BlackLegendary Artifact Creature — NecronSzarekh, the Silent King
Mana value4Rank#10,050
The Commander
Flying
My Will Be Done — Whenever Szarekh attacks, mill three cards. You may put an artifact creature card or Vehicle card from among the cards milled this way into your hand.
Guide
Gameplan
Szarekh is a mono-black artifact creature deck that grinds value: swing each turn to mill three and dig up artifact creatures and Vehicles, building a wide, recursive board that overwhelms through attrition and sacrifice synergies. You ramp with mana rocks, fill the yard, and reanimate fatties while Szarekh's flying body chips in. You win by going wide with artifact tokens or by recurring threats faster than opponents can answer them.
Strengths
- Built-in card advantage and graveyard fuel every combat with no mana investment
- Mono-black gives access to the best tutors, reanimation, and removal in the format
- Evasive flying commander that's hard to chump and pressures life totals immediately
- Strong synergy with artifact tokens, sacrifice, and self-mill payoffs
Weaknesses
- Mill-and-recur is grindy and slow; struggles against fast combo decks
- Relies on connecting in combat to generate value, vulnerable to fliers/deathtouch blockers
- Artifact-heavy boards fold to a single Vandalblast or Bane of Progress
- Mono-black has no way to interact with the stack and limited enchantment removal
Key Cards
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Repeatedly buys back artifact creatures the mill self-fuels, turning the yard into a resource engine.
- Reanimate — Cheats out the biggest artifact creatures Szarekh mills straight into play.
- Buried Alive — Stocks the yard with reanimation targets that Szarekh's mill and recursion exploit.
- Sol Ring — Explosive ramp to deploy Szarekh and expensive artifact bombs ahead of curve.
- Wurmcoil Engine — A resilient artifact creature you happily mill, recur, and reanimate over and over.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and tutors (Mana Crypt, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to set up reanimation more consistently, and lean into a compact combo like Mikaeus-style or Phyrexian Reclamation sacrifice loops for a deterministic finish. Tighten the curve with efficient interaction (Toxic Deluge, Damnation) and prioritize artifact creatures that generate value on death or entry so every mill and recursion advances your gameplan.
Core Cards
- Their Number Is Legion100%
- Tomb Fortress100%
- Canoptek Spyder100%
- Biotransference100%
- Skorpekh Destroyer100%
- Beacon of Unrest100%
- Go for the Throat100%
- Plasmancer100%
- Sceptre of Eternal Glory100%
- Cranial Plating100%
- Barren Moor100%
- Endless Atlas100%
Played-with rates from 2 Mythicwyrm decks.
Win Conditions
- ▸Recurring artifact threats and chipping in with flying Szarekh until opponents run out of answers
- ▸Going wide with artifact creature tokens backed by an anthem or overrun effect
- ▸Draining the table with Aristocrats sacrifice loops (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat)
- ▸Reanimating an oversized artifact bomb and beating down
Archetypes
- Artifacts/Reanimator — Mill fills the yard with artifact creatures and Vehicles that black recursion returns to play.
- Aristocrats — Recurring artifact bodies pair with sacrifice outlets for repeatable value and drain.
- Mono-Black Midrange — Tutors, removal, and a recursive evasive threat let you grind any board to dust.
- Self-Mill Value — Szarekh weaponizes milling yourself, turning the graveyard into a second hand.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
