I make no secret of my love of the Torment set. It was my favorite set of all time. Its focus on Black, my favorite color, was totally cool, and every player type was fairly represented by the set's big, cool, strong cards. However, Torment has a very special place in my heart not because of its card quality, but because it was the set that allowed me to build my first tournament-viable deck. Using cheap removal with cards like Innocent Blood, Chainer's Edict, and Dark Banishing put together with good discard like Duress and big creatures in Sengir Vampire and Laquatus' Champion, it was a relatively primitive version of Mono-Black Control, better known as MBC in the Magic community.

MBC has long been a playable archetype, though it is seldom a tier one deck. The deck's power is in its ability to answer threats, and answer threats well. Red can kill creatures with cheaper cards, and can target players with its burn, but Red will have a hard time dealing with anything with three toughness or more. No such problem for Black. Green and White both can deal with artifacts and enchantments in play quite handily, but they cannot kill creatures. White has Wrath effects and Pacifism-type cards, but when it comes to cheap, instant speed, precision removal, none are as efficient or permanent as Black. Blue can also answer any threat, but its lack of permanent solutions (not Boomerang) and lack of solid counters (not Hinder), especially in the current Standard, do not give it the punch of Black.

Black, on the other hand, has answers to almost everything. It has srtrong creature kill and gets a solid spell in each set (I.E. Kamigawa Block: Champions=Rend Flesh, Betrayers=Horobi's Whisper, Saviors=Kiku's Shadow), and has discard to deal with a wider variety of threats before they comes into play with cards like Distress and Ravenous Rats. Black has issues dealing with artifacts and enchantments if they manage to hit the board, so generally a splash of a secondary color in the sideboard is a fine idea. Also, Black gets solid Shade-type creatures each block, such as Cursed Ronin or Undercity Shade, allowing for at least one win condition to always be available.

Did you notice anything unusual about the list of cards I just provided? Every card I listed that is in Standard is common or uncommon. It is for this reason that MBC is such a playable deck for budget gamers: it can be built with very easy cards to get for cheap prices. Although a certain level of power [read: a lot] is lost with the removal of rares, the deck should still play fine without them. In this article, I will guide you through the building of a MBC deck on a low budget: The deck should max out at $20-30 (at most), and it should be capable of winning a good number of games. However, I am not promising tournament wins- just a solid, cheap deck.


Removal

The key to MBC lies in its removal. It is the deck's main strength, and its center. As such, it should be the first thing that you fill out in the deck.

When selecting removal, you must first pull out any removal that you find that is Standard-legal. The next step can be shortened if you screen what you look for: If a removal spell that destroys only a single creature costs five mana or more, you should probably pull it out immediately. There are exceptions to this, but none in the current Standard.

Once you have pulled out the removal, you must eliminate it down to the best of the batch. Things to look for that make removal better or worse-

1. Mana Cost- It is very likely that your opponent will play threats early. As such, it is important to take note of mana cost, so that you can answer their early threats as well as their late ones. Most one mana removal is poor (Darkblast is about as good as it gets outside of Mercadian Masques), but two mana kill is generally perfectly acceptable. This is where cards like Kiku's Shadow shine.

2. How many threats can it answer? This is very important. The common opinion is that control decks tend to be weaker against aggressive decks because "there are no wrong threats, only wrong answers." As such, it should be your goal to have removal that can target as many creatures as possible. Cards like Dark Banishing and Horobi's Whisper are weakened significantly by the last two blocks. The multicolor theme of Ravnica and the power of Mono Black Aggro in Kamigawa, both make the likelihood of running into creatures these cards can't target grow tenfold. This is another department where Kiku's Shadow shines- aside from untargetable creatures, the only prevalent card the Shadow can't handle is Meloku, The Clouded Mirror, and even then, you'll probably want Hideous Laughter involved anyway. Cruel Edict is also powerful here, although the inability to choose what you kill makes it a bit harder to play with.

