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{B}

Black Tutors

Every black card in Magic that searches your library for the one you need, sorted by how many tracked decks actually run it

Last computed 3 Sep 2026 · recomputed weekly
30
Black tutors ranked

What are the best black tutors in MTG?

The best black tutors in MTG are the ones players actually reach for, and a handful of those measurably raise your win rate. The list below ranks every mono-black tutor in Magic: The Gathering by how many tracked Commander decks run it, counted from real games on Playgroup.gg. Where a card has been played enough for us to measure its effect on winning, and that effect is clearly positive, its win-rate lift is shown beside the count.

Deck counts are drawn from 146,944 tracked decks on Playgroup.gg.

See tutors in every color on the main list.

{B}

The most-played mono-black tutors

Ranked by the number of tracked decks running the card, not by a rating. A win-rate lift appears beside the few cards whose measured effect on winning is clearly positive.

11,535
Decks running Demonic Tutor
# Card Decks
1
Demonic Tutor
Demonic Tutor {1} {B} +1.8% win rate · 19,705 games with it · 2181 pilots · 702 commander groups 		11,535
2
Vampiric Tutor
Vampiric Tutor {B} +1.4% win rate · 14,997 games with it · 1651 pilots · 575 commander groups 		8,773
3
Diabolic Intent
Diabolic Intent {1} {B} +1.5% win rate · 8,277 games with it · 1087 pilots · 371 commander groups 		4,758
4
Entomb
Entomb {B} +1.2% win rate · 7,749 games with it · 1009 pilots · 299 commander groups 		4,088
5
Buried Alive
Buried Alive {2} {B} 		4,060
6
Diabolic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor {2} {B} {B} 		3,284
7
Imperial Seal
Imperial Seal {B} 		2,810
8
Wishclaw Talisman
Wishclaw Talisman {1} {B} 		2,629
9
Opposition Agent
Opposition Agent {2} {B} 		2,602
10
Grim Tutor
Grim Tutor {1} {B} {B} +1.1% win rate · 3,512 games with it · 426 pilots · 211 commander groups 		2,273
Show 20 more black tutors (ranks 11-30)
# Card Decks
11
Beseech the Mirror
Beseech the Mirror {1} {B} {B} {B} +0.3% win rate · 4,389 games with it · 434 pilots · 192 commander groups 		2,039
12
Insatiable Avarice
Insatiable Avarice {B} 		1,668
13
Rune-Scarred Demon
Rune-Scarred Demon {5} {B} {B} 		1,539
14
Profane Tutor
Profane Tutor +0.5% win rate · 2,019 games with it · 250 pilots · 127 commander groups 		1,165
15
Lively Dirge
Lively Dirge {1} {B} 		1,100
16
Unmarked Grave
Unmarked Grave {1} {B} 		1,091
17
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Razaketh, the Foulblooded {5} {B} {B} {B} 		1,081
18
Praetor's Grasp
Praetor's Grasp {1} {B} {B} 		1,075
19
Scheming Symmetry
Scheming Symmetry {B} 		1,069
20
Hoarding Broodlord
Hoarding Broodlord {5} {B} {B} {B} 		1,064
21
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire {2} {B} 		1,059
22
Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor
Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor {3} {B} // {1} {B} +1.8% win rate · 1,284 games with it · 195 pilots · 91 commander groups 		1,044
23
Demonic Counsel
Demonic Counsel {1} {B} 		1,036
24
Vile Entomber
Vile Entomber {2} {B} {B} 		1,008
25
Final Parting
Final Parting {3} {B} {B} 		855
26
Beseech the Queen
Beseech the Queen {2/B} {2/B} {2/B} 		760
27
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Sidisi, Undead Vizier {3} {B} {B} 		756
28
Splinter's Technique
Splinter's Technique {3} {B} 		586
29
Dark Petition
Dark Petition {3} {B} {B} 		556
30
The Cruelty of Gix
The Cruelty of Gix {3} {B} {B} 		531
Other colors

Tutors in the other colors

A black deck can also run every colorless tutor, and most Commander decks are not mono-colored:

White tutors Blue tutors Red tutors Green tutors Colorless tutors
Methodology

How this list is built

The candidate pool is every Commander-legal card carrying Scryfall's tutor oracle tag with a mono-black color identity, minus the cards whose only search is for lands. Multicolor cards are excluded on purpose: a black tutor should go in any black deck. Each card is counted across every non-archived tracked deck whose mainboard contains it, and the list is ordered by that count.

