Cruel Bargain
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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
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Cruel Bargain

Sorcery

Draw four cards. You lose half your life, rounded up.

The_Acid_Drip on The price is life

1 year ago

A couple of options are available to you here.

First, Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract both help you lose life and draw cards. While not as effective as Peer into the Abyss, peer has a tendency to deck players. Just a thought.

Likewise, Death Wish is a great tutor for a silver bullet which also reduces the cost of the tutor target. Very useful.

Doomsday is kinda outside of what you're doing but could be an option. Usually people play doomsday in a combo deck as a final way to assemble the pieces. Your deck seems to be more of a value deck, which is more fun and interactive, so it's probably not a fit.

Best of wishes, great brew!!

Lycheex on The Living Inquisition

1 year ago

Hi Bathory, I somehow didn't see your comment, my apologies.

Necropotence is an absolutely busted card and way better than Infernal Contract and Cruel Bargain. Unfortunately, it's banned in legacy, so we can't play the card in this deck. If you're looking to play the deck for fun, by al means run Necropotence, though I am pretty confident there are other decks that might abuse the power of Necropotence even better!

TypicalTimmy on Atraxa, Phyrexia's Champion

2 years ago

So your very first upkeep that she's out, you draw 5 cards and lose 5 life? That seems pretty unbalanced. Yes it is on par with cards such as Sign in Blood which trades 1 life per card (2 life, 2 cards). Other examples are Funeral Rites, Night's Whisper and Read the Bones. There's also the theme of 1 life per card when you move up into Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Demonic Offering and Harrowing Journey.

So to suddenly shift it back to 5-for-5, then 6-for-6, then 7-for-7, then 8-for-8... that's where the overpowered nature comes from.

Add on lifelink, and there threat of losing the game is essentially nullified. Even if she is chump blocked, you still get 100% of your life back. So what's the problem? Well, the problem is that this trend breaks with Infernal Contract and Cruel Bargain.

Worse still is that with having vigilance, you can get the life even on blocking. With flying, the evasion makes her largely unstoppable in most games, and with the advent of deathtouch, suddenly she's nearly impossible to really handle in terms of just combat.

Add onto that 4 colors, you have a toolbox bigger than most decks.

I apologize if I sound like I am insulting the design and being mean about it. I understand my tone can come off as stern. I'm truly not meaning to; I am simply explaining where the unbalance exists.

What if, as a solution, you Scry X and lose X life where X is her power, then you draw 2 cards? Now you are basically filtering the top half of your library and grabbing exactly what you want, when you want it <3

Goblin_Guide on Munch

4 years ago

Aaah MAN I can NOT beLIEVE I forgot about Hymn to Tourach, I'm so disappointed in myself.

The comment about the interaction is totally true, I really wanted to try out the strategy of suicide black and didn't really think about interaction too much. I'll probably take your advice and add in some Dismember and some Inquisition of Kozilek, those are both pretty good and well within budget range for me.

Cling to Dust is pretty good, I'll try it out in place of Cremate, the reason I have those (and Aphotic Wisps) is because I just really love cantrip effects; mostly irrational, but I like them nonetheless.

Rouse is really fun as a combat trick with a Death's Shadow, but you might be right about it not having high enough impact on the game; maybe I'll try out Cruel Bargain instead. But, only a couple, I want to keep the CMC down, the other slots will likely be for interaction.

I really enjoy playing Village Rites just as a card, especially post combat with it being the only card in my hand, but yes, it is a really really bad topdeck. I might cut some number for other card draw, but if I ever do end up with Unearth in the main I will likely bump the number up again.

Speaking of Unearth, yes, the sideboard is more of a maybeboard; it's filled mostly with cards I enjoy playing in this strategy, or just don't have room for.

For more removal, I'll mix it up with an assortment of some of the cards you suggested.

Thanks so much for the suggestions Draly, I have virtually no experience with the legacy format so it's nice to have someone with insight to offer.

Draly on Munch

4 years ago

Always happy to see Sui-Black ! It used to be my deck of choice when I first started playing legacy competitively, it's a nice budget option for beginners. It has been a while since I last played it but I still have a good grasp of the format as a whole, so, if I may, I'd like to give you some advice. I think an ideal version deck can reach about 40% winrate when played perfectly (you probably won't win tournaments but you will not get destroyed either), but I also think yours may need a few tweaks. I'll try to be mindful of the budget constraint.

What strikes me when I look at your deck is the lack of interaction, one of the core components that makes Sui-Black viable in legacy is the access to efficient discard. If toughtseize is too expensive Duress and Inquisition of Kozilek can play the role just fine. I also don't think you should neglet Hymn to Tourach, on turn 2 it can sometimes be an instant win if for example you hit your opponents lands.

