If you look at the most popular Commanders in Magic, you'll probably notice that most of the top-rankig cards boast multiple colors.

While adding two, three, or even five colors to your deck can prevent any weak spots, there are plenty of single color options for those looking for a more straightforward gameplan or who struggle to pare down multicolor lists. Mono-Black, especially, has a ton of Commander options that are both fun and powerful.

Today we're ranking the 13 most powerful mono-Black Commanders.

The Top 13 Mono-Black Commanders

Like mono-colored decks themselves, this ranking is quite simple. The only factor I considered here is how powerful the cards are as Commanders, regardless of how enjoyable (or not) they are to play or to play against.

1. K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
2. Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
3. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
4. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
5. Syr Konrad, the Grim
6. Marrow-Gnawer
7. Braids, Arisen Nightmare
8. Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
9. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
10. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
11. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
12. Maha, Its Feathers Night
13. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

With the basics covered, let's break down the list.

13. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

Sometimes, a starting life total of 40 can be daunting, but what if there was a Commander that didn't care about life totals? Meet Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon or, as the community lovingly calls him, Skittles.

This five-mana 4/4 dragon has Flying and Infect, everyone's favorite mechanic. You can also pay to give it Haste or to Regenerate it, meaning that the next time it dies, it gets tapped and removed from combat instead.

Infect means that instead of dealing damage normally, Skithiryx deals damage to Creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters. Once a player reaches ten poison counters, they lose immediately, regardless of what their life total was.

Skithiryx may see less play today than it did a decade ago, but that does not mean the card got weaker. It is still a menace, and it can threaten to take opponents out in just one or two attacks. It already has a way to give itself Haste and can be hard to block thanks to its Flying ability, so all you need to do is find a way to boost its power.

Equipment like Lashwrithe and Nightmare Lash can both pump its power enough to kill opponents in one hit, but one-off effects like Howl from Beyond and Hatred work too.

It can also dodge a lot of removal thanks to its Regenerate ability, but you can also protect it with cards like Swiftfoot Boots, Kaya's Ghostform, and Commander's Plate.

12. Maha, Its Feathers Night

Everyone remembers Bloomburrow for its cute animals and beautiful aesthetics. However, hidden amongst the Frogs and Raccoons was an Elemental Bird sure to strike fear in Commander players' hearts.

Maha, Its Feathers Night is a five-mana 5/3 with a Ward cost that forces opponents to discard a card if they want to target it; it also has a static ability that gives each Creature you don't control a base toughness of one. It seems simple, but true to Maha's nature in the lore, this card is brutal.

Maha is at its best helming a combo deck looking to lock down all Creatures using a variety of cards that combo with it.

Giving all Creatures your opponents control just one toughness leaves them very vulnerable to many Black board wipes, like The Meathook Massacre, Toxic Deluge, Nuclear Fallout, and Black Sun's Zenith.

It also makes bad board wipes like Make Obsolete, Suffocating Fumes, and Night Clubber a lot better, as they become cheap, one-sided wraths. It also combos with Night of Soul's Betrayal and Kaervek, the Spiteful to ensure that you are the only player that can control Creatures until your opponents find ways to remove them.

And Maha's Ward cost makes dealing with these combos much more difficult. Once you find a way to lock down the board, use cards like Massacre Girl, Known Killer, Black Market, Morbid Opportunist, and Gisa, Glorious Resurrector to pull ahead and dominate the game.

11. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

White may be the color best-known for its lifegain decks, but Black also gets some of the best payoffs for the archetype. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose is one of those payoffs, and makes a very powerful Commander.

This three-mana Vampire says that whenever you gain life, one of your opponents loses that much life. You can also pay five mana to give all your Creatures Lifelink until end of turn.

Vito is the second half to several two-card combos, and when he is always readily available from your Command Zone, it makes pulling off those combos a lot easier. The most infamous combo is with Exquisite Blood or the recently printed Bloodthirsty Conqueror, either of which start an infinite life drain loop with Vito if an opponent loses life.

He can also combo with Blood Tribute and Shard of the Nightbringer to kill one opponent on the spot, which can take out the player in the lead and put you way ahead on life.

If you don't want to play a linear combo deck, however, Vito can still lead a strong lifegain deck, where you can stack similar effects like Enduring Tenacity, Starscape Cleric, and Sanguine Bond to gradually burn out your opponents.

10. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse was a menace while it was in Standard, and it's just as good in Commander. The card is really simple, just a four-mana 4/5 with Deathtouch that gains you two life when you draw a card and drains each opponent for two life whenever they draw a card.

It was so simple, in fact, that many players wrote her off during spoiler season, but it didn't take long for them to be proven wrong. While Sheoldred has a home in many Black decks, as the color is very good at drawing cards, she is terrifying in the Command Zone.

What makes Sheoldred so good is that she punishes card draw, which is often the thing Commander players do the most. While she can rack up a bunch of damage by just sitting on the board, she also becomes incredibly powerful when you can make your opponents draw cards.

Group hug staples like Temple Bell and Howling Mine become much less appealing when they also force opponents to lose life. While many players may rejoice when they get a chance to wheel, cards like Dark Deal will threaten their life totals.

Finally, if you want a solid one-play kill, hit them with a Peer Into the Abyss or a big Damnable Pact to take them out instantly.

9. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

One of the oldest cards on this list, Shirei is a classic Commander with a unique deck-building restriction among mono-Black Commanders.

Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker is a 2/2 for five. While it's in play, if a Creature you control with power one or less dies, you may return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step if Shirei is still on the battlefield. It's a simple and deceptively powerful Commander, and you can go a lot of different directions with it.

Filling your deck with Creatures with power one or less may seem like an easy way to get run over, especially in a format known for its bombs, but Shirei makes up for that by letting you take advantage of death and enters triggers.

Shirei is worded in a way that lets you loop Creatures on your opponents' turns too, so with a free sacrifice outlet you can get triggers from cards like Bone Shredder, Dusk Legion Zealot, or Abyssal Gatekeeper.

You could also be a little meaner and load up on cards like Burglar Rats, which will quickly strip your opponents' hands and probably make some people very mad at you. Stock up on ways to protect Shirei if you choose to go this route, like Swiftfoot Boots, Feign Death, or Not Dead After All.

8. Tinybones, Bauble Burglar

One of Magic players' favorite little guys, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar hides his sinister motives beneath a cute exterior.

This little guy is one of the best discard Commanders, costing two mana and exiling cards when your opponents discard so you can cast them later. He also lets you pay to force each opponent to discard a card.

Tinybones is a pretty straight-forward Commander that wants to go all-in on forcing your opponents to discard cards, as it turns all discard spells into card advantage. Cards like Burglar Rat, Syphon Mind, and Dark Deal are some of the best ways to force your opponents to discard, but you can also run cards that synergize with theft, like Thieving Varmint and Gonti, Night Minister.

Of course, like any discard deck, Waste Not will be your best friend, making sure that you have a steady stream of mana, cards, and Creatures while you take everything from your opponents.

7. Braids, Arisen Nightmare

Braids, Arisen Nightmare is probably better-known as a card draw engine in the 99 of sacrifice-focused decks, but she is also a great Commander. For , you get a 3/3 that, at the beginning of your end step, allows you to sacrifice a permanent.

Then, each opponent may sacrifice a permanent that shares a type with that card, and if they don't you draw a card and they lose two life. The best cards to pair with Braids will usually be Artifacts and Enchantments, as your opponents are less likely to be able to sacrifice those permanents than Creatures, but what makes her unique is that she pairs really well with cards that don't work well in other decks.

Cards like Treacherous Blessing and Demonic Lore normally have huge downsides, but with Braids you can get your card draw and sacrifice them on your end step to avoid losing too much life and draw extra cards with her ability.

She also makes Artifacts and Enchantments that trigger upon entry and death much better, like Ichor Wellspring, Hopeless Nightmare, Mephitic Draught, and Mycosynth Wellspring. With cards like these, Braids becomes an incredibly efficient card draw engine that is always available from the Command Zone.

From there, you can stock your deck with as many finishers as you want, and she'll make sure you draw them every game.

6. Marrow-Gnawer

If there's one thing Commander players love, it's goofy little Creature types, and nowhere is this more apparent than with the prevalence of Rat decks. There are many mono-Black Commander options if you want to play Rats, but Marrow-Gnawer is by far the most powerful.

