Ambition's Cost

Sorcery

You draw three cards and you lose 3 life.

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
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

Optimator on

3 months ago

If you like Rakdos dragons, which is a very fun color pair for them, you may want to check out Rivaz of the Claw as a commander. Comes out a lot earlier and can get you to your dragons sooner, along with some recursion. The mass Haste of your current commander is super convenient for dragon decks, though. If you switched commanders, you might want another effect or two that give haste. Lightning Greaves is classic. Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind is cute and could be an upgrade over another mana rock. Even the humble Fervor is playable in big-creature decks.

You have a great amount of ramp, but you may still want two more lands or two cheap (1 or 2 mana) draw spells, with such a high average CMC for the deck. For versatility, you could do two MDFCs like Shatterskull Smashing and Agadeem's Awakening for instance. Fell the Profane is good, Malakir Rebirth is good, Boggart Trawler could sneak in some graveyard hate, Kazuul's Fury could be cute and steal a game, Bloodsoaked Insight is decent in big-mana decks. Lands like Bonders' Enclave aren't amazing but can be nice in big-creature decks that make good mana (in a pinch).

Howling Mine could be upgraded to Palantir of Orthanc for safer card-draw. {B} has no shortage of good draw spells these days; cheap stuff like Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood can get you your earlier land drops for more consistency. I kind of like stuff like Ancient Craving and Damnable Pact in decks that get a lot of mana. Later in the game, stuff like Ambition's Cost or Seize the Spotlight or Syphon Mind could allow you a partial refill along with playing a second spell played from the new cards. "draw three/draw four" spells are underrated IMO. Depends on the deck.

Some people swear by lots of cheap draw cards, some prefer big-time hand-refillers, and some only like incremental draw like Phyrexian Arena and Outpost Siege. It depends on a lot of deck-building factors as well as personal taste. I kind of like effects like Phyrexian Arena because it could come out early, before all the big dragons. Then again, Phyrexian Arena feels way worse on turn 12 than Ancient Craving. They all have their place.

Big scary dragons tempt boardwipes a lot. It's the psychology of Commander. In big-creature decks that can't prevent wraths (An Offer You Can't Refuse) or make all your creatures resist them (Heroic Intervention/Dawn's Truce), I am a big fan of mass-reanimation effects like Haunting Voyage, Rise of the Dark Realms, Behold the Sinister Six!, and Bloodline Bidding. Could be worth considering running a silver-bullet copy of one of those. Makes mass-haste effects real nice.

Personally, I don't love Planeswalkers in big-creature decks. I feel like I always want to attack with the big guys so it's hard to defend the Planeswalkers. I have a Saheeli, the Gifted deck (Junk in the Trunk) and it's pretty easy to protect her with all the thopters and servos. In my experience, opponents like to attack open Planeswalkers for the value, even if they aren't huge threats.

In big-mana decks, I actually still really like In Garruk's Wake. Big shout-out for you running Cut / Ribbons. Love that card. All is Dust could be nice since you have so many strong artifacts. It's nice to punish a boardwipe with another, bigger boardwipe. Bedevil is a potential upgrade over some of your other removal. Be sure to note Baleful Mastery too. Soul Shatter is better than things like Murder. Untimely Malfunction does double-duty as removal. No Mercy is nice in big-creature decks as well. Mudslide is cute in dragon decks.

K34 on Darigaaz, the Igniter - PrEdh Jund Midrange Damage

3 months ago

Hey. I don't know your deck building philosophy, so you might be opposed to mainstream cards for the sake of originality (totally legit mindset in my opinion), but I noticed you're not running Birds of Paradise or Bloom Tender, these are rock solid ramp options. you might also consider Orcish Lumberjack but he is a little more aggressive. personally, I would slot in some more draw. Your black slice is small, so slipping a NecropotenceGC into the deck would be clumsy, but black offers some other aggressive draw spells that aren't so color intensive that could definitely benefit you. Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving are some of my personal favourites, but there are X spells like Skeletal Scrying and Dregs of Sorrow that can be good, they're just a little more situational. As far as win cons go, commander damage out of nowhere is always good for a surprise victory. Hatred would let you pay 15 life to close out the game even if your opponent had combo'd off to infinite life. There's also Phyresis and Glistening Oil for your beatsticks.

xram666 on Volrath: No School, like Old School

1 year ago

Cool Deck. Plus 1 from me.

My friend s and I built real Elder Dragon Highlander Decks with the same restriction as your deck. These are really cool games.

And I also have some cards for your deck:

• Ambition's Cost The price tag sucks, I know ;-) but another source of card draw is always good.
• Ashen Powder I not sure with this one because we don't want to "steal" new frame cards from opponents ;-).
• Royal Assassin is still a good card in EDH.
• Sadly your deck may not have enough creatures for Koskun Falls. As this card is so unknown everyone has to look twice, if you play a Propaganda in black ;-).

Profet93 on Haunted Shadowheart

2 years ago

Vessiliana

To deal with stalling out, more draw can't hurt. Syphon Mind, Phyrexian Arena, Read the Bones, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving are all decent ideas.

I would add some more interaction as a preventative measure for staying power such as Contamination and/or Infernal Darkness. How are they gonna wipe if they can't cast spells? Swapping out your 4cmc lili for Karn, the Great Creator could be worth considering as well. Having one of the above enchantments + karn = fun times.

I personally disagree with insidious dreams because 1) It's an additional cost to cast. Without any anti-blue measures in the deck, this would be strongly meta dependent IMO. 2) It doesn't bring the cards to hand. Even ignoring mill, you have to wait to draw them or cast an additional draw spell just to get them. Why not add a more expensive CMC card that can accomplish what you're looking for? Your avg cmc is low enough to support it. Something like Peer into the Abyss (synergy with Archfiend of Despair) or Diabolic Revelation might work for you. Never hurts to try insidious though.

