Please ignore this post... I wrote it before I studied the modern card pool and deck-building theory enough, and as a result I sound like a complete fool. I still think the deck might do a little better than the original post's list, but honestly...Hmm, people seemed to have lost interest in this, but it just so happens that I've been trying to build up a mono-black version of this deck. The popular splash now is actually White, as evidenced by the
Legacy B/w Confidant deck. It would be fun to play, but there are a lot of cards in it I simply don't have so I'm going for mono-black.
I'm curious why you're splashing blue... or at least why you're splashing those cards. Besides a little deck manipulation and the end-game beatdown, it doesn't seem to add a lot. Also, discard traditionally uses a lot of black, and your endgame critter needs two blue. You will likely need an expensive mana base to cast everything, but ultimately the blue splash doesn't seem to be doing anything you couldn't do with black. For more ideas on a blue splash,
this writeup might give some ideas.
Anyway, here's what my current idea is like:
MANA18
Swamp (Power could be added here for speed, if playing Vintage)
2
Lake of the Dead (speed starting at turn 3, bigger drains)
4
Dark Ritual (speed)
CREATURES 4
Hypnotic Specter (Staple card)
4
Nezumi Shortfang (Instant-speed discard, turns into a 3/3 Rack)
4
Dark Confidant (massive speed, note the low casting costs used)
4
Pump Knight (Doesn't really fit in... see below)
DISCARD 4
Hymn to Tourach (Staple card)
4
Duress (Good first turn move if we don't draw a Ritual)
2
Mind Twist (Unrestricted in Vintage, banned in Legacy. Depends on who you play)
SUPPORT 3
Megrim (Racks might be better, but this is a bit of a staple)
1
Demonic Tutor (Banned in Legacy)
2
Necrogen Mists (et. al. see below)
1
Dauthi Embrace (push attackers through, likely not efficient)
DISRUPTION 4
Diabolic Edict (or Sudden Death, Terror, etc. depending on what the popular critters are)
4
Drain Life (Recovers life lost to Confidant, takes out critters or go for the win.)
Some Notes:
Nezumi Shortfang seems like a very versatile solution. Allows you to have them discard at the end of their draw phase so they don't keep their cards as long, turns into a Rack, and 3/3 later on isn't too shabby.
The pump knight should likely be something else, but I was thinking it'd be good for damage. Specters aside, critters that force a discard are inefficient. An interesting idea is to use Specter's Shroud, which allows us to use more efficient creatures and punch through with Dauthi Embrace for discard plus damage.
If you aren't using Twists, Stupor has Hymn's nice 2 for 1 ratio but costs 3. One question I have is how many Instant/Sorcery discard cards you really need. Eventually the Hypnos, Nezumis, and Necrogen Mists (or equivalent) should take over, keeping them at 0-1 cards in hand at all times. The Sorceries and Instants should just hold out long enough for you to get to that point.
Megrims stop working quite as well towards the end, but a Rack should be able to do 3 damage per turn.
Among the auto-discard permanents, Honden of Night's Reach is likely the best. It forces the discard during your upkeep, so they can't keep a card to use as you attack. Also, it doesn't make you discard. Unfortunately, it costs 4 and is Legendary.
This is just my first draft, so it is likely riddled with problems. More 1-drops would be nice, for example. If we weren't drawing like mad, Cursed Scrolls would round out the damage. The target of my discard deck will be casual play, in which it might be good enough. Another goal of mine is to keep it reasonably cheap. The four Confidants are the most expensive thing here, but building up from scratch would still likely take $100 or more. I'm just relying on cards I had before I stopped playing a few years back. Any suggestions? =)
