Stinging Study

Instant

You draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the converted mana cost/mana value of a commander you own on the battlefield or in the command zone.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

TheForsakenOne on K'rrik, Blatant Cheater

1 week ago

Profet93

The Budget for this deck is really weird. It's basically "Whatever I can get my hands on". I used to have Razaketh's Rite in here but I got seduced by the Timmy prospect of the double tutor with Increasing Ambition, I need to replace that soon.

I could see Stinging Study being put in for a flatter power curve. If I get a chance I'll probably replace either Sanguimancy or one of the big demons with it.

Profet93 on K'rrik, Blatant Cheater

1 week ago

TheForsakenOne

I'm not saying the deck relies on devotion, just that you have a lot of devotion related cards, which can make things tricky like after a wipe as you stated. Stinging Study could potentially work similarly. It's instant speed always 7 cards and 7 life. Might be worth it potentially depending on your preference.

Oh, I didn't see any mention of budget in the description, noted. A potential budget consideration for increasing ambition is Razaketh's Rite. While no flashback, it has a built in cycling which can be cast "for free."

RufusTheGrufus on Gonna Need A (Myrkul)

1 week ago

Okay, Necramus, as promised here are some 'spicy' suggestions for you to think about:

-Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: A creature-based sac outlet, source of card draw, and a way to incrementally whittle down opponent's creatures; I really like Yawgmoth in Myrkul personally.

-Similarly, while I see you are running Viscera Seer, you may also benefit from running other creature-based sac outlets such as Yahenni, Undying Partisan or Carrion Feeder. Fanatical Devotion is another interesting sac outlet I've considered running but haven't taken the time to playtest yet.

-Syr Konrad, the Grim: triggers twice, once when your creatures die, and also when you exile them to make enchantment tokens with Myrkul.

-Ondu Spiritdancer: With Myrkul, Lord of Bones and Grim Guardian on the battlefield, playing Ondu Spiritdancer and finding a way to kill it will infinitely ping all opponents to close out the game.

-Tyrite Sanctum: Offers a backup way to give Myrkul indestructible

-Windborn Muse: Build-your-own Ghostly Prison on a creature with Myrkul

-Loxodon Gatekeeper: Build-your-own Kismet on a creature with Myrkul

-Stinging Study: offers a big burst of card draw while also lowering your life total to make Myrkul indestructible.

-Options like Plumb the Forbidden and Deadly Dispute could be fun to both sacrifice creatures to turn into enchantments with Myrkul as well as generate card advantage.

In my tinkering around with Myrkul I can definitely relate to wishing that you could run more than 100 cards; I had the same problem with both Myrkul and Anikthea! They're both pretty open ended and also lean into super supported strategies, (enchantments, graveyards, tokens), so there's an over abundance of fun cards to build with; and ultimately I just ended up messing around with multiple builds for both of them. Overall I think your deck looks like a lot of fun to play, +1 from me!

Crow_Umbra on Terrenos de Don Windgrace [Retired]

2 months ago

Thanks for checking out my decks as of recent, Profet93 I appreciate it. This is my second go at trying out a Lands strategy. Zimone and Dina were pretty interesting, but they felt like they were being pulled in a couple of different directions.

Since this deck is fairly new, I haven't had a chance to try it here yet. I used to run Insidious Dreams in my old Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck. I liked it the times I played it there, but felt it was kinda clunky at 4 cmc, especially for a Mardu deck. I figured the mana cost wouldn't be as big of a deal in a deck with Green in it lol. I'm also playing it here because my one copy of Demonic Tutor is currently in my Burakos deck. I also figured I'd (ideally) be pitching Lands to the Discard requirement. If it under performs, It'll be one of my first swaps out.

1. Petrified Field seems interesting. I agree that I'd want to limit the number of colorless mana producing lands I run, but could swap it for one of the others already in the deck.

2. Lol I picked up a copy of Natural Affinity during one of my ordering batches. I'm sure that I'll give it a shot at some point.

3. As for the Shamanic Revelation, I currently have about 6 creature token production effects in the 99. Still getting a feel for how consistently I can draw into at least one. In terms of a similarly costed draw effect, I was considering Stinging Study. 5 for always 5 seems decent.

DreadKhan on Ur-Dragon (Recs. Needed)

6 months ago

I'll give you a few tips from my limited experience with 5 Colour decks and how they achieve their mana requirements.

My first point is that combining the Bounce Guild lands with numerous ETB tapped lands will feel incredibly bad, I would definitely throw in more untapped lands if you're going to use that many Bounce lands. I love the Bounce lands, but they should be played mostly with other lands that ETB untapped, like Basic lands, bouncing an ETB tapped land is not fun in my experience.

I would encourage you to lean into Green ramp, there is lots of it that's very good, including options that find dual lands that have Basic types (or even Triomes if your budget permits, but there are budget fetchable duals out there). To make that Green ramp work you probably would want more Forests because a Forest and ramp spell can fix your mana for you.

