On February 11th, 2024, playing Mono-Black, I top 8’ed the 57 person Pioneer RCQ as part of RC Ottawa weekend, qualifying for the next Regional Championship. I went 4-0-2, not dropping a single game, before conceding a Top 8 with my qualification in hand.
After going 5-4 in the 2023 Atlanta Regional Championship (although a big win was my teammate making day 2 with the same deck, congrats!), it was a breath of fresh air to be doing well my favorite deck once again.
Not much changed, from my perspective, with the deck since my deck guide below. What has also not changed much is the Pioneer metagame, which, according to Pro Tour Chicago February 2024 data, seems favorable for Mono-Black:
https://www.magic.gg/news/pro-tour-murders-at-karlov-manor-pioneer-metagame-breakdown
The top three decks, per PT data – Izzet Phoenix, Azorius Control, and Rakdos Midrange, are highly favorable matchups for Mono Black, at least according to my personal data with 1,000 matches played (not all archetypes are represented below):
| Deck Type | Total | Wins | Losses | Win % |
| Dimir Control | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0.8 |
| Mono Red | 36 | 27 | 9 | 0.75 |
| Selesnya Angels | 36 | 25 | 11 | 0.694444444 |
| Azorius Control | 52 | 36 | 16 | 0.692307692 |
| Enchantments | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0.692307692 |
| Spirits – Bant | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0.684210526 |
| Azorius Control Lotus Field | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0.642857143 |
| Rakdos Midrange | 99 | 61 | 38 | 0.616161616 |
| Bright to Light Omnath | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0.615384615 |
| Izzet Creativity | 39 | 24 | 15 | 0.615384615 |
| Izzet Phoenix | 32 | 19 | 13 | 0.59375 |
| Boros Pia | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0.571428571 |
| Humans Mono White | 54 | 29 | 25 | 0.537037037 |
| Gruul Vehicles | 49 | 26 | 23 | 0.530612245 |
| Fires | 41 | 21 | 20 | 0.512195122 |
| Spirits – Mono Blue | 26 | 13 | 13 | 0.5 |
| Greasefang – Abzan | 36 | 16 | 20 | 0.444444444 |
| Spirits – Azorius | 27 | 12 | 15 | 0.444444444 |
| Lotus Field | 33 | 14 | 19 | 0.424242424 |
| Mono Green | 114 | 42 | 72 | 0.368421053 |
| Rakdos Sacrifice | 31 | 7 | 24 | 0.225806452 |
| Boros Convoke | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0.214285714 |
AMALIA UPDATE
While I never played Amalia Combo as part of my 1,000 matches (which I reached in August 2023), here is my record vs. the deck since that time:
| Deck Type | Total | Wins | Losses | Win % |
| Amalia Combo | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0.75 |
I easily defeated the deck in person at RC Atlanta 2023 (it was the start of my 4-1 run before I lost my next three matchups to Mono-White, Gruul Vehicles, and Boros Convoke).
I went 5-2 against Amalia in MTGO Pioneer leagues, but one of those losses was due to timing out when I would have won otherwise.
Small sample size, but on paper we’re heavily favored. Removal, notably Ray of Enfeeblement, is insane here, and Cling to Dust cleans up reanimation shenanigans.
DECK CHANGES
Decklist: https://melee.gg/Decklist/View/350458
+2 Bitter Triumph
I don’t love this card. It’s fine. It is a strictly better upgrade to Infernal Grasp.
However, there is one instance/matchup where it’s worlds better than Murderous Rider, and that matchup is against Azorius Control. To be fair, this is already a good matchup, but one that I anticipate being more a presence in the meta moving forward.
Bitter T is so good b/c the main way you lose against Azorius Control is they land a Teferi with counter magic backup. Holding up 2 mana rather than 3 mana is just an insane difference. Many games I’d have a Murderous Rider that would be my only hope that I could not cast before they untapped end of turn with Teferi’s ability. Nuking a Teferi before they can untap two lands is an insane advantage in our favor. Bitter Triumph makes the Azorius Control matchup that much better.
-1 Infernal Grasp
Noted above.
-1 Sorin the Mirthless
Something had to come out, and it’s Sorin. He comes out in most of our sideboard games anyway, and for a deck that operates on gaining card advantage, spending four mana to draw one card, but have Sorin nuked in exchange for less mana or one attack is often a very unfavorable position for the deck. However, Sorin is a win condition and games where he lands on an empty board he can take over the game similar to Teferi in Azorius Control. In those spots, you will feel as though he’s your best card.
