Standard - Mono B PlanesRack [WAR]

44
6 25 4 23
Control Jank

PlanesRack Guide Foreword: 

First of all i would like to thank the original designer of 8rack archetype (Robert Leva, aka MemoryLapse from MtGSalvation or vizierfennin on Youtube) for influencing me to create this deck. Since cards like Pox and rack were created and decks running hypnotic specter, megrim and duress came to existence i was always fascinated by this unconventional type of control. 

Many thanks to all those playing, promoting and playtesting this degenerate archetype!

Disclaimer: This deck is in playtests and will change adapting more and more to the current meta. 

Now some of you might know the vicious mono black discard archetype. Those of you who do not might find information below helpful, because the deck approach is mostly different from what you experienced in standard arena metagame so far. 

The main goal of the deck is to create card advantage and remove threats from your opponent hand before they can land on the battlefield. After reducing your opponent's ability to respond to your win conditions you can close

If you have any constructive criticism, please like and comment. I would appreciate it! Thanks.

Additional Disclaimer: I am not a native English speaker being mostly self taught. I am sorry for any misspellings or awkward sentences i committed.

The rules of engagement "To play or not to play":

If you are facing any deck other than Aggro/mirror draw first instead of playing first. It might be counter intuitive, but in reality it creates a card advantage which will help you win the game. When playing Vs aggro postboard play first as you want to curve out to play Cry, soot and blastzone as soon as possible to deal with those small pesky creatures.

Once you start the game, you also want to know what deck are you facing, and by having 4 duresses your are more than capable of removing key low cost noncreature spells from your opponent hand before they can use them. If you see a green land, think twice before tossing random Vicious Rumors getting that Nulhide (tho you have Triumph to deal with that problem).

 

Win conditions (mainboard):

imageimageimageimageimageimage

Chaos Wand - this is the nexus answer. Imagine a world where you can take their Nexus over and over again just before they used chemister's or anticipate. Imagine also that you hold it for when you need to counter Taferi using their Absorb or Veto. This is a situational card, but it have it's uses, and is a full surprise mainboard. 
Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage - By turn 3-4 your opponent should have few answers for this one. He ensures further discard, so your opponent is forced to play cards they would like to hold on, he also chips a bit of health every round since usually by the time Davriel lands on the battlefield your opponent usually have 2 or fever cards in his hand. It is there to be depleted if you have another one, and works as a "fog/rootsnare" effect most of the times unprotected (since his card advantage value is to be dealt with immediately)
Dreadhorde Invasion - A Bitterblossom of standard. This card is nuts. Yes it's limited to one creature, but on the other hand it can be rarely addressed early on growing a monstrous 6/6 lifelinker who will swing some games for you. More often than not however it will simply be a blocker and occasional Raid proccer. 
God-Eternal Bontu - Where to start. Oh - a card advantage guy. Don't be afraid to drop him on curve burning 2 lands and let's say gimped Amass token for 2-3 cards. He will rarely be answered and sometimes be the answer to an unwanted Dreadhorde Invasion enchantment if you are running low. Couple of times he also saved my skin as an Arguel's land sac proc giving me 6 life - enough for mono red to concede. 
Mobilized District - Manlands are good. 3/3 vigilance that also becomes cheaper to activate with our planeswalkers & legendary creatures is even better. Nightmare vs control if you discarded their removal answers. It's also very effective on midgame protection and enables your raid proc for both Pillage and Wake.
Raiders' Wake - This one is a bit situational, but because oftentimes enemy is hellbent turn 4+ you can land it, and get that additional damage if he decides to keep casting Chemister's. It becomes even better when you realize it can be used in conjunction with a somewhat "underwhelming at first glance" Fraying Omnipotence. Combine Fraying taking half opponent life, then add to it the fact that he might have had some cards in hand. 

Win conditions (sideboard):

imageimageimage

Ashiok - for when you want to completely shut down grave/search effects, or mill explore kept answers. Both works. Against control it works wonders, against grave/azcanta/phoenix shenanigans it's amazing. 
Liliana, Dreadhorde General - For when the game is long and full of terrors (pun intended). Lili will absolutely rule the table and become an instant win in many occasions. Against planeswalker heavy decks when you also board Elderspell she could become an instant win. She is a sweeper, a wincon with infinite value. The only problem is her casting cost in a deck which oftentimes sacs it's own lands. She is just there if you need to win by snowballing.
Massacre Girl - Because having a sweeper against midrange is a crucial thing. Her cost says it all, but we can squize 1 copy if you need that win against snowballing board full of low trash such as Gruul or Mardu. And she leaves an able body to finish your OP later on the line. Also works well against Mono white as it can deal with loxoson provided you were able to survive that long :).

