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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Big Apple Highlander | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Freeform | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Oldschool 93/94 | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| PreDH | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Rules Q&A
Drain Life
Sorcery
Spend only black mana on .
Drain Life deals X damage to any target. You gain life equal to the damage dealt, but not more life than the player’s life total before the damage was dealt, the planeswalker’s loyalty before the damage was dealt, or the creature’s toughness.
FormOverFunction on Should the Number of Mana …
4 months ago
I feel like this is sort of a “a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B” situation. I think of card strength as being on a sliding scale, with colorless things being VERY basic and utilitarian, one-pip cards being sort of a generic colored mana spell, and then multiple-mono-colored pip cards as being stronger (like what you’re saying, DemonDragonJ). They’re stronger, though, because they’re cast at the exclusion of other colored spells, because the land requirements are tighter. A multi-colored pips spell, though, is (theoretically) better because you’re getting two distinctly color-separate effects. Lightning Helix was probably the first multicolored card I saw like that, that really struck home the idea of “oh, of course. Red for damage, white for life gain. Neat.” The upside is you get both a Lightning Bolt and a Healing Salve (sort of) in just one card… and the downside is that one Counterspell stops everything. Now that I’m typing it out, I think I’m in the camp of “more colored pips generally should mean it’s stronger” but mono colored spells seem more complicated, as if you make it TOO strong then people will revert back to all-monocolored decks, like (I can’t get back to the screen to see who I’m responding after… I’m sorry) was saying. Drain Life is the best example I can think of, where you are severely limited by color. It’s a GREAT card, and I love the theme, but I can’t remember the last time I saw someone use it. WotC has worked really hard to make everything a two or three color minimum, commander and otherwise, so I don’t expect we’ll see much of a resurgence in mono color power. Except for green. Green has always been VERY proud of itself ;p This is why we need more forest walk.
Xtough on
Swamps Matter
5 months ago
Nice theme for the deck. Maybe you could consider Drain Life, Pestilence and Crypt Rats as mana sink. And on topic I think Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in combination with Filth could be fun...?
Icbrgr on
Budget Cycle Storm
7 months ago
Whenever I see Fluctuator it makes me happy; It is my Premodern deck and I ran Gavi, Nest Warden in EDH!
That being said I highly suggest that cards without cycling get reduced to 4 at the most; including basic lands and payoff cards like Songs of the Damned get reduced to just 1 copy because as you cycle with Fluctuator you'll end up drawing cards that don't cycle (like your other copies of fluctuator) and end up fizzling out. Some budget sauce is a single copy of Dromar's Cavern or any land of that cycle (pun indented) is very helpful and can feel like Lotus Petal in this deck.... and Drain Life is another card to consider at a single copy!
P.S. watch out for the Stabilizer Mafia!
Zigen on
EDH NecroPotentence
9 months ago
OH dont I know it :-D
I do have a few in the deck for countering the life lost, mainly Drain Life and a few functional reprints as well as Exsanguinate for a table effect mixed with Feast of Sanity. so it would play like this.
~~If the Commander is out on the field~~ I make sure that there is a bunch of cards in exile (say half the deck) ie. I would have till the end of my turn to gain life.
I would discard enough cards to feed Skirge Familiar then cast Exsanguinate each opponent would lose 40 life, and I would gain 40x amount of players (Friday it was 3) and since Feast of Sanity is a triggered effect I would be able to distribute 1 point of damage per card discarded to any target giving myself 40 additional life.
~~if the Commander were to be in the graveyard~~ Necrotic Ooze would be in play as well as Skirge Familiar (in or out of the graveyard) I would do the same thing however since the commander is in the graveyard the binding contract is not effected I would draw the cards with out the penalty of losing life from Asmodeus the Archfiends second ability. (correct me if I am wrong on this).. then I would cast Exsanguinate or Drain Life or a functional.
one fall back would be to add in Crypt Rats or Pestilence and have out Darksteel Myr and have Magebane Armor on the Necrotic Ooze for a repeatable effect... this plan would be a last ditch effort.
you know I like playing glass cannons :-D
Icbrgr on New hubs to be added
1 year ago
Is there any chance we can get a Fluctuator Hub for the Premodern decks? Its a pretty cool Combo deck that centers on Fluctuator but has cool variations for a deck payoff via Living Death and Haunting Misery/Drain Life.
SilencedDax on Phylactery lich: a Rule 0 …
2 years ago
Hiiiiiii!!
I bring you the title's idea 'cause I talked with my playgroup to see if they would be fine with Phylactery Lich as a commander.
The advice I ask for is: What would you think it would be a great topic for this deck?
I have some ideas that I would like to shere with you:
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A lot of Black pips theme , try to find a cohesive deck between cards with a lot of them, at least and more, like Phyrexian Obliterator, Necropotence and so on... and then Gray Merchant of Asphodel
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Creature cards that have a special bond with an artifact, enchantment, creature or whatever to keep the Phylactery theme. This seems the most difficult to find!!!
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Cards that destroy everything except the Phylactery Lich and it's totem, to remark the flavour that it is no easy to kill.
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Some zombie synergies with our commander would be great, with out be a zombie deck, like Lord of the Undead or Call to the Grave.
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permanents that start as artifacts and then flip, thanks to ruusuv, like Treasure Map Flip, Mirror of the Forebears, or Mirage Mirror
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I dont want a Lich theme deck aroud the 3 Lich enchantments, even though it'd be really flavorfull, it's not the kind of game I enjoy the most. But some lich cards 'd be great like Lich's Mirror, Lich's Tomb and some lich creatures. And some card that do what liches does, like Drain Life, or Consume Spirit.
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I try to avoid Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire 'cause I seen them many times, as well as any open enden black tutor.
What do you think? any other idea or card?
I'll do a public deck with this ideas and the ideas you give me so it could be a deck made by everyone!
Thank you!
All the ideas that we have share until now:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/phylactery-lich-on-command/?cb=1676304818
amarthaler on
EDH Rakdos Group Slug
3 years ago
Update!
Out: Drain Life and Fireball
In: Cut / Ribbons and Pain's Reward
Drain Life wasn't really doing much for me and, although Fireball is very nostalgic for me and the art is wonderful, wasn't strong enough. Cut/Ribbons will be nice removal for low CMC and later hit the table with life loss. Pain's Reward just looks super fun!
RockIV on (HELP) monoblack removal casual need …
3 years ago
hi all, im RockIV and im new in the forum. i recently returned into magic again. Im in need of some advice with my control/removal deck
Rocks Monoblack creature removal
my review : in the past i use to play with more creatures like Vampire Nighthawk, Gatekeeper of Malakir and Geralf's Messenger. Recently i changed it to be more removal oriented, and i tried a lot of diferent combinations, for example with Drain Life. what i am looking is a more optimal build for the deck with both creatures an enought removal to combat any deck. The problem is that i feel that i cant have both, I will need to choose creatures or removal. in another note, There are some creatures that i didnt add to the deck and always felt that would be great like Bonehoard and Wight of Precinct Six. so what do you guys think ? any advice will be deeply apreciated , thx to everyone for reading :D