Sui Black - Let's try this again....

[LSD/Cruise]

I just wanted to build a Sui Black list because I got bored. I was aware of the changes in the Banned & Restricted list, but wasnt much aware of the current metagame, other than the whole GAT fiasco. Since this is something I should watch out for, I think the perfect answer is Dystopia, hence Sui Black.

Sui Black is great against slower Drain decks, Fish decks, and a decent Combo Match-Up as hell, but a horrible Ichorid Game, which most decks tend to have, unless you're playing Combo. I picked Sui Black as a pet project of mine, based on the older lists.


// Sympathy for the Devil, Chalice Black w/ White
// Mana 25
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
5 Swamp


// Creatures 13
4 Dark Confidant
3 Hypnotic Specter
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Jotun Grunt


// Spells 23
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vindicate
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mind Twist
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chalice of the Void


// Sideboard 15
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Nether Void
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Seal of Cleansing/Serenity
1 Engineered Plague
1 Honor the Fallen
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Vindicate
3 Umezawa's Jitte


This deck still seems incomplete, IMO. I love the Nabster feel in this deck, and I especially love Chalice of the Void. Chalice gives this deck a better answer to Combo, and a pretty cool way to wreck Fish and a zero Turn drop to make Moxes look bad. The Tutors are especially awesome, finding Solutions, like Dystopia against GAT and Fish, CoW and Null Rod against Drain.

This deck recent splashed White for Swords, Jotun Grunt, and Aven Mindcensor in the maindeck, in place of Shades, Yawgmoth's Will, and Negators.

Maindecked Leylines + Chalices allow the deck to fight Flash better. Dystopia is a bomb against GAT, and Ichorid meets Leylines, and from the SB, Honor the Fallen and Thrashing Wumpus.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

For a while I played a variant running 4x of the following: nantuko shade, duress, hymn, cabal therapy, dark confidant, sinkhole, wasteland, dark ritual. It was a rather blunt starting point but it proved a stong base.

I purposely left out hypnotic specter because it a 2/2 aggro piece for 3, which seems bad when compared to negator and nantuko shade. It’s also a turn to wait for discard for 3. The deck reduced opponents to "play top deck, go" pretty effectively. It kept opponents from developing a mana base to get a board going as well. With the amount of aggro in the meta right now, I think negator is a suboptimal choice, as far as aggro goes I'd suggest a juggernaut or two. Also, I'd run leylines main, a lot of decks are have been trying it out for a while, and the results have been positives across the board.

[zeus-online]

I really can't imagine nantuko shade being good, everytime i've played with that card, regardless of which format i played it in, it always felt inferior and bad.

/Zeus

[Purple Hat]

I feel like chains of mephistopheles might be a must here.  it's pretty good

[TopSecret]

I've been trying to build a good Sui-black deck recently, as well.

I use a different mana base,
with full power, Mishra's Factories, and some Wastelands.
So, I currently don't use Nantuko Shade.
I have some Engineered Explosives,
because they're a little better with off color moxen maindeck.

I haven't tried Chalice yet, but it certainly seems strong.
I've been using Gathan Raiders at the moment, instead of Negators.
They're better for me because I have a lot of extra moxen to power them out,
I don't use Chalice, and they're better against creature decks.
Also, they don't hurt much when drained,
and the morph cost is minimal because either the extra moxen
and the extra discard spells become dead after the first few turns anyway.

I tried using a playset of Chains of Mephistopheles at Waterbury day 2,
and I wasn't too impressed by them.
Sure, they destroy Ancestral Recall and Brainstorm card advantage wise.
However, the opponent can often cast Brainstorm or Ancestral before or in response to Chains.
You could drop Chains turn one, before they Brainstorm or Ancestral, assuming those are in their hand,
but I'm starting to think that this is more of an impractical Christmasland scenario.
Also, powering out Chains turn one requires excelleration that could be used elsewhere.
Mox, Land, Chains doesn't really put pressure on the opponent.
I didn't get any Chains in play against GAT, so, maybe they're nuts there.

I think I'd rather have something like Shadow of Doubt,
which can be LD, a counter for stuff like Merchant Scroll
or Mystical Tutor (which is a beating because it negates discard).
I haven't tested it though. Keeping two mana open on the opponents turn may prove a poor strategy.

Have you considered a few maindeck Edicts?

