(Vraska, Betrayal's StingVraska, Betrayal's Sting | Art by Chase Stone | Graphic design by Luminarch

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts/Lands | Gold I | Gold II | Reprints | cEDH

We All Fell in the Pit(s)

Welcome to The Dross PitsThe Dross Pits, fleshlings! Phyrexia: All Will Be One is almost upon us, and there are a lot of reasons to surrender to our new Phyrexian overlords. Presented here are the black cards of note from the new set, and there are quite a few, so let's get to it right away!

Before we do, make sure you familiarize yourself with the set's mechanics!

Mythics

Drivnod, Carnage DominusDrivnod, Carnage Dominus

That first line of text probably reminded you of Teysa KarlovTeysa Karlov, the second-most popular Orzhov commander on EDHREC at time of writing. I probably don't have to convince you that this ability is very good and very scary. When you're playing black, chances are you'll want to see a lot of things die and benefit from it, from Abyssal GatekeeperAbyssal Gatekeeper to Zulaport CutthroatZulaport Cutthroat. Basically, DrivnodDrivnod goes into every aristocrat deck playing black, which means it's going to be a very popular card.

All the Domini can give themselves an indestructible counter, at a cost. I'd say DrivnodDrivnod is pretty easy to activate, since you will no doubt want a lot of creatures in your graveyard anyway. Bonus points to Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim, who will see those creatures get exiled from your graveyard and ping your opponents.

You can technically play DrivnodDrivnod as your commander if you want to go mono-black aristocrats. Sure, it's one more mana than Teysa and gives you access to one less color, but I'll never fault you for wanting to play a mono-colored deck. DrivnodDrivnod's indestructible ability and 8 power (our kingour king was not dethroned) lets you have a slight Voltron subtheme to your deck as well, which is sweet.

If your deck wants creatures to die, you will make room for Drivnod, Carnage DominusDrivnod, Carnage Dominus in it. That's pretty much all there is to say about it.

Vraska, Betrayal's StingVraska, Betrayal's Sting

First things first: I love Vraska's Borg Queen makeover. Chase Stone gave us a really sweet depiction of our favorite Gorgon, and even calls back to her Vraska the UnseenVraska the Unseen art. (Some folks have also pointed out that her tail ends with the Return to Ravnica set symbol, which is the first set that she appeared in. Neat!)

Vraska, Betrayal's StingVraska, Betrayal's Sting's set of abilities looks like standard planeswalker fare (card draw, removal, threatening ultimate). At least, that seems to be the case until we realize that she's the first planeswalker to be able to Proliferate. Some previous 'walkers could add loyalty counters to other planeswalkers, like Ajani, the GreatheartedAjani, the Greathearted, but I'd argue Proliferate is a lot better than that. To me, that means VraskaVraska is good enough to make the cut in AtraxaAtraxa, especially superfriends and Infect lists. It's also safe to say that a lot of commanders that care about any kind of counters might want to play her, like Felisa, Fang of SilverquillFelisa, Fang of Silverquill or Hapatra, Vizier of PoisonsHapatra, Vizier of Poisons. Decks that aren't running blue can be short on repeatable ways to Proliferate, and VraskaVraska can help with that.

Her removal isn't as powerful as some of her other incarnations, since it can only hit creatures (Vraska the UnseenVraska the Unseen destroys a nonland permanent) and it actually ramps our opponent, but it's very flavorful! You see, Gorgons turn things into stone and stones are, y'know, Treasures! Or something like that. Oh, and you can target your own creature if you ever need to make a quick buck.

Using a planeswalker ultimate is always a nice bonus and never something you should count on. In VraskaVraska's case, though, she will be seen mostly in decks that also want counter-doublers like Doubling SeasonDoubling Season, so her ultimate can happen once in a while. If you can Proliferate in some way on the turn you activate it, that's one opponent down!

I love Vraska, Betrayal's StingVraska, Betrayal's Sting. Her abilities feel very Vraskian, if I can make up such a word, and to top it all off, she is absolutely rocking that compleated look.

Rares

Archfiend of the DrossArchfiend of the Dross

Hey, a big scary Demon with downside! Except it isn't that big or scary, and the downside really sucks.

I don't know why I would risk losing the game for a four-mana 6/6 flyer, even if I can reliably Proliferate to keep it alive. It has another ability akin to Massacre WurmMassacre Wurm, and that effect is good, but ArchfiendArchfiend doesn't kill anything on its own. You'd have to be in a dedicated deck that kills a lot of creatures to be worth it, and if you have access to white, I would just play the much safer Assault IntercessorAssault Intercessor instead.

