Archon of Cruelty

Creature — Archon

Flying

Whenever this enters the battlefield or attacks, target opponent sacrifices a creature or planeswalker, discards a card, and loses 3 life. You draw a card and gain 3 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (47)

SufferFromEDHD on Henzie and the big creatures

2 days ago

Archon of Cruelty > Atarka, World Render

Kokusho, the Evening Star > Ancient Brass Dragon

Clone Shell > Chandra's Ignition

Birds of Paradise > Elves of Deep Shadow

Greenwarden of Murasa > Bala Ged Recovery

Myth Unbound > Midnight Reaper

Goblin Bombardment > Ghoulcaller Gisa

Fatal Grudge > Daemogoth Woe-Eater

Kolaghan's Command > Fire Covenant

darkmus on Ang-Hellic

3 weeks ago

you're welcome. It does look better to me. I would just add a few things, first of all, I don't know what your playgroup allows but can't you just proxy the canopys and put the real ones in whatever deck you are using ATM? that's what I do with expensive cards.I would have like 24 cavern of souls if I wouldn't, haha. Atraxa's Fall is IMO the most interesting one, but if you want it specifically to deal with Stormbreath Dragon, it shouldn't matter much taking 4, but you may want to consider the instant speed spells since the dragon has haste. I am there with you in the flavor man, I already had playset of vindicates and paths to exile and yet I bought Vindicate and Path to Exile as soon as I knew they existed, hahah. About Aether Vial that's thing either hits t1 or at most t2, or you simply don't want it any more, so normally I would say either 4 copies or no copies. But that's a matter of opinion I guess. 2 Lyras and 2 Thunes is more than ok, I am sure you will find that Archangel of Thune makes your board way more dangerous than Lyra Dawnbringer. To be fair Linvala, Keeper of Silence is there still for flavor but it's probably the weakest card of our side, the next one out If I need something. If you have it, go for it, but I wouldn't recommend expending en them. About the deck itself. 7 instant and sorceries are too much. The more instant/sorceries we have less angels we have to ensure our strategy, hitting our triggers every turn, and maximice both Serra Paragon and Sigarda, Font of Blessings (in case you en up playing it) and well, the most creatures we have the most attacks we make, xD. The thing is pretty much the same as with Shadowspear, you can afford to have 1 of silver bullets in decks like death and taxes or goblins, which have multiple ways to search for your silver bullet. But you dont have any, so 1 offs cards for very especific situations 95% of the times are going to be horrible dead draws that won't help you. While in the matches you want them you are very likely not drawing them. To make a competitive deck you need to focus the deck, what are the biggest threats for your deck? that's what you have to focus one, in this case a few cheated big creatures Archon of Cruelty and permanents that shut us down like Ensnaring Bridge. So prepare for that, for any other more uncommon situation, that's what the side is for. Redundancy es the key to consistency, and consistency is the key to regularly win.Try to focus the deck in what it wants, putting angels in play to trigger our shenanigans. So I would try at most to have just 4 instant or sorceries, the ones that cover our biggest weaknesses, most likely 2 Paths to Exile and 2 of any combination of Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking. Because with 7 you are diluting too much the objective of the deck, while adding 3 or 4 one offs that are going to be death draws more often than not, not even overall useful cards. I explain myself like shit but I think you understand what I meant, xD. well, sorry, too much text, xD. Anyway, let me know when you play if the deck feels better now!

