Invoke Despair

Sorcery

Target opponent sacrifices a creature. If they can't, they lose 2 life and you draw a card. Then repeat this process for an enchantment and a planeswalker.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (10)

PhyrexianPraetor on Orzhov Scam

1 month ago

BotaNickill

Thanks for the upvote, comment and suggestions. Believe it or not, this deck originally started it’s life in modern as a mono-black aggro deck that used self-reanimating creatures and Foul-Tongue Shriek with Phyrexian Obliterator at the top of the mana curve. I did kind of ok with that deck, but as time went on I had a much harder time due to everyone else switching to more midrange and control style decks. That’s when I built this deck and haven’t looked back. I’m not going to lie, this deck used to be an attention getter in my area for being a good and solid deck. But with War of the Spark, Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2 a lot of other decks got upgrades and new decks came to be a thing. This deck sadly fell behind due to this, I did get some new upgrades… but almost every other deck that was played in my area became even better due to getting more additions.

I might switch out one Phyrexian Obliterator for a single copy of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Obliterator is ok, but being able to shock the opponent every-time they draw a card is a big attraction to me.

I have been considering Misery's Shadow for the reasons you pointed out. My only struggle is that it only deals with creatures that die. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a very potent card.

I guess it would come down to a meta call between Dauthi Voidwalker and Misery's Shadow, both have their respective upsides and downsides.

I have been considering Invoke Despair for a few weeks now. In essence, it can functionally act like Gray Merchant of Asphodel with draining life. On one hand it deals six damage and draws me three cards, on the other hand it makes my opponent sacrifice three permanents for five mana. It’s for these two aspects as to why I might even cut one Phyrexian Arena for it.

Tenacious Underdog is a card I have been evaluating and am unsure of. At base it is a 3/2 for two, with the ability to gain haste and draws a card for four mana. It’s for this reason as to why I have looked at it a bit, but unlike Invoke Despair it doesn’t have the potential to change much of the game-state and requires four mana to consistently bring back.

With the way modern is, four and five mana has to either impact the board in a big way or sway the game in your favour. Paying four mana to potentially deal three damage and draw a card might not be worth it. All in all though, I have yet to actually get back into the modern scene where I live. So it is entirely possible that I am being overly critical and am wrong about this card.

I honestly didn’t know about Knight of Dusk's Shadow. I like how it can stop a food token deck from gaining lots of life and all for two mana. I might test it out.

Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip is something that I tried before. In my build it sadly doesn’t work. But in a deck that has four Leyline of the Void, more creatures and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx it can be really devastating. Perhaps that style of devotion deck can run Tenacious Underdog for continuous value.

Bojuka Bog, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Field of Ruin are all lands that I have played in the past or have been considering for a while. I originally ran Bojuka Bog as my choice of graveyard hate. I liked how it couldn’t be countered or discarded. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is yet another card I have had my eye on. There are a lot of legendary creatures that I could fit into this deck to make it cheaper. Field of Ruin and all of the lands like it, are a bit awkward sadly. I have tested these types of lands before with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and I am always left with a negative opinion of them. I originally ran a set alongside two copies of urborg to fight against Tron and Valakut.

One card you should consider for your black deck is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. It is cheaper in monetary cost than Obliterator, fixes your mana since it can fetch non-basics, gets bigger with fetching and it is very hard to remove without exile effects. I ran both it and Obliterator at one point.

BotaNickill on Orzhov Scam

1 month ago

Dude, This looks mean! I would not want to play against that deck. I can't really see to much that needs improved, it looks like you have all your bases covered. I like using Sheoldred, the Apocalypse as a finisher but only because I don't have the Phyrexian Obliterators. I also have a black aggro style deck that I keep a Gary in the board for that devotion damage, and it has some similar aspects to your build. Some cards I use that you might consider are as follows:

Misery's Shadow , good early threat, gets rid of potential creatures returning from the grave, and pumpable in the late game.

Invoke Despair, absolutely devastating board removal when resolved, can be a finisher, and/or provide card draw.

Tenacious Underdog, great early threat and can be Blitzed over and over resulting in card draw if nothing else.

Knight of Dusk's Shadow can be an option for pesky lifegain decks. Also pumpable in the late game.

Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip can be a good late game finisher or at the very least, another black source.

Bojuka Bog, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Field of Ruin for a lil more depth to the land package.

Like I said tho, your build looks solid to me bud, just wanted to throw out some more options. Good luck to you!

Mousemke on Project Murder

2 months ago

some upgrades you may like for modern

Cabal Coffers more mana than you know what to do with

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes up for coffers not producing black, opens up the ability to use other utility lands in the future

Vesuva more coffers!

