Comments on: Back in Monoblack: Drafting Mono Black in M10

By: raven

raven — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:53:43 +0000

i play a naya and i have a mono black deck that i made recently and it has beaten naya and jund at least three times the thing about it is itis mostly a discard deck i think that mono black should have more creatures that have higher power and toughness like in the range of 8/8.

By: Steve Bahnaman

Steve Bahnaman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:30:41 +0000

@GerryT: You’re actually right about Mind Shatter and Mind Rot. During the early weeks of M10 draft, at least in my experience which was all I really had, Mind Rot was very easy to get late and this is no longer true. Mind Shatter is also better than I thought; I had a few negative experiences with it in my deck and almost certainly punished it too much. With black’s great regenerating blockers and removal in your deck, discard is the final straw that puts your opponent into topdeck mode while you enter “swing for 4-6″ mode. Essentially it accelerates the endgame.

@Ancient: Yeah, White Knight is a pain in the butt. At least it’s not a 3/3 like Stag. White/Green is normally a dream matchup for monoblack; you have dudes that swing into monoblack’s blockers, die to monoblack’s removal, and you can’t draw cards or make monoblack discard.

Later this week I plan to post an updated monoblack pick order.

By: Ancient

Ancient — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:31:36 +0000

I saw this deck in action yesterday and white knight just makes it it’s bitch other than that it is very very solid and i lost against it with no chance at all (i was WG with no white knight).

By: Feechi

Feechi — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:55:56 +0000

Nice post, with enough tendrils and consume spirits this deck can be almost retarded to play against since it has plenty of evasion and nice blocking. Overall, the removal is the must-have for this deck, but if you can get a few tendrils/consumes youre golden

By: GerryT

GerryT — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:38:47 +0000

I think you are vastly underrating Mind Shatter and some other stuff like Weakness and Mind Rot. You are also probably overrating Cloak and Flail. Disemtomb is pretty good if you have a Gravedigger or two. Other than some trivial things like Royal over Doom Blade, this was a very informative article.

By: Steve B.

Steve B. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:45:23 +0000

Good question, Berkov.

Most importantly, a pick order is NOT a hard and fast document like a road map or a times table. It adjusts based on what you’ve already taken and what you have too much or too little of. If you already have 3 Looming Shades, don’t take any more. Hate-draft or take a worse card that you might play or run in your sideboard. The same goes for what you think will wheel.

That said, if I opened that pack 2 I’d take the Shade if I had 1 or 0 in my pool already; you can’t *assume* it will wheel because it actually is okay in decks that aren’t strictly monoblack. Pithing Needle is only okay; if you want to take it for the money, do so, but my assumption is always that Pithing Needle isn’t going to be the first card in my deck. This is more a ranking of the order in which you *want* cards, and probably have to take them to make sure you get them. Looming Shades don’t just fall all over you out of the sky if you’re drafting against good players.

Pick orders always vary, though, based on who you’re playing, what you already have taken, and what you think you can get back.

By: Berkov

Berkov — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:24:32 +0000

How exactly does a pick order work? Is it based on if there are only 8 cards in a pack? Like, if I opened pack 2 and had a pithing needle and a looming shade with no other picks wouldn’t you take the needle? With the assumption the shade will wheel?

By: admin

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:57:03 +0000

I would move the Pithing Needle to the 27th spot in your pick order. It shuts down a bunch of good cards (including undead slayers, tappers, garruk, ant queen, pingers, and equipment) Other then that, great article!

By: Berkov

Berkov — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:15:21 +0000

Considering you get a few tendrils this wont be a problem. But i have drafted mono-black decks where black was very clearly open and died to the uncommon undead slayer. No amount of assassinates will get him against a good player you need instant speed removal. Also this makes the shade and the banshee better cards for their creature type is relevant, same for the new intimidating warlock.