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Shade: in my spell based suiblack, opposed to aggro, it reduced the opponent to top deck mode pretty quickly. The heavy land destruction was a pretty effective "lock". The deck usually stabilized around 3 mana, after turn 2 or 3 the rits aren't very useful. With that in mind you can safely play negator a turn earlier, with duress prior, it starts swinging a turn earlier, for about the same power, and puts your unused resources to good use. I've even taken to running a solo shade in mono black stax.

Negator: I love negator, it’s very comparable to shade in power and harder to chalice out. The truth of the matter is, there is just too much GAT and aggro in the Meta to swing with it. When the Meta shifts, I’ll be looking forward to running it again.

Chalice of the void: moxen mana denial is very important in suiblack, and chalice is a good way to do this. However, chalice doesn't deal with moxen already sitting on the table. If there one thing suiblack has a difficult time doing, its dealing with the bored. When you’re not on the play chalice can be dead card x4. I'd suggest something that can deal with the existing moxen such as null rod, or something that can deal with m oxen on the table, as well as other threats, like powder keg, which is a more reliable version of EE for this build.

Chains of Mephistopheles: I've tested thing card a great deal thinking it should be an auto include in every sui list. The fact of the matter was I was never happy to draw it. I either had more aggressive plays I wanted to make early game or late game it did nothing. 

SB:
This seems to have a lot of answers to potential matchups. I've always liked engineered plague; I think you’ll want more of it soon. Serum powder seems off to me (with a decent amount of lands, especially with the amount of search your playing, aggressive mulligans shouldn't be a problem) and t crypt seems useless. Combo is next to dead in the Meta right now, and even when they were, chalice at zero was a minor inconvenience (I know, I played it). Ichorid can play through 2 T crypts pretty well. Most flash variants don't care about crypt either. I’d also try to squeeze in more diabolic edicts; they’re amazing in the aggro heavy meta.

Anyone ever test solo grim tutor?

[Nydaeli]

I also think Leyline should be run in the main.  It's so good against so many decks, and Ritual Black can hardcast it easily.

I'd also try Unmask, since you can pitch dead stuff like Leylines and mid-to-late-game Rituals, as well as hardcast it without much trouble.

I guess that running those two cards as four-ofs would hurt the mana curve and worsen Confidant, though.

1-2 Urborg should help the manabase quite a bit.  You could run the full 4 Wastelands and maybe even a Ghost Quarter or two.

[LSD/Cruise]

Cutting Win conditions isnt a problem for me. I will gladly cut my Negators/Shades, but only 4 of them. I might run Leylines in place of them. I am also trying out Extirpates and Unmask right now, and I am very happy with them. I'm only concerned about the Sideboard so far.

I really disliked Chains. I'm already forcing them to discard constantly with Specter.

-1 Chains of M.

+1 Extirpate

That has been a very strong move so far. Extirpate takes out stuff like Ichorid and such. I might even cut 4 Hymn to Tourach for more Extirpates and Unmasks, which can be deadly against Flash on the play. I also want people to make suggestions on what I should to make room for Leylines. Right now, I am thinking

-2 Phyrexian Negator
-1 Nantuko Shade
-1 Extirpate/Open slot

+4 Leyline of the Void

I am okay with 13 threats, as long as I have 3 Tutors, it's still theoreticall 13, and this allows me to decrease the amount of Mulligans I make. Chalice has been awesome against Flash. Hitting their Moxen, and 8 Pacts has been awesome. With the lack of Moxen, you should start tutoring for Strip Mines, or maybe more disruption.

GAT is a untested match-up, but I think it should be easy for me. I have board control and a lot of hand control. I also have Dystopia, which I can board extra copies in.

@hvndr3d y34r h3x: Powder Keg sounds awesome. I still like my Chalices, and the Nabster thang greatly helps, since it does get Null Rod. I'm currently testing a Powder Keg right now.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Unmask doesn't seem like a very good call because of confidant. If the effect is desired, I'd run a cabal therapy, paired with a duress  it does the same thing with out loosing a card and opposed to potentially causing a problem with dark confidant, the flashback can be used as a bonus late game problem solver, with a bonus reveal hand/discard attached to it. I liked playing it a lot. Extirpates might actually be good in the Meta right now, I ended up cutting it in my lists, I'm usually on the fence about it. But it seems to destroy GAT, especially the classic jet, wasteland, extirpate land, play. I'm usually disappointed with the mechanical applications that follow instead of the decapitating effect that should happen in theory.
   Some one made a comment of having a dead card in there hand. There is basically no such thing for suiblack. If you have a card in hand, the opponent is assuming its some sort of mind twist. There playing out everything they have when they draw it, because if they don't they'll loose it. its slightly better than having a hippi on the table, because with the potential mind twist in hand, it i isn't even safe to cast gush where as otherwise, it's break you out of a hippi lock, basically, bluffing and keeping a leyline in your hand is one of the better things you can do.

again, I'd strongly recommend you cut negator completely it's bad in the meta right now, and I can see cutting a shade since your hippies seem to have been great in testing. but cutting a negator  makes for some interesting board options.

