Or discard.

You know the fun alternative .

Or not playing your whole board vs a red deck .

Both are excellent choices

I do not run Tormenter because I would rather have a beatstick at the high end slot instead of a utility card. I'm worried about opposing blockers and basically just having the guy sit there every turn to be a trigger.

Jack, in your deck you could even run Maalfeld Twins. It's a big zombie (that doesn't die to Anger). People don't like using removal on it, apart from exiles.

I've put some time into this little baby.. I really enjoy it.

There are a lot of ways to finish the opponent here:

Lots of black bodies for an aggro plan, backed up by lord effects (Paragon/Hall) and combat tricks (Undying Evil, Ulcerate). Bloodflow gets a decent size on her if Bloodghast is around.

A reach plan with Kalastria Highborn and her vampire buddies.. easily recurrable damage/sac fodder with Bloodghast. If they don't block the Ghast, it hurts, especially once pumped with lord effects, if they do block he takes a chump. If they kill it, its 2 to the face and 2 life gained from Highborn. Its 4 to the face with Sanguine Bond out. Speaking of which.. there is a decent amount of lifegain in this deck.. Sanguine Bond will finish the game without Blood Tribute, and the incremental damage from dead vamps, Hakeem's favorite Radiant Fountains, Child of Night (whose damage from bond goes up with Lord effects and Undying Evil counters) can really put the opponent on their heels. Blood Tribute even without Sanguine Bond is a staggering blow.. let me say that again.. A STAGGERING BLOW. Half your life total out of nowhere in one spell is a huge, huge shot in the face.. and that's without kicking it. Its common to cast Blood Tribute, decimate their health then alpha strike.. not caring if they counter attack bc you just sucked half their health out of their total and into yours. Bloodflow Connoisseur is the enabler of a reach-based alpha strike. If the board stalls and you have a lot of vamps, Kalastria Highborn, Sanguine Bond, etc. you can launch an all out assault on their health total. This is best done after a Blood Tribute if you have that option available the previous turn. It's a very powerful answer to a stalled board.

Everyone knows Blood Tribute/Sanguine Bond on a vamp is GG.. and its so awesome when in happens.. and it happens pretty regularly. It accounts for about 1/3 of my wins.. with the aggro/reach plan winning the other 2/3.

The removal package is pretty good. Dead Weight for neutering resolved bombs offering more favorable blocks, also.. killing all the bad 2/2s. Ulcerate for the same thing.. instant removal.. two-for-one-ing combo and enchantment decks. Assassinate for anything that can't answer.. like the Baneslayer that keeps smashing your face.. that your force can't touch (no air units in the whole deck). Paragon of Open Graves can also give deathtouch for 3 mana.. which comes in handy vs resolved ground bombs like all Green's big dudes. Its great attacking over and over with Bloodghasts into a board of bombs who let it through bc they're scared to block.

This deck wins.. it really does. I feel it might be a bad matchup to countermagic decks (once they see Bond go down, they will hold counter mana open eternally) but I haven't run into any yet that could answer. If they run a lot of counters, I just keep on the aggro plan, dropping bodies every turn or two, recurring Bloodghasts with land drops.. if it doesn't get exiled.

Looking forward to the feedback from you fellas. I hope some of you try this out. I'm about 33-4 with it.

Don't play Fountains with your Bloodghasts/Highborns please. Looks solid, though, I like the combo and monoblack has a decent curve now.

Dude... Fountain has been AWESOME!

Just don't play it on turn turn 1 or two.. its fine to drop as your third land. Ideally.. if you curve out good... you don't play it until you have Sanguine Bond out. Also.. there has to be mitigation for Graveborn Muse, Ulcerate and Phyrexian Rager. Fountain helps with that. It also lets me take a few extra hits.. which has been CRUCIAL against Goblins.. like.. it saved my ass and let me turn it around. I was down to one life and if I hadn't of dropped a single fountain a few turns earlier, I'd of been dead on T5. I hit a T6 kicked Blood Tribute which saved the day.. it allowed for favorable blocks.

It's fine in this deck dude.. seriously. There are no Nightmares here, and we have lifegain synergy. Nothing costs anymore than double black.. and there are 19 other lands. It hasn't been a problem a single time. Like I said... just drop it on T3.

Edit: Also.. I edited my original post with the plan. If you can think of anything that progresses the plan, let me know.

Looks like a solid deck, I'll have to try it out. I have to take out the fountains though.

OMG you guys and your Fountain hate.

