Ensnared by the Mara

Sorcery

Each opponent faces a villainous choice —

• They exile cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card, then you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
• That player exiles the top four cards of their library and Ensnared by the Mara deals damage equal to the total converted mana cost/mana value of those exiled cards to that player.

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
Freeform	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (3)

DreadKhan on GROUP HUG FOR THE BLOOD GOD

4 months ago

I think something went wrong with my previous post lol, thanks for being understanding!

I meant to ask if Dr Who is a problem too, because I really like The Sound of Drums and Ensnared by the Mara in Red (I use almost no cards from Dr Who). Drums is a nice recursive aura, handy if people wipe the board, and Ensnared is the opponent's choice of damage (possibly quite a bit if they run high MV cards) or a free spell for you, both seem really handy for only 4 mana.

DreadKhan on Painful chaos

1 year ago

I have a Rakdos deck that's trying to do some similar things, I leaned into creatures that could double as removal, some games you can eliminate a player by resolving an early Dwarven Miner/Dwarven Blastminer, Tsabo Tavoc is a hilarious card in a Commander game, Olivia Voldaren and Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief make very good use of late game mana and can create a whole mess of trouble, maybe War Cadence is a very political card I love to try to sneak into decks, the really sweet part is you can use it on an opponent's attack to help THEM get in, and an Archenemy is tapped out that means you only need to spend {1} to make everything unblockable... it's a real skill testing card IMHO. Rite of the Raging Storm can kill off any opponents that don't have blockers, and it survives most Wraths. It's also a sacrifice effect when it dies, so it works with Mayhem Devil without support. Even without it's combo I find Exquisite Blood can be an amazing card, it's hilarious with Protection Racket out! If you want things to get chaotic/people to have to make choices you might like some of the Dr. Who stuff, the only card I personally use is Ensnared by the Mara, which isn't too jarring IMHO, most people wouldn't realize it's Universes Beyond at a Glance IMHO. Humble Defector is a fun card even if you don't run ways to kill him off right after he changes hands, some players will agree to trade him back even! Din of the Fireherd and Fevered Suspicion are pretty chaotic effects, though some people will really get up in arms if you take away more than a couple lands! Speaking of taking a couple lands, Volcanic Offering is hilarious IMHO.

Rakdos isn't the ideal colours to make him pop but I still like Brash Taunter, he's also great with anything that gives him lifelink, but it's surprising value if you can resolve something like Scavenged Brawler on Taunter, it's worth noting that Brawler would also help turn Vial Smasher into a much better threat/life source.

Finally, have you thought about some auctions, maybe Thieves' Auction or Illicit Auction? 5 mana to maybe not get a creature isn't amazing, but in practice if you ever have the most life it's just 5 mana to steal whichever creature you want! Thieves' Auction is a good card if you have a lot of permanents that work just by being out (like symmetrical chaos effects), but it's also decent if you don't run an especially sturdy board (since you pick first!), I've had situations where nothing on my board was taken until everyone else's boards were taken, my cards were that bad! Such a great feeling to get value out of stuff like Thieves' Auction.

I like the idea of your list here, you might get a kick out of my Pavel the Mighty, Hero We Deserve list, it's a Chaos deck that overflows with pet cards!

Optimator on Anarchy Burger

1 year ago

Return the Past - expensive, but a huge value engine

City on Fire - might not be worth it since you could rarely get the mana discount, but the power is there

Ensnared by the Mara - some damage and value

Spikefield Hazard  ^Flip - could take a land slot

Court of Embereth - draws a card and starts to make blockers

Virtue of Courage - a bit of burn, then HUGE card advantage. Could be a must-include!

Realm-Scorcher Hellkite - there are a bunch of dragons with repeatable damage abilities--perhaps those would be great mana sinks?

Hearth Elemental - could be decent card draw, then a blocker. Not amazing, but there it is

Flick a Coin - kinda funny

Ravaging Blaze - not amazing removal, but you'll usually have Spell Mastery

Insurrection - a bit anticlimactic, but if you're whittling down life totals this could very often win the game. The red creatures would do bonus damage too. Sorcery synergy I guess

Disrupt Decorum - could get the heat off of you for a turn or two

Abrade - creature removal or artifact removal--the option is nice

Fires of Mount Doom - expensive but repeatable card-draw. A bit of removal and damage too. Perhaps a must-include?