Legacy Curses deck

UPDATED MARCH/2022
Curses is a deck that focuses on Curse-type enchantments to lock the opponent out of the game. The main Curses deck is found in Mono-Black, while Curse-based strategies are also found in Nic Fit decks. It is a Control/Prison strategy.
==Overview==
It is uncertain to say precisely how the Curses archetype came to be.
Unlike many of its Legacy peers, the Curses deck archetype appear to be more recent.
Browsing the MTGTop8 Deck Search history, everything seems to indicate the first curses were used in Legacy inside a Nic Fit build.
The earliest Nic Fit strategy documented in the site's database dates from 2011. And the first recordings of the usage of Curse cards from today's Curse decks are from 2016's Nic Fit decks.
The 2016's deck featured a single Curse: <c>Curse of Death's Hold</c>. But, by 2017, the deck featured <c>Overwhelming Splendor</c>, <c>Curse of Death's Hold</c>, <c>Curse of Misfortunes</c> and <c>Curse of Predation</c>.
The way both the Curses deck and the Nic Fit deck share (even today, sometimes) a number of Curse-type cards seem to indicate the current Curses deck evolved naturally from the Nic Fit strategy. And, after this, the Curse-based strategy also looks to have branched into Nic Fit decks and Curses decks.
The first deck called Curses registered in the Legacy format in MTGTop8 is from 2020 and was made in a Mono-Black shell.
This is the first deck found with the usage of Curse-type cards in a Nic Fit in MTGTop8 from a deck in 2016:
<deck title="7th Place: Nic Fit - Elias Klocker - Legacy Open Voralberg - 04/09/16">
Lands
2 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
5 Forest
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Creatures
1 Academy Rector
1 Bone Shredder
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Restoration Angel
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Shriekmaw
1 Siege Rhino
1 Sun Titan
1 Thragtusk
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Wall of Blossoms
Instants and sorceries
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Swords to Plowshares
Other spells
2 Birthing Pod
1 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Pernicious Deed
1 Recurring Nightmare
2 Sensei's Divining Top
Sideboard
1 Acidic Slime
1 Choke
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Krosan Grip
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Night of Soul's Betrayal
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shriekmaw
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Thoughtseize
</deck>
==Nic Fit employing the Curses strategy==
This is an example of a Nic Fit deck wielding the Curse strategy.
<deck title="2nd Place: Nic Fit - Mathieu Hugueville - Thursday Night Event, Trollune (Lyon, France) - 24/02/22">
Lands
1 Bayou
1 Field of the Dead
3 Forest
2 Phyrexian Tower
1 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
Creatures
3 Academy Rector
3 Arena Rector
4 Veteran Explorer
Instants and sorceries
1 Assassin's Trophy
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Eureka
4 Living Wish
3 Once Upon a Time
2 Thoughtseize
Other spells
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Omniscience
1 Overwhelming Splendor
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Sylvan Library
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Sideboard
1 Academy Rector
1 Arena Rector
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Choke
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Endurance
1 Karakas
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Peacekeeper
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Wispmare
</deck>
==Contemporary Decklists==
And this is the actual curse deck in a Mono-Black control shell.
It benefits from <c>Urza's Saga</c> and it may tutor for <c>Vault of Whispers</c> and <c>Retrofitter Foundry</c>.
It also implements a Karn-based toolbox with <c>Karn, the Great Creator</c> which even synergizes with the alternate win-condition of <c>Helm of Obedience</c> + <c>Leyline of the Void</c>.
The Karn toolbox gives access to boardwipe with <c>Sphere of Annihilation</c>, a "silver bullet" with <c>Pithing Needle</c>, defense against aggro with <c>Ensnaring Bridge</c> and various shenanigans: <c>Torpor Orb</c>, <c>Liquimetal Coating</c>, <c>Vault of Whispers</c>, <c>Mycosynth Lattice</c>.
<deck title="5th Place: Curses - Bruno Espíndola - RS 1º Temporada 2022 (Porto Alegre, Brazil) - 30/01/22">
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
1 Nurturing Peatland
2 Silent Clearing
5 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Urza's Saga
Instants and sorceries
4 Dark Ritual
2 Pelakka Predation
4 Sudden Edict
Other spells
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
1 Cruel Reality
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Curse of Fool's Wisdom
4 Curse of Misfortunes
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Overwhelming Splendor
2 Retrofitter Foundry
3 Trinisphere
Sideboard
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Mycosynth Lattice
3 Opposition Agent
1 Pithing Needle
3 Plague Engineer
1 Sphere of Annihilation
1 Torpor Orb
1 Vault of Whispers
</deck>
==See also==
* Prison
* Control
* Black
* Green
* Golgari
* Curse
* Enchantment
* Legacy
* Vintage
* Modern
* Reserved List
* Revitalization of Legacy
Category:Tournament decks
Category:Legacy format
Category:Deck archetypes