Legendary Creature — Avatar Horror

Sauron, the Necromancer

Mana value5EDHREC#5,783

Build with Wyrm Build manually Card details

The Commander

Menace

Whenever Sauron attacks, exile target creature card from your graveyard. Create a tapped and attacking token that's a copy of that card, except it's a 3/3 black Wraith with menace. At the beginning of the next end step, exile that token unless Sauron is your Ring-bearer.

Guide

Gameplan

Sauron is a mono-black graveyard-value commander that wants to attack every turn, animating creature cards from your graveyard as recurring 3/3 Wraith copies. You self-mill and discard to stock the yard, then swing to generate ETB triggers, bodies, and aristocrat fodder; once the Ring tempts you to Ring-bearer status those tokens stick around permanently for an ever-growing board.

Strengths

Generates repeated ETB/attack triggers and bodies every combat from cards you've already used
Menace plus the Ring's temptations make Sauron hard to block and reward aggressive attacking
Mono-black gives access to the format's best tutors, recursion, and removal
Loves cheap self-mill/discard, turning a 'cost' into fuel

Weaknesses

The copies are exiled at end step until you become Ring-bearer, so early value is fleeting
No evasion outside menace and dies to spot removal, stalling the engine
Single-color access limits answers to artifacts, enchantments, and flyers
Needs both a stocked graveyard and an open attack to do anything

Key Cards

Buried Alive — Tutors three creatures straight into the graveyard to immediately fuel Sauron's attack triggers.
Gravecrawler — Cheap recurring body to discard and reanimate, and great aristocrat fodder.
Massacre Wurm — Copying it as a Wraith wipes opposing boards and drains life on every attack.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse — A strong attack-copy that punishes draws and gains you life while sitting in the yard.
Liliana, Dreadhorde General — Card advantage, removal, and a board-wide sacrifice payoff that synergizes with disposable tokens.
Reassembling Skeleton — Self-recurring creature that's always available in the graveyard to copy.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana (Dark Ritual, Jet Medallion) and graveyard tutors (Entomb, Final Parting) to assemble big targets quickly, and lean on cheap recursion like Reassembling Skeleton and Gravecrawler for consistent fuel. Prioritize cards that race you to Ring-bearer status so the copies become permanent, and include an aristocrat package (Blood Artist, Bastion of Remembrance) to convert disposable tokens into reliable damage. Top-end reanimation targets with game-ending ETBs (Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Bolas's Citadel value) raise the ceiling.

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

▸Going wide with permanent Wraith copies once Sauron is your Ring-bearer and swinging in
▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat off sacrificed tokens
▸Repeated ETB wipes and drains like Massacre Wurm or Sheoldred grinding opponents out
▸Commander damage from a menacing, evasive Sauron backed by reanimated threats

Archetypes

Reanimator — Filling the graveyard with high-impact creatures is exactly what Sauron's attack trigger rewards.
Aristocrats — The temporary tokens are perfect sacrifice fodder before they'd be exiled anyway.
ETB Value — Copying creatures with strong enter-the-battlefield effects gives repeatable advantage each combat.
Voltron/Ring tempted — Pushing Sauron to become Ring-bearer makes the copied Wraiths permanent for an explosive board.