Since the current Standard decks looks to be relying on the fetchlands and the three color cards in Khans for their main components, I have thought that there might be some existing decks that players can enjoy playing while still on a budget.

One deck that reminded me on writing this topic was the Mono Black Devotion deck tech from Theros Block constructed. Here is a sample list (source: MTG Top 8):

3 Abhorrent Overlord
4 Brain Maggot
4 Disciple of Phenax
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

4 Bile Blight
4 Hero’s Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
3 Read the Bones
2 Silence the Believers
2 Whip of Erebos

16 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Temple of Silence
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

The Thoughtseizes looks to be the only expensive cards here but we can switch to the cheaper Despise, since most of the relevant cards that we discard from opponents are still creatures and planeswalkers. Hero’s Downfall is another costly card, but cutting it down to only two copies won’t hurt the deck much. Murderous Cut is another spot removal to be added.

The creature lineup looks complete already, though we can have Herald of Torment as our third casting cost drop. Our other for the four-drop is Squelching Leeches. At the moment we have:

2 Abhorrent Overlord
4 Brain Maggot
3 Disciple of Phenax
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Herald of Torment
2 Squelching Leeches

That is a total of 19 creatures, somewhat resembling the creature count build of Mono Black Devo in Standard before Khans.

As for the spells, the removals will still be a division on Bile Blight, Hero’s Downfall, Silence the Believers, and Murderous Cut. The cards we’ll have Sign in Blood instead of Read the Bones for a one mana less casting cost. Here is what the list would look like:

3 Bile Blight
4 Despise
2 Hero’s Downfall
2 Murderous Cut
3 Sign in Blood
2 Silence the Believers
1 Whip of Erebos

We can have two to three Temples in our land base to help us in filter the draws and avoid mana screw. We would also still be having one copy of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for late game mana boost. Here is the list of the lands:

20 Swamp
3 Temple of Deceit
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

The complete decklist of the budget version of Mono Black Midrange:

Creatures
2 Abhorrent Overlord
4 Brain Maggot
3 Disciple of Phenax
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Herald of Torment
2 Squelching Leeches

Spells
3 Bile Blight
4 Despise
2 Hero’s Downfall
2 Murderous Cut
3 Sign in Blood
2 Silence the Believers
1 Whip of Erebos

Lands
20 Swamp
3 Temple of Deceit
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

In the sideboard, we can have the usual removals for specific matchups: Drown in Sorrow, Dark Betrayal, Pharika’s Cure and even Feast of Dreams. Just look for the cards that you think will keep your bad matchups in check.
Overall, this is one of the current deck archetypes that are not that affected if the expensive cards were cut. Most of the cards in the deck can be found on the crap pile of your local game store, mostly after a draft session or you can even get them for free from your friends. The rares on the average would cost you around two to three dollars, aside from the downfall which is around ten dollars at the lowest.

Mono Black Devotion took a big hit after losing Pack Rat and friends on the rotation as well as the good spot removals in Doom Blade and Ultimate Price, but I think it is still a good contender in the metagame because of its hand disruption that is relevant against its midrange matchups. We’ll see if this archetype can have a feature on the coming Pro Tour this weekend. As for now, I’d suggest you try this list on your next FNM or even on a casual Standard session.

That is about it for this post. Until next time.

The Standard format is back again in the Grand Prix circuit and this time it was held in Chicago IL. The metagame as expected is saturated with Black Devotion decks as well as varieties of Blue White Control. Red Sligh was the star on the previous weekend but didn’t perform quite well to make it to the top 8. The top deck after 15 rounds was Jared Boettcher’s Black Red Devo version, and here is his list:

Maindeck
4 Pack Rat
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

4 Thoughtseize
4 Underworld Connections
4 Hero’s Downfall
2 Dreadbore
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Doom Blade
1 Ultimate Price
1 Rakdos’s Return
1 Whip of Erebos

4 Mutavault
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
1 Mana Confluence
1 Temple of Epiphany
11 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Dreadbore
1 Ultimate Price
1 Rakdos’s Return
3 Lifebane Zombie
3 Duress
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Pharika’s Cure
1 Drown in Sorrow
1 Silence the Believers

The rest of the top 8 decklists can be found at the Wizard’s coverage page here.

It is another Grand Prix title for the Japanese powerhouse Yuuya Watanabe as he got this last weekend in Beijing. It is said to be his seventh GP win, tying to the record long held by the German Kai Budde. He played the usual Mono Black Devotion, but with a sideboard twist. Check out his winning Standard decklist below.

Maindeck
Lands (25)
4 Mutavault
19 Swamp
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Silence

Creatures (16)
4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Pack Rat

Spells (19)
1 Bile Blight
4 Devour Flesh
1 Duress
4 Hero’s Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price
4 Underworld Connections

Sideboard
1 Bile Blight
3 Doom Blade
3 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Read the Bones
4 Staff of the Death Magus

Yep, the new card tech is Staff of the Death Magus. He predicted the meta well with the rise of Boros Burn in Standard, and countered it well with the M14 artifact.

Event coverage of the Grand Prix can be found here.

The big news yesterday was the reprinting of Mutilate in Magic 2013. This revealed the high chance of Mono Black Control to become a powerhouse deck again in Standard. With the combination of the two core sets until October, its somewhat viable to come up with a decent list.

Here is my initial decklist for Mono Black Control post M13:

Maindeck
2 Evernight Shade
1 Griselbrand
2 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Batterskull
1 Black Sun Zenith
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
1 Despise
4 Distress
3 Doom Blade
1 Duress
1 Murder
4 Mutilate
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pristine Talisman
3 Sign in Blood
1 Staff of Nin

2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Liliana of the Dark Realms

25 Swamp

The M13 cards that I included are Duress, Murder, Mutilate, Sign in Blood, Staff of Nin and the latest Liliana of the Dark Realms. I’ve balanced the number of discard to the spot and mass removals.

I am thinking of other options like Grave Titan but I think lifegain sources are very much needed in the deck. Also, I am hoping Nantuko Shade be reprinted to replace Evernight Shade but the Undying ability gets me to consider it. Staff of Nin is a late game card draw/pseudo removal/finisher in one.

Tutor cards can also be included in the deck but that will depend later on as the spoiler list completes. Hopefully I can preorder a set of Mutilate for cheap price and avoid the hype. Anyhow, let’s see if their prices will stabilize.

Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Until the next post!