Go for the Throat

Instant

Destroy target nonartifact creature.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Casual	Legal
Custom	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal

Discussion (50)

wallisface on Mono-Black Sacrifice

2 weeks ago

I think your 2 weakest demons are Archfiend of Depravity and Goremand. Archfiend feels like its not going to do much with how much removal you’re currently running - your opponent is unlikely to have more than 2 creatures anyway. Goremand is a LOT of mana and has a potentially-annoying cast condition. Though personally I think Indulgent Tormentor is your best big-mana creature by a long way here, as it plays to your strengths - i’d suggest dropping Blood Speaker entirely, and just running 3x Indulgent Tormentor and 1x Reaper from the Abyss as your demon suite. Alternatively, a playset of Desecration Demon would be really strong here.

For alternate better low-mana creatures, I can suggest Gatekeeper of Malakir, and Festering Mummy.

As far as better killspells, Infernal Grasp is amazing and seems like it’d be a great option for you. Other options include Victim of Night, Go for the Throat, and Fatal Push

Typically modern decks want their average CMC being just-below 2, so that they can be performant and maintain tempo. You are running some larger creatures that could skew that, but i think aiming for a lower curve would still be good. Maybe 2.2 is a good point to aim for.

TypicalTimmy on All Will Be One

4 weeks ago

You're not, generally, going to have both unconditional as well as low MV. If you do find something like that, it'll be a +$30 card because everybody will want one.

Sometimes you'll simply need to bite the bullet and accept a 2-mv spell that doesn't target 100% of the time, or a 3-4mv spell that generally hits anything but is harder on curve or multiple spells per turn. For example, Murder is a good alternative to Go for the Throat if you want less restrictive targets. However objectively ask yourself, do you REALLY see Artifact Creatures with such frequency that GftT becomes worthless? I am willing to bet the answer is no. And if you think the answer is yes, randomly select 100 decks on this very website and let me know how many artifact creatures exist within them, in total. I'm guessing it's a handful.

And as for Despark, sure it hits only MV 4 or higher, but you know what, most of the problem cards fit into that. Sure Thassa's Oracle and Dockside Extortionist do not, but then you must ask yourself this: "Am I playing exclusively within a cEDH meta?"

If your answer is no, than the chances of you CONSTANTLY playing against cards such as these is significantly lower, and thus Despark becomes more and more viable. If nothing else, it rids the board of most Commanders. Since many decks require their Commander to function at optimized levels of play, you essentially shut down their engine instantly (pun intended).

There is a saying: "Beggers can't be choosers."

So if you are not constantly playing cEDH levels of competitive play, a low costed, albeit restrictive, removal spell is fine.

Especially with your numerous threads as of late about tutors. If you require that many tutors, then simply tutor the removal spell that is sufficient for that particular situation.

TypicalTimmy on All Will Be One

4 weeks ago

DemonDragonJ in reply to you Utter End, Anguished Unmaking and Assassin's Trophy, there is also Despark as well as Go for the Throat. Not to mention your Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Darksteel Mutation, Song of the Dryads, Polymorph, Beast Within, that one blue destroy spell that makes it into a 3/3 green Ape...

Like, probably a dozen low-mv kill spells in these four colors.

Macaronigrill5150 on Mommy Liliana

1 month ago

Good looking deck so far nice job! some possible addition you can consider is The Chain Veil, since you have a decent amount of planeswalkers. It is on the pricey side, around 10$-15$ but decent for the amount of planeswalkers you have. In terms of demons Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire really good for his "Tutor" ability for about 3$ you can use his power to find any card you want and put it on the top of your library. Some good draw engines you can use that are cheap, is Altar's Reap 2 drop for only 0.15, Read the Bones, and Night's Whisper. Finally is some good removal Feed the Swarm, and Go for the Throat. I hope these help, or at least gives you some ideas.

abanoxious on UB Control

3 months ago

Yeah, Infernal Grasp is definitely more versatile. With the three Thoughtseize in the deck I'm concerned that having too much life loss will make aggro match-ups very difficult, but maybe a split between Go for the Throat and Infernal Grasp would work well. That way I won't be in a hopeless position against either artifact decks or highly aggressive decks.

wallisface on UB Control

3 months ago

If you’re keeping it UB, I can suggest to at least use the more relevant killspells. Go for the Throat is going to inevitably cause you issues - Infernal Grasp is a much safer/stronger option

abanoxious on UB Control

3 months ago

Yeah, I'm not entirely sold on the Cryptic Commands either. The idea was that it would allow me to play the long game better against the Omnath, Locus of Creation decks and UW Control decks, but I'm not sure if it's the best choice for that. I like Go for the Throat because it lets me kill Murktide Regent and Primeval Titan, since both of them often can't be hit by Drown in the Loch.

Guerric on Help Building my First Competitive …

3 months ago

Hi ionlyplayelves!

I can definitely see removing Casualties of War. It is devastating in the right context, but it does cost six mana, and while you'll have much more than most, it sometimes better just to play more mana efficient single-target removal spells like Beast Within, Go for the Throat, Hero's Downfall, etc.

I actually like Gnarlroot Trapper because it's another dork. I think if you build this right you'll have a lot of lifegain and the one won't bother you too much, and of course the deathtouch is a nice bonus.

I think Pact of the Serpent is a great card. You could potentially draw a crazy amount of cards with it, but for three mana it will be great even if you get only three to five.

I hear the argument on Twinblade Assassins. Five mana is a lot for something that will only draw you one extra card on each of your turns, provided that something dies. This is on top of the fact that creatures are the easiest permanent type to kill. Phyrexian Arena would give you the card automatically. Dark Prophecy would give you one any time one of your creatures dies. Grim Haruspex will give you one any time a non-token creature dies. Beast Whisperer gives you one whenever an elf ETBs. These are all very good rates, unlike Assassin. You need to have 10-12 pieces of card draw in the deck, but this is a suboptimal one. I also think if you get this going right you'll have a lot of things dying, and Miara, Thorn of the Glade will be a powerhouse. Moldervine Reclamation is similar. Last week my friend who play's Lathril had something like twenty-five elves on the battlefield (which is easy to do when you play Lathril right!) I had to board wipe him to keep us alive, but he drew a quarter of his deck and gained 25 life. Needless to say, it was a temporary reprieve at best! It's a good card.

You definitely want Farhaven Elf, Springbloom Druid, and Wood Elves in any elf deck in commander- they are the best there is. Fetching your lands and ramping them onto the battlefield while leaving a body behind that can attack and block and be anthemed by your lords is really great.

Binding the Old Gods is kind of meh. I think your instinct is correct there! It costs 4 mana and is slow and grindy for what it does. Sure, we need to kill stuff and ramp lands, but when we kill stuff we'd rather just use Doom Blade for 2cmc.

Cultivator of Blades isn't essential, but it's very easy to underrate. At minimum it gives all of your elves +3/+3 when you attack till end of turn. If Elvish Archdruid is out its +4/+4. If you tap Timberwatch Elf to dump ten counters on it and then immediately attack, your opponents are going to die that turn. The best part is that they'll never see it coming the first time you do it!