19 Best Black Cards MTG – Death, Destruction, and Doom, Oh My!


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Did you know there are 19 Black Cards in Magic: The Gathering? I hope not. I will be reviewing them all and providing a rating of how powerful they are, along with some information about each card.

The “best black cards mtg standard” is a deck that is focused on death, destruction, and doom. It’s full of powerful creatures that are able to take over the game.

19 Best Black Cards MTG - Death, Destruction, and Doom, Oh My!

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Best Black Cards MTG

Black mana is one of the most powerful and popular mana types to use in MTG.

Black is a feared hue by opponents, from dark and destructive Sorcery spells, Instants, and card types like Imperial Seal and other black abilities, to some of the deadliest creatures and Planeswalkers in the game.

Discover our recommendations for 19 of the best black-colored cards in Magic the Gathering by reading on!

Black Planeswalker Cards at their Finest Death’s Majesty, Liliana

Magic: The Gathering - Liliana, Death's Majesty - Mystery Booster - Amonkhet

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Liliana, in all of her Planeswalker incarnations, is unquestionably the finest choice for black Commander Decks or the Commander game as a whole. This variation is great for decks with a lot of dark cards (especially mono black decks) and a lot of Zombie cards.

The Deaths Majesty version has five loyalty counters and three amazing abilities:

  1. Create black Zombie creature tokens (one for each loyalty counter you paid) and discard two cards from the top of your deck to your graveyard.
  2. Return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield for -3 loyalty counters (the creature is a black Zombie as well as its other stats)
  3. -7 loyalty counters and all non-Zombie creatures on the battlefield are destroyed.

CMC: 5

Mythic Rare Rarity

Liliana, the Undead Walker

Magic: The Gathering - Liliana, Waker of The Dead - Borderless - Core Set 2021

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The Waker of the Dead Liliana is the second Liliana card on our list, a more powerful version of this popular Planeswalker. She’s also one of the most popular Commander Decks.

The card comes into play with four loyalty counters and three dark abilities that may be used to gain card advantage:

  1. +1 loyalty counter is added, and everyone discards a card (those who are unable to discard lose 3 life points).
  2. Pay -3 loyalty counters, and your chosen creature has a -X/-X for the rest of the round (X equals the number of cards in your graveyard at the time of casting)
  3. You acquire an emblem for -7 loyalty counters that allows you to return a creature back to life from your graveyard at the start of each round (said creature gets haste)

CMC: 4

Mythic Rare Rarity

Liliana the Necromancer is a necromancer.

Magic: The Gathering - Liliana the Necromancer is a necromancer. - Foil - Planeswalker Deck Exclusive - Core Set 2019

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The Necromancer is another fan favorite variant (and one of the greatest in the game) of Liliana, the Planeswalker. This one saps the vitality from opponents and creates undead monsters. This card is a God (or Goddess?) in Vampire and Blood decks.

Liliana, the Necromancer, has four loyalty counters and three uncanny abilities when she enters the game:

  1. When you add a +1 loyalty counter to a player, that player loses 2 lives.
  2. Pay -1 loyalty counters and return 1 creature from the graveyard to your hand.
  3. Pay -7 loyalty counters and choose 1 or 2 creatures to destroy, then place 1 or 2 monsters from the graveyard into play (under your control)

CMC: 5

Mythic Rare Rarity

Professor Onyx (Liliana)

Professor Onyx 083/275 - Strixhaven: School of Mages

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Professor version Onyx is the final and arguably most unique Liliana card with the most potent effect. Regardless of the decks used, the game’s result is about to alter when this card is cast.

How much does a six-mana casting cost? For your decks, you couldn’t ask for a more potent Planeswalker.

This one comes with 5 loyalty counters, Magecraft (you get to build copies of each Instant and Sorcery you cast, plus you earn 2 life points from each opponent each time you do so), and three legendary abilities:

  1. Add a +1 loyalty counter and lose one life point, then look at the top three cards in your deck, take one in your hand, and discard the other two.
  2. After you pay -3, each player (except you) sacrifices their most powerful creature card.
  3. Pay -8 loyalty counters, and each opponent must discard a card or lose 3 life points (repeat 6 times, discarding an additional card each time!)

CMC: 6

Mythic Rare Rarity

Spider Queen, Lolth

Magic: the Gathering - Spider Queen, Lolth (112) - Adventures in The Forgotten Realms

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Lolth is the only non-Liliana black Planeswalker on our list, and he is a legendary Planeswalker of Mythic Rare level (with some very great artwork!). It may be found in both amateur and professional decks.

When playing with black decks, this is one card you want to cast as frequently as possible if you want to win games. A wonderful option is Deadly Rollick.

