BlackBattle — Siege // Legendary Creature — Human WizardInvasion of Ulgrotha // Grandmother Ravi Sengir
Mana value5Rank#17,728
The Commander
(As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it's defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.)
When this Siege enters, it deals 3 damage to any other target and you gain 3 life.
Flying
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Grandmother Ravi Sengir and you gain 1 life.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast Invasion of Ulgrotha as your commander, immediately picking off a creature or a player for 3 and gaining 3 life, then defeat the Siege (10 damage) to flip it into Grandmother Ravi Sengir, a flying beater that grows and gains you life every time an opponent's creature dies. Build a mono-black aristocrats/edict shell that constantly kills opposing creatures to balloon Ravi while draining life, then close with evasive commander damage or a drain finisher.
Strengths
- Two-for-one value: removal/burn on entry plus a recurring evasive flyer once flipped
- Snowballs hard in creature-heavy pods—every opponent creature death grows her and gains life
- Flying makes her a reliable 21-damage commander-damage clock
- Mono-black gives access to the deepest tutor, removal, and recursion suite
- Battle mechanic means you can defeat it on your own turn with a single attacker
Weaknesses
- The Siege must be defeated before you get Ravi—stalls if you can't deal 10 damage
- Weak against creatureless control/spellslinger pods where her death trigger rarely fires
- Single-color means no access to blue counterspells or green ramp/protection
- Vulnerable to commander removal and tax effects resetting the Siege to the zone
- Slow if board states are empty; needs a populated battlefield to pop off
Key Cards
- Dictate of Erebos — Forces sacrifices when your creatures die, feeding Ravi's counter-and-drain trigger every turn.
- Grave Pact — Edict engine that mass-kills opponent creatures, growing Ravi and gaining life repeatedly.
- Bontu's Last Reckoning — Cheap board wipe that triggers Ravi en masse to make her huge while draining the table.
- Whip of Erebos — Lifelink for the team plus recursion, turning Ravi into an unkillable life-gaining threat.
- Liliana, Dread Queen — Repeatable edicts and a drain ultimate that synergize directly with opponent creatures dying.
- Massacre Girl — Cascading wipe of opposing creatures that can stack a dozen counters and a dozen life onto Ravi instantly.
Upgrade Path
Add edict and forced-sacrifice engines (Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Butcher of Malakir) plus cheap board wipes so opponent creatures die en masse and Ravi snowballs. Layer in drain payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance) and reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead) for resilience, then tighten the mana base with fast rocks and tutors like Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Intent. Protect your commander with Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves so the clock stays online.
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
- ▸Evasive commander damage from a counter-pumped flying Grandmother Ravi Sengir
- ▸Repeated edicts plus drain effects whittling the table to zero
- ▸Aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat converting mass deaths into lethal drain
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice payoffs and edicts kill opponent creatures, each triggering Ravi's counter and life gain.
- Voltron — Flying plus rapid +1/+1 counter growth makes 21 commander damage a real plan once she's flipped.
- Control — Black removal and board wipes keep the board clear while every kill builds your commander.
- Lifegain Drain — Constant incidental life gain pairs with drain payoffs to grind opponents out.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
