Tier 2prison

The Rack

Hand Disruption Prison

Featured list~$1231Mensual Sevilla - Mayo 2026 @ Sevilla (Spain)

Overview

"The Rack is a mono-black hand-attrition deck that strips the opponent's grip and converts an empty hand into recurring damage. Duress, Cabal Therapy, and Bottomless Pit tear apart and suppress the hand, while Dark Ritual fuels explosive early disruption; Funeral Charm forces additional discards to keep the grip empty turn after turn. With no cards to answer it, The Rack pings the opponent down each upkeep and Cursed Scroll fires off as a recurring, hand-free source of damage to close the game."

Game Plan

Use Duress, Stupor, and Ensnaring Bridge to lock the opponent out. Win via recurring damage from The Rack or Black Vise.

Key Cards

Core engine & flex

Signature

The Rack

$1.18

TCG MP CK

Duress

$3.70

TCG MP CK

Cursed Scroll

$88.57

TCG MP CK

Funeral Charm

$0.41

TCG MP CK

Mishra's Factory

$9.46

TCG MP CK

Bottomless Pit

$6.81

TCG MP CK

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Sample Decklists

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Mensual Sevilla - Mayo 2026 @ Sevilla (Spain)

1st PlaceMay 24, 2026

Rinconete

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Rinconete

TCG

Mainboard (60)

$1135

Creature (12)

$67.67

$17.592BB

$1.241B

$38.641G

$10.20BB

Instant (8)

$22.72

$0.82B

$2.161G

$3.93XB

$7.961B

$7.353B

$0.50B

Sorcery (12)

$182

$0.57B

$74.19B

$92.442G

$14.80B

Artifact (4)

$180

2Cursed Scroll

$1771

2The Rack

$2.361

Enchantment (1)

$28.88

1Sylvan Library

$28.881G

Land (23)

$654

$4.55

$132

$499

$2.52

$16.44

Sideboard (15)

$95.88

$0.29G

$10.412

$0.761B

$23.222B

$0.401BB

$2.161G

$15.771BG

$26.061

$14.692B

$1.982B

$0.14BB

Est. Total$1231

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#1 tappa Contea @ Rolo (?)

1st PlaceMar 15, 2026

Barbolini Lorenzo

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Barbolini Lorenzo

TCG

Mainboard (60)

$536

Creature (10)

$15.74

4Hypnotic Specter

$13.921BB

4Ravenous Rats

$1.241B

2Skittering Skirge

$0.58BB

Instant (10)

$41.31

$21.20B

$0.82B

$11.941B

$7.353B

Sorcery (8)

$99.96

3Cabal Therapy

$74.19B

1Chain of Smog

$10.971B

4Duress

$14.80B

Artifact (6)

$182

2Cursed Scroll

$1771

4The Rack

$4.721

Enchantment (4)

$41.28

3Bottomless Pit

$20.431BB

1Phyrexian Arena

$20.851BB

Land (22)

$156

4Mishra's Factory

$37.84

16Swamp

$6.72

2Wasteland

$111

Sideboard (15)

$98.83

$0.381B

$30.962B

$0.942B

$2.002B

$26.061

$29.382B

$7.353B

$1.764BB

Est. Total$635

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La Parroquia Friday Night

1st PlaceMar 13, 2026

Gera

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Gera

TCG

Mainboard (61)61-card deck

$682

Creature (9)

$55.04

4Hypnotic Specter

$13.921BB

3Plague Spitter

$5.942B

2Graveborn Muse

$35.182BB

Instant (10)

$30.80

4Dark Ritual

$21.20B

4Funeral Charm

$1.64B

2Smother

$7.961B

Sorcery (10)

$136

4Cabal Therapy

$98.92B

4Duress

$14.80B

2Chain of Smog

$21.941B

Artifact (7)

$270

4The Rack

$4.721

3Cursed Scroll

$2661

Enchantment (3)

$20.43

3Bottomless Pit

$20.431BB

Land (22)

$170

17Swamp

$7.14

4Mishra's Factory

$37.84

1Polluted Delta

$125

Sideboard (15)

$153

$14.49B

$23.222B

$15.560

$4.002B

$0.942B

$92.481BB

$2.364

Est. Total$835

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Archetype Anatomy

Based on 412 decks with known dates2022-01-10 to 2026-06-12

Mana Base

Average21.9lands

Median22lands

Range19–25lands

Spells38.1avg non-land

Based on 412 decks (All-time)

core Cards(>80%)

