One of the best ways to improve your Magic: The Gathering (MTG) game is to use a tutor. Tutors are spells that allow you to search your library for a specific card, providing you with consistency, combo potential, and a tactical advantage. In MTG, black is the color most associated with tutoring, offering many cards that help you find exactly what you need—even if it means sacrificing life or other resources.
In this guide, you will learn why MTG black tutors are so important, which options are the best, and how to make the most of them.
What Exactly Are Tutors in Magic: The Gathering?
A “tutor” in Magic: The Gathering is any card that lets you search your library for another card. The term comes from the legendary card Demonic Tutor, which allows you to find any card and put it into your hand for just two mana.
Since then, many tutors have been printed in different forms, costs, and abilities across all colors. Among them, black tutors tend to be the most prominent because of their:
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Low mana costs
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Ability to find any kind of card
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Most often place the card directly into your hand (sometimes into the graveyard)
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Usually come with a drawback, commonly a life payment
Why Are Black Tutors So Important in MTG?
Black tutors are highly valued because of their versatility, efficiency, and power. They are staples in competitive formats like Legacy, Vintage, and Commander (EDH). Here’s why black tutors are so impactful:
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Universal Search: Many black tutors let you search for any card type—artifact, instant, enchantment, creature, sorcery, or land.
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Low Mana Cost: Several powerful black tutors cost only one or two mana.
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Combo Enablers: Tutors help you fetch combo pieces necessary to win.
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Increased Consistency: Tutors reduce randomness by ensuring access to key cards, especially important in singleton formats like EDH.
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Graveyard Synergy: Some black tutors send cards to the graveyard, supporting recursion and graveyard-based strategies.
The Most Popular and Powerful Black Tutors in Magic: The Gathering
Here is a detailed overview of the best black tutors you should know for your MTG decks.
1. Demonic Tutor
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Mana Cost: 1B
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Effect: Search your library for any card and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
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Format Legality: Legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage (banned in Modern and Standard)
Demonic Tutor is the quintessential black tutor—simple, efficient, and unrestricted. It’s a staple in many black EDH decks for its ability to fetch any card for only two mana.
2. Vampiric Tutor
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Mana Cost: B
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Effect: Search your library for any card, put it on top of your library, lose 2 life.
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Speed: Instant
One of the best instant-speed black tutors, Vampiric Tutor allows you to plan your next draw and is ideal for combo decks or synergy with top-deck manipulation.
3. Imperial Seal
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Mana Cost: B
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Effect: Search your library for any card, put it on top of your library, lose 2 life.
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Speed: Sorcery
Though similar to Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal is a sorcery-speed tutor. Once expensive and hard to find, it has become more accessible due to recent reprints such as in Double Masters 2022.
4. Grim Tutor
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Mana Cost: 1BB
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Effect: Search your library for a card, put it into your hand, lose 3 life.
Slightly more costly than Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor is a reliable choice, especially in black decks with lifegain or combo strategies.
5. Diabolic Tutor
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Mana Cost: 2BB
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Effect: Search your library for any card and put it into your hand.
A great budget alternative, Diabolic Tutor is a solid choice for casual or budget Commander decks.
6. Beseech the Mirror
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Mana Cost: 1BBBB
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Effect: Bargain a non-token artifact, enchantment, or creature to search your library for a card and cast it for free if conditions are met.
A newer tutor with powerful potential, Beseech the Mirror excels in artifact or combo-heavy decks by allowing you to cast the searched card for free.
7. Entomb
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Mana Cost: B
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Effect: Search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard.
While technically not a traditional tutor, Entomb is invaluable in reanimator decks and graveyard recursion strategies, particularly in Legacy.
8. Buried Alive
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Mana Cost: 2B
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Effect: Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them into your graveyard.
Ideal for graveyard-focused decks, Buried Alive enables powerful plays with cards like Reanimate, Living Death, or Necromancy.
How to Use Black Tutors Effectively
Making the most of your black tutors requires strategy and deck-building synergy. Here are some tips:
1. Identify Your Win Conditions
Before tutoring, ask yourself which card will get you closer to winning or stabilizing the game. Tutors help find combo pieces or important threats.
2. Don’t Tutor Too Early
Tutoring too soon can reveal your strategy. Sometimes it’s better to wait until you have more information about the game state or your opponents’ plans.
3. Diversify Tutor Targets
Make sure your deck contains several worthwhile one-of cards so tutoring always feels valuable.
4. Build Around Graveyard Tutors
If your deck runs graveyard tutors like Entomb or Buried Alive, include recursion cards such as Reanimate, Animate Dead, or Victimize.
5. Pair with Card Draw or Topdeck Manipulation
Tutors like Vampiric Tutor benefit from cards like Sensei’s Divining Top or Scroll Rack, which help you manipulate the top of your deck.
Black Tutors in Commander (EDH)
Tutors are especially crucial in Commander, where singleton decks can struggle with consistency. They provide essential redundancy by fetching key cards from your vast singleton collection.
Popular Commander Decks That Use Black Tutors
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K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth — Uses life as a resource, making tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Grim Tutor very efficient.
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Yawgmoth, Thran Physician — Fetches combo pieces and recursion targets.
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Muldrotha, the Gravetide — Utilizes graveyard tutors like Entomb and Buried Alive.
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Tymna + Thrasios — Competitive cEDH decks run nearly every available black tutor for maximum consistency.
Budget-Friendly Black Tutors
If you’re on a budget, here are some affordable alternatives to expensive black tutors:
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Diabolic Tutor
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Mastermind’s Acquisition (can tutor from the library or sideboard in some formats)
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Infernal Tutor (great for Storm decks)
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Dark Petition (provides mana alongside tutoring under Spell Mastery)
Final Thoughts on MTG Black Tutors
MTG black tutors are among the most powerful and versatile cards in the game. Whether you are building a Legacy combo deck, a competitive cEDH deck, or a casual EDH deck, the right tutors will drastically improve your deck’s consistency and explosiveness.
When used effectively, tutors do more than just fetch cards—they win games. Understanding how to choose and use black tutors is an essential skill for any serious Magic player.