We Grade Commander's Most Popular Black Spells

[@crawdaddy2004]

Syr Konrad actually reads: If you do anything, your opponent takes damage.

[@jaycue7641]

He's kind of a Auto pilot win con. As your opponents smack each other, you hurt them.

[@dominicmetzger3246]

I’m flipping a table if this doesn’t include grave titan

[@joshberg7944]

Just got my first copy 2 weeks ago 😋

[@aj-kz3po]

Best card ever 🙌 👌 😂

[@Dskinny23]

Can't include that bad man lol

[@charmishing]

Is Flipping a Table the new mono black staple?

[@stevematthews4473]

It just got banned for being too good.

[@tyroneliquil]

I love your channel! It’s been super helpful getting into commander coming over from Pokémon, being able to listen to multiple people discuss with each other which cards are good or not and in which situations. It may not seem like a lot at first, but being able to hear multiple perspectives, even if they don’t agree with each other is really helpful. I’m currently trying to make a Dina Soul steeper deck and your guys channel is my favorite for finding cards that synergize with my deck within a certain budget. Thank you guys for all you do!

[@OriginalNeckbeardicus]

Feed the swarm hits Rhystic study. 10/10 card.

[@TheDesertSpear]

Now there's Withering Torment too

[@carloszarraga1990]

Since they first showed black market connections the nerds have never liked it, but oh god, has it become my favorite card. The amount of value it generates is just absurd. I guess it's really play style and play group depending, but all my black decks have one. It feels like the perfect point where you get a lot of value, but not in a broken way like rhystic

[@conerchambers1214]

I definitely think it falls into playgroup. In mine, BMC on curve is falling out of parity then slightly getting back into it on the next turn, as long as the rest of the table hasn’t spent an entire round beating you with creatures. The value on it is great but in some games, you’re almost tempo’ing yourself while someone else is 2 turns away from a combo win

[@carloszarraga1990]

@@conerchambers1214 I guess, my playgroup doesn't play that many combos and our average game lasts 10 turns, so I can see how it differs from 5 or 6-turn games

[@charmishing]

@@carloszarraga1990 I’d probably play it if I had a mono black or rakdos deck but most other colors have better options for consistent card draw.

[@lordBeerus467]

Cant believe you guys are so low on black market connections. Mana production that can build up with card draw. Plus make a good token that is excellent in tribal decks. B+

[@moonknight2865]

In my korvold deck, it’s all star card. Same with my kaalia.

[@ben_clifford]

I've seen too many people full send with this thing until they got too low and then died. Magic players just can't act responsibly when this much value is tempting them. And yes, that includes me. 🥺

[@adkohler]

Read the Bones is currently only in my budget and mono-black builds, but I can see the Bloomburrow version, Diresight, making it into graveyard-vlaue decks due to the replacing Scry with Surveil.

[@kurttito7256]

Culling the Weak I think deserves a shoutout as an amazing combo extender for black sacrifice decks. 1 mana sac a creature gain 4 mana at instant speed. I use both Dark Ritual and this in a grixis combo deck and has given me the extra mana needed to win games roughly 30% of the time. 2 cards out of 100 for 30% participation in a win? 10/10 shenanigan.

[@crawdaddy2004]

22:43 I actually did this the first time I played Krav/Regna deck. I played a turn 2 Academy Rector. The next turn I cast Diabolic Intent, sacrificing the Rector for Divine Intervention. What did I search for? Vampire Hexmage. 😂 * Funnily enough, my opponent actually had StP in hand, but they were waiting for me to cast a sacrifice outlet… not a spell that had me sacrifice it as an additional cost.

[@RunninOnYT]

I love Damnation, it feels so iconic. I still have the same Damnation I traded with a friend.

[@FootballMedic]

Cards like Malakar Rebirth are good in black decks that like to "blink" creatures with good etb or death triggers on top of the protection aspect.

[@dankoerner887]

I definitely play my foil Damnation in my Athreos deck

[@MBurgland]

I really love this video. It has given me a lot of fun (and expensive . . .) ideas for my mono black deck.

