I think that this is a great trade-off, and it makes Soul Shatter a viable option for decks like Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest or Toshiro Umezawa. My three are without a doubt Nullpriest of Oblivion, Malakir Rebirth, and Feed the Swarm. Today we will be going over the Black and multicolored cards, but before we begin, let us go over my grating scale. A new version of Consume the Meek that trades being an instant for the ability to exile creatures on the battlefield and in the graveyard? Umori Mono Black Devotion Decklist (Standard) Companion: 1 x Umori, the Collector Deck: 1 x Ayara, First of Locthwain 4 x Gutterbones 3 x Midnight Reaper 4 x Priest of Forgotten Gods 4 x Lazotep Reaver 3 x Murderous Rider // Swift End 3 x Gray Merchant of Asphodel 4 x Whisper Squad 3 x Nightmare Shepherd 2 x Woe Strider 4 x Fiend Artisan 2 x Lurrus of the Dream Den 4 x Castle … I know that people really like him, but as it stands now, unless you care about Clerics and Shadowborn Apostles, I don’t think Taborax is better than any option already available. Along with that, because the effect is a Kicker ability, there’s no easy way to reuse it without jumping through some hoops. Don’t even look at the second ability, since only decks like Tazri, Beacon of Unity will be able to get a full party that often. demonic embrace enchantments enchantress hateful eidolon lurrus rankle. My opinion is to just stick with Dark Petition if you want a five-mana tutor, or with Grim Tutor or Demonic Tutor if you have the cash. EDHREC relies on ads to pay server costs and fund new features. Green cares a lot about lands and creatures, while black favors mill, +1/+1 counters and creatures dying. As a 1-drop with only 1 power, Fireblade Charger is an innocent-looking Goblin. Crackling Doom is back, and it shaved off two colors to boot! From Zendikar Rising, Akoum Hellhound is a fantastic one-drop for any aggressive deck, attacking as a 2/3 for most of the game especially since we get to run some fantastic spell-lands like Spikefield Hazard these days, so our land count is higher than the Red decks of old. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s make our way through the treacherous terrain and discover what treasures Zendikar Rising has for black! Below, you'll find the decklists along with images of the unique cards found in each deck. Magic: The Gathering has returned to Zendikar once again, and the Zendikar Rising set has a draft archetype for each of the ten two-color combinations. Fantastic! 0 - Will never see play in this format (0 ratings are not listed). If you’re a Nethroi player and would like to learn more about it, check out Magic‘s Rules Manager Matt Tabak’s tweet here. Hard pass. WotC has determined that black needs the ability to remove more card types, and, thanks to that, we get this amazing little common! Remember: “Greatness, at any cost,”. It’s on the same power level as Gutterbones and Bloodsoaked Champion since you will only ever be able to recur the Shade during your turn at sorcery speed, and I think that that’s a perfectly fine baseline. Honestly, I think that both sides have some merit. Feed the Swarm is an incredibly unique spell for Black to have access to and I am sure we will see it be played, especially since Felidar Retreat appears to be a deck. Dagger is good, and I like it, but there is a large cost associated with this card that can’t be overlooked. By Riley Knight / October 6, 2020 October 7, 2020. Even discounting Shadowborn Apostle, there are only 72 available Clerics in mono-black compared to the 367 available in Orzhov colors, so even simply a Cleric-centric build is dubious at best. Charix slots too well into decks featuring High Alert , Towering Titan , and Assault Formation —none of which work with Charix as the King Crab. Today we will be going over the Black and multicolored cards, but before we begin, let us go over my grating scale. Coveted Prize is an amalgamation of Demonic Tutor and Dark Petition that fails at doing either of those effects well. Skyclave Shade does a good Scrounger impression, and it has the added ability to get larger in the late game. While this card does a lot of things I like, I’m not entirely sold on it. What could this do for me that Diabolic Tutor couldn’t? A 2/1 Vampire with lifelink and menace is already great enough to find a home in every Vampire Tribal deck on EDHREC, and that’s simply its baseline! If we were to apply these cards to Drana then we can easily make it so that we can reanimate the creature that we want as opposed to the creature that our opponent wants. There is no good fail-case with this like there is with the Modal DFCs. Oh, hey! Sadly, that