BlackCreature — Human Warrior // Legendary Creature — SpiritHired Muscle // Scarmaker
Mana value3Rank#28,482
The Commander
Whenever you cast a Spirit or Arcane spell, you may put a ki counter on this creature.
At the beginning of the end step, if there are two or more ki counters on this creature, you may flip it.
Remove a ki counter from Scarmaker: Target creature gains fear until end of turn. (It can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)
Guide
Gameplan
Hired Muscle is a 3/2 for 1B that flips into Scarmaker by accumulating ki counters from casting Spirit or Arcane spells. Once flipped, Scarmaker becomes a 5/4 that turns excess ki counters into evasion, letting you push damage through and grind out kills. The deck plays a mono-black Spirits/Arcane tribal shell with sacrifice and recursion value backing up the beatdown.
Strengths
- Cheap, aggressive commander that comes down turn one or two
- Free repeatable evasion grant via ki counters keeps damage flowing
- Mono-black gives deep access to tutors, removal, and recursion
- Spirit/Arcane synergies reward a focused tribal build
Weaknesses
- Low power for a multiplayer format; combat damage alone is slow
- Flipping and ki generation depend on running enough Spirit/Arcane spells
- Single-color means no access to ramp, card draw enablers outside black
- Very fragile body that dies to nearly all removal and chip damage
- Outclassed by stronger mono-black commanders at any real power level
Key Cards
- Patron of the Nezumi — A black Spirit Arcane payoff that drains life and fuels ki counters.
- Kuon, Ogre Ascendant — Black Spirit that flips into a powerful sacrifice engine while adding tribal synergy.
- Goryo's Vengeance — An Arcane instant that triggers ki and enables reanimation lines.
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Cheap recursion to rebuy your fragile Spirits and threats repeatedly.
- Coat of Arms — Anthem that turns a wide Spirit board into a real clock.
Upgrade Path
Lean into mono-black's strengths: add fast mana like Dark Ritual and Sol Ring, tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor, and a tight reanimation package (Reanimate, Animate Dead, Entomb) to cheat out bombs. Replace marginal tribal filler with proven aristocrats payoffs (Bastion of Remembrance, Zulaport Cutthroat) and strong removal/card draw (Toxic Deluge, Necropotence) so you don't rely on the weak commander to win.
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
- ▸Repeated unblockable Scarmaker beats backed by equipment or anthems
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist-style effects and sacrifice loops
- ▸Going wide with Spirit tokens under Coat of Arms or similar anthems
- ▸Reanimator burst with Goryo's Vengeance into a large evasive threat
Archetypes
- Spirits Tribal — The commander explicitly rewards casting Spirit spells with ki counters and tribal payoffs.
- Arcane Spellslinger — Arcane spells trigger ki counters, supporting a splice/Arcane-focused value build.
- Aristocrats — Mono-black sacrifice and drain effects close games the commander's small body can't.
- Voltron — Scarmaker's self-granted fear lets you suit it up and connect for evasive damage.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