darkmus on Ang-Hellic

3 weeks ago

Well, I am still testing Sigarda, Font of Blessings but for now its doing an amazing job, definitely a keep IMO. Both the "card draw" and the protection effects are huge on their own, and combos like a charm with Giver of Runes and/or Shalai, Voice of Plenty to have our stuff pretty much untouchable. Add Heroic intervention in now that we can, and we have a lot of layers of protection. Thats's actually the main difference between our builds, I try to protect our stuff as much as possible (since we can barely draw) while you go a bit more all in in life gain triggers (that's why Thune would work for you even better than for me). I also play angels in historic with coco, I pretty much play angels everywhere I can, xD. I've tried coco before, but I didn't have much positive difference if any in winrate, and restricted me way more in deck building. I have way more fun with this build. I've haven't meet that many Stormbreath Dragons in a while, so I dont really count for them. WG is not the best color to deal with that, but tbh, we gain so much life that on defense a 4/4 hitting us every turn doesn't really worry me much normally. And on attack, amongst Giver of Runes's protection, Righteous Valkyries anthem and the counters from Giada, Font of Hope and Archangel of Thune opponent may have free blocks, but a 4/4 is not killing our angels. Best option to remove it in white is most likely Settle the Wreckage I use 2 of them in and out of the side depending the meta. If you play most games against your buddy with the dragon, black my be the best second color for you, but with what I am testing, Sigarda seems the way to go.She ads so much. I can totally respect flavor, check my list and you will see that in this deck (as said, pet deck, xD) I've burn too much money in lands just for flavor, haha. I used to play 2 Lyra Dawnbringer and 2 Archangel of Thune but slowly Thune took all the places. 90% of times ill rather play Thune than Lyra. She would be even better in your build, and you can stack her since it's not legendary. I don't think that Shadowspear is a good card here, and really bad for want you want from it. You have only 1 and no way to search for it, so you are almost never going to actually be able to use it for what you want, and even when you do, you still need some way to kill Heliod. Since you are playing black, the best option you have to deal with indestructible (arguably the best in the game) is Anguished Unmaking. it will deal with anything but lands instant speed. The 3 life loss is irrelevant in this deck. I tried soul warden and is not good enough, it gives us more lines to have t3 Resplendent Angel trigger and more Thune triggers but other than that, adds almost nothing and mid to late game is a totally dead draw. Quite similar thing happens to speaker, slightly better, the ceiling of that is huge, but the floor is way to low. If you are losing and top deck this, you have lost. Esper Sentinel is a great card up to the mid to late game, while Giver of Runes is always a great draw. And both of them must be answered pretty much t1, if you play t1 giver or sentinel they are taking their Fatal Push before she can tap. If you play speaker or warden, your way more valuable t2 Giada, Font of Hope and Bishop of Wings are taking that push. Amongst Giver of Runes and Esper Sentinel both have their pros and cons, Sentinel give us much needed card advantage and can be played with Sigarda, Font of Blessings ability, while giver protects our stuff or makes it unblackable and is a cleric so she triggers Righteous Valkyrie and against control we may even be able to set our second cavern of souls to cleric to cover all our creatures. In my build, which goes big in keeping our stuff alive to somewhat offset the lack of card draw, she is the best option for sure. And overall I'll say it's the better option, synergizes better with the rest of the deck and she's always great, while Sentinel does nothing against creature decks, and mid to late game they are more often than not going to be able to pay for it. I used to play Serra Avenger when there weren't other 2cmc angels, but she's only good with vial, now we have better options. To me Aether Vial is a must, it ramps use, guarantees a "landrop" and allow us a lot of interesting lines, like triggering Resplendent Angel on opponent turn or use Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Sigarda, Font of Blessings as short of counter spell, amongst many other things. Psicologically is also great, because even if you are tapped out, opponents would be uncertain to attack if you can instant speed a blocker. I haven't tried soul partition, but I dont know if our deck is fast enough to not have whatever they exiled back in play before we can take them. I'll rather pay an extra mana for Anguished Unmaking and have the thing gone for good. Lay Down Arms looks decent, but I dont think it is. The rare creature we are worried about enough to need to remove it tends to be "cheated" in play, like Archon of Cruelty, Primeval Titan or Murktide Regent, and that won't hit those on time. Also the sorcery speed. I'll rather have Path to Exile or Fateful Absence. I don't think neither Legions to Ashes or Temporary Lockdown are good enough for Modern. Legion to ashes does fill a good sideboard slot, but IMO Declaration in Stone is a bit more flexible and cheaper. Ive used it often in the side and its great simply as a removal, and amazing against tokens. Temporary lockdown also hits our stuff, which is a no no. In arena can be good because we care about 3cmc, but it is not here. I do play FNMs and sometimes modern LGS tournaments with this deck (which is pretty much the most "competitive" events I play), because I love it and I want to test and play and win with it, but tbh, the times I really want to do well this is rarely what I play. And yes, I've never had a mirror match in any of those, xD. Or almost ever in years really... I think that covers all, haha.

nbarry223 on Viga-BOOM! (Turn 2)

1 month ago

I don't know, 3 Azusa's is a bit much, you'd be surprised how often that legendary rule comes up. Even with 2, I saw the second copy more often than I wanted to. Dead / Gone also seems a bit strange instead of Dismember. Relying on an early red so much seems odd, especially since the 3 CMC of the split isn't even permanent removal. You're weakening your position against a multitude of decks to have a slightly better edge against things like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines that are unable to be removed otherwise. If you are going for an off-color answer anyway, there's definitely better options. Sure you can still answer Magus of the Moon with it's front, but almost any form of creature removal kills that.

