Hello everyone. Marvel's Spider-Man is almost here, but there's still a little time to continue my series of articles that bring you decks focused around a specific color of mana. This time, we're looking at decks featuring Black Mana. Without further ado, let's get started.

Mono-Black Crimes

Starting things off with a Mono-Black deck, this deck likes to take advantage of committing crimes against its opponent. Let's start things off by taking a look at the deck.

Mono-Black Crimes | EOE Standard | Capricorn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Kaervek, the Punisher
• 3 Elegy Acolyte
• 4 Forsaken Miner
• 4 Rot-Curse Rakshasa
• 4 Sunset Saboteur
• 4 Timeline Culler

• Instants (6)
• 3 Corrupted Conviction
• 3 Desperate Measures

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Tragic Trajectory

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Case of the Stashed Skeleton
• 4 Corpses of the Lost

• Lands (21)
• 20 Swamp
• 1 Fountainport

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Elegy Acolyte plays a big role in this deck. Not only can its lifelink ability keep you alive, but it also has a void ability that offers you the means of continually creating extra 2/2 Robot artifact creature tokens on the battlefield. To help trigger this ability, you can use the warp ability of Timeline Culler, or commit some crimes and return Forsaken Miner again and again.

This deck also features a Skeleton theme. Forsaken Miner happens to be a Skeleton, and both Case of the Stashed Skeleton and Corpses of the Lost create Skeleton creature tokens when they enter play. Corpses of the Lost further benefits you having Skeletons in play, as it provides them with a +1/+0 bonus and haste.

Orzhov Tinybones

The next deck I have for you utilizes the abilities of Tinybones to help counter decks featuring Vivi Ornitier. Let's check it out.

Orzhov Tinybones | EOE Standard | Znox, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Tinybones, the Pickpocket
• 3 Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Forsaken Miner
• 4 Nurturing Pixie
• 4 Sunpearl Kirin

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Tragic Trajectory

• Enchantments (17)
• 2 Case of the Stashed Skeleton
• 3 Tinybones Joins Up
• 4 Corpses of the Lost
• 4 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Nowhere to Run

• Lands (20)
• 2 Plains
• 4 Swamp
• 2 Restless Fortress
• 4 Bleachbone Verge
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Godless Shrine

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Elegy Acolyte
• 2 Get Lost
• 3 Requisition Raid
• 4 Duress
• 1 Bandit's Talent
• 2 Ghost Vacuum

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Currently, Vivi Ornitier is everywhere in Standard. In their name for this deck, Znox touts this as being a Vivi hunter deck. So, what makes Tinybones such a great match for Vivi? Tinybones, the Pickpocket is a 1/1 creature with deathtouch, making it costly for your opponent to block it. If they don't, you'll get to cast a nonland permanent card from their graveyard using any type of mana to pay that spell's cost. Use your opponent's own permanents against them.

There's also Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, which exiles and places stash counters on any cards your opponent discards. By pairing this version of Tinybones up with Tinybones Joins Up, which will cause your opponent to discard a card when it enters the battlefield, you'll be able to force your opponent into discarding something you can potentially use. While Tinybones, Bauble Burglar is in play, you can play cards that have stash counters on them using any type of mana. Add insult to injury by beating your opponent with their own cards.

Dimir Mill and Discard

As you may know, I love playing decks that have alternate ways of winning. Let's take a look at this Dimir deck that wins via milling your opponent's deck.

Dimir Mill and Discard | EOE Standard | SuperBeastGN, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (6)
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 4 Virus Beetle

• Instants (8)
• 4 Bitter Triumph
• 4 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (20)
• 4 Deadly Cover-Up
• 4 Duress
• 4 Singularity Rupture
• 4 Stock Up
• 4 Strategic Betrayal

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Bandit's Talent

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Riverchurn Monument

• Lands (27)
• 8 Island
• 10 Swamp
• 2 Temple of Deceit
• 3 Restless Reef
• 4 Undercity Sewers

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This deck features the one-two punch combo of Singularity Rupture and Riverchurn Monument. You'll often cast Riverchurn Monument early on, and you can begin milling your opponent's deck a couple cards at a time. Do this at the end of your opponent's turn so you can keep your mana open and available to be used on counterspells and creature removal.

Once you have enough mana, you can cast Singularity Rupture, destroying all creatures in play and milling half of your opponent's library, rounded down. Your opponent will then have a single turn to defeat you as long as you have Riverchurn Monument in play. If they can't win during that turn, you can activate Riverchurn Monument's exhaust ability to finish milling the rest of their deck, securing the victory for yourself.

Rakdos Robots

The next deck I have for you features Robots, a creature type that has seen quite a bit of love in our recent sets. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rakdos Robots | EOE Standard | Redd_Cat_MTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Rottenmouth Viper
• 2 Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
• 4 Clockwork Percussionist
• 4 Gingerbrute
• 4 Kavaron Harrier
• 4 Rust Harvester

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Tezzeret, Cruel Captain

• Instants (5)
• 2 Torch the Tower
• 3 Fanatical Offering

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Embrace Oblivion

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Weapons Manufacturing

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
• 1 Tarrian's Journal
• 2 Grim Bauble
• 3 Mephitic Draught

• Lands (21)
• 2 Swamp
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Starting Town

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While this deck includes a number of creatures that are robot-like, in my opinion, the best Robot in this deck is Rust Harvester. While it starts off as a tiny 1/1 creature, it has the potential to grow in size by exiling artifact cards from your graveyard. Doing this places a +1/+1 counter on Rust Harvester, plus it will then deal damage equal to its power to any target. This can be a great way to finish off a weakened opponent.

Rust Harvester isn't the only creature in this deck that can kill your opponent from out of nowhere. When Rottenmouth Viper enters the battlefield or attacks, it will gain a blight counter. Then, your opponent will either lose 4 life, sacrifice a nonland permanent, or discard a card for each blight counter Rottenmouth Viper has on it. Whittle down your opponent's hand, board state, and, eventually, life total with this Elemental Snake.

Golgari Dominion Bracelet Dredge

The final deck I have for you gives you the opportunity to control your opponent during their turn. Let's take a look at the deck.

Golgari Dominion Bracelet Dredge | EOE Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Coati Scavenger
• 4 Dragon Sniper
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Molt Tender
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Souls of the Lost
• 4 Town Greeter

• Instants (4)
• 4 Cache Grab

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Dredger's Insight

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 The Dominion Bracelet

• Lands (22)
• 4 Swamp
• 6 Forest
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Underground Mortuary
• 4 Wastewood Verge

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The Dominion Bracelet is a legendary artifact that offers you the chance to control your opponent during their upcoming turn. The drawback to doing this is that it requires 15 mana for you to activate this ability. However, that cost is reduced by the power of the creature that The Dominion Bracelet is equipped to, so you can potentially activate it for free if The Dominion Bracelet is equipped to a creature with 14 power (since the Bracelet provides a +1/+1 bonus).

That's where Souls of the Lost comes in. Its fathomless descent ability sets Souls of the Lost's power equal to the number of permanent cards in your graveyard. With some help from Molt Tender, you'll be able to mill a lot of permanents into your graveyard, raising the power of Souls of the Lost in the process.

Wrapping Up

Black is known for its creature removal spells and the ability to make its opponent discard cards from their hand. By combining these effects with the additional effects that other colors bring to the table, you are able to create decks that are very resilient and capable of taking down strong opposing decks.

What do you think of these decks? Feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes