BlackLegendary Creature — Human NinjaOroku Saki, Shredder Rising
Mana value3Rank#14,493
The Commander
Sneak 
(You may cast this spell for if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step. He enters tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Oroku Saki deals combat damage to a player, you draw a card and lose 1 life.
Guide
Gameplan
Oroku Saki is a mono-black ninja aggro/value engine: you swing with cheap evasive attackers, then return them and Sneak Saki in to connect, drawing a card and looping triggers. He keeps refilling your hand while you grind opponents down with repeatable combat damage and black's recursion.
Strengths
- Cheap (Sneak for 1B) and hard-recurs himself off the battlefield via bounce, dodging removal
- Built-in card advantage every time he connects keeps mono-black from running dry
- Synergizes with the entire ninjutsu/ninja package and unblocked-attacker themes
- Mono-black gives access to powerful tutors, recursion, and removal
Weaknesses
- Triggers require connecting in combat, so blockers and fliers shut him down
- Life loss on each draw stacks up and can backfire under aggressive pressure
- Single-color means no access to blue's card draw or red/green ramp support
- Needs evasive attackers to enable Sneak/ninjutsu, so a bad board stalls the engine
Key Cards
- Ornithopter — A free, evasive attacker that's easy to bounce, perfectly enabling Sneak and ninjutsu turn after turn.
- Whispersilk Cloak — Makes Saki unblockable and shroud, guaranteeing the draw/damage trigger every combat.
- Yuriko, the Tenza Daimyo — Stacks more ninja ninjutsu payoffs and extra evasive damage in the same shell.
- Sword of Feast and Famine — Untaps your lands and protects Saki while adding evasion-style discard pressure.
- Reconnaissance — Lets you remove attackers from combat after blocks to abuse triggers and reset for ninjutsu.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Dark Ritual, Sol Ring) and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to assemble your evasion/equipment package faster. Lean harder into unblockable enablers (Trailblazer's Boots, Rogue's Passage) and life-payoff finishers like Torment of Hailfire or Bolas's Citadel to convert the engine into a kill, and include protection like Lightning Greaves to keep Saki connecting.
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 combat damage from Saki and evasive ninjas chipping players out
- ▸Voltron one-shots with equipment-stacked, unblockable Saki
- ▸Out-grinding the table on card advantage then closing with finishers like Torment of Hailfire or aristocrat drains
Archetypes
- Ninjas/Tribal — Saki is a Ninja that rewards bouncing unblocked attackers, anchoring a ninjutsu-heavy build.
- Aggro Voltron — Cheap evasive body plus equipment turns him into a recurring, card-drawing beater.
- Aristocrats/Value — Mono-black recursion and the draw engine let you grind incremental advantage and sac fodder.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
