There are a lot of big events on the horizon for MTG players. Avatar: The Last Airbender spoiler season is just concluding, which also means that prerelease is just a week away. If that weren’t enough, the long-awaited MTG ban announcement is finally just around the corner.
While Legacy does have a chance of being impacted by these bans, it hasn’t stopped players from innovating. One particular archetype is beginning to emerge in the format, utilizing a unique combo that can deal 17 damage out of nowhere.
Mono Black Necrodominance
Up to this point, Necrodominance decks in Legacy have mostly been degenerate storm piles. They boast a high chance of winning on turn one, but are extremely fragile in exchange. These decks largely got put down after Oops! All Spells became a more consistent variant of a deck trying to do the same thing.
Now, Necrodominance has reemerged as a black midrange deck with some combo elements. In addition to a few high placings in some mid-sized events, the deck’s performance peaked in an MTGO Challenge top 4 recently, as well as a top 4 placement at a 216-player tournament for the archetype a few weeks ago.
Similar to black Necrodominance shells in other formats, the main game plan is to slam the namesake enchantment onto the table as quickly as possible. From there, you unlock a suite of free spells that take advantage of Necrodominance’s draw capabilities. Soul Spike and Sickening Shoal can both drain your opponent’s life total and keep their threats under control.
Where this Necrodominance list diverges from past archetypes, however, is by dipping into a bizarre combo between Duskmourn Commander card Ancient Cellarspawn and Shadow of Mortality. The Duskmourn creature is a core component of this niche archetype’s reappearances, but Shadow of Mortality is unusual and pushes the efficiency of your Horror to absurd feats.
Dealing 17 Damage for Zero Mana
Ancient Cellarspawn synergizes extremely well with the bevy of free spells that Mono-Black Necrodominance offers. Partner this creature with a Soul Spike, and your opponent will take an extra seven damage out of nowhere. Shadow of Mortality and Sickening Shoal, however, amplify this a bit.
By exiling Shadow of Mortality to Sickening Shoal, you’re casting a 17-mana spell for free. Not only will this delete any threat that your opponent could conceivably have, but Ancient Cellarspawn will dish out 17 damage to your opponent. Since the damage is done via a triggered ability, not even a Force of Will can get your opponents out of this. Even if you don’t pull off this exact combo, Necrodominance can get your life total really low, allowing you to cast Shadow of Mortality normally instead.
Couple these crazy combos with some fast mana accelerants like Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual, and getting these combos online as early as turn one is possible. Having the ability to cast either Necrodominance or Ancient Cellarspawn on turn one allows you to keep up with the fastest decks in the format, which is critical when facing down other fast game plans. Should you fail to get your core cards in your opening hand, a full playset of The One Ring lets you dig deeper into the game, while eight discard spells both protect your core cards and can keep your opponents from assembling their own combos.
Even with the best starts, however, there are some decks you aren’t equipped to beat. Not having Force of Will is a dire price to pay for not playing blue, as you’ll occasionally just have some unwinnable games that end before you play your first card.
Play/Draw Matters Too Much
Thanks to the lack of free interaction in your main deck, the play/draw for game one can make or break the result of many sets when playing this Mono Black Necrodominance list. This means that opposing combo decks that are going for turn one wins, like Storm or Oops! All Spells will run into no resistance if they start on the play. Even Omnitell is capable of winning the game before you can respond, but it is a little less likely.
The good news is that, if you’re on the play, the eight discard spells should be able to break apart everything outside of the best possible hands your combo opponents could have. Things improve postboard, too, since you’ll get four Faerie Macabre to stop graveyard shenanigans for free. Grafdigger’s Cage can further slow Reanimator decks down, giving you lots of time to pull ahead with Necrodominance.
In the grand scheme of things, this deck’s position in the metagame otherwise looks decent. You are a bit dependent on getting one of your draw engines online early, but as long as you can do that consistently, this deck has both the staying power and the speed to combat many of Legacy’s most popular archetypes.
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