My sui black list board went something like this

3x thrashing wampus: owns fish and ichorid. If they need to fight through an enchantment and creature bass hate, they just can't bored in enough and be effective. You can rit it out early, and it effectively beats for 5 a turn. It's completely an auto bored

1 x massacre, a free one shot wamp for 2

2x cruel edict, hits GAT oath (it might be worth running leyline still to deal with blessing) and slaver when it was around/ if it comes back.

3 or 4 x engineered plague, lock piece for oath till you find your edict and duress. I always found it hilarious being the one to decide when to trigger oath. Fish isn’t too happy with it, and goblins scoops.

1x damnation: this is an odd choice, it seems to lack understanding of the format, but sometimes the shit just hits the fan.

4 slots depending on Meta, things like mind twist, smother (it hits everything but the oath/shop critters, ninja, and trashing wampus which no one plays, I’m always happy to see it), contagion, dark blast, null rod, additional powder keg, extirpate… you know the other funny goodies.


hope this helps your bored situation

[LSD/Cruise]

With what you said, I am thinking this right now...


// Mana 25
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
6 Swamp


// Creatures 13
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nantuko Shade
1 Thrashing Wumpus


// Spells 22
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Dystopia
1 Null Rod/Powder Keg
1 Yawgmoth's Will


// Sideboard 15
4 Extirpate
4 Unmask
3 Dystopia
1 Engineered Plague
1 Masticore
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Thrashing Wumpus


This deck has been very consistent against Flash and Ichorid so far. GAT is still untested, but the many Fish variants have been great match-ups so far. Tutoring for Dystopia is soo cool.

[Scyther]

Only got a few things:

8 Fetches looks really LOL ...
You know that the "thinning effect" doesnt really exist? (not with only Fetches...) And with Bob and Dystopia the lifeloss seems strong.
4th Waste and mor Basics should be added. (maybe even Urborg and Urzas Factorys...)

Carddisadvantage Tutors were ALWAYS ASSBAD in this dec. Demonic and Consultation are the Tutors of Choice for Sui. (Soooo many 4ofs)
Specter and especially Nantuko are not the strongest choices. 2-3Specter should be fine but I would rather play 4 Sarcomancy than the Shades.

Maybe its just me but I would go with Cabal Therapy main.

Leyline main? Are u serious? How do u decide when to keep a Leyline hand and when not? Or even mulligan for it?(in the first game...)

[tito del monte]

I think packing Leyline main makes this deck extremely playable, and elevates Hymn to Tourach from mediocre random effect to mini-bomb.

With Leyline main, I'd be tempted to splash white for Balance (plus maybe Aven Mindcensor and Swords to Plowshares).

[LSD/Cruise]

Only got a few things:

8 Fetches looks really LOL ...
You know that the "thinning effect" doesnt really exist? (not with only Fetches...)

How so? I've played Red Deck Wins and Vial Goblins for a long time, and the deck thinning from 8 Fetchlands were awesome. I also played White Weenie with Land Tax casually for awhile, and the deck thinning from that was awesome.

And with Bob and Dystopia the lifeloss seems strong.

Not really. Every thing Bob flips over is 1-2. When Dystopia hits the board, you should be swinging anyways, so the life loss is irreverent. Besides, you should win for like 1-2 turns after it hits anyways.

4th Waste and mor Basics should be added. (maybe even Urborg and Urzas Factorys...)

I dont really see the 4th Wasteland to be in this deck actually. I already have Tutors which grab Wasteland.

Carddisadvantage Tutors were ALWAYS ASSBAD in this dec. Demonic and Consultation are the Tutors of Choice for Sui. (Soooo many 4ofs)

I run 1-ofs too.... Besides, there's really no such thing as card advantage in Sui, so it really doesnt matter, at the least, it is card quality.

