Hello Reader - and welcome back! Duskmourn Standard has been getting....interesting! So far this month, I've been able to play a wide variety of decks. From casting many Overlords in Domain strategies, to Caretaker's Talent builds, and even some ramp strategies featuring Roxanne, Starfall Savant - it's kind of been all over the place. I can say with absolute certainty that Standard is very healthy right now. On both MTGArena and Magic: The Gathering Online I've been playing against many different decks, and different builds of those decks. There might only be one "problem" card in this current metagame, and that "problem" card may just be Leyline of Resonance. In a recent announcement, Wizards of the Coast actually said they're keeping an eye on that card in Best of 1 on MTGArena, but I have to imagine they'll be looking at it as a whole - with a particular eye on the metagame as a whole at the World Championship.

Recently I've been enjoying playing different builds of Mono-Black Midrange. Check out this list that I've been jamming - and check out my recent video running this list through a Magic: The Gathering Online Standard league.

Mono-Black Midrange | Standard | CFavretto_Jr

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 4 Archfiend of the Dross
• 4 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 4 Unstoppable Slasher

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (5)
• 2 Disfigure
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Rush of Dread
• 2 Duress

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

• Lands (26)
• 18 Swamp
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Sunken Citadel
• 4 Demolition Field

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Gix's Command
• 1 Sheoldred
• 2 Duress
• 2 Harvester of Misery
• 3 Cruelclaw's Heist
• 3 Ghost Vacuum
• 3 Malicious Eclipse

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This deck takes advantage of a few "combos" here - from the Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz one-shot win, to the Bloodletter and Rush of Dread auto-win. Outside of those "combos," the cards in this deck play really well off of each other. Honestly, I'm glad that Archfiend of the Dross has found what I believe is the best home for that card yet. It works incredibly well paired together with Bloodletter of Aclazotz, and helps to enable the full value of Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber.

After playing with the deck a lot both in the Magic: The Gathering Online standard leagues and on MTGArena, I think I would want to change the removal suite a little bit. In other versions of this deck, folks are taking advantage of Nowhere to Run - as a way to better combat the Gruul (R/G) and Rakdos (B/R) aggressive decks that utilize Heartfire Hero. Against the Gruul aggro decks, Nowhere to Run really helps with casting additional removal spells through the threat of Snakeskin Veil - and the ability to give a creature -3/-3 may absolve you of some damage that would otherwise be taken off of Heartfire Hero or Cacophony Scamp. This version of Mono Black Midrange does provide you with a couple copies of Disfigure, and I do like running that card in this deck, but it may be better served to play copies of Cut Down alongside of Nowhere to Run.

Other changes I'd like to make to this deck would be some sideboard edits. Matches played against the Domain variants were not favorable for this deck. Since the newer Domain decks are taking advantage of cards like Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Leyline Binding, and Up the Beanstalk, our sideboard could use some number of Withering Torment. Withering Torment acts as an additional removal spell while being about to counteract those threats. I'd recommend removing the Sheoldred and one copy of Duress from the sideboard for two of them.

Here's the new updated decklist:

Mono-Black Midrange 2.0 | Standard | CFavretto_Jr

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 4 Archfiend of the Dross
• 4 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 4 Unstoppable Slasher

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (4)
• 2 Cut Down
• 2 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Rush of Dread
• 2 Duress

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Virtue of Persistence
• 2 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

• Lands (26)
• 18 Swamp
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Sunken Citadel
• 4 Demolition Field

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Gix's Command
• 1 Duress
• 2 Harvester of Misery
• 2 Withering Torment
• 3 Cruelclaw's Heist
• 3 Ghost Vacuum
• 3 Malicious Eclipse

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I really hope that you enjoyed the video on this Mono Black Midrange deck, and I would encourage you to make some edits based on the metagame you're playing against the most. Other considerations could be adding an additional color to this deck, whether that be Blue for countermagic, Green for cards like Glissa Sunslayer and Tear Asunder, or White for better creature lands and sideboard cards like Loran of the Third Path and Exorcise.

October 25th-27th, you can find me at Magic Con: Las Vegas! I even have a meet and greet time at Creator Central from 12:00pm-1:30pm! If you're going - I'd love to connect to play some games, hand out some tokens and stickers, and generally chat about Magic!

Until next time, Reader! I'll see you on the Battlefield!