BlackLegendary Creature — Human Rogue VillainBlack Cat, Cunning Thief
Mana value5Rank#7,736
The Commander
When Black Cat enters, look at the top nine cards of target opponent's library, exile two of them face down, then put the rest on the bottom of their library in a random order. You may play the exiled cards for as long as they remain exiled. Mana of any type can be spent to cast spells this way.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast Black Cat, steal two cards from an opponent's library each time she enters, and turn other players' resources into your own gameplan. Blink and recast her repeatedly to keep stealing, while using mono-black's reanimation and tutoring to grind value until you out-resource the table and close with stolen bombs or a finisher.
Strengths
- ETB value that repeats with blink/bounce/recursion
- Any-color mana clause lets you cast stolen multicolor spells off pure black mana
- Mono-black access to strong tutors, recursion, and removal
- Punishes opponents with powerful libraries by taking their best cards
Weaknesses
- Five mana for a fragile body that does nothing if killed before connecting
- Theft is random-ish; you only see nine cards and may whiff on impact
- No inherent evasion, ramp, or protection in the text
- Stolen cards are lost if you can't cast them before they leave exile / a wipe resets your engine
Key Cards
- Conjurer's Closet — Blinks Black Cat each end step to steal two more cards every turn.
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Repeatedly returns Black Cat from the graveyard to recast and keep stealing.
- Cloudstone Curio — Bounce Black Cat with another creature to retrigger her theft loop.
- Whip of Erebos — Reanimates Black Cat for another ETB and gives lifelink to stabilize.
- Sword of Hearth and Home — Grants protection and blinks Black Cat on combat damage for extra triggers.
- Cabal Coffers — Big black mana fuels recasting Black Cat and casting expensive stolen spells.
Upgrade Path
Add consistent blink and recursion enablers (Conjurer's Closet, Cloudstone Curio, Phyrexian Reclamation) plus protection like Swiftfoot Boots so Black Cat survives to trigger. Lean into mono-black ramp (Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Dark Ritual) and tutors (Demonic/Vampiric Tutor) to find your engine and a clean win like Torment of Hailfire or a reanimator combo. Round out with strong removal and recursive board control so each heist matters.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Out-value the table and finish with stolen bombs or a big black finisher
- ▸Drain the table with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or similar mono-black payoffs
- ▸Repeated card advantage feeding a tutored combo (e.g., reanimation/sacrifice loops)
- ▸Beat down with reanimated or stolen threats
Archetypes
- Theft / Value — Her core ETB exiles and lets you cast opponents' cards, building an engine around stealing resources.
- Blink — Repeatedly flickering Black Cat multiplies her two-card heist every turn.
- Reanimator — Mono-black recursion brings her back cheaply to retrigger and recurs other big threats.
- Control — Heavy removal and disruption keep you alive while you grind incremental advantage.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