3. Can it kill multiple threats at a time/can you get card advantage from it? Almost every control deck needs at least one Wrath effect, and this is no exception. Luckily, Kamigawa block gave us a very solid mass-removal spell in Hideous Laughter, which also deals with untargetable and Protection from Black-possessing threats.

4. Does it have a use other than as removal?- This is why you run Consume Spirit- you need to know that your removal will sometimes be useful even against creatureless decks, as a win condition, discard, or sometimes land destruction (not that I'm suggesting you run Befoul. Ick.).

Here are some creature kill spells that will be considered for our MBC deck:

1. Last Gasp. I think that this is the best removal spell printed in a while. For two mana, you give -3/-3 at instant speed. It's very efficient mana cost and ability to kill any cheap creature that it can target make it an auto-include.

2. Putrefy. The great thing about Putrefy is that it hits almost anything. Name a large, targettable creature. Putrefy likely kills it dead. Name an obnoxious artifact, such as Umezawa's Jitte. Putrefy kills it, too. If the deck is running green and black, this card is nearly an automatic include. It kills things, and kills them good.

3. Cruel Edict. We need a way to deal with 1. Large, regenerating threats and 2. Pro-Black/untargetable creatures. This cheap removal does both of these, and although it might hit a weak critter, it's still playable. Our other removal should take care of weenies.

4. Hideous Laughter. This kills many threats at a time, it deals with protection from Black critters, and it does it all at a reasonable cost! I think it's necessary, but three copies should be sufficient. You don't want to draw it when a smaller removal spell will suffice, after all.

5. Consume Spirit. The solid removal/kill/life gain will likely help the deck considerably.

After going through the list, my list of removal looks like this:

MBC
Kill 4x Putrefy 3x Cruel Edict 4x Last Gasp 4x Consume Spirit 3x Hideous Laughter

More Expensive Solutions: Sickening Shoal may be preferred by many to the removal that I am running here. I disagree with them. I think that in comparison to Putrefy and Last Gasp, it is suboptimal card with some pretty severe tempo or card disadvantage. Also, Night of Soul's Betrayal might be good, especially with all of the tokens involved with the Selesnya guild, so it might be worth a test. I think that Laughter should do just fine and dandy, and is better in more situations, so it should not be a high priority to grab. If you want another cool creature and want to try out the Dredge mechanic, Necroplasm is another playable way to deal with Pro-Black or untargetable creatures, but I think that Laughter and Edict take care of guys like that just fine. You should definitely not get these guys before some of the other stuff, however, as it is very likely that we are already running better options.


Discard

Discard, while less important than removal, is still an integral part of the deck. There are also questions that should be asked of all discard when you look through it. Gather what discard you can find, and review it based on these steps:

1. Can I drop it and get something before it's too late?-This is very, very important, perhaps the most important of all discard traits. Discard's problem is that, once you get to a certain point in the game, it is close to useless unless you are against control. Four mana discard will likely be too late, unless you are against a control mono-colored deck and you drop Persecute. A Nightmare Void will likely be too late. This is why Duress was so good, and why Distress is the best Standard card for this. Psychic Spear is also worth consideration.

2. Will it likely pull something out for you?- This is why Encroach was not good. Cheap discard likely has specifications as to what it can or can't grab: It is your goal to determine if it is worth the restriction given. For instance, Duress was good because it could take out something with about 66% likelihood, and it would be a gamebreaker, on the first turn. In Standard, Distress is the best here, although it is fully possible that you will get something with a Psychic Spear.

3. Will I care if I get rid of something?- This is mostly luck-based, and applies to all discard, so it is not that important. However, it is the reason that cards like Blackmail and Waking Nightmare are often not run- it is fully possible that you will pull something out of your opponent's hand that you just don't care about.

4. Can you get card advantage from it?-This is more important to creature kill, but it is a redeeming value on cards like Waking Nightmare.

1. Distress. This is the only discard that you will need, most likely, in most games- four copies should take care of most problematic cards, without drawing it when it's unnecessary.

2. Psychic Spear. This is sideboard material, but it will likely be necessary in a few matchups, particularly of the control variety. I think it is important in the board, though, so it will be our first card there.

