Akuta, Born of Ash: The recursion os nice, but unnecessary due to the standard Commander rule.
Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Anowon is neat in that he's cheap, creates a very hostile environemnt for non-Vampires, and he gives you something to build around. I am personally not a fan, but if you really want to keep the board clear of critters then this will do the job admirably.
Ascendant Evincar: His mono-white cousin is a lot more popular mostly because white has access to better token-making and the +1/+1 bonus mean a lot more. But even with that taken into account, Ascendant Evincar is not that bad. I jus think he's a little outclassed by some better options.
Ashling, the Extinguisher: There are better options available if this is the kind of effect your want, and even if you run him as-is its not likely that you'll be able to get this through all too often.
Balthor the Defiled: If you have Balthor as your general and you are playing Minion tribal, you are doing it wrong. Being able to mass-reanimate all of your creatures is a powerful ability, and coupled wit hthe fect that exiling Balthor as a cost doesn't mean anything in Commander, Balthor is a ofre to be reckoned with for strategies that like to recycle things out of the graveyard.
Baron Sengir: I think he is fine to include in some Vampire tribal deck, but otherwise he is overcosted.
Braids, Cabal Minion: Braids is currently banned for use as a commander in this format. I am personally a fan of Braids and the amount of disruption she provides, but giving someone access to her all the time from teh Command zone is a little over the top.
Cabal Patriarch: I can think of much better things to do with both my creatures in play and the ones in my graveyard.
Cao Ren, Wei Commander: Not a very good creature, not to mention not wanting to waste your precious commander slot on this.
Chainer, Dementia Master: Chainer plays out a lot like Balthor except that his reanimation is pinpoint rather than bringing everyone along for the ride. Chainer does have a more restrictive drawback that Balthor, as he needs to be protected or your hard earned Nightmare army can be decimated with a single removal spell. One trick is to activate his ability several times, then sacrifice him so that his last ability resolves before any of your newly created Nightmares enter play.
Commander Greven il-Vec: I remember when he was somewhat of a decent card to play. Those days have long sinced passed for Greven.
Crovax the Cursed: I can see wanting to try and keep this alive and growing in a match with 60-card decks, but in the land of the 99 this is way too much of a drawback to consider trying to play around.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Drana is a fine card, especially if you plan on killing the opponent with general damage, but for the most part I find her rather dull to build around.
Gallowbraid: I would rather spend that life doing any one of a hundred things, not using it to sustain my mediocre commander.
Grandmother Sengir: If I'm not running the Baron, I'm surely not running this.
Greel, Mind Raker: Between this and Cao Cao, I would choose Cao Cao. They have the same casting cost and power/toughness, but since Cao Cao's ability doesn't cost anything (cards or mana) I feel it can be used much more effectively.
Griselbrand: Banned shortly after its release, Griselbrand is not legal as a commander or in your 99 card deck. Good riddance in my opinion, as having a Yawgmoth's Bargain stapled to a creature is fairly broken in my opinion.
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge: With no way to get Haakon from the command zone to the graveyard, Haakon effectively cannot be cast or used. It's a shame too, as Haakon is a pretty cool card to use otherwise.
He Who Hungers: Not worth it.
Horobi, Death's Wail: Making everyone's creatures exceptionally fragile can have its uses and can make certain cards that are otherwise crappy into interesting options, but I think Horobi isn't really that interesting on its own merits.
Ihsan's Shade: Cool card, especially back in the days when Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt were the removal cards of choice, but it just doesn't cut it in Commander.
Iname, Death Aspect: Iname seems really cool, especially if there are a group of Spirits that you can put into the graveyard to make use of via reanimation or recursion. My only real trepidation about building such a deck is that it could be really boring to essentially win each game the same way every time (Living Death, Patriarch's Bidding, etc.), and that such a strategy would be very susceptibel to graveyard hate.
Infernal Kirin: It's an okay card that requires you to play with less than stellar options to be even that good.
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni: I really like Ink-Eyes and it regularly makes it into most decks I make with black, but its not a good commander due to the fact that you cannot use its Nijutsu ability while its in the command zone.
