So, been trying to avoid the mainstays, and I have come up with a fun new deck that is performing surprisingly well. It was about 50% before my last changes, and since then I have gone 10-0 in Platinum T4-T3 (I hadn't played much this season until this week)

This is a deck that wins mainly by a semi combo surprise, but can win without the combo as well, just not as well as other aggro decks.

First, the decklist:

Black Lives Matter!

4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Vampire of the Dire Moon

4 Corpse Knight
4 Yarok's Fenlurker
2 Blacklance Paragon

4 Ayara, First of Locthwain
4 Midnight Reaper

2 Rankle, Master of Pranks

3 Cavalier of Night

4 Command the Dreadhorde

Land 25
4 Temple of Silence
2 Scoured Barrens
4 Godless Shrine
4 Castle Locthwain
11 Swamp


As you can probably guess, the whole idea is to put pressure/disrupt the opponent setting up for a game ending Command triggering Ayara and Corpse Knight. I have tried versions w/o Corpse knight to stay mono color, but they were just too valuable. I started with Cat and oven as well as Cruel Celebrant, but it just was not effective enough.

The weakness in the deck is countermagic....but with all the small threats I have been able to drain the countermagic out of hand setting up for a Command. Also, one of the top decks now, Fires, lets you combo with impunity. I did have trouble with some Fires/Caviler decks in some similar versions I tested, but since my latest tweaks, I have only encountered more traditional fires decks which I have beaten so far.

Sweepers are not a huge issue if you are careful. I mean, you don't mind creatures in the graveyard, and Reaper can give you card advantage if you are swept. Just be careful to not overcommit. I generally wait until I have 6 mana and a command to overcommit, and mainly I do that so my opponent uses all his mana so I don't need to worry about a counterspell the next turn.

General strategy is to seek land while keeping pressure on your opponent. You want to get to 6 land asap. You also will worry about keeping your life as high as possible for Command. You may end up making some unfavorable chump blocks to maintain your life, but as long as you have certainty that you can get command though, those chump blocks are actually good moves.

There are 12 card draw mechanism to help get you the land and/or command.

Overall, this deck generally takes people by surprise. Most have no idea it is a combo deck until you bring back 2 Ayra and a corpse knight along with 3 other small creatures and hit them for 17 and gain 12 life. I have a feeling that if this deck were more standard, people could play around it better and it would drop in effectiveness.

Anyway, hope some others can have some fun with it.

(I was gonna send the list to CGB to see if he wanted to test out, but I have no idea how to contact him)

You can find CGB in his discord channel: https://discord.gg/EHaY2v . Unfortunately, the only way to have him test it out is to become a patron or subscriber. He is bombarded with decks because of his YT/Twitch channels, also it's his full time job now.

Thanks, kinda figured that. Glad to see him doing so well, and really, I probably shouldn't push it as he does have too much email to go through.

Last time I submitted a deck to a streamer was Inevitability to LegendVD years ago and Legend said he tried it but the deck was too weak

Oooohhh, I do like some (mostly)mono-black. I'll try it out on the lower ranks (I too haven't played ranked mich this season) and I'll give you feedback

FTFY

Sounds interesting. Vampire of the Dire Moon over Gutterbones for the lifelink or to disincentivize attacking you?

Are you sure that simply adding cat/oven is a downgrade? That pet alone is a nightmare for everyone trying to go under you - plus it triggers itself for +1/-1 whenever you bring it back.

Covert has hit the big time?

Well, I figure if someone can make a living doing it, it is pretty big time.

As far as cats, it is worth testing again, but the ovens didn't give enough value by themselves, and Cats w/o ovens are not that great.

Vamp of the Dire Moon is indeed for preserving life. It dissuades attackers as well as some lifegain. On a side note, this was the replacement for the cat when I was running cat.

Played more last night and was about 60%, which I think is much more realistic then my 10-0 streak. I am toying with some changes though. Orzov in for Fenlurker. I didn't realize the Afterlife was a white AND black token, so it trigger Ayara. I was thinking it was just White. I don't like giving up the exile effect of Fenlurker, but it may be a better fit. Also, Rankle does not seem to give enough value. Sometimes he has been great, but other times he is just a 3/3 haste flyer for 4. Looking into alternatives.

Again, mainly just a fun deck.

It is fun. I've played 7 times with it. 4-3.

I was thinking the opposite regarding Rankle. I feel like hes just about everything the deck needs. A little bit of surprise damage. A sac outlet to fill the GY. A draw engine. A discard engine, to fill the GY. Emptys the opponents hand. Removal.

I also think the deck wants more Paragons. It's the most efficient answer to Questing and Lovestruck and it's a little bit of lifegain. That lifegain may be the difference between a buying yourself some time, and/or pulling a lethal combo.

I was thinking; drop the Cavaliers to add 2 Paragons and a Rankle. Command the Dreadhorde will like the paragons better than the Cavaliers.

Last video I saw of his he mentioned that it is his full time job. Doing what you love is awesome.

That's awesome I'm very happy for him!

That’s like me landing a job at the sperm bank

Yeah, those may be good changes. The deck seems solid, but definitely could use some more tweaking. It feels like it is almost there, but missing something.

For me, I may have started to cool a bit on Rankle because the last batch of games I was either facing the 4/4 flying demons a few times, or was in a situation where my sac would be more valuable to me then their would to them and/or the draw/discard was at best neutral. Maybe it was some play mistakes on my part, but on the other hand, my first play session they were very good...so could just be a bad streak.

I originally had 4 paragons, but swapped out for some Cavilers for some more staying power. The deck does need a bit more removal, and Questing is the real issue (Beast can be held off w/ deathtouch) I had Rider in there, but the lifeloss and no graveyard did not go well w/ the deck. I have considered the 3 mana Sac creature, but just seems too janky. I even had Priests, but they seemed too slow and not enough payoff. With all that said, they are options I may try again as the deck evolves.

I really should play a fires deck, they look fun...but I try to avoid the top decks as a general rule. I am just stubborn that way.

You like collecting sperm?

7-3 in gold with the unmodified (edit: not true, don't have 3 Cavaliers, so -1 Cav, +1 Prankle) version. Started out 1-3 and went sceptical, but then it clicked.

You can discount one win and one loss for the loser never made it past 2 lands in both games. Other losses were both on the draw to a RDW with Steamkin into Steamkin into Robber into Torbran and to a Priest of Forgotten Gods into Chandra, Acolyte of Flame. Two games ended with a lethal Command. Prankle was relevant, Cav was never cast because of the low sample size.

Given that I've already built it, here's an importable for the rest of you guys:

in a manner of speaking

You truly give these boards a ton of character...in the good way.

Didn't you win a Steam Showdown with that deck?

Yeah, and even CGB listed it as one of the best decks after I won. TBH, that was one of my motivations to win that tournament. Petty, I know, but it felt good to win

I have played more with this deck and it has been reasonably successful. It has gotten me to Plat 1, and I want to see if it can get me to Mythic.

Changes so far:

-4 fenlurker
-1 Rankle

+4 Orzov enforcer
+1 Massacre Girl

Ironically the biggest challenge so far have been B/R sac decks. Steal the firstborn, Mayhem Devil and Embercleave are all problematic.

Enforcers are working well. Fenlurker seems like more value, but in most cases it is just "Exile your worst Card" early game which has not helped a ton. Late game, it makes a difference, but if it is my only 2 drop, I generally need the body.

Massacre Girl is kind of neutral. Sometimes it is incredible to swing a game, sometimes it is a 4/4 for 5 that can weaken my board (Although, in that case generally I am ahead anyway.)

I'm using this version now.

Deck
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion (M20) 105
4 Vampire of the Dire Moon (M20) 120
3 Hired Poisoner (GRN) 72
4 Ayara, First of Locthwain (ELD) 75
4 Blacklance Paragon (ELD) 79
4 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
4 Rankle, Master of Pranks (ELD) 101
4 Command the Dreadhorde (WAR) 82
4 Corpse Knight (M20) 206
4 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248
4 Temple of Silence (M20) 256
2 Scoured Barrens (M20) 251
11 Swamp (ANA) 58
4 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241

I find 4 Command's too many, and maybe up 1 land? Cool deck though.