Assassin's Trophy

Instant

Destroy target permanent an opponent controls. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle their library.

Discussion (50)

JacobAGrossman on Glittering Company

1 week ago

Thinking of going back to using Despark instead of Assassin's Trophy. The casting cost on the trophy is appealing, and it is nice that it isn't limited by mana costs, so can be my go to removal spell. Spark may be limited by mana costs, but doesn't give my opponent a land when I use it. Not sure how I feel about my main removal spell giving my opponent a land, but also not sure how I feel about my main removal spells being limited by mana cost, or wasting an uncounterable Abrupt Decay on something because Despark couldn't target it, even though I might need the uncounterable part later on. But, it's still starting to seem better than giving them an extra land as soon as turn 3 with Assassin's Trophy. Quite the conundrum!

lhetrick13 on I'll Raise you +1/+1...

2 weeks ago

Drestlin - I do like how Baffling End comes from one of my favorite sets! Otherwise, I feel like it is similar to a lot of the other low cost removal from {B} out there in terms of having a condition to meet to be effective, having a negative side effect, or losing those at the expense of cost such as Fatal Push, Infernal Grasp, Bloodchief's Thirst, Assassin's Trophy, Maelstrom Pulse, Vindicate...

The cheaper removal stuff from {W} also has limiting conditions conditions or negative side effects like Smite, Swallow Whole, Reciprocate, Condemn, etc...which was one of my problems to begin with, not being able to always removal the creatures I needed consistently with Swallow Whole. Not saying that my idea to use Retribution of the Ancients for removal is not without its faults as you have to have +1/+1 counters to lose but at least it does not give the opponent a boost in land or creatures or take a 10th of my health (which the high number or fetch, shock, or pain lands already do that and more!).

Playtesting Retribution of the Ancients so far has had mixed reviews. I have either lost playing against decks like Living End where creatures are not really a thing until they are a thing and its to late or I have gotten it out and it does work effectively to help clear the board of essential pieces or just enough so I can get unblocked creatures for the win.

Reynan on Dina Lifedrain

1 month ago

Nice deck. I would exchange Abrupt Decay for Maelstrom Pulse or Assassin's Trophy because the limitation of mana cost, doesn't seems good when you are playing commander. Most of the cards are above 3 mana cost.

Chasmolinker on I'll Raise you +1/+1...

1 month ago

First off, Thanks for the recognition lhetrick13. I don't know about infamous, but I'll take it. And thanks for reminding me to update that list ASAP. lol

As for the rest:
- Retribution of the Ancients, I never tried it. I don't know if you want to rely on it to heavily. If you go into {B} there is SOOO much removal that becomes available. Fatal Push, Infernal Grasp, Thoughtseize, Bloodchief's Thirst, Assassin's Trophy, Maelstrom Pulse, Vindicate...

- Swallow Whole can definitely go for something more reliable. At sorcery speed, you probably already took damage by the time you're casting this. The additional +1/+1 counters seems like an uneven tradeoff.

- Hopeful Initiate seems fine. Scavenging Ooze could replace one of the 3 copies currently in the list.

Daghatar the Adamant works really well if you need a mana sink. I would probably go up to 4 copies of Luminarch Aspirant though TBH.

AscendedLandfalls on Golgari Lathril Upgraded

1 month ago

I would also suggest: Priest of Titania, Assassin's Trophy, Allosaurus Shepherd, Realmwalker, Alpha Status, Elephant Grass, Baleful Mastery, Heroic Intervention, Golgari Charm, Beast Within

wallisface on Eldritch Evolution Zombie Deck

1 month ago

Two cards that could work well in the existing shell could be:

• Champion of the Perished. You have a few ways already to keep putting Zombies into play - this card helps you profit from that by becoming a big chonky attaker.

• Skaab Ruinator could be strong here, though you'd need to add blue to the deck, and likely also play Stitcher's Supplier to ensure your grave had enough creatures - but a 3cmc 5/6 flyer that can keep coming back is a threat not a lot of decks can cope with.

Other than that, more interaction is always good (Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy, Fatal Push). As far as the cards I think are the "weak spots" to consider removing, it'd be the Planeswalkers and Amulet of Vigor, followed by Ebondeath, Dracolich.

It also feels a bit to me like your namesake card, Eldritch Evolution, doesn't actually do a lot for you here. Specifically, that card normally shines in combo decks, but less so for grindy brews like this. It feels like Collected Company would serve you better justice in assembling the go-wide zombie-hoard. (Keep in mind though, that Collected Company requires you run at least 28ish creatures to see reliable profits)

AscendedLandfalls on Lathril Mass-Acres

1 month ago

A few cards I would suggest: Heroic Intervention, Alpha Authority, Circle of Dreams Druid, Assassin's Trophy, Beast Within, Marwyn, the Nurturer, Baleful Mastery, Beast Whisperer

I have other suggestions but not sure about your budget.

enpc on cEDH is going to have …

1 month ago

While I can appreciate your enthusiasm for the combo and new cards coming out which work with it (I think most people get excited when new cards come out that are instant upgrades to their deck), I don't think that this will be meta changing and as much as I know you're very proud of your combo, I don't think it's going to have a big impact on EDH above and beyond the standalone impact of Boseiju, Who Endures.

We've had combos like Strip Mine + Crucible of Worlds + Azusa, Lost but Seeking for years and yet this hasn't been flagged as banworthy. And while Boseiju has some untility above being a removal spell, using cards like Assassin's Trophy to form win condition removal loops has also been around for a long time with no issue. So while this is a nice boon for mono-green decks, it's not a game changer.

Additionally, while you get extra utility from having cards which work in the deck outside of combo, the number of card slots you have to devote to making the combo work is still very high - even if you are using your described Squandered Resources lines. Plus even those lines have lynch pin cards, typically in the form of recursion pieces like Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator - remove these and you've killed the entire bloom line in the deck. Even if the deck can pivot to another combo line (like Dramatic scepter) that would be the case if you'd have included any two mutually exclusive combo lines so the point of the argument is more around combo density than it is around the specific bloom combo.

As I've said in the past, I think it's a very viable combo line and I do like the fact that many cards pull double duty however I just don't think that the combo is going to make waves above and beyond the impact made by Boseiju, Who Endures as a standalone card. And I'm happy to be proved wrong. But compared to cards like Thassa's Oracle (which don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of) which have become such a staple in the cEDH world due to the ease and compactness of the combo, I don't think you're going to draw the ire of the ban hammer. Ultimately though, isn't that a good thing? And if we do see bans due to Boseiju, I would expect that it's Boseiju itself which is more likely to see the ban than any of the other cards listed.