Sign in Blood

Sorcery

Target player draws two cards and loses 2 life.

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

emask on Mono Black Control/// Modern

1 month ago

This looks fun, I don't see much mono black love anymore. I'm out of the loop, but my friend had a nasty deck years ago with Phyrexian Obliterator, though it doesn't necessarily add value beyond itself like some of your other choices (Dauthi Voidwalker looks wild). He also ran Sign in Blood, which while not as fancy as some other draw options, was pretty consistent considering its low cost.

These aren't really suggestions, mostly thinking aloud. Nice deck +1

hyalopterouslemur on Competitive card Draw in Mono …

1 month ago

NecropotenceGC probably costs too much (It's around $20.), but if you have one, play it. As long as you're drawing at least 2 cards per turn (and a rat deck should be playing at least that many cards per turn), you're getting an advantage. (That said, I don't typically play Necro on turn 3. I typically play it later.)

Skullclamp is another obvious recommendation for typal decks. You're essentially sacrificing a creature to draw two cards.

Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood, Read the Bones...those are some of my favorite "draw X cards". You can throw in Damnable Pact for big plays. I also like Stinging Study, but it's kind of expensive.

Erebos, God of the Dead (a bit expensive) or Greed is useful as well.

Now, a word about Phyrexian Arena: I'm not sure you want it in an aggro strategy. It's great for controlling strategies, especially Stax (decks which essentially make it impossible for most decks to do anything and then do a point or two of damage every turn) and landfall, but aggro? It's still good, but not insanely overpowered. There's also Dark Confidant, which is Phyrexian Arena #2.

NV_1980 on Demon Sect

2 months ago

So I play-tested this a dozen times or so, and there's a bit of an issue with this deck. In only 1 of these attempts, it took me 5 turns to get 6 Apostles on the field. The rest all took longer. If you want to speed things up, there's a few ways in which you can do that:

1. Use ramp spells like Dark Ritual and Culling the Weak to pump out black mana more quickly. Also will make you slightly less dependent on the Apostles (or these will help you churn out Apostles much quicker). I can't recommend Songs of the Damned enough for this deck, as after you've sacced 6 Apostles to tutor for something, these will become fuel for the casting of other high-end spells.
2. Use draw opportunity that won't require you to sacrifice creatures for it. That will only slow down your Apostle count. Instead of the current draw spells, I'd go for options like Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Night's Whisper. Possibly also add Underworld Connections (budget) or Black Market Connections (non-budget).

Hope it turns out.

Beespair on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

2 months ago

Profet93

Isochron Scepter is great, can make an instant occur way more times than I normally could and the instant imprinted can change depending on the playgroup.

I agree with what you said about Cabal Ritual, never really had the chance to play it in the games I played with the deck, but the graveyard does not often stay with 7 cards in it. Switched it for Sign in Blood, as you've mentioned, more draw could help and at the same time I like cards that can do more than one thing in EDH.

Vampiric TutorGC is not really a budget issue, as I'm proxying the deck, but I have friends in my playgroup that don't and I try to keep it to cards they would normally have. I'm already justifying Imperial SealGC because of its name and Word of Command because it's a fun card to use and it's mostly the lack of printing that justify it's high price.

I removed these cards from the deck:

Agatha's Soul Cauldron: Although fun and a cheap crime, I rarely get useful activated abilities, the +1 to toughness was it's biggest use IMO.

Cabal Ritual: As you've mentioned, the threshold wouldn't really happen often.

Languish: Yahenni's Expertise is just more fun, same CMC and the 4 to 3 difference doesn't change much of the purpose behind the card.

Ulcerate: Cheap removal, but I already have a lot and this one was the weakest IMO.

Cabal Stronghold: As you've mentioned, 17 basics is too little.

Swamp: Removed one swamp to fit an additional non-basic land. Cabal Stronghold is gone, no need to keep that many basics.

I then added these cards:

Isochron Scepter: So many cool options, just neglected it when deck-building because I've been too tainted by the Dramatic Reversal combo and I only think about it in this situation.

Sign in Blood: One more card draw, can also burn enemies and with this deck's recursion can be re-used.

