Archfiend of Despair

Creature — Demon

Flying

Your opponents can't gain life.

At the beginning of each end step, each opponent loses life equal to the life that player lost this turn. (Damage causes loss of life.)

Combos

• Archfiend of Despair + Tree of Perdition

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

NV_1980 on Be'lakor, Blade of the Seraph

2 months ago

You're welcome Vessiliana! Completely understand your reasoning concerning Contract. With regards to Devourer, I kinda understand it too, though I should point out that it's quite likely that he hits the battlefield much earlier than Be'lakor, because of the required mana cost of the latter.

Regarding the more expensive stuff, I was going to bring up cards like Archfiend of Despair/Bloodletter of Aclazotz (both have insane damage potential), Roaming Throne (which is massively beneficial in almost any tribal deck), Valgavoth, Terror Eater (super strong with an excellent theft ability) and Urza's Incubator (another way to make demon-summoning a lot cheaper).

SufferFromEDHD on Angry Birds

2 months ago

if you like pro black & white you'll love my super secret tech Righteous War but unfortunately no foil.

2 extra combat steps is crucial. Cut 1 of the creatures Profet93 suggested.

Demon of Death's Gate big but does nothing. Archfiend of Despair does something.

DemonDragonJ on Glimmers that Represent Negative Emotions

4 months ago

I believe that the "enduring" creatures from Duskmourn are an interesting concept, but I noticed that they all represent positive emotions, or emotions that people usually regard as positive, so I decided to make several "enduring" creatures that represent negative emotions (or emotions that people usually regard as negative), as seen, here:

Enduring Authority Show

Enduring Authority

Casting Cost: {2}{W}{W}

Enchantment creature – elephant glimmer

Power/Toughness: 3/3

Vigilance.

Creatures cannot attack you or a planeswalker that you control unless their controller pays {2} for each creature that is attacking you.

When enduring authority dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control as an enchantment (it is not a creature).

This creature is modeled after Ghostly Prison or Windborn Muse, and I chose for it to be an elephant, since elephants are large and strong animals, as one would expect for a creature with this effect. I almost chose for this card to make spells more expensive to cast, as does Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, but I decided that that ability would be too powerful and or/oppressive, so I chose the ghostly prison ability, instead. I also originally gave this creature base power and toughness 3/4, but I decided that that would make it too powerful, so I made it a 3/3, instead.

Enduring Cruelty Show

Enduring Cruelty

Casting Cost: {1}{B}{B}

Enchantment Creature – scorpion glimmer

Power/Toughness: 1/3

Deathtouch.

Whenever enduring cruelty or another creature dies, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

When enduring cruelty dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control as an enchantment (it is not a creature).

I initially was contemplating giving this creature the same ability as Wound Reflection and Archfiend of Despair, but that would have made its mana cost far too high, so I chose the same ability as Blood Artist, instead.

Enduring Duplicity Show

Casting Cost: {1}{U}{U}

Enchantment Creature – bird glimmer

Power/Roughness: 2/2

Flying.

Whenever a player draws a card, that player discards a card unless they pay {1}.

When enduring duplicity dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control as an enchantment (it is not a creature).

I had the greatest difficulty out of this cycle in deciding what ability this creature should have, so I ultimately chose a very simple and straightforward ability; I originally wrote the ability as "whenever an opponent draws a card, you may {1}; if you do, that player discards a card," but I felt that that was too powerful, so I changed it, and I also made the ability affect the creature's controller, as well, for balance.

Enduring Ferocity Show

Casting Cost: {2}{G}{G}

Enchantment Creature – wolf glimmer

Power/Roughness: 3/3

Whenever enduring ferocity or another creature that you control attacks, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.

When enduring ferocity dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control as an enchantment (it is not a creature).

This creature was the easiest of the cycle to design, since it has the most straightforward ability, and it is also is the only one that does not have a keyword, since I could not find one that was suitable, for it; I could have made this creature a spider and then given it reach, but I felt that a wolf was better suited for a creature that has the word "ferocity" in its name.

Enduring Hostility Show

Casting Cost: {1}{R}{R}

Enchantment Creature – lizard glimmer

Power/Roughness: 2/2

Haste.

Enduring hostility and other creatures that you control have "{T}: this creature deals 1 damage to any target."

When enduring hostility dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control as an enchantment (it is not a creature).

I almost had this creature grant haste to all other creatures that its controller controls, but I decided that that would have made it too powerful, so only the creature itself has haste (so that it may use its own ability, immediately), which means that its controller shall need to find a way to grant haste to their other creatures.