This is one of two decks I've liked it in. There were 3 Fountains originally and they were so good I maxed out. It has sucked everywhere else except mono green.

I just had a game where the board stalled hard. I had two Kalastria Highborns out, two Sanguine Bonds, a Bloodghast and a Paragon. I kept sending hasted Bloodghasts into his army of bombs, including Kozilek who he dared not block with bc of Paragon's deathtouch activation. Finally, he got pissed and attacked.. I sacced a Highborn and the Bloodghast which was enough for 10 to go lethal with another Highborn activation still on the stack out of the graveyard.

I love this black reach.. makes me want Suffer the Past in there. I long for Corrupt.

Would a couple or 3 of bloodflow connoisseur work here, having a sac outlet seems great with undying evil and kalastria highborn? Also it's another vampire.

You guys really need to play with Devouring Swarm, it's really good. Much better than Specter here, I feel.

Hakeem: Swarm sounds like it might just fit the bill. Spectre is a MUCH needed air pressence since a lot of boards offer unfavorable trades. Her hand disruption has been decent, not great but decent. It's pretty typical to see 2 of them in my hand.. and its nice to have damage getting through consistently every turn. I see Swarm offers that and a Sac outlet.. which could be really good here.

I just wanna point out how miserable it makes the opponent when they go after your Spectre and you hit it with Undying Evil. I'm gonna try the Swarms though.. and the Bloodflows.

You know what card I really want in here.. The second Hall of Triumph. I want to hit one every game. It's been stellar bc a lot of my combat matchups are bad. There's not a lot of 2 toughness creatures and that extra junk in the trunk helps A TON! Graveborn Muse has been my best fighter.. she's beyond good here. That might change with Bloodflow around.. and possibly Swarm.

Swarm is really great with Highborn, Connoisseur is pretty bad IMO. You have to play with the Swarm to "get" it, but it's really awesome. You won't miss the Specters because hand disruption isn't your game here.

I binned somebody's Inferno Titan earlier

But yeah.. its a land about 40% of the time. Testing Swarm now.

I really.. really need outs to really horrid stuff like a Resolved Baneslayer with a board.. stuff Tribute to Hunger can't touch. I don't need its Lifegain.. and in all the games I've played its only done damage with Bond twice. I think its getting replaced with Assasinate.

I've also been flooding out some so I'm going back to 22 land, cutting a beloved Fountain.

The other issue I'm having is drawing too many Swarms. They have been good.. but mostly as just a sac outlet.. I have yet to use them to push damage through where it mattered. If anything it shows me the importance of having an outlet in the deck.. the Highborn/Bond combo is putting out some SERIOUS damage.. like 10+ consistently. But anyway.. Swarm flood is bad. I didn't mind getting a handful of Spectres before bc it hosed the opponent's hand in an effective and satisfying manner.. often resulting in 'Planeswalker' taking over the game. There was also that sexy Undying Evil synergy.

I'm gonna cut 1 Swarm for the other Hall of Triumph though. I don't care if I draw both and one is dead.. that thing massively helps on both offense and defense. It gets my lords out of shock range also which is big.. but the one it really helps is Child of Night. Tokens come to a halt! If I get a lord to stick she might as well be Rhox War Monk.

So.. it looks like

-2 Tribute to Hunger
-4 Lilianna's Spectres

+3 Assassinate
+3 Bloodflow Connoisseurs

I'm gonna try the Bloodflows now in those 3 swarm spots and report back.

Edit: Back. Bloodflow was better than Swarm. Her being able to sac stuff and get counters is much more useful in the ground fight. She gives me another bigger body (which I dreadfully need). She solves the need for more toughness adequately so I cut the second Hall and put the 23rd land back in. The fact that she is a vamp is just gravy.. but it has come up already a few times with kicked Blood Tributes and saccing herself to the Highborn for lethal.

Assassinate has been better than Tribute to Hunger (it nuked a Baneslayer AND a Stormbreath in the same match).. but I am missing the lifegain more than I thought I would. My life totals are hitting single digits more often and I don't like it. I'll update this post with the changes, and the final list when I feel comfy with it.

How about using Vicious Hunger? For example, instead of Ulcerate.

They combat trickery of Ulcerate is key to destroying bombs. Without it and Assassinate.. I wouldn't be able to deal with things like resolved Pelakka Wurms swinging into me, or blocking. If it got put in for anything it would be Dead Weight. Ulcerate let's me two for one enchantment decks and things like Kiln Fiend after people have blown their load of spells. It deals with all kinds of stuff like Rabblemaster before he poops his token, opposing Graveborn Muses, Battledrivers, etc.