Specter and especially Nantuko are not the strongest choices. 2-3Specter should be fine but I would rather play 4 Sarcomancy than the Shades.

Sarcomancy seems weak. I dont just want beatz, I want to win and disrupt the opponent at the same time. This deck does a great job at that.
Maybe its just me but I would go with Cabal Therapy main.

Leyline main? Are u serious? How do u decide when to keep a Leyline hand and when not? Or even mulligan for it?(in the first game...)

It depends if you like losing to the Formats Top 2 decks or not. Flash would be an awful match up with Leyline, and so would Ichorid.


@White Splash: Aven Mindcensor seems interesting. I should try it out.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

It seems like your paying a lot of attention to your thread and are very open to suggestions. that's a great attitude to have and help you become more aware of the formay  .
i just have a few comments.

1. I agree 100% with cutting the fetches, I'll your doing is reducing free bob cards, plus reducing the efficiency of shade (which we all know I supports especially with the few instants sui usually runs, but make play testing the final judge on running it)

2. I really disagree with EE. your playing mono black with only lotus and petal as alternates. powder keg does everything EE does, except for less or equal mana with more versatility.

3. I strongly recommend the 4th waste one major part of the discard strategy is mana denial to keep cards in the hand were you can get them you want to top deck and draw as man2y of these as possible. I'd recommend running 3 or 4 ghost quarters in addition

4. a tutor here and there isn't a terrible idea, its more helpfully post bored definately, or the aggro light build i usually favor which this is not. let testing decide what to do with them

5. Thrashing wampus is a great card, but i wouldn't run it main, its a terrible idea to let your opponent see your tech. don't give them a reason to bored against your bored before seeing it, giving them more of the same,is NOT a good idea, I can't stress this enough. it's also a competing mana sink with the shades your running

6. I'd strongly recommend looking into playing therapy over unmask

7. this deck plays VERY differently than goblins. it cares more about game zones and opponents resources as a game plan than goblins does.

right now the mana base seems to need the most work. I'd recommend"
1x strip mine
4x wasteland
1x mox jet
1x black lotus
1xlotus petal
14x swamp
3x ghost quarters
4x rits

-3 things main deck. I'd recommend EE, null rod, wampus, imperial seal, a shade



as far as aggro goes Sarcomancy and carnopgage are always worth looking into for sui but for one more mana you get a power option randing form the exact same at worst to 5 or 6 realistically.

I've been working on splashing white for aven mindcensor my self as well, but one step at a time 

@ syther
Leyline main is extremely amazing. it stops ichorid, flash dead. reduces efficiency of CS and GAT immensely and ruins crucible. these are all very relevant. you decided whether or not to mulligan aggressively g1 for leyline by using one simple trick, knowing your meta. generally i wouldn't mulligan for it heavily game 1 but if your playing something where you should have, it's ridiculously easy to hard cast.

[Purple Hat]

I can't imagine a better turn 1 play vs gat than ritual, duress, chains.  I really cant.  because of this I can't imagine chains not being good in a meta in which gat is as heavily played and as successful as it is in the current meta.  Chains is also good against anything that runs brainstorm (everything that's not you or goblins), etc.  anything that runs tfk, draw 7's, etc.  I just don't buy that there's a better option than cutting off your opponent's engine if one of your goals is resource denial.  I mean vs gat or gush tendrils or tps does it really matter if you have a more aggressive play if for 2 mana you can shut off your opponent's deck?

[FiestaVaca]

I agree that Leyline would be sick, especially if you couple it with Chains.  imo, have both MD.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

I tested sui black a lot, and in situations where I can play duress,Ii was always more concerned about what was about to hit the table and opted for the hymn, therapies, or in my build sinkhole. Even when I did opt to put the chains on the table during testing, it was usually tutor, echoing truth/rushing river. At first I wouldn't imagine a better play either, but the mechanics just didn't work out. I think that in a build like LSD is working on, he's more interested in resolving the hippi and getting them under the hippi's thumb. Again things are always worth testing and retesting as the meta shifts, so its totally worth trying it out.

[LSD/Cruise]

Purple Hat made me want to rethink about Chains of Mephistopheles. Aven Mindcensor is probably a great card to have in this deck, next to Vindicate. I could also put a token Nether Void in here as a Tutor target and turn this deck into a lock deck, but that card may be put into the Sideboard... of course, it beats GAT too.


