Decree of Pain

Sorcery

Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. Draw a card for each creature destroyed this way.

Cycling {3}{B}{B} ({3}{B}{B}, Discard this card:Draw a Card.)

When you cycle Decree of Pain, all creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

DreadKhan on Maralen's Merry-Go-Round of Death

4 days ago

Have you thought about using an Emergence Zone? Casting Maralen on the end step before your turn sounds amazing, you tutor first and can grab your Opposition Agent! Teferi's Puzzle Box is pretty interesting with Maralen out, especially if you can skip your draw step somehow (I like Necropotence). In a meta where people love Najeela and Winota I don't think I'd want to go without Make an Example in mono-Black, this removal will always hit the most important thing on each opponent's board, and if they choose poorly they'll lose more. I wonder if Necromantic Selection is more impactful/hits the table sooner than In Garruk's Wake? If you're really far behind keeping your board is probably a lot worse than stealing the best creature you wiped. I'm also not sure if Decree of Pain is better than Wake, it's modal (with both modes being potentially relevant), and it's a tad cheaper, the sheer card advantage is probably better in a cEDH deck with more fast mana though. Any reason you're not on Lightning Greaves? I find this is a reasonable choice in a deck that cares about it's Commander, I guess you're still open to Instants, but if you can't give Maralen Flash somehow it seems good, maybe I'm missing something?

Are you skipping staples like Mana Crypt and Mana Vault because they are too pricey? If you still want playable ramp in mono-Black, there are a few options that you aren't running yet. I think your average MV is high enough to look at Dream Devourer, this makes your spells easier to cast, and even if you lose the Devourer you can still cast the spell. I'm not sure it really fits, but if you need to cast big value stuff then Magus of the Coffers is good help, and it tends to impact the board sooner than Nirkana Revenant fwiw. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth isn't ramp but it works with lots of Black cards that care about swamps. Cabal Ritual is a bigger Dark Ritual, especially if you've Milled yourself a bit.

I think I liked this deck so much it inspired me to look at my copy of Maralen, and I think I've thought of a deck for her at last, I think it'll be my sweaty try-hard win con in my Sisay, Weatherlight Captain deck, thanks for the inspiration, hope some of my ideas are helpful!

Profet93 on Volrath Punch.

3 weeks ago

Cabal Stronghold - Budget cabal coffers. You need ramp in a deck with an expensive commander that will eventually get removed, not to mention ensuring he comes down quickly enough for you to be relevant and not outpaced by faster strategies. Moreover, ramp provides you with the ability to cast your more expensive creatures should Volrath inevitably be removed.

Mind Stone - Ramp when you need it, draw when you dont.

Defile > Disfigure

Hero's Downfall > Murder

Oversold Cemetery > Disentomb - Black has the best recursion in the game. While oversold cemetery is better than disentomb, you really should focus on bringing cards back to the field rather than your hand, especially given how expensive your creatures are. There are several cards that I can recommend at a later time, currently at work. Victimize,

Feed the Swarm - Enchantment removal

Phyrexian Arena/Syphon Mind/Read the Bones/Night's Whisper/Stinging Study- Draw, you desperately need draw

Diabolic Tutor - Tutors are black's greatest strength, be sure to utilize them to find what you need, when you need it.

Phyrexian Reclamation > raise dead - PR is reuseable while raise dead is not. Cost of life is minimal.

Dismember > Funeral charm - FC is cool, but its not impactful enough. Discard a card is alright, removal is horrible, swampwalk is not repeatable and often 2 for 1 loss. You need more removal in your deck, especially cheap to cast. It allows you to bluff interaction as well.

Supernatural Stamina/Undying Malice - Can be used to protect volrath for cheap.

Decree of Pain > Forced march - FM requires a lot of mana to use, 8 mana just to kill cmc 5 or less. I get the flexibility is nice, but the mana cost is too high. If you're going to spend 8 mana, you might as well be able to destroy everything and draw from it. Not to mention cycling at instant speed allows for a decentish floor as well. Worth considering.

SilencedDax on Phylactery lich: a Rule 0 …

3 months ago

DreadKhan love your ideas!

The Nesting Grounds it's amazing to keep it safe!

I never thought about proliferate, that could be great with moving the phylactery counters around, althoug I think you'll have to commmit the deck to it to get a great benefit, maybe with some kind of +1+1 voltron strategy or something similar. I 'll think more about it.

Decree of Pain, Necromantic Selection, those kind of wanky junky black cards it's what i really like, like Last Laugh and Withering Wisps. About Phyrexian Scriptures, Damnation and other boardwipes are great!

I've never thought of Pestilence+deathtouch/lifelink counter! It sounds amazing!! To clear the board it is great to, and your lich the only thing alive, I'll look for similar cards. I knew the Blood combo you said, It's great and works amazing with the cards you said! In my playgroup we try to avoid it any combo so I cannot put it in, but I love it. Great synergy too with those amazing lands!

Great those ideas to prevent the lich to be stolen!

In my playgroup we have too some budget restrictions to try to balance deck, I'll try to fit the expensive lands in it!

I have though that we can include some zombie interaction like Call to the Grave that seems amazing and full of flavour 'cause liches are trying to escape dead.

And some artifact mutation like Biotransference or Liquimetal Torque and the other one that do the same on some great indestructible creatures.

Another ideas: Assault Suit to avoid sacrifice the lich, and Conjurer's Closet to put more phylactery counters, and other blink cards

DreadKhan on Phylactery lich: a Rule 0 …

3 months ago

Hope I'm not getting to carried away with this brainstorming, but here's what I thought up.

