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Thread: Mono Black Contamination

  1. #1

    Mono Black Contamination

    Idea is to be aggressive/disruptive and resolve a contamination. Some Bloodghast/Nether Spirit abuse. Transformational SB, anticipating graveyard hate from them, Obliterators for red decks.

    4x Dark Confidant
    4x Bloodghast
    4x Vampire Nighthawk
    3x Gatekeeper of Malakir
    1x Nether Spirit

    1x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Cabal Therapy
    4x Duress
    4x Dark Ritual
    3x Contamination
    1x Diabolic Intent
    2x Entomb
    2x Disfigure
    1x Marsh Casualties
    4x Sinkhole


    3x Wasteland
    4x Undiscovered Paradise
    1x Volrath’s Stronghold
    10x Swamp

    4x Leyline of the Void
    4x Helm of Obedience
    3x Phyrexian Obliterator
    2x Hymn to Tourach
    2x Null Rod

  2. #2

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Quote Originally Posted by Wotkenmendo View Post
    Idea is to be aggressive/disruptive and resolve a contamination. Some Bloodghast/Nether Spirit abuse. Transformational SB, anticipating graveyard hate from them, Obliterators for red decks.

    4x Dark Confidant
    4x Bloodghast
    4x Vampire Nighthawk
    3x Gatekeeper of Malakir
    1x Nether Spirit

    1x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Cabal Therapy
    4x Duress
    4x Dark Ritual
    3x Contamination
    1x Diabolic Intent
    2x Entomb
    2x Disfigure
    1x Marsh Casualties
    4x Sinkhole


    3x Wasteland
    4x Undiscovered Paradise
    1x Volrath’s Stronghold
    10x Swamp

    4x Leyline of the Void
    4x Helm of Obedience
    3x Phyrexian Obliterator
    2x Hymn to Tourach
    2x Null Rod
    I'd consider playing 3x Nether Traitor over the Spirit, given that it constantly returns for .

  3. #3

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Agree with Darkenslight. Nether Spirit works best in very low creature count decks. Yours has 16.

    I'd also find a way to add some more lands in there. 18 is very low, especially when you consider you are going to try and cast 4 drops post board. I realize you have Dark Rituals but IMO 18 lands is too low for this deck.


    Obliterator isn't that good vs Burn. I've tried it out before. You are better off running Jitte in the board or more Hymns.

  4. #4
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    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I remember seeing a lot of these lists a good 5-6 years ago, but I feel like DRS hurts this strategy.

    I think you should run a full set of Bitterblossom, Contamination and Jitte. You need other sac outlets/wincond that don't just lose to gy hate. I'd probably just take out Nighthawk & Bob, they don't really offer much to the strategy and slow you down, and you have no Swords/Jitte's for them to really do much from an aggro approach. With running Sinhole and Ritual, it seems you just wanna' win fast and set up a lock, which is why I said you'd be best going for the: T1 Ritual, Duress, Bitterblossom; T2 Jitte/Sinkhole/Diabolic Intent; T3 Contamination. Terminus, Swords, Bolts, PF, etc. are gonna eat Bob and Nighthawks alive, but Blossom is extremely resilient even on its own you can ride it to victory if you resolve one right away.
    May your suffering equal your weakness
    --Ihsan's Shade

  5. #5

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Have you thought about:

    Braids, Cabal Minion

    or

    Ophiomancer?

    With Bitterblossom, Contamination, Ophiomancer, Braids, Bloodghast and Nether Traitor you'd have no problem keeping Braids and Contamination up. Maybe even throw in Crucible/Wasteland for the additional Braids / Bloodghast recursion?

  6. #6

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Thanks for the replies guys. Nether Traitor is quite nice, especially with Shadow for more offensive potential. I will say that I like having a Nether Spirit to Entomb early on, as it's a very convenient way to get set up (ex: Turn 1 Entomb, Turn 2 Duress, Ritual, Contamination).

    I've felt Bob necessary to be competitive and keep up momentum as your opening hand can disappear almost immediately (hopefully along with theirs). This deck can look kinda bad in a "draw, go" scenario without Contamination in play.

    Bitterblossom and Jitte make a lot of sense. I've yet to get my hands on any Bitterblossoms to try it out, but I can certainly see it working well. It just feels a bit less powerful then Bob, though harder to remove for sure.

    I guess I'm mostly unsure of how much of the deck I should devote to the "combo" (Entombs/Diabolic Intents/Bloodghasts/Nethers/Contamination/Undiscovered, etc.) I'll have some match reports after my local Legacy event on Sunday. I'm going in with no expectations but hope to minimize embarrassment.

    Edit: I do realize that DRS hurts. Does it hurt so much that my current removal is inadequate? Not sure.

