The Commander
Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Venom. If that creature was a Villain, draw a card.
Guide
Gameplan
Venom, Eddie Brock is a mono-black aristocrats/attrition deck that turns every death on the battlefield into growth and, with Villains around, card advantage. You flood the board with expendable bodies and sacrifice outlets, ping creatures off repeatedly, and grind opponents out while Venom snowballs into a menacing, hard-to-block finisher.
Strengths
- Free card advantage off Villain deaths keeps your hand stocked in long games
- Venom grows huge automatically and menace makes it tough to block as a Voltron threat
- Mono-black gives access to the format's best tutors, removal, and recursion
- Synergizes with token swarms and sacrifice loops for relentless value
Weaknesses
- Single color limits ramp, card draw breadth, and interaction outside black's toolbox
- Counters and triggers do nothing if Venom is removed or stuck in the command zone
- Slow to start—needs a critical mass of dying creatures to pull ahead
- Villain typed creatures are a small pool, so the draw clause is often inconsistent
Key Cards
- Pitiless Plunderer — Generates Treasure on every creature death, fueling sacrifice loops alongside Venom's counters.
- Bastion of Remembrance — Turns each creature death into life loss, converting your aristocrats engine into a real win condition.
- Viscera Seer — A free sacrifice outlet that lets you trigger Venom's death clause at will.
- Minion of the mighty — Cheap evasive aggression that pairs with Venom's menace and counter accumulation.
- Grave Pact — Forces opponents to sacrifice whenever your creatures die, swelling Venom and clearing blockers.
- Skullclamp — Draws cards off dying small creatures while every death pumps Venom.
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Recurs sacrificed creatures to keep the death engine churning.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana like Dark Ritual, Sol Ring, and a strong tutor suite (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent) to assemble engines faster. Lean into a sacrifice combo such as Gravecrawler plus Phyrexian Altar plus a drain effect for a deterministic kill, and prioritize protection like Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots so Venom survives to capitalize on deaths. Round out with proven aristocrats payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Midnight Reaper) to maximize value per death.
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
- ▸Commander damage from a huge, menacing Venom
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Bastion of Remembrance
- ▸Overwhelming the board with Grave Pact-style sacrifice locks then attacking
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Venom rewards creatures dying with counters and cards, the core aristocrats payoff.
- Voltron — Automatic +1/+1 counters plus menace let Venom close games as an evasive beater.
- Tokens — Mass expendable bodies feed sacrifice outlets and stack counters on Venom quickly.
- Attrition/Control — Black removal and edict effects grind boards while Venom profits from each death.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