Dauthi Voidwalker would you like that big creature they just sacrificed?

Liliana of the Veil sacrifice and discard at your discression

Torment of Hailfire remember all that cabal coffers mana?

Crawling Barrens another great place to put all that black mana

Surgical Extraction could be good mainboard, maybe sideboard?

Invoke Despair sacrifice all the things

Go Blank maybe sideboard graveyard removal

Gray Merchant of Asphodel not sure if it makes sense but you do already have one devotion card and gary is great

Feed the Swarm all the sacrifice enchantment things could prob be replaced with this and even this is maybe sideboard material - always do your best not to give the opponent a choice

Liliana's Triumph could replace some of the libation, especially if you end up adding lilly

Castle Locthwain hooray for card draw!

Dark Confidant hooray for card draw!

Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek maybe main, maybe sideboard. what if they have no creatures?

ToxicMCTV on Innistrad: Lycantropes (Esper Werewolves)

3 months ago

Invoke Despair ?

Kret on Blackness EDH

3 months ago

Hello from a covert discard enjoyer. My suggestion is that the discard itself won't win you the game and If I were you I'd cut some discard spells that target only a single player like Duress or Invoke Despair because they are quite inefficient in a 4 player game as well as some discard spells that only discard one card like Burglar Rat because again they are quite inefficient. Bad Deal isn't what you want to be doing for 6 mana. Instead, I'd add Painful Quandary because it has a static effect and in a low resource environment your opponents will have to start paying 5 life to do anything and that feels really miserable. Discard goes well with reanimation, I'd add all 3 versions of Animate Dead -> Dance of the Dead and Necromancy. Unfortunately discard players often get focused by the table so I like to add something like Gray Merchant of Asphodel to keep life total high. Consider also Bone Miser, Soul Shatter, Sign in Blood, Rankle, Master of Pranks, Bottomless Pit, all versions of Plaguecrafter, Asylum Visitor and Containment Construct. In general I'd prioritise static discard effects (like discard one card every upkeep etc) over single dicard effects.

Chasmolinker on Mono Black Nighthawk

4 months ago

Hey mememan3310. First off, welcome back!

Some amount of removal is always necessary. Combo and Flying can be tough match-ups for Mono Black without enough discard/removal. 3-4 Fatal Push and 1-2 Murderous Rider are good options with 1-2 copies of Infernal Grasp I like 6-8 hard removal spells as Mono Black is typically a Mid-Range deck. Don't sleep on Gelatinous Cube either. I've stolen plenty of games with that card.

I would stick with 4 Duress and probably cut Agonizing Remorse since the only thing you really need to hit with discard in Mono-black are Non-creature spells. If you want something more versatile, Thoughtseize is your best option.

Sword-Point Diplomacy is a cute card draw spell, but they probably just let you draw the lands or irrelevant cards, (i.e. creature removal against planeswalkers). I personally prefer Sorin the Mirthless or Reckoner Bankbuster for card draw. Unwilling Ingredient is another pet favorite of mine although probably not what you should be running.

I know a lot of people run Evolved Sleeper The card just doesn't resonate with me. It often dies to removal after you've already sunk your mana into it. It reminds me of Hexdrinker in that it can be great if you max it out but getting there uninterrupted is difficult to pull off. I prefer Concealing Curtains  ^Flip and Knight of the Ebon Legion in the 1-drop spot.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Invoke Despair are two really solid finishers in Mono-Black. If you can swing Liliana of the Veil and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse you won't be disappointed.

There are so many good cards in Mono-Black that it is tough to squeeze everything in sometimes. 22 Lands seems too low. A single Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Field of Ruin, and Hive of the Eye Tyrant are worth looking at as utility lands. I'd try to get 24-25 lands in there since most of the powerful Mono-Black spells fall in the 3+ MV range.

mememan3310 on Need Deck Help, Getting Back …

4 months ago

Hello, Legend, thanks for commenting.

I took a look at the decklist and yeah, it's not as appealing to me as I thought it would be.

However, your suggestion for Invoke Despair seems really nice. It's a finisher, it does damage, it draws. What do you think I could pull out for it? I'm thinking Rankle, Master of Pranks, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or both.

legendofa on Need Deck Help, Getting Back …

4 months ago

Here's a sample mono-black devotion deck for Pioneer. (I don't have links enabled, sorry.)

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/pioneer-mono-black-devotion

It's very much not a budget deck, but it should give some ideas. Invoke Despair is a good setup that can double as a finisher, Evolved Sleeper provides early pressure that scales up, and Murderous Rider is good control, although your 3-mana slot seems to be pretty well-filled now. All of these are relatively budget cards, topping out at $2 each right now. If that's still too much, there's reasonable options below fifty cents.