BlackLegendary Artifact // Legendary Creature — Skeleton Spirit PirateThrone of the Grim Captain // The Grim Captain
Mana value2Rank#15,027
The Commander
: Mill two cards.
Craft with a Dinosaur, a Merfolk, a Pirate, and a Vampire 
(, Exile this artifact, Exile the four from among permanents you control and/or cards in your graveyard: Return this card transformed under its owner's control. Craft only as a sorcery.)
Menace, trample, lifelink, hexproof
Whenever The Grim Captain attacks, each opponent sacrifices a nonland permanent of their choice. Then you may put an exiled creature card used to craft The Grim Captain onto the battlefield under your control tapped and attacking.
Guide
Gameplan
Start with Throne in the command zone tapping to self-mill and fuel graveyard synergies, then craft it (paying and exiling a Dinosaur, Merfolk, Pirate, and Vampire) into The Grim Captain — a hexproof, lifelinking voltron beater. Each attack forces all opponents to sacrifice a nonland permanent and lets you cheat one of the crafted creatures back into play tapped and attacking, snowballing board presence while you swing for lifegain.
Strengths
- Hexproof commander that's nearly impossible to remove with targeted spot removal, making it a reliable voltron threat
- Repeatable edict on every attack grinds down opposing boards and protects you from blockers
- Lifelink plus trample turns it into a real clock that stabilizes your life total
- Self-mill from the front side feeds reanimation, delve, and graveyard payoffs
- Built-in creature recursion every combat puts a crafted creature back onto the battlefield attacking
Weaknesses
- Crafting demands four specific tribal types in play or graveyard, which can be clunky to assemble
- While it's an artifact, the Throne is fragile to artifact removal before it transforms
- Hexproof doesn't stop board wipes, sacrifice effects, or -X/-X removal
- Mono-black struggles with enchantment and artifact interaction
- Edict effects let opponents sacrifice their least valuable permanent, so token decks largely ignore it
Key Cards
- Gisa, Glorious Resurrector — Steals creatures opponents are forced to sacrifice via the attack trigger, turning their losses into your army.
- Liliana, Dreadhorn General — Edict-themed planeswalker that synergizes with the Captain's repeatable sacrifice plan and makes blockers.
- Whip of Erebos — Adds lifelink and a reanimation outlet that pairs with the self-mill front side.
- Bolas's Citadel — Mono-black engine that abuses your high life total from lifelink to dump your hand and grind value.
- Nighthawk Scavenger — Cheap evasive lifelinker that gets huge from your filled graveyard while also being a relevant body.
- Reaper from the Abyss — Demon that turns your self-mill and graveyard plan into a recurring board-wide edict alongside the Captain.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Black Market) to craft the Throne ahead of curve, and tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor to assemble the four tribal types or fetch protection. Lean into a recursive sacrifice package (Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; Liliana planeswalkers; Gray Merchant of Asphodel) and reanimation to convert the self-mill into a true engine. Round out with targeted protection like Lightning Greaves and counterspell-equivalent saves such as Imp's Mischief to shield your gameplan from sweepers.
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
- ▸Connect repeatedly with a buffed, lifelinking, hexproof Grim Captain for evasive commander damage
- ▸Grind opponents out via the per-attack edict combined with aristocrats drain effects
- ▸Reanimate large threats milled by the Throne and swing alongside the Captain
- ▸Stabilize with massive lifelink lifegain, then leverage Bolas's Citadel and card advantage to bury the table
Archetypes
- Voltron — Hexproof, trample, and lifelink make The Grim Captain a resilient single-target finisher you can pile equipment and auras onto.
- Aristocrats — Repeatable opponent sacrifice and self-mill mesh with death triggers, drain effects, and reanimation.
- Reanimator — The Throne's milling fills your yard for big reanimation targets to cheat out and attack.
- Stax — Forcing a nonland sacrifice each attack supports a grindy, resource-denial gameplan in mono-black.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
