Given how good Black is at making people discard cards, this makes for a really cool strategy, and one that is a lot of fun to play around with. In this list alone, we have included a large number of mono-black variants of Commander. With Drana, Liberator of Malakir, a three-mana 2/3 with flying and first strike, its time to get back to being aggressive. In fact, in the early years, a good number of Magic fans embraced the format as their favored way to play. This is excellent for always having whatever you need, and you can very swiftly put together combos or unbeatable synergies with ease. This is another fantastic commander for a zombie-centric deck, forces your opponents to lose life for all zombies you control and allows you to scry the ds engine. This deck isnt the worst. Read More:Get yourself one of the best MTG Playmats, Shirei, Shizos Caretaker is a five-mana 2/2 that is absolutely an engine for nonsense. So its a better choice from a cEDH perspective. Erebos, God of Death, one of Theros founding gods, is one of the most open-ended gods, yet his talents greatly assist the gods controller. Either way, though, its a lot of fun. Ghoulcaller Gisa used to be the best, but I think the days of mono-black zombies are unlikely to rise again in our Dimir () world. Before we get into the bulk of the list, its worth noting that Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is an excellent choice for a Black commander, but we dont think its as interesting as the rest of the list, so it remains here in the honorable mentions instead. Clattering Augur. This black knight has been known as a great warlord since his appearance in the Throne of Eldraine set. Geth, Lord of the Vault, is a six-mana 5/5 with intimidating, which means it cant be stopped by anything that isnt Black or an Artifact, similar to fear but isnt only for Black Creatures. His loyalty skills are not to be sneezed at either. Read more about mtggoldfish commander 2021 and let us know what you think. So, today, well speak about the finest that Black has to offer in terms of potential Commander decks. Instead, well focus on Tergrid, God of Fright, who is a five mana 4/5 with menace. However, this gives you a -1/-1 creature with which to destroy your opponents small creatures. There are currently many black cards in Magic The Gathering that are used as a Commander. Ready? Stay safe out there! A few mosh bruises. You can pay three generics and two black mana to give all your creatures a lifelink for this turn, forcing you to gain life when they attack or block. Then you can make it into an artifact with cards like Liquimetal Torque because there are a lot more untap artifact effects, like every card that starts with Voltaic.. Razaketh lets you grab Lilianas Contract along the way, which has to be on your bucket list of ways to win a game of Magic. Commander Legends: Battle for Baldurs Gate has a sweet new card in it, Campfire. One advantage is that you can build your mana base much easier. All those mono-black devotion cards from your Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks had to go somewhere, right? With a monochrome game, you know what to work with. All other players in the black deck will not be able to block him, and a huge 6/6 will do a lot of damage. Also read : Which MTG kits contain planeswalkers?if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'affiliatetoybox_com-box-4','ezslot_1',107,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position!='undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-affiliatetoybox_com-box-4-0')}; Vilis, Broker of Blood is a good example of how black cards usually are. However, sometimes youll just want to jam all of your favorite cards into one deck, and let the chips fall where they may. If youre considering building a monochrome deck, black is definitely one of the most viable colors. Read More:The Black and Green cards you need in your life gain deck. And whatever other sick combos Im not thinking of. Then you grab Ad Nauseam. However, we can tell you that one of our favorite Dimir commanders is God Scarab. Persist and undying tribal turns out to be pretty resilient to most everything except Farewell. Vito, the Pink Spike of Twilight, will be particularly strong in a deck that focuses on gaining life or creatures with a life saver. My first mono-black commander was Ihsans Shade, a card Id picked up in Homelands and loved the look of. The other ability is what you really want though, as it gives non-Human Creatures +1/+1 and undying, which means theyll come back from the grave. But it can also be its own pretty wincon for that kind of control deck. If that also describes you, maybe youll find your next commander below. With a deck fresh out of the wrapper, you have a lot of room to mess withsome cards are just less useful in a 100-card format than they are in a 60-card format. Abyssal Gatekeeper. Now its time for a significant change of pace with Geth. Remember, this applies to all creatures, not just those in your deck. This site is Draftsim.com. Weve written a guide on the best Dimir commanders if you want recommendations on commander options for these colors. In Commander, youre only allowed to use one of each basic land, and only one copy of each legendary card. Many commanders are useful because they benefit the rest of your creatures in some way. You want to make it more disturbing? Thats when she becomes a planeswalker. So you either combo off and win in five minutes or get wrecked and lose in five minutes. Tergrid even nabs your sagas after their last chapter! While blue is typically linked with milling strategies, Syr Konrad the Grim is one of the most powerful milling commanders in the game, as well as being adaptable enough to be used with others and may deal a lot of damage over the course of the game by activating his ability whenever a creature dies, a card is put into a graveyard from a library, or even when a card leaves your graveyard. Toshiro Umezawa is a three-mana 2/2 with Bushido 1, which means that he gets +1/+1 until end of turn whenever hes blocked or blocks. It seems like it shouldnt work, but it often does. On the other hand, at the beginning of your turn, you can return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. You can get cute with Marrow-Gnawer and play a more straightforward rat tribal. The zombie tribal is a popular theme in black. In these instances, you might want to build a deck full of Black cards. While not impossible, it is rare to use a planeswalker as a commander, as they are not legendary creatures (with the exception of planeswalkers, whose text explicitly says they can be used as a commander). I might still play the two commanders above, but knock yourself out. A casual MTG warrior since Ice Age, Steve would have liked to have seen at least one card with cumulative upkeep in Kaldheim. You can get Maralen of the Mornsong and any of its shenanigans or Razaketh, the Foulblooded and live that demon tutoring life. This gives you more choice in cards and can compensate for the weaknesses of the colors used. Its not going to be a good night for you with Massacre Girl if no one brought creature decks. Plus, its obviously easier to put something