I'd get rid of Cremate and some number of Rouse and Aphotic Wisps, those cards simply don't do enough. Cremate, unless you know your meta is incredibly graveyard centric is too inconsenquential; yes it's card neutral but you still pay mana and tempo to essentially do nothing. If you still want to have access to this kind of effects for whatever reason I advise you to play Cling to Dust instead which can serve as card advantage later in the game. Regarding the other two, first you seem a little creature light to me, then they are an horrendous top deck, they open the door to 2-for-1s from your opponent and, even in the best case scenario, they're simply not that good. Rouse's kind of effects especially are usually not worth a card.

Similarly I don't really understand the presence of Village Rites... Your deck does not synergize with this kind of effects and I'm not sure you want to sac your already few creatures. If it's there to cash in targets of opposing removal, it's not really worth it. And, once again, terrible top deck. It's the kind of trap cards that feel good when they work but that we don't blame for losing because we usually don't think about what would have happened if we drew something else. You'd better be playing Sign in Blood (which also can double as a burn spell) or Cruel Bargain. Similarly I think Spoils of the Vault is somewhat of a trap too, but the card is both fun and unique enough that I won't complain :p

You could probably play more removal. There are the usual suspects Fatal Push, Dismember, Eliminate, Bloodchief's Thirst... But being mono-B you also have access to more niche options like Gatekeeper of Malakir, Geth's Verdict or even Spinning Darkness.

I won't touch on the SB too much, it needs to be tuned to your meta, but right now it looks more like a "maybe board" to me.

I hope you'll find this useful and I'd encourage you to take a look at this forum http://www.legacy-france.org/index.php?showtopic=13440&st=0 It's in french but decklists are in english and you may find interesting choices of cards in there. I especially like the first list, though it's a bit old and more on the controlling side than yours.

TitaniumTP on K'rrick Kobain and his Monster Mash

5 years ago

Let's get down to business, shall we?

DELETE THIS

Venser's Journal , Mindcrank , Armillary Sphere , Dash Hopes , Doomblade, Street Wraith , Leshrac's Sigil ,

QUESTIONABLE

Noosegraf Mob , Phyrexian Reclamation , Kaya's Ghostform , Blood Tribute , Whip of Erebos , Armillary Sphere , Reiver Demon , Pestilence Demon , Magus of the Mirror , Endling , Bloodthirsty Aerialist

At first glance these are what I think you should delete and think about deleting.

COMBO TIME

I notice that you have combo potential with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed . The only 2 card combo with him is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion . All other combos with him require 4 pieces.

  1. The man (zombie?) himself: Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

  2. Sac outlet - Viscera Seer , - Ashnod's Altar , - Carrion Feeder ,

  3. The Sacrifice (something with persist, or that can somehow remove the +1/+1 counter from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ) - Lesser Masticore , - Putrid Goblin , - Skinrender if you put the 3 -1/-1 counters on itself each time it enters, - Puppeteer Clique , - Lingering Tormentor ,

  4. ALL THESE TRIGGERS - Bitter Ordeal for infinite exiling of decks, - Falkenrath Noble for infinite damage, - Vindictive Vampire for infinite damage, - Zulaport Cutthroat for infinite damage, - Vengeful Dead for infinite damage, only if sacrificed creature is a zombie, - Blood Artist for infinite damage, - Pitiless Plunderer for infinite mana, - Pawn of Ulamog for infinite colorless mana, - Deathgreeter for infinite life, - Smothering Abomination for infinite card draw,

MORE COMBO

You also have the 3 piece combo of

  1. Sanguine Bond
  2. Exquisite Blood
  3. Anything that either causes you to gain life, or an opponent to lose life - Leechridden Swamp , - Ebony Charm , - Death Cultist , - Nightmare's Thirst

I recommend using instant speed interaction for the 3rd piece of the combo, so you can respond to removal by winning

If you decide to follow The Way of The Combo, you should also add library searching effectz to help make sure you always find your pieces.

LIBRARY SEARCHIN EFFECTZ

Expedition Map for finding lands for ramp, or combo pieces if you go for the aforementioned Leechridden Swamp combo Scheming Symmetry , Behold the Beyond , Demonic Collusion , Diabolic Tutor , Final Parting , Mastermind's Acquisition , Doomsday , Demonic Collusion , Dark Petition

The more combo and storm heavy your deck is, the more search library cards you will want to add.

EXTORT OP

Basilica Screecher , Thrull Parasite , Syndicate Enforcer

Nothing much to add here, but extort is so broken in this deck. Extort will be extra powerful in storm builds.