MBC
Discard 4x Distress		Sideboard: 4x Psychic Spear

More Expensive Solutions: Past the always cool and nostalgic Hypnotic Specter, who will often be worth the slots if you can get him, there is little rare discard that can help this deck, maindeck. Persecute would be nice in the main with so many multi-color cards running around. Cranial Extraction is also a solid sideboard option, although I think that it is too weak against aggro to qualify as a maindeck card.


Card Advantage

This is important to any deck, particularly a control deck: You need to be able to draw your answers, and have an answer to most, if not all, threats. Black has kind of had a hard time getting good draw recently without it being rare (consider Phyrexian Arena for a deck modification), and it's only real option right now is Sensei's Divining Top. This card is simply near-useless without shuffle effects, and throwing in random shuffle effects is just not worth running this card. As such, I cannot add any number of this to the deck, and regret it. However...
More Expensive Solutions: Phyrexian Arena. I cannot stress how good this card is enough. If you can find a good deal on this card advantage machine, by all means, get it and play it. The only "Rare" rare that I think the deck truly needs. Really, it is the only real card advantage of note; five mana FOF knockoffs are simply not good enough to make it in when you can get arenas.

Creatures/Win Conditions

These are important, as they will be your key route to victory. Some things to consider when choosing your creatures:

1. Can they deal lots of damage?- This is important for control decks because once you drop your finisher, you should win the game in a matter of turns. This is why cards like Cursed Ronin are good: They beat for as much as you want and have the mana available to pump them. Also, a big body is good, perhaps more advantageous: After all, what's the point of pumping your guy all the way up only to have him Shocked to death during your opponent's turn? Big bodied guys in Standard include Nightmare and Sengir Vampire.

2. Can they evade?- This is where big bodied creatures get more of an advantage. Even with a deck that kills creatures like mad, like MBC, it is still important to be able to come over and not be blocked by stupid 1/1 tokens. Really, this is pretty self explanatory, and top options have been told above. The evasion abilities black gets often are Flying and Fear.

3. Can it be a good early defender?- Sometimes, you just need a good early blocker. The best early blocker available to us right now is Hand of Cruelty, with his protection from white and 2/2-3/3 body serving as a great deterent against White Weenie decks. If you can't find any Hands, you might want to consider Drudge Skeletons, which are far worse, but have regeneration, which will sometimes be very useful. Also, there was some early talk of Dimir House guard due to his ability to Transmute, but I don't think he's that good, and all he'd get is a Hideous Laughter, which is just not worth the tutor space. Also, Nekrataal and Keening Banshee are considered decent by many, but I find that they are rarely particularily valuable card advantage, if they create advantage at all, and they're too slow for effective use.

4. Are they hard to kill?- Brought up in 1, but important. If your opponent can just burn your win condition to death, you are probably in bad shape.

With that in mind, I think it is fair to say that Nightmare is the best relatively cheap win condition available to us. Sengir Vampire is probably second, and cards like Cursed Ronin and Undercity Shade should only be run if you can not get these rares, which you should be able to get for one or two dollars. In this case, I would probably go Undercity Shade over Cursed Ronin, because despite its more expensive cost, it has evasion, which is really, really important. However, Genju of the Fens is a solid option, because it is a solid beater who is much harder to kill than a standard creature. And, if it dies, you just lose a land! It is important to have a good number of different win conditions(remember your Consume Spirits), so that if one or more dies or is countered, you are not automatically screwed. However, you do not want to run so many win conditions that you draw them when you want removal. I would recommend two copies of Nightmare and Sengir Vampire to get around silly cards like Cranial Extraction, the Hand as a blocker, and three Genju. That should be well rounded with your dual-purpose Consume Spirits.

MBC
Creatures: 4x Hand of Cruelty 2x Nightmare 2x Sengir Vampire Enchantments: 3x Genju of the Fens

More Expensive Solutions: Ink-Eyes, Servant of the Oni, Yukora, the Prisoner, and Kokusho, the Evening Star are both far superior to the cards I am running here, at least the Vampire and Nightmare. And Kagemaro, First to Suffer wouldn't hurt at all, serving as both a win condition and removal, a big plus for this deck.


