Best One Mana Spells in Ixalan Standard - BLACK

[DelverMage]

Black has two of the strongest one mana cards in Standard, a third that is nearly as good, plus a combat trick that is growing in popularity.  There are two creature cards that I needed to consider, even though they are both a bit situational or require a certain kind of deck to be even better I think they deserve to make the list.

Creatures
 
*Deadeye Tracker - This is a 1/1 pirate for one black mana that has a secondary ability that can be quite useful if given the chance to use it.  For 1B, Deadeye Tracker can exile two cards from your opponents library AND perform an explore.  This combo of effects is quite strong, if you ever get a chance to use it.  Explore is nice, but currently not a ability that wins games.  Exiling targeted cards from the graveyard is really good against a couple of the upper tier decks in Ixalan Standard.  The problem here is those players are quite aware of this and the result is Deadeye Tracker does not often get to perform effectively.  The ability requires DT to tap, which gives your opponent 2 turns to remove the threat.  Even with the recommendation that this can be a sideboard card the best I can do is give Deadeye Tracker an Honorable Mention.

Dread Wanderer - A 2/1 zombie for one Black mana is a great card, but it comes into play tapped.  That basically  means it cannot be a blocker on the next turn, but if you are playing with Dread Wanderer you are not looking to block anyways, right?  Dread Wanderer also has the ability, at Sorcery speed, to come back into play from your graveyard, tapped.  You have to have only one card or less in your hand at the time, but an aggressive black deck that can really use Dread Wanderer will find itself playing of the top of the deck often enough that this really is not a hard circumstance to be in, plus there are currently a number of good situations for the zombie tribe that can quickly make DW even more dangerous than a 2/1.

Spells

Duress - A reprinted card that has spent a little bit of time out of Standard, but is back again to cause grief.  Looking at your opponents hand and removing any non-land, non-creature card to their graveyard is just good.  Always has been, always will be.  Often Duress is the best way for a deck to disrupt your opponents' strategy.  Are there some top tier decks that this is less effective against?  Sure, but that is why we have a sideboard strategy.  I believe this is a top 5 card in the current Standard.

Fatal Push - Fatal Push has pushed its way into the top 10 list of pretty much every competitive format in Magic.  Granted, it is not effective against any creatures with a casting cost higher than 4, and a bit trickier to use against three and four mana creatures, but there are no adverse side effects to using it.  No life or land gained by your opponent, no creature sacrifices (at least as an official cost), and no color restrictions.  Fatal Push is the best one mana spell in the Ixalan Standard format.

Harsh Scrutiny - Here we have a new twist on an old friend.  For one black mana, we get to see target opponents hand, and remove a creature card from there to their graveyard.  It is relegated to Sorcery speed, but the new twist is the Scry that follows.  Again, with the current Standard format running so creature heavy, it is going to be really hard to miss with this spell.  I have only seen 2 opponents play this card against me, but I think this card deserves more play.  This card gets an Honorable Mention for the top 5 cards.

Skulduggery - An instant that provides a 2 point shift on the fly.  This is a shining example of a great combat trick.  There are so many ways Skulduggery can influence combat.  Chump blocking their 3/3 first strike with your 2/2 lifelink, is exactly what your opponent was hoping for.  Then you cast Skulduggery, gain 3 life instead of 2, and your creature is wiping of the dust while their first striker gets buried in the graveyard.  Keep an eye on this card as you will be seeing it more with the rise of mono black decks.

Sideboard

These are not the good black spells you were looking for....

[Firegriff]

Deadeye Tracker: Remove two cards from opponent's graveyard AND explore.  If you are already using Duress and Harsh Scrutiny, it lets you repeatedly stop thing like The Scorpion God from just going back to their hand.  Not just limited to creatures, so puts a halt to aftermath and delirium, too.

Vicious Conquistador: deals damage to opponents (plural) just by attacking.  Make it unblockable, and it is going to be a recurring pain.

Both are vulnerable to removal, but I would not say "Nada" for one mana black creatures.

[DelverMage]

Ok, you have hit upon a decision point that at one point I made, about honorable mentions.  I originally chose not to use them, only talk about the best cards that don't need support or specific situations to be good.

From the time I did the research and made my list, (about two weeks ago) I am just now putting thoughts to paper from that list.
I find I am already making adjustments while creating the content.  Since I am working from that list, I did not take an opportunity to reconsider things NOT on that list.

I will make a revision to add in two black honorable mentions.....

Thanks for the input and discussion.

[DelverMage]

I have NOT edited the original thread to add in the Vicious Conquistador, because Firegriff correctly identified that Vicious Conquistador should be on it and talked about in his thread.

I have a formulary in place now to help be more consistent and definitive in my ranking of these cards and Vicious Conquistador squeaked onto the chart because of his toughness, and the fact that his life lost is delivered when the attack is announced, which is hard to stop without preventing the attack all together.