Trading Post was one of the sleeper cards when M13 came out. It was also one of the cards that I’ve noticed that had potential for Standard, and my gut feel was not wrong. A new archetype had risen on the last two weeks which was nicknamed “Black Market”. It is actually a Mono Black Control deck which utilizes Trading Post for a lot of uses. The deck plays Wellsprings to setup the board, sweep critters with Mutilate and Black Sun Zenith, and end the game with Wurmcoils. It has a similar list with the recent Tezzeret artifact build.
The recent Black Market decks online has the same lineup of card components, but we think there are some flaws on their list. So, we came up with our own version:
Black Market by Mark Ian Alloso (co-edited with Oliver Mastilero)
Maindeck
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Karn Liberated
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Batterskull
3 Black Sun’s Zenith
1 Dismember
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
4 Ichor Wellspring
1 Mimic Vat
4 Mutilate
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Sign in Blood
3 Trading Post
2 Buried Ruin
1 Phyrexia’s Core
21 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Deathmark
1 Despise
3 Duress
1 Massacre Wurm
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Spine of Ish Sah
The Card Choices
Sign in Blood – the slot for these are the Simulacrums from the other lists. We find the sad robot slow enough to gain card advantage, plus it clumps the fourth turn for Trading Post. It is either turn two Wellspring or SIB.
Massacre Wurm – current meta is flooded with Naya Pod, RG Aggro, Delver and other decks with probably x/2 toughness critters. It is both a sweeper and a finisher, and its awkward target for Phantasmal Image or Metamorph (unlike Wurmcoil or the Titans).
Karn Liberated – Planeswalkers are the deck’s major problem and we’ll be dealing with them with another Planeswalker in the form of Karn. Karn’s just awesome against control, just add a timely play.
The Sideboard Plan
Here is a quick in and outs of cards on the sideboard:
Vs Pod Variants / RG Aggro / GW Aggro/ Dungrove Green
-1 Trading Post, -4 Ichor Wellspring, -1 Karn, -1 Liliana of Veil, -1 Nihil Spellbomb
+2 Curse of Death’s Hold, +2 Deathmark, + 1 Massacre Wurm, + 3 Phyrexian Obliterator
This sideboarding is quite tricky though, esp. for white based aggro as they’ll probably bringing in Celestial Purges. Most likely it will be artifact hate so the Obliterators will trump them.
VS Delver Variants
-2 Trading Post, -4 Ichor Wellspring, -1 Karn
+2 Curse of Death’s Hold, + 1 Massacre Wurm, +3 Duress, +1 Phyrexian Metamorph
Delver will possible bring in Negates so you’d to timing the casting of Duress on them. Metamorph is to help fend off Geist of St Traft and Talrand. They are dangerous with a pile of graveyard so you badly needed the spellbombs in this matchup. You might add a fourth one if Delver is popular in your area.
VS Mirror/Solar Flare
-2 Black Sun’s Zenith, -1 Dismember, -4 Mutilate, -1 Gftt, -1 Massacre Wurm
+1 Despise , +3 Duress, +3 Phyrexian Obliterator, +1 Spine of Ish Sah, +1 Phyrexian Metamorph
If Solar Flare is running a few Blade Splicers, switch some spot removals into Black Sun Zenith.
For deck suggestions and changes on the cards or whatever stuff, just hit the comment box below.
I guess that’s about it. Have fun with the deck & until next post! 😀