One of the most fearsome opening plays is turn one
Thoughtseize into turn two
Pack Rat which quickly swarms to take over the game. Now while this is the ideal opening strategy it is not the only line of play. You alternately build up the curve from
Nightveil Specter into
Desecration Demon into
Gray Merchant of Asphodel to create a powerful attack in the air with a potentially huge life swing from the Merchant devotion. There is also a duo of
Lifebane Zombie in this build as extra damage to sneak through non-Black decks and incidentally grabs a creature but more importantly information. The trio of
Underworld Connections serves not only as the card ‘draw’ advantage for the deck, you could say making useful Rats out of useless cards is also advantage, but also increases the devotion count for the Merchant as well. As is standard in these Black decks the removal suite is robust with this one comprised of a trio of
Hero’s Downfall, a set of
Devour Flesh and a pair of
Bile Blight capable of answering a wide variety of threats. To round up the spells we have a singleton
Duress to compliment the
Thoughtseize arsenal and ensure access to perfect information. To increase the amount of attacking creatures we have a full compliment of
Mutavault primarily for their favorable interaction with
Pack Rat as it is also a Rat but also dodges sorcery speed removal from Control decks. The sole addition from M15 is a one-of
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth which negates the colorless downside of
Mutavault allowing it to produce Black mana. As for the Blue in the title it is merely a splash added to enable sideboard choices to come in and shore up some weaknesses.
As this Standard season is rapidly coming to a close it is apparent that this is not a deck to invest yourself into post-rotation. The majority of its moving parts will be cycling out and it is unlikely that we will find comparable replacement to maintain its viability. If you need a deck to battle at your WMCQ then obviously jump on this proven winner, but if not then wait for previews to start rolling out and get ready to brew anew.
