Painful Lesson
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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
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Painful Lesson

Sorcery

Target player draws two cards and loses 2 life.

FormOverFunction on Should I Keep Font of …

2 months ago

I have some fun stuff in my torture deck (https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/10-05-19-torture/) that could replace font. Nin, the Pain Artist is fun. Even stuff like Painful Lesson. Poke around and see what you think. I agree that the new Pinhead guy is a good idea... even fits my torture theme!

danthecolombian on Powerless Efforts

4 years ago

Long time no comment, here.

Suggest Liliana's Caress and/or Megrim for discarding away your opponent's life count.

Underworld Dreams and Howling Mine ensures damage on the draw and that you have something for them to discard.

Consider Painful Lesson or Foreboding Fruit for more of the same, and maybe even Bloodchief's Thirst or Heartless Act in place of Black Sun for removal.

Cheers!

Joebuscus on Titan of the Breach

4 years ago

Are you ever targeting your opponents with Painful Lesson? if not, isn't Night's Whisper just a strictly better version for 1 less?

TitaniumTP on K'rrick Kobain and his Monster Mash

5 years ago

Let's get down to business, shall we?

DELETE THIS

Venser's Journal , Mindcrank , Armillary Sphere , Dash Hopes , Doomblade, Street Wraith , Leshrac's Sigil ,

QUESTIONABLE

Noosegraf Mob , Phyrexian Reclamation , Kaya's Ghostform , Blood Tribute , Whip of Erebos , Armillary Sphere , Reiver Demon , Pestilence Demon , Magus of the Mirror , Endling , Bloodthirsty Aerialist

At first glance these are what I think you should delete and think about deleting.

COMBO TIME

I notice that you have combo potential with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed . The only 2 card combo with him is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion . All other combos with him require 4 pieces.

  1. The man (zombie?) himself: Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

  2. Sac outlet - Viscera Seer , - Ashnod's Altar , - Carrion Feeder ,

  3. The Sacrifice (something with persist, or that can somehow remove the +1/+1 counter from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ) - Lesser Masticore , - Putrid Goblin , - Skinrender if you put the 3 -1/-1 counters on itself each time it enters, - Puppeteer Clique , - Lingering Tormentor ,

  4. ALL THESE TRIGGERS - Bitter Ordeal for infinite exiling of decks, - Falkenrath Noble for infinite damage, - Vindictive Vampire for infinite damage, - Zulaport Cutthroat for infinite damage, - Vengeful Dead for infinite damage, only if sacrificed creature is a zombie, - Blood Artist for infinite damage, - Pitiless Plunderer for infinite mana, - Pawn of Ulamog for infinite colorless mana, - Deathgreeter for infinite life, - Smothering Abomination for infinite card draw,

MORE COMBO

You also have the 3 piece combo of

  1. Sanguine Bond
  2. Exquisite Blood
  3. Anything that either causes you to gain life, or an opponent to lose life - Leechridden Swamp , - Ebony Charm , - Death Cultist , - Nightmare's Thirst

I recommend using instant speed interaction for the 3rd piece of the combo, so you can respond to removal by winning

If you decide to follow The Way of The Combo, you should also add library searching effectz to help make sure you always find your pieces.

LIBRARY SEARCHIN EFFECTZ

Expedition Map for finding lands for ramp, or combo pieces if you go for the aforementioned Leechridden Swamp combo Scheming Symmetry , Behold the Beyond , Demonic Collusion , Diabolic Tutor , Final Parting , Mastermind's Acquisition , Doomsday , Demonic Collusion , Dark Petition

The more combo and storm heavy your deck is, the more search library cards you will want to add.

EXTORT OP

Basilica Screecher , Thrull Parasite , Syndicate Enforcer

Nothing much to add here, but extort is so broken in this deck. Extort will be extra powerful in storm builds.

Okay, it's Mana Time

Caged Sun

COOL LANDS

Castle Locthwain , swamp with benefits, Thespian's Stage , can become a copy of other dank lands like Temple of the False God and Cabal Stronghold , Crystal Vein , pop it on the turn where you're going to try and win, Westvale Abbey  Flip, potential wincon, Leechridden Swamp , potential combo piece and also fun to use with leftover mana, Bottomless Vault , probably sucks but you could use it in a storm deck, Memorial to Folly , Mortuary Mire , Temple of the False God , Myriad Landscape , ramp that looks like a land

Mana Rocks

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip probably not good, Thran Dynamo , super epic, Hedron Archive , Prismatic Lens , Fractured Powerstone , you know you want this for the planeschase ability, Sisay's Ring , Ur-Golem's Eye , Liliana of the Dark Realms , Nirkana Revenant , Paradise Plume , Magus of the Coffers , Black Market

For mana rocks you want the best bang for your buck, since you can just pay life instead of {B}. I like the mana rocks that cost {4} but tap for {2}, and the ones that cost {2} and tap for {1}. The more control heavy your deck is, the more rocks you want.

