BlackLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Horror MinionK'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
Mana value7Rank#1,066
The Commander
(
can be paid with either or 2 life.)
For each in a cost, you may pay 2 life rather than pay that mana.
Whenever you cast a black spell, put a +1/+1 counter on K'rrik.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast K'rrik early (paying 14 life via Phyrexian mana), then convert your life total into a mana resource by paying 2 life for every black pip. Chain huge black spells, drain rituals, and tutors in a single explosive turn while K'rrik grows with every cast. You win by comboing off or deploying overwhelming threats faster than mono-black can normally afford.
Strengths
- Effectively doubles or triples your mana by spending life on every black symbol, enabling absurd turns
- Mono-black gives unmatched tutor density to assemble any combo or answer
- Lifelink plus lifegain keeps your life-as-mana engine refueled
- Snowballs into a real beater via the +1/+1 counters on every black cast
Weaknesses
- Life payment makes you extremely vulnerable to burn, life-loss punishers, and your own greed
- No native card advantage or ramp built in beyond the cost reduction
- Color-locked to black, so no counterspells or efficient artifact/enchantment removal
- Aggressive life spending means a single Wound Reflection or aggro board can end you
Key Cards
- Bolas's Citadel — Lets you cast off the top of your library paying life, turning K'rrik's engine into explosive card advantage and a 10-life finisher.
- Aetherflux Reservoir — Pairs with lifelink and life payments to both refill life and snipe opponents for 50 damage.
- Sanguine Bond — With a life-doubler or drain it forms a two-card loop to drain the whole table.
- Exquisite Blood — Combos with Sanguine Bond for an infinite life-drain kill that mono-black can easily tutor up.
- Bubbling Muck — A ritual that ramps hard, and with K'rrik its black pips become nearly free.
- Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose — A redundant Sanguine Bond effect and another lifegain-into-damage finisher.
- Vilis, Broker of Blood — Turns your life payments into massive card draw, a perfect partner for the life-as-mana plan.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana that survives life payment (Dark Ritual, Cabal Coffers, Nykthos) and life-replenishment like Whip of Erebos or Crypt Ghast to sustain the engine. Tighten the combo package—Bolas's Citadel, Aetherflux Reservoir, Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood—plus tutors like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Diabolic Intent to find them. Protect K'rrik and yourself with Lightning Greaves, Imp's Mischief, and Necropotence-style draw to keep cards flowing.
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
- ▸Sanguine Bond/Vito + Exquisite Blood for an infinite life-drain loop
- ▸Aetherflux Reservoir sniping each opponent for 50
- ▸Bolas's Citadel plus an X-spell or mana loop to drain or burn the table
- ▸Beating down with a giant K'rrik backed by evasion and protection
Archetypes
- Combo — K'rrik's life-as-mana enables fast, repeatable kill loops with Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood and infinite-mana shells.
- Spellslinger — Every black spell is cheaper and grows the commander, rewarding dense, cheap spell chains.
- Aristocrats — Drain effects, sacrifice payoffs, and lifegain synergize with the deck's life-manipulation theme.
- Control — Black's tutors and removal let you suite up targeted disruption and grind to a combo finish.
Combos
- Sheoldred, the Apocalypse + Vilis, Broker of Blood + K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
→ Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers, Near-infinite lifegain
- Chainer, Dementia Master + K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Dimir House Guard
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite lifegain
- Asmodeus the Archfiend + Necrotic Ooze + K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth + Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
→ Infinite card draw, Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifegain triggers
- Chainer, Dementia Master + K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Viscera Seer
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite lifegain
- K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth + Buried Alive + Reanimate + Chainer, Dementia Master + Viscera Seer + Gray Merchant of Asphodel
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite lifegain
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
