M
MonoBlack
Guest
Hey all.
I'm obviously new to the boards, but I'm posting this here instead of the Intro forum because of the attached decklists. Hope that's okay.
I started playing magic during the Legends expansion, and continued heavily for several years - until Mercadian Masks. I stopped altogether at some point during Nemesis after a period of light play. Since then, aside from an odd trade here and there to update a deck, I hadn't played the game for quite some time. A few friends and I have started to get back into MTG over the past couple of days after collectively realizing that we've all still got all of our cards and decks, and we intend to return to regular play.
As I was looking over some of the new sets and rules, I found, to my absolute horror, that the 1.5 (or "Legacy," I guess it is called now?) format now includes banned Necropotence, banned Demonic Tutor, and banned Demonic Consultation. These are cards that had previously been legal for years... can anyone tell me what is it that got them suddenly banned? I was never a fan of type 1 due to the $power nine$ (I played 1.5 and 2 in tournaments), but our casual games were generally played with the loosest possible ruleset - which is of course type 1. However, the fact that Necropotence and Demonic Consultation have also been restricted in type 1 (or "Vintage," right?) means that one of my favorite and oldest decks - one I've had in various forms since Ice Age originally came out - is no longer legal in any format. Ouch.
So then, with those deck-altering changes in mind, and also the fact that I've never played with (or really seen) Apocalypse, Odessy, Torment, Judgement, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa, and anything else that has been released since, I have some updating to do. I do have a select few cards from Prophecy, Invasion, and Planeshift, but I don't really know the bulk of these sets either.
Anyway, the reason for all of this yammering is that I could use some help revising (or scrapping) old decks in light of new cards - and I would also be very grateful if someone could tell me how Black has been doing all this time. I've always been primarily interested in monoblack/artifact decks, with an emphasis on hand-destruction and suicide advantages; Greed, Necropotence, Necrologia, Lich, Hatred, etc. Hymn to Tourach, for instance, is my favorite card. Is Black still capable of this sort of thing? Has it gained any new, significant abilities? The only other color that I like to play is Blue, although I do occasionally mix something else with Blue or Black when I must.
So, these are the decks that I have at the moment - they're all old and need updating with new cards, and legalizing for Legacy format (or total deconstruction if that's impossible). All of these decks have sideboards, but I'm not going to bother listing those.
* Necropotence - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, totally illegal now)
Necropotence (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Bubbling Muck (3)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Demonic Consultation (4)
Lake of the Dead (1)
Yawgmoth's Will (1)
Unmask (4)
Hymn to Tourach (4)
Duress (2)
Hypnotic Specter (4)
Drain Life (4)
Ivory Tower (3)
Nevinyrral's Disk (3)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Swamp (18)
* Hatred - Mono Black (type 2 legal when I created it, totally illegal now)
Hatred (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Crystal Vein (4)
Demonic Consultation (4)
Kaervek's Spite (1)
Unmask (4)
Duress (4)
Carnophage (4)
Sarcomancy (4)
Phyrexian Negator (4)
Dauthi Slayer (4)
Dauthi Horror (4)
Swamp (17)
* Land Destruction - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Nether Void (4)
Sinkhole (4)
Icequake (4)
Rain of Tears (4)
Strip Mine (1)
Mishra's Helix (1)
Befoul (3)
Diabolic Edict (2)
Duress (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Sol Ring (1)
Necrologia (2)
Frozen Shade (4)
Spawning Pool (4)
Swamp (18)
* Recurring Graveyard - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Ashen Ghoul (4)
Nether Shadow (4)
Bone Dancer (2)
Carnophage (4)
Sacromancy (4)
Buried Alive (4)
Dark Ritual (3)
Sol Ring (1)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Altar of Dementia (4)
Soulshriek (4)
Grave Pact (4)
Crawlspace (2)
Maze of Ith (4)
Swamp (16)
* Discard - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Hypnotic Specter (4)
