Bitter Triumph

Instant

As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard a card or pay 3 life.

Destroy target creature or planeswalker.

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
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (9)

TheVectornaut on King of the Skull Servants

1 week ago

As a fellow enjoyer of Grass Looking Greener (mostly Lightsworn but also some Zombie/Vampires, PK+Paleos, and Skull Servants), I do think the idea is interesting. You're always going to be in a bit of a battle between thematic consistency and power level. For instance, a grave-counting creature like Wight of Precinct Six or Nighthowler would fit the idea of King growing with more guys in the yard, but they would also be disappointingly weak right now since you don't have a lot of mass self-mill at the moment (Stitcher's Supplier and Overlord of the Balemurk are the first things that comes to my mind). On the subject of getting what you want in the GY, it probably is best to have a few more ways of getting specific targets buried at least. With Entomb off the table in modern, I could see Unmarked Grave being the best cheap option instead of or in addition to Buried Alive. This only negatively affects Maha who I already think is worse than reanimator staples like Archon of Cruelty or Sire Of Insanity. Fewer legendaries also makes Persist a great choice. There's also Lively Dirge if you want to stick to the low mana value plan and can afford to pay more mana. Finally, I'm partial to Burning-Rune Demon as a way to extend into more reanimations while being a reasonable threat in its own right. I think it would be cool to run more skeletons for the theme too, although most aren't that helpful. Cards like Reassembling Skeleton or Persistent Specimen could be sac fodder to a Victimize or Hell's Caretaker. Another one that I know can be good in black reanimator is Emperor of Bones, although he has some unfortunate anti-synergy with other cards in the deck like Twilight Diviner. Death Baron is always an option if you find the Corpses of the Lost backup plan doesn't have enough oomph.

Some final notes: It may be more consistent to focus on just the Xu-Ifit negated reanimations. That would involve going up to 4 Death's Shadow and adding in some similar options like Moonshadow or Yargle and Multani. The EDHRec page for Varolz, the Scar-Striped could be a place to start. That all said, having the more powerful effects of non-negated creatures may still be worth the inconsistency of the two plans not always meshing whan you need them to. You do want to have the best options available in either case though. My first cut suggestions would be Gloom Sower, Avatar of Woe, Inkwell Leviathan, and lastly Maha, Its Feathers Night. Finally, I second cutting some lands and would suggest Bitter Triumph as a replacement for Cast Down that comes with a Cabal Therapy option built-in.

Saturn999 on Mardu skeletons

1 month ago

Cool deck! Really like the synergies. Do we like Flare of Malice over Bitter Triumph? Granted malice is essentially free. Also I know there is no room in the deck but any play testing with Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger?

Metropolis39 on

3 months ago

try Bitter Triumph if you want to discard efficiently while having a good removal spell

Crow_Umbra on Is Anyone Else Concerned with …

5 months ago

Not to beat a dead horse of a meme phrase, but these are both situations that illicit a "run more instant speed removal". Jumbo Cactuar hates to see a Bitter Triumph/Soul Partition/(insert other instant speed removal) coming.

Again, I understand that both of those creatures put out hilariously large numbers of damage, but as stated in my first comment, both require a decent amount of hoops to jump through to make it possible. Both Cactuar & Dawnsire are vulnerable to instant speed removal, especially in multi-player formats like EDH, & even more so if you lack the creatures to Station Dawnsire or Haste/Trample/Fling for Cactuar.

If players can't stop either of those creatures from reaching their maximum damage potential, then GGs & shuffle up and play the next game.

legendofa on The Baron's Coterie

5 months ago

Silversmote Ghoul is worth a try, but you need to have the Blood Artists and/or Kalastria Highborns active to get the full use out of it. I'll suggest it, but put a question mark next to it.

Outside of Vampires, good recursive creatures are Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton.

Finally, Bone Splinters might be an upgrade to Bitter Triumph. It's sorcery speed, but you save a mana and this deck would probably rather throw away creatures than pay life.

Crow_Umbra on Is Enchantment Destruction in Black …

1 year ago

I'm pretty excited for Withering Torment in my Black aligned decks that don't have access to White or Green. Three mana is hefty, but it's not nearly as flexible as something like Stroke of Midnight, for a comparable CMC & rarity. I wouldn't replace Feed the Swarm, but might run it as a compliment in more Grixis leaning color combos.

Picking the option to destroy a creature feels less ideal, especially when compared to other creature-centric removal options in Black like Bitter Triumph, Go for the Throat, or Infernal Grasp. If anything, Withering Torment is just Infernal Grasp with enchantment removal stapled onto it for 1 more mana.

I'm seeing more artifact heavy commanders more frequently in my main play group, like Brenard, Ginger Sculptor, Ygra, Eater of All, a Dr. Who Historic Duo, and Rocco, Street Chef, to name a few. Given this uptick in these varied artifact strats, I'm shifting towards more artifact punishing interaction or removal, than I am enchantment focused stuff.

Leo_Nekozuki on Ratricide

1 year ago

Indeed I am, GrimlockVIII! Thank you very much! :3 Ever since I gave them shot around the time Wilds of Eldraine came out, I've been slowly developing a better appreciation for them! X3 Plus I, too, can't deny how potent Vren can be whenever I unalive an opponent's creature! :P

Thanks for all the suggestions on my deck! Means a whole lot! :D Gave them all a run-through in MTGA through a few battled against Sparky, and I must admit... Those are some solid strats! You may very well have helped make my deck more aggressive if not tricky! After trying them out, I'm loving Bitter Triumph for its discard cost especially! I only went with Fell at first 'cause of the theme with the current set. lol But I agree that Instants are more reliable in that sense!

I'm already loving Mindwhisker and his ability to debuff the opponent's creatures' power by -1! Great synergy there once I get Threshold active!

If anything, I was only reluctant on Undercity Sewers 'cause A) I only had one copy of it before your suggestions, and B) I've been convinced by someone else to employ damage-self lands as they don't appear tapped right away. Plus I'm trying to be cautious of how many Rare Wildcards I have to spend in general. But since I had five up till now, I figured I may as well use them if that tapped land card would help me. :P lol

Also real talk, that's the first time I've ever used both Evolving Wilds in any deck, let alone Escape Tunnel! >w<

Thank you so much for your help, Grim! :3 Here's hoping my Rats will prove even more malicious and tenacious now! ^w^

GrimlockVIII on Ratricide

1 year ago

Hello fellow Vren enjoyer. I see you're well-read on the ways of the rat.

Looks like a solid enough deck, though I suggest replacing Fell with Bitter Triumph. Paying the three life might sound rough, but you're able to hit creatures AND planeswalkers at instant speed. Also deciding to discard might help with enabling threshold.

Lilypad Village and Mindwhisker are also around in case you need more surveil to enable threshold.

A copy of Mudflat Village can help recover a key rat that got taken out.

Don't know what your budget is like but there's Undercity Sewers as a land that surveils (though it's pretty expensive). I also suggest something like a playset of Evolving Wilds or Escape Tunnel to help thin out your deck a bit while also helping you hit Threshold.