Fell Specter

Creature — Specter

Flying

When Fell Specter enters the battlefield, target opponent discards a card.

Whenever an opponent discards a card, that player loses 2 life.

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
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (44)

NV_1980 on Tergrid - Mean, but not too Mean?

1 month ago

Nice deck. Fell Specter can add some additional value to opponents discarding (in them receiving damage for that as well as lose cards to the GY). Geth's Grimoire is exceptional value in a deck like this. Also, Cunning Lethemancer works really well when combined with Tergrid, I think. Good luck with the brew!

CJMikey on Tinybones Discard

2 years ago

Recent changes:

OUT: Instant/Sorcery Mind Peel Unmask Horrifying Revelation Tragic Slip Yahenni's Expertise

Enchantment Megrim Shrieking Affliction

Creature Fell Specter Virus Beetle Stronghold Rats

IN: Instant/Sorcery Despise Divest Toxic Deluge Heartless Act Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip

Enchantment Liliana's Caress

Creature Elvish Doomsayer Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip Murderous Rider Rankle, Master of Pranks

Polaris on Fell Specter

3 years ago

Just one clarification of the big answer up there: Fell Specter does not gain you life. Even if you give it lifelink, it will only gain you life when it deals combat damage, because the trigger is making the opponent lose life, not dealing damage to them.

plakjekaas on Fell Specter

3 years ago

There's two separate effects at play:

1. Whenever Fell Specter enters the battlefield, target opponent discards a card.

2. Whenever an opponent discards a card, that player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

Ability 1 happens once when the creature is cast, not countered, and enters the battlefield, and will always happen, even if you would Murder the Fell Specter in response to its trigger, target opponent still discards a card.

Ability 2 is a static effect, meaning as long as the Fell Specter is on the battlefield, every card discarded will create a trigger for the life loss.

When Fell Specter enters the battlefield, it makes 1 happen. Because it's on the battlefield after entering, 2 will happen too, as a direct result as one. However, when target opponent is already empty-handed, and doesn't actually discard a card, 2 will not trigger.

When the Fell Specter is destroyed after entering the battlefield, but before the discard trigger has resolved, ability 2 will no longer trigger from the discarding, because the creature is no longer on the battlefield the moment the discarding happens.

So if you play Fell Specter, and it enters the battlefield, the discard trigger goes on the stack, and you point out who you target with it. Then there's an opportunity for other players to respond. If nobody does respond, the target will discard if able, and lose life accordingly. However, if an opponent uses Murder on the Fell Specter before discarding happens, the creature will die and not be on the battlefield anymore when the discard happens. Then target opponent still discards a card to the trigger, but no life will be lost and gained because of it anymore.

So generally, you are right that both will happen with nobody interfering. But because both are caused by different lines of text, you can prevent one of the two from happening, with instant speed removal.

Fenizrael on Nekusar's Old Fashioned Snake Oil

3 years ago

AscendedLandfalls Thanks for the suggestions! I actually bought a Harmonic Prodigy today before I even saw your suggestion - I was browsing singles at my LGS and I saw him and immediately saw a use for him. Lim-Dul's Vault is nice and I have a copy in my Phenax deck - I should probably add it to this deck, though I'm not exactly hurting without it.
Magus of the Wheel was in an older iteration but doesn't wheel immediately because of summoning sickness - that means he telegraphs to the table that I'm about to do something bad, and I worry that it will result in my death instead.
I've flirted with putting Dark Deal in the deck and I probably should. Preordain and Gitaxian Probe are fine additions to any blue deck. Raiders' Wake and Fell Specter actually run into the same problem as Megrim and Liliana's Caress in that there isn't as much forced discard in the deck to warrant their inclusion (though I love that these both have ways of doing both), which actually means those two are both on the block right now as I contemplate focusing more on the force feed draw aspect of Nekusar.
Raiders' Wake and many of the cards mentioned also have the problem of being 4 cost and above when I'm trying to push the overall cost of the deck down to try and make it more explosive. That same cost consideration is what makes cards like Mind Over Matter and Peer into the Abyss ones that I'm hesitant to include (though I acknowledge they're definitely good cards). I used to have Mind over Matter in the deck when I had Temple Bell - I think I took it out because Mind over Matter was expensive and I think infinite combos weren't the feel of the deck I wanted. I think this was likewise why a lot of tutors never went in, because I could push the power level up with a lot of these cards, but I think Nekusar has always just been a deck that I wanted to feel a little bit random heart-of-the-cards relying on what you draw.

ManiacalPotato on Tegrid

3 years ago

oh also Syr Konrad, the Grim, Black Market, Mortician Beetle, Liliana's Caress, Megrim, Sangromancer, Tourach, Dread Cantor, Fell Specter, Geth's Grimoire, Butcher of Malakir, plus any cards with annihilator

Massacar on Trans Rights (Alesha)

3 years ago

Definitely love Alesha, our first magic Trans commander, my one big observation here is that your deck runs an underwhelming number of low cost creatures. So you're not able to maximize Alesha's utility as a reanimator as it currently sits.

I would consider cutting some of your more costly creatures, as well as the spells Lich's Caress (too costly for what it does), Knight Watch (I know you have a knight subtheme, but it's overpriced for its payoff), Fell Specter (you're not running enough discard effects to make it worthwhile), Dwarven Priest (Better off replaced with a different life gain utility like Daxos, Blessed by the Sun / Soul Warden / Suture Priest etc).

A powerful add for your deck could be Cathars' Crusade

ZombieCat on

3 years ago

Heya,

With how much discard you're running, I thought I'd suggest Megrim Liliana's Caress and Fell Specter so you can bleed your opponent to death. Works great with Dark Deal which is already in your build.