
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
The Commander
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis.
Guide
Gameplan
Play extra lands to drain opponents 3 life at a time while Ob Nixilis snowballs into a massive, evasive threat. You want fetch lands, land-into-play effects, and ways to replay lands so each landfall trigger both grows your commander and burns a chosen player. Close games with commander damage or by draining the whole table to death.
Strengths
- Each landfall hits any target for 3 life and adds three counters—doubling as removal-proof reach and a fast clock
- Mono-black gives the best tutors, ramp, and recursion in the format
- Fetch lands and free land drops make him a 9/9+ as early as turn five
- Drain damage ignores blockers and creature-light boards, punishing defensive opponents
Weaknesses
- He has no built-in evasion or protection, so commander damage stalls behind blockers
- Heavily reliant on the commander itself—if he's repeatedly removed the deck loses its engine
- Mono-black struggles with enchantment and artifact removal
- Slow without explosive landfall enablers; a single land per turn only drains 3
Key Cards
- Rampaging Baloths — Doubles as a landfall payoff, but more importantly signals the land-matters package that fuels Ob Nixilis's drain.
- Crucible of Worlds — Replays fetch lands and sacrificed lands every turn for repeatable triggers.
- Strands of Night — Sacrifice a swamp to recur creatures—and combined with land recursion it loops landfall drains.
- Lotus Field — Bouncing or recurring lands stacks multiple landfall triggers in a single turn.
- Whip of Erebos — Lifelink turns commander swings into life swings and the indestructibility protects your engine.
- Strip Mine — With land recursion it gives a repeatable landfall trigger while disrupting opponents.
Upgrade Path
Add explosive land enablers—Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Exploration, Burgeoning, and a full fetch-land suite with Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator—to chain multiple drains per turn. Give him reliable evasion and protection (Whispersilk Cloak, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots) so the counters convert to lethal commander damage, and back it up with strong tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) and a Torment of Hailfire finisher. Combo finishes like a land-bounce loop with Retreat to Hagra or Lotus Field can turn landfall into an instant kill.
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 once Ob Nixilis is buffed and given trample or evasion
- ▸Repeated landfall drains plus other life-loss effects killing the table
- ▸Big mono-black finishers like Torment of Hailfire or Exsanguinate
- ▸Drain combos looping land recursion for many triggers in one turn
Archetypes
- Lands / Landfall — Every land drop is removal and a buff, so the deck maximizes extra land drops and land recursion.
- Voltron — He stacks +1/+1 counters fast, making commander-damage kills viable with evasion and protection.
- Aristocrats / Drain — Landfall life loss plus other drain effects can grind the whole table down without combat.
- Control — Mono-black removal and recursion let you stall while landfall whittles life totals each turn.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.

Syr Konrad, the Grim
EDHREC #252

Braids, Arisen Nightmare
EDHREC #283

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
EDHREC #464

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
EDHREC #487

Sheoldred, Whispering One
EDHREC #690

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
EDHREC #814

Ayara, First of Locthwain
EDHREC #815

Yahenni, Undying Partisan
EDHREC #1,004

K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
EDHREC #1,066

Vilis, Broker of Blood
EDHREC #1,092

Junji, the Midnight Sky
EDHREC #1,208

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
EDHREC #1,259