Zendikar Rising preview season has finally come to a close, which also means it’s finally time for me to do my review of the set for Oathbreaker! To be more specific, I’ll be doing a Top 10 article for cards of each color, as well as one for multicolor cards. I’ll also be doing a Top 10 article that will cover the remaining cards of the set along with the new cards from the two new preconstructed EDH decks. My Top 10s are based on 1) how strong I think a card will be in Oathbreaker, and 2) how many different types of Oathbreaker decks I expect the card to see play in. While I do try to be as objective as I can, these are ultimately just my own thoughts/opinions. With all that out of the way, let’s continue with my Top 10 Black cards from Zendikar Rising for Oathbreaker!
#10: Hagra Constrictor
While not unheard of, +1/+1 counter strategies tend to not get a ton of support in black, but that is not the case with Zendikar Rising. This set pushes a pretty clear green/black +1/+1 counters subtheme, and Hagra Constrictor is just one small example of a new card for this archetype. In +1/+1 counter strategies, it’s always nice to give your buffed-up creatures some added evasion to get around chump blockers. Trample would probably be a bit more ideal for most situations, but giving your board menace isn’t too shabby of an option either. To my knowledge, there aren’t really any green/black +1/+1 counter decks floating around in Oathbreaker at the moment, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that change thanks to new supportive pieces like Hagra Constrictor.
#9: Scion of the Swarm
Lifegain is a fairly popular archetype in Oathbreaker, and Scion of the Swarm seems like a very nice addition to those types of lists. According to EDHrec, Ajani’s Pridemate is currently played in over 250 Oathbreaker decks. Scion of the Swarm certainly comes at quite a higher cost, but I think its added evasion helps make up for this downside. In addition to more traditional lifegain decks, I could see this flying friend showing up in certain vampire tribal and cleric tribal decks since both creature types are fairly effective at gaining life incidentally. Scion of the Swarm is still certainly not the strongest black card to come out of Zendikar Rising, but I expect it will nonetheless see a reasonable amount of play in Oathbreaker.
#8: Marauding Blight-Priest
Speaking of new tech for lifegain decks! Marauding Blight-Priest is a perfect example of a card that scales well into multiplayer formats. A payoff card like Scion of the Swarm is nice, but it can still only attack one opponent at a time. If you’re in a four-player Oathbreaker game, Marauding Blight-Priest is essentially going to be dealing a collective 3 points of damage every time you gain life. This kind of effect may not seem particularly powerful on the surface, but it is deceivingly strong, especially when paired with the likes of Soul’s Attendant and Soul Warden. I suspect that Marauding Blight-Priest will end up seeing play in all the same kinds of decks that Scion of the Swarm will show up in, and I encourage you not to underestimate this innocuous little three-drop.
#7: Shadows’ Verdict
This five-mana board wipe has an interesting combination of effect that we don’t see too often. It’s not every day that we get a black wrath that hits both creatures and planeswalkers, nor one that hits both the battlefield and graveyards. Only hitting cards with CMCs of 3 or less is definitely a relevant restriction, but I think the uniqueness of this card’s range helps make up for this downside. I’m pretty sure that control strategies are going to be the primary home for Shadows’ Verdict, though any deck that’s looking to make it to the mid/late game could make good use of this card. I ultimately think that this card’s mana-cost of five is going to keep it from being one of the more competitive board wipes in the format, but that doesn’t mean it won’t see its fair share of play in Oathbreaker.
#6: Feed the Swarm
I never thought I would see the day that black gets targeted enchantment removal! While I can understand why some players may be skeptical of the wisdom in this decision, I personally feel that Feed the Swarm is a pretty reasonable interpretation of black enchantment removal; after all, “greatness at any cost” is pretty much black’s motto, and the life loss stapled to this effect isn’t totally irrelevant. That being said, decks that run enough incidental lifegain likely won’t mind this downside very much, and this card will likely always have something to target since it can also destroy creatures. This sorcery-speed pseudo-Disenchant probably won’t become a new black Oathbreaker staple, but it is kind of nice to finally see another color get a bit of help in the enchantment-removal department.
