Ad NauseamAd Nauseam | Art by Jeremy Jarvis

Black is the cEDH showstopper.

It might not necessarily be the cards that quite literally end the game, but it does an excellent - if not over-the-top - job at helping you get there. Whether it be bursts of mana, individual tutors, or mass card advantage, black's got you covered.

So, what tops off black's contribution to the competitive meta? Let's find out.

#5 - Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters

First up on our list is also the newest card here, and that's Orcish Bowmasters.

For , this 1/1 Orc Archer with flash does an absolutely brutal job of punishing opponents for even daring to draw more than one card a turn (something which has really come to define cEDH, especially as of late).

Pairing Orcish Bowmasters with a wheel effect, a la Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune, either in response to your own or in response to an opponent's, is a way to deal out massive amounts of damage in a blistering instant. But what really makes this card tick is its ability to mow down creatures over the course of long, drawn out games.

Mana dorks, Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel, Ragavan, Nimble PilfererRagavan, Nimble Pilferer, hell, even other Orcish Bowmasters will all die to this thing, assuming there's even a single player trying to get ahead in card advantage. If Orcish Bowmasters was the least bit more proactive (I mean, it already triggers at least once, and all you have to do for that is get this guy to resolve) then it would certainly be higher on our list.

As it stands, the prolonged removal which this Orc provides has confidently earned it the fifth spot.

#4 - Dark RitualDark Ritual

Now we turn from the newest card on our list to something that's tied for oldest - a source of ramp that dates back to the very earliest games of Magic: Dark Ritual!

You know it, you love it, you leapfrog turns ahead by casting it. For , this instant has just one effect: "Add ." So, why is it above something as oppressive as Orcish Bowmasters? Simple - proactive acceleration.

Competitive Commander is all about time. Even in untimed rounds full of card draw engines stalling out the board state, players are constantly looking for a way to get ahead of their opponents in Magic's primary resource system, mana.

Think of mana like Magic's intrinsic clock: Each missed land drop is a turn you might as well have skipped, and each extra mana - even if just from a ritual - is an extra instance you've outpaced your opponents. Viewed that way, Dark Ritual is just the best method to time travel in cEDH, full stop.

Sure, Cabal RitualCabal Ritual, Rain of FilthRain of Filth, and Culling the WeakCulling the Weak can add more mana than Dark Ritual, but they all require some amount of setup beyond a simple input of .

#3 - Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor

Next up, we're keeping the classic Magic train going with the game's very first tutor effect: Demonic Tutor.

For , Demonic Tutor is a sorcery that functionally allows you to search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. Read another way, Demonic Tutor is another copy of any card in your deck, it just costs an extra - mana that can be invested before you even need to worry about casting the main spell.

Demonic Tutor, like all tutors, seeks to break the volatility inherent to Commander. As a singleton format, games can swing widely from one round to the next, as the odds of drawing any one specific card are terribly low. Demonic Tutor, however, is the best-in-class when it comes to flexibility and efficiency, giving you an extra way to dig for what you need, when you need it.

Other tutors come and go as Magic keeps on creeping on, but Demonic Tutor remains a bedrock of the format.

#2 - Ad NauseamAd Nauseam

Now it's time to shift from the glue of cEDH - the rituals and tutors - to the explosive bursts of card draw that lead to spectacular moments in games all across the format. For our penultimate pick, let's dive into Ad Nauseam.

For , Ad Nauseam is an instant that allows you to - as many times as you wish - reveal the top card of your library, put that card into your hand, and lose life equal to that card's mana value (each card is a separate instance, the decision to continue is sequential).

Since Ad Nauseam causes you to lose life equal to a card's mana value, dedicated decks which run this card as their closer will necessarily make adjustments in the mana values of their decks in order to maximize the number of cards picked up off of Ad Nauseam.

"Turbo Naus" decks, as they're often named, are singularly dedicated to finding and casting Ad Nauseam as quickly as possible, as the bevy of zero-cost mana rocks, cheap rituals, tutors, and counterspells which Ad Nauseam often reveals will be sufficient to not just win the game, but defend or stop a win attempt as well.

#1 - NecropotenceNecropotence

Remember Dark Ritual? Well, a single Dark Ritual can't cast an Ad Nauseam, but it can cast our next pick. That's right, it's time for Necropotence.

For , Necropotence is, essentially, Ad Nauseam, but as an enchantment and with some weird timing restrictions baked into how it works. Rather than putting cards into your hand and losing life equal to their mana values, Necropotence has an activated ability that allows you to pay one life to exile a card from the top of your library, which you'll then put into your hand at the beginning of the next end step. Additionally, to make things even more awkward, you skip your draw step, and whenever you discard a card you'll exile that card from your graveyard.

So, with all the awkwardness presented, why is Necropotence above Ad Nauseam? Well, being immediately castable off of Dark Ritual is certainly a plus, but that's not all. Even the best Turbo Naus decks don't usually get an average mana value below the 1.3-1.4 range, meaning that Necropotence causes you to lose an average of 30%+ less life per card put into your hand off of its activations.

Additionally, since these activations are abilities from a permanent, it means that you can split it up however you want; look at seven cards on your first turn, hoping to find a tutor or the like, then dump all your life into Necropotence the next turn, backed up by the flash-enabler you just tutored for so as to make the most of your pre-discard card access in your end step.

Ad Nauseam is definitely the flashier single-spell resolution, but Necropotence can oftentimes show you more cards and in safer fashion - two very appealing qualities of a burst-draw spell.

Wrap Up

That wraps up our best-in-class list for black's contributions to cEDH. Rituals, tutors, burst draw - the color really pulls a whole lot of weight in accelerating victories and smoothing out inconsistencies, while also being no stranger to absolutely brutal punishing effects (*cough* Orcish Bowmasters *cough*).

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