Magic: The Gathering – The 14 Best Black Sorceries
By Chris Guest
9. Unmask
A Free Discard Spell FTW
Back in the day, discard spells such as Coercion (three mana to choose any card from a foe’s hand for them to discard) were the norm. Since then, discard spells have become increasingly strong and effective, but one of the strongest discard spells was printed way back in 1999 in the Mercadian Masques set.
While at first glance, the card might seem like a Coercion that costs one more colorless mana, the card’s alternate casting cost is what sets it apart from the pack – you can play this card for free by exiling a black card in your hand. While that might be steep, being able to cast a spell for free is always massively powerful and Unmask certainly proves that true.
8. Temporal Extortion
An Impossible Choice For Foes: Lose Half Of Their Life Or You Take An Extra Turn
One of the best “lose-lose” cards in MTG history, this black card gives your opponent an impossible choice: lose half of their life total, or let you take an extra turn. At only three black mana, this is an incredibly powerful effect – especially in two-player games.
Of course, in Commander, any player may pay half of their life total (which begins at 40) in order to counter this spell. Still though, that’s going to be a lot of life on turn three, which means it’s fairly likely that this card will serve as a Time Walk with a slightly higher mana cost.