The Art of Darkness - MTG

[Chrisodeo]

I'm concerned by the noticable lack of MTG on these here boards. So I thought to myself: why not do something about it? So, here's a mono-black Suicide deck, Standard-legal, that I'd like to try out.

Creatures - 22
4 Maggot Carrier
4 Blind Creeper
4 Grimclaw Bats
3 Ebon Drake
3 Dross Harvester
4 Desecration Elemental

Artifacts - 9
2 Nightmare Lash
3 Grafted Wargear
4 Chrome Mox

Other Spells - 10
2 Barter in Blood
4 Grave Pact
4 Night's Whisper

Lands - 19
11 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire

Don't underestimate the power of Grafted Wargear. Nor Desecration Elemental. It's a freakin 8/8 evasion for 4 mana. Sure you need to sacrifice a creature, but Grave Pact lessens that some, same with Dross Harvester. I thought about including some cycling lands. What do you guys say?

[Red Angel]

Ooh...mtg. Long time no see. :P

First: where's the Terror? This is a black deck. What kind of black deck doesn't run Terror? At least 2, I'd say. Second, consider runnning Cranial Plating, since you already have 9 artifacts. You could even run 4 Vault of Whispers to make it better. Third, I'd run no more than 4 cycling lands. Suicide Black is all about the speed, and nothing wrecks speed more than having your lands come into play tapped (well, except Trinitisphere, but that's beside the point). Finally, Grave Pact might be good, but it strikes me more as the kind of card to run in Mono-Black Control rather than Suicide Black. 4 mana should be the top of your mana curve, and Desecration Elemental is taking that slot. And as for the Elemental being pretty good, yeah. You can always sacrifice it if things get nasty, and if you play your deck right, it should be your kill card on turn 4/5.

[Chrisodeo]

Definitely not Terror. I dunno about anyone else's area, but in mine at least 4/5 decks are mostly artifacts. If anything I'd run Devour in Shadow or Dark Banishing. But there's simply not enough space. Grave Pact kills everything, regardless of indestructibility, regen, or untargetability. I've found that that's enough removal. Plus it lasts. If I need less in the four-spot, I'll take the Nightmare Lash out.

[Razola]

Dark Banishing < Terror

If it's a Grave Pact deck, should probably run 4 Barters anyway.