-Steve Bahnaman

If you’ve drafted M10 three or more times, there’s a good chance that you’ve run into at least one deck that only had Swamps and no other lands. There’s a good chance you may have lost even though you thought your deck was pretty darn good, especially if your deck was green-white.

The monoblack deck has been discussed a fair amount, probably more than any other archetype in the M10 draft universe, largely because it has a number of good cards to use in the deck without needing another color to add power. There’s something wonderful about never having to worry about getting color-screwed. Of course, there are other advantages as well, many of which are really just the advantages of “archetype drafting” as opposed to “good cards drafting.”

What’s So Great About Monoblack?

1. Value Elevation

I’ll define “value elevation” as the simple principle that many cards you might pick are better in certain kinds of decks than in others. For example, a black drafter who is also drafting much of any other color wants zero or perhaps one Looming Shades in his deck. It’s just a bad or barely adequate card if you only have one or two Swamps in play. For the monoblack drafter, however, Looming Shade is often a Nightmare without flying. You can play two or three Shades in a monoblack deck; the only reason you don’t want more is that they become much worse when you have two of them in play. Other cards also get much better in monoblack decks, including Tendrils of Corruption, Consume Spirit, Sign in Blood (because of its drawback’s negation by Tendrils’ life-gain), Dread Warlock (because the likelihood of a black opponent decreases: you’ve been taking the good cards!), and even Doom Blade. Elevating some of these cards doesn’t make them that much easier to draft: people take Doom Blade and Tendrils pretty high anyway. But adding Dread Warlock and Looming Shade into the list of cards you’d be happy to take helps you draft better decks, and gives the archetype better…

2. Depth

Black is a very deep color in M10. Look at this proposed pick order for monoblack drafting in M10. Note that these picks only include black cards and artifacts (no splashes, though you could correctly splash for something like a Fireball), and assume you already *know* you’re drafting monoblack.

Pick orders change depending on what you have already drafted, but you should notice already that once you include mythics and rares, there are 42 different cards worthy of inclusion (at least once in a great while) in a monoblack draft deck. That’s a lot of options to choose from, and includes every black common except for Unholy Strength and Soul Bleed. Depth is very important because it gives you a run of cards to pick from pack after pack, and with so much variation between decks it’s unlikely that each monoblack deck you draft will have identical lists or even the same threats. Still, the monoblack drafter benefits from a lot of…

3. Clarity of Focus

Monoblack decks do three things well. They block well with their regenerators and creatures that like to trade such as Child of Night (Douse in Gloom was pretty amazing). They remove creatures with commons Tendrils, Weakness, and Doom Blade, as well as uncommons Consume Spirit and Deathmark. And they gain card advantage straight up with Sign in Blood and Mind Rot. Every monoblack deck you draft will contain these elements. The decks are unlikely to be balls-to-the-wall aggressive unless you get a rare like Vampire Nocturnus or Coat of Arms and a ton of zombies, which isn’t going to happen often. Trade and gain a long-term advantage in terms of cards, then beat them down with an evasion creature. Essentially every monoblack deck does this, which makes it a very comfortable deck to play.

So, monoblack in M10 has everything you want in any draft archetype:
1. Cards whose value is specifically elevated because of other cards the archetype likes.
2. Depth, including a large number of cards with similar characteristics.
3. A focused, repeatable game plan, leading to comfort and better decisionmaking the more you play the deck.

Some Notes on Drafting Monoblack

A. Acolyte of Xathrid is better than you think (but only a little). It pings players and has provided late-game problems for me; you can’t stabilize against totally unblockable damage. It’s a low pick, but an acceptable 23rd spell.

B. Whispersilk Cloak is amazing with Looming Shade. It’s a 2-3 turn clock at most, and it prevents the dreaded Sparkmage Apprentice trump when you’re tapped out.

C. Cards that really *change* in value in this archetype (and hence you end up with many copies of) include Looming Shade, Sign in Blood, Dread Warlock, and many of the filler creatures (Warpath Ghoul, Vampire Aristocrat).

D. A fifth-pick Tendrils of Corruption or a fourth pick Consume Spirit is a good signal to go monoblack. These cards aren’t splashable, and so won’t be drafted by people off-color, but also are easy for people passing them to remember they’ve shipped.

E. Cutting off the player to your left helps, but it is completely possible to draft a very good monoblack deck to the right of someone drafting a half-black deck. There are just a lot of good cards.

F. Deathmark is maindeckable at least in one; with you playing no white or green, the odds of any given opponent playing one of the two colors are usually above 70%.