Mana

This is really, really basic. I would recommend 3-4x Golgari Rot Farm and an equal number of Golgari Signets for an easy way to splash Naturalize and our Putrefys, which should be in the sideboard to take out annoying artifacts, Enchantments, and the like. Past that, it's easy: Just add an appropriate amount of land that create black mana.

MBC
Artifacts: 4x Golgari Signet Land 4x Golgari Rot Farm 19x Swamp

More Expensive Options: Overgrown Tomb is almost strictly better than the tapland for our splash of green: run it if you can get it, and run as many copies as possible. Also, a single copy of Shizo, Death's Storehouse may be in order if you start running the very popular, very superior Legendary win conditions, as an additional means to grant removal.


Sideboard

I've really already mostly formed this. When making a sideboard, one must consider three things.

1. Is there a card/deck that absolutely wrecks my own?-This is why we splash green, and why we run cards like Cruel Edict when more precise removal is available to us. Naturalize will deal with obnoxious cards like Story Circle that completely remove our ability to win, while Cruel Edict deals with obnoxious Protection from Black creatures or annoying regenerators. Also, while they do not necessarily wreck our deck, any sort of self-reanimating creature, or reanimating deck in general, will call for the use of Nezumi Graverobber, as an instantaneous way of keeping annoying reanimation strategies in check.
2. Will some of my cards occasionally be useless?- This especially applies to MBC. When thrown against a slow control deck similar to our own, is a Last Gasp really going to help that much? Here, you think of decks that will require fewer cards from your maindeck, and put in answers to those decks. This is where cards like Psychic Spear come in handy: against a more expensive MBC build, Last Gasp will likely do little more than kill a random Hand of Cruelty. However, a turn one Psychic Spear might take out that Cranial Extraction that makes the difference between a win and a loss. Chalk up another point for Nezumi Graverobber here as well, as against control, he is almost strictly preferable to a Hideous Laughter that will just wipe out your own creatures that need to take the aggressive.
3. Is there a card I didn't run because it is unplayable in certain matchups?- This is why I cut Horobi's Whisper, and it is an absolute beast against non-black decks of any sort, particularily aggro. Card advantage is good, and this card gives us tons of it... when we're not playing against Black.

MBC
	Sideboard: 4x Psychic Spear 4x Naturalize 4x Nezumi Graverobber 3x Horobi's Whisper

More Expensive Options: Cranial Extraction is great against combo decks that require a single, instrumental card to win. Remove it, and you win the game. Persecute is also quite good as a wrecking ball against mono-color control decks, and is often preferable to Psychic Spear. Also, a Plague Boiler would probably be a better option than Naturalize to take out pesky enchantments and artifacts. I honestly feel that these should be towards the bottom of your list of priorities to grab: They are not in any way instrumental to the deck's success, and they do not help the actual deck in any way. The deck should be your top priority.


The Deck

When you put all of our components together, your deck should look something like this...

MBC
Control 4x Last Gasp 4x Kiku's Shadow 3x Cruel Edict 4x Consume Spirit 3x Hideous Laughter 4x Distress Creatures 4x Hand of Cruelty 2x Sengir Vampire 2x Nightmare 3x Genju of the Fens Mana 4x Golgari Signet 4x Golgari Rot Farm 19x Swamp		Sideboard 4x Naturalize 4x Nezumi Graverobber 4x Psychic Spear 3x Horobi's Whisper

Not bad. The deck does have room for improvement, but most of that is stuff I listed in the "More Expensive Options" category. As it is, the deck should play fine against any sort of aggro, and most sorts of control, in the current Standard, although it is far from a "tournament power." But if you need a good cheap deck to kick around with your buddies, this should fit the bill just fine. Tune in next time, when I modify a precon once again. It should be fun! Until then, live long, kill some creatures, and don't take Pro Player cards from some shady stranger.