The Corruption of Black
Black is a very dangerous color to face. Black creatures tend to be expensive, but usually also have a wide variety of abilities. From the unblockable tormented soul that cant block, to the crippling massacre wurm, black creatures can do most anything, for a price. Common black abilities are deathtouch, fear and the shade ability to funnel mana into power and toughness. Black spells have four main categories: discard, life drain, graveyard retrieval, and creature destruction.
Black creatures are generally either slightly weak in power and toughness with abilities to back them up or powerful, but with an additional cost. For example, gravekeeper is a 2,2 for four mana but allows you to return a creature from your graveyard to your hand. An example of the other type of creature is abyssal persecutor, which is a 6,6 with flying and trample, but makes it literally impossible for you to win. There are exceptions to these groupings that tend to be cheap but weak and with good abilities like vampire nighthawk, a 2,3 with flying, deathtouch, and lifelink.
Black spells tend to be similar to the creatures in that they can have costs other than mana, such as reanimate which returns a creature to play for a single mana but costs life equal to that creature’s power. Reanimate actually falls into the first category, graveyard retrieval. Black cards can return creatures from graveyards to your hand or play. They generally return them from your graveyard to your hand, such as the simple raise dead, but can sometimes also allow you to pick from other graveyards and put them into play. That last effect becomes very effective when you look at the spell category that black is best known for, destroying creatures. From the simple murder to the fatally weakening death’s approach, creatures are unlikely to live long against a black deck that wants them dead. Even creatures in the hand aren’t safe thanks to the plethora of black cards that make people discard. They generally allow the target player to choose which cards to discard but can also make them discard at random or better yet, the card of your choice. Finally, black spells can have the equivalent of lifelink, making opponents or creatures lose life while you gain life to match it, most simply seen in the basic corrupt.
Black is dangerous on its own, but is limited in scope. Adding another color can help fix that. One of the problems of black is that, while it can do consistent damage by keeping the field clear, it might not be able to do enough damage before it runs out of destroys. There are two ways to fix that, and red excels at both of them. First you could augment your destroys with red direct damage. That has the benefit of being able to do damage if you have the field well in hand. The other way is to include the powerful red creatures to do damage while your black spells keep the field clear. Either way, you should be able to take down your opponent with little difficulty.
Black is a very dangerous color to face. Black creatures tend to be expensive, but usually also have a wide variety of abilities. From the unblockable tormented soul that cant block, to the crippling massacre wurm, black creatures can do most anything, for a price. Common black abilities are deathtouch, fear and the shade ability to funnel mana into power and toughness. Black spells have four main categories: discard, life drain, graveyard retrieval, and creature destruction.
Black creatures are generally either slightly weak in power and toughness with abilities to back them up or powerful, but with an additional cost. For example, gravekeeper is a 2,2 for four mana but allows you to return a creature from your graveyard to your hand. An example of the other type of creature is abyssal persecutor, which is a 6,6 with flying and trample, but makes it literally impossible for you to win. There are exceptions to these groupings that tend to be cheap but weak and with good abilities like vampire nighthawk, a 2,3 with flying, deathtouch, and lifelink.
Black spells tend to be similar to the creatures in that they can have costs other than mana, such as reanimate which returns a creature to play for a single mana but costs life equal to that creature’s power. Reanimate actually falls into the first category, graveyard retrieval. Black cards can return creatures from graveyards to your hand or play. They generally return them from your graveyard to your hand, such as the simple raise dead, but can sometimes also allow you to pick from other graveyards and put them into play. That last effect becomes very effective when you look at the spell category that black is best known for, destroying creatures. From the simple murder to the fatally weakening death’s approach, creatures are unlikely to live long against a black deck that wants them dead. Even creatures in the hand aren’t safe thanks to the plethora of black cards that make people discard. They generally allow the target player to choose which cards to discard but can also make them discard at random or better yet, the card of your choice. Finally, black spells can have the equivalent of lifelink, making opponents or creatures lose life while you gain life to match it, most simply seen in the basic corrupt.
Black is dangerous on its own, but is limited in scope. Adding another color can help fix that. One of the problems of black is that, while it can do consistent damage by keeping the field clear, it might not be able to do enough damage before it runs out of destroys. There are two ways to fix that, and red excels at both of them. First you could augment your destroys with red direct damage. That has the benefit of being able to do damage if you have the field well in hand. The other way is to include the powerful red creatures to do damage while your black spells keep the field clear. Either way, you should be able to take down your opponent with little difficulty.