The Schools of Magic - Black, Part 1

Normally, I would write an introduction on the color I'll be discussing here. The problem is that someone has already written a better one than I could! Last friday, April 22nd, Gamma-Mage posted this on the Magic: the Gathering Flavor and Storylines forum. This post is what inspired me to write this series of blog posts, and I thank Gamma for that!

Follow along on Gatherer as I examine Black magic in Magic 2011! Hit the jump!

Black

Necromancy: Death and decay.

Sangromancy: Technically defined as blood magic, it also manipulates life force in some ways.

Lethemancy: This school is related to Blue Mind magic, but it is more focused on inflicting negative emotions and removing memories from opponents.

Shadow: The core school of Black magic, Shadow magic embodies the selfishness and ambition that is core to Black's personality. It is the equivalent of Blue's Elemental school and White's Divine school.

Assassinate: This spell kills the target, no questions asked. It is clearly Necromancy.

Barony Vampire: Vanilla creatures in Black are fairly easy to place. Vampires drink blood, so this is Sangromancy.

Black Knight: This is a tricky one. It isn't undead or a vampire, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with memories or emotions. Overall, I would say it belongs in the Shadow school.

Blood Tithe: Blood is in the name, and it steals life from opponents. Classic Sangromancy.

Bloodthrone Vampire: Another vampire, and this one has an ability that screams Sangromancy.

Bog Raiders: Zombies are created through Necromancy.

Captivating Vampire: It boosts vampires, which makes it Sangromancy. The flavor of its ability is transforming creatures into vampires, which further supports that this is Sangromancy.

Child of Night: Lifelink is a very interesting ability, when it comes to flavor. It is very straightforward on this card, where the vampire is sucking blood to give you life, but it is one of the abilities whose flavor changes drastically depending on what card it is on. Go back to White and take a look at the cards with lifelink, and be amazed at how different the feel is.

Corrupt: It deals with life energy directly, draining it from the opponent and giving you strength. That means it is Sangromancy.

Dark Tutelage: The flavor is turning to demons for knowledge, which is Shadow magic.

Deathmark: A Necromantic spell, it also has fantastic artwork. Make sure to check it out.

Demon of Death's Gate: A deal with a demon, sacrificing your life force and minions for greater power? Classic Shadow magic.

Diabolic Tutor: Demonology is Shadow magic.

Disentomb: Raising a creature from the dead means Necromancy.

Doom Blade: Necromancy!

Duress: Our first example of Lethemancy allows you to look into your opponent's mind and destroy their enemy of one spell.

Grave Titan: It makes zombies! Necromancy!

Gravedigger: Once again, Necromancy.

Haunting Echoes: An interesting example of Lethemancy, which annihilates your enemies memories, destroying the parts of their mind that hold the spells they have already cast in this duel.

Howling Banshee: An undead entity that damages all the participants souls - Necromancy.

Leyline of the Void: It interacts with the graveyard, meaning it's Necromancy. It is an odd bit of Necromancy, preventing any creature from coming back to life, but it's still Necromancy.

Liliana Vess: Planeswalker time! Her first ability is classic Lethemancy. The second ability could be placed as either Lethemancy or Shadow. In Liliana's case, I would place it as Shadow because she has a history of making deals with demons. And of course, her final ability is Necromancy. Interestingly, this makes her the planeswalker with the most varied abilities (Spoilers: Chandra has the narrowest set of abilities, while Garruk is in the middle range)

Liliana's Caress: This is one of the most interesting spells out there. While discarding cards is Lethemancy, it should be noted that this spell does not actually cause any cards to be discarded. Instead, this is a Necromancy spell that triggers off a Lethemancy effect.

Liliana's Specter: This is much more straightforward, and you will find that almost every specter is Lethemancy.

Mind Rot: Everything about this card screams Lethemancy.

Nantuko Shade: A shade is a type of undead, and the ability is generic enough that I'm comfortable declaring this as Necromancy.

Necrotic Plague: Once again, this is very much Necromancy.

Nether Horror: As implied by the name, Horrors are creatures intended to be as horrific as possible. Therefore, they tend to be Lethemancy.

Nightwing Shade: This is a Nantuko Shade with flying, and is therefore Necromancy.

Phylactery Lich: An undead creature with an ability that helps it stave off death. Clearly Necromancy.

Quag Sickness: Diseases tend to be Necromancy, and this is no exception.

Reassembling Skeleton: Basic Necromancy, an undead creature that keeps coming back to life.

Relentless Rats: I'm going to say this one is Shadow magic. Honestly, it's not even a perfect fit for Black - it would make more sense as a White or Green creature.

Rise from the Grave: It brings creatures back as zombies. There are few spells that are as Necromantic as this.

Rotting Legion: Zombies are Necromancy.

Royal Assassin: Oddly enough, while I placed Assassinate as Necromancy, I'm placing this under Shadow. I may have been incorrect on Assassinate - thoughts?

Sign in Blood: Blood means Sangromancy.

Stabbing Pain: This is a tricky one, but it feels like it is manipulating the creature's body, which would fall under Sangromancy.

Unholy Strength: As a relatively pure expression of Black mana, this is Shadow magic.

Viscera Seer: It starts as Sangromancy because it's a vampire, but the ability feels more like Necromancy to me, gaining power from death. Overall I would say that this is pure Necromancy, despite the vampire creature type.

I am not completely happy with the name of the Shadow school, so if you have any ideas for a better name, leave a comment!