As for the Fetchlands issue, I dont think it matters really, but with White added in, I think fetchlands should be put back in. With the addition of White, I think a swap for Jotun Grunt over Shade would be awesome...


// Sympathy for the Devil
// Mana 25
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
5 Swamp


// Creatures 14
4 Dark Confidant
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Jotun Grunt


// Spells 22
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dystopia
1 Null Rod
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Chalice of the Void


// Sideboard 15
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Nether Void
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Seal of Cleansing/Serenity
1 Engineered Plague
1 Honor the Fallen
3 Vindicate
3 Dystopia
2 Umezawa's Jitte


I might put a couple Chains in there for the GAT match-up, but of course, it might be hard because of the room I need to squeeze in. I dont have Therapies in here because I dont think I can afford sacrificing any creatures.

Having White in here gives us more Silver Bullets, like Vindicate. Honor the Fallen is awesome against Ichorid, and Swords to Plowshares is awesome as well. I might even add more White cards in like Seal of Cleansing if someone has an idea.

Anyways, I am very proud of the list, and cutting a Yawgmoth's Will for a Swords to Plowshare is probably my favorite move here.

[Scyther]

Only got a few things:

8 Fetches looks really LOL ...
You know that the "thinning effect" doesnt really exist? (not with only Fetches...)

How so? I've played Red Deck Wins and Vial Goblins for a long time, and the deck thinning from 8 Fetchlands were awesome. I also played White Weenie with Land Tax casually for awhile, and the deck thinning from that was awesome.

NO, you just think that the fetching is relevant

ON SCG there is/ was a great article called "Mathemagics: Onslaught Fetchlands" by Garrett Johnson. You should read it...

4th Wasteland is a must!!! oO''

In such a redundant deck Consultation IS just better than Vamp/ Seal. But just play what you want ....

[LSD/Cruise]

NO, you just think that the fetching is relevant

ON SCG there is/ was a great article called "Mathemagics: Onslaught Fetchlands" by Garrett Johnson. You should read it...

4th Wasteland is a must!!! oO''

In such a redundant deck Consultation IS just better than Vamp/ Seal. But just play what you want ....

I should read that article. I might make my mind up about fetchlands after reading it. I thought fetching helps reduce the amount of lands I draw, so I can make better topdecks.

I'll try the 4th Wasteland I guess, but that might be Crucible of Worlds instead. I'm still deciding.

I dont think Consultation would work in this deck, because everything I tutor for is usually a 1-of. I might try it though.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

you do realize that with the introduction of white, your more so building "the sauce" and not suiblack, right?

[Roat17]

Well, I went on a long rant about this latest decklist, when my computer decided to drop a deuce.
Long story short, I would make the following changes:

+1-2 Swords to Plowshares.  Most people use creatures as opposed to not using them.  If they don't, you have a SB
+1 Necropotence.  You are using rituals and playing an aggressive deck.  This is like the Uber confidant. 

-1 Dystopia.  Your best creatures are white.  You don't want to sac them because your opponent has a dryad.  With the introduction of white, StoP is what you want instead.

-1 Null Rod.  Null Rod is just meh right now.  If you want this effect for Moxen, use either EE or Kataki.  If you are worried about something crazier, maybe try Seal or Aura of Silence.  Despite no one playing it, it's some good.

-1 Hippie.  Hippie is awesome.  However I cut 1 a while ago and haven't looked back.  You want to be disrupting in your early turns, and using one turn of disruption to play a Hippie instead can cost you the game.  Hippie is more mid-late game crushing unless you play him early off a ritual to keep pace.  Therefore the choice really is yours, as I can see arguments both ways.


Finally, you like to talk about silver bullets.  Silver Bullets are used predominantly in control decks.  They try to Meta against everything, then find an appropriate silver bullet to play.  Silver bullets still work without a dedicated control deck, but you have no real bombs to play.  Therefore I would also take out the Imp Seal and add a Crucible.  This would give you bombs in the form of Necro and Crucible, and now you still have 2 tutors to find them.

[TopSecret]

Perhaps some Glowriders in the sideboard for the storm combo-e matchups?
I'm not sure how necessary they'd be, because you already have Chalice, discard, and Leyline.
They could be good against GAT.

Some sideboard Kataki's may be a good idea, too,
since you lack a bomb for the stax (or staxless stax) matchup.

Would it be worth adding some Yxlid Jailers and/or more Honor the Fallens to the sideboard for the Ichorid matchup?
Windborn Muse may be better than Honor the Fallen as a singleton in the side anyway,
because Ichorid needs to find and cast double Contagion to remove it.

