B/g Nether Void Disruption

[Gort32]

Quite a while ago I happened across 4 Nether Voids and have been struggling since to build a competitive deck around them.  My previous attempts have all been mono-black - they were good, but not great, and definitely not good enough to bring to a real tournament.  Very recently I had Blurred Mongoos recommended to me and this deck is the result:

4 Nether Void
4 Duress
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Sinkhole
4 Blurred Mongoose

4 Dark Ritual
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Black Lotus

1 Necropotence

2 Diabolic Edict
2 Withered Wretch
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Crucible of the Worlds

4 Bayou
4 Mishra's Factory
5 Swamp
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Bloodstained Mire
0 Mox Emerald
0 Mox Jet
0 Demonic Tutor

In short, the deck tries to drop Nether Void fairly quickly with some disruption in the meantime, especially to the mana base.  After Nether Void is dropped, factories and Blurred Mongooses can start to chip away until the deck gets to 5 lands, at which point nearly the entire deck comes back online with mostly 2-drops.

The lack of moxen was a difficult choice, but A) I really like Chalice for zero to be dropped as quickly as possible B) I really like to pop Deed for zero or one very quickly - usually before Nether Void hits the table, and C) when I drop Nether Void with a little early acceleration I want to be topdecking real lands to get up to 5 mana, not moxen that will cost me extra.  Lotus is, of course, still too powerful to drop completely.

Elvish Spirit Guides work great to pull out a little extra mana under a Nether Void, especially considering that Dark Ritual looks kinds silly at that point.  These were originally Nantuko Shades, a remnant of when this deck was mono-black.  I am MUCH happier with this switch.

The block of 2-ofs is a bit of a struggle.  I am still working out the proportions of each one and am looking for recommendations including other potential cards for those slots.  Are these needed?  Is there something better?

I will be bringing this deck to my local shop this weekend and will try to report how it does.  I feel fairly confident with my control matchup but I am somewhat concerned with my combo matchup...

[Yawgmoths_Dummy]

Seems like Dark Confidant fits into the scheme. With your highest CC being 4, his benefits would surely out weigh his set backs. Have you considered Demonic Tutor or Yawgmoth's Will? Both could be useful. DT gets your resets or early N. Void, and Yawg Will could pull a losing effort into a win. I used to play this deck a long time ago, but I used Negator in place of Mongoose. Fun deck to play!

[netherspirit]

I'd up the Crucibles to 3 at least, four if possible, if you're going to use the Strip/Crucible lock, and then you could try Entomb to get your land into the graveyard, and maybe Fastbond would be good for if you need to get ahead fast.
 Other than those 2 cards the only other one I'd suggest is Trinisphere, with that and Nether Void out everything costs a minimum of 6 to resolve, which I think is pretty good. Nice looking deck though! Good luck with it!

[Gort32]

Seems like Dark Confidant fits into the scheme. With your highest CC being 4, his benefits would surely out weigh his set backs. Have you considered Demonic Tutor or Yawgmoth's Will? Both could be useful. DT gets your resets or early N. Void, and Yawg Will could pull a losing effort into a win. I used to play this deck a long time ago, but I used Negator in place of Mongoose. Fun deck to play!

Well, Yawg Will is pretty much right out - it just plain doesn't work under Nether Void and I really don't have enough broken plays to match up with it, certainly not enough broken plays to come back from behind.

I have had DT in and out of the deck, but really the deck topdecks very consistently, grabbing something nasty nearly every draw - I usually don't have to tutor to find something to cause my opponent additional pain and I don't want to spend a whole turn's worth of mana finding something that really isn't going to be *that* broken (except maybe Necropotence).

Dark Confidant is an option that I've been eying a bit but am not yet sold on.  First, this deck like to stick around for the long game and Bob can become painful if you plan on the game lasting another 10 or so turns.  Second, generally, when I can cast Dark Confidant I would rather be dropping a Sinkhole or accelerating into a Deed.  Finally, under a Nether Void I can really only cast one spell/turn anyway - my opponent's deck VERY likely has an even better draw engine (blue) than I would and trying to beat them at that game is a sure path to getting stomped on.  I just need to stick to what this deck is really good at - making my opponent's draws useless.

[rmn]

Traditional Nether Void decks only played 3 Voids since you can only have one out at a time.  Though I can understand wanting to play 4 for coolness factor, removing one makes room for the Demonic Tutor your deck wants so bad.

