Yet again we have another victory notched into the belt of Mono-Black Devotion. It would seem at this point that people are hopeful that Journey Into Nyx will be able to offer some variety to a format which while mixed seems to cede in the end to this deck. And while this is a very similar deck to what has been played previously there are some interesting tweaks.
The most apparent difference in this list from those past is the exclusion of Nightveil Specter for a very different evil in Lifebane Zombie. It looks like taking the extra precautions to hedge against Green Monsters and White Weenies paid off. His removal package, which is usually constructed for what you’re idea of the meta calls for, consisted of a full four Hero’s Downfall, a trio of Devour Flesh and two copies each of both Ultimate Price and Bile Blight. The other interesting point of note is that he went for two sets of Temples for the Scry power, which is very handy in conjunction with Underworld Connections when you’re low on life but absolutely need to find something specific.
So with what has been spoiled so far from Journey Into Nyx I’m not convinced that we’ve gotten anything new to bolster this deck. We could stretch and say as a possible 1 of that Hall of Triumph would additionally beef up your already pretty big Pack Rat swarm, but I’d expect it more in the Mono-Blue Devotion instead to ensure your MASTER tokens didn’t disappear along with their Master. There is still many more cards left to come and so we will wait to see if it gets more weapons or if the rest of the field gets a level up to push Mono-Black Devotion back to a more equal footing.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer on Twitter
