Wedge · Color Identity
Sultai (Black-Green-Blue): History, Playstyle and Best Commanders
Sultai has green's mana, blue's cards and black's recursion, which is the three most powerful resource engines in Magic in one identity. What it does not have is a single efficient way to kill a creature that is not black's.
Sultai is black, green and blue, the three-color identity. Ruthless opulence: ramp, draw, and a graveyard that is a better hand than your hand.
Also called BGU, UBG, Sultai Brood, BUG.
Where the Name Comes From
The Sultai Brood, a clan of Tarkir, named in Khans of Tarkir (2014).
Sultai is black's wedge (black plus its enemies green and blue) named for the Sultai Brood of Tarkir, a naga-ruled clan of decadent aristocrats whose wealth is maintained by an army of zombies they raised for the purpose. Khans of Tarkir gave the clan Delve, a mechanic that turns the graveyard directly into mana and which has proved powerful enough to get cards banned in several formats.
As a Commander identity, black-green-blue is what people mean when they say a deck is doing too much. Ramp, card draw and recursion are the three resources the format rewards most, and this is the only three-color combination with the best version of all of them. Older players sometimes still call it "BUG", the name it had in constructed formats before Khans gave it a proper one.
All 32 color combinations and where each name came from →How Sultai Plays
Sultai's game plan is resource accumulation, and it is better at it than anything else in the format. Green ramps, blue draws, black tutors, and everything that ends up in the graveyard is a card the deck can use again. By turn eight a Sultai deck routinely has more mana, more cards in hand and more permanents than anybody at the table.
The graveyard is the identity's real distinguishing feature. All three colors interact with it (green mills itself and returns lands, blue mills everybody and flashbacks, black reanimates), so a Sultai deck effectively plays with a second, larger hand. That is why self-mill is a build rather than a drawback here.
Its weakness is combat. Blue and green have no unconditional creature removal, so all of it is black's, and the identity has no board wipe worth the name outside black's few. Against a wide creature board Sultai answers one threat per turn while the rest attack, which is why so many Sultai decks eventually give up on fair play and assemble a combo instead, which the tutors and the card draw make very easy.
What It Does Well, and What It Doesn't
Strengths
- Green ramp, blue draw and black tutors in one identity: the three strongest resource engines in Magic.
- The deepest graveyard interaction of any wedge, so self-mill is a resource rather than a cost.
- Counterspells backed by enough mana to hold them up while still developing.
- Complete permanent removal via black's kill spells and green's artifact and enchantment answers.
Weaknesses
- Almost no board wipes, and no efficient creature removal outside black's.
- No lifegain worth the name and no way to stabilise against an aggressive start.
- Poor against wide boards: the answers are one-for-one and the creatures are small.
- Attracts attention early, since a Sultai player left alone is usually the one who wins.
Best Sultai Commanders
The command zones that define the identity rather than the ones winning this week: the pips beside each name are its color identity, which is what it lets you play in the other 99.
Commander Spotlight
Muldrotha, the Gravetide ↗
Play a permanent of each type from your graveyard every turn: a land, a creature, an artifact, an enchantment and a planeswalker. The most card advantage any commander produces without asking for anything in return.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang ↗
Delve makes it a one-mana 4/5, and its ability digs a card out of your own graveyard every turn. Cheap, resilient and a cEDH staple.
The Mimeoplasm ↗
Enters as a copy of a creature in any graveyard, with counters from a second one. The best creature anybody has ever cast, at your convenience.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant ↗
Mills three whenever a creature enters, and makes a Zombie if a creature card was milled. Self-mill that builds a board while it fills the graveyard.
Damia, Sage of Stone ↗
Refills your hand to seven every upkeep. Seven mana, and after that the deck never runs out of cards again.
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer ↗
Your first face-down creature each turn is free, and every one that turns face up draws a card. The manifest and morph deck's engine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Sultai mean in Magic?
Sultai is the black-green-blue color combination, named after the Sultai Brood, one of the five clans of Tarkir, introduced in Khans of Tarkir in 2014. It is a wedge: black plus its two enemy colors. Before 2014 the combination was usually called "BUG" after its mana symbols, and some players still use that.
Why is Sultai considered strong in Commander?
Because it has the best version of every resource the format rewards. Green has the best ramp, blue has the best card draw, black has the best tutors and recursion, and the graveyard turns into a second hand for all three. A Sultai deck that is not interfered with is usually the one with the most of everything by turn eight.
What is Sultai bad at?
Killing creatures and surviving aggression. All of its efficient removal is black's, it has almost no board wipes, and it cannot gain life. Against three creature decks it answers one threat a turn while taking damage from the other two, which is why Sultai lists tend to lean on counterspells to prevent the problem and on a compact combo to end the game before board presence decides it.
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