The Rack

100%

4.0x

Duress

99%

4.0x

Cursed Scroll

96%

2.7x

Funeral Charm

95%

3.6x

Mishra's Factory

92%

3.9x

Bottomless Pit

92%

3.7x

Dark Ritual

89%

4.0x

Wasteland

84%

3.5x

flex Cards(30-80%)

Hypnotic Specter

69%

3.9x

Diabolic Edict

64%

2.2x

Smother

61%

2.1x

Skittering Skirge

59%

3.3x

Chain of Smog

57%

2.7x

Cabal Therapy

55%

2.6x

Snuff Out

37%

1.3x

Innocent Blood

35%

2.8x

fringe Cards(<30%)

Plague Spitter

27%

2.9x

Cabal Pit

25%

1.4x

Dust Bowl

24%

1.1x

Ravenous Rats

22%

3.8x

Withered Wretch

14%

2.0x

Phyrexian Furnace

12%

1.7x

Ensnaring Bridge

12%

2.8x

1.5x

1.6x

2.1x

4.0x

3.8x

3.8x

1.8x

2.2x

3.7x

2.3x

2.3x

2.9x

1.8x

3.1x

1.8x

2.1x

1.4x

2.0x

1.8x

2.1x

1.9x

3.4x

2.8x

1.7x

2.0x

1.4x

2.0x

1.9x

2.7x

2.0x

3.5x

2.8x

1.3x

1.3x

1.2x

4.0x

4.0x

4.0x

3.6x

2.0x

1.8x

Sideboard Anatomy

core Sideboard Options(>80%)

Engineered Plague

94%

3.0x

flex Sideboard Options(30-80%)

Dystopia

76.9%

2.4x

Gloom

52.1%

2.1x

Powder Keg

45.8%

1.7x

Spinning Darkness

41.4%

1.9x

Planar Void

39.2%

2.4x

Tormod'S Crypt

38.8%

1.7x

Perish

37.2%

1.6x

Withered Wretch

30%

2.1x

fringe Sideboard Options(<30%)

Phyrexian Furnace

26.7%

1.7x

Snuff Out

25.2%

1.4x

Phyrexian Negator

23.5%

2.8x

Diabolic Edict

17.2%

1.2x

Plague Spitter

17.1%

2.1x

Smother

16.6%

1.3x

Cursed Totem

14.3%

1.6x

Infest

11.6%

2.4x

Ensnaring Bridge

7.6%

2.0x

Innocent Blood

7.5%

1.9x

Naturalize

7.4%

2.7x

Cabal Therapy

6.8%

1.3x

Defense Grid

6.5%

2.0x

Haunting Echoes

5.7%

1.1x

Bottle Gnomes

5.5%

2.0x

Cursed Scroll

1.1x

Vendetta

3.3%

1.3x

Plaguebearer

2.7%

1.2x

Zuran Orb

2.6%

1.6x

Skeletal Scrying

2.5%

1.1x

Phyrexian Arena

2.4%

1.6x

Knight Of Stromgald

2.4%

2.1x

Contagion

2.3%

1.1x

Funeral Charm

2.1%

2.1x

Nevinyrral'S Disk

1.5x

Tranquil Domain

1.3x

Megrim

1.9%

1.4x

Oppression

1.6%

1.1x

Coffin Purge

1.4%

2.1x

Chain Of Smog

1.4%

2.0x

Circle Of Protection: Red

1.3%

1.8x

Drain Life

1.2%

1.7x

Rejuvenation Chamber

1.2%

2.7x

Chainer'S Edict

1.1%

1.5x

Tempting Wurm

1.1%

3.0x

Recent Events Featuring this Archetype

Supercup Qualifier 3rd Round (Lisboa)

2026-06-12•Lisboa, Portugal•12 Players

Highest Finish: 4th

VIEW EVENT

Premodern "monthly" #12 - Mercoled 10 Giugno h 20:30 @ Arcadia Genova

2026-06-10•Genova, Italy•10 Players

Highest Finish: 4th

VIEW EVENT

SPMCR Monthly Burro Singles June @ SPMCR (San Jose, Coasta Rica)

2026-06-09•San Jose, Costa Rica•22 Players

Highest Finish: 2nd

VIEW EVENT

Grand Pre Louisville @ Louisville (KY)