Irini Sengir: If you really want to upset the Uril, the Miststalker player who is playing a pseudo-Enchantress deck, the Irini Sengir is an all-star. It is otherwise way too narrow of an ability to ever be relevant.
Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet: I like that Kalitas doubles as creature control and advancing your board with Vampire tokens, but it seems like a card better suited to be maindecked rather than as a commander.
Kiku, Night's Flower: Kiku's main distinction it has going for it is it's cheap mana cost, but it's ability is inferior to pretty much any other option for a commander that just cares about keeping creatures off the board.
Kokusho, the Evening Star: Kokusho was long banned in Commander, but has since been given a repreive. It is not legal as a commander, but you can run it in your maindeck where it will be a force to be reckoned with whenever it hits play.
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade: I like Korlash in 60-card decks where you can play four of him to take advantage of the Grandeur ability, but in Commander he's just a big dude with Regeneration.Kuon, Ogre Ascendant: Not really worth jumping through those hoops in my opinion.
Kuro, Pitlord: Too much of a drawback to ever see play.
Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse: I think that if I wanted this effect I would go with Infernal Kirin.
Lim-Dûl the Necromancer: I like Lim-Dûl, in that it takes something that black is naturally good at (killing your opponent's creatures) and turns it around on your opponents. In a zombie-oriented deck, his ability is also uber-flavorful making him a good choice for a mono-black zombie deck (not that you want to play with those lame blue zombies anyway).
Maga, Traitor to Mortals: Once the kill condition of choice for Heartbeat of Spring combo decks, Maga is an ineresting commander choice. Always having access to a) a fairly large creature whose size is only limited by your mana supply, and b) a potentially game-ending "Fireball" effect can really put your opponents against the ropes once your mana supply starts to grow. Black has access to lots of "mana doublers" and tutors to find them, so there is alway a very realistic chance of Maga burning out one opponent when it enters play, killing someone else via general damage the next turn, then being sacrificed and recast to burn out another. Maga is definitely one of the better commanders if you like having a plan and sticking to it.
Maralen of the Mornsong: Maralen would be pretty cool if it weren't for the fact that your opponent's get to tutor first and if Maralen actually survives until your turn they are doing something wrong.
Marrow-Gnawer: My nominee for best rules text of any card ever ("All Rats have Fear"), Marrow-Gnawer is neck and neck with Endrek Sahr for best black token generator. I really want to make a Rat tribal deck with him at the helm, but I also think he is at home in a disruptive "Stax" style deck. Maybe I'll find a way to incorporate both themes, as a lot of discard effects ususally come stapled to Rats.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: Giving Undying to non-Humans is an unreal ability, and coupled with cards that have Persist or that eat +1/+1 counters you can loop a creature into play multiple times with any sacrifice outlet, and as his own general he leads the way with Triskelion in an infinite damage combo. My thinking is that Mikaeus may be a bit too limiting while the head of his own mono-black deck, as branching out to other colors such as green or blue can make for more interesting non-infinite damage combinations. Mikaeus has so many possibilities that it seems a little silly to limit yourself to "tutor for Trike, win".
Mirri the Cursed: Good rules test question; how many Scryb Sprites do you need to block with in order to kill a Mirri the Cursed in combat? If you don't get eight as an answer, then you need to think about it some more. As for the actual question on hand (is Mirri the Cursed useful as a commander), the answer is "no".
Morinfen: Unless I was actively trying to lose life for some reason, there is no reason to want to play Morifen.
Myojin of Night's Reach: Due to the Myojin wording of needing to be cast from the hand, this is essentially a really, really expensive do-nothing general that even if you were able to cast it, kill it, and reanimate it, it would not be worth the trouble. Until the rules for casting a commander change, this is essentially unplayable as far as I'm concerned.
Neferox, Overlord of Grixis: Neferox isn't necessarily bad, but it has stiff competition from other creatures that either kill opposing creatures more efficiently or present themselves as a more dangerous threat.
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: Ob Nixilis has a certain fell to him in that you are combo-killing your opponents but it doesn't quite feel that way since you are doing it in 3-6 point chunks. Black is also not so obviously positioned to take huge advantage of his landfall ability (as opposed to green), and this can work both to your detriment and your advantage while opponent's don't consider you a huge threat. Of course, then you drop Storm Cauldron, Crucible of Worlds, and a Fetchland and start growing old 'Ob exponentially while your opponents scramble for cover.
