Apocalypse Limited Review: Black Gary Wise This is the third installment in my series analyzing the individual cards in Apocalypse for Limited use. You can find the previous installments here. BLACK While black doesn't seem to be mentioned too prominently when people discuss the best decks in this new, wild format, it isn't without its perks. Most obvious among them is the sheer strength of the black rares in the set, all of which are conceivable as first picks, and the huge card advantage that many of the color's cards are capable of creating. Black seems to have been used in three ways thus far: first, as a core color in the blue-black-green archetype, with green the most common splash. Second, black seems especially well suited to being that splash, with great single-cost mid- to late-game cards like Dead Ringers and Urborg Uprising. Third, and most unusually, is in the one two-color archetype that still seems viable; red-black. If you get a couple of Soul Burns early, this archetype can still benefit enough from its strength in Planeshift that it will survive the lack of gold cards in Apocalypse. Just don't be afraid to splash the third color when it's called for. Commons Dead Ringers This card is like a pure home run hitter: It swings for the fences and gets either all of a pitch or none at all. In other words, half the time, Dead Ringers is amazing, while the other half it sits in your hand while your opponent has six creatures in play that don't share colors. The value of Dead Ringers to your deck depends entirely on the remainder of the cards you have, with color changers like Aurora Griffin and Tidal Visionary making it better while Banish cards make it worse. Use your discretion when deciding if you want it, but when you don't have a lot of kill, this can be a life-saver. A 4th - 6th pick Last Caress Cantrips are great, but you want them cheap, and three mana for this ability isn't worth it. You can play this if you're desperate, but I don't see Worship in this environment. A 12th - 14th pick. Mind Extraction This card is great in your fifteen Penumbra deck against a monocolor deck that doesn't cast spells until turn four. Good luck finding that matchup. A 15th pick. Mournful Zombie If this guy isn't the jankiest... looking at the other three-casting cost black creatures in the set, one draws you a card, one kills enchantments, and both have a power of two. If you really need a warm body, this will do, but you really don't want to be reduced to this. A 9th - 11th pick Necra Disciple Likely the weakest of the disciples, the Necro has neither red nor blue's powerful abilities, but does have its uses. While the two-color Samite Healer is hardly worth it, a base black-green five-color deck can definitely use this dumbed down Birds of Paradise, and the white ability will come in handy once you've found other mana diversification. An 8th - 10th pick. Phyrexian Rager Now this is one heck of a Grey Ogre. Once upon a time, there was another card that gave you a card for a point of life, and it dominated every format it got played in, so there's no reason to think this isn't a good card. This will be your first choice for creature swarm decks, just because it lets you swarm that one more turn you need to deal those final points of damage, and even in control decks, you may find that the warm body it leaves you will provide you the time to win the game. Pretty good with Cavern Harpy while you have the life. A 2nd - 4th pick. Quagmire Druid More often than not, you'll need to fill your deck with a couple of 2/2s for three, and this isn't a bad way to do it. There's very little in the realm of black and green that merits main-deck play and kills enchantments, so that little added versatility is a pretty good thing. The best use is having the creature to be sacrificed block a large enchanted creature, then sacrifice it while damage is on the stack. Seems like a good trade to me. A 7th - 9th pick. Urborg Uprising An extraordinarily powerful card, the Uprising is also pretty slow and can be hard to use. Fortunately, as long as your creatures are combat capable, you should be able to make some trades before using the Uprising to gain so much card advantage that your opponent can't come back. Especially good with a Flametongue and a Lava Zombie. Yeowch. A 3rd - 5th pick. Zombie Boa I'm not a big fan of 3/3s for five mana, but this one isn't too bad. Basically, the idea here is that unless your opponent has a Visionary or the like, the Boa is either unblockable or not unlike the Abyss, killing whatever chump blocker gets in its way. With the Boa being unbanishable, it's very sturdy and very hard to stop. Definitely better than the other black 3/3s for five. A 4th - 6th pick. Uncommons Foul Presence This card has been a little disappointing for me. I thought it would make for a great control card that could either kill a tapper or have a major effect on combat, but there just seem to be so few targets for its repeated use that it becomes a bad Cursed Flesh. A great sideboard card, that's probably all it is. An 8th - 10th pick Grave Defiler This guy isn't usually great, but he's usually ok. 2/1 creatures for four just aren't very exciting, but you don't see too many 2-power regenerators either. Unfortunately, the Zombie bears are probably the weakest of the five creature types, so you're going to have to play a lot of Mournful Zombies and the like to make this really good. Generally though, you'll just get it relatively late and play it with the understanding that this isn't the best deck you've ever drafted. A 6th - 8th pick. Necra Sanctuary Like its white counterpart, the Necra Sanctuary has two strikes against it in that it's part of a weak three card combo while not interacting with opposing permanents. If you deck is full of fat blockers, you could use this as your kill mechanism as it makes for a good clock, but more often than not you'll want cards that offer you more versatility. An 8th - 10th pick, you'll be the only one who wants it. Phyrexian Gargantua Any time you have a chance at a 4/4 black creature, it's a good thing. After all, it can't be banished and there aren't many creatures that can trade for it. Now, with the Gargantua, you get all that and more. You get to draw two cards, you make the prospect of bouncing this particular 4/4 black creature a daunting one, and all you have to give up in return is two measly points of life. The only strike against it is that you don't have a choice in the matter. A 1st - 3rd pick. Suppress This card just wasn't designed with Limited play in mind. A 15th pick. Rares Desolation Angel I have seen a lot of people open this card and slam it down without thinking, but really it isn't that simple. The Angel is a finisher and a strong one at that, but there are problems with it. First, to fully exploit it, it requires seven mana with double white and black mana required. Second, with so many good bounce cards in the format, it goes home a lot against blue mages, usually never to return. I'm not saying this isn't a card you want in your deck; you don't find many 5/4 black flyers. Just be careful with how you play it: it could lose you as many games as it'll win. A 2rd - 4th pick. Necravolver Now this guy is huge. Be it a 4/4 trampler, a 3/3 Spirit Linked creature or a 5/5 combining the two, the Necravolver is big, efficient and deadly. If you aren't playing green or white, it's still better than Mournful Zombie and it's very unlikely you won't be able to produce either color of mana. A great pick for your 5cG deck, it'll be fine elsewhere also. A 1st - 3rd pick. Phyrexian Arena How good are the black rares? A 5/4 flyer, a 5/5 trample life gainer and now this. The Arena is obviously awesome, with its entire purpose being card advantage, but the key to this card is knowing how to play against it. When your opponent puts it into play, go super aggressive, because there will be no later. Hopefully they run out of life before you run out of time. A 2nd - 4th pick. Planar Despair As good as the other black rares are, this is the best. A mass kill spell of extraordinary efficiency, the Despair will leave very little in its wake. Obviously best in a five-color deck, in a three color deck it will do just fine, and if two of those colors happen to be black and green, you should have a couple of guys left over for later. How can that be bad? A 1st - 3rd pick.