What does everyone else say, about these creatures? How well did I do, with them? I certainly am eager to receive your feedback, about them!

Flarhoon13 on Dredgefall Windgrace (Land reanimation)

5 months ago

May 3, 2024, I started a new quest. Having built 52 decks, I endeavoured to play them all, in roughly the same order as I created them.

Jul 21, with Rich, Ella Marie, Neil, Joseph, Alan

Dredgefall Windgrace Loss brought my record to 15-22-1 for a 405 win percentage. Archfiend of Despair, which Atraxa (Rich) eventually cloned twice, Sakashima's Protege into Phyrexian Metamorph

Veethevvitch on The apocalypse (Sheoldred)

10 months ago

ShadowMasterNL Archfiend of despair is on the list of potential creatures I just forgot the include it here as well! Was also recommended by Xtough on my evil dead deck!

For virtus the veiled I think I agree with your statement, I should look for something more synergic. What do we think about maybe cutting Grim Haruspex to include Archfiend of Despair ?

fluffyeel on Death and Taxes

11 months ago

Apart from a spate of tutors of varying price points (Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Entomb, etc.), here are some thoughts of varying degrees of evilness/making sure your opponents "love" you forever:

• Kokusho, the Evening Star is, for me, a must-include in any black-containing EDH deck, especially with how its life-drain effect scales with the number of players. You could also add an Archfiend of Despair and/or Wound Reflection to multiply suffering, Archangel of Thune to make your board bigger with every passing turn (or life-gain occurrence), and/or Boon Reflection for more life-gain fun!
• Some additional reanimation in addition to what you already have could be handy. For this, I would suggest Karmic Guide; Junji, the Midnight Sky; Reanimate; and/or Necromancy.
• If you have access to it, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician would be super-handy: on-demand sacrifice, not to mention card draw and weakening your opponents' boards.
• Some more land fetch/land thinning tools, like Expedition Map; Urza's Cave; Prismatic Vista; and Marsh Flats, might help. Similarly, Field of Ruin and Demolition Field serve double-duty of land fetch and land destruction for problematic lands. Alternately, some more multi-lands like Reflecting Pool, Mana Confluence, and other pain lands could help you in early game stages.

Xtough on Evil dead ☠️ (Ode to Sheoldred)

11 months ago

I think it may be helpful to decide which strategy you want to follow. With your current commander the recursion and Reanimation effects do not have a synergy. If you want to be more competitive maybe decide which sheoldred will helm your deck. The acopalypse is for draw/life drain. The whispering for Reanimation. If you stick with you current commander you could cut cards without synergy with her. However, a subtheme is nice if not competitive and I prefer decks like that :)

Some other cards that may be of interest could be Necropotence, Archfiend of Despair, Wound Reflection, Pox.

And I agree regarding the mana base.

fluffyeel on You draw you lose

11 months ago

Some small recommendations I can think of:

• You have a lot of drawing for all parties, but your opponents will also be discarding (quite likely, especially given the Memory Jar). I therefore recommend Megrim, which actually is the reason Memory Jar became the first emergency ban in MTG history. You could also run things like Animate Dead, Reanimate, and Necromancy to take advantage of loading up your opponents' graveyards. Of course, Rise of the Dark Realms is a nice showstopper, though it's quite pricey...
• Archfiend of Despair is a delightful combination of Wound Reflection (already recommended) as well as stopping lifegain. I love using it wherever I can. (It's also a demon, so it synergizes with one of your alternate win cons.)
• You could also consider going more of a snow-covered route, so replacing your basic swamps with the snow-covered kind and going with Extraplanar Lens to amplify your black mana. Crypt Ghast also is another mana accelerator.
• The Meathook Massacre and Massacre Wurm are also "board wipe with benefits" that I highly recommend. I also almost always play Kokusho, the Evening Star in every black deck I run. Archfiend of Despair could also be another fun option for removing things and punishing your opponents.
• Some of your artifacts and tutors could be better. Rather than Wayfarer's Bauble, I could suggest Expedition Map instead. Grim Tutor, Planar Bridge, and Beseech the Queen could also make for fun tutoring.
• I'm not sure if Gemstone Caverns and Mox Diamond are worth it here: sure, they're fast and get you more mana quickly (always a good thing), but the multicolored mana isn't so necessary. There are options I might prefer like Mox Amber, Mana Vault, Volrath's Stronghold...
• For a mono-black deck, Contamination might be a great way to lose all friends. I highly recommend it.