"One of your friends has to leave" - Mono-Black Midrange Meta Report
Originally posted in June 2023
Since the bannings and the new season I've taken a break from ladder. With my finish from last month I definitely feel a lot less pressure to actually climb, so instead I've been grinding Traditional Standard events (hereafter referred to as leagues) in order to build my collection and get my daily games in. I've included some screenshots below, but I've played about 20 leagues and 100 matches with this deck and maintained about a 72% win rate overall. I got a lot of comments on my last post asking for an updated list since the bannings so I figured I'd share. With that in mind, let's get the list and talk about some cards!
A note on leagues: I am well aware of the difference in competitive level between leagues and ladder, especially higher up on ladder. That being said, more often than not I faced meta in the leagues and can definitely speak to meta matchups and play patterns. In addition, I also gained the insight that this deck is very strong against rogue matchups. You have a lot of different interaction and flexibility to be ready for anything, which can definitely translate to ladder performance.
Creatures (16):
4x Evolved Sleeper
2x Ayara's Oathsworn
4x Tenacious Underdog
3x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
2x Sheoldred
3x Phyrexian Fleshgorger
Non-Creature Spells (18):
3x Cut Down
2x Go for the Throat
3x Sheoldred's Edict
4x Liliana of the Veil
3x Sorin the Mirthless
1x Invasion of Fiora
Lands (26)
23x Swamp
1x Takenua, Abandoned Mire
2x Mirrex
Sideboard (15):
1x Cut Down
2x Go for the Throat
2x Glistening Deluge
2x Graveyard Trespasser
4x Duress
1x Invasion of Fiora
3x Breach the Multiverse
Some of you may notice that there are several cards missing from the list that I talked way, way up in my last post: Jadar, Fell Stinger, and Concealing Curtains. Unfortunately, the context of the format completely changed with the bannings, and these cards are no longer as well-positioned as they previously were. There were a lot of incidental values and synergies between these cards and both Invoke Despair and Reckoner Bankbuster, as well as the fact that they're a lot stronger in a format dominated by slow, grindy Rakdos than in the much more open field we're facing today. It very well may be possible these cards will see play again, but for now, in the current format, they're just not optimal. No one is more disappointed than I.
The name of the game is efficient threats, value generation, and disruption--and we've got it all. This deck can curve out, it can play the grind game, it can disrupt those pesky combo decks. With the loss of Invoke and Bankbuster this deck definitely leans a little more aggressive, but it's still at its heart a midrange deck. Get a couple of good threats out there, get your planeswalkers ticking up, and outlast everyone on your way to the top. The biggest deal in this deck is managing what you're spending your mana on. You have a lot of sinks in this deck, and making sure you weave in Sleeper activations and get in damage with Underdog when it's the right time to do so is a skill you're going to need to perfect, or else you may find yourself with no cards, too much mana, and you're staring down an Atraxa on field and another in hand.
Evolved Sleeper
I have a love/hate relationship with this card. Every time I play it, I wish it was something else, but every time I go back to the collection and scroll through all of the cards in Standard I have to come to terms with the fact that, while it does everything in a very cumbersome manner, this card does a lot. Early damage, mana sink, value generation, stonewall defender, this card is so darn flexible that it's essentially unreplaceable. This card is a solid 1 drop, 2 drop, 4 drop, and 7 drop, since those are the breakpoints of all the different ways you can spend your mana on it at once. However, if you play it on turn 1, that ALSO means it's a solid 3 and 6 drop. If you count those numbers, that means Evolved Sleeper can fit in essentially anywhere on your curve, and it is very, very difficult to replace that kind of flexibility.
There's something to be said of knowing when to dump mana into sleeper when to just leave it alone like a ticking time bomb. It's hard to explain in text which is the correct move in which situation. Gaining a sense of the right time to evolve your boy is both difficult and necessary.
Tenacious Underdog
Another love/hate relationship for me. Underdog's just a simple, easy guy. He's above rate, he comes back, he draws you cards, he gets in damage, he keeps on punching. Another example of a hyper-flexible threat that is difficult to replace. With the need to be both aggressive and grindy (since you can't predict what you'll face on ladder or in leagues), Underdog just does it slightly better than other options.
Ayara's Oathsworn
This is a flex slot that I wanted to try a new card in, and it's doing alright so far. In many ways, the Menace on this creature is a lot more important than the scaling. Being able to attack around big blockers to either get in damage or hit Planeswalkers (very important!) is a surprisingly big deal. Even then, the scaling is pretty good. This thing can get very big very quickly and makes your opponent have to decide which time bomb of a creature they want to spend their removal on, and we are VERY happy to put our opponents in difficult positions. That being said, this could easily be something else.
Liliana of the Veil
Hoo boy. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boy. This card is nuts. This card is fantastic. You wanna talk flexibility? Liliana has your back. Removal with a threat attached, disruption and pressure against control and ramp opponents, Liliana is good in basically every matchup. Playing her in the ramp/control matchup turns the game into a question of "can your opponent afford to get rid of your Liliana?", to which the answer is often "no, not really". Curving Sleeper into Underdog/Ayara into Liliana means your opponent is going to have to look long and hard at their hand and figure out what they value more: their life total, or their ability to play the game. If they remove your creatures with Ossify or Binding, you'll rip their hand apart and blow up their lands. If they get rid of Liliana, you bash their face in. Liliana is such a scary card for your opponent to deal with, even in the hard aggro matchups. If you can have Liliana and another removal spell or two, you'll stonewall their early aggression and start to deprive them of precious resources. An absolute champion of a card, earning her voice line the prized position at the top of this post.