  7. #7

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Something I'd seriously consider is the possibility of bringing in a board-wipe effect, dependent on your meta; for example, Echoing Decay is a useful card for getting rid of DRS.

  8. #8
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    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I'd probably drop Bob and your graveyard package for Bitterblossom and Ophiomancer. Maybe look into going a little down the Pox or Smallpox route as well. Smallpox could be more useful than Sinkhole here because of its greater drain on the opponent's resources and it also adds in some more removal. Toxic Deluge is also probebly better than Marsh Casualties.

  9. #9

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Thank you for the advice. I want to play Sinkhole so bad though!

    I didn't have the nerve to run the list sans Bitterblossom on Sunday, so my report will have to wait until Friday. This is the list I'm currently messing with, though at some point I will try swapping out the Bobs/Tops/Entombs/Creatures for Smallpox and something else (Ophiomancer?):

    4x Dark Confidant
    1x Bloodghast
    1x Nether Spirit

    1x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Bitterblossom
    4x Cabal Therapy
    4x Duress
    1x Hymn to Tourach
    3x Contamination
    3x Diabolic Intent
    4x Entomb
    2x Disfigure
    1x Marsh Casualties
    1x Diabolic Edict
    4x Sinkhole

    3x Sensei's Divining Top
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

    4x Wasteland
    4x Polluted Delta
    1x Undiscovered Paradise
    1x Volrath's Stronghold
    8x Swamp

    4x Leyline of the Void
    3x Helm of Obedience
    1x Phyrexian Obliterator
    1x Innocent Blood
    1x Mutilate
    3x Hymn to Tourach
    2x Null Rod

    I have the rituals out now, any opinion on their function/value in the deck? You can slam down some powerful stuff early with them of course, but is it worth the risk of getting blown out by FoW, etc? I am leaning towards no.

  10. #10
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    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    It's not bad, I'm liking the list a lot more man.

    First off, I LOVE the card to death in EDH, but you should probably drop the Stronghold. 2 of your creatures already self recur, there's really no point. It's way better when you have like Witness or Gatekeeper, and you can just recur and continuously smash opponent in an attrition war. Here it could get in the way of a T2 Sinkhole or Hymn, that'd really suck. Paradise is in same boat, no point opening yourself up to wasteland.

    The only other thing would be maybe fitting in another Jitte and/or Hymn, I dunno maybe cut a Top and Therapy. Those are straight up business spells, you're almost never gonna' be unhappy to draw them.
    May your suffering equal your weakness
    --Ihsan's Shade

  11. #11

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    We got owned boys. I don't have the exact list I ran, but it was somewhere in between the one in my last post, and the one I'm about to post here. I know it had the Deathrites, but not the Bridges.

    Solid 0-4 finish after decent testing was as bit disappointing but not surprising. Did get to live the dream and win some games with Contamination lock! Still, fact remains we lost to Grixis Delver/Goblins/Rug Delver/and... Deathblade? This is where we are at now, will test some tomorrow and run it on Sunday:

    4x Dark Confidant
    4x Deathrite Shaman

    1x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Dark Ritual
    4x Bitterblossom
    3x Thoughtseize
    3x Cabal Therapy
    4x Sinkhole
    1x Diabolic Intent
    3x Contamination
    2x Innocent Blood
    1x Black Sun's Zenith

    3x Sensei's Divining Top
    2x Umezawa's Jitte
    3x Ensnaring Bridge

    4x Polluted Delta
    4x Wasteland
    4x Verdant Catacombs
    6x Swamp

    4x Leyline of the Void
    2x Helm of Obedience
    1x Gate to Phyrexia
    3x Phyrexian Negator
    1x Engineered Plague
    1x Mutilate
    3x Hymn to Tourach

    Top is back, and I don't think it'll be coming out again. Ensnaring Bridge is in and feels strong, though perhaps I'm still skimping on removal? Targeted spell vs Innocent Blood? Been unsure about Dark Ritual, but am back on it (lots of big turn 1's). Was also considering a Winter Orb somewhere in the 75. Help!

  12. #12

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    2-2 with the list above (slightly different sideboard, same maindeck) at my local legacy event on Sunday. Considerably better than last time at least.

    Round 1: Esperblade 2-0

    Round one went pretty smoothly as my opponent didn't have enough early interaction/permission either game. Innocent Blood for True-Name/Stoneforge, discard cleared the path for threats, etc. Game 2 we resolved Contamination with Bitterblossom ftw around turn 3.

    Round 2: Burn 0-2

    I was quite disappointed with this pairing, this may be the worst matchup. Contamination does work if it resolves, but more often than not it's just a bit too slow to set up (not to mention it doesn't stop Fireblast). Died pretty quickly both games on the play, did not see Jitte's either game. Obliterator decided to make an appearance game two and bought us a couple of turns, but too little too late. Looking at Nighthawks for the SB moving forward.