But.. I like Dead Weight. I like how it slows down bigger guys even if it doesn't kill them. For instance: I was against Orzhov Lifegain and the opponent had a growing Ajani's Pridemate. He drops a Rhox Faithmender which I can't kill with a team block without losing a Child of Night.. and I can't Assassinate it bc it has Vigilance. I drop Dead Weight on it making it a -1/3 and neutering its Lifegain. This also shut down the Pridemate. I've also put it on things that put me on a serious clock like a resolved flying bomb until I can draw a permanent answer.

Honestly.. the removal package is pretty sweet overall. I'm not wild about Assassinate bc I always have to take a hit.. but I'm even less happy with the other options. Another part of the package is the Deathtouch ability of Paragon of Open Graves.. opponents tend to forget about that one. It's great on hasted Bloodghast death missiles.

Overall.. I really feel like the removal package is one of the greatest strengths of the deck.

I think this list is probably finished. I'll update the first post about it. I really hope you guys play it.. its like, the first deck I posted people actually like!

Ohh yeah.. before I forget. I'm cutting one Dead Weight for the last Undying Evil. These Paragons need protecting bigtime, and it gives the reach plan a little kick if I Undying Evil a vamp, sac it then sac it again.

Edit: Decklist and description finalized.. unless someone else comes up with an awesome idea.. which would be great!

Left4Doner had the same idea. Vicious Hunger seems like something you could use. Maybe use it over Dead Weight? You don't get the -2/-2 effect or the ability to shrink larger creatures but they come in at the same speed and it does work with your life gain subtheme (you mentioned removing Tribute to Hunger hurt your hp count and were getting to single digits). I just don't know how often you're shrinking targets with dead weight versus looking to kill them outright. Still, Vicious Hunger can have the same sort of Dead Weight effect if your using it after combat. You'd have to monkey with other removal but I'd think you'd want at least 3.

Everyone rags on it, but would Guul Draz Vampire be a consideration since you have all the anthem/lord effects? I'd really like to see this card in a deck and it work well (you've got an aggro/vamp theme working so maybe?)

elk

Does everyone really rag on Guul Draz? I haven't seen it and they're certainly wrong if they do. It's a fantastic finisher for Black beatdown decks. The trick is to only include 2 though and not think of it as a traditional 1 drop, as you only want to see it when they go below 10 life.

I also second having a sac outlet if you're going to use Kalastria, though I would maybe defer to Bloodflow over Swarm simply because you're running Sanguine Bond and Blood Tribute, so every vampire counts, as does every bit of lifegain (remember, Bloodflow can eat itself...)

Lastly, you could possibly splash White and include Vizkopas and Swift Justice. Be the inverse of a traditional lifegain deck in that way which is usually White with a splash of Black. And Vizkopa is a Black creature for anthem effect purposes... I'd replace the Ragers and Dead Weights for them.

I'm there with Steveo, I have an awesome 61 (yes I break rules!) card deck that utilizes the vamp 1 shot blood tribute combo.

I'm a newbie on these forums so, not really sure how that fancy deck builder works but I went for, in order of casting cost:

3x Ulcerate
2x Guul Draz
2x Bloodghast
2x K.Highborn
3x Brain Maggots (I those cultivate stealers)
3x Child of Night
2x Vicious Hunger
1x Tribute to Hunger
2x Devouring Swarm
3x Phyrexian Rager
2x Graveborne Muse
2x Black Paragon
1x Shadowborn Demon
2x Sanguine Bond
2x Flesh to Dust
2x Blood Tribute
1x Sheoldred, The OP
3x Covenant of Blood
23x Swamps

I find that due to the decent card draw you never have land problems so can have 3 big guy killers at 5 mana and the instant speed of FTD makes it better than assassinate imo. This deck is very good even if you don't get S.Bond and if you do its almost impossible to loose. I was playing a mono green life gain deck yesterday and he was on 50 life with a stalled board because he didn't want to loose guys to deathtouch and I 1 shotted his face when I was on 10 land and drew the combo in an epic double top deck. He must of been pretty upset

I saw Mega didn't have Covenant in his deck either and I have to say that with S.bond that can win games or as Stevo pointed out be just enough to drop a guy below 10hp and open the door for Guul.

PS you can probably tell I don't like having 4 of any card in my decks unless it is absolutely central to it.