Oubliette (Original Art)

Oubliette is a three-mana black enchantment first printed in Arabian Nights (1993). “When Oubliette enters the battlefield, target creature phases out until Oubliette leaves the battlefield. Tap that creature as it phases in this way (Auras and Equipment phase out with it. While permanents are phased out, they're treated as though they don't exist)”. Oubliette is a very iconic black enchantment from Magic’s early days, imprisoning creatures rather than killing them. It is mechanically significant because it inspired future design space for black’s limited “removal without death” options. Its original text was so confusing, until modern rules finally clarified it using the phasing mechanic. It’s one of the only black cards that can truly “exile” something temporarily, giving black decks versatile creature control. It was sometimes played in Old School (93/94) Black Midrange / Control decks. Nowadays, this card is still being competitively played in Pauper Mono Black Devotion decks. For years, it was one of the best black removal spells in the Pauper format, thanks to its unique combination of exile-like removal and resilience to recursion. It deals with
indestructible or regenerating creatures, and it avoids triggering death triggers (e.g. Myr Retreiver). Here, it’s often played together with cards like Sign in Blood, Cuombajj Witches, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Oubliette is not on the reserved list and has a few reprints (Double Masters, The List, Secret Lair Drop Series, and Mystery Booster 2).