Introduction
This deck was made because it has a personal meaning to Mr Hills (me) . This was one of the decks used when I played competitively, and I have made them again so other people can experience what MTG was like at the time, and can share my passion for the game.
This deck list specifically was taken from Nikita Kruglov, and was played during the 2014 Standard Format.
Introduction
The Mono-Black Devotion deck leverages powerful black mana symbols to fuel its core strategy: draining life from your opponent with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and overwhelming them with resilient threats like Pack Rat. The deck combines hand disruption, removal, and life-drain to control the game and steadily build towards an inevitable victory.
Early Game Control and Disruption
Your early game focuses on establishing control and laying the groundwork for your devotion to black. Thoughtseize is a crucial turn-1 play, allowing you to disrupt your opponent’s strategy by removing key cards from their hand. This disruption is essential for slowing down faster decks and gaining insight into your opponent’s game plan. Pack Rat is another key early-game threat. It can quickly snowball out of control, turning otherwise dead draws into additional copies of itself, each one boosting your devotion to black. The ability to dodge removal by creating more Rats makes it particularly hard to deal with unless your opponent has a board wipe. Whip of Erebos synergizes well with Pack Rat, allowing you to reanimate the original Rat for another round of havoc, and even create a new, permanent copy before it gets exiled.
Mid-Game Devotion Building
As the game progresses, Nightveil Specter and Underworld Connections become central to your strategy. Nightveil Specter is a potent attacker that contributes three black mana symbols to your devotion count while also allowing you to play your opponent’s cards. Although you may need access to specific lands to cast non-black spells, stealing lands with the Specter can enable these plays.
Underworld Connections is another vital piece, providing consistent card draw to keep your hand full. Its placement on a land makes it difficult for opponents to remove, and with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play, you can tap any land to draw cards, further enhancing your resource generation. Desecration Demon is a mid-game powerhouse, applying significant pressure with its massive 6/6 flying body. Although token strategies can keep it tapped down by sacrificing creatures, against most decks, it forces difficult decisions—either sacrifice valuable creatures or take a huge hit to their life total.
Late-Game Finisher
The deck’s late game is dominated by the devastating impact of Gray Merchant of Asphodel. With high devotion to black, Gray Merchant can drain a substantial amount of life from your opponent while simultaneously boosting your own life total. In many cases, a well-timed Gray Merchant can swing the game entirely in your favor, particularly if you have multiple copies or can reanimate it with Whip of Erebos. Whip of Erebos also provides additional reach and lifelink, allowing you to stabilize against aggressive decks and recur key creatures like Gray Merchant for extra life-drain triggers.
Closing the Game
The Mono-Black Devotion deck excels at grinding out opponents through a combination of resource denial, resilient threats, and powerful finishers. By steadily increasing your devotion to black and leveraging the life-drain effect of Gray Merchant of Asphodel, you can outlast your opponents and swing the game decisively in your favor. The deck’s ability to adapt to various game states, whether by drawing extra cards, removing threats, or reanimating key creatures, makes it a versatile and formidable choice for players who enjoy a controlling and methodical approach to the game.
Key Cards
Cards to look for in the opening hand