Mono-Black in Legacy

[John Galli]

So I've been playing a little legacy over the last few weeks, I borrowed a dredge deck for a tournament and then played another with a mono-black concoction of mine last Saturday. I didn't do too hot record-wise, but the games were all competitive and I did win a few in each round. I just looked at the starcity invitational decklists and noticed one that had some similarities that I might try to go towards in the long run. The one on starcity is not suicide black, but it has some of the same cards. Just figured I'd post it here incase others were interested-

Galli's Suicide Black

4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Hypnotic Specter

4 Lashwrithe

4 Thoughtseize (borrowed from Ben)
4 Hymn to Tourach (borrowed from Ben)
4 Sign in Blood
4 Victim of Night
4 Smother
1 Dismember

22 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Marsh Casaulties (or Engineered Plague)
4 Memoricide
3 Geth's Verdict

Comments on the deck:

I built this deck after playing a borrowed dredge deck at one of the Saturday legacy's because the field seemed to have a lot of bant-stoneforge, combo, and show/tell. The ability to strip away their hand with cheap discard and remove all their creatures would leave me with one or two guys to finish them off. Usually I would force them to use their force of wills early, giving myself card advantage with both that and Hymn to Tourach.

The biggest obstacle of course is money; this deck is strictly casual and while I'd like to make it better here or there, the main reason I'm running a lot of the cards and not running others is due to the price. The fact that this deck was even semi-competitive and won games is awesome, but I don't expect it to be terribly good until some more pieces are arranged or I get some suggestions. For instance, having Wastelands, Lilianas, and Sinkholes would be awesome, but I just don't see it happening outside of borrowing.

Cards that were underwhelming:

Hypnotic Specter - Despite him being an awesome classic card, about his only benefit was the flying. People usually dumped their hand by turn 4, and Vampire Nighthawk was just better. Being able to kill almost any creature and gain life in a deck that loses a lot to itself was much better. 3 toughness was also relevent in many situations.

Dismember - I put a miser's copy in to handle threats that some of the other cards missed but this should just be something else. The life loss was too much to handle and the other removal spells were just better.

Vampire Hexmage - He's nice to have to block against other aggro decks as first strike is actually reasonable, and he's good to have against Jace, but other than that he's a really slow dude for 2 mana. It would be fantastic to have something like Dark Confidant in this deck, but again it would be a borrow card (I know Travis has them)

Memoricide - I had it for combo, but it's just terribly slow, even duress would have been better. Most black lists in legacy run extirpate, which is probably just the right card.

Leyline of the Void - I didn't see Dredge all day and this card just took up too many sideboard slots. I think Tormod's Crypt, Relic, or Ravenous Trap is just better.

Cards that were better than expected:

Lashwrithe - this card was actually about what I expected. It's really good against most decks, but is still obviously susceptible against artifact removal and a little slow. That said, it can win me the game in usually a turn or two and can block almost anything they have. And in combination with Vampire Nighthawk. . .

Victim of Night- This pretty much removes every creature in legacy. It's a 2-mana "destroy target creature" at instant speed and was just amazing all day. People looked at it with a puzzled look, but it just gets there.

Smother - Another card that is just an allstar in this format. Killing Tarmogoyf with this card just feels satisfying (or a germ token on a batterskull).

Geth's Verdict - This card is awesome against show and tell decks and can come in situationally against others. The only bad part is if they have a few mana accelerators when they get progen or emrakul into play. But it's instant speed helps with this too when comboing with other removal.

Other cards that I considered in my collection

I tried Bloodghast and Altar's Reap, it was a cute combo and added a lot of draw power in combination with Sign in Blood but it was a bit cute and didn't do enough. I wouldn't mind running either of those cards if there was more support for them but I'm not sure what would provide that.

I'd like to try Vampire Nocturnus, Anowon the Ruin Sage, Abyssal Persecutor, and Inquisition of Kozilek, but I don't have access to them at the moment. I could also go heavier on the vampires and try to make it a useable theme.

here's the third place list:

Starcity Games 3rd place Invitational list - Reid Duke

Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Cursed Scroll

Creatures
2 Nether Spirit

Instants
4 Dark Ritual
1 Spinning Darkness

Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil

Sorceries
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Innocent Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Pox
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox

World Enchantments
1 Nether Void

Basic Lands
13 Swamp

Lands
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland

Legendary Lands
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
4 Engineered Plague
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Extirpate
2 Spinning Darkness
2 Perish
1 The Abyss

[Travis Lannoye]

I have four Bobs, three Wastelands, four Extirpates, and probably a few Hymns to Tourach that I'm not currently using, so if you need them for a day or two just let me know.

I realize that Thoughtseizes are rather pricey, and unfortunately I gave my last three away for a judge foil Survival and a judge foil Decree of Justice, but it's worth noting that they are an excellent investment to make, especially RIGHT NOW.
- For one, they are Modern staples, and Modern is just about to become the popular format of choice for all the pros. So, they are about to get more expensive in the next few months, and it would be wise to pick them up before they get more expensive.
- Furthermore, they are also staples in Legacy and in Vintage, so they aren't likely to ever lose any value. You could end up paying $20-30 apiece for them right now, play with them for a few months or a few years or who knows how long, and by the time you're done with them, they will likely be worth $40-60 at least. Some of us (Pat, Chris, Andrew) remember a time when Wastelands were available for $10-20 apiece, and now they are pushing $50 and getting more expensive every day.

[abeckett]

Hell man, I ca remember picking up playsets of Wastelands for $20

That said, they have dipped back down in value a little again. They're closer to the $30 range again. Most of the Legacy-only cards that spiked have plateaued or headed back down a little.

A few things on your list:
-Consider speed. Dark Ritual should be an auto include in a mono black deck like this. Turn 1 rit into a thoughtseize + hymn can be back breaking and happens more often than you think.
-Creatures. If you want to go vamps, that's great. But consider some classic SuiBlack creatures. Nantuko Shade and Phyrexian Negator are both quality guys.

Also, that Reid Duke list makes me tingly. Almost makes me want to play with legacy cards again.