G. Unholy Strength is very savage tech against multiple copies of Ice Cage. Don’t even think of playing it otherwise.

H. Weakness is very good against blue decks and red decks, destroying Merfolk Looters, Goblin Pikers, Viashino Spearhunters, Prodigal Pyromancers, and making Wind Drakes very irrelevant.

I. If you have to play maindeck Duress, wait until about turn 4 or 5 to play it (after casting a creature and having a mana up, for example). Though you’ll have mana open turn one, you should still wait until your opponent has drawn a few cards. What you really want to hit is a great card like Overrun, Sleep, Fireball, or Armored Ascension; give yourself the best odds possible to catch them! Duress is a good sideboard card against green and white decks, which have both combat tricks you can nerf like Giant Growth, Harm’s Way, and Safe Passage, as well as the ever-present Overrun, and the slow but solid Entangling Vines and Divine Verdict.

J. Draw cards fearlessly with Sign in Blood. You’ll find a Tendrils or a Consume soon enough.

Best of luck drafting monoblack!

-Bryan Dowse

Last night I started my first online Magic2010 draft. I first picked a Djinn of Wishes and went from there. There was nothing else really in the pack, and it was the best card by far. Also, blue seems underdrafted right now so I’m happy picking it up early and forcing blue. The second pick Wind Drake just solidifies my blue choice. A Goblin Artillery third pick generally means that red is open so I pick that up; the other notable cards are the Gravedigger and Stone Giant.

Pick 4 however gets a bit interesting. The only red or blue card in the pack seems to be a Cancel. Instead of a solid red card, I see a nice Rise from the Grave. I take it since my only red card is an Artillery; I could be black if it keeps coming.

At this point I have 2 solid blue cards, one red card, and one black card.

By pick 4-5 I was making the choice between blue-red or blue-black. I had already picked up a Rise and now pick 5 gives me a Sign in Blood, so I’m ready to dump red if I don’t get any cards to support it.

I also start to see blue and white are being cut hard and I figure someone to my right is going white-blue fliers. There was probably another white mage to my right too. Then on pick 6 I see a Wall of Frost. Um ok. This card is removal, folks; it prevents 1.5 attackers a turn. Windstorm was going late, but at 7th pick, I picked the Ponder over it. The Stone Giants and Sparkmages going 10th and 11th shows me that red is great to get from the right side. Since my only black cards are the Rise and the Sign in Blood I decide to go red-blue and ditch the black.

At this point I and am happy with my pool and have 8 maindeck playables. You need 23, and you almost always get more in pack 2 than pack 1 because you’ve cut off the table to your left.

Pack two starts off fine, a Dragon Whelp, followed by a Lightning Bolt over an Air Elemental. This was a tough choice but Lightning Bolt is so good, especially with pingers.

I’m happy with a mid pack Divination and Sparkmage Apprentice I don’t know why these go late, they are very good in a couple of archetypes.

I also pick up a Canyon Minotaur as an ok midgame beater and a Phantom Warrior as a decent evasion creature. The double blue really turns me away form this guy. If there’s a Wind Drake and a Phantom Warrior in the same pack I really have to look at my mana symbols. Both are great cards, but If I have a lot of double red guys already, the Wind Drake may be the right choice. The Phantom Warrior also can’t block fliers. A Wind Drake and a Goblin Artillery can hold back a Serra Angel in most cases.

I pick up a couple of playable red and blue commons for the rest of the pack.

In pack 3 I had to make a choice between Gargoyle Castle and Prodigal Pyromancer. I looked at my only flying beater, the Djinn. I really wanted another flying beater but having a second pinger is just too good.

I also get a second pick Pyroclasm which is great. For a second I looked at picking up the Sleep because the Pyroclasm would kill all my spark mages and the Pyromancer I just picked up, but then remembered that’s the wrong way of thinking.

Pyroclasm is good even in a deck where half you’re creatures will die to it. A turn 2-3 Pyroclasm can WRECK a board if your opponent plays a lot of early 2-butts. Plus this isn’t an aggro deck, so I needed the mass removal option.

The rest of the pack gave me a second Goblin Artillery, a second Wind Drake, a Seismic Strike Yippee! I like multiples of great cards that work together!

