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The end of the year is upon us once again. We're now into December proper and inching ever closer to yet another ball drop to send us into 2026. So as the sun sets on 2025, it's time to yet again look back at some of the very best of what the year has had to offer!
To do so, I'm going through each color (as well as Gold and Colorless/Lands) to look at the five best cards for every category. I've already covered White and Blue thus far, which you can check out here:
Now, though, it's time to look back at the best Black cards of the year. The color has been surprisingly sparse this time around in terms of quality players, yet in spite of that, there have still been some really outstanding cards along the way.
There's plenty to cover so let's get right into it!
5. The Soul Stone/The Terminus of Return
Marvel's Spider-Man has been quite a controversial set. Many players weren't thrilled about the setting and characters, and a few cards in particular rustled some jimmies. Case in point: The Soul Stone.
This one got players everywhere on two facets. The first was that this is one of six Infinity Stones according to Marvel canon. If there's only going to be one per set, as is speculated, that could mean we're in for a really long haul with the brand - something many players aren't excited about. Additionally, it was poised to become an instant staple of all Black decks in Commander going forward. This was something many players called out as being something Wizards didn't want to do if possible given the history of Arcane Signet, Command Tower, and Sol Ring being auto-includes for the format.
Despite the issues and potential negative reception the card has received, there's no doubt that it's a sweet card. It's indeed become quite a casual staple, owing to the fact that it's not merely a cheap mana rock but also it becomes a huge value engine in the late game. Given all of this, it seems perfectly fair to say that it's lived up to being one of the best Black cards of the year in spite of the consternation around it.
4. Bloodghast
It feels a little bit like cheating to include a reprint on this list, but I think Bloodghast is fairly deserving of the love here. Anyone who has played Magic in the last decade probably is familiar with the power of this card. It has a long and storied history of being played in Modern, Legacy, and even Vintage - not to mention Cube and Commander. Just about everywhere you can play it, it's a solid playable. So if it's got such a pedigree behind it, it shouldn't be too much of a shock to see it on a list like this.
The reason I'm including it here is because of the way the reprint in Aetherdrift gave it some fresh life. The printing made it finally legal in Pioneer, which has spawned an all-new Dredge-style deck that's additionally fueled by Dredger's Insight from the same set. Not only that, but after a few months it's finally getting a bit of time in Standard thanks to a new combo deck utilizing Beifong's Bounty Hunters to create an infinite loop. These new uses aren't quite enough to push it to the top of this list, but it's certainly reason enough to get a classic onto this list.
3. Momentum Breaker
Edict effects have always been debatable just how good they may be. After all, we're many years removed since Chainer's Edict and Diabolic Edict were good cards. Even in the spaces where they've been playable in the past decade, like Pauper, they've been falling off in favor of other, better cards. You'd think these simple effects wouldn't hold up by today's standards, but Momentum Breaker shows just how effective these kinds of cards can be in this day and age.
Not only is this card an edict, but if your opponent doesn't have a creature, you can simply force them to discard instead. But wait, there's even more! You can also sacrifice it for some life in a pinch, making it an awesome versatile option. The card really gets its power, though, from being able to bounce it. This is similar to what made Tithing Blade so awesome in Pauper in 2023, only it's substantially better in formats like Standard and Pioneer that can fully take advantage of all of its modes.
2. Black Mage's Rod
Speaking of sweet Pauper cards, let's talk about Black Mage's Rod! Players love a good pinger effect, regardless of the format. It doesn't matter if it's good or not, it's simply something that many players enjoy. One doesn't need to look much further than the Rakdos Black Mages archetype of Final Fantasy Limited. It was a lesser option among the two-color strategies, but despite this, proved to be a lot of fun for players to try out.
This led to a lot of people talking about and hyping up Black Mage's Rod in particular. It stood out as a way to not only make a pinger, but to make any of your creatures into a pinger. Not only did this get plenty of love in Limited and casual formats, but it managed to make a minor splash in Pauper as well. Various decks, like Grixis Affinity, found ways to take advantage of it to dish out heavy amounts of damage. This made for a really fun and really unique card among the handful of particularly memorable Black cards from throughout this past year.
1. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
Much to my delight, the number one Black card of the year is Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER! I've gotten to talk about it quite a bit at length this year, but I'm a pretty die-hard Sephiroth fan and to have him take the top spot is awesome. I'm not sure I normally would've put him here, but being honest, most of the Mono-Black cards this year don't have quite the shine that the last few years have had. You don't see many standouts from this year in Black-based lists; it's primarily stuff from the last couple of years.
By comparison, Sephiroth has proven to be a huge hit across multiple formats. He's shown up a decent amount in various Standard lists, Pioneer Sacrifice builds, and - perhaps most surprisingly - a fairly wide variety of Modern decks. That's to say nothing about his utility in casual settings like Commander and Cube. This means that not only is the best Black card of 2025 one of the coolest video game villains of all time, but it's also a multi-format all-star!
Paige Smith
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