 

Discard Package:

imageimageimageimageimageimageimage

Duress is there to look at your opponent hand and remove early game cards that can create card advantage for your opponent or deny your strategy for turn 2/3. Toll (this card is better than i expected, even late game it can be a lifechanger) was added recently to ensure more surgical antiphoenix discard, and a stable way to increase our "Zombie Army" (from Dreadhorde Invasion) to make him go 6/6 and roll lifelink.


Combo Discard:

image + image

By turn 2 your deck also gets an open combination of both cards to bait land discard followed by another (usually after duress) direct hand disruption taking key card from their hand.


Turn 3 Plays (if your are not aggroed):

image & image

Both will help you to force uneasy choices from your opponent increasing the card advantage even further and activating your discard win conditions. It's important to note, that both cards require only 1 black mana making them both much easier spells to cast with the amount of colorless mana producing utility lands.


Removals and sweepers (mainboard):

imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage

Liliana's Triumph - works around hexproof, and does occasionally activate second clause of the card if you have Liliana on the board postboard.
Walk the Plank - sorcery speed card removing most of the threats. I think in the current meta filled with legendary creatures it is much better than cast down is.
Ob Nixilis's Cruelty - for when you need to exile bigger toughness
Cry of the Carnarium - anti low toughness aggro
Ritual of Soot - for when your cry is not enough
Price of Betrayal - For when you realy need to remove that planeswalker
Blast Zone - This is a wildcard of this deck. It enables you to shred Wilderness Reclamation deck to pieces, sweep mono white 1drops on turn 4, remove pesky low cost pernaments immediately, and create a constant psychological threat on the board. All star working well with our sideboard crucible combo.
Field of Ruin - Ah yes. The question is not why, but how many. This is our answer to cards like Blast Zone, Azcanta and post sideboard land removal versus likes of Esper Control and Reclamation. Most decks running triple color combination will be hurt by this card, and making them unable to Absorb you, or fix their color for other color heavy spells might make their life that much more miserable.


Removals and sweepers (sideboard):

imageimageElderspellimage

Fraying Omnipotence - Against draw heavy decks, or boardstate heavy opponents it might be a winbomb. Yes it can sometimes be a win more, that and the fact it's 5CMC keeps us from using more, but the "Pox" effect on life, creatures and opponent hand might be detrimental or even deadly. Dropping this baby with Raiders' Wake on the table and even one Mobilized district can win you a game on the spot.
Fungal Infection
- against mono decks, aggro. Leaves fungus token on the board which might enable you to benefit from Raider's Wake, Hearless Pillage or become bontu's draw fodder later on.
Elderspell - helps you deal with planeswalker heavy decks (Tamiyo is your sworn enemy), also prolonging discard on your Davriel or mill on Ashiok
Sorcerous Spyglass - not only enables you to deal with activation abilities which means also shutting down planeswalkers. This card might be debatable, but it helps you deal with Blast zones, mobilized districts. If you can't deal with permanents that activate otherwise needle effects are always welcomed. And when your enemy is bolasing shish out of you, you know what to do :)

Draw Engines:

imageimageimage

Arguel's Blood Fast - Good for lategame card advantage once you depleted your initial arsenal, plus a sac engine as a lifegain combo with Bontu (sac bontu for 6 life, and return him to library 3rd from the top to also reuse his draw ability)
Sword-Point Diplomacy
- can be usefull to force some lifeloss and/or draw. It is best used however to force draw after you depleted both health and opponent's hand. They simply can't afford to lose more life.
God-Eternal Bontu - Because he is both a finisher, and a draw engine. Don't be affraid to burn 2/5 lands to draw 2 and have more ways to disrupt further opponent actions while also slapping this bad boy. Bontu might also save your life if you will not be able to punch a hole with too many dreadhorde invasions biting you every turn. Just drop him, sac invasion/s and then start regaining hearth from Arguel's flip and Bontu sac/return. 

Other:

image

Crucible of Worlds - Crucible is there for when you want to punish decks playing 3+colors, gates, or have infinite sweepers/manlands. Value can be also tremendous versus midrange decks when utilized with Bontu permanent sac. Sac couple of lands to cast them from grave for even more card advantage if you have also flipped Arguel's Blood Fast. Also keeps you infinite 4 mana blockers if you need them. All in all a good card for your utility land value. 