Ramp

Wayfarer's Bauble , Burnished Hart

Lots of Mana Fast

Cabal Ritual , Bubbling Muck , Spoils of Evil , Culling the Weak , Sacrifice , Dark Ritual , Songs of the Damned

Getting giant bursts of mana is good in any mono Black deck, but you should invest more heavily the more combo and storm themed your deck is, since you want to pop off in a single turn and cast 1,000 spells.

Investments

Basal Sliver , Blood Pet , Bog Witch , Overeager Apprentice , Basal Thrull , Priest of Yawgmoth , Blood Vassal , Soldevi Adnate

A lot of these cards that are single time use mana sources would be great in a storm deck where you would just build up your load until you bust damage all over the faces of those unfortunate enough to be within 50m of you. They're also good in reanimation decks, which could utilize Phyrexian Reclamation to keep getting them back.

Summary:

The more control heavy your deck is, the more mana rocks you want. If you're going for combos then you want more quick mana. The only land I'm gonna have to 100% recommend is Thespian's Stage . Keep in mind that the more nonbasic lands you have in your deck, the less useful cards like Crypt Ghast and Cabal Stronghold will be.

TRIBAL

Zombie Tribal

Corpse Harvester , library search, Cemetery Reaper , lord, Undead Warchief , epic lord, Josu Vess, Lich Knight , wincon, Endless Ranks of the Dead , wincon, Death Baron , lord, Liliana's Mastery , lord, Graveborn Muse , card draw, Zombie Master , protection, Graf Harvest , team evasion, Fleshbag Marauder , saccy, Phyrexian Delver , recovery, Cryptbreaker , card draw, Lord of the Accursed , lord, Shepherd of Rot , hurty everyone, Stronghold Assassin , funny removal, Loyal Subordinate , Liliana, Death's Majesty , potential finisher, Grave Titan , Open the Graves , board wipe protection, especially good if you're going all in on creature aggro, Curse of Disturbance , Awaken the Erstwhile , once you're in an advantageous position just cast this and watch your opponents cry, Tombstone Stairwell , this would be especially epic if you have cards to buff your boys, Risen Executioner , lord

Some cards that could be spicy in zombie tribal. Epic combos would be lords such as Cemetery Reaper and Lord of the Accursed , and fatties such as Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight . Having tons of zombies also combos with Pontiff of Blight . I think that Eldrazi Monument in a zombie build is nightmare fuel.

Vampire Tribal

Sanctum Seeker , Kalastria Highborn , Blade of the Bloodchief , Bloodlord of Vaasgoth , Malakir Bloodwitch , Bloodline Keeper  Flip, Gatekeeper of Malakir , Nirkana Revenant , Drana, Liberator of Malakir , Sadistic Skymarcher , Defiant Bloodlord , Yahenni, Undying Partisan , Butcher of Malakir , Cordial Vampire , Bloodtracker ,

If you decide vampire tribal is better, here are some options. I would only play cards like Blood Tribute if you're going vampire tribal, I don't think it's worth to play unless you can get more value than just chopping 1 player's life in half.

To Go with Your Creature Spam, Sir...

Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Mask of Memory , Necropolis Regent , Bloodforged Battle-Axe , Explorer's Scope , Throne of the God-Pharaoh , Whip of Erebos

Buff My Team!

Sword of the Paruns , Intimidation , Death Pit Offering , Eldrazi Monument , Obelisk of Urd

Summary:

The more of one tribe you have, the more synergy you have. Only include lords if you're all in on that tribe.

REMOVAL

Targeted Removal

Hero's Downfall , Vraska's Contempt , Murder , Murderous Rider , Noxious Gearhulk , Malicious Affliction , New Blood , Ruinous Path , Tendrils of Corruption , Bone Splinters , Liturgy of Blood

Epic Board Wipes

Decree of Pain , Crux of Fate , Kindred Dominance , Bontu's Last Reckoning , Do or Die , Hellfire , Necromantic Selection

Summary: Use more board wipes the more control heavy you want your deck to be. Try to choose targeted removal such that the end cost will only be {1} and some life, so that it will be as cheap as possible. This is especially important in storm builds. Since we play multiplayer quite a bit, you'll probably want to add extra board wipes, especially the ones that draw you cards or come bundled with reanimation.

