Need Help with Monoblack Control

[TheGildedGoose]

Or are you just running him as a giant beatstick with regenerate?

It does what it says on the tin.

[MrBloo]

Haha nothing wrong with a two-legged Nightmare

[TheGildedGoose]

Here we are.

Korlash

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander:

1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade

Lands: 44

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Bojuka Bog

1 Buried Ruin

1 Cabal Coffers

1 Demolition Field

1 Deserted Temple

1 Fabled Passage

1 Marsh Flats

1 Myriad Landscape

1 Plaza of Heroes

1 Polluted Delta

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Rogue's Passage

1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse

1 Unholy Grotto

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Verdant Catacombs

1 Volrath's Stronghold

1 Witch's Cottage

25 Snow-Covered Swamp

Arms: 4

1 Blackblade Reforged

1 Lashwrithe

1 Nightmare Lash

1 Shadowspear

Discard: 9

1 Burglar Rat

1 Elderfang Disciple

1 Mind Sludge

1 Necrogen Mists

1 Nezumi Informant

1 Oppression

1 Rotting Rats

1 Thoughtseize

1 Virus Beetle

Protection: 5

1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

1 Imp's Mischief

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Swiftfoot Boots

1 Whispersilk Cloak

Spot Removal: 10

1 Baleful Mastery

1 Bitter Triumph

1 Deadly Rollick

1 Erebos's Intervention

1 Feed the Swarm

1 Go for the Throat

1 Heartless Act

1 Infernal Grasp

1 Oubliette

1 Sheoldred's Edict

Board Wipes: 7

1 Crux of Fate

1 Damnation

1 Deadly Cover-Up

1 Deadly Tempest

1 Mandate of Abaddon

1 Tegwyll's Scouring

1 Toxic Deluge

Card Draw: 9

1 Black Market Connections

1 Hostile Negotiations

1 Mask of Griselbrand

1 Necropotence

1 Night's Whisper

1 Phyrexian Arena

1 Promise of Power

1 Sign in Blood

1 Skeletal Scrying

Recursion: 5

1 Animate Dead

1 Crucible of Worlds

1 Necromancy

1 Reanimate

1 Yawgmoth's Will

Tutors: 6

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Expedition Map

1 Grim Tutor

1 Imperial Seal

1 Profane Tutor

1 Vampiric Tutor

Approximate Total Cost:

Like I said, I'm explicitly avoiding Torment/Exsanguinate, so Korlash is a natural win con. Regeneration is surprisingly relevant with all the new wipes not having the "can't be regenerated" clause, and with random reanimation and Volrath's Stronghold/Unholy Grotto he's pretty persistent. The deck plays out a lot like @Dunadain's Ebondeath, Dracolich but we play primarily protection and evasion equipment instead of buff equipment since Korlash gets real big real quick. Except for the power doublers. Those are sweet.

The only really suspect part of the deck would be the Burglar Rat clones. The deck doesn't need mana rocks, and the discard rats provide protection against edicts, traditionally the bane of Voltron decks.

[MrBloo]

The only really suspect part of the deck would be the Burglar Rat clones. The deck doesn't need mana rocks, and the discard rats provide protection against edicts, traditionally the bane of Voltron decks.

So I have a Dragonlord Ojutai voltron deck and the way I deal with edict effects (apart from counterspells) is that I run Assault Suit. It doubles as a haste enabler and while I usually don't give Ojutai away (although you get him back at the end of the turn anyway) because I don't care for giving my opponents a card, it does still count as your commander damage when he hits someone else so it sometimes helps cover one of voltron's weaknesses which is action economy. I found that there really isn't another anti-edict effect like this around unless you just play Selesnya.

[MrBloo]

Also, Wayfarer's Bauble is an actual swamp ramp so that may be worth a slot if you decide to turn the rats package into something else since having actual swamps matter a lot more than the ramping part.

Idk how deep into the voltron hole you want to go with him but here are some of the options I want to bring up, apart from the usual voltron/equipment suspects. We know Korlash really doesn't need help in the raw power department so we mostly care about exponential gains, protection, and evasion.

Kaya's Ghostform is another good voltron tool in black since his only other weakness would be exile effects because you can't regenerate out of that.

Tainted Strike is a good combat trick that is as unexpected as Hatred but can take out a player from nowhere. Doesn't even have to target your own attacker.

Sword of Hearth and Home covers against white which is probably just about the most important color along with black to protect against. Also ramps you a land for next swing.

Not of This World is a weird one. On one hand you can probably afford to hard cast it and not be super happy about it. On the other hand, this card is pretty much going to be free most of the time as you get into the mid/later stages of the game and is another unexpected piece of protection. I run it in my Yargle and Multani power matters deck just because it's going to always be on when I need it.

Again, this is if you decide to try something else in discard package's place.

[pokken]

If I were building MBC, I'd probably run Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools and partner with something. Probably Tormod, the Desecrator but potentially Francisco, Fowl Marauder.

Tevesh is just stupid good as a one card closer, freeing up cards both for draw and game ending while simultaneoulsy synergizing with a lot of the best black cards (even if you don't want to go hard on Grave Pact). Being able to partner with Francisco, Fowl Marauder for early game card advantage/consistency is nice too, and is fantastic for wielding various equipments that are solid draw engines / ramp engines. Tormod, the Desecrator represents another win condition in the zone where you can do various stupid loops of cards in and out of your bin for zombos if you want (e.g. Phyrexian Reclamation // Oversold Cemetery // Bloodghast type effects).