Underworld Connections is a card that caught my eye as soon as it was revealed. The comparison to Phyrexian Arena is obvious, and despite the added cost of tapping a land each time you want the effect, I have a feeling this card is going to see some play in the coming months. While looking for ways to use this card, the first thought that occurred to me is that it's capable of giving mono-black control decks the card advantage they need to stay ahead. With this in mind, here's the deck I assembled:

"Mono-Black Control"

• Creatures (10)
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Vampire Nighthawk
• 2 Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis

• Spells (25)
• 2 Ultimate Price
• 4 Murder
• 2 Barter in Blood
• 4 Mutilate
• 4 Sign in Blood
• 3 Curse of Death's Hold
• 3 Homicidal Seclusion
• 3 Underworld Connections

• Lands (25)
• 25 Swamp

Buy This Deck

The Creatures

Vampire Nighthawk is an excellent tool for controlling the board and stalling games. Lifelink helps prevent your life total from dropping too low, and the combination of deathtouch and 3 toughness scares off many attackers. Flying not only ensures that you can block evasive threats such as Restoration Angel, it makes it easier to attack if you need to without fear of losing your Nighthawk.

Desecration Demon is somewhat reminiscent of Abyssal Persecutor, the win condition of choice in U/B control decks for a time. Although it lacks trample and has an arguably more significant drawback, a 6/6 flyer for 4 mana is still likely going to be significantly better than anything your opponent is doing.

Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis is another solid win condition. Although more expensive than the other Demon, he still attacks for 6, and he forces your opponent to sacrifice a creature to boot. Late in the game, this can make it extremely difficult for your opponent to establish any kind of board presence.

The Spells

Mutilate is the key to making this deck work. It's extremely rare for a creature to survive this sweeper, and if one does, it's probably going to be your own Desecration Demon. Following up a turn-four Demon with a Mutilate on turn five will leave your opponent in a terrible position, especially if he doesn't have removal in hand capable of killing your massive flyer. Having a Mutilate can be key to your survival with this deck, so you'll want to weigh having it or not having it a bit more heavily in your mulligan decisions.

Curse of Death's Hold not only mercilessly slaughters mana dorks and tokens, it also sharply cuts the effectiveness of many aggressive creatures, especially Huntmaster of the Fells. If you manage to land two of these, most opponents will have a hard time presenting any sort of significant threat.

With Go for the Throat and Doom Blade both rotating out, we'll have to dig a little deeper for good removal spells in mono-black. Murder is the obvious choice here since it can kill nearly any creature at instant speed. Although it costs 1 mana more than we're used to, the flexibility of this kill spell is invaluable.

Ultimate Price backs up Murder and helps fill the gap left by the pair of 2-mana answers. Although the glut of multicolored creatures in Ravnica will probably make it less effective than the spells it's replacing, it still deals with threats such as Restoration Angel, Wolfir Silverheart, Diregraf Ghoul, and others for the same 2-mana casting cost we've come to know and love.

Barter in Blood can sometimes feel awkward when you have a creature on the board; its true role is not that of a removal spell, but that of a miniature Mutilate. It deals with token-making threats such as Midnight Haunting and Huntmaster of the Fells, and it can be devastating against an opponent trying to recover from an early board wipe.

Underworld Connections gives you a steady stream of card advantage when you need it, helping you hit all your land drops while answering every threat your opponent throws out. Although the cost of tapping a land will often prevent you from using it when you otherwise would like to, it's important that you can stop using the ability if your life total becomes dangerously low. Unlike Phyrexian Arena and Dark Confidant, you'll never inadvertently kill yourself with this engine of card advantage.

Sign in Blood gives Underworld Connections some redundancy, making sure you don't run out of answers before your opponent runs out of threats. If necessary, you can also perform the time-honored trick of using it on an opposing player to finish him off from 1 or 2 life.

Homicidal Seclusion hasn't made its way into Standard yet, but I think it might have a place here. With all the life payment, you'll often be uncomfortably close to death by the time you stop the initial onslaught of an aggro deck, and this allows you to quickly regain large amounts of life, all while killing your opponent. Following a Desecration Demon up with this also allows you to present an incredibly fast clock, forcing your opponent to find a removal spell or keep sacrificing creatures to feed the Demon's hunger. This ability to go aggressive will often prove invaluable against other control decks, robbing them of precious time to find answers.

Playtesting

Because we don't yet know what the format will look like after rotation, I'll be testing against the Selesnya deck I wrote about last week.

Game 1 vs. G/W Selesnya’s Blessing

I drew a Swamp, played it, and ended my turn. My opponent played a Forest and again passed with no play.

I drew another Swamp, played it, and cast Underworld Connections before passing the turn. My opponent played another Forest, cast Lingering Souls, and passed the turn.

I drew a Swamp, then tapped the land enchanted with Underworld Connections to draw a card, dropping to 19. I drew Ultimate Price and passed the turn. My opponent attacked for 2, and I took the damage. He cast another Lingering Souls before playing a Forest and passing the turn.

I drew a second Curse of Death's Hold, played a Swamp, and cast the Curse, killing the tokens. I passed the turn. My opponent cast Oblivion Ring on my Curse of Death's Hold, then played a Swamp and flashed back a Lingering Souls. He passed the turn.

I drew a Vampire Nighthawk, played a Swamp, and cast the second Curse, killing the tokens again. I passed the turn. My opponent passed with no play, and I tapped my land to draw a card during his end step, dropping to 16.

I drew Desecration Demon, then drew Vampire Nighthawk for my turn. I dropped to 15 to draw another card: a Swamp, which I played. I then cast Desecration Demon and passed the turn. My opponent cast Intangible Virtue, then flashed back the second Lingering Souls. He passed the turn.

