Mono black control budget.

[TheNoLifeKing]

Imnew to these forums, so hopefully this is the right place for this (the option said budget decks).

Deck *
Lands:
18 Swamp

Creatures:
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Nyxathid
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Hypnotic Specter

Spells:
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 The Rack
2 Despise
4 Go for the THroat
3 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Phyrexian

Or I can do this build:

24 Mana
20 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual*

20 Creatures
4 Nantuko Shade*
4 Hypnotic Specter*
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir*
4 Vampire Nighthawk*
4 Phyrexian Revoker*

16 Spells
4 Hymn to Tourach*
4 Duress*
4 Smother / Go for the Throat*
4 Night's Whisper / Sign in Blood / Phyrexian Arena*

15 Sideboard
4 Tormod's Crypt / Leyline of the Void*
3 Deathmark*
2 Diabolic Edict*
3 Perish*
3 Inquisition of Kozilek

I'm inexperienced in legacy so I'm not sure which build would be better.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Can someone tell me why and when it became a habit to call black aggro decks, "Mono black control"?

[TheNoLifeKing]

Can someone tell me why and when it became a habit to call black aggro decks, "Mono black control"?

Well, I was told it wascontrol, so that's what I called it. Sorry if the name is wrong.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I mean it's just clearly not control. It's packed with creatures that aren't particularly designed to block.

Anyway, Inquisition and Duress are much better budget discard than Despise, and your curve is clogged at 3. Try Flesh Reaver, Withered Wretch for beaters, the latter to help you fight through Goyfs and Knights, and Snuff Out and Dismember to lower your curve while dealing with creatures.

[TheNoLifeKing]

I mean it's just clearly not control. It's packed with creatures that aren't particularly designed to block.

Anyway, Inquisition and Duress are much better budget discard than Despise, and your curve is clogged at 3. Try Flesh Reaver, Withered Wretch for beaters, the latter to help you fight through Goyfs and Knights, and Snuff Out and Dismember to lower your curve while dealing with creatures.

If I had to pick one of the builds though, which should I go with? ( I edited in the other build that runs revoker)

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I mean the second but it's still clunky.

[TheNoLifeKing]

I mean the second but it's still clunky.

Well, how should I change the second build then? What would I take out and add in?

[Gui]

You really need Phyrexian Revoker there. In my experience, it's a beast.

Also, Bitterblossom is some amazing beater vs control, dunno if still in your budget range. And Inquisition of Kozilek split with duress has been doing just fine for me, you can use them, like 4 IoK + 2 duress easily.

In my experience, a mix of Diabolic Edict, Go for the throat and Dismember is really strong. Since you are not running any of the "suicidal bombs" in Bob, thoughtseize and BB, you can easily go 4x Dismember, which is probably the best removal in black right now.

And lastly, Dark Confidant is totally worth it, even if really expensive.

[Qweerios]

Some budget cards are very strong in there and are worth building around. Nyxathid for example is extremely good in the proper deck, so is Phyrexian Arena. Here is a budget list I have played for several weeks for budget reasons a year ago (updated a couple of cards). It is still a strong deck against a lot of the control and aggro-control decks out there.


Creatures (18)
3 Withered Wretch
3 Nantuko Shade
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Nyxathid

Spells (22)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Funeral Charm
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Go for the Throat
3 Phyrexian Arena

Lands (20)
20 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Withered Wretch
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Perish
3 Engineered Plague


Cards I tested and left out:

Vampire Nighthawk: he is absolutely worthless without a Sword of X and Y or a Jitte. A terrible way to spend 3 mana.

The Rack: a win-more card that you don't want to see in your opening hand. It can deal significant damage but you will almost always want a creature in its place.

Leyline of the Void: Unrealiable in every possible way.

Card choices:

Withered Wretch: your best friend against Goyf, KotR, and anything GY related that your opponent could abuse. He offsets some of the potential benefits your opponent could take from having you discard his hand. Your only hope against dredge in G1.

Funeral Charm: the most versatile and tricky card of the deck. Mainly used as Lackey, Mother, Grim, Hierarch, Bird, Elf, Bob removal and instant discard (you can use it at the end of your opponent's draw step). This card also enables combat tricks and offers you unblockability against decks splashing black.

Inquisition of Kozilek: leagues better than Duress and better than Thoughtseize in this deck because of the sheer amount of discard. Being able to pick out creatures is crucial.

The next step in card investment was Wastelands, Tombstalkers, and Fetchlands for me. Going the Dark Confidant route is also a very good choice, however, that route has become increasingly expensive.

[jlagrav]

one beater you can use in mono black is Lashwrithe . It helps you scale up to something bigger in the late game because this deck won't kill that fast.

[Nonex]

I have a budget monoblack control list, but I don't know if it's anywhere near to what you want.

21 Swamp

4 Innocent Blood
2 Smother
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
2 Unmake
2 Damnation
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Corrupt

4 Duress
2 Absorb Vis
4 Mind Stone
2 Phyrexian Totem
4 Phyrexian Arena
2 Promise of Power
1 Baneful Omen

It doesn't have a defined sideboard, but it could easily be oriented against control and combo with more discard.

[TheNoLifeKing]

You really need Phyrexian Revoker there. In my experience, it's a beast.

Also, Bitterblossom is some amazing beater vs control, dunno if still in your budget range. And Inquisition of Kozilek split with duress has been doing just fine for me, you can use them, like 4 IoK + 2 duress easily.

In my experience, a mix of Diabolic Edict, Go for the throat and Dismember is really strong. Since you are not running any of the "suicidal bombs" in Bob, thoughtseize and BB, you can easily go 4x Dismember, which is probably the best removal in black right now.

And lastly, Dark Confidant is totally worth it, even if really expensive.

But which of the two builds that I posted should I use as a starting point?