is the case with a lot of these top creatures. The card is just that powerful. If you look at Vampire Nighthawk‘s usage stats, there are a number of different decks where Scavenger can be utilized: Vampire Tribal, Lifegain strategies, Deathtouch Tribal, even decks like Kathril, Aspect Warper and Rayami, First of the Fallen will want Scavenger, which isn’t surprising considering how powerful and efficient it is. You can use that damage to get your opponent a few points closer to their demise, or direct it toward a creature as a … ... Whatever the case, here are some decks from previous Standard format, that got nice support in Zendikar Rising. By Ali Aintrazi. Played by: el_gran_boa. I think Scourge is a pass unless you plan on spending seven mana on it consistently. The strength of modal cards is the varying strength of effects that are stapled to a single card, and Inscription fails at having even two modes that I am remotely interested in. Seemingly the week one winner every time a new set comes out, Mono-Red lost Scorch Spitter, Runaway Steam-Kin and… not a lot else. (Emeria's Call, Teferi, Master of Time, Fabled Passage), 5 - Format warping. Anyway, despite two Food cards banned, it remains a powerful force in Standard. Curating cards in the graveyard or shuffling creatures around between zones reminded me of both Tasigur the Golden Fang and Syr Konrad, the Grim decks. Overall, I don’t think that Drana adds anything particularly new or interesting to black’s deep pool of commanders, but she has the potential to be fun, which is always welcome. While this is the best style of edict effect, at the end of the day, it is still an edict effect. Skyclave Shade is the latest in a long line of small, recursive black creatures, but how does it measure up to its brethren? When it dies, it deals damage equal to its power to any target. I will mention Modern applications if I believe the card has some. It’s your friendly neighborhood Jesguy here, and welcome to the Zendikar Rising Black Set Review! It’s your friendly neighborhood Jesguy here, and welcome to the Zendikar Rising Black Set Review! Despite how down I am on Scourge for Commander, Nethroi, Apex of Death pilots will be clamoring to add this Demon to their decks thanks to an interesting rules interaction that lets you get a whopping 30 power from Nethroi’s ability instead of the usual 10 if Scourge is one of your reanimation targets! What’s the catch? Yesterday we went over the Blue cards from Zendikar Rising and we had quite a few great ones. Zendikar Rising Standard Set Review: Black and Multicolor. Prior to Feed the Swarm, the options to hit enchantments were relegated to cards like Unstable Obelisk, Karn Liberated, and Scour from Existence. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first: Zendikar’s modal double-faced cards (Modal DFCs). A five-mana tutor? Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast printed Feed the Swarm, which allows all black commander players to stand a chance against Rest In Peace, Ground Seal, and Leyline of the Void enchantments. Please don’t hesitate to leave them below or get in touch! The more I looked at it, though, the more issues I saw with it, the main one being how expensive it is to play and Equip. If you’re playing a black deck, you should take a second to consider adding Feed the Swarm. Despite being a huge fan of modal spells, Inscription of Ruin does not impress me. If you’re interested in Drana leading a deck of yours, I’d suggest taking a peek at both Tasigur’s Page and Syr Konrad’s Page and building your list out from there. While nice to have, this flexibility may be enticing to some, but negligible to others. Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Roughly half the deck are new cards. A few of Zendikar Rising's blue cards can find their way into decks in other formats, even excluding powerful multicolored cards like Zareth San, The Trickster.To start, the idea of blue/black Rogues is present in Standard as well, using many Rogues from recent Core Sets and the Throne of Eldraine set, such as Brazen Borrower.Merfolk Windrobber can be added to this deck to give it a mill … Blue-Black Rogue Tribal: Decklist. The two most popular commanders for the Apostles are Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker with 90 decks, and Athreos, God of Passage, with a whopping 640! The last rare on this list is a Zendikar Rising – Commander exclusive: Whispersteel Dagger! There isn’t much to say except that I’m happy to see Vampire Nighthawk have a glow-up. