Painful Quandary

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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
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Standard Brawl Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Painful Quandary

Enchantment

Whenever an opponent casts a spell, that player loses 5 life unless they discard a card.

SlangNTrees13 on The Black Death (Maha Massacre Primer)

1 month ago

Hey Profet93 thanks for the read and comments. First, I hate to put misinformation out there so thanks for the Final Act catch, just completely missed that one as the other effects are all universal. I've updated all the descriptions that mentioned removing counters from our own permanents, thanks! Also, made the switch to the accordions cause I agree now after figuring it out, it's much easier to digest such a long primer. Thanks again :) Other deck comments, I play 90% online on Xmage, so price is not an issue in terms of cards, as also any deck I hone enough such as this one to properly build in paper I'm willing to dish out the cash for the duals, etc. usually. Along those lines, my meta online and with the few friends I do play with is very high power, not quite CEDH but strong decks. This is definitely the most commander centric voltron I have built in a long time, but that was my idea from the start. In terms of artifact removal, I do mention a few times this is one of our biggest weaknesses in the deck and although I am a player who always likes to have at least ONE option we can find to any and every threat (hence the Homeward Path) monoblack just has absolute nada for it to my knowledge and only colorless things on my radar like Introduction to Annihilation and Unstable Obelisk I feel are too many costly and have begrudgingly just accepted this weakness...Any suggestions here? Spell slinger decks we also just do not match up well against and it is one of our biggest weaknesses, but my main one big answer for this is Painful Quandary. Happy for any suggestions here as well. Thanks!

DarkKiridon on Any discard payoffs on mono …

2 months ago

There's also Dark Deal and the Waste Not on a stick for yourself creature: Bone Miser.

The Raven Man

Megrim is the other Liliana's Caress for one more mana if you need it.

Painful Quandary

Tergrid, God of Fright  Flip if you're feeling mean? :)

Rise of the Dark Realms

RiotRunner789 on

2 months ago

Couple quick suggestions,

Cut Charcoal Diamond for Mind Stone or Thought Vessel or something similiar. In mono black and your mana base, you won't be hurting for black mana but a tapped rock vrs. an untapped one can matter.

Consider Make an Example for removal. Worst case it kills only the three best creatures your opponents have on board.

Also discard outlets can force your opponents to put great creatures in the yard before you need/want to kill them. Oppression would probably be overkill bit cards like Dark Deal and Painful Quandary would work well.

DreadKhan on I Must Posses All, or I Possess Nothing

3 months ago

I built a discard deck of my own awhile back, though mine is Dimir (I went with Sygg, River Cutthroat for the card draw) there might be a few cards that are worth a look!

It might get you killed since you're not running hard Stax like Static Orb in here, but Bloodchief Ascension is a really strong card in a discard deck. If you get this out early, it can easily take over a game.

Since you have Creeping Dread in here, maybe Stronghold Rats? Maybe Necrogoyf? Painful Quandary is a lot of mana for a reasonably strong effect, especially if you have any additional effects out with it. I threw in a bunch of racks that hit each opponent (stuff like Wheel of Torture, Rackling, and Shrieking Affliction), I found these helped speed things up.

I'm not sure if you are interested in stuff like Crawlspace, Ensnaring Bridge, or Koskun Falls? They are handy in a discard deck because people often want you dead as soon as they realize your going to make them discard all the fun stuff they're holding up, protection type Stax can be very helpful in my experience. I have a few more, mostly weirder ones, if you want to lean into the area, but it's not THAT deep unless you throw in hard Stax (like Static Orb and Meekstone).

I don't use them in my own discard list, but I also like Shizo, Death's Storehouse for the Fear. Maybe Access Tunnel and/or The Black Gate?

austintayshus on Daxos the Enchanted

5 months ago

Painful Quandary is a tough stax piece you could use.

Smothering Tithe is strong ramp for your deck

looks fun!

Profet93 on [Primer] Mogis' Slaughter House: Murder Made Tasty

9 months ago

ShibaWiz

Solid description, +1

Have you thought of swapping polluted bonds out for Painful Quandary? Unless you have a lot of land decks, they can usually play around bonds and 2 life is not as much as 5. While they can discard to avoid lifeloss, they are damned if they do and damned if they dont.

DarkKiridon on B/R Waste Not Discard

1 year ago

You could play test Painful Quandary also.

Monomanamaniac on Who Hurt You (WHY!?)

1 year ago

Icbrgr thank you. I also like Oppression and necrogenic mists, but tbh I've never really been impressed by them. If nobody answers Tergrid in a turn or 2 nobody else is going to have a hand anyways and in top deck mode those effects are actually not great. Even Painful Quandary hasn't really been impressive.

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