The late Ignite Disorder is a decent sideboard vs the white blue fliers deck that I assumed was out there. Speaking of a white blue deck…

Match 1:

The first game was vs a white blue opponent, with at least 2 Illusionary Servants and a Merfolk Looter. The first game I got 2 Artilleries out and a Prodigal Pyromancer early, then the Djinn of Wishes hit the table. I attacked with the Djinn while his board had a tapped Air Elemental, a Griffin Sentinel, a Horned Turtle, and 1 white mana open, he cast Silence. In response I popped the Djinn’s ability and got a Sparkmage Apprentice which I used to target the Air Elemental, I then hit it with my Pyromancer and Artillery, killing it. When the dust settled, he took 4 damage from a Djinn of Wishes to the face and I passed the turn. He then played a Whispersilk Cloak and tried to attach it to the Griffin Sentinel, and in response I Lightning Bolted it. He then tapped out to attached it to the Horned Turtle. I hit him with my goblin artillery, having myself go to 10 and putting him at 13. Next turn I swung with the Djinn and played a Wind Drake. He played a Wind Drake and a Divination. I shot the drake with the artillery and shot him in the face with my second artillery, going to 4 and leaving him at 6. Next turn I swung for 6 in the air.

The second game I kept a hand with a Mountain, Island, Horned Turtle, Goblin Artillery, Wind Drake, and Prodigal Pyromancer. He played a turn 2 Merfolk Looter and a turn 3 Illusionary Servant. I played a turn 3 Pyromancer. He looted a bunch to try to find an answer to the Pyromancer but couldn’t. He swung in the air with the Servant and the next turn I pinged it. I was playing more of a control game and decided I didn’t need the extra two damage each turn so I opted to play the Goblin Artillery over the Wind Drake. I also would like to be able to kill a turn 5 Air Elemental if I drew a Sparkmage Apprentice. He instead tapped 5 for a Siege Mastodon and I topdecked a Stone Giant and played it. I also pinged his Looter. On his turn he Act of Treasoned my Goblin Artillery and swung with the Mastodon, I didn’t block and took 3, and he then used the Artillery to kill my Pyromancer. On my turn I drew my 6th land and played 2 Wind Drakes. I held back the Stone Giant. On his turn he didn’t play anything and passed. On my turn I swung with the Drakes and played a Sage Owl and [card]Canyon

Match 2:

Match two my opponent is playing green-red and starts off with a turn 1 Llanowar Elves. I roll my eyes because that’s the best turn-1 play green can make. Thankfully he has no turn 2 play. On turn 3 he drops a Giant Spider. I drop an Artillery on my turn and pass. He swings with the spider and I don’t block.

He plays a Stampeding Rhino and I hit it with my Artillery and Pyroclasm killing everything besides his spider. He swings again with the Spider. I play a Stone Giant and he doesn’t swing and just passes the turn, at this point he has 6 forest as his only lands and is color screwed. I play a wind drake and he plays a Birds of Paradise. I debated hitting the birds with the artillery but decided I didn’t want to lose more life. I swing with the Drake forgetting the spider can block flying. He blocks with the spider and I let damage resolve. I then I hit the spider with the Artillery, in response he Giant Growths, and in response to that, I Lightning Bolt. I play a Pyromancer and on his turn he hits it with a Sparkmage Apprentice and plays a Craw Wurm. I play a Wall of Ice and a Wind Drake. And he plays a Berserkers of Blood Ridge. I swing with the Drake and on his turn he swings with the Berserkers. I block with the Wall of Ice. He plays an Enormous Baloth and I drop a second Stone Giant and a Pyromancer. Two turns later he attacks with both the Baloth and the Berserkers. I double block the Baloth with my 2 Stone Giants and block the Berserkers with my Wall of Ice. I ping the Baloth for the final damage and kill it. I swing with the team for the rest of the game.

I sideboard in a Flashfreeze and take out a Ponder. Game two he plays a turn 3 Borderland Ranger getting a Mountain and I play an Artillery. He swings with the Ranger and I don’t block, and he passes the turn. I play a Dragon Whelp. On his turn he plays a Stampeding Rhino and I kill the Borderland Ranger with my Artillery. On my turn I play a Stone Giant and swing with my Whelp. On his turn he swings with the Stampeding Rhino and I let it through. On my turn I play a Wind Drake holding back mana for the sideboarded Flashfreeze. On his turn he swings with the Rhino and I block with the Drake, after damage he tries to cast an Elvish Visionary, In response I hit the rhino with the artillery and he casts Regeneration targeting the Rhino, I counter the Regeneration with my Flashfreeze and the Rhino dies. He draws a card and plays a Mist Leopard. On my turn I swing with the Whelp and play my Phantom Warrior and a Wind Drake. On his turn he plays a Craw Wurm and passes the turn. I swing with all my evasion and play a Sage Owl. On his turn he swings all out, I block and he concedes.

