commander · Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sworn to Darkness (C14).
A mono-black demon reanimation deck from Commander 2014, led by Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, sacrifice creatures to his minus ability to create 5/5 flying demon tokens, then reanimate the greatest threats from any graveyard.
The Commander
Sworn to Darkness is Commander 2014's mono-black deck, and Ob Nixilis is one of the scariest planeswalker commanders in the format. His +2 makes each opponent lose one life and you gain one life per opponent. His -2 makes a 5/5 flying demon token and costs you two life, which is just the price of loyalty going up each turn. His ultimate gives you an emblem that makes each opponent lose ten life whenever they search their library. In a format where people tutor constantly, that emblem ends games.
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath builds a steady board of demon tokens while he climbs toward the library-search emblem. The deck runs Ghoulcaller Gisa for more tokens, Grave Titan for zombie value, and a full reanimation package that pulls back the best creatures in the game from any graveyard.
Key Cards
Grave Titan
A 6/6 with deathtouch that makes two 2/2 Zombie tokens when it enters and on each attack. The most efficient token generator in mono-black: it comes down as six power plus two bodies, then adds two more every swing. This deck wants sacrifice fodder for Ob Nixilis and creatures to fill the graveyard for reanimation, and Grave Titan gives you both. Deathtouch means nobody blocks him profitably, and the steady zombie stream feeds the attrition plan.
Ghoulcaller Gisa
Tap, sacrifice a creature: make X 2/2 zombie tokens where X is the sacrificed creature's power. In Ob Nixilis's deck, Gisa turns each creature death into a pile of replacement tokens. Sacrifice a six-power Grave Titan and Gisa makes six 2/2 zombies. Sacrifice those six zombies one at a time for six more, and one Grave Titan can become twelve zombies. Gisa is the sacrifice outlet that turns the token and demon package into an army that wins on sheer numbers.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
When Gary enters, each opponent loses X life and you gain that much, where X is your black devotion. This deck is full of double-black creatures like Grave Titan, Ob Nixilis, and Ghoulcaller Gisa, so devotion sits at eight to twelve by mid-game. Gary drains eight to twelve from all three opponents at once and gains you twenty-four to thirty-six. Pair him with blink or reanimation to do it again. On a high-devotion board, one Gary is often lethal.
Dread Return
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. Flashback: sacrifice three creatures. With a token-heavy board from Grave Titan and Ghoulcaller Gisa, you pay that flashback cost by throwing away three tokens to get your best creature back for free. Reanimate Grave Titan for more tokens, bring back Gray Merchant for another drain, or return a threat that got removed earlier at the key moment. Dread Return gives you instant-speed reanimation opponents can't counter once you have the tokens to sacrifice.
Crypt Ghast
Whenever you tap a Swamp for mana, add an extra black. It also extorts whenever you cast a spell. In a mono-black deck with twenty-plus Swamps, Crypt Ghast roughly doubles your mana. Twenty Swamps make forty black with Ghast out. That extra mana lets you cast several big demons and reanimation spells in one turn. The extort clause drains one life per opponent per spell, so ten extorted spells over a game deals twenty to thirty to each opponent without attacking.
How to Play
Get your mana going with the deck's artifact rocks and Crypt Ghast by turn four. Land Ob Nixilis and start making demons with his -2 while his loyalty climbs toward the emblem. The life you lose on the -2 is easy to cover with his +2 drain running alongside it. Once you have a base of demon tokens, drop Grave Titan for six more bodies and turn on Ghoulcaller Gisa's token engine. You win two ways: Gray Merchant of Asphodel for a huge drain across all three opponents at once, or the Ob Nixilis emblem that makes every tutor cost ten life, which turns a Sol Ring search or a fetchland into a lethal play.
