Because I don't want to take a turn off.. I want to pressure my opponent. It's an aggro/control deck.. we need to be advancing our board, doing damage and killing stuff.. not spending an entire turn drawing cards.

If anything.. I might find room for a 24th land.

Do the games go long enough for Shadows of the Past mana ability? Or is it mainly for scry?

Against control or lifegain decks.. yes they go long and it matters. It's also good vs token strategies that flood the board with chumps.. as is Rogues Passage. It's mainly for Scry though.. sifting through clumps of land/chumps to get to removal/finishers.

I miss your mono-black deck from last year Beast. It was so much fun.

Complete Disregard is good, but Reave Soul would be decent too here. It's cheaper and activates Shadows (though not an instant).
Carrier Thralls might be mono-black's best 2-drop.

I understand why you enjoy playing this deck so much.

I agree with what you're saying about Reave Soul/Complete Disregard. Disregard gives me some instant speed shenanigans though.. and it's been really useful at killing Nissa before she flips.. or permanently getting rid of Akoum Firebird. It also lets me wreck aura decks with 2 for 1s. I don't think it's a great card or anything.. but it has performed decently. It's biggest advantage is that it's an instant.

I agree that Carrier Thrall is the best black two drop.. but that's like saying you're the smartest kid at the Special Olympics. I think Shambling Ghoul is a decent card too.. but that's pretty much it.

This is what happens when you just build a mono-black deck from scratch. Just wanted to try out mono-black for fun, but this deck seriously impressed me.

Goodstuff Midrange

Creatures (23):
3 x Carrier Thrall
4 x Corpse Hauler
2 x Despoiler of Souls

3 x Fleshbag Marauder
2 x Graveblade Marauder
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer

1 x Erebos' Titan
3 x Gravedigger
2 x Smothering Abomination

2 x Priest of the Blood Rite

Non-creature spells (13):
3 x Vampiric Rites
4 x Bone Splinters

3 x Shadows of the Past

2 x Languish

1 x Ob Nixilis, Reignited

Lands (24):
17 x Swamp
4 x Mortuary Mire
3 x Foundry of the Consules


My take on some of the cards:
-If there ever is a deck for Mortuary Mire, this has to be it. You don't mind it in your opener as much because you just don't have a 1-drop (aside from the rare Vampiric Rites), and late it can get back a high-impact creature like Lily, Priest of the Blood Rite or Smothering Abomination (or even Gravedigger if the game gets very grindy).
-Corpse Hauler seems a bit weak, but actually fits this deck nicely. It's decent early (2/1 for 2 is definitely workable) and decent late (for pretty much the same reason as Mortuary Mire).


Some cards I decided to not include:
-Nantuko Husk does not seem to do enough in this deck. The combo with Smothering Abomination is possible, but this deck lacks ways to generate tokens to really make it effective.
-Cruel Revival is a card that got a lot worse from Origins, simply because it can't kill the threats you really need to kill (mostly ramp finishers).

I'd like to hear your input on the deck!

You could probably cut Vampiric Rites and Shadows to two copies each. Thornbow Archer and Gilt Leaf Winnower are cards who did a ton of work in my version of the deck. I also added Oblivion Sower just to have another big body. Another thing I did was cut Foundry to two copies and put in two copies of Rogues Passage to help close out games. Also.. Kothophed is like, the best creature in the deck. I'll never understand people not including him.

Yup. Kotho killed a lot of PWs and people for me, totally second this advice.

Thanks a lot for the input!

As for the enchantments, I definitely think 3 Shadows is good. You're always happy to have one in play and the second one is not terrible either. You might have a point on Vampiric Rites though. I like having enough sacrifice outlets in the deck, but very copy after the first Rites is a dead draw. I will definitely consider cutting one.

Thornbow Archer is good if you are aggressive, which this deck is not necessarily; also I'm not very high on that card personally. If I add a black 1-drop, it'll most likely be Sludge Crawler.
I found Winnower to be very conditional, but it is definitely a decent card.
One Kotophed may find its way into the deck if I cut a Vampiric Rites. I'm not so sure about the "best creature" part, as 6 mana is a lot, Priest of the Blood Rite is a better flier (puts more immediate pressure and can be recycled more easily) and Smothering Abomination arguably gets more draws (this deck does not have a ton of removal, and most of it requires you to sac a dude anyway).
Oblivion Sower is good, but I feel like this deck does not benefit enough from it. Putting lands into play is not as awesome if this thing sits at the top of the curve, and I don't have any Processor shenanigans going on. You probably could rebuild this deck to include Sludge Crawler, Wasteland Strangler and Sower, though.

Well.. you're entitled to your opinion. The Priest token is just a token.. it dies to any unsummon effect.. that doesn't make it bad.. but it's a weakness. Kothophed might cost one more mana, but he's the biggest flier in the game, and a card draw engine. I didn't even notice you had Smothering Abomination in the deck.. I don't necessarily feel there's enough sac fodder to keep it going indefinitely.. but a 4 power flier is always welcome.

My version of the deck is definitely more aggressive.. Thornbow is awesome.. he typically does 4-5 damage for one mana.. the value is killer.

I really like Priest too

You're my Turbo Lover.

You spikes go get a room and spike each other's rectums where the rest of us don't have to watch pls.

Mono black deserves better than this.

Before the Turbo-Loving, I always take a Painkiller. Then we Head out to the Highway and start Breakin' the Law. Once we're Livin' After Midnight, the Electric Eye says You've got Another Thing Comin' and we're both the Victim of Changes.

That's when we become Metal Gods.

Barney doesn't even like metal.. he listens to Selena Gomez FFS.

I hope that's propaganda.

What's wrong with Selena Gomez?

Nothing.

except her music.


I really do hate metal tho.

I'm carving your name into an ostrakon. Blasphemer.