Abyssal Specter (3)
Mindstab Thrull (3)
Megrim (4)
Dying Wail (4)
The Rack (4)
Sol Ring (1)
Dark Ritual (4)
Necrologia (2)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Hymn to Tourach (4)
Funeral Charm (4)
Memory Jar (1)
Swamp (17)
* Control - Mono Blue (originally built as a type 2 deck, later modified for type 1.5 legal - only Vintage legal now)
Sol Ring (1)
Memory Crystal (4)
Whispers of the Muse (3)
Soothsaying (1)
Archivist (3)
Man-o'-War (4)
Tradewind Rider (4)
Temporal Adept (2)
Rootwater Thief (3)
Morphling (1)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Force of Will (2)
Black Vise (1)
Shimmer (1)
Island (18)
* Stasis - Blue/White (type 1.5 legal when I played - only Vintage legal now)
Stasis (4)
Chronatog (4)
Kismet (4)
Forsaken City (3)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Dissipate (4)
Force of Will (4)
Mana Short (2)
Impulse (4)
Enlightened Tutor (1)
Sol Ring (1)
Soothsaying (1)
Disenchant (2)
Swords to Plowshares (3)
Tundra (4)
Island (7)
Plains (7)
* Generic Casual Deck - Blue/Black (type 1.5 legal when I played - only Vintage legal now)
Dark Ritual (3)
Sol Ring (1)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Quicksilver Amulet (1)
Volrath's Stronghold (1)
Soldevi Excavations (1)
Sengir Vampire (4)
Air Elemental (4)
Clone (2)
Mahamoti Djinn (1)
Vesuvan Doppleganger (1)
Underworld Dreams (1)
Illusionary Mask (1)
Maze of Ith (1)
Terror (2)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Boomerang (2)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Dissipate (2)
Flash Counter (2)
Underground Sea (4)
Island (7)
Swamp (7)
Any input on upgrading-to-new-cards/editing-for-Legacy that anyone has is more than welcome, as is commentary on the current state of Black in the game! I am especially curious - can black still stand alone in the modern MTG environment?
I'm obviously new to the boards, but I'm posting this here instead of the Intro forum because of the attached decklists. Hope that's okay.
I started playing magic during the Legends expansion, and continued heavily for several years - until Mercadian Masks. I stopped altogether at some point during Nemesis after a period of light play. Since then, aside from an odd trade here and there to update a deck, I hadn't played the game for quite some time. A few friends and I have started to get back into MTG over the past couple of days after collectively realizing that we've all still got all of our cards and decks, and we intend to return to regular play.
As I was looking over some of the new sets and rules, I found, to my absolute horror, that the 1.5 (or "Legacy," I guess it is called now?) format now includes banned Necropotence, banned Demonic Tutor, and banned Demonic Consultation. These are cards that had previously been legal for years... can anyone tell me what is it that got them suddenly banned? I was never a fan of type 1 due to the $power nine$ (I played 1.5 and 2 in tournaments), but our casual games were generally played with the loosest possible ruleset - which is of course type 1. However, the fact that Necropotence and Demonic Consultation have also been restricted in type 1 (or "Vintage," right?) means that one of my favorite and oldest decks - one I've had in various forms since Ice Age originally came out - is no longer legal in any format. Ouch.
So then, with those deck-altering changes in mind, and also the fact that I've never played with (or really seen) Apocalypse, Odessy, Torment, Judgement, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa, and anything else that has been released since, I have some updating to do. I do have a select few cards from Prophecy, Invasion, and Planeshift, but I don't really know the bulk of these sets either.
Anyway, the reason for all of this yammering is that I could use some help revising (or scrapping) old decks in light of new cards - and I would also be very grateful if someone could tell me how Black has been doing all this time. I've always been primarily interested in monoblack/artifact decks, with an emphasis on hand-destruction and suicide advantages; Greed, Necropotence, Necrologia, Lich, Hatred, etc. Hymn to Tourach, for instance, is my favorite card. Is Black still capable of this sort of thing? Has it gained any new, significant abilities? The only other color that I like to play is Blue, although I do occasionally mix something else with Blue or Black when I must.