The card has four loyalty counters and three legendary abilities when it is played:

  1. You get to draw a card if you have 0 loyalty counters (but you lose 1 health point during this extra draw step)
  2. Pay -3 loyalty counters and then place 2 black Spider creature tokens on the board (each Spider is a 2/1 creature with the Reach and Menace ability).
  3. Pay -8 loyalty counters to get an emblem that allows you to make any opponent you attack with your creatures lose life equal to the difference between the damage your creatures deal and the damage they take from your creatures.

CMC: 5

Mythic Rare Rarity

Black Legendary Creature Cards at their Finest Rankle, the Master of Jokes

Rankle, Master of Pranks

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Rankle, Master of Pranks is a Mythic Rare Faerie Rogue with a number of significant bonuses. Opponents are going to smell their own blood when this card is played, regardless of what they have in their decks (and they know it!)

Rankle has Flying and Haste when it enters the battlefield, but the major benefit of the card is that if it attacks and does combat damage to a player:

  • A card must be discarded by each participant.
  • Each player is required to draw a card and lose a point of health.
  • Each player must sacrifice a creature on the battlefield that they control.

CMC: 4

Mythic Rare Rarity

Lord of the Vault, Geth

Lord of the Vault, Geth

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Lord of the Vault, Geth is a legendary Zombie creature and is one of the most well-known and feared black mana cards ever made. Further, it is one of the few six mana cards most players agree is worth stacking into MTG decks.

Geth has a high casting cost, requiring four mana of colorless mana and an extra two mana of black mana. When the card is first played, it has the ability to intimidate.

Geth’s key card advantage is the ability to “pay X plus one black mana to bring a tapped creature from an opponent’s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.”

Oh, the player from whom you stole the creature? From the top of their decks to the top of their graveyards, they must place X cards.

CMC: 6

Mythic Rare Rarity

Black Creature Cards at their Finest Skeletal Vampire is a kind of vampire that is made out of bones.

Magic: the Gathering - Skeletal Vampire - Guildpact - Foil

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The famed Skeletal Vampire is one of the finest ever cards with a four mana (colorless) and two black mana casting cost, let alone of all time. It’s an excellent example of why black is such a dangerous color for creatures and decks.

If your opponents see this card when it first appears on the field, they’ll almost immediately give up. They’ll soon learn to dread it and despise your decks if it’s their first time playing against it.

This Vampire Skeleton has the ability to fly and comes with two black Bat monsters. Pay three colorless and two black mana, sacrifice one bat, and make two additional creature tokens of the same type.

What’s the real kicker? Regenerate the Skeletal Vampire card by sacrificing a single black bat token. Against many powerful decks, this ability has altered the course of numerous games.

CMC: 6

Rarity: Very rare.

Dark Adviser

Dark Adviser - Foil - Borderless

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The next creature on our list is Dark Adviser, a 2/1 Human Wizard of rare status. After the card comes into play, at the start of each of your upkeep turns, reveal a card in your hand (not from your decks) and then lose health points that are equal to the card’s CMC.

You may be scratching your head right now, but after you deploy this card in a strong black deck, you’ll realize what a powerful and unique black ability this card has. This card is critical in games where you gain life or inflict damage when you lose health.

CMC: 2

Rarity: Very rare.

Nighthawk, the Vampire

Magic The Gathering - Nighthawk, the Vampire (116) - Zendikar

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Nighthawk, a Vampire creature, is one of the most feared black creature cards available in Rare or Mythic rarity. It’s another another example of how strong creatures in black decks can be.

This Vampire Shaman is a 2/3 Flyer that uses Deathtouch and Lifelink on the battlefield. It doesn’t get much better (or deadlier) for 3 mana than this.

CMC: 3

Uncommon rarity

Outcast Changeling

Magic: The Gathering - Outcast Changeling - Foil - Modern Horizons

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The Changling Outcast is a common creature with the Changeling ability, as you would expect. That is, every creature type from the current game’s decks is included. For such a cheap price, it should be included in every deck with black cards.

Even though Outcast Changeling is only a 1/1 it can’t be blocked (or block others). In combination with a few enchantments, equipment, auras, or counters, Outcast Changeling transforms into an unstoppable monster (against any decks).

CMC: 1

Common Rarity

Ghast of the Crypt

Magic The Gathering - Ghast of the Crypt (61) - Gatecrash - Foil

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The Ghast of the Crypt is a Spirit creature of rare status among black cards and decks. It has a total casting cost of four mana and comes into play with Extort.

Even more astounding, this card’s ability lets you to add additional mana to your pool when you tap a Swamp to pay mana costs for anything.

CMC: 4

Rarity: Very rare.