While not necessary, have you considered an alternate wincon? Rings of Brighthearth + cabal coffers + Deserted Temple = {INFINITY}{B}. You have a lot of flexibility in your landbase, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can reduce the amount of swamps you need. Temple can be used for politics and ramp with coffers on it's own. Rings synergizes with your commander, your shadowborn apostyles and several other cards. Adding in fetches could allow you to ramp. All depends on your goals + budget.

You have no instants. While I'm personally biased, Imp's Mischief can "counter" counterspells and redirect targeted removal, draw and extra turns! You definitely need an instant or two to bluff.

Optimator on Goblin Shenanigans (The Secret of Kiki Jiki)

3 years ago

A bunch of card-draw cards you will want to note for any future shake-ups:

Moldervine Reclamation, Dark Prophecy, Species Specialist, Skullclamp, Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Liliana, Dreadhorde General,

Collective Unconscious, Shamanic Revelation, Ohran Frostfang, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Culling Dais

Colossal Majesty, Phyrexian Reclamation, Phyrexian Arena, Slate of Ancestry, Herald's Horn,

Greed, Erebos, God of the Dead,

Mask of Griselbrand, Fecundity, Guardian Project, Idol of Oblivion, Coveted Jewel, The Deck of Many Things

Painful Truths, Harmonize, Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Reforge the Soul, Wheel of Misfortune,

Damnable Pact, Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Syphon Mind, Minions' Murmurs, Necrologia,

Return of the Wildspeaker, Soul's Majesty, Rishkar's Expertise, Peer into the Abyss

I would skew toward permanents (for Kodama) and higher mana values (for Vial-Smasher)

Vincentc1 on The King Has Returned.

3 years ago

Hey, I really like the theme and your deck ! Is Ambition's Cost a pet card or ? If not, how about Feed the Infection ? They do the same thing except FtI does a little bit more for the same CMC.

jarncards on hasteland

3 years ago

For global haste you can use Fires of Yavimaya, Concordant Crossroads, Mass Hysteria, and Urabrask the Hidden who will also conveniently turn off other people's haste. Anger and Barbarian Class also give haste after more effort.

Ant Queen, Artifact Mutation, Battle Hymn, Circle of Dreams Druid, Dragon Broodmother, Pest Infestation, Scute Swarm, Tempt with Vengeance, Sylvan Offering, Termagant Swarm are all useful if you can give haste to all of them.

Birds of Paradise is just the best mana dork.

You have green, so you might as well use the standard ramp package with Cultivate , Kodama's Reach, Explore , Farseek, , Rampant Growth, Three Visits and Nature's Lore. Probably ignore most mana rocks, because people are going to want to vandalblast you just because of the treasures.

Relentless Assault, Scourge of the Throne, Combat Celebrant, Hexplate Wallbreaker, World at War grant extra combats, with Hellkite Charger and Aggravated Assault potentially going infinite.

Vandalblast goes in every red deck. Even though youll have a ton of treasures i'd still run Brotherhood's End too

For draw spells consider Scroll Rack, Garruk's Uprising, Elemental Bond, Soul's Majesty, Furious Rise, Rishkar's Expertise, Beast Whisperer, Shamanic Revelation, Disciple of Bolas, Pact of the Serpent, Painful Truths, Harmonize, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Damnable Pact, Commune with Lava, Lifeblood Hydra, or maybe Necropotence although the color restricion on necro is tough, treasures should take care of it.

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  ^Flip, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer , The Reaver Cleaver , Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge , Ancient Copper Dragon , Old Gnawbone Ziatora, the Incinerator for more treasure makers. Pyrohemia and Pestilence could be fun with the extra mana. Awaken the Woods is an amazing x spell too, but wont appreciate the two aforementioned cards.

If you're using magda the deck will benefit from dragons and expensive artifacts. throw in Imperial Recruiter and Worldly Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Demonic Tutor all go in your colors. so you can get her more consistently. Darksteel Forge and Gate to Phyrexia can be tutored into play with her for five treasure.

If you use dragons, you could add Dragonstorm, but you should carefully consider how many cheap spells you expect to be able to cast if you arent building specifically towards this card. Chatterstorm, Empty the Warrens, Yawgmoth's Will, Jeska's Will, Mana Geyser, and Manamorphose, Past in Flames are all good on their own and would add synergy.

If it ends up dragon tribal, cards like Crippling Fear , Kindred Dominance, Crux of Fate

Swashbuckler Extraordinaire is a very good payoff for using treasures if you dont use certain other nightmarish dragons like Atarka, World Render, Blast-Furnace Hellkite, Terror of Mount Velus, Thrakkus the Butcher

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on Phyrexia: All Will Be One …

3 years ago

Ohhhhh baby! That is a spicy tribal commander if real...that's all I am going to say until it is confirmed.

Anyways, onto officially released cards:

New Atraxa is kind of disappointing. I mean, she is strong and the Battle mechanic is interesting and all, but really she is just a blink-value commander. Yawns

Feed the Infection is just a strictly better Ambition's Cost and I am here for it.

Monument of Perfection looks really cool, but unless we get more spheres or loci, it currently can't be activated in standard. Also....suuuuuuupper bad card to pull in limited.

Mirran Safehouse looks really interesting. I am already seeing comments about Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx lines in those weird 60 card formats :P Could be fun in graveyard based lands decks or to have a second copy of Cabal Coffers type lands. Also, play Petrified Field folks....

I was originally a bit down on our latest Sword of X-and-Y, but then I re-read it and realized that you exile the cards before the "play and extra land" trigger. This sword is really good. I don't think anything can usurp Sword of Feast and Famine, but this is definitely in the next tier below.