At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: Black (B)
- Archetype: Mono-Black midrange / sacrifice / removal
- Power tier: mid-high
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Grind the opponent out behind a dense wall of premium black removal, then bleed them dry with evasive deathtouch bodies and sacrifice value. Hero’s Downfall, Bitter Triumph, Bake into a Pie, Moment of Craving, Heartless Act, Long Goodbye, and Tribute to Hunger answer essentially anything at any point on the curve, while Qarsi Revenant and High-Society Hunter pressure the air. The build now has the cheap fodder it was missing: Bile-Vial Boggart (drops a -1/-1 counter when it dies) and Infestation Sage (dies into a 1/1 flyer) are turn-one plays that double as ammunition for the sacrifice engine. Buzzard-Wasp Colony, Beetle-Headed Merchants, High-Society Hunter, Vampiric Rites, and Arbiter of Woe convert that fodder into cards, counters, and life, while Preacher of the Schism, Midnight Reaper, and Phyrexian Arena keep the gas flowing so you always out-resource the midgame. Gurmag Rakshasa and Arbiter of Woe close the door once the board is clear.
Upgrade path
Refined in place. Cut Cat-Gator (clunky 7-mana one-of; the top end is already covered by Arbiter of Woe x2 and Gurmag Rakshasa x2). Added cheap sacrifice fodder that carries its own value — Bile-Vial Boggart x2 (removal on death) and Infestation Sage x2 (dies into an evasive 1/1 flyer) — which fixes the previously under-fed sac package (Buzzard-Wasp Colony, Beetle-Headed Merchants, High-Society Hunter, Vampiric Rites all want bodies to eat). Added Moment of Craving x1 for a cheap removal-plus-lifegain answer to aggro. Trimmed scattered one-ofs and smoothed the curve; lands 24→23 since the top end is lighter and three draw engines (Preacher x3, Midnight Reaper x2, Phyrexian Arena x2) keep hands full. Rare discipline intact: ZERO rare/mythic spell crafts. Every owned rare in the 60 (Preacher of the Schism own3, Midnight Reaper own2, Qarsi Revenant own2, High-Society Hunter own1, Phyrexian Arena own2) is already in Mik’s collection per mtga.db, so the deck is 0-wildcard and fully buildable. No shockland needed — single color wants untapped black, manabase is straight Swamps. Held-back owned upgrades if Mik wants to spend wildcards: Darkstar Augur (owned rare draw/flyer, cut here only for redundancy with the existing life-loss draw engines), Grave Researcher, or Vein Ripper for a more explosive curve-topper.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
2 Bile-Vial Boggart
2 Infestation Sage
4 Preacher of the Schism
2 Midnight Reaper
2 Qarsi Revenant
3 Buzzard-Wasp Colony
2 Beetle-Headed Merchants
1 High-Society Hunter
2 Gurmag Rakshasa
2 Arbiter of Woe
4 Bitter Triumph
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Vampiric Rites
2 Phyrexian Arena
23 Swamp
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Long Goodbye
2 Stab
Card images & data via Scryfall.