The only redeeming quality of this monstrosity is for it to somehow find itself on the other side of the battlefield. Give it away with Fateful HandoffFateful Handoff and draw four cards! Harmless OfferingHarmless Offering, Bazaar TraderBazaar Trader, or DonateDonate can also do the trick. Decks like Blim, Comedic GeniusBlim, Comedic Genius and Jon Irenicus, Shattered OneJon Irenicus, Shattered One might be interested in Archfiend of the DrossArchfiend of the Dross. Aside from specific "bad gifts" decks, I really don't think we'll see it a whole lot.

Black Sun's TwilightBlack Sun's Twilight

I'm getting some Profane CommandProfane Command vibes here, and that's not necessarily good. I love Profane CommandProfane Command, but I still ended up cutting it from my SefrisSefris deck. The instant speed on Black Sun's TwilightBlack Sun's Twilight is really nice, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it makes it all that better. If you want both modes, you have to pay at least six mana, which is a lot. There are just going to be times where this doesn't kill what it needs to kill and doesn't reanimate what it needs to reanimate. You can't even ambush any attacks, because the reanimated creature enters tapped.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think Black Sun's TwilightBlack Sun's Twilight is efficient enough in a color that can already killkill and reanimatereanimate things very efficiently.

Geth's SummonsGeth's Summons

Four mana is not really competitive for a reanimation spell, but it's not terrible either. If your deck is designed to poison your enemies, though, Geth's SummonsGeth's Summons becomes a lot more fun.

Reanimating a creature from each of your opponents has been seen before at four mana in Dredge the MireDredge the Mire, but your opponents can choose what creatures you get, and you can't reanimate a creature from your own graveyard. Sepulchral PrimordialSepulchral Primordial lets you choose your targets, but still only from your opponents' graveyards. When Geth's SummonsGeth's Summons is active, it's closer to Ghouls' Night OutGhouls' Night Out – which I actually really like – without the downside of having the creatures gain Decayed. The thing with this type of spell is that sometimes there just won't be anything of value to reanimate... but you might also end up with a Void WinnowerVoid Winnower, an Archon of CrueltyArchon of Cruelty, and a Dockside ExtortionistDockside Extortionist!

Geth's SummonsGeth's Summons fits in decks that want to distribute poison counters, and that's pretty much it. It's included in the new Ixhel, Scion of AtraxaIxhel, Scion of Atraxa precon, which can also run Vishgraz, the DoomhiveVishgraz, the Doomhive as its commander. Infect decks like Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice or Skithiryx, the Blight DragonSkithiryx, the Blight Dragon can be interested as well. Cool card, but very niche.

Geth, Thane of ContractsGeth, Thane of Contracts

Let's try to work with Geth, Thane of ContractsGeth, Thane of Contracts's first ability. Kaervek, the SpitefulKaervek, the Spiteful might give us some pointers.

GethGeth is a Zombie, so while he's out, GravecrawlerGravecrawler can create a loop with Pitiless PlundererPitiless Plunderer and Bastion of RemembranceBastion of Remembrance and drain your opponents to death. Also, Endrek Sahr, Master BreederEndrek Sahr, Master Breeder's Thrulls will die as they are being created, so you will never reach the threshold to sacrifice him. That's a lot of dying creatures, which we love in aristocrats. There's also some value in playing creatures with one toughness that trigger when they leave the battlefield, like Stitcher's SupplierStitcher's Supplier or Vindictive LichVindictive Lich. I also feel like there are some shenanigans to be had with Golgari ThugGolgari Thug.

GethGeth's reanimation ability can only be activated at sorcery speed and requires you to tap him, which ultimately limits its combo potential, and the "If this creature would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else" clause doesn't help. GethGeth can just be a good old reanimator deck: mill or EntombEntomb some big creature, reanimate it, profit. No loops, just good value, and that's perfectly okay.

Grismold, the DreadsowerGrismold, the Dreadsower might have a use for GethGeth, although the fact that only your creatures get -1/-1 makes him less enticing than Kaervek, the SpitefulKaervek, the Spiteful, which affects all creatures.

If you can work around Geth, Thane of ContractsGeth, Thane of Contracts's first ability, he might offer an interesting flavour of aristocrats. If you want to go reanimator, he comes down earlier than Chainer, Dementia MasterChainer, Dementia Master but he has to be tapped for his second ability, which is a drawback.

Karumonix, the Rat KingKarumonix, the Rat King

I'm not sure KarumonixKarumonix is better than Ashcoat of the Shadow SwarmAshcoat of the Shadow Swarm or Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer as a mono-black Rat commander. It has decent stats, a good card advantage ability, and it offers an alternate way of killing someone with poison counters. Still, to me, he looks better in the 99 than at the head of a deck.