[@doktarr]

Malakir Rebirth is probably the best mdfc tapland in the game. Until recently it saw lots of play in modern in grief scam, too. I think it's a legitimate A-; I would put it in basically any black deck that's not 4 or 5 color.

[@erichunt1974]

I personally am a big fan of Marrow-Gnawer, or as I like to call him "Rat Krenko, Mob Boss." Sacrificing one rat to double your rats is almost as fun as doubling your goblins.

[@paullloyd9331]

Love this video idea! Hope it's a series ;)

[@davwad2]

Grab first: Ferrous Rokiric. It's just fun getting a free 4/4 with every multicolored spell I cast. Deck I least like to play: Bedecked Brokers (Perrie the Pulverizer). Maintaining the counters on the board becomes an ordeal after a while. It's still together since it was my first precon.

[@Wertos5s]

No necropotence?

[@Shimatzu95]

Its not realy a great card in lower power decks and somewhat hard to cast the more colors you play (which is considered in deck counts).

[@moonknight2865]

Feels like you guys don’t put BMC in the right decks. Even at worst, its a B. Depending on the deck, that card is an all star. In my korvold deck, it draws, puts a token and a sacrifice outlet for korvold. In my kaalia deck, it draws and puts a token and a sacrifice outlet for my demons. Depending on the playgroup, it can differ but still, no. BMC is a a fantastic card.

[@riverswater5688]

black market connections is WAY better than C-.... easily an A

[@dunpeal1923]

I was thinking the same. Its SO good in almost all black decks. Dont know where this bad grade came from.

[@conerchambers1214]

I do think BMC is in an interesting position because it’s extremely telegraphed on what you’re going to do. In my current pod, BMC is almost too slow and the advantage gained on the following turn slightly gets you back to parity. Unless, the table takes advantage of not having attackers / blockers (assume BMC is on curve) then you’re already at a much lower life total than when the card came down, making its abilities less beneficial over time. In this way, it’s almost like a Sylvan Library except with SL you always full send it to get those extra cards out of the way. Then there are cases where BMC will eventually kill you before the benefit of BMC matters (games with lots of board wipes and counter magic come to mind). Lastly, in the late game, it is way too slow to accrue the advantage needed to get into a winning position

[@moonknight2865]

Even at worst, its a B. That card does everything and in the right deck, its amazing.

[@tommieboi707]

Nerds don't like cards that does nothing until your upkeep. I don't understand why. Black market connection is an awesome card. Well worth the wait to your upkeep

[@crawdaddy2004]

@@tommieboi707Because it takes THREE turns to yield more cards than Read the Bones (and 3x the life lost). Whenever I play anything in a game of Commander, I assume that there’s only a 50 percent chance it’ll still be on the battlefield by the time it’s my turn again. The 3/2 is basically irrelevant - remember that people cast Beast Within and Rapid Hybridization who give YOU 3/3s, and the Treasure token is nice, but if you wanted extra mana, just cast a Dark Ritual which is WAAAAAAAY cheaper in terms of mana AND monetary price. I won’t pay more than two mana for anything in Commander that requires an entire turn cycle to give me value.

[@LordQQQ]

For Mirkwood bats you don’t even need to sacrifice the tokens to make it good. Just creating and dealing 1 per token is really good in a lot of decks.

[@ivansaliuk132]

You are now moved to "skip 3 min 2x speed guys" bracket :)

[@rtotalexvii612]

Thank you for making a video about playing (rather than arguing about the future of) this game this week!

[@BlueFox571]

I love Dark Ritual in Prosper decks. Either you jam Prosper turn 2 and get your card refunded immediately, or you can use it later with all the other spells you’ve exiled.

[@creatorwhite1981]

The fact you put eternal schemer in this deck is great irony because I’m building a eternal schemer deck with her in it

[@sharkmanyt4431]

And don’t forget that cards exiled with Dauthi are exiled permanently (unless you cast it)

[@valun360]

Was not ready for moxfield ad, well done!

