What CA engine should I use? (Black)

[Qweerios]

Hi,

I have been playing black based decks (Eva Green, Deadguy Ale, Red Death, The Gate, etc...) ever since I started playing legacy and the way I build my decks usually begin with the following question:

Bob or no Bob, if no then,
Tombstalker and Arena.

After lots of testing it appears that as awesome as Bob is, all decks in my meta run some sort of cheap creature removal to deal with early bobs, lavamancers, lackeys, mom, mana dorks, etc... As great of a draw engine bob is, he never sticks and by including him in the first place into your deck, he imposes constraints such as:

Having a low mana curve or;
How to make use of a 2/1 body;
Should I run Top? (PLZ ban this card!)
Should I try to protect or let bob eat removal, if so;
Do I really need a draw engine?

As of late, I have found Phyrexian Arena to be much more effective for my gameplan and most importantly, the card sticks. Arena doesn't impose restrictions on my deck's manabase. Although Arena doesn't offer the same possibilities of a Bob and cannot beat your opponent with a Jitte or give you the possibility to draw an additional card each turn without losing any life but the fact remains that the Arena is much more likely to provide you with eventual card advantage, which is why I play these cards in the first place. This brings me to my main question.

If I intend to dedicate deck space strictly to CA, would cards such as Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper be better? If an Arena takes a full turn to cantrip and offers an extra card after 2 turns and the loss of 2 life, then it is quite obvious that the previous spells are superior. Although, even after 3 turns, Arena has offered 3 cards for 3 mana and 3 life while SiB offers 2 cards for 2 mana and 2 life immediatly. It seems that Arena only becomes superior on the 3rd-4th+ turn. Here is my decklist for reference:


Creatures (12)
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Abyssal Persecutor
3 Tombstalker

Spells (27)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Vindicate
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Phyrexian Arena

Lands (21)
4 Wasteland
8 Fetch
4 Duals
5 Basics


The strategy I usually go for is fairly similar regardless of what color I splash:
To disrupt as fast and as heavely as possible and to lay down threats while keeping the pressure going. Drawing an extra card each turn has been invaluable for this gameplan. Does Bob rule supreme in the CA department? Is Arena the best investment for CA?Would Night's Whisper or Sign in Blood be better than Arena for this particular strategy?

I am curious to see what people think of Bob vs Arena vs SiB.

[Lemnear]

Bob beats and gives CA ... Running him is a no-brainer. If bob eats removal the ways clear to beat with tombstalker

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Tombstalker wasn't concerned about Lavamancer or Lightning Bolt to start with. It seems like responding on auto pilot to say it's a no-brainer to run Confidant in a red-heavy metagame. It's not.

I wouldn't run Confidant with that many high casting cost cards anyway.

But if red is so prevalent, there's no reason to run Tidehollow Sculler either.

But there's a lot of other questions I have about this list, like why you would play Persecutor or why you need an expensive CA engine if you're trying to be an aggressive disruption deck.

[TheShaun]

I would run Confidant if you intend to be the aggressor. Though just a 2/1, he is a 2nd turn play that you can still turn sideways. Wasting your entire 3rd turn on an enchantment that will eventually get you better CA than Confidant really sets you back a whole turn, which is something that aggro typically cannot afford to do. Control decks with top will also fare better with Confidant, without them I'd say Arena could be better. Not sure about it though, that turn 2/3 thing is a very big difference.

[Pastorofmuppets]

With that deck, you might just want to run Phyrexian Arena. People forget that it's still a pretty good card in this format sometimes.

[Richard Cheese]

Don't forget about Skeletal Scrying. Not the best draw spell out there, but at least an option.

[kusumoto]

I've always been a fan of Night's Whisper

[Qweerios]

Just to clarify, my metagame is far from red infested. It is filled with cheap removal. It is true that Arena doesn't kick in until a few turns, but the games often drag on for more than 5-6 turns. The reason for this slow development of a match is not because I am playing a bad deck against other bad decks or that my meta is underdeveloped, it is because that is what continuous disruption does: It consumes your hand to slow your opponent down. I would say that half my games are steam rolls while the other half last for 8-15 turns. Dedicating 3-4 slots in my deck to card advantage does make a huge difference in those longer matches.

As for Skeletal Scrying, I don't like it very much since you need to spend at least 3 mana to get a night's whisper. I would rather drop an Arena at that point.

Which is better between SiB and NW? SiB gives you that extra 2 damage reach to finish your opponent but there are 5 lands in the deck that cannot produce black mana.