Hey everyone! Jostling around ideas for this post, I was down to three things: A "Shin Godzilla" movie review, a set review of the Rivals of Ixalan Multicolored/Colorless rares&mythics, or a deck idea! I decided to go with a deck list, since I love breaking free of the metagame in exciting ways with my lists.
As the post title suggests, we're going with Mono Black Pox! I used to play a Br variant splashing for Blood Moons and Terminates, but I decided to stick to mono color for consistency here.
I made the deck on MTGSalvation's deckbuilder, which I highly recommend anyone to use! It's very simple and fast!
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/760-mono-black-pox
This deck is designed to work off of low resources, while keeping your opponents low on resources whether they like it or not. Acting aggressive in the early game is very important, as you want to limit them to as few options as possible. Setting up a devastating Smallpox requires some work and insight, thinking about what you would like to allow them to have in hand AND on field for when you get down with the sickness (yeah, sorry about that). Keeping the resources low will allow your strategy to flourish, as the creatures have alternative methods of battlefield entry. ALWAYS attack with anything outside of Avatar of Woe, since they can't block! The life total is the most effective resource, so don't be afraid to start scraping the bottom of the barrel if it means inching closer to a well earned W.
HORROR OF THE BROKEN LANDS: Horror is used only as a filtering mechanic for the deck, as it's the next best thing to running 4 more copies of Street Wraith. Call to the Netherworld allows you to rebuy this one with its' Madness trigger, so you'd be able to get a second cycle in for good measure.
AVATAR OF WOE: When running 8 cycle creatures and 7 more that basically live in the yard, Avatar of Woe can come online in almost every matchup. The tap ability will always be relevant, and the 6/5 body makes it a hefty foe for any deck to deal with. Casting Avatar, and playing a land the following turn can allow you to destroy a threatening blocker and crack in with some Bloodghasts
Nether Traitor: Shadow creatures are always fun to play with, especially when they have Haste. Not only is the synergy with Bloodghast evident, Nether Traitor plays incredibly well with Ensnaring Bridge, allowing you to go in for chip damage even when you're fiddling around with a single card in your grip.
FOUR (!) Surgical Extraction: Surgical has a ton of uses, my favorite of which being the classic no-permanents-on-board fetchland extraction. Seriously, target those Misties and Catacombs. Immediately! Screwing with a manabase can ruin anyone's gameplan, as mana is universal. If you can't pop off that spicy play, make sure to pull a relevant midgame threat out of their hand (or counterspell) with a discard spell. And what the heck, might as well use the Surgical on anything you pick out as well! Smallpox plays well with Surgical as well, allowing you to get rid of other lands such as any Urza's, or Celestial Columnade if you're lucky.
CALL TO THE NETHERWORLD: Is here for our nonrecurrable friends in this deck. It doesn't get much sweeter than pulling a felled Avatar of Woe from the graveyard for free (!) off of a Liliana discard trigger. The play of: Street Wraith cycle --> Liliana Discard, discarding Call ---> Cast, Targeting Street Wraith ---> cycle Wraith enemy EoT is a pretty incredible way to cycle your way into putting more and more pressure on your opponents' resources.
Opening with a surgical extraction, discard spell, two lands, and a smallpox is the most explosive start in this deck regardless of the other two cards in hand. If you're on the draw, any fetch the opponent uses should be surgically removed ASAP. Like while they're searching for their shock, might as well get the other 3 Misty s out of there too buddy! Following with a Discard spell t1 is great, as it allows you to see what you're getting into the following turns. I leave them something to cast, to open themselves up more to the effects of the next turn's Smallpox. By this time, you have disrupted their mana base, their hand twice, and their land most importantly. All by turn 2! Dropping a few Cyclers or a Bloodghast into the yard on these turns will allow you to set up for the mid/late game as well.
By this point, you have hopefully drawn into more discard, another smallpox, cyclers, etc... but what you're really looking for turns 3-6 are a Liliana of the Veil, or the Ensnaring Bridge. Since the deck uses cyclers and not draw spells that gain you cards, your hand will be kept relatively low along with your opponents'. Ensnaring bridge won't let anything above 2 power through regularly, and Liliana of the Veil can be used after you cast anything juicy you peel off the top. Now your discard should be targeting relevant mid and late game threats, which you can pitch a Surgical on as well. Anything you feel threatened by at this point; don't risk it, and get rid of it. Planeswalkers are especially difficult to stop, so if you can get one of those exiled it will go a long way towards the W.
Grinding out a victory with Bloodghasts and Nether Traitors is great fun in the late game, as you have quite an arsenal to clear the board and find answers. Avatar of Woe will become relevant past turn 5, as your cyclers and recurring creatures count towards her cost reduction as well. If you can get 2 or 3 creatures into their graveyard, you could see this big baddie out by turn 6 or 7. With a large body and a tap effect that gets rid of bigger threats for the rest of the guys to bust in some chip damage.
Anyways, that's about all I had for now! I hope this was insightful, and I'd love to hear some feedback on the deck/archetype. Have any suggestions for later deck installments or other content? Shoot that my way as well! To anyone who made it this far, have a great day and you'll see me again tomorrow :)
