Mana Review: Commander Black Mana Acceleration

March 21, 2011 in Magic the Gathering

Please bear in mind this is from March 2011. New cards come out. Old cards might suck.

The first thing that comes to mind with black mana ramp is Dark Ritual. In long EDH games though, black turns tricky. It is, after all, the color where it takes some to get some.

Many of black’s mana acceleration cards require sac’ing, discarding or expending life, but this doesn’t mean black’s inferior. On the contrary; when played right, black can give the biggest bang for your mana ramp.

Sac a Creature for Mana

These creatures get sacrificed to generate mana. Many of them are integral in combo win conditions. Note that Culling the Weak gives a creature a one-time sac for four mana, like a slightly bolstered Dark Ritual. There’s also good ol’ Sacrifice.

Graveyard Mana

These cards are dependent on graveyards.

Black Market: Whenever a creature hits a graveyard, you put a charge on Black Market; then you get one black mana for every charge counter during your precombat main phase. Works great with proliferate, or similar counter-generating effects.
Song of the Damned: Get a black mana for each creature in your graveyard.
Spoils of Evil: An instant that gives one colorless mana [and one life, bonus!] for every artifact and creature card in a target opponent’s graveyard.

Other Black Mana Ramp

These outliers aren’t weaker options; their abilities are just too unique for a category.

Carnival of Souls: Whenever a creature comes into play, you lose one life and gain one mana. It’s not optional. Combine it with Essence Warden, Soul Warden or Soul’s Attendant.
Corpsehatcher: Destroy a creature, then get some Eldrazi spawn for mana.Essence Feed is similar, except a player loses life for your Eldrazi spawn.
Magus of the Coffers: This wizard is the best! Tap him to get a black mana for every Swamp you control. It’s Cabal Coffers on a stick.
Nirkana Revenant: It’s a Gauntlet of Power on a stick; whenever you tap a swamp, you get an additional mana. Every mono black deck should have one. Italicized for necessity!
Pawn of Ulamog: Whenever this dude or another one of your creatures hits the battlefield, you get an Eldrazi spawn. Recurring spawn are always nice.
Priest of Gix: This creature gives mana when he enters the battlefield, no sac’ing required. It’s like a freebie!
Priest of Yawgmoth: The Yawgmoth clergy have a thing about sac’ing artifacts to get mana. They also look like they’re straight from the Coneheads.
Rain of Filth: This enchant lets you sac lands for mana. It’s a great last ditch effort, though being an instant makes it a turn-off for EDH.
Skirge Familiar: Discard cards to get mana. As a bonus, you get a flying critter to pester people with.
Vesper Ghoul: Pay one life and tap this bugger to get a mana of any color. Great black card for decks with three or more colors. [And some way to handle getting hit for one damage each time.]
Witch Engine: Tap this creature to give 4 mana, then hand him over to an opponent. Fun choice for a group hug deck.