I drew a Swamp, played it, and tapped my land, paying 1 life to draw another card. I drew a second Swamp. I attacked for 6, and my opponent blocked with a token. I ended my turn. My opponent attacked with his three tokens, dropping me to 10. He then passed the turn.

I drew Sign in Blood, played my Swamp, and cast it. I drew Murder and a Swamp. I paid another life and tapped my land to draw a card, which was another Swamp. I attacked with my Demon, which was chump-blocked by a Spirit. I cast two Vampire Nighthawks and passed the turn. My opponent cast Midnight Haunting during my end step for two more Spirits. On his turn, he played a Forest and cast Collective Blessing, giving his tokens +3/+3. He attacked with everything, and I blocked a token with each of my creatures. My Nighthawks and three of his tokens died, and I dropped to 3. He passed the turn.

I drew Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis and played my Swamp. I cast Mutilate to wipe the board, then played Nefarox and passed the turn. My opponent cast Increasing Devotion and passed the turn. I tapped the land during his end step to draw a card: a Swamp.

I drew a Murder for my turn and tapped the land again, dropping to 1 life to draw another card. I drew a Desecration Demon and conceded.

Game 2 vs. G/W Selesnya’s Blessing

I drew Vampire Nighthawk, played another land, and passed the turn. My opponent attacked me for 1, then played a Sunpetal Grove and cast Intangible Virtue. He passed the turn.

I drew a Swamp, played it, and cast Vampire Nighthawk. I passed the turn. My opponent attacked with Doomed Traveler, and I blocked, gaining 2 life. He passed the turn.

I drew Murder and attacked for 2 with the Nighthawk, gaining 2 life. I played a land and cast Desecration Demon before ending my turn. My opponent cast Midnight Haunting during my end step to make two more Spirit tokens. On his turn, he played a Swamp, cast a second Intangible Virtue, and attacked for 9. I blocked one token with the Demon and dropped to 18. My opponent passed the turn.

I drew a Swamp, played it, and passed the turn. My opponent cast Oblivion Ring on my Desecration Demon, then attacked for 6. I Murdered one token and dropped to 15. He passed the turn.

I drew Ultimate Price and cast Sign in Blood, drawing a Swamp and another Sign in Blood. I swung for 5 again, which my opponent took, dropping to 8. I went up to 20, then played a land and cast Mutilate to wipe the board. I passed the turn. My opponent played a Plains and passed back.

I drew Mutilate and cast Sign in Blood, dropping to 18 and drawing Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis and Vampire Nighthawk. I cast Nefarox and passed the turn. My opponent cast Doomed Traveler and passed the turn.

I drew a Swamp, killed the Traveler with Ultimate Price, then attacked with Nefarox, forcing him to sacrifice the token and leaving him without a blocker to stop the lethal damage coming his way.

Game 3 vs. G/W Selesnya’s Blessing

On his turn, he cast Doomed Traveler and played another Evolving Wilds before ending his turn. I drew a Swamp, played it, and passed the turn.

My opponent sacrificed his Evolving Wilds for a Forest at the end of my turn. He attacked for 1 with Doomed Traveler, then played a Sunpetal Grove and cast Lingering Souls. He passed the turn. I drew a Swamp, played it, and cast Vampire Nighthawk. I ended my turn.

My opponent cast Oblivion Ring on my Nighthawk and attacked for 3. He then played a Swamp and passed the turn. I drew a Swamp, played it, and passed the turn.

My opponent swung for 3, and I Murdered the Doomed Traveler, taking 2. He played a Sunpetal Grove and flashed back Lingering Souls before passing the turn. I drew Curse of Death's Hold, played my Swamp, and cast it, slaughtering the horde of tokens. I ended my turn.

My opponent played a Forest and passed the turn. I drew Murder and cast Sign in Blood, dropping to 12 and drawing a Swamp and another Sign in Blood. I played the Swamp, cast Underworld Connections on it, and passed the turn.

My opponent passed back with no play, and I drew another card with Underworld Connections, getting a Homicidal Seclusion. I drew Barter in Blood for my turn and used Underworld Connections again, drawing a Sign in Blood. I cast Homicidal Seclusion and passed the turn, discarding the second Underworld Connections and a Sign in Blood.

My opponent played a Plains and passed the turn. I drew a Vampire Nighthawk, cast it, and passed the turn.

My opponent played a Forest and passed the turn. I drew a Swamp, played it, and dropped my opponent to 15 with the 5/4 Nighthawk, going up to 12. I cast a second Curse of Death's Hold and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Oblivion Ring on my Nighhawk and ended his turn, and I drew Ultimate Price with Underworld Connections. I drew a Swamp, played it, and cast Sign in Blood, drawing two more Swamps. I drew another Swamp with Underworld Connections and passed the turn, discarding two of the lands.

My opponent played a Plains and passed the turn. I drew another Swamp, played it, and used Underworld Connections again, this time drawing Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis. I played him and passed the turn.

My opponent passed back with no play. I drew a third Curse of Death's Hold, played my Swamp, and attacked for 9, dropping my opponent to 6. I played the third Curse and passed the turn.

My opponent drew his card and conceded.

Wrapping Up

Although the last game seemed to indicate a shortage of win conditions, this deck definitely demonstrated its ability to control the board, even against a deck that can produce a large number of simultaneous threats as token decks can. Homicidal Seclusion is extremely good at allowing you to be aggressive without losing on the backswing, and it also helps bump up your life total so you can draw more cards. Moving forward, I'd like to see another strong utility creature in the set to pair up with Homicidal Seclusion, giving you a creature to trade off early as well as another win condition late in the game once you have the Seclusion on the board. Although it's hard to tell with so much of the set still unknown, this deck could be fairly powerful in the new format.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @Twinblaze2, or simply leave a comment below.