The Commander
Secrets of the Soul — 
, Sacrifice another creature: Add an amount of 
equal to the sacrificed creature's mana value.
Guide
Gameplan
Illuminor Szeras turns expendable creatures into burst black mana, letting you sacrifice fatties or tokens to fuel game-ending spells. Build a board with cheap recurring fodder or big creatures, then convert their mana value into rituals to power out huge X-spells, reanimation loops, or aristocrat payoffs. You win by chaining death triggers and explosive mana into overwhelming card advantage and damage.
Strengths
- Free ritual engine that doubles as a sacrifice outlet for aristocrats payoffs
- Mono-black gives access to the best tutors, reanimation, and recursion in the format
- Sacrificing a high-MV creature produces a huge burst of mana for X-spells or expensive bombs
- Cheap, recurring fodder (tokens, treasures-style loops) feeds it indefinitely
- As an artifact creature it can be reanimated and protected with both creature and artifact support
Weaknesses
- Summoning-sick the turn it enters and only taps once per turn without untappers
- Removal-prone since it must stay on board to function, and mono-black struggles with artifact/enchantment hate
- Needs a steady supply of creatures or it becomes a dead card
- No evasion or protection built in; opponents can simply kill it in response to a sac
- Color identity limits you to black's weaknesses against fliers and noncreature permanents
Key Cards
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel — A premier mono-black payoff that drains the table and can be reanimated or sacrificed for value.
- Ashnod's Altar — A second free sac outlet that combos with Szeras for explosive mana and aristocrat loops.
- Reanimate — Cheap reanimation lets you sacrifice a huge creature for mana then bring it right back.
- Gravecrawler — Recursive fodder you can sacrifice repeatedly to Szeras for mana and death triggers.
- Sword of the Animist — Untap and protection-style equipment, and ramp synergy help maximize Szeras's single activation.
- Thrumming Stone — With ripple it floods the board with creatures to feed Szeras, though any token engine works.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and tutors (Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to assemble Szeras combos faster, and include reliable aristocrat payoffs like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Bastion of Remembrance. Build toward an infinite loop—Gravecrawler plus a free sac outlet and a drain effect, or reanimation engines like Phyrexian Reclamation—to convert Szeras's mana into a deterministic kill. Round it out with protection (Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots) and untappers to push consistency higher.
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
- ▸Draining the table with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Blood Artist effects via repeated sacrifices
- ▸Powering out a lethal X-spell like Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire with ritual mana
- ▸Reanimation loops generating infinite mana and death triggers with the right payoff
- ▸Beating down with a reanimated army of big sacrificed-and-returned threats
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Szeras is a built-in sacrifice outlet that pairs with Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat to drain the table.
- Reanimator — Sacrifice big creatures for mana, then reanimate them, generating value and ritual mana on a loop.
- Big Mana / Ritual Combo — Converting high-MV creatures into black mana powers out game-ending X-spells and expensive payoffs.
- Tokens — Mass token producers create endless cheap fodder to fuel both mana and death triggers.
Combos
- Illuminor Szeras + Nim Deathmantle + Dross Scorpion
→ Infinite black mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Illuminor Szeras + Nim Deathmantle + Voltaic Construct
→ Infinite black mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Illuminor Szeras + Nim Deathmantle + Thornbite Staff
→ Infinite black mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Illuminor Szeras + Nim Deathmantle + Umbral Mantle
→ Infinite black mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Illuminor Szeras + Gravecrawler + Thornbite Staff
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