Most tutors do not measurably change whether you win. We compare decks that run a card against decks on the same commander that do not, pool those matched comparisons, and ask whether the difference is bigger than chance; only a handful of cards clear that bar. Ordering a list by a number whose confidence interval crosses zero for most of its rows would be ranking sampling error, so the list is ordered by deck count instead and the measurement rides alongside.

A win-rate lift appears beside a card only when it has been played enough to judge and its measured effect is clearly positive: minimums on games with the card, on separate commander groups and on distinct pilots, a cap on how much of the sample any one pilot may hold, and an interval landing entirely above zero. A card that was measured and came out flat gets an empty cell rather than a number near zero, because a number near zero reads as a verdict and this one is not.

Read that figure as a difference, not a multiplier. A +2.2% lift means a deck running the card wins 2.2 percentage points more often than decks on the same commander without it: 27.2% of its games rather than 25.0%. It is not a 2.2% relative increase, and it is not a claim that the card wins 2.2% of your games on its own.

Counts are drawn from 146,944 tracked decks on Playgroup.gg.

Read the full methodology on the main tutors page

Black tutors FAQ

What is a tutor in Magic: The Gathering?
A tutor is a card that searches your library for another card. The name comes from Demonic Tutor, printed in 1993. Tutors trade a card and some mana for consistency: instead of hoping to draw the card you need, you go and get it. That matters more in Commander than in any other format, because your deck is a hundred cards and you only ever get one copy of each.
Which color has the best tutors?
Black, and it is not close. Black tutors search for any card at all, which is why Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are the benchmarks the others are measured against. White and green tutors are usually restricted to a card type, blue leans on cheap instant-speed searching that puts the card on top of your library rather than in your hand, and red mostly gets tutors with a drawback attached, like Gamble.
Why isn't Cultivate on this list?
Because it is ramp. Cultivate, Farseek, Evolving Wilds and the other land searchers do technically search your library, but players do not call them tutors, and putting them here would bury the cards you came looking for. These lists cover tutors that fetch a nonland card.
Are tutors too strong in Commander?
They are strong, and the numbers on this page show which ones measurably move a deck's win rate. Whether that is too strong is a table conversation rather than a rules question. A tutor makes your deck more consistent, and consistency cuts both ways: it makes your good draws more common and your games more similar. Some playgroups limit tutors by agreement. Nothing in the rules does.
Why are there no multicolor tutors on this list?
Every list here is mono-colored on purpose. A mono-black tutor goes in any deck whose color identity includes black, while a two or three color tutor only fits decks in those exact colors. Restricting each list to a single color identity means every card on it is playable in every deck that can cast that color, which is usually what people are asking for when they search for black tutors.
Are Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor legal in Commander?
Yes, both are legal in Commander, which is most of why the black list looks the way it does. They are the two cards every other tutor gets measured against. Demonic Tutor costs two mana and puts any card from your library straight into your hand. Vampiric Tutor costs one mana and 2 life, and puts the card on top of your library instead, so you also spend your next draw collecting it. That life and that draw are what black pays for searching without a restriction. Every other color is limited to a card type or to a narrow slice of one.
Why does this list look different from other tutor lists?
Most tutor lists are one writer's ranking. This one is counted. Every card here carries Scryfall's tutor tag, ordered by how many tracked Commander decks actually run it, so the list reflects what players sleeve up rather than what an editor rates. We also measure whether each card raises a deck's win rate against decks running the same commander without it, and only the few that clearly do carry a win-rate figure.
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Counted from decks and games tracked on Playgroup.gg. Every card name links to its full stat page.