Single Scoop: Mono Black Devotion
The recent B&R has allowed all the brews to hit the meta so we're going to return to an old archetype.....Mono-Black Devotion!
Gameplan
We're not using Nyx Lotus but we are trying to win with Gray Merchant of Asphodel just like Mono-Black did from a few years ago. I do think the deck would benefit a lot more from Cauldron Familiar but unfortunately, its banned. So what do we put in place of the cat plan? A much clunkier but funnier gameplan!
We have a much clunkier gameplan but funnier if we can pull it off! Kaervek, the Spiteful is there to come down before the troll to eat the tokens up so we can have a massive 8/8 haste trample threat. This may seem like a lot of set up(it is) but Kaervek might just be good enough to play when there are tons of X/1 creatures. Mainly, Edgewall Innkeeper and the way adventure decks can reoccur him. In best of one, there's actually a decent amount of other creatures that Kaervek's ability can hose. Let's say we don't have Kaervek? Massacre Wurm it is! The combination of Kaervek and Wurm means -3/-3 for our opponent's creatures. We definitely are a more midrange deck so its okay to be slower. I even have Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose to get extra saucy as each goat will burn the opponents for three while we draw a card! Why are we doing all of this for Clackbridge Troll? Because the format right now is filled with a bunch of sorcery speed removal. I thought I'd try to get cute and get a surprise punch on some opponents hehe...
Another card that I'm trying to push right now is Liliana, Waker of the Dead. She feels better in a Rakdos Midrange gameplan but with cards like Agadeem's Awakening, I figured we can buy our creatures back. At first, I was playing Skyclave Shade to discard to Liliana but I had to trim the Shades. I do like Shade + Liliana even if it may not be for this iteration of the deck. Why am I playing her? Right now, planeswalkers aren't as common. When we've been so used to planeswalkers falling out of every corner of the battlefield, this format has pretty much left all planeswalkers on the sideline. This just means we get to attack on a different axis.
Conclusion
The deck is a bit clunky, to nobody's surprise, but it was fun when we got things to go off. I do feel that we need more interaction and cheaper threats so there's room for Serrated Scorpion or Whisper Squad to fill out our early game. I like Scorpion a bit more so Kaervek doesn't dunk on our own X/1s. With cheap creatures like that, I would also like to add Village Rites or Mazemind Tome to give us a bit more card draw. Is Mono Black viable ? Probably not but it is fun to try. I really wanted to squeeze Erebos but our 4+ drops count were too high. If I were to try this again, I'd probably shave the Troll and Wurm for other threats. I do think Kaervek might just be good enough to play somewhere in the 75.
Standard is actually really fun right now and a brewer's paradise! I've been trying Devotion decks in events and on the Bo1 ladder with some promising results. When I say promising, I mean a solid tier 2 and maybe 1.5 at best. Either way, back to brewing and have fun and I hope to see you all in the queues. Thanks for reading/watching <3
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-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger
Twitter: @TheAsianAvenger || Twitch: twitch.tv/TheAsianAvenger || Email: theasianavenger@mtggoldfish.com
