removal spell. Only downside is it doesn't hit player. It's very budget friendly.
Have you thought about Tendrils of Corruption instead of consume spirit . I like it better than than spirit because it's an instant and you only need 4 mana to play it and can be