[@reesercliff]

Village rites is great if your meta plays a lot of removal and you are playing removal, in commander your stuff is going to get removed if it doesn’t then you are just winning. Feels to good to respond to someone swordsing your big threat and in response you village rites it for just one mana and instead of exile it goes to your graveyard where you can get it back and draw 2 cards. It’s not just an aristocrats card it’s just generically good in any deck that is running creatures that will be removed.

[@billsussman6554]

I remember accidentally running into reanimate/vilis combo in my reanimator a few years ago. I remember saying out loud “wait, I get a vilis and 8 cards on turn one?? Holy crap that’s good” then my playground groaned, rolled their eyes and said “yep it is”

[@ScottyPotty666]

Village rites is an A+ in my heart! In black decks im always excited to sacrifice the nonsense I have lying around, so it's really a 1 mana instant draw 2 that lets me get death triggers! In the v worst case scenario, it's a good way to fizzle a removal spell

[@bunkmastab]

Beezy's voice sounding a lot stronger than last night, glad to see the throat spray has been putting in work

[@Cerebro21]

Great video!!! I was waiting for Necropotence... What would you rate it?? ❤

[@paladin276]

I'd love to make a case for an honorable mention. Dark Petition. Don't have spell mastery? It's a 5 mana diabolic tutor (oh no). Have spell mastery? Well now it's technically a Demonic tutor.

[@robertbengel2689]

I'm surprised damnation, malakir rebirth, victimize, and deadly dispute are put in so many black decks. I never see them from my opponents

[@krackergrit]

So grave titan is a A+ right 😮

[@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai]

I'd like to see this in every color, but maybe at the end a little follow up into alternatives for these staples. While it's a little more niche to heavy white, in decks that can afford it I have replaced my Path to Exile's with Parting Gust from Bloomburrow. 2 white to Exile something is fine enough rate for me offensively, but if I give someone a 1/1 fish it blinks one of my own creatures and puts a +1/+1 counter on it. I still run Swords because someone gaining life doesn't matter and I can blow up my biggest thing if it helps me stay in the game, but with Path to Exile I almost never want to be giving my opponent a land. I can do that for myself too, but Parting Gust is just so much better to me personally and I think it deserves a staple spot when your deck can reliably secure 2 white mana by turn two or three if you need it.

[@The-ManliestMan]

Yessssssss, more love for black! I’m just saying, bolas’s citadel basically gives you free spells, who needs life? You got 40 of it, it’s basically infinite life!

[@jubul666]

What do you think of your Roxanne deck? She is so underrated imo, I have her in my Rin and Seri deck and my etali deck and she is so solid! Ramps you fairly well and can ping opponents mana dorks, she works well as a target for all of my bounce and copy effects if etali isn't around to set up for a big next turn. I would imagine as a commander if you can reliably give her haste you can always pay her tax next turn. Also the food chain squee combo with her seems really funny, just kill people with a meteor shower 😂

[@gogajira2]

Didn't even know diresight existed, cheers

[@Shimatzu95]

I think we are at the point whete phyrexian arena can be used to date players. If you are at least 25 and dont play cedh you probably like phyrexian arena. Otherwise you probably think its too slow. I am in the first camp.

[@Dark-Pikachu1]

6:36 ok but what if you zero creatures on board

[@johnathanward867]

Village rites did surprise me.

[@paulszki]

I think village rite was a bit underestimated here. It's absolutely a sac outlet and I thin it compares favouribly to skullclamp. Any deck that loves skullclamp should probably not be unhappy to play village rites. It's instant speed and sacs on cast so it can "save" an important recursion piece from being exiled no matter which way the stack works out. Also it's just an easy "draw 2" for just one black mana in tons of decks. Could be necrobloom landfall saccing a 0/1 plants, could be part of value train in golgari whith creatures that have potent dies triggers etc. It just fits into a lot of decks.

[@Npocommander]

Vile mutilator needs to make this list in time

[@Temuldjin]

Gary I choose you!

[@Npocommander]

I killed so many people with sign in blood lol

[@brennanmohr7348]

Victimize is literally always a blowout. :)

[@dasfabelwesen]

So the reason you do not like black market connections is that it is so good that people try to remove it?

