BlackLegendary Creature — Human SoldierXiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Mana value4Rank#17,541
The Commander
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Sacrifice Xiahou Dun: Return target black card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
Guide
Gameplan
Mono-black midrange/control that grinds value through repeated recursion of your best black cards. Develop early ramp and removal, then leverage Xiahou Dun as a one-shot recursion engine to rebuy a key spell, while assembling reanimation loops or a combo finish.
Strengths
- Mono-black consistency: easy fixing, fast mana rocks, and powerful tutors
- Recursion-friendly identity rewards graveyard value and reanimation
- Horsemanship makes him nearly unblockable for chip damage or commander-tax-light sacrifices
- Color access to top-tier removal, draw, and tutors at every price point
Weaknesses
- Xiahou Dun is a slow, one-time effect that requires sacrificing him
- No card advantage engine or ramp built into the commander itself
- Mono-color limits interaction—weak to artifact/enchantment threats and graveyard hate
- Vulnerable to color-screw or punishing life-loss from black's payment costs
Key Cards
- Demonic Tutor — Cheap unconditional tutor that Xiahou Dun can rebuy to fetch your best answer twice.
- Reanimate — A black recursion spell you can loop back with Xiahou Dun to repeatedly reanimate bombs.
- Sheoldred, the Apocalypse — Punishes opponents' draws and gains you life to offset black's painful costs.
- Bolas's Citadel — Turns mono-black's life total into a powerful card-advantage and combo engine.
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Repeatable recursion that complements Xiahou Dun for a relentless grind plan.
- Cabal Coffers — With Urborg it powers explosive mana to cast multiple recurred spells per turn.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Dark Ritual, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring) and premium tutors (Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal) to find your engine faster. Lean into a compact combo or reanimation package so Xiahou Dun's recursion rebuys the missing piece, and include Reanimate/Animate Dead loops with Worldgorger or value bombs. Round out with strong interaction like Toxic Deluge and graveyard protection to survive to your payoff.
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
- ▸Reanimate a game-ending threat and beat down or drain
- ▸Tutor-assembled combo (Bolas's Citadel + life-gain/payoff)
- ▸Repeated drain/aristocrats effects ground out via recursion
- ▸Big mana from Cabal Coffers fueling overwhelming bombs
Archetypes
- Reanimator — His ability rebuys reanimation spells to recur fatties from the graveyard repeatedly.
- Control — Mono-black removal plus recurring your best answers lets you grind out the board.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice synergies pair with his self-sacrifice and recurred drain effects.
- Combo — Black tutors and loops (e.g. Bolas's Citadel, reanimation chains) close games quickly.
Combos
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Phyrexian Altar + Living Death
→ Infinite colored mana, Infinite blinking, Infinite death triggers
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Pitiless Plunderer + Not Dead After All
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Pitiless Plunderer + Feign Death
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Pitiless Plunderer + Supernatural Stamina
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Pitiless Plunderer + Undying Malice
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
