(Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer | Art by Yongjae Choi)

Technically Playable - Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer

Welcome to Technically Playable, where our mission statement is "Every commander is technically playable" (the best kind of playable).

The way this works is every article will have a commander generated using EDHREC's random button, then I'll talk through the card and write about how we can build around it!

This week's random commander is Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer

We love a good bit of Universes Beyond here at Technically Playable. Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer is a card I've been eyeing up for a long time to build as a mono-black reanimator deck since it's one of my favourite archetypes.

Sadly, I'm currently trying to find interesting and fun decks to build of each color combination, and Anrakyr the TravellerAnrakyr the Traveller managed to just squeak past Sauron as my mono-black commander by allowing me to build both reanimator and life-shenanigans through cards like Soul ConduitSoul Conduit and Profane TransfusionProfane Transfusion after reanimating a Phyrexian TriniformPhyrexian Triniform.

But this article isn't about Anrakyr; that, I imagine, will come later.

One Ring to Rule Them All

No, not that The One RingThe One Ring.

Sauron is really reliant on being your Ring-bearer to prevent your tokens from being exiled, which is fine until you realise that the Ring-bearer mechanic is one of those "parasitic mechanics", a mechanic that only exists in one set and has had no extra support since. Again, that's fine, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was fairly large, and the Ring-bearer was one of the key mechanics in that set; however, we run into another issue.

That mechanic was spread across all of the colors, and Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer only gives us access to the black and colorless cards with that mechanic.

A cursory search of Scryfall shows us that we have access to 12 different cards with the text "the Ring tempts you", one of which is NazgûlNazgûl, which we can have nine of, which actually gives us 20(ish) possible options.

Of course we're running nine NazgûlNazgûl, to be on-theme if nothing else, but there are some of these cards that are simply not good enough.

Gollum's BiteGollum's Bite, Uruk-hai BerserkerUruk-hai Berserker, The Black BreathThe Black Breath, Claim the PreciousClaim the Precious, and Inherited EnvelopeInherited Envelope are all way too below the power level of even the lowest power levels in any pod I've ever played in.

We're left then with around 15 cards that can make Sauron our Ring-bearer, which is not horrible since that's just shy of about one third of our nonlands.

Of these, the best are probably the different Ringwraith cards (which I'll talk about later), Call of the RingCall of the Ring, and One Ring to Rule Them AllOne Ring to Rule Them All; hey, he said the thing!

One Ring to Rule Them AllOne Ring to Rule Them All is a really powerful Saga that gives you access to not only the Ring tempts you but also a board wipe that leaves Sauron alive, and then what can potentially be a lot of damage. Milling your opponents also allows you to ReanimateReanimate or Animate DeadAnimate Dead bombs outside of your colors that you wouldn't normally have access to, like Etali, Primal ConquerorEtali, Primal Conqueror and Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteElesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

While there are a lot of good Ring tempts you options, I feel that Call of the RingCall of the Ring is the absolute best of them. It gives you two massive benefits, the first being the ability to make the Ring tempt you every turn, making sure that as long as he's in play at the start of your turn that Sauron is always your Ring-bearer. The other benefit is that, as long as you have a creature to make your Ring-bearer, it acts like another copy of Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena, giving you consistent card advantage.

The Nazgûl

The NazgûlNazgûl are a huge part of Mordor and Sauron's identity in the movies, and luckily for us, not only are they thematic, but they also work well with Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer.

The first, and most numerous of these are the NazgûlNazgûl themselves. You're to play nine copies of this card, meaning you can potentially play cards like Echoing ReturnEchoing Return to be able to buy them back and get as much value out of them as possible.

Making up around 1/6th of our nonland cards, the NazgûlNazgûl are both our most consistent way to have the Ring tempt us while also being big threats by buffing each other and also working as great blockers even without any additional counters thanks to deathtouch. If you only have as few as three of these in play, being tempted by the Ring once will give you +9/+9 across your board.

While they're called NazgûlNazgûl, they're commonly referred to as RingwraithsRingwraiths, which brings us to our next card.

While RingwraithsRingwraiths don't tempt us directly, they are a brilliant way of capitalising on being able to repeatedly be tempted by the ring from cards like Call of the RingCall of the Ring by acting as a removal spell, we can cast every single turn.

