Black Knight
Creature — Human Knight
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Protection from white (This creature can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything white.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Limited Edition Alpha
- Price
- $399.99
- EDHREC rank
- #16362
Black Knight hits the board as a two-mana 2/2 with first strike and protection from white — a genuinely annoying blocker and attacker that blanks a huge swath of the most common removal in the format. Rev, Tithe Extractor decks run it because cheap, resilient creatures with evasive keywords translate directly into consistent extort and drain triggers.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rev, Tithe Extractor
Rev, Tithe Extractor wants cheap black creatures that stick around, and Black Knight's protection from white means it survives the removal most opponents lean on — more attacks, more extort triggers, more life drained.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Black Knight is a role-player rather than a headliner — it earns its slot in aggressive black decks and extort shells where a two-mana creature that dodges Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile is worth a card slot. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is legal but has long been outclassed by creatures with more impact on faster, more interactive gamestates. Modern is technically legal but Black Knight sees no competitive play there either — two mana for a 2/2 is simply too low-impact when the format's threats and answers operate at a higher ceiling. It's a Commander card in practice, and even there only in dedicated tribal or drain strategies.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
If you want the same first-strike-plus-protection profile at a fraction of the cost, Vampire of the Dire Moon and Tithe Drinker both come in well under a dollar and bring lifelink into the bargain — you lose the white protection, but in most metas that's a modest trade for the added lifegain. Black Knight's specific protection from white is the hardest part to replicate cheaply, so if your playgroup leans heavy on white removal, neither substitute fully covers what it does.
Price Context
Current price
$399.99 premium tier
At $399.99, Black Knight sits firmly in premium collector territory — that price is driven by the Alpha or Beta printing, not the card's gameplay power. The same effect is available in far cheaper reprintings, so you're paying for cardboard history, not gameplay edge.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.