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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Mono B discard EDH Help
August 19, 2009

Today's article is one I'm glad to be able to write, as it lets me discuss a casual format I've heard a lot about but never had any real reason to look into, until now. I'll let my anonymous client fill you in on the details.

 Hey BMoor,

 I was reading some magic forums about mono black discard in multi  player and I thought that would be fun to try it in EDH.  I'm pretty  sure you know what the EDH format is, but in case some of your readers  do not here is a link...<http://www.dragonhighlander.net/rules.php.

 However I do not have the cards to build and play test my idea.  I

 know I need cards that make opponents discard, keep discarding, and

 get punished for it, but the problem as I see it is what to do about

 their threats on the board or if I cannot punish them for having no

 cards in their hand.

 I have a list of cards that I have found online, but I was wondering

 if you think that its worth pursuing. This list is just a random

 assortment of discard cards and cards based off of discards that I

 found online so the land to non creature to creature spells is

 probably off.  Ad I can't seem to find a general that helps my cause.

  I thought maybe Malalean because she lets me tutor for cards, but she

 does the same for my opponents. Maybe Nezumi Shortfang, but I dont

 know if he can count for a general.

 I'd rather not spend 2 or more dollars on a single card, unless you

 think that I would have to for the deck to work.

 I believe that if I can get them to discard at least their hand then

 tutor somehow for Guiltfeeder then this deck will work.

 I play agaisnt decks that use Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Zur the

 Enchanter, and Jhoira of the Ghitu. as generals.

 I've never been a strong deck builder so I could really use your help.

 1  Cursed Rack

     1

     Hypnotic Specter

     1

     Disrupting Scepter

     1

     Distress

     1

     Mind Rot

     1

     Mortivore

     1

     Ravenous Rats

     1

     Megrim

     1

     Nightmare

     1

     Underworld Dreams

     1

     Okiba-Gang Shinobi NM

     1

     Honden of Night's Reach

     1

     Nezumi Shortfang *

     1

     Rend Flesh

     1

     Rotting Rats

     1

     Scepter of Fugue

     1

     Geth's Grimoire

     1

     Specter's Shroud

     1

     Delirium Skeins

     1

     Abyssal Specter

     1

     Needle Specter

     1

     Nightmare Incursion

     1

     Raven's Crime

     1

     Possessed Portal

     1

     Abyssal Nocturnus

     1

     Cry of Contrition

     1

     Hissing Miasma

     1

     Guiltfeeder

     1

     Hollow Specter

     1

     Specter's Wail

     1

     Paupers' Cage

     1

     Necrogen Spellbomb

     1

     Nightmare Lash

     1

     Maralen of the Mornsong *

     1

     Mind Shatter

     1

     Rackling

     1

     Viseling

     1

     Innocent Blood

     1

     Mindslicer

     1

     Silent Specter

     1

     Syphon Mind

     1

     Syphon Soul

     1

     Words of Waste

     1

     Gnat Miser

     1

     Locust Miser

     1

     Beseech the Queen

     1

     Hollowborn Barghest

     1

     Leechridden Swamp

     1

     Polluted Bonds

     1

     Cunning Lethemancer

     1

     Bottomless Pit

     1

     Mind Peel

     1

     Dark Banishing

     1

     Dregs of Sorrow

     1

     Phthisis

     1

     Sudden Spoiling

     1

     Wheel of Torture

     1

     Abyssal Gatekeeper

 1 Smallpox

 P.S. If you do think this will work then I will let you know how it turned out after I play.

I think the idea has plenty of merit. The only real issue is, you don't seem to have any lands in your deck. You will remember to add some Swamps, won't you? For a 100-card deck, I'd say 35-40 is a good number of lands.

Also, about your card selection. It looks good, but there are a few issues to touch upon. For one, in a format where you get only one copy of anything, tutors are king. You've got Beseech the Queen already, but push that harder with Diabolic Tutor, Demonic Collusion (even if you never buy it back, it's worth having), and any other such tutor effects you can. In fact, tutoring is so powerful here, Maralen would be a very poor choice of Generals due to the fact that she gives your opponent that ability. She also blanks your Sign in Blood, which is bad.

You should also have some board wipe spells, to mop up anything that evades your battery of discard spells. Damnation and Mutilate are the strongest, followed by Plague Wind and Death Cloud. Remember, no matter how much you make them discard, they start the game with their General already in a zone they can play it from. For that reason, you may want to consider as yourGeneral Kiku, Night's Flower.
 

And speaking of Generals, you do have plenty to choose from. If you have access to Portal cards, you would probably do very well with Zhang Liao, Hero of Hefei or Cao Cao, Lord of Wei. Yes, go ahead, look those up, and then come back and tell me you don't think they'd work for you. If that's not an option for you, Akuta, Born of Ash could exploit your opponent's small hand size, or Greel, Mind Raker, could ensure that your opponent never keeps anything good in hand.

Of course, you'll want to make sure you have plenty of cards in hand yourself, so try adding Phyrexian Arena and Promise of Power. Probably Ambition's Cost as well. When you start with 40 life, what's paying a few points to get more cards?

And finally, remember-- if your opponent runs out of cards in hand, all those discard spells your packing effectively become blank. For that reason, you may actually want your General to be Seizan, Perverter of Truth.

Good luck!

~BMoor