Hello everyone. I'm at the mid-point of my series looking at decks that are focused on a single color of mana. I've already looked at White and Blue decks, so it's time to look at decks featuring Black mana. Let's get started.

Mono-Black Discard

As always, I'll start with a mono-colored deck. This one focuses on Black cards that love to force your opponent to discard cards from their hand. Let's take a look at the decklist.

Mono-Black Discard | BLB Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 3 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (7)
• 3 Go for the Throat
• 4 Cut Down

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Gix's Command
• 2 Ruthless Negotiation

• Enchantments (11)
• 3 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Bandit's Talent
• 4 Hopeless Nightmare

• Lands (24)
• 18 Swamp
• 2 Blast Zone
• 4 Mishra's Foundry

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You'll be able to continue ripping cards from your opponent's hand with the help of Liliana of the Veil, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead, and Hopeless Nightmare. In addition to this, this deck also has a ton of creature removal spells, including Go for the Throat, Cut Down, and Gix's Command. Once you have enough mana, you can cast Virtue of Persistence to return your own creatures as well as your opponent's creatures from the graveyard as yet another win-condition.

Orzhov Clerics

Up next, I have a Cleric typal deck for you that is based in Black and White mana. Let's take a look at the deck.

Orzhov Clerics | BLB Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (25)
• 3 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• 3 Sanguine Evangelist
• 3 Shadow-Rite Priest
• 4 Essence Channeler
• 4 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Starscape Cleric
• 4 Zoraline, Cosmos Caller

• Instants (7)
• 3 Cut Down
• 4 Bitter Triumph

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Case of the Uneaten Feast

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Patchwork Banner

• Lands (23)
• 5 Plains
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Lupinflower Village
• 1 Mudflat Village
• 1 Restless Fortress
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Concealed Courtyard

• Sideboard (4)
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 2 Get Lost

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This deck also makes good use of a new card, Patchwork Banner. By choosing Cleric as your creature type of choice when Patchwork Banner enters the battlefield, all of your Clerics will get a +1/+1 bonus. That bonus compounds with the +1/+1 bonus that Shadow-Rite Priest, providing a possible total bonus of +6/+6 to most of your Clerics. While you won't likely get a bonus quite so large, it's very possible for all of your Clerics to have a +3/+3 or +4/+4 bonus.

Dimir Mill

The next deck I have for you features one of my favorite alternative ways of winning, milling. Let's check out the deck.

Dimir Mill | BLB Standard | MTGArenaOriginalDecks, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (18)
• 2 Extinguish the Light
• 2 The End
• 3 Phantom Interference
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Anoint with Affliction
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Breach the Multiverse

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Virtue of Persistence

• Artifacts (5)
• 2 Collector's Vault
• 3 Karn's Sylex

• Lands (24)
• 5 Island
• 9 Swamp
• 2 Underground River
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Dismal Backwater

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As far as mill decks go, this one is very much a control deck first and foremost, with milling used later on once the battlefield is clear of threats. It includes multiple creature removal spells and ways to counter your opponent's most threatening spells. The only creature in this deck is Deep-Cavern Bat, which helps remove a potential threat from your opponent's hand, while also acting as an evasive attacker that will provide you with some additional life.

The actual milling that happens with this deck is the result of only two cards, Breach the Multiverse and Jace, the Perfected Mind. Breach the Multiverse mills both players of ten cards, and you'll get to put a creature or planeswalker from each player's graveyard into play under your control. The main drawback to this spell is its high mana value. For that reason, you're more likely to use it when your opponent has already milled a considerable number of cards from their deck due to Jace, the Perfected Mind's two milling abilities.

Rakdos Dragons

The next deck I have for you adds Red to Black mana and features one of Magic's most beloved creature types. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rakdos Dragons | BLB Standard | Tommi, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
• 3 Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest
• 3 Rivaz of the Claw
• 4 Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 4 Preacher of the Schism

• Instants (9)
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 3 Cut Down
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 The Elder Dragon War

• Battles (2)
• 2 Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw

• Lands (26)
• 2 Swamp
• 5 Mountain
• 2 Blast Zone
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Restless Vents
• 3 Fabled Passage
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Sulfurous Springs

• Sideboard (16)
• 1 Sheoldred's Edict
• 1 Torch the Tower
• 2 Abrade
• 2 Brotherhood's End
• 2 Into the Fire
• 3 Binding Negotiation
• 3 Duress
• 2 Soul-Guide Lantern

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To help get even more damage from Dragonhawk's ability, you can cast Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. This Phyrexian Horror has 5 power, so it will add to the number of cards exiled with Dragonhawk's ability. Plus, while Solphim is on the battlefield, all noncombat damage, such as that damage dealt by Dragonhawk, will be doubled. With just Dragonhawk and Solphim in play, you can dish out 8 points of direct damage each turn, assuming that Dragonhawk is chump blocked. That will end games very quickly.

Golgari Squirrel Mill

The final deck for you this week is another deck that features milling your opponent's deck as one of its win-conditions. Let's take a look at the deck.

Golgari Squirrel Mill | BLB Standard | kcrylie, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Bakersbane Duo
• 3 Bonecache Overseer
• 3 Camellia, the Seedmiser
• 4 Honored Dreyleader
• 4 Vinereap Mentor

• Instants (10)
• 3 Feed the Cycle
• 3 Tear Asunder
• 4 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Pitiless Carnage

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Scavenger's Talent

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Heaped Harvest

• Lands (25)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Swamp
• 2 Blooming Marsh
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 2 Llanowar Wastes
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Mudflat Village
• 2 Restless Cottage
• 3 Underground Mortuary

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Speaking of good targets to return to the battlefield, Camellia, the Seedmiser is definitely a good choice. She'll give all of your Squirrels menace, making it difficult for your opponent to block everything effectively. She also creates 1/1 Squirrel creature tokens when you sacrifice a Food token. This can be very useful in outnumbering your opponent's forces. Finally, she offers the means of placing +1/+1 counters on each other Squirrel you control, making them an even more dangerous threat.

Wrapping Up

Black decks offer a lot of choices that you can use to help control the battlefield. With the help of the other colors, you can create decks that can win you games in a variety of ways, from draining your opponent's life when you gain life of your own, to milling out their decks. I like using Black as a supporting color, even though it's far from my favorite color in Magic.

What do you think of these decks? Feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes