Black has always been the colour most associated with darkness and evil inMagic: The Gathering. On New Phyrexia, the nightmare Plane revisited for the first time in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, this is more true than ever before.The sadistic Sheoldred, and her sinister servants, rule over the black-aligned Dross Pits with iron fists, claws, and mandibles (the list goes on), striking fear into the heart of even the most seasoned planeswalkers.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering - The Best Lands From Phyrexia: All Will Be One
These creatures, and their cruel abilities, manifest in the black cards in All Will Be One. It’s a veritable torturer’s rack of wicked tools you can use against your opponents — provided you have no ethical qualms, of course. Here are the ten most powerful cards we could dredge from the Dross Pits.
10Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
The black member of the legendary Dominus cycle, Drivnod is a terror to behold, whether you look at his art or his text box. Doubling down on death triggers alone is quite powerful in the right deck, especially when you factor in that this includes cards that benefit from creature deaths as well, but his protection ability is the main draw here.
Costing just two Phyrexian mana and three creature cards from your graveyard, this ability can potentially cost you no valuable resources at all in the right situation. This, along with its relatively low mana cost, makes Drivnod stand out as one of the dominant Dominus’ in the set.
9Phyrexian Arena
An all-time classic from way back in Apocalypse, with countless reprints since, the fact that it’s still exciting to see Phyrexian Arena in All Will Be One should be a testament to its power and popularity. The effect here is simple: every turn, you draw an extra card in exchange for losing one life.
It’s no secret that card advantage is key to winning games of Magic, and this card gives you that consistently, at a fair price. Three mana is just low enough to see play outside of formats like Commander, though it does admittedly put in the bulk of its work there. Embodying black’s ‘power at any cost’ mentality perfectly, this is one seriously iconic enchantment.
8Chittering Skitterling
Free sacrifice outlets, or ways to send your own creatures to the graveyard with no mana or resource cost, have historically been very powerful in Magic. For this reason, Chittering Skitterling should have experienced players very excited indeed. Not only is it a free sacrifice outlet, but it works for artifacts too, and lets you draw cards off the back of your sacrifices.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering - The Best Commanders From Phyrexia: All Will Be One
There are downsides, of course. Your opponent needs to have three or more poison counters before you can use the effect, and it can only be used once per turn, but that’s still two sacrifices per turn cycle in the right deck. Factor in an A+ name, and this humble rodent is one of black’s best in this set.
7Sheoldred’s Edict
Edict effects are a great way to get around traditionally hard-to-remove creatures in Magic, and Sheoldred’s take on the concept may just be the best one we’ve seen yet. Not only can it be cast at instant speed, letting you react to problems immediately, but it also gives you something that edicts often don’t: control.
You decide whether your opponent gives up a creature, a token, or a planeswalker to this effect, avoiding situations where your edict can’t hit the real problem because of tiny tokens getting in the way. This is a huge advantage, particularly given the prevalence of ward effects in recent expansions.
6Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting
Any planeswalker that draws comparisons tothe notorious Oko, Thief of Crowns should immediately set off alarm bells for players. Vraska’s compleated form does just that, letting you transform difficult creatures into harmless treasure tokens; arguably a much better disruption tool than Oko’s Elk-ification effect.
Thankfully, lessons were learned from the Oko situation, and Vraska has been made much more expensive to compensate, though her compleated effect does let you circumvent this to an extent. Her transformation effect is the main draw here, but she also effectively serves as a Phyrexian Arena when needed, and can end games with her ultimate, making her a great walker all round.
5Anoint With Affliction
There’s serious competition for the title of ‘best black removal spell’ these days, but Anoint With Affliction may be a new contender for the crown. For just two mana, at instant speed, it can exile any creature that costs three or fewer mana. Or, in other words, nearly every creature that sees significant play in eternal formats.
This alone would make the card excellent, but the corrupted upside, which turns it into an unconditional exile effect once your opponent has three poison counters, pushes things over the top, making Anoint with Affliction an auto-include in poison-based decks, and a serious consideration in any deck playing Swamps.
4Vraska’s Fall
A card that’smainly exciting for Pauperdue to its common rarity, Vraska’s Fall has some interesting nuances that may let it thrive in other formats as well. As a three-mana edict, it’s fairly slow, but can still deal with big problems at instant speed.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering - The Best Green Cards In Phyrexia: All Will Be One
What makes this card really interesting, however, is the fact that it gives your opponent a poison counter. It’s extremely rare to see that effect on a card, since poison is generally administered via combat, which makes this card very powerful in more controlling poison builds.
3Phyrexian Obliterator
Appearing initially during our first trip to New Phyrexia, Obliterator remains, to this day, one of the scariest creatures ever committed to cardboard. As a 5/5 trample for four mana, it’s already above rate in a mono-black deck, and when you factor in its second ability, things escalate even further.
Any damage the Obliterator is dealt, be it from combat or removal spells, translates into sacrifices your opponents must make. The card doesn’t specify ‘nonland’ either, meaning that your opponent could easily lose the bulk of their resources if they make one wrong move with this beast on the board. It’s a card that creates tension just by existing, and a perfect showcase for the brutality of Phyrexia.
2Black Sun’s Twilight
Probably the most powerful member of the Sun’s Twilight cycle, the black entry is a fairly-costed instant speed removal spell that can also create a huge value swing in Midrange matchups. The flexibility of dealing with small creatures early in a game is nice but, as with all of the Sun’s Twilight cards, you’ll really want to build up six mana before casting this if possible.
If you do, not only will you be able to take out pretty much any on-curve threat from your opponent, but you’ll also be able to reanimate one of your own; a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, for example. Magic is a game driven by value, and two-for-one cards like this are almost always excellent additions to your deck.
1Vraan, Executioner Thane
The latest in a long line ofgreat Aristocrat support cards, Vraan can actually serve as a better Blood Artist, given the right deck. His ability drains twice as much life as most cards in this category, with the trade-off that it can only trigger once each turn.
This shifts your focus away from sacrificing many creatures at once to doing so just once a turn, creating an interesting new take on the archetype that’s more about value over time than explosive combo turns. With solid base stats, Vraan has the capacity to execute this plan flawlessly.
NEXT:Magic: The Gathering - The Best Art From Phyrexia: All Will Be One