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, its rating is left off the list. I’ve switched from that to a similar Rakdos deck this month, though I’ve only managed to make it to Diamond so far. If your meta has a lot of small creatures running around the field or in the graveyard, I’d consider Verdict as a potential inclusion, but otherwise I wouldn’t think about it too hard. Why the huge disparity? It cantrips, pays for itself then generates you mana, gains you life, and kills your opponent and their planeswalkers. It is still a solid card, just wish it could have been an instant. With at least 20 EDH decks constructed at all times, it's an understatement to say that he loves Commander. Hey, don’t look at me that way, I said earlier that I was a sucker for modal cards, right? While not as efficient as Bloodghast or Nether Traitor, I like Skyclave Shade quite a bit. Last Modified On: 10/23/2020 Market Median Low $103.18 $109.61 $59.06 Buy This Deck! The issue is, a lot of these creatures have ETB effects or other abilities that makes killing them worth less than the average creature. Did you hear that? ... Taborax is one of the reasons to play a Cleric deck – I wouldn’t go mono-Black Clerics myself, but in the 99 of a Cleric list, Taborax acquits himself quite well. Zendikar Rising is an amazing set for Commander; from Modal DFCs, to a plethora of new legends, to colors breaking into interesting new pieces of the color pie, this set has something for everyone. There is a nice, happy medium between the two. Zendikar Rising Set Review So, we’re back in Zendikar but this time without the Eldrazi menace, we’re going old school with the return of Landfall and Kicker. In the past, Mono-Black decks have succeeded thanks to recursive cards like Scrapheap Scrounger. I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard and I will not be going over the Commander cards that will not see Standard play. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), If you swap out lands for these cards, be prepared to play them as lands more often than not, If you swap out spells for these cards, be prepared to play them as spells more often than not, You slot Taborax into a preexisting deck, whether it’s. If you’d like to reach me, I’m active on Twitter (@thejesguy), where you can always hit me up for Magic- or Jeskai-related shenanigans 24/7. Angelo trusts counterspells over creatures, and is still hurt by Sphinx's Revelation rotation out of Standard. TAGS articles, standard, constructed, review, black, set review, ali aintrazi, multicolor, gold, standard set review, znr standard, znrsr, 09232020, Sign up for our mailing list to get the latest updates and offers, What We Need (And Don’t Need) from Modern Horizons 2, Yorion in Standard: Sultai and Four-Color, A Third Top Ten Favorite Art Pieces from Kaldheim. For what it’s worth, Charix stands at 823 upvotes on r/EDH, more than any other commander in Zendikar Rising. Just as powerful as ever, we get flying, deathtouch, and lifelink for three mana, plus the ability to increase its power as the game drags on. A few decks may be able to use it more synergistically than others, but more often than not, a board wipe will be a better place to put your mana. Zendikar Rising has provided the Mono-Red deck with a few new additions that help it regain its status as a well-performing deck. Grab your gear, gather your party, … More often than not, Dire Fleet Ravager or Torgaar, Famine Incarnate will work better and more efficiently if you’re looking to chunk life totals. (Squad Commander), 3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. If you have a black deck in any fashion, I’d take a second and evaluate if your deck would be made better by the inclusion of Nullpriest of Oblivion. Two spell lands in the top five again but that is to be expected at this point. To avoid dragging this on much longer, let’s breeze through the last few uncommons and commons! Here it is, my favorite black rare from the set. Mono Black Hateful Eidolon by SBMTGDev. Mono Black players never had the chance to destroy enchantments in the past. What do you get when you upgrade one of the most efficient uncommons of all time? If he had white in his color identity, I would have a very different opinion on him. More often than not, it will always add a three-mana tax to the creature that you want to cast since you will probably need to Equip it to different creatures quite often thanks to removal. Drana has decent stats, flying, and the ability to reanimate cards from the graveyard bigger and better than before. Angelo Guerrera. By Alex Ullman / September 9, 2020 September 8, 2020. Well, no longer! Zendikar Rising shook up Standard pretty badly, but a large part of that was the fact that a lot of very strong cards rotated out as well, paving the way for the new