Match 3:

Game one he plays 2 Rampant Growths and an Elvish Visionary while I play a Horned Turtle. On turn 4 he plays a Serra Angel and I play a Dragon Whelp. He attacks with the Angel and I attack with the Whelp. On his turn he plays a Deadly Recluse and Blinding Mage. I play a Pyroclasm and kill his entire board but the Angel. I play a Wind Drake. He then swings with the Angel again and I take it and he plays Rampant Growth and a Runeclaw Bear. On my turn I swing with the Whelp and the Drake. He blocks the Drake with the Angel and I Lightning Bolt the Angel. On his turn he plays Howl of the Night Pack pact for 5 tokens I play a Phantom Warrior and a Sparkmage Apprentice, on his turn he Overruns for a lot.

Game two mulligan a 1 mountain hand with a Sparkmage Apprentice, Lightning Bolt, Pyroclasm. I get a hand with 2 Islands 3 Mountains and a wind drake and keep it. He starts off with a turn 1 Llanowar Elves and a Rampant Growth into a Plains, I play a turn 3 Goblin Artillery he plays a Centaur Courser. I topdeck a Sparkmage and hit the Courser with it and the Artillery. On his turn he plays a Runeclaw Bears and a Deadly Recluse. He passes without playing a land. He’s stuck on 3 land. I topdeck a Wall of Ice, play it and hit the Llanowar Elves with my Artillery. I go to 13 while he is at 20. He plays a Stormfront Pegasus and I hit it with the Artillery and I play a Wind Drake. He doesn’t play anything and I play a Divination, holding a seismic strike in hand. He casts Pacifism on my Wind Drake and passes the turn. He’s still stuck on 3 lands. On my turn I topdeck a Whelp and hit his Recluse with my Artillery, going to 7. He plays a Blinding Mage and I hit that with the Artillery, going to 4. I swing for 5 with my Dragon Whelp. He plays a Rampant Growth into his second Plains and passes. I topdeck and play a Pyromancer and swing for 5. I figure he has the Angel in hand, which he does, and he taps out to play it. I hit his Runeclaw Bear with my artillery, going to 1, then on my turn I use Seismic Strike to kill his Angel and swing for exactly 10.

Game 3 he plays a turn 1 Llanowar Elves, and a turn 2 Rampant Growth. He plays a turn 3 Centaur Courser and turn 4 Emerald Oryx. I play a turn 3 Wall of Frost and a turn 4 Pyromancer. He swings with his oryx and courser and I block the courser with my wall and take two he drops an elvish visionary. I’m at 14 and have a hand full of 3 drops. I topdeck a Mountain and play an Artillery. He plays a Runeclaw Bear I play a Canyon Minotaur. He draws a land and taps out for an Ant Queen. I kill his Runeclaw Bear and Elvish Visionary with my pingers at the end of his turn and am at 11. On my turn I draw a land and play it and I use the Artillery and Seismic Strike to hit the Ant Queen for exactly 5. I also play a Phantom Warrior. He plays a Runeclaw Bear and passes the turn, I ping him for 1 putting him at 19. On my turn I swing with my Phantom Warrior and play a Divination and a Wind Drake. On his turn he plays a Serra Angel. I topdeck a Sparkmage Apprentice and use it, the Pyromancer, and Artillery to kill his Angel, then swing with my Drake and Phantom Warrior and play a Dragon Whelp. He cast Howl of the Night Pack for 4 tokens. On my turn I swing with my Phantom Warrior, Drake, Sparkmage, and Dragon Whelp. I have a Pyromancer and Artillery as pingers on the board. He blocks the Sparkmage with the Emerald Oryx. I ping his Courser and Pyroclasm, clearing his board and leaving me with a Drake, Minotaur, Artillery, and Wall of Frost at 5. I play a Horned Turtle. He concedes.

Overall I really liked this red-blue draft. I had some tough picks, like picking a Pyroclasm over a Sleep, and picking pingers very highly. All the pingers work so well together, 2 Artilleries takes out a Serra Angel, a Sparkmage Apprentice and an artillery takes out any 3 butt. I only had a couple of evasion, 2 Wind Drakes, a Whelp, and a Phantom Warrior, but I had a bunch of large butt creatures which I used to control the board and eventually swing for the win. The two Stone Giants were always welcome to see, and as usual I never used their ability. The Wall of Frost was great, early Horned Turtles were nice, the 2 Pyromancers always good.

Drafting this U/R control-pinger archetype I’d say the common/uncommon pick order is:

This is just a general pick order, I would aim for at least three of each of these:

4+ toughness creatures be they Stone Giants or Walls of Fires

3+ power creatures, Minotaur, Stone Giant, Air Elemental, etc.

evasion creatures, Wind Drake, Phantom Warrior

pingers, be they Artillery or Pyromancers. Since they are uncommon this will be the hardest to accomplish, but are the most important to have in multiples in this particular deck.

and fill the rest with bombs, removal (including sparkmages), and draw. That’s pretty much true of any archetype.

