Core Set 2020 Chromatic Black

Posted on July 26, 2019

Every new set I try to revisit Chromatic Black and Rainbow Lich. I usually try to wait until the meta calms down a bit before playing both decks as they need answers and certain cards depending on how the metagame has shaped up. I felt like the meta had settled down some, but this past weekend has put Bant Scapeshift into the spotlight alongside Jund Dinosaurs? I'm not sure if people have agreed to not play Esper or if Esper is losing its strangle hold a bit in Standard. Hopefully the latter. Either way, let's go ahead and look at the deck.

Time Stamps:

Match 1 - 00:02:21

Match 2 - 00:14:02

Match 3 - 00:38:42

Match 4 - 01:05:12

Core Set Chromatic Black | Core Set 2020 Standard | Ali Aintrazi

Instants (7)
3 Vraska's Contempt
4 Disfigure

Lands (26)
22 Swamp
4 Cabal Stronghold

So, from last season we are all Mono-Black in the main deck. We no longer have Hydroid Krasis and originally that was a good trade off for Golos since Golos can grab Cabal Stronghold or get a Swamp to fuel Cabal Stronghold / Dread Presence. Speaking of Dread Presence, that card has replaced Karn, Scion of Urza as the card advantage engine since it pings creatures/walkers and gains us life or draws us cards in the slower matchups. Overall, I believe Chromatic Black has improved since last season but again, we really need to see how everything shapes up to see what answers we need. For example, if Bant Scapeshift becomes the biggest deck, then we'll probably want to play one or two Field of Ruin main deck. Right now, we have Alpine Moon in the Sideboard and Unmoored Ego since it can name Field of the Dead or troublesome cards like Nexus of Fate.