[@moonknight2865]

By this logic, every staple is an F. You have to remember, it’s just their opinion and also depending on the playgroup, it could be bad. It all depends.

[@crawdaddy2004]

No, it’s not just “if it’s removed, it does nothing.” That is a huge misunderstanding and strawman of what they meant. It can resolve, and it gives your each opponent a full turn cycle to get rid of it. THEN, even if it gets back to your turn, it has now cost you two life and three mana to draw ONE card. And if you “full send,” you’ve paid two mana (I am counting the treasure as a rebate of mana) and six life for a 3/2 that drew a card. Is that good? Not really. Then if it makes it around a second time, you’ve paid one mana and 12 life for two 3/2s and two cards. MAAAAAAAAYBE that’s worth it if you only have a single opponent, but what are those 3/2s doing for you when you have three opponents? * If you wouldn’t play Read the Bones, why would you play Black Market Connections? * The “if it gets removed, it does nothing” comment means that, you can spend the mana, have it resolve, untap with it in play but still has no effect on the game. It needs to last, like, four turns for it to do anything substantial. How many non-land permanents last four turns in Commander?

[@dasfabelwesen]

@@crawdaddy2004 wow, that is a long article to say it is similar to a manarock that draws cards with upside. You are not wrong about what you say, but that reads all as if this card is very strong.

[@crawdaddy2004]

@@dasfabelwesen Right… and I also said that I don’t play ANY card that costs more than two mana that doesn’t do something the turn it comes into play. “Any card” includes mana rocks.

[@hanschristopherson8056]

Syr konrad a B- whaaat he’s crazy also don’t forget he counts your opponents creature too

[@Hapkins-le6xf]

Surprised Urborg and coffers didn't make the list.

[@Tuchpi]

Those don't have colours 🧐

[@austinchuilli3652]

I actually prefer to black market connections as a comparison to bitterblossom than phyrexian arena

[@MildMinimalist]

Victimize is SO freaking good and fun

[@GrizzneyGames]

14 did not surprise me. 😂

[@ericquezada539]

Would you play deadly Rollick in muldrotha?

[@calebbrown1068]

17:46 is where the ad is, 100%

[@Dagoofygooober]

Question for anybody ( I'm new so plz relax ): When my opponent declares attackers, and follows through killing my creature, can i cast Malakir rebirth to save it? Or Do I have to cast MR BEFORE the creatures deal damage? Idk if that makes sense or not, just trying to understand the card.

[@Justin_black_leviathan]

Any mono black deck ever made should run dark ritual.

[@EasilySuede]

#14 is also surprising on elevators

[@Draconamous]

So entomb should be an S by itself. Say you have a vampiric rites in play with a mothman deck. Entomb a golgari troll into a read the bones. MILL 6 to get the counters. Cast troll into tires, repeat.

[@Goosegoosegoose24]

Beezy beeing a 90 day Fiance stan wasnt on my 2024 bingo card 😂😂

[@warl54961]

BMC exists in my head as a 3 mana utility rock. I don't run it in everything. but if the deck can spare the hit to it's ramp speed then it absolutely goes in. probably a step above midnight clock.

[@ProfWalton]

Come on 31 minute Moxfield!

[@Dskinny23]

I'm here for a blood feud!

[@TheAmazingSpiderman87]

What's beyond s++? Cus that's where gary, toh, and gravy boi belong.

[@hanschristopherson8056]

I think the reason people think phyrexian arena is good because drawing two cards every turn feels good and are not thinking about the alternatives

[@lexisanchez9017]

tinybones the new dauthi

[@chachi_arcola]

Not sure how "destroy target non black creature" is not objectively worse than "destroy target creature" but ok. Dead wrong about BMC too

[@tashannoc]

I use malakir rebirth in my nevinyyral board wipe deck and it slaps

[@matthewmejia1590]

amazing vid!

[@Zanzibawrr]

how about that. i would have expected crypt ghast or necropotence to make the list.

