One of the advantages of Premodern's arrival on Magic Online has been the growth of its player base. As a result, the range of archetypes has expanded considerably in recent months — strategies like Selesnya Madness would never have reached the spotlight without online results, and natural Metagame evolutions wouldn't happen without the faster development driven by the platform's collective mind.
Mono Black Clerics — a semi-tribal Midrange-combo built around one of Magic's least popular creature types — fits into this category. The deck never posted relevant results in Premodern until player TooTallTim reached seventh place in the February 7th Premodern Challenge.
The Decklist
The list above has a few modifications compared to the one that reached the Challenge Top 8 while retaining the same strategy. The game plan revolves around using Dark Supplicant with multiple Clerics to cast Scion of Darkness and dominate the match by reanimating the opponent's creatures.
Despite its semi-combo nature, this is an archetype built on sacrifice, board pressure, and synergy. Our win conditions also include Shepherd of Rot and Cabal Archon for reach against the opponent's life total, plus Rotlung Reanimator as the centerpiece of the archetype's tribal interactions, turning every sacrifice with Archon or Cabal Therapy into a 2/2 token.
Maindeck
Fast mana sits at the core of black decks in Premodern, and nothing symbolizes these effects in the format better than Dark Ritual and the capacity for more explosive turns and/or a combination of discard and threat in the same turn.
Lake of the Dead provides four mana at the cost of one Swamp when it enters and whenever it generates mana. A single copy is more than enough in a list with 20 lands.
The main engine. Dark Supplicant can sacrifice three Clerics to fetch Scion of Darkness from any zone other than exile, putting a 6/6 with Trample on board backed by a punishing combat trigger as early as turn two or three.
With Rotlung Reanimator in play, this effect also puts three Zombies on board, which matter for our other engine. Additionally, Rotlung is essential for forcing unfavorable trades against the opponent's removal. We can also capitalize on this effect for the "Burn" plan with Cabal Archon.
Priest of Gix also generates value through these interactions, becoming a free spell or working as a Dark Ritual alongside Cabal Archon the turn after it enters.
The other engine involves using Zombies to gain reach with Shepherd of Rot and card advantage with Graveborn Muse. To increase consistency, we have Withered Wretch, a creature with both necessary types that also serves as maindeck graveyard hate.
Controlling the opponent's graveyard turns Oath of Ghouls into a steady resource engine. With it, we can, for example, use Cabal Archon and Rotlung Reanimator to generate a constant stream of 2/2 Zombies each turn while also providing a Voracious Hunger effect against the opponent every cycle.
Our plan is relatively fragile in the early turns. Duress and Cabal Therapy are reliable ways to protect our pieces at the lowest possible cost. Therapy also interacts with Rotlung Reanimator, turning it into a positive value when we have a Cleric in play.
Though risky against Sligh, prioritizing mana efficiency is one of Clerics' key strengths, and the broader range of targets for Snuff Out makes it solid removal for the current Metagame.
Volrath's Stronghold also reuses creatures from the graveyard, but at the cost of your turn's draw. It can be useful in some matchups alongside Cabal Archon.
Sideboard
A single Tormod's Crypt complements Withered Wretch for graveyard hate. Dystopia is the only way Mono Black decks can deal with enchantments in Premodern and also handle green and white threats for a few turns. Gloom punishes cards like Swords to Plowshares or sweepers like Wrath of God.
There's no better answer against various tribal decks than Engineered Plague, making it essential against Goblins and Elves. Perish shines against green archetypes and also serves as a reliable tool against most threats in Selesnya Madness.
Nausea might seem like an odd sweeper choice, but there are reasons to run one copy: we generally want to keep our creatures on board while clearing the opponent's, and we have several 2/2 threats that survive it. Additionally, with an Engineered Plague in play, Nausea can even handle cards like Goblin Warchief.
We aim to diversify answers in the removal package. Smother is the most important due to the popularity of aggressive strategies with small threats. Against decks like Reanimator, Diabolic Edict tends to be the most reliable answer for anything not named Symbiotic Wurm and/or unless we give them room to let a Verdant Force proliferate tokens. Spinning Darkness as a one-of provides board interaction and extra breathing room against Aggro.
Sideboard Guide
Sligh
IN
OUT
Jackal Pup and Mogg Fanatic are vulnerable to Nausea, and we can manage our graveyard with spells to avoid losing control of Oath of Ghouls when casting Spinning Darkness. If we can assemble the Cabal Archon and Rotlung Reanimator "combo," we can gradually lock out the opponent's ability to win.
Mono Blue Stiflenought
IN
OUT
We have plenty of removal to handle Phyrexian Dreadnought, but we're too slow to win a race. Our path lies in focusing on discard disruption while establishing a decent board position.
Elves
IN
OUT
Engineered Plague is the MVP and makes it easier for Nausea to handle other threats. If the opponent overextends, Perish can "reset" the game in their favor.
Goblins
IN
OUT
There are some risks in keeping Snuff Out, but we need every possible answer against Goblin Lackey, as recovering from a Lackey into Siege-Gang Commander line is extremely difficult.
Azorius Control
IN
OUT
The Dark Supplicant with Scion of Darkness combo is too risky in this matchup. We keep one copy just in case we can "combo" with Rotlung Reanimator, but the window for Wrath of God is too wide to overextend here.
Selesnya Madness
IN
OUT
Their creatures are larger individually, but we can have the advantage in quantity. Keep mana open to handle Flashback spells or Glory with Withered Wretch, and use spot answers to remove blockers. The plan of holding the game and winning through Burn with Shepherd of Rot and Cabal Archon works well here.
Gruul Sligh
IN
OUT
Gruul gives us more turns, but it's just as capable of closing games out of nowhere as Mono Red. Wild Mongrel, Grim Lavamancer, and Call of the Herd tokens should be your primary targets as they pose the biggest problems for your clock.
Psychatog
IN
OUT
Psychatog relies on the graveyard and specific threats, but not enough for Withered Wretch to win the game alone. We need to be the Aggro and use discard to ensure our creatures stay on board. Don't be afraid to use Shepherd of Rot aggressively — they'll probably win in a few attacks anyway if given the chance.
The Rock
IN
OUT
The Rock has too much removal for us to maintain a stable board while blocking most of our threats without offering trades. Additionally, the combination of Recurring Nightmare with Ravenous Baloth makes the burn line difficult, and Pernicious Deed undoes all game progress while also destroying Oath of Ghouls — in short, this is a rough matchup.
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
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