My 10 man draft last Friday was pretty much “the nuts soldier draft”.

I first picked a Rhox Pikemaster and second picked a Pacifism over a Pyroclasm. Some may say that passing the Pyroclasm may have not been the right pick, but I stand by sticking in my white color. I tend to draft as many good cards in my color in the first pack as possible, unless there’s a bomb or an obvious signal, and only switch to my second when there’s nothing in the pack.

My third pick was a Veteran Armorsmith. At this point I decided to gamble and try to make a soldier deck. I would pick soldiers very high, and pick them over almost everything, except Pacifisms and bombs. Later in the pack I made the choice of picking a Pacifism over a Blinding Mage. The rest of the pack yielded a total of 2 Pacifisms, 1 Palace Guard, 2 Veteran Armorsmiths, 1 Rhox Pikemaster, 1 Stormfront Pegasus,  and 1 Veteran Swordsmith, 1 Silvercoat Lion. I also picked up some late black: 1 Disentomb, 1 Warpath Ghoul, and 1 Gravedigger.

In the second pack I picked up an first pick Gargoyle Castle over a Divine Verdict and a second pick Whispersilk Cloak over a Veteran Armorsmith. For the rest of the pack I picked up, 1 Divine Verdict, 1 Pacifism, 1 Safe Passage, 1 Solemn offering, and 1 Rise from the Grave.

This pack was interesting because I didn’t get any soldiers and it felt like white was being cut pretty hard. Someone to my left was drafting white flyers and/or soldiers.

The final pack gave me 2 Veteran Armorsmiths, a second pick Armored Ascension, 1 Veteran Swordsmith, 1 Bog Wraith, and 1 Palace Guard.

My Deck ended up being:

Lands:
3 Swamps
12 Plains
1 Gargoyle Castle
White:
3 Pacifisms
4 Veteran Armorsmiths
2 Palace Guards
2 Veteran Swordsmiths
1 Rhox Pikemaster
1 Stormfront Pegasus
1 Silvercoat Lion
1 Armored Ascension
1 Divine Verdict
1 Safe Passage
1 Solemn offering
Black:
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Bog Wraith
1 Disentomb
1 Warpath Ghoul
1 Gravedigger
Artifact:
1 Whispersilk Cloak

9 Soldiers, 3 Pacifisms seems alright.

My first opponent was a black red player who had a great start. I on the other hand I kept a 2 swamp 1 Gargoyle Castle hand on the play, after muliganing to 6 with a bunch of white cards in my hand. I didn’t draw my plains until late, and he got the game. The next two games I had turn 2 and 3 Veteran Armorsmiths followed by a Pacifisms on his creature, and a Rhox Pikemaster to seal the deal.

My second opponent was red green player. He had a bunch of cheap creatures, but almost none of them could stand up to even a Veteran Armorsmith. He had some good removal and tricks like Might of Oaks, but when you’re dropping Jackal Familiar and Runeclaw Bears mid to late game, you’re going to lose to a Veteran Armorsmith and a Veteran Swordsmith.

My third opponent was a green blue player with 2 Merfolk Looters, a Clone and 3 Stampeding Rhinos. I had a turn 2 Veteran Armorsmith turn 3 Veteran Swordsmith and turn 4 Whispersilk Cloak. He dropped a Stampeding Rhinos and I hit it with a Pacifism. He Cloned the Rhino and I hit the clone with another Pacifism. Two turns later the Whispersilk Cloak took me there.

My fourth opponent was a green player who on turn 3 of the first game had 3 Elvish Visionarys, a Birds of Paradise, and a Llanowar Elves. I was worried about the Overrun but he didn’t have it. I played soldiers, he died.

Overall the deck is VERY strong if you can get the right cards. This is the second time I’ve tried drafting it, and this is by far the most successful. The Veteran Swordsmiths, Veteran Armorsmith, and Pacifisms make the deck. I’ve found that this deck is all or nothing though. You have to take a chance and start picking soldiers early, and if you get cut off, it will really hurt. If you’re getting Elite Vanguard’s and not getting the Veterans, this deck won’t work. I’d say you will have to get at least 5 veterans, 2 Pacifism, and a total of 7 soldiers to get this archetype to work.

I will continue drafting this archetype if I get passed the right cards, and when I do I will pay VERY close attention to see if ANYONE else at the table is trying the same. If I don’t get at least 2 soldiers within the first 5 picks I will assume someone has already started picking them up. If they are, I will seriously consider picking up cards from my secondary color higher, and ditch going soldiers.