Ambition's Cost

Sorcery

You draw three cards and you lose 3 life.

Legality

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

Discussion (50)

kamarupa on Shadowy Shadows

1 month ago

Sign in Blood is better MV than Ambition's Cost. Spoils of the Vault will get you down in life FAST.

Dismember for added removal.

Noxious Revival might be worth considering as a sideboard.

I suggest cutting Oni Possession and Blood Mist.

multimedia on Satoru and the ninja deep sea creatures

3 months ago

Hey, interesting concept, combining Ninjas with sea monsters. Well done if this is your first attempt at deck building, you have good card sense.

Some cards here that are not as good as the others that could be upgraded, even on a budget: Prismatic Lens, Doom Blade, Nemesis of Reason, Ambition's Cost, Commander's Sphere, Rogue Class, Tromokratis, Blade of the Oni.

• 1x more Island --> Tromokratis
• 1x more Island --> Nemesis of Reason
• 1x more Swamp --> Doom Blade

30 lands is low when you want to get to at least four mana to ninjutsu with Satoru. Consider cutting a couple of the high CMC sea monsters that are not as good as the others, Tromokratis and Nemesis of Reason, to add a few more lands? Could just add more of each basic land or there's many other options that are more expensive price: Watery Grave, Morphic Pool, Drowned Catacomb, Shipwreck Marsh, etc. Some budget options are: Ice Tunnel (another land Marsh Flats can get), Temple of Deceit, Esper Panorama.

• Astral Cornucopia --> Prismatic Lens
• Everflowing Chalice --> Commander's Sphere

Prismatic Lens and Commander's Sphere could be upgraded to mana rocks that can combo with Hullbreaker Horror to make infinite mana. Astral Cornucopia and Everflowing Chalice combo with Sol Ring by repeatedly bounce/cast them with Hullbreaker to make infinite mana. Sol pays for itself plus 1 extra colorless mana each time you tap it before it's bounced by Hullbreaker. Astral is better because once you make infinite colorless then you can pay that colorless to cast Astral to make infinite blue or black mana. When you have infinite colorless then Arcane Signet or Dimir Signet can also be used to make infinite blue/black mana.

If you can create a copy of Hullbreaker from Thousand-Faced Shadow then this combo can bounce all your opponent's nonland permanents and keep doing this on each of your main phases.

• Ingenious Infiltrator --> Ambition's Cost
• Baleful Strix --> Rogue Class
• Prosperous Thief --> Blade of the Oni

Ingenious Infiltrator is a good Ninja for repeatable draw. Baleful Strix is a nice creature to enable ninjustu. Prosperous Thief is a Ninja for repeatable ramp who also triggers from a Rogue and there's many unblockable Rogues here.

Good luck with your deck.

eliakimras on Breena - Silverquill Statement Upgrade

5 months ago

Hey, me again! I really like Breena, the Demagogue's premise. I want to build her in the future, since I'm cultivating a combat metagame. But I have some ideas that can make your deck funnier and stronger:

I imagine you're trying to keep the idea of giving gifts to your opponents for them to killing each other, while reaping benefits to you.

One way is to force combat. You might want to put Martial Impetus and Parasitic Impetus back to deflect attacks and get draws off Breena. (Too bad goad is a blue-red thing - come on Wizards, give us on other colors). Otherwise, they buff Breena to hit harder.

Another thing you should consider is protection for your creatures:

• Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip and Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip can be slotted as lands.
• Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Whispersilk Cloak, Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn are great utility artifacts.
• Timely Ward has flash.
• Dawn Charm doubles as a fog.
• Valorous Stance doubles as a removal spell.

How about protection to you?

• No Mercy, Dread, Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts deter attackers.
• Koskun Falls is a second Ghostly Prison if you can pay its upkeep cost. Solitary Confinement is even more efficient, as long as you can keep up with its cost.
• No one will mess with you again once you cast Hellish Rebuke. Darien, King of Kjeldor also shows them why attacking you is not advisable.
• If you prefer the way of taxing opponents, Sphere of Safety synergize with your other pillowfort enchantments.

About recursion:

• You run a lot of permanents that might die. How about getting them back with Sun Titan or Emeria Shepherd?
• Mistveil Plains has good synergy with tutors.
• Liesa, Forgotten Archangel also acts as graveyard hate.

