Ranked The Most Useless Black Commanders in Magic The Gathering
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Ranked The Most Useless Black Commanders in Magic The Gathering
There are plenty of great Black Commanders in MtG, but these ten are not those in any way whatsoever. Commander is one of the most popular formats that has to offer. At the time of writing, players have just shy of 1,000 commanders to choose from while constructing a commander deck. While there are numerous excellent and dynamic options players can select as their commander, not all legendary creatures are created equally. Due to the power creep the game has experienced over its lifespan, cards that were once mildly passable are now laughably terrible. So today, we're going to examine the worst, most pathetic options players have to choose from when building a black Commander deck. As the vast majority of potential commanders from "Portal: Three Kingdoms" are unanimously viewed as useless by players, we will not be examining them within this list. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Commander Greven Il-Vec
While the more recent incarnation of Greven has definitely improved upon what had previously been established, the original Commander Greven il-Vec is pretty terrible as far as commanders are concerned. A 7/5 with fear four the cost of six mana, upon entering the battlefield, Greven requires that a creature be sacrificed. While a 7/5 with fear can have its uses, the steep cost and required sacrificed creature is far from worth it. Additionally, while there are numerous powerful commanders who possess interesting synergies and deck building opportunities, Greven does little more than attack opponents, possessing no real notable abilities. Tetzimoc Primal Death
While the black , Tetzimoc Primal Death passes the vanilla test and possesses a relevant keyword in the form of deathtouch, the dino's primary selling point is completely unusable if it's your commander. For one mana, Tetzimoc can be revealed from its owner's hand in order to put a prey counter on any creature. Then, when Tetzimoc enters the battlefield, all creatures with prey counters on them are destroyed. While this targeted board wipe can be useful in theory, having Tetzimoc as one's commander raises a problem: Tetzimoc will, unless put there by an ability of an opponent, never be in its owner's hand. Aphemia The Cacophony
The most recently printed entry on our list, Aphemia, the Cacophony is far from a powerful commander. A 2/1 for two mana, Aphemia allows its controller to exile an enchantment from their graveyard once each turn, and then, in turn, create a 2/2 zombie token. This is perhaps the most restricted and slow option a player could have when building a token commander. Not only can Aphemia only create one token each turn, but her means of doing so is also limited to the amount of enchantment in her controller's graveyard, providing little to no incentive for players to build around the harpy. Gallowbraid And Morinfen
Gallowbraid and Morinfen are two potential mono-black commanders who share a great deal in common, who have each earned their spot on this list for the same reason. A 5/5 with trample and a 5/4 with flying respectively, the only other ability these creatures possess are cumulative upkeeps of one life. This means that the only effect that these plain and lackluster creatures possess is a growing cost of life that must be paid by their controller, causing them to lose life for otherwise "french vanilla" creatures. Irini Sengir
One of the appeals of Commander is the ability to build decks that synergize around interesting abilities found on legendary creatures. Irini Sengir's ability is so niche and specific that in the majority of deck matchups, her ability will effectively do nothing. A 2/2 for four mana, Irini Sengir causes all green and white enchantments to cost two additional mana to cast. While taxing opponents' spells is powerful, this tax is so specific and targeted that Irini's usefulness is nonexistent in the majority of games. Unless a player is seeking to be the kryptonite of , Irini Sengir should never be considered. Grandmother Sengir
When playing Magic, it is always in the best interest of players to get the most value out of each mana they pay in spells and abilities. Costly and underwhelming, Grandmother Sengir is a 3/3 for five mana, immediately failing the "vanilla test." For the cost of two mana, Grandmother Sengir can be tapped in order to give another creature -1/-1 until the end of turn. This means that for an investment of seven mana, player's can give one creature -1/-1. This is incredibly weak and incapable of making any form of significant impact or dealing with problems controlled by opponents. Yukora The Prisoner
While Yukora, the Prisoner's stats are quite decent, weighing in as a 5/5 for four mana, Yukora's abysmal ability more than detracts from its stats. Upon entering the battlefield, Yukora's controller is forced to sacrifice all non-ogre creatures they control, board-wiping their own creatures. Unless a player is seeking to attempt to build a mono-blakc ogre tribal deck, this ability will be a notable hindrance. Even if a player attempts to utilize ogres to mitigate damages, there are only twenty ogres playable in Yukora's color identity, many of which are notably weak. Purraj Of Urborg
Another costly and lackluster commander option in the vein of Grandmother Sengir, Purraj of Urborg is an absolute mess of a commander who is hindered by numerous drawbacks. A 2/3 for five mana, Purraj has even lower power and toughness than Grandmother Sengir. Purraj does possess the benefit of first strike, but unfortunately, this cat warrior only possesses the ability as long as it's attacking, cutting its usefulness in half. Purraj does possess capabilities to grow itself larger through the use of +1/+1 counters, but like the rest of Purraj, this comes with strings attached, only allowing counters to be placed on Purraj if an additional black mana is spent when a black spell is cast. Haakon Stromgald Scourge
While the aforementioned Tetzimoc made its way onto this list due to its inability to activate its abilities and selling points, Haakon Stromgald Scourge possesses the same problems tenfold. A zombie knight who allows for other knights to be cast from the graveyard, Haakon himself cannot be cast from anywhere besides the graveyard. As commanders begin the game within the command zone, this means that without the use of "Command Beacon," it is nearly impossible for Haakon players to even cast their commander. As recent years have provided numerous other knight-tribal commander options, Haakon should be relegated to the 99, rather than a leading role. Veldrane Of Sengir
Veldrane of Sengir is a very high contender of the title of the worst commander in all of Magic. Don't be fooled by the cool eyepatch; Veldrane is perhaps the biggest possible waste a player can use their mana to cast. A 5/5 for seven mana, Veldrane comes in at a very steep mana cost. Additionally, players can utilize his activated ability by paying an additional three mana. Doing so provides Veldrane with forest walk. While having this be the only effect of this ability would still land Veldrane on this list, there's more to this ability. Doing so reduces his power by three. This means that for all intents and purposes, Veldrane can effectively allow its controller to pay a total of ten mana to deal a total of two damage. If you are playing Veldrane of Sengir as your commander, please take a moment to step back and re-evaluate your life choices up to the moment in which you thought that doing so was a good idea.