Mono Black Midrange is a relatively popular archetype in Premodern. The deck uses various discard effects to exhaust the opponent's resources and force both players into a topdeck war, where Phyrexian Arena ensures we have the advantage due to the extra draws we get each turn.
The Decklist
The list above follows the standard of most Mono Black versions in Premodern, at least those variants that don't try to play as an Aggro/Stompy deck with Phyrexian Negator and the like—which have their merits against Combo and Control but are notoriously bad against Sligh, one of the most played archetypes in the format today.
In this version, we aim to have a bit of everything: several creatures offer two-for-one effects, combined with eight pieces of targeted discard and various removal spells for all types of threats present in the Metagame. All of this is backed up by Dark Ritual for more explosive turns and Phyrexian Arena to secure more resources.
Maindeck
Ravenous Rats is a good blocker that also removes resources from the opponent. In an ideal world, it's our best fodder for Cabal Therapy, where we can discard up to three cards from the opponent's hand with just two resources.
Hypnotic Specter, combined with Dark Ritual, offers effective disruption if not answered early, being particularly lethal against less interactive combos. On its own, a 2/2 flyer that forces discards every turn is the closest we have to Liliana of the Veil.
Withered Wretch has a decent body for its cost, combined with an active graveyard hate ability, which is extremely relevant in the current Metagame. If cards in this category become less mandatory in the future, we can swap it for Nantuko Shade.
Masticore is both a finisher and board control. Its body is very efficient, and we almost always have spare mana to pay for its ping ability against creatures, making it excellent against go-wide decks like Goblins, White Weenie, or Elves.
Duress and Cabal Therapy are the best targeted discard spells in the format and ensure we have chances against more explosive combo archetypes and/or can push through disruption, Counterspell, and removal.
They also have synergy with each other, as the information Duress provides can later be used to name a card with Cabal Therapy.
Smother is the best black removal in the format because it doesn't restrict colors and there aren't many creatures with a mana value of four or greater that we can't handle with other cards. Excellent for fair matchups.
Snuff Out is a free spell with a high cost to cast for free against Aggro, but essential for dealing with problematic creatures without falling behind in mana and resources.
Diabolic Edict works against decks that use only large threats while having some value in the early game against Aggro. Of all the cards we use in this category, this is the most flexible to swap for other interaction or sideboard pieces.
The combination of Dark Ritual with Phyrexian Arena or Hypnotic Specter tends to put us far ahead in the game, which is why we use four copies in the maindeck, even though it's a bad draw in attrition games.
Phyrexian Arena is the heart of this list. Making trades with our removal and discard wouldn't be possible if we didn't have ways to recover resources and generate more card advantage than the opponent. Three copies seem like the ideal number today.
With a single-color mana base, we can more effectively utilize utility lands.
Mishra's Factory functions as a complementary threat, especially in longer games, and multiple copies of it provide pumps for the attacking Factory, while Wasteland punishes unstable mana bases and forces opponents to play with fewer resources, reinforcing our disruption plan.
Sideboard
Goblins, Elves, and other go-wide decks tend to be trouble in Game 1, so we use Engineered Plague to "lock" the opponent's ability to flood the board.
However, there are archetypes like White Weenie/UW Weenie or Sligh variants that don't rely on a specific creature type to function, and in those cases, Infest comes in as a cheap answer to slow down their clock.
Gloom is a way to slow down white decks, but its main function is to punish cards like Replenish or Wrath of God / Swords to Plowshares from Control lists.
On the other side of the spectrum, Dystopia provides recurring removal against decks that use white or green permanents, very efficient against Oath of Druids and Enchantress lists, but also occasionally useful against Replenish.
Powder Keg also handles go-wide decks, but can occasionally be too slow, which is why we have a copy of Infest in the Sideboard. However, the card also serves the function of dealing with artifacts, which are historically one of Mono Black's biggest weaknesses.
Bottle Gnomes comes in mainly against Sligh/Burn as an effective blocker that can provide essential lifegain to hold off the opponent's clock.
One could use Phyrexian Furnace in the graveyard hate slot, but the card has risen to 35 tix, and Withered Wretch already does a good job of handling graveyards on a spot basis, so we use Tormod's Crypt as an option for games where we want to deal with all the cards at once.
Sideboard Guide
Mono Blue Stiflenought
IN
OUT
Replenish
IN
OUT
Goblins
IN
OUT
Elves
IN
OUT
Sligh
IN
OUT
Psychatog
IN
OUT
Landstill
IN
OUT
Enchantress
IN
OUT
Gruul Terrageddon
IN
OUT
Mono Black Midrange
IN
OUT
UW Weenie
IN
OUT
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
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