About card draw:

• Breena costs 3 mana and it is easy to recast, but you can't rely on your opponents wanting (or being able) to attack each other. Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Treacherous Blessing, War Room and Castle Locthwain can be great options (it is good to lower your life total to trigger Breena). Erebos, God of the Dead can also act as a blocker and life-gain hater.
• Skullclamp is good if you can reliably generate X/1 tokens.
• Syphon Mind is a favorite of mine.
• Mangara, the Diplomat... The name says it all. #bffBreena
• Shadrix Silverquill is not only on-theme, but on-school aswell.
• Endless Atlas and Dread Presence require many basic lands.
• The cards above can replace Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving and Secret Rendezvous (if they want free cards, may they attack each other).

About your ramp:

• I see you run cards that ramp you if an opponent has more lands than you, a la Knight of the White Orchid. Your Lotus Field is great for setting that up. You might also consider putting Orzhov Basilica back for the same effect.
• Loyal Warhound, Verge Rangers, Weathered Wayfarer, Archaeomancer's Map and Isolated Watchtower also capitalize on opponents ramping. I recommend replacing Boreas Charger (if you can't kill it easily), Scholarship Sponsor (not advisable to give ramp AND card draw to your opponents) and Oreskos Explorer (it is better to get lands on the battlefield instead of on hand, unless it is an unrestricted tutor like Weathered Wayfarer).
• If you ramp using the cards above, you will have a lot of Plains on the battlefield. Emeria, The Sky Ruin is free recursion on a land - enjoy ;-)
• You might also consider Fellwar Stone and Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip as ramp options. Breena has flying, so it is easy to transform the artifact.

Sorry for not commenting on your whole deck. Since I have not played her myself, I could only suggest more general things. I hope the suggestions have inspired you somehow. As always, have fun with the Demagogue!

bushido_man96 on Tribal Vampires Help Wanted

5 months ago

I would consider some different card draw options. Simple ones like Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, and Ambition's Cost are effective. I really like a card like Plumb the Forbidden, especially in response to a board wipe. Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip is an underplayed card in my opinion. It's not as good as Greed, but it might be better than Phyrexian Arena.

If I were looking for cuts, I'd be curious about the performance you've gotten out of Skeletal Scrying, Soul Foundry, and Well of Lost Dreams. The well seems like it's really good in any lifegain deck, but to get a big bang out of it, you've got to always keep a lot of mana open, and be gaining life. Perhaps you've made it work well for you, though. Let me know your thoughts on these.

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on Innistrad: Crimson Vow

7 months ago

Persistent Specimen is disappointing sadly. It's amazing how a difference of 1 mana can change a card from being very strong (Reassembling Skeleton) to forgettable. Ashnod's Altar + Pitiless Plunderer is still an option though.

I think Pointed Discussion is actually a very strong card draw spell in black. A total of 4 mana for 2.5 cards spread over time puts it at least on par Ambition's Cost, if not better than.

king-saproling on orzhov life gain

9 months ago

You might like these: Marauding Blight-Priest, Vampire of the Dire Moon, Vampire Cutthroat, Speaker of the Heavens, Griffin Aerie, Indulging Patrician, Witch of the Moors, Light of Promise, Vizkopa Guildmage. These cards are neat because they weaponize your life gaining effects. Some card-draw effects might help too: Greed, Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving.

Personally I would cut out these to make room for better cards: Soul Shepherd, Serrated Scorpion, Lone Missionary, Loxodon Restorer, Revered Unicorn, Vampire Neonate, Sunspring Expedition, Font of Vigor, Healing Salve, Alabaster Potion, Drudge Skeletons, Child of Night, Bloodhunter Bat, Blood Glutton

Stardragon on Board state getting you down? Try Nukes!

9 months ago

griffstick why all the sacrifice creature spells draw a card spells? this deck doesn't have a lot of recursion (actually i don't it any) nor a great number of token generation and a lot of the creatures are high mana cost creatures so you'll be losing more tempo than you gain from the card draw. Though Natural Order is good one since roughly half my creatures are green. Why not instead Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Abzan Charm, Blood Pact, Crushing Disappointment or Night's Whisper. Just wondering why your so set on me sacrificing my creatures

Peoyogon on Rat Club (No Colonies Allowed)

9 months ago

Balaam__ that would be so cool! What kind of format were you thinking of building it in? You are so right though - it would surely be super expensive! I'm sad I don't have many cards from that era too. I only have that Zodiac Rat and a well-loved Japanese Ambition's Cost I got for my EDH deck. Luckily, I found the Zodiac Rat when I first got into the game like 10 years ago. It was only a couple bucks! I would have got more but they are hard to find, even back then.