So, these are the decks that I have at the moment - they're all old and need updating with new cards, and legalizing for Legacy format (or total deconstruction if that's impossible). All of these decks have sideboards, but I'm not going to bother listing those.
* Necropotence - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, totally illegal now)
Necropotence (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Bubbling Muck (3)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Demonic Consultation (4)
Lake of the Dead (1)
Yawgmoth's Will (1)
Unmask (4)
Hymn to Tourach (4)
Duress (2)
Hypnotic Specter (4)
Drain Life (4)
Ivory Tower (3)
Nevinyrral's Disk (3)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Swamp (18)
* Hatred - Mono Black (type 2 legal when I created it, totally illegal now)
Hatred (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Crystal Vein (4)
Demonic Consultation (4)
Kaervek's Spite (1)
Unmask (4)
Duress (4)
Carnophage (4)
Sarcomancy (4)
Phyrexian Negator (4)
Dauthi Slayer (4)
Dauthi Horror (4)
Swamp (17)
* Land Destruction - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Nether Void (4)
Sinkhole (4)
Icequake (4)
Rain of Tears (4)
Strip Mine (1)
Mishra's Helix (1)
Befoul (3)
Diabolic Edict (2)
Duress (4)
Dark Ritual (4)
Sol Ring (1)
Necrologia (2)
Frozen Shade (4)
Spawning Pool (4)
Swamp (18)
* Recurring Graveyard - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Ashen Ghoul (4)
Nether Shadow (4)
Bone Dancer (2)
Carnophage (4)
Sacromancy (4)
Buried Alive (4)
Dark Ritual (3)
Sol Ring (1)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Altar of Dementia (4)
Soulshriek (4)
Grave Pact (4)
Crawlspace (2)
Maze of Ith (4)
Swamp (16)
* Discard - Mono Black (type 1.5 legal when I played, only Vintage legal now)
Hypnotic Specter (4)
Abyssal Specter (3)
Mindstab Thrull (3)
Megrim (4)
Dying Wail (4)
The Rack (4)
Sol Ring (1)
Dark Ritual (4)
Necrologia (2)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Hymn to Tourach (4)
Funeral Charm (4)
Memory Jar (1)
Swamp (17)
* Control - Mono Blue (originally built as a type 2 deck, later modified for type 1.5 legal - only Vintage legal now)
Sol Ring (1)
Memory Crystal (4)
Whispers of the Muse (3)
Soothsaying (1)
Archivist (3)
Man-o'-War (4)
Tradewind Rider (4)
Temporal Adept (2)
Rootwater Thief (3)
Morphling (1)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Force of Will (2)
Black Vise (1)
Shimmer (1)
Island (18)
* Stasis - Blue/White (type 1.5 legal when I played - only Vintage legal now)
Stasis (4)
Chronatog (4)
Kismet (4)
Forsaken City (3)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Dissipate (4)
Force of Will (4)
Mana Short (2)
Impulse (4)
Enlightened Tutor (1)
Sol Ring (1)
Soothsaying (1)
Disenchant (2)
Swords to Plowshares (3)
Tundra (4)
Island (7)
Plains (7)
* Generic Casual Deck - Blue/Black (type 1.5 legal when I played - only Vintage legal now)
Dark Ritual (3)
Sol Ring (1)
Demonic Tutor (1)
Quicksilver Amulet (1)
Volrath's Stronghold (1)
Soldevi Excavations (1)
Sengir Vampire (4)
Air Elemental (4)
Clone (2)
Mahamoti Djinn (1)
Vesuvan Doppleganger (1)
Underworld Dreams (1)
Illusionary Mask (1)
Maze of Ith (1)
Terror (2)
Diabolic Edict (4)
Boomerang (2)
Counterspell (4)
Arcane Denial (4)
Dissipate (2)
Flash Counter (2)
Underground Sea (4)
Island (7)
Swamp (7)
Any input on upgrading-to-new-cards/editing-for-Legacy that anyone has is more than welcome, as is commentary on the current state of Black in the game! I am especially curious - can black still stand alone in the modern MTG environment?