Constructing a Black Contol...

[DeMarki]

This is my black Aggro-control deck, I don't own any Moxes or a Lotus so don't bother reminding me how important they are

-20 Disruption/Creatures-
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter

-7 Board Control-
1 Trinisphere
3 Nether Void
3 Powder Keg

-5 Draw/Tutors-
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Crucible of Worlds

-30 Mana/Lands-
4 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
12 Swamp

It's 62 cards till I decide which 2 I should cut.
I have only 2 questions please if you could advise me I would be really greatfull:

1) Are those 4 fetchlands necessary and why? Would it be better just to add 4-5 more swamps instead of them?
2) Is Demonic Consultations worth keeping it MD or is it to risky for this kind of deck?

If you have any more suggestions please share them with me!

[Luiggi]

Regarding your questions:

1) the purpose of fetchlands is to fix your mana and thin-out your deck. This deck obviously doesn't need mana-fixing so their main purpose would be to thin-out the deck and leave you with a higher spell/threat-density.

2) I think Demonic Consultation is excellent in the deck, since generally you'd be Consulting for a 4-of, and even Consulting for a restricted card can be the correct play sometimes. So yes, leave it, .

You might consider adding Chalice of the Void to the deck, maybe instead of the Nether Voids, since it's so good vs. so many decks right now. Chalice for 0 can always come down on turn 1, while Nether Void needs to wait until at least turn 2, and that's assuming you draw a Dark Ritual or the Sol Ring (yes, you can play it turn 1 with a double-Ritual, but that's the exception rather than the rule, ). I would cut the Voids for 3 Chalice and probably cut something like a Swamp for the 4th one. I'm assuming you don't have Mox Jet and Black Lotus, right?

Hope this helps.

Luiggi

[savekeeper]

I agree with Luiggi that Chalice of the Void would be a great addition to this deck.

I would also put in 4 Withered Wretch. That creature is the biggest reason to even consider mono black in my opinion. The Wretch shuts down Goblin Welder, stops Yawgmoths Will, Accumulated Knowledge, Deep Analysis, Recoup, Squee and a whole lot of other things.

There is a ' black fish'  deck somewhere in the open forum that I would seriously recommend checking out. It differs a lot from your original list but is more competitive in the current environment I think.

[Astro]

The last two guys gave you good advice.  Wretch is > than Hypnotic Specter.  You could go with Chalice or you could go with Null Rod, however I wouldn't cut the Nether Void for these slots, I'd cut the Hymn to Tourachs.  Powder Keg is ok however I'd splash a color for better removal.  A few months back Big Mac swept a 50+ man tourney with a Black White build that I've had great results with.  Anyhow you might want to bump your mana count up to 30 as the deck is really mana hungry.  I'd recommend a Mox Jet and a Black Lotus.

If you want to keep it mono black I'd recommend making the following adjustments:

-4 Hypnotic Specter 
-4 Hymn to Tourach
-3 Powder Keg
-1 Mind Twist
-1 Yawgmoth's Will


+4 Withered Wretch
+3 Null Rod / Chalice of the Void
+3 Diabolic Edict / Contagion
+2 Crucible of Worlds
+1 Black Lotus
+1 Mox Jet

This will put you at 61 cards, however I'm not sure what I'd cut to make it 60.  Either a Shade, a Wretch, or possibly a Tutor.  Your call.  Hope that helped a bit.  I'll try to find a link to Big Mac's Black White Control build.  It completely wrecks Slaver and holds its own to Aggro control such as Fish when sideboarded against.

[BigMac]

As you don't have moxes and Lotus here are some changes i would recommend. And i will make some recommendations on past experiences.

As Astro mentioned i played a black and white deck with success and here is the reason why to include white (or green for that matter) Your manabase pretty much stays the same, only instead of 4 swamps you include 4 scrublands and 1 plains plus an extra plainsfetch. Next to that i would include a mox diamond and a lotus petal. So here is why to play white (or green). Black has nothing against artifacts and enchantments. To be able to get rid of those threats white is needed. I played seal of cleansing and vindicate as well as a balance.

If you want to keep playing monoblack these are my recommendations. Lose the hymns as there are to many decks nowadays that use the graveyard. (welder, dragon and gifts come to mind) Lose the hypnotic specters for the same reason next to the fact that they are slow.
Chalice is a good card but only at 0 as any other number would hinder your deck as much as another deck leaving you with many dead cards. Null rod is better as you have virtually nothing that suffers from that. Mindtwist is just to slow and the only reason i would play it would be if i could play a lotus to play it turn 1 after a duress with a ritual and as that is not gonna happen lose it.
I would add 1 trinisphere instead of 1 Nether void and i would also add 1 or 2 crucibles. Next to that i would play manland (factories) as that is very good when played under a trini or void. This way you are getting a very big manabase with a lot of colourless mana but it all has a use.
Whithered wretches are a must in this deck as without them you will never be able to control an opponents graveyarduse.