[@ussgordoncaptain]

I'm really surprised Ad Nauseam didn't make the top 30, it's probably the best card in black, EOT ad naus draw 30 untap win game. Or if you have enough ritutals you can even do mainphase Ad nauseum>Win game

[@crawdaddy2004]

Probably because most players’ decks have an average mana value of 12.7. 😂

[@imaginarymatter]

I think they're going off the EDHREC rankings and the average player isn't willing to spend 30 life to draw 6 cards.

[@paulszki]

I think it's without a doubt one of the absolute best black cards ever printed but it also scales with the powerlevel of your deck. To me Ad Naseum is mostly a cEDH-only card and as such it makes sense that it's not in the top30 most played (which isn't the same as top30 best cards, I mean Feed the Swarm is NOT the #4 best black card by a thousand miles). Ad Naseum is more or less trash in casual or even "high powered" edh decks if you're hitting a bunch of 4,5 and even 6 mana spells. In cEDH with all your incredibly cheap cards and fast mana you're storming off after untap or even if you cast ad naseum in your mainphase. - You draw into your moxen, sol-rings, mana-crypts (well, not for now'), grim monoliths etc. and/or other rituals, more carddraw then an underworld breach, winning the game with a tendrils of agony or whatever ever combo. Meanwhile In non-cEDH you're drawing a bunch of cards, maybe 10 if you're lucky, go down to 10 lifepoints and then probably actually don't win the game a lot of the time because you don't have enough fast mana. I can see the card doing way more work in a heavy lifegain or drainy aristocrat deck but you're not really going to slap this one into a precon and expect it to work wonders.

[@burnsboy101]

It’s not a cedh video 🤦‍♂️

[@CrimsonQueso]

Read the boners is one of the best cheap draw spells. I'm convinced most people are just bad at scrying

[@scarletrobin]

I feel it's crazy to say a 3 mana spell (Victimize) that puts two creatures onto the battlefield is OVERcosted. It's crazy reasonable. Yeah don't slam into into any black deck but if you're focused on filling your graveyard you're gonna be grabbing two crazy cards for 3 mana

[@Mark101dg]

You're right, it is 'reasonable'. That also makes it not good enough, in most decks, compared to a lot of the broken stuff we have now. Victimize is more than reasonable only if you have a lot you can sacrifice (tokens?), don't care it comes in tapped (ETBs or other immediately relevant abilities) and a need to have more than one of these in the graveyard and back in action (so not a turn 1-3 play most likely, unless it is in a reanimator deck with entomb). In most cases, you'll take reanimate, animate or necromancy before Victimize.

[@Glanbalf]

Agreed with almost all the takes, great insights! My only nitpick is on feed the sward effects (so including withering torment), it really depends on the local meta. In mine, things like Imprisoned in the moon, Darksteel mutation and Song of the Dryad run rempant. They are the best commander removals, and it does make a big difference to be able to tutor or mass draw (with citadel/necropotence) into this response. Besides that point, I agree it shouldn't be run so much, as even in rakdos we have the red chaos permanent removals, and in dimir there is a lot of bounce or counter spells. Its only place is mono black with powerful commanders.

[@LukeChudoba]

I like Mia more than Joe Cherries.

[@davidrosenberg9615]

Me too, Beezy. Me too.

[@TheWalker665]

Number 14 will surprise you? DK Metcalf????

[@Npocommander]

Bolas citadel in my Alesha crats

[@Npocommander]

Also mdfc lands spells are spells lol

[@xragg]

I don't understand why they are ranked, but have grades that don't match that ranking. I must have missed something.

[@NitpickingNerds]

This is the top 30 most played black cards on edhrec, which is the order we’re going by

[@xragg]

@@NitpickingNerds Thanks. I admit I probably missed it. :)

[@trainwreck527]

More like Syr (win)Konrad

[@riverswater5688]

grave titan = B

[@OriginalNeckbeardicus]

Carrion feeder > viscera seer

[@patricklynch4074]

We all know they're wrong about black market connections

[@Dark-Pikachu1]

Final act only has 2 relevant modes

[@Dark-Pikachu1]

6:09 ok I just don’t pay $15 for those free removal

[@sharkmanyt4431]

Erm dark ritual is one of the best mtg cards of all time…

[@Thesteadfast]

What happened to the other dude?