    Round 3: Elves 1-2

    I was interested to see how this went, with low expectations. Game 1 was a short affair, I died turn 3 or 4 via Craterhoof with little interaction. Won a slightly grindier game 2 with a Jitte-wielding Obliterator over the course of a couple of turns with Contamination in play (no Blossom). Game 3 was pretty much the same as game 1. Definitely was sad to not see my Bridges/Engineered Plague, even if they were going to be blown up before long. I sided out too much discard for sure, and misplayed twice with Wasteland while Quirion Ranger was in play. I think with practice this matchup will be tolerable.

    Round 4: UWR Stoneblade 2-1

    Fairly one-sided games both ways, seems being on the play is good. Game 1 was pretty much uncontested with Thoughtseize clearing the way for a turn 2 Liliana followed up by multiple Wastelands and Sinkholes. Game 2 we mulled to six, grinded it out for a while until a Jace resolved and you can guess the rest. Game 3 we ended the day with another Contamination lock.

    Moving forward I'd like another Liliana, and as much as it pains me I'm going to try living without Sinkholes. Here's the list I'm thinking about (gonna run it at GP charlotte side events):

    4x Dark Confidant
    4x Deathrite Shaman

    2x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Dark Ritual
    3x Thoughtseize
    3x Cabal Therapy
    3x Hymn to Tourach
    1x Diabolic Intent
    2x Innocent Blood
    1x Black Sun's Zenith

    4x Bitterblossom
    3x Contamination

    3x Sensei's Divining Top
    2x Umezawa's Jitte
    3x Ensnaring Bridge

    4x Polluted Delta
    4x Wasteland
    3x Bloodstained Mire
    5x Swamp
    2x Bayou

    3x Leyline of the Void
    2x Helm of Obedience
    1x Unmask
    1x Darkblast
    1x Massacre
    2x Spinning Darkness
    2x Abrupt Decay
    2x Engineered Plague
    1x Tsabo's Web

    I feel pretty decent about the main deck right now, less certain about the SB...
    Last edited by Wotkenmendo; 06-12-2015 at 06:55 PM.

  13. #13

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    2-2 At the Legacy side event in Charlotte (Saturday afternoon). .

    Round 1: Food Chain 0-2

    Sigh. I was a bit ignorant going into this matchup and made plenty of misplay's I'm sure. I figured out what he was on but my knowledge of the cards and their text is pretty lacking. Had a beautiful Bob/Top/Blossom going on but no lock, died with him dead on the next turn game 1. Game 2 I opened with a Therapy and alllllmost name Food Chain but instead go for Brainstorm. Sure enough he has no Brainstorm and 2 Food Chain in hand. I lost a bit more quickly this time.

    Round 2: Reanimator 2-1

    Quite a short match. Game 1 he get's an Iona in play. Game's 2 and 3 I open with Leyline of the Void. Guess neither of us really wanted to play Magic anyway.

    Round 3: Mono-red Sneak Attack 2-1

    This time I'm even more ignorant than against Food Chain, but get the gist of what he's going for after he kills me with Emrakul pretty early on in game 1. The next two games are a bit grindy, Ensnaring Bridge does work as do my discard spells. Game 3 my hand is great and full of action, but lots of one drops. If he drops a turn one Chalice the game is as good as done, but he doesn't! I can't remember if I locked him out or not.

    Round 4: Burn 2-1

    I was realllly hoping to dodge this as it's my worst matchup (as far as I know). Game one I die fairly predictably. Game 2 I'm excited because I have my secret tech (Spinning Darkness) in hand to start! Luckily I don't even need to reveal my secret, as he concedes after realizing he cannot cast Smash to Smithereens or anything else under Contamination lock (except Fireblast I know). Game 3 is a close one, and I'm quite excited about the prospect of winning this match. I open with a healthy amount of discard, we both go into topdeck mode for about five turns. All I want is a threat or a Bob or something, anything! A lone Spinning Darkness buys me a turn. I eventually find a top and am close to setting up the lock, but he gets a few too many decent topdecks in the meantime, not the least of which was a Sulfuric Vortex. I die.

    I have streamlined the list a bit and it's feeling pretty good, but I still don't know what the maindeck removal should be. I liked Innoncent Blood for a while but am going to try out Disfigure, since we have Bridges and Lilly.

    4x Dark Confidant
    4x Deathrite Shaman
    2x Ophiomancer

    2x Liliana of the Veil

    4x Hymn to Tourach
    4x Thoughtseize
    4x Bitterblossom
    3x Cabal Therapy
    3x Disfigure
    3x Contamination

    4x Sensei's Divining Top
    2x Umezawa's Jitte
    3x Ensnaring Bridge

    4x Polluted Delta
    3x Bloodstained Mire
    7x Swamp
    4x Wasteland

    4x Leyline of the Void
    3x Helm of Obedience
    3x Spinning Darkness
    2x Diabolic Edict
    1x Black Sun's Zenith
    2x Engineered Plague

  14. #14

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    How about Gitaxian Probes? Pretty good with Cabal Therapy + it's nice to know if you can tap out etc.