Now for tactics. Your worst matchups are fish, FCG and oath. As all of these are critter based you pretty much need to get those under control. You however do not want to play those crittercontrol thingies in the main deck as those will be dead cards a lot of the time. Welders may survive as they will be worthless with a wretch in play. So in my sideboard i would have some copies of mutilate or diabolic edict. Nev disc would be great as well as it is the only leveler you have playing black.

As said, mono black is vulnerable to other critterdecks and oath. White can very much fill that niche and keep it close to the original build. Whatever you choose good luck and have fun.

[DeMarki]

Can my 3 Neyher Voids be replaced by 4 Spheres of Resistance? Would that be a good idea?
I could also add 4 Phyrexian Negators instead of the Specters are they any good nowdays?

[BigMac]

trini is restricted so 1 is all you gonna get.

Negators are nice against control decks but not to many slow decks are around nowadays. As your deck is control your goal is to slow your opponent down. Negators do not fit into that plan. Put 2 or 3 in your sideboard if you need to get down to fast beatings. Otherwise, mostly to little to late, shades are way, way waaay better.

[zombone]

I've been playing mono black in my local field for a while now, and its pretty solid where the field is random. There are a few changes I would make to your deck depending on which way you wanted to go.

If you insist on playing with the Nether Voids, you should build your deck to use them to their full potential. There are several different builds of void. Just decide which one suits you best and play test untill you're satisfied.

On the other side, I find that first turn Dark Ritual Hyppie, or Dark Ritual Duress Hymn can be devistating to your opponents. The Mind Twist I think is unnessisary. Without the moxen and the lotus to wreck your opponents hand on turn one, its just a 2B hymn (if your lucky).

Withered Wretch is a great addition to the deck, defineatly worth 4 slots in the main. The Necropontence in mono black may as well have been banned when it was resricted. The reason it saw play in mono black way back when was to be able to consistantly drop it turn one, and keep your hand full. Now you can constantly deal with, and present threats. If you choose to run the Wretches there is an extremely efficient draw engine that has great synergy with them. Gravestorm. This may sound ridiculous to you now, but play test it before you judge.

Depending on the ratio of basc to non-basics in your field. Cutting either the Wastes or the Sinkholes may not be a bad idea.

How often do you keg for two or three? Diabolic Edict is a great card in any mono black deck, and if you can resolve one against mono blue... If your looking to kill hordes of weenies Bane of the Living has his own technology for that, or he's a second turn 4/3.

The fetch lands are far supirior to swamp unless you run Cabal Coffers.

One more question for you. What do you find yourself consulting for in most games?

heres my list for comparison.

22 Spells
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Hymn
4 Sinkhole
4 Diabolic Edict
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

4 Enchantments
4 Gravestorm

14 Creatures
4 Hyppie
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Withered Wretch
2 Bane of the Living

20 Land
1 Strip mine
2 Cabal Coffers
17 Swamps

[DeMarki]

Thank you very much for your reply, but I wouldn't totally agree with you! Let's start:

1)You run too many swamps without any Fetchlands! 17 swamps are TOO much! I would run 12 Swamp/ 4 Polluted Delta maximum 16 lands for colour is pretty ok.

2) NO WASTELANDS? Are you serious? It's a MUST for almost every deck that exists and especially in such an aggro-control deck like this, which should run so much early disruption like duresses, sinkholes, hymns etc! And I thought that people that run only 3 Wastelands were insane!

3) Gravedust is way to slow to be competative, in comparison to Necropotence, which still is the best draw-engine black will ever see. Fast and Furious with a suicidal twist, that's the way it should be in order to fit in this kind of deck.

4) I preffer Powder Keg to Edict because it can remove low casting cost artifacts easily as well as multiple creatures. Edict isn't a bad idea anyway.

5) You should play a Yawgmoth's Will too, it's way too powerfull and broken to exclude it from your deck. It's really a late game bomb.

6) I thought of adding Trinisphere to my deck, I think it should help a lot.

[ROLAND]

@ Demarki

Actually, I think Zombone might be on to something with "Gravestorm".  With the current metagame relying on graveyard manipulation more than ever running withered wretch is a must. 

If you are playing against control slaver, tog, any deck with crucible of worlds, you don't want them to have any cards in the graveyard.   Gravestorm is your answer.  I'd rather drop the wretch, skullnatcher, or graverobber, and just start removing cards.  Why pay the life if you don't have to?

Your next best draw engine is phyrexian arena, but once again your  paying life. I also agree that restricting necropotence was the equivalent of banning it.  It just doesn't give you the same consistent affect. 


Also, You do realize with gravestorm you can draw a card for every copy you have in play even if your opponent has no cards in his graveyard.  If he can't or doesn't want to  you draw a card. That's pretty good card advantage.

@zombone
I like your build. I play alot of black variations and your draw engine (In my opinion) is the best one I've seen yet.

Roland