BlackLegendary Creature — Zombie ClericMikaeus, the Unhallowed
Mana value6Rank#1,259
The Commander
Intimidate (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.)
Whenever a Human deals damage to you, destroy it.
Other non-Human creatures you control get +1/+1 and have undying. (When a creature with undying dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Guide
Gameplan
Mono-black aristocrats/combo: give your non-Human creatures undying so they recur on death, then sacrifice and recur them for value and combo kills. You durdle into mana and ramp, deploy a sacrifice outlet plus a payoff, and assemble Mikaeus with Triskelion or Walking Ballista to deal infinite damage. Mikaeus also anchors a powerful undying-aristocrats midrange plan even without the combo.
Strengths
- Two-card infinite combos with Triskelion and Walking Ballista that kill the table outright
- Undying makes all your non-Human creatures resilient to removal, sweepers, and sacrifice loops
- Mono-black gives access to the best tutors, ramp, and recursion in the format
- Anthem effect (+1/+1) plus evasion lets him pressure life totals as a backup beater
Weaknesses
- He's a 6-mana commander that often gets removed before doing work, and recasting is costly
- Undying does nothing for creatures already carrying +1/+1 counters
- Mono-black struggles with enchantment/artifact removal and noncreature interaction
- Combos rely on assembling multiple pieces, so disruption-heavy tables slow you down significantly
- No card advantage or color fixing beyond what black natively provides
Key Cards
- Triskelion — With Mikaeus, remove a counter to ping, undying returns it, repeat for infinite damage to win on the spot.
- Walking Ballista — Identical infinite-damage combo with Mikaeus and a far easier card to tutor and recast.
- Phyrexian Altar — Free sacrifice outlet that loops undying creatures for mana, enabling combos and engines.
- Pawn of Ulamog — Generates Eldrazi Spawn each time a creature dies, fueling sacrifice loops and infinite mana with undying bodies.
- Gravecrawler — A non-Human Zombie that recurs from the yard, perfect fodder for sacrifice and aristocrat engines.
- Blood Artist — Turns your undying sacrifice loops into incremental or lethal drain damage.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Dark Ritual, Cabal Coffers, Nykthos) and more tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent) to find combo pieces faster. Lean into free sacrifice outlets like Ashnod's Altal and Phyrexian Altar plus drain payoffs to make the combo redundant. Tighten the curve with cheap interaction and consider a backup combo such as Geralf's Messenger loops to reduce reliance on a single line.
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
- ▸Infinite damage via Mikaeus + Triskelion or Walking Ballista
- ▸Infinite sacrifice loops with Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat draining the table
- ▸Beating down with a buffed, near-unkillable undying army
- ▸Reanimated threats and recursive value grinding opponents out
Archetypes
- Combo — Mikaeus plus Triskelion or Walking Ballista is a compact two-card infinite-damage kill.
- Aristocrats — Undying fodder plus sacrifice outlets and death-triggers like Blood Artist generate relentless value and drain.
- Reanimator — Mono-black recursion and Mikaeus's anchor presence support cheating big non-Human bombs back repeatedly.
- Midrange Beatdown — The team-wide +1/+1 and undying create a grindy, resilient board that attacks through removal.
Combos
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Gray Merchant of Asphodel
→ Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers, Near-infinite death triggers
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Warren Soultrader + Blood Artist
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite colored mana
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Warren Soultrader + Zulaport Cutthroat
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite colored mana
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Carrion Feeder + Plague Belcher
→ Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Walking Ballista + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
