Duel Commander: Top 10 Black Staples + Best Mana Base

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In this article, we'll show you the most popular black cards in Duel Commander, including discards, removals, and tutors. Come see why these strategies make this color so powerful!

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Translated byJoey

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Revised byJoey

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Introduction

If you'd like to see the best white staples in Duel Commander, click herelink outside website. For the blue staples, click herelink outside website.

The best black cards in Duel Commander are often answers, but there are a few threats in the mix. Nonetheless, you won't find any haymakers, as expected.

Top 10 Black Staples in Duel Commander

1 - Demonic Tutor

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You know how people don't really understand why Brainstorm is still in Legacy, but one of the reasons it is is that it is one of the cards that shape this format's identity?

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that Vampiric Tutor is banned in the format, and I consider Imperial Seal objectively worse. Still, they are both banned, but Demonic Tutor is "one of the pillars of Duel Commander". If you're playing a black deck, you'll certainly use Demonic Tutor.

2 - Fatal Push

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The second-best removal ever printed (damn you, Swords to Plowshares!) is also essential in black decks. Considering Duel Commander is full of fetchlands, treasures, and similar, you won't struggle to activate Revolt, though there are many targets with CMC Magic Symbol 1 and Magic Symbol 2 in the format to use this card on.

3 - Thoughtseize

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This one is noteworthy. We all know this card is good, but it is one of the few cards that are better in this format than in other constructed formats. Many decks use, for instance, Survival of the Fittest, a card that simply changes the course of the match completely.

Other examples are Parallax Wave and Skullclamp, but even when it's time to see what strategy your opponent is using (after all, your approach must be different depending on whether they're playing Tersa Lightshatter or Broadside Bombardiers), the information you'll get from this card will simply be too helpful!

4 - Orcish Bowmasters

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This is also one of the most played cards in Modern and Legacy. It simply needs no introduction, but we'll give one anyway: It's a threat with Flash, often a removal, and a powerful Stax piece for one of the most popular effects in the game, card draw. All blue decks will struggle against this card, but even decks with more colors (Quintorius lists, for instance) might have to deal with this creature before they can keep on playing.

5 - Dismember

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Dismember is probably the best 1-mana removal alongside Fatal Push. Though it also costs 4 life points (if you want to play it for 1 mana), there are a few indestructible effects in the format, so the -5/-5 nerf works really well. It kills Ketramose, the New Dawn, deals with Hidetsugu and Kairi (if you use it to answer its trigger, you'll often save your life), and that's why it is in almost every black list.

6 - Tainted Pact

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This is the nerfed Demonic Tutor. Its restriction, which prevents you from playing multiple copies of basic lands (and which we can often play around if we use a Snowy version), tends to be irrelevant. The only exception is Rakdos decks that want to play Magus of the Moon or Monoblack lists (like Acererak lists).

On the other side, it is a solid kill condition alongside Jace, Wielder of Mysteries.

7 - Toxic Deluge

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This is the best sweeper in the format, one of the only¹ ones that cost 3 mana, and the one with the least amount of restrictions. The fact it is in this top 10 makes it clear that most black decks are control decks, though Deadpool, Trading Card lists and similar also often use Deluge. This might seem counterintuitive, and it is, but, at the end of the day, this is still Commander, and a copy of this card could save you a lot of trouble and even win some games.

¹: Nowadays, there are many 3-mana sweepers in the format (Split Up, Out of Time, as well as the many Flamebreak versions), but Toxic Deluge is much better than all of them.

8 - Cling to Dust

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This is the black Brainstorm. In every match, it is a cycling Magic Symbol B card, but it is a competent mana sink that can draw a few cards for you, and, in a format without a sideboard, it is a way to interact with the graveyard (which is a valuable source of resources).

I was surprised to see it in this position. I thought it would be higher up because I can't think of a black deck that doesn't use it.

9 - Inquisition of Kozilek

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The surprising detail is not the fact that a "second Thoughtseize" made it to this list but that Duress didn't (as it usually shows up in the same lists as this card). Because there are many decks in the format that lean on creatures to put pressure (basically all red or green decks and most white decks), Inquisition is a lot more useful.

10 - Long Goodbye

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The evolution from Smother to Eliminate went on until we got a card that can deal with Teferi, Time Raveler, as well as Oko, Psychic Frog, and many other blue threats. It's a pity it's not that reliable, considering Spider-Man 2099 can use cards like Magic Damper, but 90% of the time you can trust your Long Goodbye.

Honorable Mentions

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These cards are not part of the top 10 because they need certain conditions to work. But these conditions are not that difficult to meet. Like, "play more than 5 creatures in your deck". And, oftentimes, not even that, considering many control decks have already played Barrowgoyf in other times (less aggressive times, with less combos).

Abrupt Decay, in turn, needs specific colors to work, and, considering how many Magic Symbol BMagic Symbol R and Magic Symbol UMagic Symbol B see play right now, the fact that a green/black card almost made it to the top 10 most played cards in the format shows how critical it is.

Mana Base

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In terms of the mana base, black is probably the most interesting color in DC. Takenuma isn't impressive (no one likes Gravedigger effects), but Cabal Coffers and Urborg are an interesting duo in many formats (and they often see play in lists like Golos Eldrazi).

Phyrexian Tower, however, is the most versatile. It works as ramp in some decks (Grist), sac outlet in others (Hidetsugu), and both in Slimefoot lists. It's funny that a land can fix problems caused by a Deadpool or auras that disable your commander without sending it to your command zone.

Final Words

Though this top 10 doesn't necessarily say this (after all, all the most popular cards in other colors are also roleplayers), black is mostly used as a support color in Duel Commander. These tutors, removals, and discards make your lists more consistent (which is what you want in formats as diverse as this one) and perform well against aggressive decks and control decks.

Though it is one of the most complex colors in the game, not that many Monoblack decks see play, like Monored decks don't either. Monowhite decks show up with Cloud and Phelia as commanders, Monoblue decks show up in many versions with Wan Shi Tong, and Monogreen decks are often land-based builds (Azusa, Tifa, Lumra), but Monoblack decks don't have many commander options. The most popular is Acererak, a combo deck that only plays 2 creatures.

Players have tested out other commanders, mostly in combo builds, leaning heavily into discards (even the bad ones, like Agonizing Remorse) to protect themselves and try to end the game in many ways, like with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Memory Jar. At the end of the day, what really makes a difference is that nearly all decks play creatures in Duel Commander, even if just in the command zone.

In the last few years, WotC has printed many great black creatures, like Moonshadow and Nethergoyf. I believe that, if we play them with Stalactite Stalker and maybe a few 1-drops that are yet to be released, black could perform a little better in aggressive decks, considering there are already many powerful creatures with a CMC of 2 and 3 in the game.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

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