To capitalize on this, you'll want to run some sacrifice outlets, like Yawgmoth, Thran PhysicianYawgmoth, Thran Physician or Carrion FeederCarrion Feeder, to be able to make sure RingwraithsRingwraiths are in your graveyard the next time you're tempted by the Ring.

Last but not least, the leader of the NazgûlNazgûl: the Witch-king of AngmarWitch-king of Angmar.

While there are three versions of this iconic character, only two of them are playable in mono-black: Witch-king of AngmarWitch-king of Angmar and Witch-king, Bringer of RuinWitch-king, Bringer of Ruin.

As someone who played the former in Limited, I can tell you that Witch-king of AngmarWitch-king of Angmar is an incredible card. Not only does it act as a mini No MercyNo Mercy that also allows the Ring to tempt you, but you can also discard a card to give it indestructible. This means you can block a big threat, discard a reanimation target to make sure the Witch-King doesn't die, and allow a small creature through to get the Ring to tempt you, making Sauron your Ring-bearer and setting up to reanimate a big threat next turn.

While not as synergistic as Witch-king of AngmarWitch-king of Angmar, Witch-king, Bringer of RuinWitch-king, Bringer of Ruin is a really good flying threat that allows you to mop up any small utility creatures that players may have, like Stoneforge MysticStoneforge Mystic or Ignoble HierarchIgnoble Hierarch.

Building an Army of Wraiths

But the NazgûlNazgûl aren't the only Wraiths you can play: since Sauron turns anything he reanimates into Wraiths, you can fill your deck with Wraith synergies and big payoffs.

There are a couple of ways to capitalise on what Sauron does. The first is to make sure you can get cards into your graveyard to consistently reanimate them with Sauron or other effects. Some great cards at doing this include Breach the MultiverseBreach the Multiverse and Necron DeathmarkNecron Deathmark. Breach the MultiverseBreach the Multiverse seems to be in every single black article I write at the moment, and for good reason. Being able to fill up your own graveyard while also milling some of your opponents' bombs and then also putting their best creatures from their graveyards and yours into play makes Breach a really powerful card at only seven mana. With Commander being the bomb-filled format that it is, I'd argue that Breach is even better than Rise of the Dark RealmsRise of the Dark Realms since it doesn't need support to get it to its full potential (but of course you just run both anyway).

Necron DeathmarkNecron Deathmark is a card I'm seeing pop up in more and more of my brews as well. Being able to have a removal spell you can flash in that also fuels your graveyard while also being something you can reanimate later has made it an absolute powerhouse in any game that I've had it in hand, and I feel like this card doesn't get enough love.

The second step to abusing Sauron's ability is to make sure you have good targets when you get to attacking. You have the traditional targets, like Vilis, Broker of BloodVilis, Broker of Blood and Massacre WurmMassacre Wurm, but I'm putting Sepulchral PrimordialSepulchral Primordial into more and more of my black enters-matters and reanimator decks for the same reason as I'm playing Breach the MultiverseBreach the Multiverse everywhere. If you can remove some powerful bombs, you're not just reanimating the Primordial, but you're also getting three other bombs at the same time, all for just attacking with Sauron (or one mana if you cast ReanimateReanimate)

Finally, you'll want to keep them around by being tempted by the Ring but also using NazgûlNazgûl to buff all of your reanimated creatures (since they're Wraiths now) and also using Accursed DuneyardAccursed Duneyard to protect them.

Minas Morgul, Dark FortressMinas Morgul, Dark Fortress helps to turn anything that isn't a Wraith (like Sauron) into one to let them benefit from the other synergies.

These may seem like small buffs, but with a few NazgûlNazgûl and some Ring tempting cards, you can very quickly get your board out of hand.

Being able to regenerate some of your bigger threats, like Sheoldred, Whispering OneSheoldred, Whispering One or even Sauron himself, can really help you close out games against the newer board wipes that allow regeneration (not Wrath of GodWrath of God, though).

As with all Technically Playable articles, this was a very quick look at Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer as a commander, and a few of the cards that can really make a deck with Sauron as the commander tick.

Let me know in the comments below if you play Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer, if you want to build a Sauron, the NecromancerSauron, the Necromancer deck, or even if you just enjoyed this article!