Black Cat, Cunning Thief
SPM · rare · Released 2025-09-26
Power
Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell).
Derived from the 7 atoms below.
below rate
minor value alone
fits anywhere
can take over a game
one mode
broadly useful
easily answered
Commander Bracket
Archetypes
Roles
Risks
Mechanics
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Typal
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Structural
Rationale
Black Cat is a 5-mana 2/3 legendary rogue whose ETB lets you look at the top 9 cards of a target opponent's library, exile 2 face down, and play them for as long as they remain exiled (any mana type). This is a powerful tempo/card-advantage effect in control and midrange shells — essentially a repeatable (if only via recursion/flicker) rogue theft engine. The card is solid in 1v1 Brawl where the deterministic opponent targeting maximizes value, but is weaker in multiplayer where you're limited to one opponent's top 9 per cast. The mediocre 2/3 body limits aggro applications.
Learnings (3)
The exiled cards can be played using mana of any type, meaning even off-color spells from the opponent's library are castable from black mana — this is significantly more flexible than typical theft effects.
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In multiplayer Commander, this effect only hits one opponent per cast; flicker effects (Conjurer's Closet, Erratic Portal) can retarget different opponents to maximize card diversity.
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The face-down exile is semi-hidden information — opponents cannot see which two cards were exiled, which creates useful information asymmetry at the table.
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Popularity
- EDHREC rank: #7,531