Casual Legacy: CAMBA (mono-black aggro)

[kirbysdl]

Cheap-Ass Mono-Black Aggro

The goal is to build a
(1) casual
(2) mono-black deck with
(3) an aggro bias, using
(4) all commons costing
(5) no more than $2, but
(6) generally as cheap and easy-to-acquire as possible

If it seems like I'm going a bit overboard for a stupid common pile, understand that this is my start at practicing deck building and optimizing.  The entire Legacy cardpool is a bit overwhelming to a newbie deck builder, so restricting myself to commons should make it more approachable.  I recommend this to other budding designers too. =)

I chose black because it has no less than five forms of evasion in its cheap commons: protection, fear, shadow, flying, and landwalk.  Even better, critters with these abilities are often reasonably efficient (power >= CC).  Evasion should help its critters go for the dome and avoid tangling with other decks' bigger threats, while the efficiency should provide constant pressure and hopefully fast kills.  Black is also efficient at creature removal (at least for non-black critters) and has a powerful discard suite for some early disruption, all at common rarity.  Let's run through some possibilities:

1-drop critters

Carnophage An iconic black suicide weenie, and the best 1-drop available to us since Sarcomancy runs about $5 each.
Vampire Bats If we don't have enough things to do with our first Swamp, this may be added.  It firebreathes for two and could be pumped with equipment.

2-drop critters

Skulking Ghost, Foul Imp, Fledgling Djinn Here we get some flying creatures that actually do some damage without help, though they come with significant downsides.  With the hopes that in a casual environment and a threat-filled deck these might stick around for a while, I'll choose the Foul Imp.  Skulking Ghost would be nice except that we can't equip or enchant it.
Dauthi Slayer, Dauthi Horror I'll likely be attacking anyway, and with all the possible damage sources out there, 2 toughness might make the difference to keep it alive.  Hence, we'll go with the Slayer for now.  See also Funeral Charm.
Wretched Anurid As a 3/3 for 2, he's one of our fatter critters, and pretty efficient to boot.  Just hope no one empties the warrens onto our heads.
Order of the Ebon Hand This iconic Black Weenie can safely kill opposing weenies with first strike, and chew up our unspent mid-game mana. While skipping Dauthi Horror left us with an even weaker White Weenie MU, the Order helps balance the scales a bit.
Nezumi Cutthroat Here's a fear option, though the 1 toughness is unfortunate.
Fallen Askari Has flanking for improved combat performance, but in the end it's just a bear when unblocked.
Erg Raiders Compared to the Askari, they're unshockable but can't kill a Kird Ape when attacking.

3-drop critters

Phyrexian War Beast Efficient boltproof critter at the upper end of our mana curve.  First turn PWB with a second turn Bonesplitter makes for some fun times.
Should something else be in this slot?

Pumpers

Though our men are efficient, they're a bit weak while unarmed.  Here we can give them some muscle and weaponry.

Unholy Strength Is it worth the risk of card disadvantage?  +2 for one mana is really efficient, but with such fragile creatures, it may not pan out.
Bonesplitter The best common equipment, giving +2 power for a total of two mana.  When lacking other first turn plays, this could be cast (though it doesn't do much as we have no Hasted critters for play+equip on the second turn).
Vulshok Morningstar Three extra mana compared to Unholy Strength for one measly toughness.  However, this doesn't die with the creature, and moves many out of bolt range.

Removal/Utility

Snuff Out It's hard to bury black critters while staying with the realm of commons, but at least this can be cast out of nowhere, to free up our mana to play threats.
Consume Spirit We might not have enough mana to make it hurt much, but it kills black creatures, can finish an opponent, and can keep us alive.
Corrupt If we can get 6 mana, this is more efficient than the Drain Life family.
Diabolic Edict This can get rid of anything the above cards cannot, if we're lucky enough to kill their other creatures.  The targeted destruction provided by the "Terror family" may be better.

Discard Option

Is this feasible without a constant source of discard such as the Hippie?