stuff. I also think you'd want Solemn Simulacrum to ensure you get to Monument mana from 4 mana sources. Nissa will take some work but I expect her to be great as well. ... Mono Black Devotion. These commanders utilize cards like Murderous Cut, Perpetual Timepiece, Tortured Existence, Gravepurge, and Aphemia, the Cacophony to help manage the graveyard in varying ways. Omnath will absolutely continue to be a huge thing in Standard right alongside Lotus Cobra and Uro. Welcome to Zendikar Rising Standard. Of course our opponent is always going to choose the card that will hurt them the least, meaning cards like Razaketh will always stay there… so what can be done about that? Each card will be listed by color, then alphabetically by name. No justice, no peace. Zendikar Rising has been spoiled and Eric Levine is here to tell you the best, worst, and coolest cards for your next Commander deck in this Commander Set Review. Earlier today, two outlets revealed the Zendikar Rising decks. We combine the new stuff with powerful older tech like Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Daxos, Blessed by the Sun to make every point of lifegain matter. Zendikar Rising added two premium mill cards in Ruin Crab and Maddening Cacophany, to go with the existing Teferi's Tutelage which now allows for much more rapid 'damage'. Cheap Tricks: $15 RW Warriors. Alex takes you through the top 10 decks in Pauper right now, with some changes thanks to Zendikar Rising. While it might not deal two damage to each opponent, Soul Shatter adds the ability to force opponents to potentially sacrifice a planeswalker. Taborax can be a great linchpin in the decks that want him, and can be a potential commander, albeit one of an already niche and linear strategy. That being said, as more and more cards from this set were revealed, my opinion shifted quite a bit, and I found myself incredibly interested to see what this set had in store for our format. One of them is Cleric, based on white and black creatures who can … Seriously, think about an early Top X cards list from Throne of Eldraine reviews — how high were those cards?. Played by: sandydogmtg. With the dreaded Eldrazi gone, the natives have resumed their adventuring ways, and four distinct tribes appear in the Zendikar Rising set. It's still wild to me that Omnath is number one, even though it is a four-color card. Make sure you let me know down below which black cards are your favorites from this set, or what cards are going into your already pre-established decks! Shop via TCGplayer to support the channel https://tinyurl.com/AliasV Use code "AliasV" on https://shop.channelfireball.com/ to support my content! When these colors are combined, they can harness the full power of the cycle of life and death. Our final common definitely deserves a spot of its own: I don’t know how exactly it makes sense flavor-wise, but I won’t complain: black finally has a way to properly kill enchantments! Death’s Shadow, this is not, but Scourge of the Skyclaves is pretty neat for our format, regardless. While Bloodchief's Thirst is not an instant, it is what we have at one mana, so it will see play because we do not have any other choices. The issue with Taborax is that, by using him as your commander, you miss out on all of the goodies that white gives you for a Shadowborn Apostles deck. Tomorrow we will be going over the Red and artifact cards, make sure to tune in! However, I don’t believe said hype will carry over to commander status. White | Blue | Red and Artifacts | Green and Lands. Targeted discard, reanimating small creatures, and killing small creatures isn’t something that the vast majority of decks want in EDH. One side of the discussion thinks lands can be cut to make room, while the other thinks that spells would be the ones to go. Moving on, let us go over the Multicolored cards. Posted on September 23, 2020. I don’t talk about it a lot, but some of my favorite strategies in EDH are Theft decks, like Gonti, Lord of Luxury and The Scarab God, which initially made me like the Dagger quite a bit. Latest Set: Zendikar Rising. Well… the opponent chooses what we get back. This Dagger is swingy (no pun intended) and leans more towards “fun” than “efficient”, so keep that in mind when including it in your deck. Hello everyone! Tiny Reanimator Aggro in Zendikar Rising Standard. Zendikar Rising and the introduction of double-faced modal cards, featuring a spell on the front side and a land on the back and your choice of which side to play, have upended what deckbuilding looks like in Standard. The only other card that could be used prior to this was Pharika's Libation. Then, if we aren’t caring about Clerics and only