If you've been playing Mono-Black Devotion in Standard, chances are you've been getting beaten up by RG Monsters lately. As it turns out, Xenagos, God of Revels is incredibly powerful. Thankfully, the good people on Magic Online have found an answer—Lifebane Zombie.
Aside from Stormbreath Dragon, Lifebane Zombie hits any of the major non-Planeswalker threats if you're on the play. Meanwhile, Nightveil Specter has become less effective as the metagame sped up thanks to Born of the Gods, so making that swap is easy if you want. However, Parrers chose to use both, which is also acceptable.
Another great addition is a hard-removal spell instead of some of the Bile Blights. Right now, you'll be hard-pressed to find an important target that Bile Blight can kill. Cards like Doom Blade, Ultimate Price, and even Devour Flesh tend to be more reliable.
While Devotion decks have suffered as of late, it looks like the blue and black versions have been able to adapt. The green devotion decks tend to fare worse against WU Control and Mono-Black Devotion, so a more robust green deck is necessary, hence the rise of RG Monsters. As always, the answer to any problem can be found by doing a little bit of fine tuning.
Creature (18)
4 Desecration Demon 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel 3 Lifebane Zombie 3 Nightveil Specter 4 Pack RatSorcery (4)
4 ThoughtseizeEnchantment (3)
3 Underworld ConnectionsSideboard (15)
1 Underworld Connections 3 Dark Betrayal 3 Doom Blade 1 Drown in Sorrow 4 Duress 2 Erebos, God of the Dead 1 Whip of Erebos
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Gerry Thompson is a former professional Magic player and strategy writer, whose career highlights includes a Top 8 at Pro Tour Gatecrash and two Grand Prix wins in Denver and Nashville. He's currently a development intern for Wizards of the Coast.