I've always like Hymn to Tourach in this sort of deck.  I'm not sure whether it's still the right call.  I also used to use Mind Twist as another tutor target and another use for Rituals, but again that's more of a personal thing.

It would be interesting to read some of the old primers for this deck if you can find them.  As I recall, in the last incarnation, Zherbus advocated using 3-4 Sphere of Resistance and only a single Nether Void, though of course it seemed like more with all the black tutors.  Definitely makes sense against combo.

[Yare]

Demonic Tutor is an abolute must.  It grabs Void, it grabs Deed, it grabs Necro.  That alone should be enough to play it.

[Ben Kossman]

Isao, Enlightened Bushi would be okay as well. It's uncounterable and regenerates from Deed. I ran something similar to this for a while and used Treetop Villages and Mishra's Factories. I like the Villages because they give colored mana and were a bit faster on their own than the factories. But that's really a judgement call.

[ROLAND]

I tried to find the updated nether void primer that used to be on this site. But when you link to it it just says there is an error.

I printed it off at one time to run in a tournament, I'll try to get you the last list Zherbus had in Nether Void update #3.

As I remember it was alot like sui black, but ran voids and deeds.


Roland

[df8251]

try playtesting Black Vise as a singleton [since its restricted]. when dropped after  Nether Void your opponent will have a thick stack of cards in his hand, so Vise wouldnt hurt. 3 Crucibles should be fine, Entomb? nah, you should pull atleast one strip, so that would be a wasted slot.

[netherspirit]

You're running 22 lands according to your list, so why not try Mox Diamond? You should have a land to pitch to it early game, and it will give you a slight tempo boost.

[rmn]

You're running 22 lands according to your list, so why not try Mox Diamond? You should have a land to pitch to it early game, and it will give you a slight tempo boost.

If he was gonna do that he'd probably have a Jet.

[netherspirit]

Oops, I thought he wasn't running any power at all, only just realised he's got a lotus in there, my bad.

[MonoE]

Hi there.

(a) I'm worried about your black mana production. I know you have 30 mana-producing things, making the base seem quite solid initially. But you only have 18 things that produce black for you, and 5 of those are one-ofs, and 4 are nonbasics (obviously much less of a drawback, but a drawback nonetheless). Do you find it difficult sometimes to get {BB} for Sinkhole and Wretch?

(b) The Mongoose is an interesting choice. He seems best suited for an early four or six damage, pre-Void. But: (1) Why does this deck care about four or six damage pre-Void??! Void is a pretty hard lock, and you've got the mana denial strategy at its maximum with Sinkholes, Wastes/Strip, Crucible (I definitely agree on upping to 3, and finding room for Demonic Tutor), and the complementary Factories. and (2) his uncounterability matters a lot less under a Void, where pretty much any one of your spells is uncounterable if you can gain the edge in resources (mana), and especially if you can get the Crucible/Strip lock-- or even Crucible/Wasteland cuts it these days.

(c) Your deck lacks beat. Yes, the Void lock is fairly hard and this deck is made to play under it and through it and all, but it is still an impermanent solution.

Some concrete suggestions:

Cutting Mongeese (?) for Negators gives you room to sub in much-needed Swamps for Spirit Guides. Plus, you can Deed for 2 against Fish and other random stuff packing 2-cc nuisances. (Oath . . . others?). What with Rituals being > Spirit Guides pre-Void, I don't see how this switch will decrease the deck's ability to drop a quick dude. Also, as I said before (but now for a different reason), the uncounterability doesn't matter all that much. It's better in my opinion to run a much larger threat that can be dealt with, than a small one that can't. If they counter a Negator, I think that's a pretty good deal for you, as they are weakened against (a) a Duress which can rip another counter away; (b) Sinkhole which can manascrew them or rip away the second blue source; (c) Wretch, which screws so many decks now; (d) Crucible; and (e) Deed, which in some matchups as I'm sure you know is the winner.

Of your 2-block, Edicts seem the weakest. The situations they address should be avoided with early disruption hopefully followed by a Void. Axing them means 3 Chalice and 3 Wretch, an improvement in my opinion. Of course, I don't know precisely how you're using them.

Three Void > Four.

Perhaps more to follow as I mull this over. I admire Void, although I do not play it. I'm intrigued by your list.

Thanks,
Eric