together when you dont have an overwhelming number of options, which can happen when youre building multi-colored decks. Unfortunately, Chainer has a flaw that causes a players dreams to be exiled if Chainer departs the battlefield. But itll win a lot of games for you. This New Capenna Commander card has yet to see much play, but my prediction is that Mari, the Killing Quill will soon become a top five mono-black commander. Thats entertaining enough, but the real kicker is that you can pay six mana to have each opponent lose ten lives if they dont have any cards in their hand. If you can protect him, consider using to clear the board if there are a lot of creatures on the battlefield to do a lot of damage to your opponents. However, find a card that allows you to use permanents, and you can use it multiple times per turn to create a rat army. Mono-color legends are often the places where Wizards mainlines the key attributes of a color in the color pie, and this is absolutely true of black. Few mono-black recursion commanders are as successful as Chainer, Dementia Master. Marrow-Gnawer is a five mana 2/3 Rat Rogue that gives all of your Rats fear. The ultimate drain and gain commander. See above, but add that you can just play Liliana, Heretical Healer as Liliana planeswalker tribal with a nice zombie subtheme. Iname, Death Aspects deck kind of wants to be able to power up Mausoleum Secrets and find Mortal Combat and, wait for it, finish them! But that doesnt mean you cant build a monochrome deck or that they arent sustainable. Did I miss your favorite, or overvalue something you think is total trash? Razaketh, the Foulblooded | Illustration by Chris Rallis. A black commander feels story-laden and impactful. He also basically gives an Instant flashback whenever an opponents Creature goes into their graveyard. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is another six mana 5/5 with intimidate, but this time around, theres no mana needed for the special abilities. This implies that each life lost becomes increasingly important, and any life gained becomes much more valuable. These decks win with reanimation since your graveyards always got so much stuff. Arvinox, the Mind Flail is a List rebrand of Mind Flayer, the Shadow from Secret Lair X Stranger Things, so people dont have it. Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools + Sengir, the Dark Baron, #19. Even if someones thwarting your plan A. Wincons outside of typical black combo pieces, especially the Revel in Riches and Marionette Master pieces to take advantage of those Treasures, are a bit lacking in Maris supported tribes. The big old load of text on this card reads, Whenever an opponent sacrifices a nontoken permanent or discards a permanent card, you may put that card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. Its just a good way to keep getting more value out of your discard and sacrifice effects, and youve got a lot of them to use. Chainer enables you to return any creature from your graveyard to the battlefield for three black mana and three life, making that creature a nightmare in addition to its normal kinds. Ears ringing. Are you interested in building a mono black deck? Homelands! Willis is catching up. Paying proverbs with your life may seem counterintuitive. Look, youll probably lose if you cant get the game out to like turn 15. Additionally, you can draw a card at any time by paying two mana and two life, preventing you from ever running out of options. Unlike multi-color decks, you dont have to use tons of mana stones or mana fixers to make sure you have access to all colors. If you want to play a Shadowborn Apostle deck, you could do it old school and run Razaketh in the command zone. This enables highly powerful cards to be cast at significant discounts. I guess this pairing is better than Jeren if thats what youre doing? It lacks Yawgmoths draw ability, but why draw when you can play all the tutors and cast most of them for one or two with a loss of life attached? if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'affiliatetoybox_com-mobile-leaderboard-1','ezslot_17',145,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position!='undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-affiliatetoybox_com-mobile-leaderboard-1-0')};if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'affiliatetoybox_com-mobile-leaderboard-1','ezslot_18',145,'0','1'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position!='undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-affiliatetoybox_com-mobile-leaderboard-1-0_1')};.mobile-leaderboard-1-multi-145{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:250px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}Commander is Magics most popular format, and theres one group of cards more popular than any others: the legendary creatures that lead the 99or at least the 99 we all wish we could have.. Read more about best commander decks 2021 and let us know what you think. Especially when paired with some drain and gain combo cards. A more streamlined version of the deck above runs Sidisi, Undead Vizier as the commander. Jerren, Corrupted Bishop / Ormendahl, the Corrupter, #20. Cards from the 20 th anniversary set, Magic: The Gathering Commander, are coming to Magic Online, and the community has been buzzing about what cards will make great commander choices for the new format. Now for a very big change of pace with Geth. Youve got to get Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire onto the battlefield, attack, and protect it long enough to pick up more than one combo piece. I know the number doesnt line up with the title. As if this ability wasnt already powerful enough, Krrik gains +1/+1 counters over the course of a game and has lifelink, letting him regain the life youve lost due to spells. Because Drana has first strike, your Creatures will most likely be buffed before they ever enter combat, and this may easily spin out of control. Each of these characteristics are possessed by Krrik, Son of Yawgmoth, a mono-Black commander. Rats dont seem like a noble tribe, so many new players might disregard them. MTG Black Commander are one of the most popular formats for this type of customization, as they allow you to play with cards that would generally be banned in other MTG formats. Sacrifice creatures and life for cards, destruction, and life loss. Instead, all you have to do is send Mikaeus out, and youll reap the benefits of his presence. Are you afraid of losing your life points? Read More:The best alternate win conditions in MTG. Being able to reduce the cost of cards is a very easy way to kind of cheat in MTG. Some of the most powerful cards in Magic: The Gathering history have two characteristics. There are other partners for these commanders, but this seems like the most fun pairing. Second, you can almost double the number of rats on the battlefield by sacrificing one. The fun comes when someone tries to bounce their own Gadwick, the Wizened and you remind them that Horobis static ability affects all targeting. Thats fun in and of itself, but the kicker here is that you can pay six mana to make each opponent who has no cards in hand lose 10 life.