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I think that the 'why' of these articles needs to be explained. I don't think mono-color strategies are very competitive in this environment, but they are possible. Red, just in its nature can supply much fire to the dome and can therefore compete in most formats. Black is similar in that it has discard, beefy creatures, and an X spell in Soul Burn.

I think that if you go weenie beatdown or if you drop a land every turn looking for some X spell action, you're going to start with a core of spells that are good in any deck.

4 Bog Down
4 Addle
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Soul Burn
2 Yawgmoth's Agenda

Even though the Burns can be mana intensive, they are game enders, they are creature kill, they are good in every mono black deck.

If you want to go with weenie beatdown you want to also include Sinister Strength. This deck can't afford Plague Spitter even though it is a quality card, because it will end up killing most of your creatures. You could even play a Zombie Deck (although it gains much by being 2 colors, but again this is a mono colored design).

Zombie Beatdown

4 Addle
4 Sinister Strength
4 Hate Weaver
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Nightscape Familiar

4 Lord of the Undead
4 Bog Down

4 Phyrexian Scuta

4 Soul Burn
2 Yawgmoth's Agenda

4 Sulfur Vent
18 Swamp

Hate Weaver is as close to 'bear' as you get in mono black, and Nightscape Familiar is rather naughty with a Sinister Strength attached. Lord of the Undead is nice in that he makes your Familiar and Scuta bigger and makes them useful from the grave. The other consideration that could be made is the Desolation Angel. Armageddon is always nice, and when it comes with a 5/4 flying angel to boot, well, that can be really naughty. If you tweaked the land a bit you could slide some angels in, but they are much better in an aggressive W/B deck.

Control Black can utilize Plague Spitter and more removal. Its much slower and I don't know how effective it would be.

4 Addle
4 Ravenous Rats

4 Plague Spitter
4 Bog Down

4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Trench Wurm
4 Agonizing Demise
2 Spite/Malice

4 Soul Burn
2 Yawgmoth's Agenda

3 Urborg Volcano
3 Crosis' Catacombs
18 Swamp

Tomorrow the last installment, white trash and we'll be done with these horrible mono colored decks. Then we'll be on to two colors. You'll see your old friends along with some unfriendly colors joining each other for some great decks.

Until then,
Fletcher Peatross
The Biggest Ass in Texas
Bludragon@hotmail.com