Anyway, Altered Ego sees play in quite a few top 8 decks already, just in their sideboards. It is a fetchable answer to Archon of Cruelty and an uncounterable threat you can dump excess mana into (you can also copy an opponent's hexproof/shroud creature if that ever comes up). However, I like it mainly because you can copy your own Primeval Titan to chain into 2 titans with a singular amulet (can still usually only haste 1) or pretty often 3+ titans with double amulet. Being able to make a second titan so easily is really nice, and it happens to help with 2 of the deck's weaknesses. In fact, it is so powerful, that it devalues Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion quite a bit, essentially making it unnecessary in a lot of situations you would lean on it otherwise - to the point where I cut the win-more card.

It is possible to play into removal with the clone, but you shouldn't be playing that aggressive against an unknown deck, decks where you suspect Solitude or an opponent with open mana for removal. Always play for an actual second Primeval Titan first before trying to copy against those types of decks. Playing into something you shouldn't is what I would call a misplay, not a bad card.

Atraxa, Grand Unifier is a bit situational, but it is similar to Cultivator Colossus in what it does for the deck. It's recently seen top 8 play (which is what inspired the recent changes), albeit alongside Dramatic Entrance to cheat it into play. Instead of that, I am playing Timeless Lotus which I feel has arguably more synergy with the deck and the way I want to play it (as more of a midrange deck). It is capable of fixing our mana to cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, and we also have Eldritch Evolution or Scapeshift to bring it or the land dependant Cultivator Colossus into play, depending on which is best.

Elvish Reclaimer is admittedly a bit slow, but it does almost everything you could possibly want (albeit slightly worse than other options). If you are capable of paying an extra mana at some point in the game, it is worth it as turns go on, being a psuedo-extra land card, mana fixing, better Expedition Map which puts the target into play, or a decent sized body (can even threaten pumping it and never actually investing mana into it to deter attacks). Hell, you can even pact for it when missing a bounce and unable to pay for pact, using its ability in response, returning that bounce to hand) provided you can actually pay for the pact AFTER the ability resolves).

The inclusions make the deck far less linear and complicate the lines a lot more (because amulet titan isn't complicated enough already...) I'm not saying they are a strictly better upgrade, as I am trading a little bit of consistency for resilience/explosiveness.

That being said, I think just dismissing all of the changes as "bad" because it "isn't what the pros are doing" is a little laughable. Am I stretching the limits of the deck a little right now? Absolutely. Is every new card you've never seen in an amulet shell automatically bad? Absolutely not. We'd still be playing with Hive Mind if that was the case (never liked the concept of combo pieces which do nothing on their own - so glad people moved away from that archetype).

nbarry223 on Viga-BOOM! (Turn 2)

3 months ago

Alright, I am pretty happy with this 75 now. I have an answer to most of the weaknesses I want to cover, and the deck is quite explosive. I am honestly surprised nobody is running Altered Ego or Tyrranax Rex since they do so much for the deck. Altered Ego is a cheaper second Primeval Titan, letting you get 2 titans at 7 mana instead of 9 by transmuting after the fetch, meaning you only need 1 extra mana with 2 Amulet of Vigor. It is also quite relevant to copy an opponent's Archon of Cruelty or any other major threat. Tyrranax Rex is just impossible for any interactive deck to interact with favorably, and it also gives us an out against "infinite" life gain, as a nice coincidence. Since it comes down swinging, it is a nicer control answer that something like Carnage Tyrant in my opinion, making it capable of slotting in the main instead of the side, since it is only a slight downgrade from Primeval Titan against a non-interactive deck.

Some other options in the main or side might look a little strange, but I've updated the deck description, so you should be able to see why I've chosen them. I honestly think these 75 are fairly ideal (you can tweak the sideboard a bit depending on meta obviously).

I've also been toying around with the idea of Nexus of Fate maindeck with the increase of mill matchups (maybe side, although I think Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is still slightly better for mill matchup). However, it only comes in foil so is considered a marked card (good job on that one Wizards...)

My main thought is that it almost invalidates the mill matchup, since it recycles itself and is a replacement effect, so it can't really be interacted with - hitting it with Tasha's Hideous Laughter is their only answer. This could potentially give me back the Emrakul, the Aeons Torn slot in the sideboard, and is honestly a solid hit for hideaway in any matchup as well. Not sure how I feel about drawing into it with no other threats, so I will have to playtest a bit and see if it is too much tradeoff, as it would probably swap in for the third Forest or second Boseiju, Who Endures, both of which I think are slightly better, if I am being honest.

Crow-Umbra on Isshin Trigger Warning

3 months ago

How is the equipment subtheme working for you? I've seen some Isshin lists with equipment, and maybe a package of Exalted enablers like Akrasan Squire. Have you played this deck in paper much yet, or is this still mostly conceptual? Mostly wanted to get an idea of what you feel are some of the inconsistencies that you're encountering, and what is the general direction you enjoy most for the deck.

I personally was tempted by higher CMC heavy hitting creatures like Archon of Cruelty for my Isshin list, but have gradually phased them out for the most part. I found that most of them were kinda slow without additional Haste support from stuff beyond Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. If you are encountering this, I'd recommend adding Bitter Reunion, Fervor, and/or Ogre Battledriver.

SpammyV on Viability of Elesh Norn, Mother …

3 months ago

If you have one in your Creativity deck and cast it for X=2 and hit Elesh Norn and an Archon of Cruelty it's like you hit two Archons.

zapyourtumor on Goryo's Build - Modern

4 months ago

Yeah so the best discard outlet, Faithless Looting, was banned a while ago (victim of HOEgaak that disgusting deck).

The best 2 mana discard outlet in red being played in most reanimation decks is Bitter Reunion currently, because after Persisting an Archon of Cruelty you can give it haste and attack for another trigger which is backbreaking. Here, the second ability is probably less relevant since Goryo's gives haste, but I still think it's better than the other options. The main issue with Faithless Salvaging is that its both slow and you're also going down on card advantage, UNLESS: you play it with cards in your hand, and then cast all cards in your hand, so you only draw a card on rebound (breaking even). Or you cast it with no cards in your hand, drawing two cards over two turns (generating card advantage).

Unfortunately many of the other good discard outlets are in blue, examples being: Prismari Command, Faithful Mending, Tainted Indulgence, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip, Ledger Shredder, etc.

As I said the kind of discard outlet you run generally depends on what you want the deck to do: I'd say they are all tradeoffs between speed and power. On the fastest side we have Haggle, which can be used for turn 2 hasty Boar + Emmy although it requires 4 cards in hand. Somewhere in between but still towards the faster side we have all of the 2 mana discard spells in red. And then further toward the power side we have cards like Collective Brutality. And further still we have all the generally good cards like Fable, Spyro, etc. So basically you need to decide what balance between speed and grinding power you want the deck to have. To try and make it easier I rated all of the options in jund colors I think are worth considering along three criteria: speed, power, and flexibility. Given that this deck is a grindy midrange deck at heart (or at least I think that is what you are aiming for), speed can be useful but power and flexibility are more important in my opinion.

Speed 9 Power 1 Flex 1: Merchant of the Vale (1 mana discard spell, fast but that's all there is)

9, 2, 4: Bone Shards (also fast, but generally more relevant mid/late)

7, 5, 1: Cathartic Reunion (powerful but inflexible, seen in dredge)

7, 2, 4: Cathartic Pyre (flexible but weak)

7, 3, 2: Thrill of Possibility (less all in version of Cathartic Reunion)

7, 3, 4: Bitter Reunion (more flexible vers. of Thrill)

7, 5, 8: Collective Brutality (most flexible 2 cmc discard outlet in BRG)

6, 3, 4: Faithless Salvaging (slow, weak, only generates CA in late game)

5, 6, 5: Territorial Kavu (even slower because requires attack trigger)

4, 7, 7: Seasoned Pyromancer (both powerful and flexible, can generate bodies or CA)

3, 7, 8: Liliana of the Veil (powerful and flexible, threat + removal + discard)

2, 8, 8: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  ^Flip (slowest 3 cmc option, tons of grind power + flexibility)

Additional notes:

• Bone Shards can be used to sacrifice an Ilharg or Emrakul, and if you sacrifice Ilharg it won't get exiled in order to reanimate it again next turn.

• Bone Shards, Cathartic Reunion, Thrill of Possibility, and Collective Brutality have the discard as part of the casting cost, so you discard the card(s) even if the spell is countered. Merchant of the Vale, Bitter Reunion, etc do not.

• Collective Brutality is maindeckable but the versatility makes it stronger in the sideboard.

• Territorial Kavu requires at least 4 basic land types to be effective.

• Repeatable/delayed discard effects, such as Liliana of the Veil and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  ^Flip allow you to discard Emrakul the turn after you cast them and instantly reanimate them, spreading out your mana over two turns.