Okay, it's Mana Time

Caged Sun

COOL LANDS

Castle Locthwain , swamp with benefits, Thespian's Stage , can become a copy of other dank lands like Temple of the False God and Cabal Stronghold , Crystal Vein , pop it on the turn where you're going to try and win, Westvale Abbey  Flip, potential wincon, Leechridden Swamp , potential combo piece and also fun to use with leftover mana, Bottomless Vault , probably sucks but you could use it in a storm deck, Memorial to Folly , Mortuary Mire , Temple of the False God , Myriad Landscape , ramp that looks like a land

Mana Rocks

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip probably not good, Thran Dynamo , super epic, Hedron Archive , Prismatic Lens , Fractured Powerstone , you know you want this for the planeschase ability, Sisay's Ring , Ur-Golem's Eye , Liliana of the Dark Realms , Nirkana Revenant , Paradise Plume , Magus of the Coffers , Black Market

For mana rocks you want the best bang for your buck, since you can just pay life instead of {B}. I like the mana rocks that cost {4} but tap for {2}, and the ones that cost {2} and tap for {1}. The more control heavy your deck is, the more rocks you want.

Ramp

Wayfarer's Bauble , Burnished Hart

Lots of Mana Fast

Cabal Ritual , Bubbling Muck , Spoils of Evil , Culling the Weak , Sacrifice , Dark Ritual , Songs of the Damned

Getting giant bursts of mana is good in any mono Black deck, but you should invest more heavily the more combo and storm themed your deck is, since you want to pop off in a single turn and cast 1,000 spells.

Investments

Basal Sliver , Blood Pet , Bog Witch , Overeager Apprentice , Basal Thrull , Priest of Yawgmoth , Blood Vassal , Soldevi Adnate

A lot of these cards that are single time use mana sources would be great in a storm deck where you would just build up your load until you bust damage all over the faces of those unfortunate enough to be within 50m of you. They're also good in reanimation decks, which could utilize Phyrexian Reclamation to keep getting them back.

Summary:

The more control heavy your deck is, the more mana rocks you want. If you're going for combos then you want more quick mana. The only land I'm gonna have to 100% recommend is Thespian's Stage . Keep in mind that the more nonbasic lands you have in your deck, the less useful cards like Crypt Ghast and Cabal Stronghold will be.

TRIBAL

Zombie Tribal

Corpse Harvester , library search, Cemetery Reaper , lord, Undead Warchief , epic lord, Josu Vess, Lich Knight , wincon, Endless Ranks of the Dead , wincon, Death Baron , lord, Liliana's Mastery , lord, Graveborn Muse , card draw, Zombie Master , protection, Graf Harvest , team evasion, Fleshbag Marauder , saccy, Phyrexian Delver , recovery, Cryptbreaker , card draw, Lord of the Accursed , lord, Shepherd of Rot , hurty everyone, Stronghold Assassin , funny removal, Loyal Subordinate , Liliana, Death's Majesty , potential finisher, Grave Titan , Open the Graves , board wipe protection, especially good if you're going all in on creature aggro, Curse of Disturbance , Awaken the Erstwhile , once you're in an advantageous position just cast this and watch your opponents cry, Tombstone Stairwell , this would be especially epic if you have cards to buff your boys, Risen Executioner , lord

Some cards that could be spicy in zombie tribal. Epic combos would be lords such as Cemetery Reaper and Lord of the Accursed , and fatties such as Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight . Having tons of zombies also combos with Pontiff of Blight . I think that Eldrazi Monument in a zombie build is nightmare fuel.

Vampire Tribal

Sanctum Seeker , Kalastria Highborn , Blade of the Bloodchief , Bloodlord of Vaasgoth , Malakir Bloodwitch , Bloodline Keeper  Flip, Gatekeeper of Malakir , Nirkana Revenant , Drana, Liberator of Malakir , Sadistic Skymarcher , Defiant Bloodlord , Yahenni, Undying Partisan , Butcher of Malakir , Cordial Vampire , Bloodtracker ,

If you decide vampire tribal is better, here are some options. I would only play cards like Blood Tribute if you're going vampire tribal, I don't think it's worth to play unless you can get more value than just chopping 1 player's life in half.

To Go with Your Creature Spam, Sir...

Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Mask of Memory , Necropolis Regent , Bloodforged Battle-Axe , Explorer's Scope , Throne of the God-Pharaoh , Whip of Erebos

Buff My Team!

