Even when Masques block rotated in, and Urza's rotated out, i was still a black player at heart. I knew it didn't have the power it once had, but that was my color. Then i saw black have to go multicolor just to be viable anymore. We saw it splashed with red for machinehead variants. We saw it splashed with Blue for Nether-Go and all it's counterparts. Not once during the past year, year and a half, have i seen a standalone black deck. We've seen Blue go solo quite a few times since then, with Phish and it's variants of course. Black cannot stand alone, honestly just as much as any color can, aside from green and red. Red will always have Ponza or Sligh or Burn. Green will always have stompy. But black doesn't have any archetype anymore. Dark Ritual rotating out took care of that.

Why did wotc want this to be a multi-colored environment, i simply do not know. But i can seriously say it has detracted from some hardcore gamers fun in type 2. I use to love running mon colored decks, i never believed in running two colors, i was always a solo flyer. But now with the newer sets, i MUST add a color, and usually even splash a third to even contend in the current type 2 environment.

What exactly brought the end to black. Was it Dark Ritual rotating out, was it black getting the shaft recently. Black is now only splashed for discard, or dare i say it, shadowmage infiltrator ::shudders::. Has anyone seen the black card dredge i believe, sac a land to draw a card....woohoo, what a great card eh...cough cough. Black has lost it's mainstay, but what is this i hear, judgement will be blacks set, lets hope so fellow Phyrexians!

Maybe it was both that brought an end to black actually sharing a color instead of being splashed. Now without dark ritual, maybe we will see lower cc with black, let's hope so, because they are ridiculous as of now! But now i have a bit of hope with Odyssey, maybe mono black can work again, and i will use all my power to try and make it work! Mindslicer is a great addition to a discard deck. Haunting echoes is wonderful in this environment. Diabolic Intent, a card i thought would never see play, actually has some potential now. Maybe just maybe it can work. Intent + Mindslicer is great for a mono black deck. With duress, addle, bog down (has a use i think), maybe we could actually see an emergance in mono black, or black actually being the main color in a multicolor deck.

Now let's get to machinehead, is it still viable, why sure it is, slower, but it is a slow environment now, so why not try it. Machinehead players lost it's key cards, idol and ritual. I don't think there was anything else that rotated out that was in machinehead, but do not quote me on that. In an environment full of deeds and counters. Can machinehead once again see play, i think it will show up with Judgement somehow.

With dark ritual gone, how will black get that mana it so desperately deserves. We have a few replacements, not good ones by any means. We have bloodpet and overeager apprentice, but that by no means is a replacement in the smallest sense. But maybe, just maybe black will be a contender again.

I apologize for taking up space here, but this being my first article, i hope it was decent enough. Well thanks to all who are reading this part right now (i'm quite sure you are not though), and please leave feedback!

quote:

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Originally posted by Thauma:

Why did wotc want this to be a multi-colored environment, i simply do not know. But i can seriously say it has detracted from some hardcore gamers fun in type 2.

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It's because, for a long time there, mono-colored decks were the norm, and Wizards always wants to keep Type Two fresh.

quote:

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Originally posted by Thauma:
I've seen you're posts and i do not mean to be rude, but it seems you just love arguing. But anyways, onto the real point, i don't think people had to re-evaluate there choices that much. Everyone knew the power-houses, they added them together, fairly simpl for this current environment. There are not many viable decks anymore that can win states. You have R/G beats, G/B Deed, Squirrel Opposition, and that's about it. Tier 2 decks include many rogue decks, star spangled slaughter, Finkel (yes it is a tier 2 deck, no way it's tier 1). I witnessed first hand the disgruntled players, so please don't try to argue with an opinion.

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I'm not arguing with an opinion in the sense that I just want to argue, I'm saying that I simply don't agree with it. Sorry that I don't just say good article and let it be at that, because I'm a firm believer in people being able to express their own opinions. Despite what you may think, I'm not trying to argue with you, I was simply stating my belief.

As one last point that just came to me from what you said, here's the decks that were popular at the end of Urza Block's stay in Standard:

Replenish
Bargain (eh, well, not so much there at the end)
Tinker
No-Hermit/Angry Hermit
Flores Black (although it never saw much success out of Finkel's hands)
Accelerated Blue
Ponza
Stompy
Various rogue decks

That's pretty much it. Nowadays we have:

Finkula
Star-Spangled Slaughter
Rocket Shoes (R/G Beats)
Liquid Tempo (various builds)
Domain
Rick Snack (SuperGhitu, Chex, whatever you want to call it)
B/W/G (not really a formal name yet)
Braids/Mindslicer
G/B
A variety of less-played decks

The format is indeed more diversified now than it was back when mono-colored strategies were successful. The actual plan of the DCI was to use Invasion to bring back multi-colored decks and diversify the format; this has actually been stated in the past by representatives. Obviously, it succeeded.

I would suggest that you actually listen to what I'm saying before you just write me off as someone who likes to argue. I'm a far more complex person than that, and it's an unfair assessment on your part to classify me as some sort of braggart. As I stated before, I was expressing my personal opinion on the situation. I'm not the kind of person to just write down "Good article" or "You're right." I say what I truly do feel about an issue.

you forgot wildfire,

angry hermit, son of angry hermit, those were R/G i believe.

Con-troll saw the light of day as well.
There were multi-colored decks in standard, and some of them were good, but mono-colored dominated. Even in the tempest/Saga, mono dominated.

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But i have made a Mono black deck, not quite as fast as scuicide black, but it focuses on discard, its had some success, but...
4 Duress
4 Mind Burst
4 Skull Fracture
3 Bog Down
4 Ghastly Demise
2 Innocent Blood
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Abyssal Specter
4 Blood Pet
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Frightcrawler
3 Childhood Nightmare
3 Cabal Pit
18 Swamps

The thing is, im forced to compete with sub par cards, black has not been given too much power alone, i mean the deck actually works, but i wish black wasn't looked down as as a splash color, truly, no mono black deck in T2 has ever had success at all. In the other formats, scuicide black gets smashed, dark ritual not in extended anymore either.
What has become of black?

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