2026-06-06•Louisville, USA•200 Players

Highest Finish: 46th

VIEW EVENT

Premier League @ Chile

2026-06-05•Chile•16 Players

Highest Finish: 3rd

VIEW EVENT

Quick Facts

Tier2

Styleprison

Meta Share1.2%

Avg Lands21.9

Est. Price~$1231

Colors

Deck Weaknesses

Creature — light board - the only consistent threats are Hypnotic Specter and Plague Spitter, so a plan that wins through non-creature permanents or a single oversized threat sidesteps Innocent Blood, Diabolic Edict, and Smother while racing The Rack's slow burn.
No card refueling — Duress, Funeral Charm, and Chain Of Smog all trade one-for-one on your hand, but the deck runs no draw, so once you stabilize your hand size the deck cannot reload and Cursed Scroll becomes its only path to damage.
All — in on your hand size - The Rack deals nothing while you hold four or more cards, so anyone who naturally sits on a full hand or cheaply refills after disruption reduces the marquee win condition to dead text.
Brittle lock pieces — Ensnaring Bridge must stay on the battlefield to hold back attackers and Bottomless Pit hurts its own controller once you are empty-handed, so artifact or enchantment removal at the right moment collapses the lock instead of merely slowing it.

How to win with it

Mulligan ruthlessly for a hand that pairs a damage source with disruption: The Rack or Cursed Scroll plus at least one of Duress, Cabal Therapy, or Bottomless Pit. A hand with Duress but no way to deal damage is a mulligan, and a hand with The Rack but no discard to keep the opponent's hand low is equally unkeepable. You need both halves.
The dream is Dark Ritual into The Rack on turn one, then Duress on turn two to tear out their answer; The Rack starts ticking the moment their hand thins, and you chain into Bottomless Pit and Cursed Scroll to keep their hand empty and the damage flowing.
When you hold several discard pieces, lead with Duress or Cabal Therapy before firing Chain Of Smog: seeing their hand first tells you what Cabal Therapy should name and confirms Chain Of Smog will bite into real cards rather than dumping your own hand for nothing; the order is load-bearing and reversing it throws away information.
Hold Funeral Charm instead of casting it on an empty turn; its instant-speed discard mode lets you strip the card the opponent just drew at their draw step or in response to them tapping out, converting it into a tempo-positive strike that keeps their hand size low for The Rack rather than a telegraphed sorcery.
The grind plan runs through Bottomless Pit and Cursed Scroll: Bottomless Pit grinds both hands toward empty, and once the opponent is hellbent Cursed Scroll becomes a guaranteed, repeatable damage engine they cannot answer, so hold Cursed Scroll activations until their hand is small enough that the named reveal is reliable, not as a desperation shot into a full hand.
Deploy Hypnotic Specter and Skittering Skirge once the lock is partial and the opponent is light on cards: Hypnotic Specter demands an answer or forces an extra random discard each combat that feeds The Rack, so jam it when they are at three or fewer cards and likely have no removal, and run out Skittering Skirge to close the game quickly once they are hellbent and stuck.

How to beat it

The deck's entire damage engine depends on keeping your hand at three or fewer cards, so The Rack and Cursed Scroll deal zero the moment you hold four or more; the first priority is simply not emptying your hand faster than you refill it.
Ensnaring Bridge is the only wall between you and a near-creatureless deck, so artifact removal deployed before your hand empties strips the one permanent that lets this deck stall indefinitely while its passive burn ticks you down.
Bottomless Pit and the recurring discard built around Duress, Funeral Charm, and Chain Of Smog all need the game to go long; a fast clock that ends things in four or five turns forces them to find The Rack damage before they have ground your hand away.
Cursed Scroll is the deck's only repeatable direct damage outside The Rack, and it demands a mana activation every turn, so pressure that forces them to hold mana up reactively starves the scroll exactly when you are most exposed.
Dark Ritual fuels explosive turn-one starts like Hypnotic Specter or Bottomless Pit, so keep a piece of cheap interaction in your opener to answer that early threat before it begins grinding your hand down.

Last Updated: 2026-05-31

Overview

Game Plan

Key Cards

Sample Decklists

Rinconete

Mainboard (60)

Creature (12)

Instant (8)

Sorcery (12)

Artifact (4)

Enchantment (1)

Land (23)

Sideboard (15)

Barbolini Lorenzo

Mainboard (60)

Creature (10)

Instant (10)

Sorcery (8)

Artifact (6)

Enchantment (4)

Land (22)

Sideboard (15)

Gera

Mainboard (61)61-card deck

Creature (9)

Instant (10)

Sorcery (10)

Artifact (7)

Enchantment (3)

Land (22)

Sideboard (15)

Unchained Appearances3 decks

Archetype Anatomy

Mana Base

core Cards(>80%)

flex Cards(30-80%)

fringe Cards(<30%)

Sideboard Anatomy

core Sideboard Options(>80%)

flex Sideboard Options(30-80%)

fringe Sideboard Options(<30%)

Recent Events Featuring this Archetype