care about creatures dying in order to grow Taborax, he falls short of other mono-black Voltron commanders like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon or The Haunt of Hightower. I know I will be. Well, you get one of the most efficient rares in the set! If you get lucky, or if you’re playing against decks that don’t have a way to answer Whispersteel Dagger, it can easily run away with the game. Edgar Markov, Olivia Voldaren, Chainer, Nightmare Adept, Yarok, the Desecrated, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Karador, Ghost Chieftain… all of these commanders’ ears perked up when they heard this card’s name. So, if you like a certain rare or mythic, it will be mentioned in the review. I think Inscription of Ruin is awful and I would be hard-pressed to find a deck in my collection that would want it. That’s another review in the books, folks! The Dagger basically adds a three-mana tax onto any creature that we want to cast out of our opponents’ yards, since we need to ensure that we can equip it first. I support you. White is an incredible asset to this style of play, and I’m not sure if mono-black has the power to keep up with Orzhov. The fall 2020 expansion set for Magic: The Gathering is Zendikar Rising, and sure enough, this set is all about the plane's return to its natural splendor and danger. He is a great way to refill your hand, your life total, and apply pressure to opponents all in one card! September 16, 2020 by The issue comes when the equipped creature dies and you have to do this multiple times. This was already a really strong deck archetype, but it’s been shaken up a lot thanks to Zendikar Rising. If you are in these colors, you play that card or keep that card in mind when building decks. Drana is one of the mono-black legends from this set, and she is… fine. Hmm…. Mono Red: Decklist. (Pursued Whale), 2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. In Historic, nothing is rotating, so I expect the set to have a much smaller impact, which means I think players should mostly be trying to add small updates to their existing decks rather than building new things from scratch. Maindeck 52. If you cast Shadow’s Verdict and wipe up an Eternal Witness and/or a Dockside Extortionist, it won’t matter much since they’ve already served their purpose. Overall, I think Skyclave Shade is solid, but not groundbreaking. This lets Scavenger play both offense and defense considerably well. More often than not, Crux of Fate and Bojuka Bog will be worth the inclusion, instead. It was as if millions of Shadowborn Apostles cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced…. It’s also an easy build, with some new synergies thanks to Zendikar Rising. Despite all the flack that white gets in Commander, it provides a huge amount of support to this strategy, with cards like Edgewalker, Immortal Servitude, Remeberance, and Angel of Glory’s Rise. It has the potential to return to play as a 5/3 if you play its Kicker cost, which aren’t stats to sneeze at. ... Pauper Mono Black Burn Deck Guide. Taborax, as you might be able to gather, is perfect at the head of a Shadowborn Apostle deck. Card just does it all. Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin! Standard is home to a Rogues deck that uses blue and black cards from Core Sets, Throne of Eldraine and Zendikar Rising alike, … Do not worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the actual Zendikar Rising set. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. Personally, I think Mono-Green still has a ton of power. Blue-Black Rogue Tribal. It's time to go on an expedition. Another big include in this deck is the new Nullpriest of Oblivion. Diabolic Tutor is also always available if you need a tutor on a budget, and will be better than Coveted Prize most of the time, anyway. I did a bit of digging, and found that 41 of the Top 100 Creatures on EDHREC over the past 2 years have CMC 3 or less, which is pretty good! A handful of Zendikar Rising 's black cards have found their place in Standard decks, usually the Dimir-colored ones. So what are the options for this Demon Cleric? Nighthawk Scavenger gets two big thumbs up from me. Make way for Nullpriest of Oblivion! Yesterday we went over the Blue cards from Zendikar Rising and we had quite a few great ones. I run a mono-black artifact deck with the Karns and a wishboard and being able to drop a rock turn 2 then Simulacrum turn 3 ensures at least 5 mana turn 4 from 3 lands plus a mana rock, or you're already at 6 mana and can drop Ugin-6 with another land. Overall the set looks powered down after the escapades with Oko and Uro in the previous year, then again WTF Lotus Cobra