MTG Salvation

I'm opening up Black a little bit early in order to keep things on schedule. Allred and I are on different sides of the planet, so waiting until Blue's closed and results are posted would mean losing a full day. However, I don't think the overlap should lead to any problems with Blue or Black.

Again, here's how the Power Rankings voting will work:

* This thread will be open until Friday, October 21st, 6:00 p.m. Seoul time (5:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time).

* Voters are to rank the 20 cards most powerful black cards based on how effectively they contribute to game wins in a traditional cube environment. Partial lists will not be accepted.
* Please rank your cards from #1 through #20, with #1 being the card you consider most powerful.

* The VOTING thread is for posting your votes only. Small discussions about the voting, in particular pointing out errors in other voter's rankings and questions about the voting process, are allowed within reasonable length, but otherwise you should use the main Power Rankings thread for discussions.
* Results will be posted in their own thread after this one is closed and all the votes are compiled.
* You can edit your vote freely, up until the moment the thread is closed.



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HOW TO VOTE ON SIMILAR CARDS

The following cards are considered to be equal. If you include them in your vote, they must be ranked as a single entry.

(no relevant examples I could find)

And the following cards, despite having very similar effects, are not considered equal and must be ranked at separated entries:

* Imperial Seal x Vampiric Tutor

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CARDS THAT ARE INCLUDED ON THIS VOTING

According to the rules at the main thread, the following cards are included in the BLACK voting group:

* Volrath's Stronghold, Cabal Coffers, Phyrexian Tower and any other land able to produce only black mana, or that produces colorless mana but has abilities that cost black mana (and no other color).
* Dismember, Vault Skirge and other "hybrid" black/colorless cards.
* Lashwrithe, Dross Golem, Cranial Plating and other colorless artifacts with abilities costing black mana or that requires you to control swamps, black permanents or play black spells.


CARDS THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED ON THIS VOTING

Also according to the rules, the following cards are included in other voting groups and must not be voted here:

* Vivid Marsh and other lands able to produce 'mana of any color', even if their 'main' color is black. Their voting group is LANDS.
* Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Brutal Hordechief, Unburial Rites, Harbor Bandit and any other black card with abilities that cost mana of other colors or that require you to control lands of other basic types. Their voting group is GUILD or 3+ COLOR.
* Rakdos Cackler, Deathrite Shaman and other hybrids cards with other color. Their voting group is also GUILD or 3+ COLOR.
* Mox Jet, Leaden Myr and other colorless artifacts that produce black mana but have no ability costing black mana or that requires you to control Swamps. Their voting group is COLORLESS.
* Cards with the CONSPIRACY type (specifically Assemble the Rank and Vile) have been excluded by popular vote from this year's Power Rankings. They will be voted on in their own separate category after the OVERALL Power Rankings have concluded.
(Note that other black cards from Conspiracy or Conspiracy: Take the Crown expansions can be voted on here, including those that reference the draft in their rules text (e.g. Regicide)
* Silver-bordered cards from Unhinged or Unglued (e.g. Booster Tutor) and holiday promo cards (e.g. Evil Presents) have also been excluded by popular vote from this year's Power Rankings. They will be voted on in a separate category after the OVERALL Power Rankings have concluded.

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PREVIOUS RANKINGS

For reference, here are the BLACK results for the previous three Power Rankings project. I'm including them here to be used as a reference only.






PLEASE NOTE! Since the last year's Power Rankings, the following sets have been released:

• Magic Origins
• Battle For Zendikar
• Commander 2015
• Oath of the Gatewatch
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Eldritch Moon
• Conspiracy: Take the Crown
• Kaladesh

BLACK VOTING IS NOW OPEN!

Cheers,
rant

1 Recurring Nightmare
2 Mind Twist
3 Demonic Tutor
4 Vampiric Tutor
5 Bitterblossom
6 Liliana of the Veil
7 Dark Confidant
8 Toxic Deluge
9 Grave Titan
10 Braids, Cabal Minion
11 Pack Rat
12 Damnation
13 Languish
13 Thoughtseize
15 Griselbrand
16 Shriekmaw
17 Scrapheap Scrounger
18 Volrath's Stronghold
19 Reanimate
20 Hymn to Tourach

Cards that I didn't vote on (because I never played with them): The Abyss; Nether Void; Imperial Seal; Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet; and Liliana, the Last Hope. I think Imperial Seal could make my list, but I also think that sorcery speed and put-on-top are enough drawbacks that it might miss it, so I prefer not to estimate it. Honorable Mention: Pack Rat (I like them, but they really don't make my list).

Edit:Forgot Damnation

Black voting is now CLOSED. I'm tabulating the results and will post them shortly....