I will say, rodent enthusiasts never had so many options:

• Ashcoat of the Shadow SwarmAshcoat of the Shadow Swarm is solid card advantage with a Coat of ArmsCoat of Arms-type effect.
• Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer floods the board with countless Rats and offers evasion.
• Lurrus of the Dream-DenLurrus of the Dream-Den is surprisingly effective as a Rat ColonyRat Colony commander! You have a lot of resilience against board wipes and removal, plus Lurrus can abuse permanent-based interaction, like Soul SnareSoul Snare and Nihil SpellbombNihil Spellbomb.
• Expanding on the Lurrus idea, you can even go Abzan with Nethroi, Apex of DeathNethroi, Apex of Death for great recursion and access to three colors.

All these Rat decks will benefit from Karumonix, the Rat KingKarumonix, the Rat King, but I don't expect to see this card anywhere else.

I want to thank my brother Mathieu Gatien for his thoughts on Rat tribal. His Lurrus Rat ColonyRat Colony deck is always a blast to see, and a nightmare to play against.

Kinzu of the Bleak CovenKinzu of the Bleak Coven

If you ever wanted to play Nightmare ShepherdNightmare Shepherd as your commander, then KinzuKinzu is the card for you!

An aristocrats strategy seems a decent avenue for KinzuKinzu. She can buy back creatures with powerful abilities, like Kokusho, the Evening StarKokusho, the Evening Star or Massacre WurmMassacre Wurm. In that way, she reminds me of Ratadrabik of UrborgRatadrabik of Urborg. She's not as good as Ratadrabik, of course, since she's mono-black and she exiles the creatures after they die. The tokens getting Toxic 1 is a nice upside: a lot of our synergy creatures can have flying, like Falkenrath NobleFalkenrath Noble, so hitting someone for a poison counter shouldn't be too hard.

You can probably also focus on a poison strategy. Load up on poisonous creatures and Proliferate effects, and you've got a stew going. If any of your valuable creatures die, they come back with another instance of Toxic 1, making them even more deadly. Where Skithiryx, the Blight DragonSkithiryx, the Blight Dragon encourages a Voltron strategy, KinzuKinzu wants you to go a little wider and little more value-oriented. As with any strategy involving poison counters, however, be prepared to face a lot of hate from your opponents.

Some decks might be interested in KinzuKinzu for the 99. She's a Vampire, and many Vampire decks have an aristocrats subtheme. I don't know if she's good enough for Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov, since that list is pretty optimized by now, but I think she can find a home in mono-black Vampire lists, like VitoVito, DranaDrana, or TimotharTimothar, at least. I wonder if she could be interesting in Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim, since he deals damage when a creature dies and when it is exiled by KinzuKinzu to become a token, because the card left the graveyard.

Kinzu of the Bleak CovenKinzu of the Bleak Coven is decent, but her five-mana cost is holding her back from being super efficient. She seems to care about a lot of things (tokens, poison counters, aristocrats), so focusing on just one strategy will be ideal if you want to build her well.

Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption

To be happy with Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption, I want to be able to draw five or more cards, which means that I would probably only play it in a dedicated artifact deck. It is not an artifact itself, so there's a bit of push and pull there, but I still think it's worth the inclusion. I also like that it can take out an opponent if you have amassed an ungodly amount of Clues, for example, or if you control a BiotransferenceBiotransference.

In my decks, I like to have a wide range of card advantage options. A sort of 'card draw buffet', if you will. I want draw that's cheap and efficientcheap and efficient, repeatablerepeatable, and/or synergisticsynergistic, and a couple of just 'raw draw' effects, like Pull from TomorrowPull from Tomorrow. This new Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption card fits that last category pretty well. It feels like Stinging StudyStinging Study: powerful, but only in some specific decks.

Any deck that wants to have a lot of artifacts on the field should give Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption a try. Eloise, Nephalia SleuthEloise, Nephalia Sleuth and Tivit, Seller of SecretsTivit, Seller of Secrets like to Investigate, Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King and Jan Jansen, Chaos CrafterJan Jansen, Chaos Crafter care about Treasures, and Imotekh the StormlordImotekh the Stormlord just wants everything to be an artifact.

Phyresis OutbreakPhyresis Outbreak

Infect decks sure are getting a lot of new toys! What? I'm not worried. Not in the slightest. Nope. Not at all.

