One of the biggest hurdles for many MTG players is the cost of keeping up with the game. Even in Standard, many top-tier decks are quite expensive. If that weren’t enough, last-minute adjustments to metagame changes can be costly.
Fortunately, if you’re on a tight budget, there are still competitive options available. A $23 Mono-Black Aggro deck just unexpectedly top 4d a Magic Online Standard Challenge. Featuring zero rares, this dirt chap archetype is an intriguing option for both FNM and MTG Arena ladder play.
Fast and Grindy
The main goal behind this Mono-Black Aggro deck is to apply early pressure and use recursive threats to your advantage. Forsaken Miner and Timeline Culler, in particular, are extremely easy to bring back from the graveyard should they die. To bolster this gameplan, Gatekeeper of Malakir serves as a solid two-for-one that triggers Forsaken Miner’s ability. Combined with other removal spells like Shoot the Sheriff and Strategic Betrayal, it isn’t hard to keep a path clear so that you can keep connecting in combat.
Whether it’s your removal spells or your creatures, this Mono Black deck is committing a ton of Crimes. This makes it trivial to enable Thought-Stalker Warlock, which does a good job stripping the opponent of their best resources. This hand destruction Lizard, alongside Deep-Cavern Bat, can even be brought back to hand via Mudflat Village, further improving this deck’s ability to grind.
The only downside is that all of these creatures are quite small individually, so it can take a while to actually present lethal. Fortunately, Hylderblade and Dark Knight’s Greatsword provide a bit more oomph to your attacks. Both pieces of equipment require no mana investment and help your 1/1 fliers present a significantly faster clock.
Fighting on a Budget
As a whole, Mono-Black Aggro may be far from a top tier archetype, but its versatility still gives it a chance to beat other top tier decks. Versus Mono-Green Landfall, suiting up Deep-Cavern Bat and using removal to halt opposing pressure is a legitimate path to victory. At the same time, jamming efficient, recursive creatures and backed with discard is quite punishing to slower decks like Jeskai Control. Even against the Izzet Prowess Boogeyman, a well-timed Strategic Betrayal to delay Eddymurk Crab may be enough to cross the finish line.
Unfortunately, like most budget decks, Mono-Black Aggro still has its shortcomings. Drawing the wrong parts of the deck, such as too much removal against control, or too little against Landfall, can lose you games. This deck’s smaller threats are also bound to struggle versus go-wide shells like Selesnya Ouroboroid and Azorius Momo, especially considering Mono Black Aggro’s reliance on Edict effects.
Nonetheless, as far as pure budget decks are concerned, Mono-Black Aggro still makes for a reasonable choice. With no cards costing more than $1 in paper and no rare or mythic Wildcards needed on MTG Arena, Mono-Black Aggro is the perfect starting point for newer players looking to get into Standard. At the end of the day, making top four of a Challenge with such a cheap deck is no easy feat, and it’s nice to see players think outside the box.
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