Agonizing Syphon

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Agonizing Syphon

Sorcery

Agonizing Syphon deals 3 damage to target creature, player or planeswalker and you gain 3 life.

multimedia on my first deck idea

1 year ago

Hey, good start for being new to Commander, nice Bitterblossom and Sensei's Divining Top.

Sol Ring could replace Edge of the Divinity? Sol is a staple mana rock for ramp in Commander decks. It's powerful and the most played card.

By adding more one drop Rogues who have evasion (unblockable or flying) can help to have a more established army of Rogues who can attack the turn you play Anowon. More Rogues with evasion will have an easier time doing combat damage to a player which is wanted to trigger Anowon and other effects when creatures you control do combat damage to opponents. Consider cutting some five drops, four drops and three drops for more one drop Rogues?

Changeling Outcast is a Changeling, it's every creature type at all times in all zones (battlefield, hand, library, graveyard, exile). Agonizing Syphon, Access Denied, Annihilate costs too much mana for what they do. Reconnaissance Mission and Kindred Discovery are examples of impactful four drop and five drop with Rogues, you would much rather use your mana to cast these then the others.

Tzefick on Two Life-Draining Spells

4 years ago

WizardOfTheNorthernCoast But Warleader's Helix is generally considered overcosted - although that's maybe not entirely a fair appraisal.

Lightning Helix is the combination of Healing Salve and Lightning Bolt. We all know the value of Lightning Bolt, but much less so that of Healing Salve. These days, Lightning Bolt is too strong for Standard and we refer to Lightning Strike for a more appropriately costed card for that damage range. If we look at specifically instants or sorceries that deal 4 damage, we come into the midrange territory and the costs are similarly higher or with extra conditions or restrictions. Char, Collective Defiance, Electrify, Flame Lash, Exquisite Firecraft, Lightning Blast, Slaying Fire, Stoke the Flames. On the cheaper side we have Cut, Flame Slash, Heartfire, Galvanic Blast, Lava Coil, Reckless Abandon.

I think at the least we can say that dealing 4 damage to any target unconditionally is more likely a CMC 4 spell that usually has some additional benefit stuck onto it or a 3 CMC with some requirements. So the raw unconditional 4 damage is somewhere around 3,X CMC.

Now healing 4 is way cheaper and can be done with Life Goes On for a single mana, at instant speed, with a condition to gain more life. The only other card to note is Sacred Nectar, which I believe we can quickly agree is overcosted and underperforming. All other cards that gain life around these ranges have something else going on for them, Feed the Clan, Blessed Alliance, Life Burst. As such, the raw 4 life is not even worth a mana.

So 4 damage is roughly worth 3,X CMC and 4 life is worth 0.Y CMC. Put those effects together on a multicolor card and Warleader's Helix seems like a fairly costed card at uncommon. Although fair does not equal good.

That was a rather long way to go just to say that Warleader's Helix is a fairly costed card... but not a very good one.

A condition may shave off a mana in the cost, but that leaves us at 3 CMC for a 4 damage, 4 life spell. The Vampiric Helix is definitely undercosted by 1 or needs a tougher condition, say control 2 or more vampires.

Now the biggest issue I take to this card is the ability to play it mono black. Mono black is not that efficient, seeing cards like Consume Spirit or Agonizing Syphon, Pharika's Cure. However neither red nor white has these effects by themselves. I think a good midway would be to have black as a required cost and then have the supplementary color be hybrid: would be fair in my eyes. Alternatively you could have white as the primary color and black/red as the supplementary, but that is not very flavorful as far as Vampire tribal goes. To compensate the increased cost, you could have the base version be 3 damage/3 life.

Minousmancer on Dean Liliana

4 years ago

Lotus Field was something i started to play around with today, I'm just seeing if there is any advantage to it in Mono.

I only have Core 2020 and Theros BD on preorder.

Evolving Wilds & Traveler's Amulet are there to thin the deck as best I can in a very controlled way so i'm not self-milling.

Mirror Shield like Lotus Field is something else I added today to play with to give Soulreaper of Mogis more protection from red/burn.

Agonizing Syphon is for decks where I need jest a bit more life also helps Bloodthirsty Aerialist.

Moldervine Reclamation is also an add from today as an idea for adding to the synergy of the lady dancers since I'm already sacrificing creatures.

Without Mogis, tell me a better way to get card advantage with drawing cards in Mono-Black? Especially only using Core 20220 and TBD...

Not trying to sound defensive I'm just tired and just got home from my first day of work in two months.

Sorin_Markov_1947 on Dean Liliana

4 years ago

I don't have much advice, since decks that require more than two (occasionally 3) cards to combo off are really hard to pull off, but I can give you some help.

Pharika's Libation is not a good choice here. Anything that gives your opponent a choice of what to do is not good (for example, [this insane matchup that happened a few years back] (https://youtu.be/ybOKEUhCvDo?t=999)). I get the versatility aspect, but hand disruption is your best bet against enchantments. I don't get how you're abusing Lotus Field. Lotus Field is only good in decks where you untap it to get extra mana. Otherwise, it's one of the worst lands in MTG. Replace Evolving Wilds with Fabled Passage (it's simply better), but why even have it when you're a mono-colored deck? They're good for mana-fixing or for triggering sac land effects, but this deck needs neither. What good are your artifacts doing here? Traveler's Amulet is only good in limited as mana-fixing, and Mirror Shield seems off-theme.

Your sideboard is another matter. Agonizing Syphon is rather low-power for the cost. I also can't imagine many situations where you'd sideboard it in. Same deal as before with Lotus Field. I guess Lotus Field is the only way you'd cast Moldervine Reclamation, but frankly that's going to be rare and Moldervine Reclamation isn't great in the first place. Definitely not worth splashing green for.

I like the idea, but I think there are better versions of mono-black sacrifice out there. Your main inhibitor is actually Soulreaper of Mogis. 3 mana for a single activation is steep in how much it stops you from developing your board.

rdean14 on Card creation challenge

4 years ago

Lavinia's Amendments

Legendary Artifact

All spells can be countered.

If a nonland permanent attacks, blocks, or if one of its activated abilities is activated, it becomes detained.

Sacrifice Lavinia's Amendments: Counter target spell.

Lavinia of the Tenth and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade


I'd like a limited removal spell, like Abrade or Agonizing Syphon or Pacifism .