BlackLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Human WarriorCommander Greven il-Vec
Mana value6Rank#25,553
The Commander
Fear (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)
When Commander Greven il-Vec enters, sacrifice a creature.
Guide
Gameplan
Mono-black voltron: jam Commander Greven il-Vec, pump his power with auras, equipment, and life-loss payoffs, then swing for big unblockable Fear damage to take out opponents one at a time. The ETB sacrifice fuels aristocrats value, and his attack trigger lets you double-up by donating his huge power to another evasive creature to push lethal commander damage or just hit harder.
Strengths
- Built-in evasion via Fear makes him reliably connect for commander damage
- ETB sacrifice synergizes with aristocrats, recursion, and sacrifice-matters payoffs
- Mono-black has elite tutors, removal, and recursion to assemble and protect the plan
- Cheap to recast for a 7-power threat and pumps scale aggressively
Weaknesses
- Forced sacrifice on every recast can cost you value if you have no fodder
- Voltron strategy is vulnerable to single-target removal and board wipes
- No card advantage or ramp baked in—mono-black struggles with the wheel
- Black creatures and artifact creatures still block him, and flying/menace plans outrace him
Key Cards
- Whispersilk Cloak — Grants shroud plus true unblockable, protecting Greven and upgrading Fear into guaranteed damage.
- Rancor — Cheap recurring power boost that comes back after wipes, pushing Greven toward lethal commander damage.
- Sword of Feast and Famine — Protection from two colors, ramp, and hand disruption make it the premier voltron equipment for him.
- Ashnod's Altar — Turns the ETB sacrifice and your tokens into free mana and value engines.
- Viscera Seer — A free sacrifice outlet that gives the ETB requirement reliable fodder and digs for action.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Dark Ritual, Jet Medallion) and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to find your protection and equipment faster. Lean into resilience with Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and recursion like Phyrexian Reclamation so a removed Greven keeps coming back without losing tempo. Cap the curve with a backup aristocrats package (Bastion of Remembrance, reusable fodder) so the deck still wins if voltron gets disrupted.
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
- ▸Commander damage from a suited-up, unblockable Greven
- ▸Donating Greven's pumped power to another evasive attacker for surprise lethal
- ▸Aristocrats drains via Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat as creatures die
Archetypes
- Voltron — His evasive 7 power scales fast with auras and equipment to deal lethal commander damage.
- Aristocrats — The mandatory ETB sacrifice rewards a board of expendable tokens and death triggers.
- Reanimator — Black recursion lets you sacrifice fatties to Greven then bring them back for value.
- Sacrifice — He pairs with sac outlets and fodder generators to grind incremental advantage.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