Sword of the Paruns , Intimidation , Death Pit Offering , Eldrazi Monument , Obelisk of Urd

Summary:

The more of one tribe you have, the more synergy you have. Only include lords if you're all in on that tribe.

REMOVAL

Targeted Removal

Hero's Downfall , Vraska's Contempt , Murder , Murderous Rider , Noxious Gearhulk , Malicious Affliction , New Blood , Ruinous Path , Tendrils of Corruption , Bone Splinters , Liturgy of Blood

Epic Board Wipes

Decree of Pain , Crux of Fate , Kindred Dominance , Bontu's Last Reckoning , Do or Die , Hellfire , Necromantic Selection

Summary: Use more board wipes the more control heavy you want your deck to be. Try to choose targeted removal such that the end cost will only be {1} and some life, so that it will be as cheap as possible. This is especially important in storm builds. Since we play multiplayer quite a bit, you'll probably want to add extra board wipes, especially the ones that draw you cards or come bundled with reanimation.

Wow, I Hate Minorities

Wow, I hate tokens

Ritual of Soot , Force of Despair

Wow, Green is Cancer

Perish

Wow, I hate when other people play spells

Painful Quandary

Wow, I hate when other people attack me

No Mercy , Dread , Koskun Falls

Wow, I hate myself

Season of the Witch (okay, maybe not that much Revenge of Ravens )

Wow, I hate lifegain

Tainted Remedy , False Cure

Wow, I hate real board wipes

Sudden Spoiling , Mutilate , Languish , Massacre Girl , Golden Demise

Wow, I hate burst damage

Palace Siege , Polluted Bonds

Wow, I hate my opponents having creatures

Dictate of Erebos , Grave Pact , Butcher of Malakir

Wow, I hate this one person in particular

Curse of Vengeance , Trespasser's Curse , Curse of Fool's Wisdom

Lifegain

Profane Memento , Crypt Incursion , Vampiric Link , Loxodon Warhammer , Kokusho, the Evening Star , Cavalier of Night , Whip of Erebos

Protection

Rush of Vitality

Benefit from Death

Ogre Slumlord , Shadows of the Past

Cool Card Draw

Moonlight Bargain , Promise of Power , Succumb to Temptation , Ransack the Lab , Infernal Contract , Necrologia , Carnival of Souls , Grim Haruspex , Night's Whisper , Succumb to Temptation , Phyrexian Etchings , Cruel Bargain , Dark Deal , Foreboding Fruit , Live Fast , Painful Lesson , Necropotence

Add more card draw the more stormy you want your deck to be. Also try to add ones that will cost the least amount of mana if you take your commander's ability into account.

Card Draw Requiring Sacrifice

Altar's Reap , Costly Plunder , Morbid Curiosity , Bankrupt in Blood , Skulltap , Merciless Resolve

These will be better in decks where you're sure you'll have tons of creatures. So adding these into zombie tribal would probably be a good idea, since you have things like Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight that produce a million tokens.

Storm Build Cards

Aphotic Wisps , Cremate , Succumb to Temptation , Yawgmoth's Will , Ill-Gotten Gains , Priest of Forgotten Gods , Skirge Familiar , Rain of Filth , Dredge , Gravebind , Nighthaze , Street Wraith

The idea of a storm deck is to cast as many spells in one turn as possible, building up a fat storm counter to execute all who oppose us with our 3 finishers, which are Aetherflux Reservoir , Tendrils of Agony and perhaps Empty the Pits . You'll want lots of cheap spells that only cost {B} mana and replace themselves, such as Aphotic Wisps . One time use mana is also dank here, such as Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual , and creatures like Basal Thrull and Soldevi Adnate .

Win Cons to think about

bimjowen on Greven Prototype *ACTIVE*

5 years ago

I still think Havoc Festival may have a home in this deck. It essentially guarantees a 1-hit KO if you make it to your upkeep with your general in play due to the insane amount of damage Greven gains from the life loss. Even if they kill your general before you can swing, it's halving everyone's life total in 1 turn around the board. Since this seems to be a somewhat mid-range deck, it certainly can bring life totals into more reasonable ranges.

For the same reason as above, perhaps Infernal Contract , Fraying Omnipotence , Doomsday (lol), Cruel Bargain , and Heartless Hidetsugu could be useful in buffing old Greven.

For card draw, perhaps Ball Lightning , Skizzik , and Lightning Skelemental ?

SynergyBuild on None

5 years ago

dingusdingo

All 'free draws' not including cycling:

Aphotic Wisps , Cremate , Nighthaze , Sign in Blood , Cruel Bargain , Infernal Contract , Necropotence .

Additionally, I feel like mentioning Nihil Spellbomb would be smart.

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