The Commander
, Guide
Gameplan
Flood the board with cheap Goblins and Orcs, connect for combat damage, then sacrifice the attackers to Gorbag for cards or Treasure—converting bodies into resources and fuel. You rebuild faster than opponents can answer thanks to token generators and recursion, then grind them out or pivot to a sacrifice-based combo finish.
Strengths
- Built-in card advantage engine in the command zone that keeps your hand full
- Treasure generation enables explosive turns and color fixing for splashy black bombs
- Synergizes with aristocrats payoffs, death triggers, and recursion in mono-black
- Cheap two-drop commander that comes down early and gets value immediately
Weaknesses
- Relies on creatures connecting in combat, so it stalls against go-wide blockers and fliers
- Mono-black means no easy way to interact with artifacts/enchantments or counter spells
- Sacrificing your own attackers can leave you board-light against board wipes
- Effects are reactive and slow compared to dedicated combo decks at high tables
Key Cards
- Krenko, Mob Boss — Floods the board with Goblin tokens that all feed Gorbag's sacrifice trigger for cards and Treasure.
- Pawn of Ulamog — Turns every Gorbag sacrifice into Eldrazi Spawn mana, snowballing your resources.
- Blood Artist — Each creature you sacrifice to Gorbag drains the table, converting the engine into a win condition.
- Skullclamp — Doubles down on card draw with small Goblins, an absurd payoff alongside Gorbag's draw mode.
- Dictate of Erebos — Punishes the table while you freely sacrifice attackers, forcing opponents to lose blockers too.
- Goblin Bombardment — A free sac outlet that turns leftover tokens into reach and combos with token engines.
Upgrade Path
Add free sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Goblin Bombardment) and recursion (Skullclamp, Reassembling Skeleton) to make the engine resilient and proactive rather than combat-dependent. Tighten the curve with cheap token generators and tutors like Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Intent, then add aristocrats finishers (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance) so each sacrifice closes the game. Top-end Treasure payoffs and fast mana (Sol Ring, Ashnod's Altar) push the deck into explosive territory.
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
- ▸Aristocrats drain with Blood Artist effects multiplied by mass sacrifice
- ▸Going wide with Goblin tokens and overwhelming with combat damage
- ▸Treasure-fueled big payoffs like Torgaar or X-spell finishers
- ▸Sacrifice loops with free outlets and recursion to drain the table
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Gorbag is a repeatable sacrifice trigger that pairs perfectly with death-payoff effects like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat.
- Goblin/Orc Tribal — Its trigger keys off Goblins and Orcs specifically, rewarding a wide tribal board of cheap attackers.
- Tokens — Token makers provide endless fodder to attack and sacrifice for card and Treasure value.
- Treasure/Ramp Combo — The Treasure mode fuels big mana turns and combos that consume artifacts or sacrifice fodder.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
