It's a black Akroma! Or, something like that.
It's surprisingly easy to make this creature a
significant threat, and not unusually hard to
make it a nigh-unkillable one - the last
Standard season saw the fun combo with
Chromanticore pop up at FNMs worldwide, and it's
even easier once you get into larger casual
cardpools (he works with like half of the
Innistrad block alone). I also like that he fits
with black's theme of death and exploitation of
death; as we'll see in our top eleven, this
theme has been pushed this year, and things like
that help distinguish the colors at least as
much as card abilities.
The number eleven card of the year is
Soulflayer which is a six mana Black 4/4 with
Delve that can lower the mana cost to two Black
and it can gain a variety of effects if
creatures with them are exiled by Delve. This is
excellent alongside cards like Gurmag Swiftwing
and Vampire Nighthawk in a mono-Black deck and
there are many options available when using
other colors. This is a card that should
not be hard cast and greatly benefits from the
Delve mechanic as well as self-mill, so it
should see play in decks built around it as a
mainline threat or possible finisher depending
on the creatures used.
In Limited this may not get to see many added
effects, but is still a reasonable 4/4 for six
or less which is certainly playable. As a
first pick in Booster it can potentially be a
little weak if not supported with drafting
effects it is still playable as a potential two
mana 4/4 and shouldn't be passed most of the
time. In Sealed it naturally depends on
the pool, primarily Black with the two symbol
requirement, and is a bit much to splash.
A slightly interesting take on Cairn Wanderer. A
4/4 for BB with up to 4 mentioned abilities
sounds amazing on paper, and for reanimator
decks, it's a boon. but then again, when's the
last time you saw reanimator? Odds are, you're
likely to just draw it either when you don't
need it, or you're already winning, at least in
terms of reanimator. It's a neat use of delve
but... eh.