This five-mana Creature is basically the Rat version of Krenko, Mob Boss, allowing you to tap Marrow-Gnawer and sacrifice a Rat to create a number of 1/1 Rat Creature tokens equal to the number of Rats you control. Oh, and for good measure, it also gives all Rats Fear, which means they can only be blocked by Artifact Creatures and other Black Creatures.

I can't overstate how strong this card is as the Commander of a Rat deck. Creating a massive army of Rats is one thing, but it also makes all your Rats significantly harder to block.

This deck is also pretty easy to put together. If you want to build a Marrow-Gnawer deck, grab every Rat card you can get your hands on and throw them in. Even if the card isn't a Rat itself, if it makes Rat tokens it also goes in, like Piper of the Swarm, Ogre Slumlord, and Chittering Witch.

Once you have a big board, there are a million ways to win. Swinging out is the easiest way, but you can also drain your opponents' life with cards like Ayara, First of Locthwain, Valley Rotcaller, and Mirkwood Bats or sacrifice your Rats to kill the table with a Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Syr Konrad, the Grim.

Victory is yours, assuming you're willing to drown yourself in Rats to get there.

5. Syr Konrad, the Grim

Every Commander player knows Syr Konrad, the Grim. Since his release in 2019, he has been one of the most ubiquitous Black cards in the format, showing up in practically every deck that cares about sacrificing Creatures, reanimating Creatures, discarding Creatures or forcing opponents to discard Creatures, or Milling Creatures, which is about 90% of Black decks.

This 5/4 Human Knight pings each opponent for one damage whenever a Creature even thinks about the graveyard. Whenever any Creature dies, whenever someone at the table discards a card, if anyone mills a Creature, and if a Creature leaves your graveyard any other way: Syr Konrad triggers.

Out of options and need him to do something? You can pay two mana to activate his ability and make each player Mill a card. Syr Konrad will probably trigger.

Like Braids, Syr Konrad has made a name for himself in the 99 of many, many decks, but it's easy to forget that he can also lead a deck. He is incredibly flexible too, making for a great Mill Commander, discard Commander, aristocrats Commander, or generic good stuff Commander.

Pair him with cards like Mesmeric Orb and Tortured Existence for big damage or even go pseudo-infinite with just him and a Mindcrank, although this combo can end early if you get super unlucky and no one mills Creatures for multiple triggers.

You can also stock your graveyard and one-shot your opponents with a card like Living Death or Bojuka Bog targeting yourself, as of course Syr Konrad isn't limited by a "one or more" clause. Living Death is especially potent, as Syr Konrad will see every Creature leave your graveyard then see every Creature on board get sacrificed during the swap.

4. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER

The most popular mono-Black Commander, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a 3/3 Human Avatar Soldier.

For , we get an ETB/attack trigger to sacrifice a Creature to draw a card. Also, whenever a Creature dies, we steal one life from an opponent.

Once that ability triggers for the fourth time in a single turn it transforms into Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel. To help you achieve this, it also lets you sacrifice another Creature whenever it enters or attacks to draw a card.

Once it transforms, you get an emblem with its life drain ability, and now whenever it attacks, you may sacrifice any number of Creatures to draw that many cards instead of sacrificing them one at a time.

Sephiroth makes for a fantastic aristocrats Commander, providing both a way to sacrifice Creatures for value and dealing damage when you do so. Unlike a lot of other aristocrat Commanders, he also provides a payoff for destroying opponents' Creatures or forcing them to sacrifice their Creatures.

For example, since flipping Sephiroth only requires four Creatures to die, regardless of who controls them, some of the strongest cards in the deck are edict Creatures, or Creatures that force each player to sacrifice when they enter.

Fleshbag Marauder, Accursed Marauder, and Merciless Executioner all help you flip Sephiroth immediately when they enter, assuming each opponent has a Creature to sacrifice.

Fill the rest of your deck with recursive Creatures like Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, Forsaken Miner and it should be pretty easy to assemble a win using your favorite aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Syr Konrad.

3. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

My personal mono-Black Commander of choice, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the perfect aristocrats Commander. The four-mana 2/4 has Protection from Humans and two abilities. The first allows you to pay one life and sacrifice a body to put a -1/-1 counter a Creature of your choice and draw a card.