    /B

  15. #15
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    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    Quote Originally Posted by aslidsiksoraksi View Post
    hardcore is our resident aggro pox master, hopefully he can help you

    "Pox early, Pox often, and Pox hard!" - Le_Lepreux

  16. #16

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I'm trying to figure out how to run leyline of the void md right now...I'm on contamination right now:

    4 leyline of the void
    2 helm of obedience
    3 oath of ghouls
    3 contamination
    3 diabolical intent
    4 cabal therapy
    3 collective brutality
    22

    4 Drs
    2 shriewmaw
    3 flesh bag marauder
    3 ophiomancer
    2 bitterblossom
    3 abyssal persecutor
    2 phyrexian obliterator
    1 toxic deluge
    20

    10swamp
    2 bayou
    7 black fetch
    19

    Sb:
    4 thoughtseize
    3 pithing needle
    2 minister of pain
    1 toxic deluge
    3 innocent blood
    2 trinisphere

  17. #17

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I've gotten most of the cards for this but annoyingly can't find more than 1 ophiomancer. I also haven't bought obliterators or bitterblossom yet. I was considering the u/g sword or b/w sword along with bitterblossom to help ensure a contamination lock? I'm not sure if there are any better cards? I'm trying to limit my graveyard dependence and cards that are bad without contamination, so avoiding nether traitor and friends. Thoughts?

    Right now due to the missing cards above my list is:


    4 leyline of the void
    2 helm of obedience
    3 oath of ghouls
    2 contamination
    2 diabolical intent
    1 beseech the queen
    1 ill gotten gains (combos with leyline)
    4 cabal therapy
    4 collective brutality
    1 toxic deluge
    24

    4 Drs
    2 shriekmaw
    3 flesh bag marauder
    1 ophiomancer
    3 asylum visitor (combos with collective?)
    3 abyssal persecutor
    1 swords of body and mind
    17


    9 swamp
    1 forest
    1 overgrown tomb
    8 black fetch
    19

    Sb:
    4 thoughtseize
    3 pithing needle
    1 toxic deluge
    4 innocent blood
    2 trinisphere
    1 dusk urchins

  18. #18

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I played a very hobbled version of this as I am still not in possession of some cards. I won some games still! Went 1-2 against elves as both losses were to natural order, lose 0-2 to noble bug after some mulligans, and then went 1-2 against noble bug. I could have won game three as my opponent was in negative life but I forgot I had a therapy in the yard. Most ridiculous part of the game was when I combo'd helm+leyline but didn't win due to persecutor in play. I am planning on cutting the beseech and 2 asylum visitors before next time.

    4 leyline of the void
    2 helm of obedience
    3 oath of ghouls
    2 contamination
    2 diabolic intent
    1 beseech the queen
    4 cabal therapy
    4 collective brutality
    2 toxic deluge
    1 phyrexian arena
    25

    4 Drs
    2 shriekmaw
    3 flesh bag marauder
    1 ophiomancer
    3 abyssal persecutor
    2 asylum visitor (boarded out every game)
    1 bitterblossom
    16


    9 swamp
    1 forest
    1 overgrown tomb
    8 black fetch
    19

  19. #19

    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    I went 2-3 at a 30 person tournament today with proxies allowed. I beat Noble Bug and Grixis. I lost close matches to DNT and Miracles. The deck felt solid but a bit awkward on the curve and mana. Any advice/thoughts welcome!

    My current changes I am thinking: -1 abyss, -1 sword of body and mind, +1 land, +1 top

    4 leyline of the void
    2 helm of obedience
    3 oath of ghouls
    2 contamination
    2 diabolic intent
    4 cabal therapy
    3 collective brutality
    2 toxic deluge
    1 the abyss
    1 sword of body and mind
    23

    4 Drs
    2 shriekmaw
    3 flesh bag marauder
    2 ophiomancer
    3 bitterblossom
    1 abyssal persecutor
    2 phyrexian obliterator
    17

    9 swamp
    1 forest
    1 bayou
    1 phyrexian tower
    4 verdant catacombs
    3 marsh flats
    19

    Sb:
    4 thoughtseize
    3 innocent blood
    2 pithing needle
    2 abrupt decay
    2 trinisphere
    1 the abyss
    1 nethervoid

  20. #20
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    Re: Mono Black Contamination

    it's too bad that you're not running dark ritual, because i really like ill-gotten gains with 4 maindeck leyline.
    -rob

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