Best Instant Cards and Black Sorcery Ritual of the Dark

Magic The Gathering - Dark Ritual - Fourth Edition

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The Dark Ritual comes from the darkest depths of the underworld, and it has a subtle but potent effect: it adds three additional black mana to your pool (for a turn).

Anyone up for a land drop?

The best part is that it only takes 1 swamp mana to activate this card, plus it’s an Interrupt card (an older version of Instant cards). It’s the ideal card for casting a land drop as a last-ditch effort in a losing game.

CMC: 1

Common Rarity

Blade of Doom

Magic: the Gathering - Blade of Doom - Magic 2012

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This is one of the finest black Instants of any kind; it instantly eliminates a nonblack creature (even if it’s not your turn). It also only required one swamp mana and one colorless land to complete.

Few Instant or Sorcery cards of any color, from any deck, come close to comparable. The majority of spells that kill creatures cost twice as much (or more).

CMC: 2

Common Rarity

Deadly Controversy

Magic: the Gathering - Deadly Controversy (094) - Foil - Adventures in The Forgotten Realms

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Ahhhh, Deadly Controversy, another awesome Uncommon Instant card more than worthy of making the cut for your black deck. Primarily it allows you to draw the top card of your decks, twice, and then create a Treasure token.

In addition to the 2 CMC casting cost, you must sacrifice either a creature or an item as an alternative cost (from your hands, not your decks).

CMC: 2

Uncommon rarity

Tutor of the Demon

Magic: The Gathering - Tutor of the Demon (027) - Borderless - Foil - Strixhaven Mystical Archive

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This card is a true screamer; search your decks for whatever card you want, take it out of the deck, and shuffle it. Plus, the artwork on it is incredible. It also costs just three mana.

Awesome right? Yeah, and it only costs 1 black and 1 colorless mana, that’s why Tutor of the Demon is a Mythic Rare and belongs in your next black decks (more than many other cards that are similar).

CMC: 2

Mythic Rare Rarity

Tutor with a bleak outlook

Magic: The Gathering - Tutor with a bleak outlook - Foil - Core Set 2021

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Speaking of searching your decks for a card, and putting it into your hand, Tutor with a bleak outlook is a great replacement (or addition for that matter) to Tutor of the Demon (because it does the exact same thing).

The sole disadvantage of holding this dark Sorcery card in your deck is that when you play it, you lose 3 health points.

CMC: 3

Mythic Rare Rarity

Phyrexian Arena’s Best Black Enchantment Cards

Magic: The Gathering - Phyrexian Arena - Mystery Booster - Conspiracy: Take The Crown

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When it comes to all colors, the Phyrexian cards are some true killers (not just black). Bringing Phyrexian Arena into the board costs 1 black and 2 colorless mana, a tiny price to pay for the brilliance it allows.

You get to draw a card and lose 1 health point at the start of each of your upkeep turns while this rare black card is on the table. It’s a beast of a card to have in most decks for three mana.

CMC: 3

Rarity: Very rare.

Reclamation of the Phyrexian

Magic The Gathering - Reclamation of the Phyrexian (133/342) - Commander 2015

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The Uncommon Reclamation enchantment is another Phyrexian must-have in black decks. The card’s casting cost is astonishingly low: 1 swamp mana.

This card allows you to restore target creatures from the graveyard to your hand by paying one colorless and one black mana, as well as two health points, on the board.

CMC: 1

Uncommon rarity

One Last Thought on the Best Black MTG Cards

Dark Realms decks, Ravnica decks, Zendikar Rising decks, Forgotten Realms decks, and numerous sets featuring Vamps, Demons, Imperial Seal, and other popular sorts and classifications all include the finest black cards in MTG.

Choosing the ideal ones for your deck is both enjoyable and difficult.

Choosing the greatest individual cards to meet your selected theme is considerably simpler after selecting whether you want a two mana deck or a mono black deck.

There are many of black cards that give considerable card advantage, from Liliana Planeswalker cards to Deadly Rollick, Skeletal Vampire, and one-mana spells that generate additional mana.

However, certain well-known cards, including as Thran Physician and ancient Phyrexian monsters, were honorable mentions on our list (but a quick search of their name shows you how worthy they are).

Hopefully, our list of all the greatest black MTG cards will assist you in putting together the best possible deck! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The “best black cards mtg edh” is a card game that has been around for many years. It is a game that can be played by anyone, and it can be found on the internet. The game is usually referred to as magic: the gathering or mtg.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best black card in MTG?

A: The best black card in MTG is a creature with the creature type Demon.

What is the most powerful card in MTG?

A: Well, the most powerful card in Magic The Gathering is a creature called Darksteel Colossus. It has power and toughness of 22, which means its pretty tough to get rid of if you put that into play.

What MTG card does the most damage?

A: Probably the Wurmcoil Engine.

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