Additional Commentary AKA Disclaimer 2.0:
This deck is best suited against control heavy meta. It is not a material for Bo1 as the purpose of it is to side hate versus specific deck. 
There are cards that i am still testing, but because the meta is still shifting and forming i can only do as much and just playtest it as i go both on paper and on MTGA. 

This guide is still work in progress, and because of my occupation i can only do as much every day.

If you got this far I am grateful! Thanks!


Sideboarding: 

VS ESPER CONTROL (Superfriends post sideboard):

Out:
imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage

 In:
imageimageimageElderspellElderspellimageimageimage

Gameplan:
Try getting at least duress and one other discard in your oppening hand, while also having dreadhorde and/or planeswalker. Main goal is to win the card advantage early on while also establishing one of the wincons without answer. Elderspell provides an excellent way to feed both Davriel but imore importantly Ashiok, who obliterates Esper denying them chemister insight and further draws. Crucible can singlehandedly win you the game because of it's recurring Field of Ruin (won couple of post sideboard games against both esper and reclamation). Liliana wins by being Liliana. Keep in mind that you will not be able to remove your own invasions, so if you are going for it, clear Mortify/VrascaC. first. Also don't fall into Bontu/crucible combo. As more planeswalkers are present in Esper i prefer to shut them down for topdeck mode which happends quite often for both of you. 

VS ESPER CONTROL (Thief Side):
For this matchup you obviously want to keep planks, and ob nixis. I am going here with more aggressive approach by taking elderspells and keeping cheap betreyal to cast even on the same turn as a bait (for Dany De Vito). Both cards are more vital than Spyglasses are.

Comments

Login to comment

6 comments

Jezzred
@boltactionjackson Im updating the deck accordingly now. Eventualy i went with a small green splash which i will publish. Assassin trophy is just too good to ignore.
I admit i had little to No time to play past 2 weeks, so hang in there.
@williamArthurHilton i am at aetherhubs discord. PW me ;)
boltactionjackson
This deck was a ton of fun for a week or two. However with the meta evolving into a ton of Grull Midrange, Command the Dreadhorde and several other Midrange decks it is really tough going at the moment. It's unfortunate as I'm not really wanting to play many other decks now. I'm testing out versions that focuses a little more around creature based discard and removal in the main with the sideboard more configured for Control.
WilliamArthurHilton
Hey man you use discord? Join us in discord.aetherhub.com look for Arthur | Round Table I'm a moderator there. I'd like to chat with you sometime.
Yeknomious
Original and interesting deck... Noice.
Jezzred
@boltactionjackson - For competitive play i am using this deck for tournaments. It is build against decks such as reclamation, esper and grixis droping their hands before they could play ther threats. from my Arena play:
PlanesRack vs
Grixis - 13-7
Esper Control - 12-3
Sultai Superfriends 3-1
Reclamation - 7-5
Mono red - 9-6
Mono U - 7-3
Mono W - 0-2
UR/R Phoenix 2-1
Dimir Control/midrange 1-2
Mirror Game 1-0
boltactionjackson
Really like the look of the deck and appreciate the write up. I love trying to make Mono Black work. When I heard WAR may open up this archetype as another way to approach that I was excited. How has it been preforming for you in ranked so far? Thanks again.
Jezzred
Last Updated: 05 Dec 2019
Created: 24 Apr 2019
6497 878 6

Mainboard - 58 cards (18 distinct)

Creature (6)
$4.16€2.200.03
$0.950.10
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (25)
$0.27€0.150.03
$0.20€0.160.03
$0.49€0.550.02
$0.20€0.060.03
$0.96€0.430.02
$0.23€0.080.03
$0.30€0.190.03
$0.15€0.060.03
$0.20€0.050.03
$0.21€0.150.03
$0.15€0.090.03
Land (23)
$0.15€0.230.04
$0.69€0.470.22
$0.28€0.220.02
$3.97€3.446.47
Planeswalker (4)
$0.37€0.210.03

Sideboard - 13 cards (8 distinct)

$0.65€0.320.02
$0.35€0.160.02
$0.54€0.280.02
$0.20€0.140.03
$0.20€0.160.03
$0.69€0.470.22
$1.53€1.040.51
$14.65€9.940.13

Add deck to your favorites

Please log in to be able to store your favorite decks for easy access under My Decks in the main menu.

Enter The Battlefield Prepared

With the MTGA Assistant deck tracker MTGA Assistant
Main/Sideboard Rarity Count
28 15 13 2 0
3 3 6 1 0