[@grillburgerdaq5121]

Feed the swarm is worth it in mono black just to blow up rhystic studies and smothering tithes.

[@lugh.i]

Great video! Eh... Could you please do it again but this time use a... 4 tier/bracket system, being Bracket 1 = always used, no problem, card and Bracket 4 = Most powerful, borderline cEDH power level card?

[@amphetamean66X]

Phyexian Arena is so weirdly evaluated. Let me ask you would you pay BB1 Pay 5 life draw 5 cards over the course of 5 turns. I would. I think it depends on if you need to find lands quickly or not. Truth be told I run like 8 draw cards at least in each of my decks. usually 4 at 2 mana and 4 at 3 mana. I think Arena is great. Unless I need instant and sorcery spells to trigger things i think it's usually the better card.

[@zpeedy1]

I think its problem is that it's only good if you can get it out early. After a certain number of turns, it's just too slow. It takes two turns to gain card advantage because the first draw it gives only replaces the card you played to get it. The turn after that is where you start gaining cards. There's just too much chance the game will be over before you get extra cards from it. Also, your mana might be better spent mid to late game on other things like removal and wincons. Not trying mansplain lol. Just want to explain why I don't run it anymore. I prefer cards like Minions' Murmurs and Moonlight Bargain because of their potential to draw lots of cards right away.

[@spudster8887]

only 8 draw cards? Thats nowhere near enough, Im on nearly double that in all of mine tbh

[@jkjackson91]

I think certain cards are also significantly better in a casual format like Phyrexian Arena. If it gets played early and sits around all game it’s absolutely phenomenal. Low threat but gives you card advantage, don’t need to do anything. Set it and forget it.

[@buschleaguers75]

phyrexian arena is obsolete.

[@shawnahern6918]

Confused that Diabolic Intent "can be better than" Demonic Tutor, but Village Rites isn't good?

[@joshberg7944]

16

[@joshberg7944]

I love black!

[@buschleaguers75]

black market connections shines when you get it down on turn 1...which could happen fairly often when the ol crypt was around. even still its a great value engine and is an auto include in any black deck that has a decent amount of life gain...oh and for the record real men hit bmc for 6 every turn no matter what.

[@obadijahparks]

Every single one of these are worthy staples.

[@desugan2282]

how can you put diabolic intent on the stack? isnt it a sorcery?

[@dukestariowa]

What he was getting at is: My opponent intends to exile my creature but I have priority on an empty stack. So I cast Diabolic Intent and sacrifice the creature to pay DI's cost. The tutor effect is now on the stack, my creature dying to the sacrifice cost triggers the things like Syr Konrad etc. And my opponent never had a moment where they had priority to exile my creature.

[@heecks9375]

Sheoldred the apocalypse .... no graveyard hate card ... The Meathook Massacre ... I'm too tired to list all the good black card ... Bloodletter of Aclazotz ... Yawgmoth's Will ... Grave Pact ... No Mercy ... Dance of the Dead ... Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn

[@Npocommander]

I use black market connection in my negan

[@raustzeal4212]

I think any single target removal including deadly rollick is a bit overrated. I find myself cutting in favour of board wipes. Whats the point in half hearted disruption? Let your opp do the thing or ruin their day.

[@katesperinck1401]

The issue with board wiping is it greatly extends the length of the game and slows your own turn down unless you're playing cyclonic rift, a very disliked card lol. It's typically more preferable to spend 0-2 mana to deal with the biggest threat on the board while also advancing your own gameplan.

[@Adanimo_nRg]

Withering Torment is the NEW and better Feed the Swarm

[@Shimatzu95]

Dont be silly and just play both

[@Adanimo_nRg]

@@Shimatzu95 lol you are so right, good point!

[@RazgrizAce67]

I still don't know why y'all are so down on Victimize. It's so easy to have an expendable dude. Almost every time i have played this, it is BACKBREAKING. Basically a 3 for 1 because usually have a dies trigger on the sacced creature and now I've got not just 1 but 2 threats. Amazing.