Since you now play two colors, a sideboard or maindeck Engineered Explosives may be good.

Also, as someone else said, Dystopia is lacking since you added white creatures.

[BeatDominator]

Having played more sui black than I really should admit to, I found several things about the deck that i think might help you a bit.

My most recent build of a mono black build included illusionary mask and phyrexian dreadnought and got me top 8 in a recent Atlanta tournament.

// Everett Steil Blackmask

// Lands
    4 Wasteland
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
    10 Swamp

// Creatures
    3 Phyrexian Negator
    4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
    4 Dark Confidant

// Spells
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Necropotence
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Grim Tutor
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Consultation
    4 Illusionary Mask
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Black Lotus
    4 Dark Ritual
    3 Chalice of the Void
    4 Sinkhole
    4 Hymn to Tourach
    4 Duress

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Darkblast
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Extirpate
SB: 2 Powder Keg
SB: 3 Contagion
SB: 3 Chains of Mephistopheles

This build was similar to something i used to play quite a bit a LONG time ago.  (pre BOB's and chalice's)  I found the chalice for 0 to be a nice addition, as it kept several angels off the table and helped with mana denial.  One of the primary strengths of the deck is the explosive first turn potential.  Dark ritual opens up so many options for this deck, I still think its worth playing, IF you can live with the unpredictability inherit in it.

The mask-nought isn't something that is neccesarliy for everyone, as it is "bad" and "slow", but i always found it to be a nice addition to sui black as a fast game ender after you've blown your load disrupting.  It also allows for your creatures to be uncounterable or disrupted via trinisphere or SoR.

Still, it isn't without its own problems, the mask must hit play, and adds to the extensive list of 2cc cards that a chalice for 2 gives the middle finger to already. 

That being said, I think the Dark Confidant gives this deck new life.  It REALLY helps it hum along.  The low casting cost of all the spells mixed with the extra pressure he provides gives the deck a new driving force.  First turn swamp, dark ritual, duress, confidant is quickly replacing the Swamp, ritual, duress, hymn as my favorite play.




The addition of White to the deck might seem like the fix, I've actually had more luck with a red splash.  What I'm very pleased with lately is the following:

Everett Steil     Grown Man Bidness

// Lands
    4 Swamp
    4 Snow-Covered Swamp
    4 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Badlands
    1 Mountain

// Creatures
    4 Magus of the Moon
    4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
    4 Dark Confidant
    2 Hunted Horror
    3 Grim Lavamancer

// Spells
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Tainted Pact
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Consultation
    4 Illusionary Mask
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Black Lotus
    4 Dark Ritual
    1 Mox Ruby
    3 Hymn to Tourach
    4 Duress
    2 Shattering Spree
    1 Powder Keg

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 Darkblast
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 Shattering Spree
SB: 3 Chains of Mephistopheles



Which is just my attempt to answer the problems with the mask which were always null rod and pithing needle.  The flexibility of shattering spree is the perfect answer to this.  By replicating it, it forces the opponent to deal with more than 1 spell, AND it gets rid of chalice, chalice for 1 even! (which i find to be highly of the wtf variety)

Upon further exploration into red, I found that the magus offered a great solution to my opponents having better lands than I did.  It can drop early, get in under a mask, and provides fantastic disruption vs. almost every deck in the format.

The addition to red also shores up a third shortcoming of the deck, staxx.  Being able to kill welders with lavamancers and having shattering sprees for their lock pieces is a godsend.  Previously the deck had to out broke staxx by going first and hope for the best, this goes a long way to fixing that.

But It could still use a little tweaking I know, I've been tinkering with it since early June and am pretty happy with it so far.  The only thing I'm REALLY not happy with are the hymns.  Some games they are fantastic, others they just kinda sit there.  I wanna try dropping the three of them and:

 -3 hymn to tourach
+2 Sensai's Divining Top (combos well with the confidant, sac lands and vamp tutor, and helps me dig for either mask or nought)
+1 Diabolic edict  (always loved having one first game to tutor for.  Killed a few Dryads/Angles back in the day)

But I'm always open to criticism or discussion.  Hope this helps or inspires you. 

[BeatDominator]

I also like the idea of the chains for the hymns, but i do like to draw with my confidants 

But I will probly give it a shot with em maindeck.  I love bringing em in, I suppose it might be time to do it big like that.

