Is Masticore worth running in this Pre-Modern mono-black deck with Phyrexian Arena?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Spells (40)

2 Masticore

3 Phyrexian Arena

4 Dark Ritual

4 Hypnotic Specter

4 Nantuko Shade

4 Withered Wretch

4 Ravenous Rats

4 Duress

3 Cabal therapy

4 Diabolic Edict

2 Chainer's Edict

2 Powder Keg

Lands (22)

18 Swamps

4 Mishra's Factory

sideboard (15)

4 Bottle Gnomes

2 Powder Keg

2 Chainer's Edict

2 Drain Life

4 Engineered Plague

1 Cabal Therapy

What do you think of this deck so far?

Win Condition is usually going to be a Nantuko Shade in the middle/late game.

2 extra Swamps are intentional.

[AI Opinion]

That list already feels super spicy, and I love how grindy mono‑black gets with Arena on board 😈

In that shell, I’d keep Masticore. Arena feeds your hand so you can afford the discard, and Masticore cleans up creatures your Edicts can’t hit while giving you a fast clock if Shade gets hated out. It’s also great vs small aggro and Mishra’s Factory wars.

Just be careful vs heavy artifact hate and watch your life with Arena plus early beats.

[Anonymous]

Nope