Fringe decks Part Deux: Mono Black and RB Minotaurs

Some decks in Theros draft are pretty non-intuitive, like Beu said earlier. They are hard to draft, rely on cards that don't come around often, and sometimes the cards don't even fit together well enough to perform. However, when they do perform, it's pure gold.


RB Minotaurs

Red/Black Minotaurs is a draft archetype a lot of people are trying to pull off, with some success. However, it isn't the same as Goblins or Faeries or even Giants from MMA, where you could function with a couple of uncommons and decent tribe value on commons. In Theros, the tribe is mostly common vanillas and two lords, both of which are very good. The rare this deck loves is:

The "true" lord of Minotaurs in Theros, It gives them a much desired ability, plus a good boost in power and toughness. One of the key pieces in the deck, but the deck CAN function without it, if it has a couple of the uncommon lord at least. Luckily these pieces are left well enough alone, as without a concerted effort, uncommons or even commons outshine them. Here's the uncommon lord.

It turns every Minotaur you control into Mortis Dogs, and it can be a beast in the B/R Minotaurs deck. This deck prioritizes Minotaurs over all other cards, specifically for their creature type. Deathbellow Raider is always a good choice, quick aggro, and it's a Minotaur to boot! Borderland Minotaur is great as well as it carries the Minotaur creature-type, and is a good swing of four power for four mana. Other things you usually want to see in the deck is decent removal, like Lightning Strike and at the top end, Sip of Hemlock. Ordeals and other buff effects also come in handy. Deathbellow Raider is a given, a competitively priced juggernaut with a strangely high toughness, with an in color regenrate effect. Gets in quick and early and can easily be the difference between winning a game and losing one. A strange, yet powerful weapon in this deck could be Boon of Erebos. Boon is especially powerful as this deck mimics a midrange deck, and boon saves your few and far between Lords, while increasing your swing, using your life total as a resource, but this deck doesn't care about it's own life total much. This card comes especially in importance as Kragma Warcaller is woefully in Last Breath range (when it's not attacking).

 Another card that uses your life total as a resource, is Read the Bones. It can potentially dig four cards deep, and giving you a divination in black. However, running too many of these is inadvisable, as they slow down your aggro. A maximum of two is a limit I keep for myself in my B/R Minotaurs lists.

Drafting the Deck

Drafting this deck is usually a very non-intuitive process. In the first pack, it's possible to be solidly in red, and pick up a Warcaller or two, since they are very low in priority for other decks. Two Warcallers usually justifies going into this deck, usually. Pack 2 onwards picking the efficiently costed Minotaurs that bring the most to the table is recommended. Of course goodstuff black and red cards are a given, and splashing Pharika's Mender is never a bad idea!

Playing the Deck

Playing a deck could never be simpler. Get your lords out early, curve in with your Minotaurs, and turn them sideways! Sip of Hemlock is also a very good card here as it provides you with both board and life advantage, and 2 life is always a good swing for B/R Minotaurs. However, Sip should be used sparingly, as it takes away a turn from you, and saving them for troublesome fatties is a good idea.

Next up, we have yet another black archetype,

Bx Devotion

Black has one of the most profitable devotion cards at common, which is even seeing standard play.

This card is a life swing of four all on it's lonesome, which is a Tendrils of Agony already. It also brings a Pillarfield Ox to the table, which is pretty good in combat to stop off attackers or even be thrown under the bus as a chump. But the kicker here is that it scales with devotion, and a lot of cards really do add up when playing this deck. It is probably THE most non-intuitive deck there is in Theros draft, but I'll get into that later. The cards you want to see in this deck carry a lot of black mana symbols, splashing another color, usually green for it's strong creatures (Pharika's Mender and Nessian Asp, to name just two). The deck wants to grind out the game, while winning with Gray Merchant drains or even old fashioned life swings. A card that does some work here is:

Disciple of Phenax does an immense amount of work dealing with your opponent's cards. Right off the bat you have another card that scales with devotion, and it discards a nonspecific card (i.e, not limited to nonland). With a high enough devotion count, you can get to look at most of your opponent's hand, and discard the most valuable card, a little late, but it does the job. It doesn't bring much to the table in terms of board presence however, simply a 1/3 that isn't very strong in Theros draft. However you may want to hold off chumping with wither this or Gray Merchant, as they bring your devotion count up by two alone. This means subsequent Gray Merchants or Disciple of Phenax do a lot more and cause a lot more annoyance to your opponent. Other black goodstuff is always desired, like Sip of Hemlock again for uncondtional removal, and Lash of the Whip. Cards like Felhide Minotaur and Blood-Toll Harpy are also played, even though they are mediocre, because they add up your devotion count, making Gray Merchant that much more lethal.

Drafting the Deck

Drafting this deck is one of the most counter-intuitive, luck-based processes in Theros draft, but when it comes down to brass tacks, one of the most fun to play decks out there. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a P1P1, even though it clearly won't be the best card in the pack. Gray Merchant are ideal and are picked highly and frequently. It isn't uncommon to see this sort of deck with 5 Gray Merchant in the main. Other cards picked are frequently black, and black creatures, even though they might be mediocre. Blood-Toll Harpy is also a decent card which not only has evasion, it causes a life drain when it enters the battlefield, and has evasion itself. Read the Bones is also a good pick as it uses your growing life-total as a resource, and digs deep for your game ending Asphodel. 

Drafting this deck is counter-intuitive because it involves picking mediocre cards over better ones, early and frequently, essentially forcing or bullying your way into this deck, something I never recommend. Drafting this deck also involves blatantly disregarding signals and going with it. However it really is fun to win with a Gray Merchant drain!

Playing the Deck

Playing the deck isn't as simple either. It involves having a large number of permanents on the field, and making a huge life swing with Gray Merchant. It involves dropping a large number of permanents, and not trading/chumping them away, and biding time, and making life swings while waiting on the Gray Merchant. Usually a high number of Gray Merchant should grace your deck (at least 4) as it is a very low priority common for other decks. Each Merchant should profitably put your life total beyond reach while winning you the game, so having a large number of permanents with black in their mana cost is desirable. Read the Bones should also be at least a 2 of in the deck, as it gets you to your Gray Merchant in time to win the game.

That's it for this time, as always, draft well and have fun!

Cheers,

Brick