linking with Fabled Passage for an early Omnath. There is no hard or fast rule to building with these cards, but this is my current thought process without having them: Just be safe with them, and don’t screw over your spell or mana base by trying to fit these in. Sure, the life loss isn’t optimal, but don’t forget, we’re in black. Even decks like Karlov of the Ghost Council and other lifegain decks could have potential interest in Nullpriest thanks to her abilities and versatility. In a format where everyone starts at 40 life, making sure that the highest life total is under 20 may be a hard ask for some metas. Stay safe, wear your mask, and keep fighting the good fight. To make it better than Diabolic Tutor, you need to reduce the cost by two, which is a big ask for most decks. I’ll be honest, when I heard we were going back to the plane of Zendikar last year, I wasn’t terribly excited. These Modal DFCs are better than they seem, and they already seem really good They are Magic‘s answer to mana flood and mana screw, something the game has been searching for since its first expansion. Each card will be given a rating of 1-5. Most often, Scourge will be used as a seven-mana “each player loses half their life” sorcery. It can slot into a handful of different strategies that already run any of these four other creatures, like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Kels, Fight Fixer or Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper. Call me a sucker for cheap modal cards, but this little Cleric is great. 1 - Unlikely to see play. Yes, Scourge comes with the ability to have an absurd amount of power and toughness, but there is a reason why Tarmogoyf isn’t a staple in our format: vanilla bodies can’t often cut on their own. Zendikar Rising features two Commander decks intended as on-ramps for newer players and introductions to the amazing world of Commander.. A 2/1 menace lifelinker for two would be tempting, but in the late game, her kicker ability really shines. sandydog is a master of red decks. That sounds pretty good, right? This isn’t the end of the world, but it can put Drana’s pilot in some strange situations, especially if there’s something like a Razaketh, the Foulblooded and a Pawn of Ulamog in our graveyard. As 32 players prepare to square off in the 2020 Season Grand Finals , these are kinds of strategies they're sure to face. I started playing around Innistrad, and my first real introduction to the Zendikar plane was the Battle for Zendikar block, which was… not a great first impression. There has been hearty discussion about Zendikar Rising‘s Modal DFCs and how to incorporate them into preexisting decks. For an extra four mana, we can pay Nullpreist’s Kicker ability and Reanimate any creature in our graveyard, too! Well, what does black give us? (Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon). For example, cards like Paired Tactician and Emeria Captain will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. This is less of a talking point in Golgari and Orzhov decks, since they already have ways to deal with enchantments, but in mono-black, Dimir, Rakdos, and Grixis, this card is worth looking at. The ability to reach into the graveyard is a nice touch, but the CMC restriction on what it can hit hurts it a lot. What’s the catch, though? Angelo is a Connecticut native who started playing Magic during Return to Ravnica, and has made it his mission to play Jeskai in every format possible. Zendikar Rising is looking amazing so far! I’ll be honest, when I heard we were going back to the plane of Zendikar last year, I wasn’t terribly excited. The black "party" mechanic cards are already arguably the strongest payoff cards (the U/W draw 3, the legendary Vampire and the W "banishing light" are maybe second) so being able to slot into a mono-black deck with very little opportunity cost is just a big bonus. August 24, 2020 August 24, 2020 ~ Dylan. In July, I managed to get to Mythic on Magic Arena for the first time, playing a mono-black aggro deck. The Black and multicolored cards shaped up well. That being said, while it may not be the most efficient in terms of dancing in and out of the graveyard when compared to the likes of Nether Traitor, it is the only one of these little lads that can come out of the graveyard with a fairly sizable body and be a potential threat late game. The first place I went was to Mono-Red Aggro. ... Drana is one of the mono-black legends from this set, and she is… fine. Mono Red. This is par for the course. Keep in mind I'm rating all these cards for Standard playability. Format: Standard. (Angel of Destiny, Skyclave Apparition, Terror of the Peaks), 4 - Format staples.