Sorin the Mirthless
This is our flex slot at 4--it's either this or Phyrexian Obliterator. I started seeing way more hard control (Esper / Azorius) later on so I chose Sorin, but either choice is justifiable. In Sorin's favor, he's once again a flexible, value-oriented guy. He can provide blockers, cards, whatever you need to stay in the game against a variety of opponents. By no means is he as strong as Liliana, not by a long shot, but he's good enough to earn a slot when the context of the format is right.
Invasion of Fiora
Sometimes you just gotta blow everything up. Like the 1-of Farewell in a lot of Mono W lists, Fiora provides a panic button available to you, and you have enough dig to be able to find it. Wiping the board comes up a surprising amount--you have few ways of answering a Herd Migration or multiple Wedding Announcements otherwise. And, very occasionally, you get to flip this thing, and Marchesa is pretty good!
Duress
It's a very close toss up between Duress and Pilfer in the side. Duress is better against a wider swath of matchups, but Pilfer is better against specifically the ramp decks (knocking out an Atraxa, Archangel, or Etali is super good). For now Duress is good enough against Ramp and great against everything else, so we run it over Pilfer, but it's very close.
26 Lands
This is the new normal, folks. You NEED to hit your land drops, and given the variety of mana sinks in your deck we're happy to flood. Pump up those sleepers, weave in those underdogs, we're happy to be able to play our cards.
Honorable Mentions:
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor - Once again, our praetor boy is pretty good but didn't seem to quite be doing enough the times I played him. If he went off, it was usually because we were already winning, and he doesn't do enough from behind.
Phyrexian Obliterator - This guy is a WALL, so if you're seeing more aggro in your format (Soldiers, Legends, ESPECIALLY Mono Red), slot this guy in instead of Sorin and start sweeping up the silly aggro players.
Breach the Multiverse - No longer a main deck worthy card, Breach now belongs in the sideboard. It's powerful, absolutely, but you can no longer expect to make it to turn 7 against a random opponent. Bring this in against Ramp, planeswalker control, and other midrange matchups.
5 Color Ramp - Even
The new boogeyman of the format, winning your first match or two in a league essentially guarantees you're going to see a bunch of tri-color lands and Atraxa further on. What's the gameplan? Liliana, that's what. Try and present an early clock with a backup Liliana, requiring them to have drawn a lot of removal (meaning they'll have to topdeck their threats) or else you'll rip their hand apart. Side in Breaches (to pretend we're the ramp deck), Pilfer/Duress, and an extra Invasion over removal and Sorin / MOM Sheoldred.
Esper Legends - Slightly Favored
I haven't seen this deck anywhere near as much as I thought I would, but we seem to have a pretty good time against it. There's been a trend overall away from Thalia which is great for us--curving a Cut Down or Throat into a Liliana on their Raffine turn is pretty strong. Deluge isn't as good out of the side, but with fewer Thalias running around Invasion of Fiora is more viable. Side out Ayara's Oathsworn and Sorin for a bit more removal.
Esper / Azorius Control - Even / Slightly Favored
The control matchup is super skill based, as your prime avenue for victory is identifying the windows between their counterspells to slam a threat. Both Sleeper and Underdog pull double duty as dual value generators/threats so they can get you a lot of resources over the course of the game--don't be afraid to just Underdog, hit for three, and pass! Your planeswalkers are great in this matchup, especially Liliana, just make sure you have a solid chance of landing them on the board before you go to play 'em--if your opponent left up two mana, don't just slam the Liliana into their Make Disappear. Side in some combination of Trespassers, Breaches, and Duress / Pilfer over removal, MOM Sheoldred (though try to keep some planeswalker sacrifice around), and Ayara's Oathsworn on the draw.
Azorius Soldiers - Unfavored
Golly I hate this deck. They have an intense ability to flood the board and get around blockers, so you're going to have to rely heavily on your sweepers in the side. Problem is, they can grow bigger than your Deluges SUPER quickly, meaning you have to time it just right. Some of these decks have been slotting in the 3/4 with the spell-cancelling ability that makes soldiers when it attacks, and that thing doesn't die to Deluge OR Cut Down. Tricky matchup, luckily we don't see it that much. Side in sweepers and removal for Sorin and Oathsworn.
Mono White and Orzhov Midrange - Even / Slightly Favored
The only truly dangerous card in this matchup is Wedding Announcement. If you don't have an established clock or a leveled-up Sleeper out before they drop that, they can swarm you pretty quick. The tokens also nullify Liliana's sacrifice ability somewhat, so this is actually the only matchup we tend to side her out in. The upside of all the tokens is MOM Sheoldred almost always snipes their planeswalkers in the backrow, so not playing into their Wandering Emperor turn and responding with a Sheoldred is a solid swing. They only tend to run one Loran so flipping Sheoldred is a solid win-con, and their Planeswalkers are great for Breaching. The Orzhov variant is a bit trickier since they have Breaches too, but it's essentially the same thing. Side in sweepers, Breach, and Duress for Liliana, creature-spot removal, and some Underdogs (exile based removal means this guy doesn't come around often).
Selesnya Enchantments - Even / Slightly Favored
This is another deck that I thought was going to be big and haven't really seen. Enchantments in general is a bit harder to deal with now that Invoke is banned, but we can usually control the board enough to the point of just winning in the value game. The real dangers are Wedding Announcement (again) and Katilda's flying, so try to keep track of if you have a plan for a giant flyer and you should be fine. Side in sweepers and spot removal for Sorin, Oathsworn, and an Underdog or two.
Mono-Black had to adapt and evolve to match the sudden shift in the meta, but it still have a wide variety of efficient, valuable threats to take over a game. The flexibility and consistent mana base coupled with value and disruption is a big draw to the color combination (plus you get to flex on aggro decks with your 4 black symbol monster of an Obliterator). Try it out and let me know what you think.
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