[Roat17]

While Chalice at 0 is weak against Tog, I find chalice at one and two pretty good, as it stops all of their search (at one, Brainstorm, Vamp, Ancestral and at two Merchant Scroll and Demonic) as well as other cards such as Duress, Disrupt, Mana Drain, etc...

Chalice of the Void is a very skill intensive card, and not just to be used at 0. 

Also, a chalice at 0 really does hurt Flash, as it stops their pacts from being played, which is really good.  Chalice is especially good with Duress, as it allows you (on the play) to determine what number you need to set it at to slow your opponent down.  When on the draw, many people would side out chalice as it didn't stop Gifts or Long from going broken first turn.  You would have to test your particular build against Flash to see if it would be worth it to keep in on the draw, or perhaps find some other way of dealing with them.

[GrandpaBelcher]

I also like the idea of the chains for the hymns, but i do like to draw with my confidants 

But I will probly give it a shot with em maindeck.  I love bringing em in, I suppose it might be time to do it big like that.

Chains and Dark Confidant play well together.  Dark Confidant isn't a draw it's a "reveal" and a "put that card into your hand."  They're combolicious, I guess.  I can't speak for how well Chains works against the format right now since I haven't tested it, but it does seem like it would be good.

[BeatDominator]

I stand corrected.  THE CHAINS!

[LSD/Cruise]

+1-2 Swords to Plowshares.  Most people use creatures as opposed to not using them.  If they don't, you have a SB
+1 Necropotence.  You are using rituals and playing an aggressive deck.  This is like the Uber confidant.

I can squeeze in another Swords I guess. But Necro is questioned here. This deck plays like pseudo-Fish. I tend to disrupt my opponent first, them play things like Grunt and such and start beating down. I wouldnt call this Sui Black anymore, probably an evolution from Nabster. 

-1 Dystopia.  Your best creatures are white.  You don't want to sac them because your opponent has a dryad.  With the introduction of white, StoP is what you want instead.

True. Cutting it for more copies of Swords to Plowshares give this deck a better edge against creature decks.

-1 Null Rod.  Null Rod is just meh right now.  If you want this effect for Moxen, use either EE or Kataki.  If you are worried about something crazier, maybe try Seal or Aura of Silence.  Despite no one playing it, it's some good.

I was thinking of adding in Kataki actually. I might run EE instead, since it answers so much. It might take the place of a copy of Swords to Plowshares.

-1 Hippie.  Hippie is awesome.  However I cut 1 a while ago and haven't looked back.  You want to be disrupting in your early turns, and using one turn of disruption to play a Hippie instead can cost you the game.  Hippie is more mid-late game crushing unless you play him early off a ritual to keep pace.  Therefore the choice really is yours, as I can see arguments both ways.

This is also true. I cant disagree with you on cutting a copy of Hippie. I never really considered it until now.

Finally, you like to talk about silver bullets.  Silver Bullets are used predominantly in control decks.  They try to Meta against everything, then find an appropriate silver bullet to play.  Silver bullets still work without a dedicated control deck, but you have no real bombs to play.  Therefore I would also take out the Imp Seal and add a Crucible.  This would give you bombs in the form of Necro and Crucible, and now you still have 2 tutors to find them.

It's true I do need a bomb to make Silver Bullets effective. Personally, I Tutor for a Grunt when the opponent is under exhaust and try to beat him down. I play this deck differently from Sui, so I should start changing the name of the Thread. I think a better bomb than Necro would be Mind Twist.

My changes are

-1 Null Rod
-1 Dystopia
-1 Hypnotic Specter

+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Mind Twist

I dont intend on cutting Imperial Seal, but who knows?

[Roat17]

Glad to see you're going to try mixing things up a bit.  Like I said before, I cut the 4th Hippie, and in one tournament I still had the potential for 3 or so first turn Hippies, but if given the chance I would rather Duress/hym or Confidant. 

I also love mind twist, although I really do fear it getting MisD'ed.  Right now I am using two.  I really like the way your deck is shaping out, although I would never use Leylines MD.  Although I've been thinking Stax might make an appearance soon to try and dethrone GAT, so it could be more useful if more Welders show up.  Who knows.

My last suggestion would be that if you play in an aggro heavy environment, Serra Avenger I believe (ww for a 3/3 flying vigilance) or Exalted Angel might wanna sneak into the SB.  Again, you need to test this though, and good work on the direction the deck is going.