There is suprisingly little to say about Phyresis OutbreakPhyresis Outbreak. If your deck interacts with poison counters and you are playing black, you will probably play this card. A three-mana one-sided board wipe is insane. To be blunt: in some situations, it might be better than Toxic DelugeToxic Deluge, black's arguably best board wipe. At worst, it cleans all your opponents' 1/1 tokens off the board. It also gives a poison counter to each opponent, which can potentially kill someone outright in the late game. It also plays around indestructible, as many black wrathsblack wraths do.

Play Infect? Card good. Next.

Vraan, Executioner ThaneVraan, Executioner Thane

We must not think of VraanVraan as a Blood ArtistBlood Artist. The words "one or more" and "triggers only once each turn" make sure of that. We have to consider him as a synergy piece rather than a combo piece. Blood ArtistBlood Artist will help you win the game if you achieve a critical mass of death triggers, but VraanVraan rewards you for the sacrifices you make every turn.

Braids, Arisen NightmareBraids, Arisen Nightmare wants to sacrifice something at every end step, and VraanVraan adds another two damage on top of Braids' ability, which doesn't seem bad. He's a Vampire, so aristocrats Vampire decks, like Elenda, the Dusk RoseElenda, the Dusk Rose, might have a use for him. He's also good in decks that can sacrifice SnakesSnakes or PestsPests every turn.

I don't see a very good reason to choose VraanVraan as your commander when Elas il-Kor, Sadistic PilgrimElas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim exists, but that's just me! I can't tell you what to do.

Uncommons & Commons

• If you can poison your enemies reliably, Anoint with AfflictionAnoint with Affliction is your best removal spell. Or maybe second-best, behind Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick, but that's still saying a lot.
• Chittering SkitterlingChittering Skitterling might be interesting for black Infect decks that also go wide, like the new Vishgraz, the DoomhiveVishgraz, the Doomhive.
• Artifact decks, which are known to recur artifacts from the graveyard multiple times and make arbitrarily large amounts of mana, might have a use for Dross SkullbombDross Skullbomb. I could see it in Ashnod the UncaringAshnod the Uncaring to draw cards and buy back some key creatures from the graveyard.
• I don't know why you would go to such lengths to assemble a creature that can be infinitely sacrificed when more efficient options exist, but just know that Boonweaver GiantBoonweaver Giant and Necrogen CommunionNecrogen Communion can combo off with a sacrifice outlet. Do what you will with that information, dear reader.

• Scheming AspirantScheming Aspirant looks good in any deck that wants to Proliferate heavily, like the new Venser, Corpse PuppetVenser, Corpse Puppet or AtraxaAtraxa. We just got a ton of new cards with the keyword, too, so that's neat.
• As far as edict effects go, Sheoldred's EdictSheoldred's Edict is pretty good at making sure you get some value. I don't know if it's better than Soul ShatterSoul Shatter, but the added planeswalker hate will be useful in some corner cases. TergridTergrid certainly wants this.
• Vat of RebirthVat of Rebirth seems bonkers in Treasure decks that also want to sacrifice creatures, like Ziatora, the IncineratorZiatora, the Incinerator, Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King or Jan Jansen, Chaos CrafterJan Jansen, Chaos Crafter. It doesn't say "nontoken" anywhere on the card! Profit.

Archfiend of the DrossArchfiend of the Dross | Art by Lie Setiawan

Did the Dross Gross You Out, or Engross You?

Except for maybe Drivnod, Carnage DominusDrivnod, Carnage Dominus, I didn't see anything that screamed "staple" amidst today's selection. We mostly got cards that are going to be useful in specific decks rather than format-warping powerhouses, and that's great! I'm excited to see Vraska, Betrayal's StingVraska, Betrayal's Sting as a repeatable way to Proliferate in decks that care about counters, especially the ones who don't have access to blue for Flux ChannelerFlux Channeler or Inexorable TideInexorable Tide, for example. Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption will see little play outside of artifact decks, but will be pulling its weight there. Also, Vat of RebirthVat of Rebirth looks like a pretty sweet uncommon to me.

What do you think? Am I sleeping on Black Sun's TwilightBlack Sun's Twilight? Am I giving VraskaVraska too much credit because I think she's cool? Is there some broken interaction I didn't see? Let me know in the comments! I'm Philomène, thanks for reading, enjoy the new set, and stop resisting, fleshling. Surrender to the glory of Phyrexia.

Philomène Gatien

Philomène is a film composer from Montréal, Canada. Her love of card games started in the late 90's with Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z and of course, Magic: The Gathering. Preferring a more casual kind of game in commander (art and lore being very high on her list of reasons to play cards), she satiates her competitive urges through Limited formats.