Patron of the Nezumi: Patron is a really cool card, but it also has a fairly decent ability that ties directly into what black likes to do anyway. I think that it would make a reasonable commander, although I think that for decks that want to continuously destroy permanents (such as a "Stax" type deck), cards like Endrk Sahr or Marrow Gnawer might make a better commander. In those deck, I would probably play Patron in my maindeck as a way to damage my opponent while I'm making them sacrifice stuff.
Phage, the Untouchable: Since casting from the command zone is NOT the same as casting from your hand, this would be folly to run this as a commander.
Purraj of Urborg: If the effect were free I'm still not sure that it would be worth playing.
Seizan, Perverter of Truth: I actually like the effect that Seizan has, especially in 1 vs.1, but in multi-player Magic I would be very careful about giving that many cards to my opponents turn after turn (especially when they get them first). There are a lot of similar effects for black to run that only give cards to you, so I would stick with those and leave Seizan on the bench.
Shauku, Endbringer: Shauku is not bad for what she actually does, but the 3 life per turn drawback and the attacking drawback are a real downer. Compared to Visara, Shauku's extra abilities aren't worth it.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: All of the Praetors are pretty bad-ass as commanders, and Sheoldred is no exception. Built-in Reanimation and a built-in The Abyss are amazing, and if this survives even once aroundthe table you ar epretty far ahead.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker: I like the uniqueness of Shirei's ability and that he is relatively cheap to cast, but the limitation of only working on creatures with 1 power (or less!) is a hard sell. If you want a challenge, the Shirei is surely worth investigating and looking at your options. I personally think that if you have better options that are objectively more powerful and allow more deckbuilding flexibility, then you follow those options. In this case, Sheoldred, Mikaeus, Balthor, and Chainer offer effects that I find better suited to reanimation than Shirei.
Sima Yi, Wei Field Marshall: A Craw Wurm with some potential upside is not my idea of a good time.
Spirit of the Night: I would prefer to get him out via the Feral Shadow, Breathstealer, Urborg Panther route than paying the 9 mana to cast him from the command zone, although I may give it a pass based solely on the wicked impressionistic art from Ron Spencer.
Toshiro Umezawa: Beside's being the namesake of one of the best peices of equipment in the game, I think Toshiro is often overlooked as a commander because his ability is not very easy to build around or use. I think that like Shirei, if you want a challenge its there to be had. I think the bigger problem is that its restricted to instants and you still have to pay retail price for your trouble (all the while your mana is presumably tied up in killing an opponent's creature to begin with).
Veldrane of Sengir: Unplayably bad poster child for the Homelands expansion.
Visara, the Dreadful: Visara is a solid card, and one that I often don't leave out of many decks that have black in them. I just don't think that she lends herself to being a very good commander.
Volrath the Fallen: Volrath is actually not that bad. As a discard outlet, he makes for a decent general to build a reanimation strategy around, not to mention that he can potentially get massive and kill people with general damage in one or two shots depending on how big your reanimation targets are. I personally think that he's a bit weaker than your other options, but I can't fault anyone for wanting to take Volrath for a spin.
Xun Yu, Wei Advisor: Not good enough to see play on any level.
Yokura, the Prisoner: I will reiterate what I have said before; in a format where you have so many good possibilities, cards with actual drawbacks have little to no appeal. It would have to be a card with a huge cost reduction or a very good ability for me to want to play something even with a relatively modest drawback like Yokura's.
Zhang He, Wei General: For one more mana, I can get Mikaeus the Unhallowed... 'nuff said.
Zhang Liao, Hero of Hefei: If you want this effect, just play Cao Cao.
Top 10 Mono-Black Commanders
1. Mikaues, the Unhallowed
2. Sheoldred, Whispering One
3. Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
4. Balthor, the Defiled
5. Maga, Traitor to Mortals
6. Chainer, Dementia Master
7. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
8. Ob-Nixilis, the Fallen
9. Lim-Dûl the Necromancer
10. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
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