Palace Siege Control is one of the grindiest decks I have ever played. You won’t be able to attack your opponent with your walking kill spells, so actually winning doesn’t come until the very late game. But, this is what you sign up for when you build a deck like this.


Without Siege, we have a respectable mono black control shell that can hold its own in most match ups. Play the game like any other mono black control list and don’t worry too much about finding the right combination of cards. Use your Marauders like you would anyways. Keep your opponent in check. The Siege will come to you eventually. Once it does, just keep doing your thing (Siege will make sure of it). Kill everything they play. Destroy their hand. Once the coast is clear, use Phyrexian Totem to finish things up. In a pinch, you can also slowly whittle their life away with extra Palace Sieges in dragon mode, or attack with Bone Shredders whose echo costs have been paid.

Additional Options

    Ancient Tomb
    City of Traitors
    Barren Moore
    Blighted Fen
    Cabal Pit
    Ebon Stronghold
    Howltooth Hollow
    Ifnir Dreadlands
    Leechridden Swamp
    Mortuary Mire
    Peat Bog
    Spawning Pool



    Tomb of Urami
    Unholy Grotto
    Volrath’s Stronghold
    Thoughtsieze
    Inquisition of Kozilek
    Fume Spitter
    Mindlash Sliver
    Mortician Beatle
    Hymn to Tourach
    Doom Blade
    Terror
    Go For the Throat



    Augur of Skulls
    Gatekeeper of Malakir
    Vampire Hexmage
    Toxic Deluge
    Bontu, the Glorified
    Urborg Mindsucker
    Damnation
    Brain Weevil
    Slum Reaper
    Vulturous Aven
    Rackshasa Gravecaller
    Shriekmaw


There are more than a few directions our initial list can be taken. Mortuary Mire and Volrath’s Stronghold seem right at home in a deck that focuses on recurring creatures. Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors help bring Palace into play quicker, and Cabal Pit acts as additional removal if we ever need it. All of these are fine options as long as your wallet is okay with them.

Bontu is an alternative win condition whose attack restriction is easy to get around thanks to our marauders killing themselves every turn. If swarming is more your thing, Rackshasa Gravecaller exploiting itself gives us two 2/2 creatures every turn. With a mana cost of five he is costly, but it works. You would also be able to search for him with Brainspoil, which is a plus.

Fume Spitter seems right at home here. His big brother Shriekmaw was absent in today’s list because his $1 price tag meant a full playset was out of the question for our budget. If you already own some, though, he should definitely replace Bone Shredder and some number of Marauders or Executioners.