Awesome Mono Black Lashwrithe Deck with a Bunch of M13 Cards

July 29, 2012 | Posted by Dee

I noted that Mono Black Control got some powerful new tools in Magic 2013. Mutilate, Vampire Nighthawk, and Sign in Blood are great M13 cards for the deck. You can also include them in a less controlling deck and get good results.

Last week, SheerMadness got first place in a Magic-League tournament with 46 players. He played a clever Mono Black Midrange deck. He took advantage of the three M13 cards I mentioned as well as cards from New Phyrexia, Lashwrithe and Phyrexian Obliterator.

I played seven matches with the deck and so far, I haven’t lost a match. Check out the decklist below.

Mono Black Lashwrithe Midrange
Creatures (12)
Spells (24)
Lands (24)
Sideboard (15)

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The most important card in the deck is definitely Lashwrithe. With 24 Swamp, the equipment card can give you a pretty big Germ token. Also, Lashwrithe combos very well Vampire Nighthawk, Phyrexian Obliterator, Mutilate, and Essence Harvest.

Many decks have a hard time dealing with a Vampire Nighthawk equipped with Lashwrithe. For example, I played against Mono Green Aggro and these two cards gave my opponent a lot of trouble.

I cast Vampire Nighthawk on turn three and then equipped it with Lashwrithe on turn four so he started taking hits from a 6/7 lifelink flyer. It grew bigger every turn because I played more Swamps. He died pretty quickly.

I didn’t care much about his attacking creatures because I gained so much life from the Vampire. I had 23 life when he conceded.

He tried to kill the big flyer by miracling Revenge of the Hunted on a 3/3 Predator Ooze with the intention of targeting it with Ulvenwald Tracker. I stopped that plan by destroying Ulvenwald Tracker in response to the miracle.

Phyrexian Obliterator is also excellent with Lashwrithe. It has trample and a huge body for a four-mana creature. Plus, it has an ability that punishes your opponent for blocking it. He has to sacrifice permanents if it takes any damage.

In most situations, a Phyrexian Obliterator wielding a Lashwrithe is going to dominate the board. If your opponent doesn’t find a removal spell soon, he will probably lose to the massive creature.

It will be at least a 9/9 trampler. And late in the game, when you have many Swamps on the battlefield, it could easily be a 13/13 monster or bigger.

Mutilate interacts very well with Lashwrithe. You can equip any of your creatures and then wipe the board with Mutilate. Your creature will stay alive because of the power and toughness boost from Lashwrithe.

Essence Harvest is not a card you normally see in Standard tournaments. I actually had to look it up because I didn’t know what it did. But as a two-of, it fits the deck well.

With Lashwrithe, Essence Harvest usually drains your opponent for a lot of life. For example, Essence Harvest turns into a three mana Sorin’s Vengeance with Lashwrithe, its Germ token, and seven Swamps on the board.

If you replace the Germ token with Phyrexian Obliterator in that situation, Essence Harvest becomes hilariously insane. It would drain your opponent for 12 life. Not bad for a three mana common.

Essence Harvest gives you a way to kill your opponent without attacking. This is important because sometimes he will have cards like Acidic Slime and Tumble Magnet to make your attacks unprofitable. In these situations, you want access to a big “burn spell” like Essence Harvest.

Also, the life gain from Essence Harvest is useful in racing situations and for regaining the life loss from Sign in Blood.

Of course, you won’t draw Lashwrithe every game so you want the deck to work well without it. Fortunately, the deck is still pretty good even when you don’t see the equipment card. The deck has other powerful cards and synergies to give you a good chance of winning.

There are six discard spells to protect your creatures from removal. Duress and Distress can take away cards like Oblivion Ring, Go for the Throat, and Vapor Snag so that Phyrexian Obliterator is free to dominate the board.

Duress is a key Magic 2013 reprint for black decks because it gives them a cheap discard spell that can hit noncreature removal spells unlike Despise.

Sign in Blood is an efficient card draw spell. It helps you hit every land drop in the first four turns, which is important so you can cast Lashwrithe, Phyrexian Obliterator, and Mutilate on turn four.

The card draw spell is surprisingly good for targeting your opponents too. During my playtesting, I killed multiple opponents at two life with Sign in Blood.

The life loss from Sign in Blood is not really a problem because you have life gain cards (Vampire Nighthawk and Essence Harvest).

Essence Harvest is not just good with Lashwrithe. It’s also good with Phyrexian Obliterator since the creature is huge for four mana. I won a game where I attacked twice with the 5/5 and cast both Essence Harvests to deal exactly 20 damage. Three mana for a five point Drain Life is very good.

Mutilate is one of your best cards against creature decks. Also, the black mass removal spell deals with hexproof creatures like Geist of Saint Traft, Dungrove Elder, and Thrun, the Last Troll. It even takes out indestructible creatures like Predator Ooze and Stuffy Doll.

As long as you don’t play a fifth Swamp, Mutilate combos well with Phyrexian Obliterator because it doesn’t kill the creature. I had a game where I played back to back Phyrexian Obliterators on turn four and five.

I could’ve played a fifth land on turn five but I chose not to because I had Mutilate in hand. My opponent flooded the board with creatures to face off against my two 5/5s. I wrecked him with a one-sided Mutilate on turn six.

Geralf’s Messenger is one of the best black creatures in Standard. It has undying so it plays well with Mutilate and Lashwrithe.

As I’ve mentioned, Phyrexian Obliterator is great with other cards in the deck but it is also a powerful card by itself. It’s especially good these days since Bonfire of the Damned is a popular card.

