love the mull question

It’s funny because at my last FNM I got the same hand has this one except for erebos. I decide to keep. It took 10 turn to get my second land! Sometime Mtg is all about luck… because my opponant had a hand full of land and discard spell like Mind rot and Ragdos return. I don’t know how but hé didn’t kill me with that advantage and I finally won that game. Like I said, sometime Mtg is all about luck.

Thanks for your comment. Effectively my local meta is so aggro and burn. I gone to try some things. Maybe Pharika’s cure.
Thanks again for your article.

The Burn matchup is tough, but its completely winnable. if the draws line up correctly you will win. The link you posted in another comment shows very close games, and had the black player drawn action earlier he would have won. There are always going to be difficult matchups, and you have to accept that fact. Splashing something is certainly not the answer. if you continue to struggle to beat burn and it makes up a large portion of your local meta I suggest playing a different deck.

Lifebane Zombie maindeck is fine, but not over Nightveil Specter. Nightveil is better against a much larger portion of the metagame, and its better in this deck in vacuum because it provides more devotion.

Drown in Sorrow is a great card, but the standard metagame has no real weenie decks. if it did, i would be playing drown in sorrow. its great for a niche local metagame that might exist.

pithing needle is excellent, its best against planeswalkers. I lost to RUG walkers at the GP and would have loved to have had pithing needle. its strong vs esper too. owen suggested some in the sb of his most recent list.

Not a great player for Black.
But it´s burn so hard.

Pack Rat is critical against the control decks. It is the cheapest aggression in the deck, and are capable of beating down control decks. Turn two pack rat, end of turn make a rat turn 3, turn 4 activate mutavault attack for 8 is a very strong play. often the presence of rat in itself is a threat, and it will draw a supreme verdict.

Monoblack beats sphinx decks by playing more threats than they have answwers, and pack rat is critical in maintaining that high threat density. it can almost be thought of as something like a Spellskite or flagbearer that protects the better plays up the curve, Nightveil and Demon.

Thank you for the comment David! Your insight was valuable for me at the GP. How to board against Monoblue has always been contested, and the way I suggested differs from what a lot of people have written about.

Tempo is a huge element of the match in the early turns, and then it often devolves into normal control vs creature game where attrition wins out.

I think the best approached is a balanced one. At the GP I beat both Uw and MonoU, and in boarding I opted to to cut 2 Demon, 2 Underworld, and 2 Downfall, to fit in the 6 sb cards, and that’s how I’ll do it going forward.

The matches vs those decks were intense, I won two games at 1 life.

In one match I cut another Downfall for a Dark Betrayal, the big tempo blowout might be worth the risk.

Against BW, Bile Blight is arguably better than Dark Betrayal because the only target for either is Pack Rat, besides stray Obzedat. They do not play Nightveil and they will cut Demon.

I think the best plan is to bring in 3 Lifebane, 2 Erebos, and 3 Duress, for 4 Downfall and 4 Demon.

Hi.
I try this deck against a Burn so hot. To hot.

This list :

3 Mutavault
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Sacred Foundry
11 Mountain
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Shock
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Strike
4 Searing Blood
4 Magma Jet
2 Warleader’s Helix

Sideboard (post 1):

4 Young Pyromancer
4 Mindsparker
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Peak Eruption

Satyr make the game.
Instant 3 damages for me and one beast out per turn.

The match up Is very bad.
The burn is to fast.
Under 10 pv on the 6nd turn.
Démon exiled and Gray merchand to late.
Splash blue to acceded to negate ???

Thanks for help

Not to mention, the best thing you could be doing is curving out and getting those Nightveil Specters and Underworld Connections online. Don’t forget you need two lands in a row to even begin the Pack Rat insanity.

This hand is completely unkeepable. Ditch it, you’re on the draw and can afford losing a card for a chance of a better hand.

Different topic, I disagree with the way you sideboard in many situations. I think taking out Gray Merchant against Esper and leaving in Pack Rat is wrong. Esper is typically running four Detention Spheres and four Supreme Verdicts. In fact, if I was on Esper, I would hope they keep Pack Rat in.

Also, I think Lifebane Zombie against a burn deck is wrong. If you do manage to get a Boros Reckoner, awesome. But most likely you’ll see a hand full of burn and a Chandra Pyromaster, which is coming down next turn to +1 your Lifebane Zombie away.

I also side out Nightveil Specter against G/R Monsters. Sure, it has some extra synergy but it’s only one more devotion than Lifebane. It still dies to Mizzium Mortars. Still dies to Domri’s Pit Fight. And a late game Pack Rat can easily win the game.

I’ve got a couple of other ideas but I don’t play the exact same monoblack deck. I’m only running 3 Underworld Connections mainboard and 1 Whip of Erebos due to the amount of Green/Red Monsters at my local meta and the amazing Lifebane/Whip Synergy going there.

In the MBD matchup you usually keep if you have at any combination of hand disruption, packrat, and connections. Assuming your opponent did not keep a questionable hand … its pretty much a sure bet that he has at least one of these cards.

Although your hand has strong threats (making keeping the one lander seem viable)… you have no removal spells. And you’re on the play. With one land. There are three scenarios that could play out in this situation.

Scenario A) They have thoughtseize/Duress and packrat. If that’s the case… they turn 1 thoughtseize your thoughtseize and cast packrat turn 2. In this scenario only two things will save you. Top decking a dark betrayal turn 2 OR top decking another swamp + bile blight within 3 turns. That’s assuming he doesn’t have mutavault.

Scenario B) Your opponent has a solid, average hand. Filled with 1-2 removal, 1-2 guys, 1 connection/hand-disruption. In this scenario you’re one land hand is better. But its still going to be an uphill battle. If you don’t hit all of your land drops… you will most likely fall behind in this scenario unless your opponents draws nothing but lands… which can happen. But I’d personally would rather not risk it (especially if this is a game going into top 8).

Scenario C) Your opponent has a mediocer hand. Only 1-2 (maybe 3) playable cards. In this scenario… you’re fine to keep.

Personally… I feel like scenario A and B are more likely than C, so its an unfortunate mull. Is the 1 land hander acceptable? Sure. But given the potential cards your opponent has access to… the only time it would be a favorable keep is if your opponent also took a questionable hand.

Also: it depends completly on your opponent. In alot of mirror matches I have faced, people like turn 1 thoughtseizing. A turn one thoughtseize could potentially spell disaster for the above mentioned 1 land hand. If you know your opponent will not turn 1 thoughtseize you… then the hand becomes marginally better.

In order for the 1 hand lander to be playable.. you must be able to play bought hand disruption spells.