Balor

Creature — Demon

Flying

Whenever Balor attacks or dies, choose one or more. Each mode must target a different player.

• Target opponent draws three cards, then discards three cards at random.
• Target opponent sacrifices a nontoken artifact.
• Balor deals damage to target opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (21)

Czarnian90 on Hellegion, Shadows and Flames (Raphael)

4 months ago

Commander Update: Shadows Rise, Flames Burn

After several games against tough opponents, I’ve made a few changes to the deck and, more importantly, swapped the commander of the Hellegion. The Balrog, Durin's Bane is still very much part of the deck—playing him as a commander was fun and flavorful, but I wanted a leader who can impact my board more directly and help set the pace of the game. The Balrog remains a force of nature, and having him lurking in the deck, ready to be unleashed, still feels great. I believe he’ll continue to be a major threat even when he's not always leading the charge.

Raphael, Fiendish Savior steps in as the new commander, supporting the game plan more consistently. He helps stabilize the board, buffs my army, and sets the stage for the Balrog’s arrival. I run several cards that can fetch him straight from the deck—Blood Speaker, Demonlord Belzenlok, Rune-Scarred Demon, Icon of Ancestry, Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted, and others—so even as a lurking horror, he’s never too far away.

I also added more damage-dealing spells for better control and direct pressure on opponents. Beyond classics like Devil's Play, Terminate, and Dreadbore, I’ve added Hell to Pay and Rakdos's Return to punish hands and boards alike. On top of that, I doubled down on devil token synergy and death-triggered burn effects. These little fiends now serve not just as blockers or sac fodder, but as a win condition on their own—especially when paired with Raphael’s lifelink boost. Every dying devil becomes pain for the enemy and healing for me.

I’ve now included four versions of Ob Nixilis — yes, it’s a bit much, but each fills a unique role. This one Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted punishes card draw and bolsters removal. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator is still here too, classic devil support: fueling tokens and preventing opponents from healing the damage my demons and devils dish out. They don’t live long, but if timed right, their impact is massive.

I’ve also added some recursion (Oversold Cemetery) and a spicy alternate wincon in Liliana's Contract.

Some bigger demons were swapped out for stronger synergy or pure flavor—welcome Asmodeus the Archfiend, Balor, Kardur, Doomscourge, and others to the Hellegion.

Sadly, a few cards had to go — Imskir Iron-Eater, Archfiend of Sorrows, some regenerating skeletons, and a handful of artifacts are no longer marching with the legion.

I still have a few cards waiting on the bench—Burn Down the House, Rakdos Keyrune, Doom Whisperer, Overseer of the Damned, Skirsdag High Priest, Spawn of Mayhem, Breath of Malfegor — and I’ll be testing space for them soon.

In the long run, I’d love to add some heavier hitters and staples like Kindred Dominance, Altar of Shadows, Bontu's Monument, Krav, the Unredeemed, Rite of Belzenlok, Demonic TutorGC, Sudden Spoiling, Grave Pact, Dark Prophecy, Attrition, Vilis, Broker of Blood, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Pestilence Demon, Lord of the Void, Archfiend of Depravity, and especially Karlach, Fury of Avernus.

We’ll see where the Hellegion marches next—and who joins, or falls, along the way.

Hybrow on Snakes on a Planeswalker - Xyris EDH swarm

9 months ago

Seuchenschutz, thanks for the comment and suggestions

I have been looking to remove Solemn Simulacrum for a while. I have found I dont really need the land drop or 1 card draw in this deck so much. Of the cards you suggested, I really like Balor as a replacement. Having an extra flying blocker is nice. and the 3 card draw is funny. Any draw for my opponents that requires discard is always nice.

As for In the Web of War, I already have two haste enabling enchantments Fervor and Roar of Resistance. They both have a lower CMC, and although the +2/0 is nice, I usually have so many snakes in a 3-4 player game, it kinda doesnt matter.

I like Black Vise as a fun addtion, but not sure what I can take out for it. (thats always the hardest part. I will probably keep that one in my maybe board for a while.

Seuchenschutz on Snakes on a Planeswalker - Xyris EDH swarm

9 months ago

Black Vise and In the Web of War are fun cards to play in the deck. Also Balor seems to be a perfect fit.

SufferFromEDHD on Nekusar EDH

9 months ago

Baleful Mastery > Doom Blade

Balor > Kess, Dissident Mage

Machine God's Effigy > Clone

Gidgetimer on What exactly triggers Riku of …

1 year ago

Balor isn't a modal spell. It is a creature spell, and the creature represented by the card has a modal ability. It has no interaction with Riku of Many Paths

purpleballspurple on What exactly triggers Riku of …

1 year ago

So I understand how Riku of Many Paths ability works with a spell like Simic Charm but was confused if casting a permanent such as Balor would work, does it even count as a modal spell and if so do I get to pick anything for Riku?

Thank you in advance

Niko9 on How Good is Pain Magnification?

1 year ago

Last_Laugh I agree with you, in commander it looks like a very snowballey enchantment. I think Pain Magnification might take the right deck to be great, it's not a rakdos staple, but in the right build it would absolutely be a must remove threat.

The main drawback I could see with it is that in commander players can get very salty about discarding and not everyone will have enchant removal, so you may become the archenemy when you play this.

Just throwing out ideas here, but Pain Magnification might be brutal in a rakdos Blade of Selves deck that runs Balor and Archon of Cruelty as reanimated blade carriers.

Gleeock on Why Do Recent Sacrifice Effects …

1 year ago

I love those effects. Balor has become a big pet-card for me. Chain Devil is fun.

A less-discussed aspect of this is how it enables strategies that are reliant on using cards out of opponent's graveyards. If sac-dependent decks only allowed for opponents to cherrypick their least important tokens all the time, then you would never see any cards (tokens not being cards & all) of importance going to opponent's graveyards & you would not be able to synergize with decks that like to resurrect out of opponent's graveyards (not without having to make a mill deck). Not that I advocate for cEDH Tergrid... but there are much more casual & interesting cards & decks that do this.

It also presents a good balancing option against death-by-Voltron, where a few voltron decks will swing tall with an important (hexproof/indestruct) card, then incidentally spit out some token-fodder.

WoTC has been HEAVY on the rapid token-pooping decks with low versatility lately as well, so I think it is nice to have options to balance that. Or make players have to add some versatility to token decks. Also, token decks can still "token it up" with this type of removal, it just may remove a piece of a token engine.