You could also use Nesting Grounds if you like the idea of putting your Phylactery Counter somewhere safer, but an Indestructible artifact is already pretty durable, and there are many of those kicking around.

If you end up using Proliferate for counters, you could look at Subterranean Hangar, it's a good 'land', but you almost want to run extra lands with it, it plays like a ramp source rather than a true land. Bottomless Vault also exists, but this is a much harder to use card that isn't as budget friendly. Both are good with Proliferate effects or big splashy effects, I gather you don't like Hailfire or Exsanguinate, but what about weirder stuff like one of the many big mana Wipe Plus cards that Black gets, stuff like Decree of Pain or Necromantic Selection, I think you can find others like Phyrexian Scriptures or even Damnation because it'll miss your Commander.

I feel Pestilence might be amazing, it's much better if you can give it Lifelink or Deathtouch, usually via a Counter that Nesting Grounds moved (Boot Nipper, Scavenged Brawler, Unbreakable Bond, Unexpected Fangs, Call of the Death-Dweller, Evolved Sleeper, or Void Beckoner, some of those seem solid actually), but even without either it's a great effect to clear out weenies, and your Commander keeps it around pretty consistently. Also very good with Pestilence is Exquisite Blood (paying B to gain 2 life and make 3 opponents each lose 1 sounds very playable), which combos with Sanguine Bond if you want a combo that has independently useful pieces. Blood and Pestilence and your Commander would be nuts with Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and I love how all of that is just stuff that you want to be doing anyway. Hangar and Vault are also useful with Pestilence.

I suspect you might want to look at some free sacrifice outlets to use incase your Commander is going to be stolen or hit by an Out of Time type effect in the event that you build around them more. Black has great outlets in addition to access to Altars. There is also Command Beacon to get Phylacter Lich back if people steal it.

Ammonzy on Temptation and Depravity [Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]

5 months ago

Profet93

I picked Spellbook over Thought Vessel because during play testing, I discovered this deck does not really care about ramp in the early game. We much rather play a creature on T2 rather than a mana rock. So I believe in this deck, the efficiency of Spellbook overshadows Thought Vessel's ramp.

I don't like playing with Necropotence as that dwells into hard cEDH territory and draws in tons of hate. Although I like the suggestion of Alhammarret's Archive.

Rings of Brighthearth seems cool but this may be more of a win-more/greedy card for the deck. But I'll keep it in mind.

I dont view Overwhelming Forces as a boardwipe but as a high priced removal spell. There's already 3 other cards that boardwipe in Damnation, The Meathook Massacre, and Portal to Phyrexia. With the high card draw of the deck, we're likely to have 1 of them if we find ourselves in that sticky situation. However since this deck has access to so many mana doublers, its not unlikely for us to have the {B}{B}{6} to throw around so is quite playable in comparison to other deck-types. It doesnt destroy our board like how Decree of Pain does, so we keep momentum while crippling the best opposing boardstate.

Profet93 on Temptation and Depravity [Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]

5 months ago

Ammonzy

Thought Vessel > Spellbook. You also already have Vensers Journal. Given you have the journal, why not add Necropotence to synergize with it and for it's own benefit? Given you draw so much Alhammarret's Archive might be worth considering as well.

Helm of Obedience - Given it's on theme, can mess with topdeck tutors and is combo with leyline/Daruthi, it might be worth considering.

Your wincons are what I call "Big Black Mana." As such, Rings of Brighthearth would serve you well. Doubling your commander's activated ability, as well as it's combo with Coffers + Deserted temple to make infinite black mana, it should not be overlooked. If you were to add fetchlands, it's value would only increase.

Decree of Pain > Overwhelming forces - IMO, I would much rather destroy all creatures, even my own if it means digging further into my deck. Cycling is nice as it can be done at instant speed if needed.

Jett2112 on Mana Burn

6 months ago

Decree of Pain may be good if the big mana is consistent. Wild Magic Surge could be added to give more universal target removal. Thousand-Year Elixir and Lightning Greaves can give Yurlok of Scorch Thrash haste and some added protection.

Grind on Meren

8 months ago

cool deck!!! it looks great.
a couple comments:
I prefer Caustic Caterpillar and Reclamation Sage over acidic slime because of lower mana cost. the caterpillar is great because you can recur him and he sacs himself.
i prefer Regrowth to restock as 2 mana is much easier to pay than 5.
having sac outlets is very important to meren, High Market is decent, as is Viscera Seer.
having recurrable creatures that double as removal is great for controlling the board. some options are: Big Game Hunter, Nekrataal, Bone Shredder, Plaguecrafter, Demon's Disciple.
creatures with innate recursion are useful, i like Reassembling Skeleton.
some great low mana value enchantments: Phyrexian Reclamation, Animate Dead.
it's good to pack draw spells, some to consider, Life's Legacy, Momentous Fall, Rishkar's Expertise, Skullclamp.
last comment, more ramp is good, and boardwipes might be helpful. Decree of Pain is solid because it can draw you a ton of cards. and lots of good ramp in green out there, i like to run 10 ramp cards. Wood Elves can fetch you Haunted Mire, 2 mana ramp like three visits and nature's lore are good, or cultivate and kodama's reach are solid performers. when deciding what to cut, i look at the top of the mana curve. having fewer 5, 6, and 7 drops will help make your early game more consistent and will make your deck more competitive.
anyway just some thoughts, hope it helps and keep on having fun!!!