Another thing I noticed that helps 5 Colour decks is the fact that you can use budget fetchlands of all sorts. The worst of my favourite 3 is Myriad Landscape, followed by Blighted Woodland and Krosan Verge. Krosan Verge can technically find all 5 colours by itself if you use Triomes, because it can find non-Basics, but there is also Murmuring Bosk to help. In addition to these types of fetchlands, you might find some use for the old Panorama cycle from Alara, Esper Panorama, Jund Panorama, Bant Panorama, Grixis Panorama, and Naya Panorama. None of those are truly great cards, but in a pinch they both enter untapped while eventually offering good fixing. A nice perk to using more Basics is that you are better at enduring non-Basic hate, not sure if people use stuff like that in your area.

Their is the odd good land worth looking at if you want budget mana fixing, the pain lands Sulfurous Springs or Adarkar Wastes are very strong fixing options that are relatively cheap, people use these in budget cEDH builds, they're perfect if you want good non-Basics for a low price, the Enemy pair from that cycle (Shivan Reef and Caves of Koilos are generally quite cheap, the Ally pairs are pricy). There is also the odd land like Exotic Orchard that can fix pretty well, but most 5 colour lands that enter untapped are pricey.

My final suggestion is that I found it helpful to run more ramp than usual in my 5 Colour decks, as well as more lands total. My 5 Colour Sisay deck has 39 lands and iirc over 20 ramp spells/effects (some work as combo pieces), and my Reaper King deck has 38 lands and around 15 ramp sources. It's a big hassle to get 5 colours consistently, but if you straight up run extra lands and ramp it becomes much easier.

A few more general pointers, I noticed you don't have Crux of Fate in here, it's usually pretty good in a Dragon deck. You also might like Stinging Study as a big draw spell. It's usually not as good as Stinging Study, but Imposing Grandeur also exists. Bring to Light and Wargate are two pretty strong tutors, perfect if you want to power your deck up a bit.

Sleepysherlock on Life and Death

9 months ago

Alright, i'm bringing memes not dreams this time to strap in.

Protection Racket, Ajani, Strength of the Pride, Ajani's Pridemate, Erebos's Intervention, Heliod's Intervention, Witch of the Moors, Tivash, Gloom Summoner, The Gaffer, The Book of Exalted Deeds, Sanguine Indulgence, Rodolf Duskbringer, Nightmare's Thirst, Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles, Griffin Aerie, Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit, Field-Tested Frying Pan, Crested Sunmare, Cradle of Vitality, Angelic Accord, Resplendent Angel, Righteous Valkyrie, Speaker of the Heavens, Oketra's Last Mercy, Angel of Destiny, Underworld Connections, Priest of Fell Rites, Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, Erebos, Bleak-Hearted, Erebos, God of the Dead, Consuming Vapors, Bloodtracker, Blind Obedience, Archangel of Wrath, Soul of Eternity, Sister Hospitaller, Path of Bravery, Noxious Gearhulk, Kaya, Orzhov Usurper, Kaya's Wrath, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Astarion, the Decadent, Angelic Chorus, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Treasonous Ogre, Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip, Stinging Study, Lone Rider  ^Flip

Alright that's the first round

Profet93 on Volrath Punch.

11 months ago

Cabal Stronghold - Budget cabal coffers. You need ramp in a deck with an expensive commander that will eventually get removed, not to mention ensuring he comes down quickly enough for you to be relevant and not outpaced by faster strategies. Moreover, ramp provides you with the ability to cast your more expensive creatures should Volrath inevitably be removed.

Mind Stone - Ramp when you need it, draw when you dont.

Defile > Disfigure

Hero's Downfall > Murder

Oversold Cemetery > Disentomb - Black has the best recursion in the game. While oversold cemetery is better than disentomb, you really should focus on bringing cards back to the field rather than your hand, especially given how expensive your creatures are. There are several cards that I can recommend at a later time, currently at work. Victimize,

Feed the Swarm - Enchantment removal

Phyrexian Arena/Syphon Mind/Read the Bones/Night's Whisper/Stinging Study- Draw, you desperately need draw

Diabolic Tutor - Tutors are black's greatest strength, be sure to utilize them to find what you need, when you need it.

Phyrexian Reclamation > raise dead - PR is reuseable while raise dead is not. Cost of life is minimal.

Dismember > Funeral charm - FC is cool, but its not impactful enough. Discard a card is alright, removal is horrible, swampwalk is not repeatable and often 2 for 1 loss. You need more removal in your deck, especially cheap to cast. It allows you to bluff interaction as well.

Supernatural Stamina/Undying Malice - Can be used to protect volrath for cheap.

Decree of Pain > Forced march - FM requires a lot of mana to use, 8 mana just to kill cmc 5 or less. I get the flexibility is nice, but the mana cost is too high. If you're going to spend 8 mana, you might as well be able to destroy everything and draw from it. Not to mention cycling at instant speed allows for a decentish floor as well. Worth considering.

DareiJuxis on The King Has Returned.

11 months ago

Looks like the list lacks wipes and mana in general, something Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos takes advantage of/desperately needs. I'm also not much of a fan of instants/sorceries like Costly Plunder since it's a one-time draw, I'd rather see creatures/enchantments here (Chronomancer and Esper Sentinel synergize somewhat as artifacts, Greed or Idol of Oblivion and the like as a permanent form of draw.) Or even bigger bursts of draw like Stinging Study if it has to be inst/sorc. Patriarch's Bidding seems like an auto include here.