Funeral Charm An old-school favorite.  I wonder why Pikula sideboarded Darkblast in his Deadguy Ale, when this seems so much more flexible.  Pump your critters to reach for the kill, bury opposing utility creatures (even black ones), or finish the discard job that your other cards started.  Sure these are situational uses that may leave it dead in hand, but so much more so for Darkblast!  Is the Dredge ability so powerful?
Hymn to Tourach Scratching the top of our self-imposed price limits, this is among the more efficient discard cards in print.
Duress Useful to get rid of dangerous cards.

Proposed Decklist

// Mana (22)
    18  Swamp
    4  Dark Ritual

// Creatures (18)
    4  Order of the Ebon Hand (3)
    2  Wretched Anurid
    4  Phyrexian War Beast (1)
    4  Carnophage
    4  Dauthi Slayer

// Critter pumps (4)
    4  Bonesplitter

// Destruction and Disruption (16)
    3  Funeral Charm
    4  Hymn to Tourach (1)
    3  Snuff Out
    4  Duress
    2  Consume Spirit

General Notes:

I don't play sideboards in casual play, so I haven't thought too much about that.  Some peasant magic formats allow the use of a few uncommons, for which I'd add Hippies and some supporting discard spells.  I was pleasantly surprised by the number of decent black creatures that conform to the stated goals.  Without Hymns, I think everything can be acquired for under $1 per card.  Obviously, this isn't meant to be a tournament-viable deck, but any suggestions for improvement are more than welcome. 

Should I run...

... more/different creature hate, for the naturally creature-filled casual/newbie meta?
... more pumpers to speed the kill and tangle with opposing fatties?
... something more beefy, to retain effectiveness in the mid/late game?
... anything else?

Thanks for reading!

The Cheap Ass Series:
CAMBA: Cheap-Ass Mono-Black Aggro
CARGA: Cheap-Ass Red-Green Aggro

[Ephraim]

I think that it would be a good idea to include a few spells that scale up well.  If your opponent happens to put a stop to your fast aggression, you'll need a back up plan.  You had mentioned Drain Life (should be Consume Spirit instead.)  If you expect only ever to need your scalable cards late in the game, which is probable, Corrupt and Tendrils of Corruption are also nice.  You could probably afford to take out (1) Funeral Charm, (1) Snuff Out, and (1) Hymn to Tourach if you wanted to add one or more scalable cards.  I would probably go with (2) Tendrils of Corruption and (1) Corrupt.

[kirbysdl]

I think that it would be a good idea to include a few spells that scale up well.  If your opponent happens to put a stop to your fast aggression, you'll need a back up plan.  You had mentioned Drain Life (should be Consume Spirit instead.)  If you expect only ever to need your scalable cards late in the game, which is probable, Corrupt and Tendrils of Corruption are also nice.  You could probably afford to take out (1) Funeral Charm, (1) Snuff Out, and (1) Hymn to Tourach if you wanted to add one or more scalable cards.  I would probably go with (2) Tendrils of Corruption and (1) Corrupt.

Hey neat, they made a better drain life. =)  I haven't played for a few years so I only remember the old stuff.  I agree having some late-game staying power would be nice.  It's not that I don't have any... the Orders do pump, albeit inefficiently.  You're right though, as more would be nice.  I'll have to test to see how quickly I get 6 mana for Corrupt.  I like the ability to "go for the dome," so I'd likely either choose Corrupt or fall back on the more flexible though less efficient Consume Spirit.  Thanks!

EDIT: After some testing, it's just too uncommon to get 6 lands in the late game, and any game that goes that far will likely end in a loss, as this deck is more suited to an explosive start and aggressive offense.  There are 2- to 3-mana sorceries that drain for 2, but they can only either target players or creatures, so they are too inflexible.

EDIT: You'd take out a Hymn before a Duress?  I would think Hymn's more effective at disruption in the newbie/casual meta, which probably isn't going to pull a win-on-turn-2 combo.  If someone is playing a $300 Legacy combo deck against my $13 common pile...  =)