Some decks like Red/Green (RG) Aggro, RG Wolf Run Ramp, and Naya Aggro rely on red damage spells for their removal. The 5/5 trampler is very good against these spells so it dominates these decks.

Filed Under Standard 

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22 Responses to “Awesome Mono Black Lashwrithe Deck with a Bunch of M13 Cards”

  1. ALUCARDAFK on July 31st, 2012 9:46 am

    I’ve had a version of this type of deck forever with Nightmare Lash, nice to see this type of deck updated.

  2. fisherman on August 1st, 2012 9:51 am

    i played this deck yesterday at my shop for Tuesday night magic. i really liked it but i feel like the messengers shouldn’t be in there. any suggestions what else i should put in?

  3. Dee on August 1st, 2012 12:56 pm

    Why don’t you like the Messengers? Your answer may help me figure out a replacement but I would be surprised if there was a better card for the deck.

    I can’t think of another creature that fits the deck better than Messenger. Except for the other creatures in the deck, which are all 4-ofs so you can’t play any more of them, Messenger is the best creature that costs three or less that plays well with Mutilate, Lashwrithe, and Essence Harvest.

    I wouldn’t play a noncreature over it because you need enough threats, or recurring sources of damage. Plus, a noncreature would not combo with Lashwrithe, the most important card in the deck.

  4. fisherman on August 4th, 2012 6:37 pm

    i dont know it just seems really weird in it. every time i get one its just kind of odd personally. i dont know how to explain it. i talked with the owner and some of my friends that are top 8 in the state and they say it does seem odd to have that in the deck.

  5. ski335 on August 9th, 2012 3:03 pm

    I don’t see any good alternatives at the 3CMC spot. At 4 CMC, Evernight Shade is an option that can pack more punch than Geralf’s, also has undying, and fits the deck theme of high power brutes. It doesn’t have an ETB effect, and it is vulnerable to Gutshot if you are tapped out, but if you throw your open mana into it, Shade can hit for lots of damage and be powered up to support a big Essence Harvest.

  6. mills on August 9th, 2012 3:27 pm

    Vault skirge would work well instead

  7. Dolorof on August 13th, 2012 11:27 am

    I rly dont see how Vault Skirge would fit the deck better than Geralf. O.o

  8. ski335 on August 13th, 2012 12:24 pm

    The problem with Vault Skirge is that it is nothing more than a gnat unless you equip it with a Lashwrithe.

  9. SheerMadness on August 15th, 2012 1:47 am

    Glad you guys like my deck.

    Messengers are pretty crucial. Their ETB life loss provides reach outside of combat damage.

    Combined with Harvest and Sign in Blood pointed at their dome, you’ll win a lot of games by dealing those last points of damage without having to do it through combat damage (which isn’t always possible).

  10. Michael on August 22nd, 2012 10:57 pm

    I’ve played a deck like this since M13 came out, and It’s 20-1-1. I skipped the Geralf’s after playtesting. It didn’t feel right to me either. Right now I have Pristine Talisman in that 3 spot, and for additional threats I play 1 Grave Titan and 1 Wurmcoil. I get by with 22 swamps, and I play with Liliana 3.0. The only game I lost was against a zombie pod deck because of Blood Artist and speed.

  11. BigDeal on August 25th, 2012 7:45 am

    Could you slash green with woodland cemetery and add prey upon for obliterator or would you be doing to much.

  12. BigDeal on August 25th, 2012 7:49 am

    Maybe just use sphere of the sun

  13. Dee on August 25th, 2012 8:09 am

    @ BigDeal

    I don’t really like Prey Upon in the deck because when you splash a card, it should be powerful enough to be good on its own without the help of another card.

  14. BigDeal on August 25th, 2012 1:10 pm

    Thanks for the heads up Dee.

    Can anyone breakdown the sideboard? What to add and remove for what deck its against. Like delver, tokens, pod, and rg aggro.

  15. Dee on August 30th, 2012 5:15 pm

    @ BigDeal

    Here are some sideboard plans.

    Delver

    -2 Essence Harvest

    +2 Nihil Spellbomb

    Tokens

    -2 Essence Harvest
    -3 Distress

    +3 Ratchet Bomb
    +2 Sever the Bloodline

    Pod and RG Aggro

    -3 Duress
    -3 Distress
    -2 Essence Harvest

    +2 Black Sun’s Zenith
    +2 Sever the Bloodline
    +2 Sorin’s Thirst
    +2 Doom Blade

  16. BigDeal on September 4th, 2012 7:09 pm

    @ Dee

    Thanks dee these have been working great top 8 eveeytime just struggling with goblins and BR Zombies. Any suggestions?

  17. Dee on September 5th, 2012 7:39 pm

    @ BigDeal

    Congrats on the results. :)

    Here’s what I would do against those decks.

    Goblins and BR Zombies

    -3 Duress
    -3 Distress
    -2 Essence Harvest

    +2 Black Sun’s Zenith
    +2 Sever the Bloodline
    +2 Sorin’s Thirst
    +2 Doom Blade

  18. ntreik on April 13th, 2013 9:02 am

    hi sorry to open such old thread. I built this deck too and id like to ask if there any card updates on this one

  19. Dee on April 13th, 2013 1:33 pm

    Unfortunately, I won’t be updating this deck. I rarely update decks especially ones that are not Standard legal anymore.

  20. ntreik on April 13th, 2013 4:43 pm

    Any thoughts then to give to me on such a build?

  21. Dee on April 13th, 2013 5:16 pm

    Maybe try http://magicgameplan.com/blog/mono-black-control-gtc-standard/ if you want to play Mono Black.

  22. ntreik on April 13th, 2013 5:49 pm

    thnx man will try it!