#5: Taborax, Hope’s Demise
Let me be absolutely clear; this card has a lot of text, but there’s really only one sentence on it that I personally care about. The cleric tribal synergy is neat/cute, and the conditional lifelink is slightly relevant, but I think Taborax’s main strength in Oathbreaker lies in his ability to gain +1/+1 counters upon sacrificing nontoken creatures. This flyer can grow to be pretty large in the right deck, and it’s coincidentally a decent payoff for black +1/+1 counter decks. I suspect that Taborax would be more at home in a generic sacrifice-based deck rather than an aristocrats list specifically, but I wouldn’t totally rule him out in any deck looking to sacrifice a lot of creatures. I don’t expect to see Taborax, Hope’s Demise become a staple in sacrifice-based strategies in Oathbreaker, but he’s certainly a spicy new option for players looking for greatness at the cost of their creatures.
#4: Drana, the Last Bloodchief
This latest iteration of Drana is, in my mind, kind of like a black Baneslayer Angel; it’s a five-drop flyer that doesn’t do anything right when it hits the board, but it could also win you the game if you manage to untap with it. Drana’s triggered ability is also worded in a way that opens up some political possibilities. With the right deal in place, one could theoretically convince a defending opponent to give you back a creature of your choice. This ability also lightly overlaps with this set’s green/black +1/+1 counters subtheme, but almost any creature-based deck could easily take advantage of this kind of recursion. Drana’s lack of immediate value is my reason for placing her this low on the list, but I could definitely be underestimating this flashy new mythic.
#3: Soul Shatter
One common weakness of sacrifice-based removal is that your opponent(s) may be able to get around it by already having sacrifice fodder; fortunately enough, Soul Shatter avoids this issue entirely by forcibly narrowing down your opponents’ options. This card is also another great example of a card that scales very well into multiplayer formats. As long as each of your opponents has at least one creature and/or planeswalker, this spell will often be a 3-for-1, and being an instant makes Soul Shatter that much more versatile. Control strategies are the most obvious home for this kind of card, but just about any list in Oathbreaker could justify running removal that’s this efficient. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see Soul Shatter go on to become a black Oathbreaker staple, and I’m looking forward to “getting” my opponents with this card.
#2: Demon’s Disciple
There can never be enough sacrifice-based shenanigans! At first glance, Demon’s Disciple may simply look like a much worse version of Soul Shatter, and Soul Shatter is certainly strong in some respects; however, creatures like Demon’s Disciple come with their own advantages as well. According to EDHrec, Plaguecrafter is currently played in over 500 decks, and this new human cleric is essentially a slightly weaker version of Plaguecrafter. There are plenty of decks out there that are looking to sacrifice their own creatures for value, and it’s much easier to recur a creature like Demon’s Disciple for further use than it is to reuse a spell like Soul Shatter. I expect that pretty much any deck that runs Plaguecrafter could easily justify running Demon’s Disciple, so I have no doubt that this new kid on the block is going to be a staple for sacrifice-based strategies in Oathbreaker.
#1: Nighthawk Scavenger
In case you haven’t already heard, Vampire Nighthawk and Tarmogoyf had a baby, and it is awesome. It’s a tad unfortunate that Nighthawk Scavenger doesn’t also count cards in your graveyard, but this slight downside is more than made up for by it counting each of your opponent’s graveyards. It generally won’t take long for graveyards to become stocked, even in games where no one is specifically looking to fill up their graveyard. All that being said, this creature will still be fairly strong at 1 power thanks to its keywords. Flying and deathtouch make this creature effective on both offense and defense, and lifelink has always been a powerful keyword in Oathbreaker. Vampire Nighthawk is currently played in over 360 Oathbreaker decks, and Nighthawk Scavenger is almost always going to be a better version of that card. This kind of creature also doesn’t need to be played in any particular strategies in order for it be to effective, so I expect to see Nighthawk Scavenger show up in many different Oathbreaker lists in the near future.
What are your favorite black cards from Zendikar Rising? Are there any black cards you’re particularly excited to try out in Oathbreaker? Make sure to tell me in the comments or on Twitter! I’ll be back in a couple of days with my Top 10 red cards from Zendikar Rising for Oathbreaker.
About the author: My name is Alex Enders. I am a college student that’s been playing MTG for almost eight years, though I only recently began experimenting with writing content. My personal formats of choice are Oathbreaker, EDH, and draft. My other interests include music, education, and most things nerdy. You can find me on Twitter (@AAAEnders) or email me at aenders2112@gmail.com