Black Deck

The important thing to remember with The Black Deck is the necessity of exploiting black mana ramp. Don't hesitate to kill off Liliana for her Emblem, don't be afraid to double up on Dark Ritual for one high cost spell or combo, and if Crypt Ghast is about to take enough damage to die remember to tap all your Land in response so you can get the extra black mana Crypt Ghast's ability gives you. Use Instants and Sorceries to kill off opponent's creatures as the are played and gain Life so you can afford to take hits later. Try to get out Sanguine Bond as quickly as possible then either try to play Exquisite Blood and either gain 1 Life or deal 1 Damage to win by an infinite Life cycle, or play Blood Tribute and pay the kicker with Vampire Nighthawk. As long as Sanguine Bond is out, Blood Tribute with the kicker paid will cause your opponent to lose half their Life rounded up, then half rounded up again resulting in an immediate victory. If all else fails, resort to supplementing your own life and beating down your opponents with Nightmare, Vampire Nighthawk, Divinity of Pride, and Shriekmaw. If you're having difficulty completing any of these strategies due to a bad hand or bad draws, use Erebos, God of the Dead's ability to allow you to draw cards until you're satisfied. If you're opponent knocks out the creatures you need, or they have nasty looking creatures that are a real threat, clear their graveyard of creatures with Suffer the Past, then use Living Death to wipe the field and resurrect both graveyards. If you have creatures on the field that you need, suicide them by attacking or baiting your opponent to kill them off or use Instants and Sorceries to kill them yourself before using Living Death.

• Life Drain
• Exquisite Blood
• sanguine bond
• Black Deck