Standard: Mono Black Cecil - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Mono Black Cecil is a new version of Mono Black Midrange centered around Cecil, Dark Knight and the ability to transform him early while leveraging Dark Confidant to generate card advantage, harking back to the old Modern Jund decks that used Confidant with other low-cost, high-power creatures like Tarmogoyf, coupled with targeted discards like Thoughtseize and other two-for-one effects like Liliana of the Veil and Huntmaster of the Fells.

While we don't have all the tools today, this variant manages to replicate several aspects of traditional Jund, sparking the interest of players who miss the old Modern archetype, or who are looking for ways to take advantage of one of the most iconic staples in Magic history, Dark Confidant.

This is the standard decklist that has been used in Leagues and Challenges over the past week. Unlike the versions with Unholy Annex, it has a lower mana curve caused by the inclusion of Dark Confidant. This change maximized our mana efficiency compared to the pre-Final Fantasy versions, and ends up fitting better in a Metagame as fast as the current.

Maindeck

Cecil, Dark Knight is a powerful one-drop that harks back to Death’s Shadow. A 2/3 with Deathtouch for one mana is good enough to pressure the opponent from the first turn, and with his own beatdown helping to reduce your life to 10, we eventually gain a 4/4 Lifelink that protects the other creatures in combat.

There is one situation where Cecil becomes a bad card: the possibility of the opponent responding to his transformation trigger with Cut Down or Lightning Strike, but even in these specific cases, it means that the opponent had to save a resource for him, which was not or will not be used in our other bombs.

Among them, Dark Confidant. Bob, as he was known, guarantees the current cheapest unconditional source of card advantage in Standard today, added to an aggressive body that we can attack on empty boards — a quality that made him a staple for more than a decade. In this list, he also interacts positively with Cecil, Dark Knight.

Tinybones, the Pickpocket also becomes a source of cheap card advantage on an empty board, Deathtouch creates situations where blocking it can result in a worse loss for the opponent than the card we can play from the graveyard, or where it just becomes a decent blocker in the early game.

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor turns any creature that deals damage to the opponent into extra draws. Its second ability is unlikely to be used in most games today, but if it does, discarding the least useful cards from your hand to cast something for free might win games.

Preacher of the Schism survives Torch the Tower and Nowhere to Run while being a great blocker in many games. In addition, it provides more bodies on the board that mitigate the damage caused by Cecil, Dark Knight, or more draws if we are ahead in life totals during the game.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is living its last moment of glory before the rotation. Its ability does not interact with Dark Confidant, but the extra draws from Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor and Preacher of the Schism stacks up.

The discard.

Deep-Cavern Bat temporarily deals with any card, but it is common to use it to take out a removal, or force that same removal on it, so the opponent can recover the exiled card but loses the chances to deal with something better. It also has good interaction with Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor.

Duress is the default answer against noncreature spells, and even with a possible ban of Cori-Steel Cutter, it is likely to remain our maindeck discard option to deal with removals and counterspells for the lowest possible cost.

Dreams of Steel and Oil exiles cards from the hand, or the graveyard. It is relevant for Abhorrent Oculus and other decks that rely on graveyards, such as the Yuna, Hope of Spira lists or Omniscience.

Eight or ten removals are enough in a more proactive list like ours, and in this list we run Cut Down to deal with creatures for the lowest possible mana value and complement it with Go for the Throat for the bigger threats.

Gix’s Command is our curve-topper. In addition to working as a sweeper, it grants Lifelink to a creature for one turn, deals with the opponent’s biggest threat on the board, and returns our creatures in attrition games.

Sideboard

The extra copies of Dreams of Steel and Oil are useful against Domain Overlords and Abhorrent Oculus lists. We can also include it as a replacement for Duress in games against Mono Red Aggro, which are currently more creature-focused.

Liliana of the Veil is a tool in Midrange mirrors, and also against Azorius/Jeskai Control.

Shoot the Sheriff complements our removals for games with more creatures, especially those that avoid Cut Down like Screaming Nemesis or Abhorrent Oculus.

The extra copies of Gix’s Command are probably the most versatile card in the Sideboard: they work well against “go-wide” Aggro decks that easily dodge spot removal, and against Midrange mirrors where we need more two-for-one effects.

Qarsi Revenant works in games against Aggro as a way to gain life, block threats unconditionally, and turn another creature into a flying lifelinker threat.

Ghost Vacuum is the best answer we have against Abuelo’s Awakening in the format today, and it works in games where Dreams of Steel and Oil is also relevant, such as Jeskai Oculus, Gruul Delirium, and Yuna, Hope of Spira.

The Filigree Sylex is a cheap sweeper against the token army created by Cori-Steel Cutter and can also come in against Esper Bounce to remove all permanents with a mana value one, or all tokens created by Stormchaser’s Talent over the course of the game.

Izzet Prowess

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Azorius Omniscience

IN

OUT

Domain Overlords

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Esper Bounce

IN

OUT

That’s all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!