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 this, all creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.

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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

xraider on The Kitty Cat Who Loves Eating His Foodies

8 months ago

I see you're playing Birthing Pod. It's important to have a solid mana curve for your creatures. Currently, you only have one two-cost creature, which could cause some issues. You might want to consider adding a few more two-drops. Some suggestions include Marionette Apprentice, Blood Artist, Feasting Hobbit , or Wight of the Reliquary. To stay consistent, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard could also be a good addition.

I would also recommend tweaking your removal package. You could replace or supplement Decree of Pain with Damnation and/or Toxic Deluge. For additional targeted removal, consider adding Beast Within , Assassin's Trophy, or Nature's Claim to lower the overall cost of your removal spells.

Since you'll be sacrificing a lot, Noxious Revival could be a great addition to your deck.

Darksteel Forge is another fun card to consider, especially in combination with Bane of Progress. If you go this route, you could also include Nevinyrral's Disk for even more synergy.

Good luck with building your deck!

DreadKhan on My Vampire Deck

9 months ago

Just at a glance, if I was you I'd probably hack out Bloodthirsty Aerialist, this is too small of a payoff in a Commander game IMHO, Defiant Bloodlord is a literal mountain of Mana (unless you've got a doubler out it's hard to cast a 7 drop), he's also redundant with your Commander to an extent. I'm guessing it's a pet card but I don't like Eternal Thirst. The various and sundry Murder effects (3 mana to kill 1 creature) are pretty awful in my experience, but mono-Black makes it a bit harder to eschew cards like this. I've mentioned a few removal options below for you to consider, hopefully something will fit in!

I feel like I should mention Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, it's $$$ but it's a pretty good card in a Black deck that wants to use some utility lands. Maybe Expedition Map, finding a land for 3 mana is really good if you've got Urborg or Coffers out, being able to get the other one can be helpful. With your Discard payoffs I think you could justify a Geier Reach Sanitarium, the dig can be nice if you've drawn an otherwise 'meh' hand but have enough mana to want to keep it. I feel like I'd switch out Wedding Invitation for Tome of Legends, you certainly want to cast your Commander and he can give EVERYONE Lifelink. I feel like if you've got this many 'big mana' sources in here you could switch out Diabolic Tutor for the much, much flashier Diabolic Revelation, I love it in a weird Rakdos list that often ends up with too much mana, if you can cast it for 9 or more you're just getting a bespoke hand! The other option I'd consider switching out Diabolic Tutor for is Rune-Scarred Demon, mostly because it gives you a fairly big blocker to help you survive when you find your win con, but IMHO Revelation is way more fun (it's also a gorgeous foil). You might try out Decree of Pain over In Garruk's Wake, the card draw is usually VERY good, and sometimes you actually need an instant speed -2/-2 effect to kill a token army before the opponent can resolve their Craterhoof. I'm lowkey shocked to see you're not running a War Room in here, I think it's certainly worth a look. If you're fine with combos and already have Bolas' Citadel in here, maybe Sensei's Divining Top and Aetherflux Reservoir as a back up combo? Top and Citadel are amazing, as is Reservoir with Citadel, but all 3 should win on the spot. Now that I think about it you could probably benefit from Reservoir even without the other two, if your deck is working correctly you're probably at a solid life total and can threaten to 1-shot someone with the Reservoir.

As for removal, they cost a bit of life, but you can easily afford it so maybe Ashes to Ashes and Reckless Spite? I've always liked Cannibalize, it's exile on top of everything, including being a potential buff if you need 2 more damage from a swing. I've heard only good things about Curtains' Call, it's busted in a 4 player game. Do or Die and Make an Example are both impressive cards, even if they are Sorceries they can cripple an opponent, though Make an Example is IMHO the Gold Standard of sorcery speed removal for creatures, it gets around almost any protection and always removes at worst the creature you most want gone from EACH opponent, that's insane value for only 4 mana. There is also Wicked Pact *list*, it's not a 'great' card but the art is cool on some versions, and it's still a 2 for 1. TBH I don't think I'd run more than 2 removal spells that only hit non-Black creatures, but one or two is rarely a problem in my experience. Feed the Swarm is a pretty wild colour break, this lets you blow up an Enchantment, something Black normally can't do, this can save your bacon sometimes. It's a bit of a weird card, but Transmogrifying Wand is a criminally underplayed card, removing 1 creature isn't great value, but the 2nd and 3rd creature feels pretty amazing. Just thought of one of my old favourites for any big mana deck with Black in it, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief is removal on a flying stick that is incredibly powerful late game.

jamochawoke on We killed 1/3 of Europe

1 year ago

The deck is fun but honestly it's missing some of Black's power. That being explosive mana ramp, hand control, field wipes, and targeted removal. Since you're aiming to give your rats Undying anyways I'd at least run 1 wrath like Damnation, Decree of Pain, Mutilate, Killing Wave, Life's Finale, Necromantic Selection, or the ultimate end game finisher Overwhelming Forces where you don't even have to hit your own creatures and draw a card for each kill.

DreadKhan on Merieke Esper Control

1 year ago

I had a longer post but it got lost in the shuffle. Anyways, I like what you're doing here and hope some of these janky ideas will work!

I like Grasp of Fate in a deck like this. If you know who is able to remove it you can make a point of not targeting anything too serious of theirs, in some metas it's not hard to keep this out (lots of decks without Green or White). Stroke of Midnight is another reasonable removal spell with a high level of versatility.

Since you run a lot of wipes and removal I feel like Kothophed, Soul Hoarder is a pretty solid include. As long as he kills what he blocks he'll draw a card each time, any removal that sends stuff to the graveyard is much better, and your wipes can easily feel like Decree of Pain, obviously not great if everyone is on infinite creature combo (in which they don't win that turn as well) but if people have ~10 creatures out you'll get a new hand. Kothophed also draws cards vs things like Fetchlands and Treasure/Clue tokens, I think he's more risky if you don't have a good counter package.

Have you thought about something like Sakashima the Impostor to copy Ioreth? If you have your Commander out she can kill off the entire table except the best thing, which you can keep.

Liliana, Death's Majesty is a nice fit in cards that like the idea of a wipe but might already have several, this Liliana makes tokens and can reanimate stuff in a pinch, but it's the wipe that's extra spicy.

War Tax is a janky card that can be used to protect your planeswalkers, but it can also be used politically, though it suffers a lot of people don't keep their word, the way I like to use it is to make deals with people, they agree either to not send at me (or send less at me), and if they do I don't tax, if they don't I either tax or remove stuff of theirs as punishment. It's really good if the next player is the most aggressive, and the effect is worse if you have 'better' things to do with your resources, but this is a mana sink that people really sleep on.

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

2 years 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.

2 years 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 …

2 years 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 …

2 years 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.