SIDEBOARD
+3 Meathook Massacre
-1 Legion’s End, -1 Murderous Rider, -1 Extinction Event
Meathook helps vs. Rakdos Sacrifice and Boros Convoke, our worst matchups. It’s also great against all the Inthi decks and other creature decks.
Legion’s End is just not as good in the meta, a much worse version of Meathook.
Murderous Rider comes out with the Bitter Triumph additions to the maindeck.
Extinction Event is a bit worse due to Mono-Green disappearing. I will say, cutting the third Extinction Event was the hardest gut-check for me among these three changes. Extinction Event can still be insane, notably against Fires of Invention Decks and when Meathook costs too much to cast profitably. And, there are games where it’s a nice two or three-for-one, notably against Rakdos Midrange’s even threats in the form of Bloodtithe, Inthi, Fable token, and Sheoldred.
MY TEAMMATE
FYI My teammate did better than I did at RC Atlanta 2023 and swapped in a Go Blank, which he loved, for the 4th Invoke. He did not like The End out of his sideboard, the only other major change.
Ottawa RCQ
Round 1 – Izzet Phoenix – Won 2-0
The day started against the most-represented deck in the format and with two excellent starting 7s for me. I had excellent draws both games, though I made a big mistake, but managed it well and still won the game. After my Trespasser bit the dust, I forgot to Fatal Push his Phoenix until after he attacked. I had planned to cast it pre-combat, I simply forgot. I then had to decide if I still wanted to Push it EOT – I was preparing for an Invoke next turn, which would also nuke the Phoenix, but would not get me an addition card or ding my opponent an additional two life. Fatal Push was a card I didn’t really want to hold onto for how the game had played out. So, I just sucked up my pride and looked silly pushing the Phoenix after taking 3 damage for no reason. A few turns later, b/c I made this play, I was able to kill him with Sign in Blood as he was at 1 life. If he had been at 3 life, he would have had an additional turn with infinity mana to turn the game around in his favor. I’m very proud I didn’t compound my mistake. Extinction Event was insane for me game 2 when I nuked his Shredder, Pyromancer, and the Pyro’s tokens. It’s still good!
Round 2 – Lotus Field – Won 2-0
Liliana carried the day. Even when I missed my 4th land drop game 1, Liliana was just insane. Being on the play in this matchup is so much more favorable than being on the draw.
Round 3 – Rakdos Midrange Inthi Copter – Won 2-0
Against a great player, this matchup played out how I drew it up on paper. He played his stuff, I killed it all, and just sat back until I found a way to win. Surprisingly, Invoke is not really that great vs. the Rakdos Inthi/Copter versions and I started taking them out on the Draw. Game 2 I’m proud of holding up a removal spell and letting Graveyard Trespasser get in a few hits, because when he played his Sheoldred, his only chance to get back into the game, I was able to nuke it and ride to an easy victory. Sheoldred and Liliana are great here – I never drew a Lili, but after cleaning up his board, a lone Trespasser or Sheoldred are no match for a Lili.
Round 4 – Metalwork Colossus – Won 2-0
Prior to this match, I had only played the matchup twice in my 1,000 match sample, winning both. This matchup, so long as nothing too unlucky like bad mulliganing or drawing infinity lands happens, seems probably one of our best. The opponent has to two-for one himself to bring back a Colossus, making it even harder to cast, and Cling to Dust out of our sideboard will just live in our yard forever. Their gameplan lines up extremely unfavorably to what we’re doing, even though we cannot interact with their creature-less artifacts at all. This match played out exactly as planned.
Round 5 and 6 I waited forever, then drew into the 3rd seed of Top 8. Then I waited even longer after splitting for the judges to determine that we’d all be playing for a winner-take-all giant card, the identity of which they couldn’t reveal until we were finished. Mission accomplished, having qualified for RC Montreal and shared my love and affection with the rest of the top 8 for splitting so the late night drivers among us could start our quest home earlier, I happily conceded top 8.
I’m very sad not to be playing the Pioneer Pro Tour (Chicago) again this year, mostly because Mono-Blacks seems to have the best positioning it ever has in the meta right now. After going 3-2 at the last Pioneer Pro Tour (Philly 2023), I’m hopeful to continue both enjoying playing this deck and also feeling great about how good it is in the current metagame.