Yahenni's Expertise: Just a cooler Languish.

Buried Ruin: Nice recursion on stuff I can't normally recur because it's colorless.

Deserted Temple: As you've mentioned, crime, politics, ramp with Cabal Coffers.

Sudden Spoiling: Cool tech against control and protected creatures.

I did not add Helm of Obedience, felt like the 4 CMC is a bit too high. I will try it in the deck to see if I want to change something for it.

I did not add both flash cards because I can cast stuff from the graveyard at instant speed if needed with a crime. There's also not much I'm thinking of that I would really want to get that is not an instant. I might be missing some situations though.

Profet93 on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

2 months ago

Beespair

I'm glad you found my suggestions useful, I am genuinely curious about your thoughts for isochron scepter. Do you feel it's too much of a 2 for 1 risk or is there another reason to not warrant it's inclusion despite it's high ceiling?

Also, do you have enough draw? I only see about 5-6 cards that draw. With such a low avg cmc, I can imagine you run out of gas pretty quickly. While some are better than others, here are some potential considerations: Night's Whisper/Sign in Blood (Can target opponents in a pinch + politics), Read the Bones (scry is useful) or a Syphon Mind (expensive cmc but is usually draw 3, each opponent discards one).

How has cabal ritual been playing for you? I understand your deck is low to the ground and you can fill up your GY quickly, but with all the self-exile, do you find yourself often meeting the threshold requirement?

Vampiric TutorGC - I presume budget restrictions preclude it, although I see no mention of budget in the description.

Mind Twist - Triggers commands, anti blue (cast for 2-3, force them to use counterspell prior to using your wincon), or just ramp and make them cry.

Would love to pick your brain about your cool deck :)

DatShepTho on Aristocratic Storm

3 months ago

You don't need Solemn Simulacrum or Burnished Hart, they're too slow. Replace them with a Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood

DreadKhan on Lightning Bolts shoot from my fingertips

3 months ago

It's a bit pricey, but Exquisite Blood is generically very good with burn effects. If you don't mind a combo potentially showing up you can also use Sanguine Bond, which also happens to love your Commander's Lifelink (and fwiw unlike most decks that just throw that in you are VERY able to burn people to actually win on the spot).

I think if you want to use Manabarbs maybe you should look at more Artifact type ramp that won't trigger it? There are some easy ones like Rakdos Signet, Talisman of Indulgence that can even give you coloured mana, and some like Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo that can help keep your Commander on the table. Also, maybe I'm missing a ton of them, but IMHO you should have more artifacts if you want to use a Mox Opal.

Some other random goodies you might like: Maddening Hex (this would be HILARIOUS with some doublers), Chandra's Ignition (if you target something with lifelink remember it's the CREATURE doing the damage, so you can gain a TON of life off of this if the board is fairly full, and it's great with a Deathtouch source like Gift of Doom), Fire Covenant (one of the best burn spells ever), and MAYBE a Rionya, Fire Dancer since you've got all those Sorceries.

YMMV but I love having some small card draw effects in a deck like this, maybe Night's Whisper, Winds of Change, Humble Defector, and/or Phyrexian Arena? I feel like Sign in Blood's BB might be awkward.

It's not exactly 'lightning from your fingers', but Brash Taunter is one of the funniest creatures in Magic, just having the little guy out can make you much harder to attack into, and before your turn if you didn't need to remove/burn something you can use mana you're holding up to pick a fight with the biggest creature on board. It's nutso with all your damage doublers IMHO. One of my favorite interactions in all of Magic is how good Scavenged Brawler is with Taunter, it's the kind of thing you won't pull off often, but if people aren't running enough Swords to Plowshares family effects it's amazing.

DreadKhan on Mono Black Control

4 months ago

I've been using Hive of the Eye Tyrant in a Legacy deck, it's a nice option as the game goes longer, and if you draw it early you can play it untapped.

I think Thoughtseize is a very good card if you're not trying to sneak in stuff like Phyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood, and/or Castle Locthwain, if you're only paying life for Smallpox I think you're okay to run Thoughtseize. The versatility edge over Duress is considerable IMHO.