You can also pay and discard a card to Proliferate. The first and last abilities will come up from time to time, but the second ability is what every aristocrats player dreams of: a free sacrifice outlet that also draws cards and eventually removes your opponents' Creatures.

Honestly, the only thing holding Yawgmoth back as a Commander is his Color Identity. If this card were White/Black or Red/Black, it would be one of the most popular Commanders in the format.

Yawgmoth is more than just a card draw engine and sacrifice outlet though. It is also a notorious combo piece, so efficient that it formed the backbone of one of Modern's strongest decks for years.

The ability to put a -1/-1 on any Creature allows for many combo routes. Any two Creatures with Undying will go infinite, like Butcher Ghoul and Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor, as the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters cancel each other out each time and you sacrifice those two Creatures infinitely as long as you have a way to gain life.

Nest of Scarabs also combos with Yawgmoth, essentially ensuring that your opponents never keep Creatures on the board again thanks to the Insect tokens the Enchantment makes each time you put a -1/-1 counter on a Creature.

Forsaken Miner and Pitiless Plunderer achieve the same effect, as each -1/-1 counter you put on an opponents' Creature is a crime.

These are just scratching the surface though.

2. Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern

In second place, we have a name that strikes fear into the hearts of Commander players everywhere: Tergrid. One of only three Commanders on the Game Changers list, Tergrid can be absolutely miserable to play against.

For , you get a 5/4 God with Menace that steals any nontoken permanent cards your opponents sacrifice or discard. It can also be cast on the other side as a four-mana Artifact that can tap to force an opponent to either lose three life, discard a card or sacrifice a nonland permanent and can be untapped for four mana, but you'll rarely see this side of the card.

Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern is a Game Changer for a very good reason. This card is absolutely miserable to play against, as forcing opponents to sacrifice Creatures and discard cards are two of Black greatest strengths.

Unlike other theft decks, it is really hard to prevent Tergrid from stealing your stuff, as they aren't safe in your hand or on your board, and thanks to other Mill and reanimation effects in Black, they probably aren't safe in your library or graveyard either.

Once Tergrid hits the board, she will swing games very quickly, so if you want to play Tergrid, be patient and let your opponents run out their interaction first or hold onto ways to protect her. Then, flood the board with cards like Accursed Marauder or Burglar Rat and steal everything from your former friends.

For extra pain, run cards like Smallpox, as Tergrid also steals Lands.

1. K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth

Finally, we have reached the peak of the mono-Black mountain.

I have talked about many Commanders and how they support specific archetypes, but what makes K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth so powerful, even surpassing his father, is that K'rrik can truly do whatever he wants. This Commander costs seven mana and is just a 2/2, but you probably won't ever spend that much to cast him. Those three Black pips are Phyrexian Mana, meaning you can pay two life instead of a Black mana.

Then, K'rrik turns every Black pip in your deck into Phyrexian Mana, everything from casting costs to activated abilities. Finally, whenever you cast a Black spell, K'rrik gets a +1/+1 counter, allowing you to start gaining back the life you've been paying thanks to his Lifelink.

When I say that K'rrik can do anything, I mean it. His ability to cheat on mana with every spell you cast or ability you activate means you can build him in any way you want. Just fill your deck with cards that support your chosen archetype and use K'rrik as a ramp spell. You'll probably end up being the archenemy of the table, but that is simply the cost of greatness. If you want to build around K'rrik specifically, however, you can use him to helm a very strong life manipulation deck or generically good combo or control deck.

Once you've paid most of your life to cast spells, you can hit your opponents with cards like Profane Transfusion and Repay in Kind to drag another player or even the rest of the table down with you. He also works well with cards that reward you for losing life, like Vilis, Broker of Blood and Font of Agonies.

Finally, because he can make many spells and abilities free, he can be the third card in numerous infinite combos, like Carrion Feeder and Gravecrawler, Necrotic Ooze with Asmodeus, the Archfiend in your graveyard, or even just K'rrik and Blood Celebrant, which essentially makes a free mana of any one color for each three life you pay.

You can build K'rrik pretty much however you want, but unless you're playing pure jank, this Commander probably only belongs at tables playing Bracket 3 or higher.

Conclusion

And that does it for the ranking. It turns out that Mono-Black Commanders are really good at being mean to your opponents, but sometimes we all want to be the villain, don't we?