The Magic the Gathering’s 2015 Core Set reintroduced the Convoke mechanic, first introduced during Ravnica block, in a big way. Spells with Convoke allow you to tap creatures in order to pay the mana cost of that spell. The best part of the Convoke ability is that you can tap creatures for colored mana if that creature was the same color as the spell. Endless Obedience is one such spell from Magic 2015 with Convoke.

Endless Obedience is an uncommon Sorcery that costs 4BB (4 generic and 2 Black) to cast and it puts target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. However, because it has Convoke, you can pay 1 less for each creature you tap. 

Obedience could actually become a free reanimation spell if you had six creatures to tap, including at least two black creatures. Free Reanimator spells are pretty good, and there really aren’t any. Plus, Endless Obedience has beautiful artwork featuring the popular planeswalker Liliana Vess. It’s a pretty decent uncommon all around.

Because it could be cast for a greatly reduced cost, it wasn’t surprising that it did see some Standard play. While it was never part of a dominant deck, there were a few decks that managed to get Top 8 finishes during Theros/Khans of Tarkir Standard It also found a home in a few Commander decks such as Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Liliana, Heretical Healer. However, with so many reanimation spells available in Commander, it hasn’t really seen play in that format

Endless Obedience did see some Standard play, but it only had a handful of appearances in top decks. The highest profile deck that ran Endless Obedience was an Abzan Midrange deck that featured Satyr Wayfinder and Commune with the Gods to dump creatures in the graveyard. The deck could reanimate things like Ashen Rider, Siege Rhino, and Hornet Queen from the grave. Hornet Queen and her tokens also could help cast Endless Obedience. 

There were two copies of Obedience in that top tournament deck. It was piloted to a 3^rd place finish in the 2014 Nebraska State Championships. Someone ran a similar deck to a Top 8 finish on Magic Online with only one copy of Endless Obedience.

My favorite deck that ran Endless Obedience in Standard, though, was a somewhat unique version of Sultai Whip, a deck based around Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Whip of Erebos. It topped a Daily event on Magic Online back in October 2014.

While Endless Obedience is much too resource intensive for Eternal formats like Modern, it’s a pretty cool card nonetheless. It’s still a fun card to have in your collection, even if it’s not really that viable in competitive Magic. Obedience does pop up in a few Commander decks, like Anowon, the Ruin Thief, although it’s never become a staple in any one Magic the Gathering deck.