MTG Salvation

So, I've run monoblack three times before:
I had a Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker deck
I had an Anowon, the Ruin Sage deck
And I had a Chainer, Dementia Master deck

My problem with all three of them was that they were too linear (Power=<1 tribal, vampire tribal, reanimator). But I still really want to play monoblack. So I am looking for a general that can head up a deck that accrues incremental advantage and takes advantage of black's ability to do basically anything, for a cost. I'm especially interested in playing some of the really interesting old cards from before fourth edition.

One caveat though is that I really don't like playing tier 1, or even tier 2, generals. As is perhaps indicated by my longtime favourite deck being Stangg.

So, what less-played general should head my monoblack control/goodstuff deck? I'm open to all suggestions.

No one knows what tier Sidisi, Undead Vizier is going to end up in. You should play her. Pioneer some early build exploration for us. I strongly advocate the inclusion of Corpse Dance, BTW.

Maybe Seizan, Perverter of Truth? Doesn't force you into any kind of strategy at all, he simply draws more cards so you can play any kind of black goodstuff you want.

Ihsan the weak, Ihsan the fallen...
Ihsan's Shade hands down.
Smites the holy, decent p/t for cost. PRO white. Same artistic style as Stangg.

Well, if you like Black's theme on paying life for advantage, Erebos, God of the Dead does that well. And he's difficult to remove.

If you're going to be using your life as a resource, Kokusho, the Evening Star can serve as a replenish-er of sorts. And a win-con. He is the biggest, baddest bleeder you can get in your command zone.

Toshiro Umezawa brings with him an interesting and uncommon (for MBC) play-style. I see him as an incremental advantage commander.

Or build a Cao Cao, Lord of Wei dicard focused control deck with Waste Not and all the other fun discard enchantments.

Ascendant Evincar is oldschool monoblack support. Basically a monoblack precursor to Elesh Norn.

second Ihsan's Shade for cool points. One of my favorite oldschool arts.

Purraj of Urborg has that great mirage art, and can grow really fast in the presence of multiple black players.

Shauku, Endbringer if you want suicidal 1v1 that makes it very difficult for opponents to keep their commander on the board.

Volrath, The Shapeshifter gives you a discard outlet and can do pretty insane commander damage if he gets through.

Well, I personally love Chainer, but mostly because I steal my enemies' things while playing a MBC shell rather than as a classic renaimator.

Geth, Lord of the Vault has most of the same strengths as Chainer, but being restricted to enemy graveyards (and picking up artifacts) makes him less of a build-around general.

Oona, Queen of the Fae works really well in mono-black. Taking out the blue definitely powers her down and a focus on black's mana doublers makes her a reasonable clock without needing to focus on mana combos.

Cabal Patriarch is a card that no one ever remembers is legendary. He's similar to Visara the Dreadful or Hythonia the Cruel if you don't like gorgons.

Black also has a bunch of giant legendary beaters:
Commander Greven il-Vec is a bit vanilla for my tastes, but he's pretty much a win condition for whatever you want to make your deck. He's got the magic number 7 power and is featured on Hatred for bonus flavor points. Spirit of the Night is another French vanilla black legend. Gallowbraid and Morinfen also fit here.

Volrath the Fallen is much like the previous ones, except his ability to discard reanimation targets makes him a bit more useful. Crovax the Cursed also provides a bit more utility than other beaters by giving you a chance to sacrifice something every turn.


Finally, if you're looking for super low-power, pretty much anything with "sengir" in the name fits the bill: Baron Sengir, Grandmother Sengir, Irini Sengir, or Veldrane of Sengir.

There's actually only a handful of pre-4ED black legends now that I look at it, I had no idea about that until now, it's only the Sengir family and Ihsan's Shade. They're all good for retro swag (esp. Baron Sengir and Ihsan's Shade) but not really so for actual gameplay.

Crovax the Cursed came a little later but he's still flavorful and doesn't have a "linear" style like you're trying to avoid. I think the above poster was trying to link Volrath the Fallen as well.

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge is the king of useless generals.

Phage the Untouchable requires a lot of hoop jumping to get into play.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen is a fun deck mono black deck. Walking Atlas, Burnished Hart, Pilgrim's Eye and all of the other aritfact/black land tutors. Power multiples of 3 is good in commander because it isn't hard to get to 21 and you can knock 1 player out with commander damage and another with life loss.

Everyone mentioned some solid classics and other underpowered and under loved cards.

I for one run chainer as my commander and I do love the guy but at times I feel guilty when you put Gray Merchant of Asphodel on a loop and wreck the whole table.

Now if you want something non linear and down right off, I have Zhang He, Wei General

He doesn't really offer much. I doubt there are more than 10 cards with horsemanship (??) but if all else fails he is pretty much a unblockable 4/2. So the deck could use whatever strategy you want but when you feel like/need to cross the finish line - throw the guy out there and buff him up for the one shot kill.

Greel, Mind Raker. Do eeeeet!

UNCLE ISTHVAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the quick suggestions guys. A lot of you really got the idea of what I'm going for. I think Shauku, Endbringer and Ascendant Evincar are the two that look the most interesting so far. I do like the idea of Commander Greven il-Vec or Ihsan's Shade, though.

Korlash, Heir to Blackblade is a pretty cool one too =).

I'll second Erebos. He's really hard to get rid of, he shuts off life gain, and he turns a turn with a lot of mana but few cards into filling your hand back up with cards.
I've tried nearly every black commander at a point, and when Erebos was revealed he was exactly what I was looking for.

Im in the works with Sidisi, undead visier and Im super excited about it! its going to be a bad ass quick tempo get what I need and ramp up deck.

I am thoroughly disappointed in that nobody named Lim-Dûl the Necromancer yet. Fun card, great flavor, and steals opposing dying stuff. I'm loving it.

I run a Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief monoblack good stuff deck and its been great. The deck can spit out a ton of Mana and Drana uses that to remove creatures and beat my opppnents.

Quote from LouCypher »

I am thoroughly disappointed in that nobody named Lim-Dûl the Necromancer yet. Fun card, great flavor, and steals opposing dying stuff. I'm loving it.

Oooh. I like Lim Dul and I even already have a copy. He rewards you for stuffing your deck full of cheap removal too, which is nice.

My vote goes for Geth, Lord of the Vault or Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni. I've got a mono black deck that uses either at the helm. Very fun taking other peoples things.

Phage the untouchable. no one will know what you are up to.

I used to have a Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet deck that was fun to play. Took care of threats, and gave you a body in return

Horobi is definitely NOT a goodstuff general, but if you are looking into a fun general that makes the game different for both you and your opponents, you can look at the list in my sig.

No love for Mirri the Cursed? She is a pretty efficient creature, open to any strategy and pretty cool to boot. Other than that I would second Lim Dul as his ability is good but not back breaking by any means and could lead to some interesting board states/ interactions.