Wow, I Hate Minorities

Wow, I hate tokens

Ritual of Soot , Force of Despair

Wow, Green is Cancer

Perish

Wow, I hate when other people play spells

Painful Quandary

Wow, I hate when other people attack me

No Mercy , Dread , Koskun Falls

Wow, I hate myself

Season of the Witch (okay, maybe not that much Revenge of Ravens )

Wow, I hate lifegain

Tainted Remedy , False Cure

Wow, I hate real board wipes

Sudden Spoiling , Mutilate , Languish , Massacre Girl , Golden Demise

Wow, I hate burst damage

Palace Siege , Polluted Bonds

Wow, I hate my opponents having creatures

Dictate of Erebos , Grave Pact , Butcher of Malakir

Wow, I hate this one person in particular

Curse of Vengeance , Trespasser's Curse , Curse of Fool's Wisdom

Lifegain

Profane Memento , Crypt Incursion , Vampiric Link , Loxodon Warhammer , Kokusho, the Evening Star , Cavalier of Night , Whip of Erebos

Protection

Rush of Vitality

Benefit from Death

Ogre Slumlord , Shadows of the Past

Cool Card Draw

Moonlight Bargain , Promise of Power , Succumb to Temptation , Ransack the Lab , Infernal Contract , Necrologia , Carnival of Souls , Grim Haruspex , Night's Whisper , Succumb to Temptation , Phyrexian Etchings , Cruel Bargain , Dark Deal , Foreboding Fruit , Live Fast , Painful Lesson , Necropotence

Add more card draw the more stormy you want your deck to be. Also try to add ones that will cost the least amount of mana if you take your commander's ability into account.

Card Draw Requiring Sacrifice

Altar's Reap , Costly Plunder , Morbid Curiosity , Bankrupt in Blood , Skulltap , Merciless Resolve

These will be better in decks where you're sure you'll have tons of creatures. So adding these into zombie tribal would probably be a good idea, since you have things like Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight that produce a million tokens.

Storm Build Cards

Aphotic Wisps , Cremate , Succumb to Temptation , Yawgmoth's Will , Ill-Gotten Gains , Priest of Forgotten Gods , Skirge Familiar , Rain of Filth , Dredge , Gravebind , Nighthaze , Street Wraith

The idea of a storm deck is to cast as many spells in one turn as possible, building up a fat storm counter to execute all who oppose us with our 3 finishers, which are Aetherflux Reservoir , Tendrils of Agony and perhaps Empty the Pits . You'll want lots of cheap spells that only cost {B} mana and replace themselves, such as Aphotic Wisps . One time use mana is also dank here, such as Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual , and creatures like Basal Thrull and Soldevi Adnate .

Win Cons to think about

jpermar on Rakdos, Lord's Downward Spiral

5 years ago

A massive update this time. One that I'm very excited about. Here are the changes:

Overall, the deck is faster and more consistent. Here's a summary of changes by card category:

  • direct damage is now at lower cmc
  • -1 Ramp
  • +1 protection/haste
  • +2 tutor
  • +5 draw
  • +1 anti-control
  • -4 Creature removal
  • -2 graveyard hate
  • -1 discard
  • -1 extra attack
  • -1 lifegain/recursion
  • +1 removal

So the changes overall are lower cmc, more draw and tutor, less creature removal and less utility (graveyard hate, extra attacks, etc.) Overall, the early turn plays to get direct damage and get Rakdos out are far more prevalent. The deck is more aggressive and more focused now, and plays much smoother.

And yes, this is the only deck I have where I've taken out Sol Ring . It's simply better to have only colored mana in order to cast Rakdos as consistently as possible!

Flooremoji on Lost - a challenge of …

5 years ago

Hmm, this list seems related to some sort of theme/story. You have Stuff like Painful Lesson and Scar , Hatred and Anger . IDK :)

BS-T on Lost - a challenge of …

5 years ago

OK so I'd not been active on TO for a little while and after clearing up a bunch of notifications I popped over to my list of decks to find.... this nonsense:

I'd titled the list: "Lost".

Now. I'm pretty sure I've only stuck a 5c commander into the list because I had to put something, however, I now have no memory or idea what I was thinking of or where this was going - any thoughts on what my connection was!!??

ANemoAcids on The First Good $10 Commander Deck on Tapped Out

5 years ago

So I really like what you're doing here and the work you're putting in to your budget limitations.

Couple of things to consider: there are two different printings of Diabolic Tutor at 25 cents on SCG.

This next card is a little bit more difficult to spare space and card slots for, and would definitely require an absolute need for the card draw, but we have Glint-Sleeve Siphoner who is often too small a body for many people to care about, so it's never a removal priority (usually just killed in boardwipes etc) and is such an excellent 2-drop to find in the early game.

Next, to bring this to a new level and create a page on this site that cements you as King of Macar primers, I definitely think you should have 2 upgrade lists put aside that offer upgrades for a $20 budget, and for a $50 budget. Both of those are well in to the sub $100 range that you can call budget, and the first thing I always see people do with decklists is ask "what are some cheap ways I can improve this?"

Good work with everything so far, +1 from me. Also your title change gave me a good laugh, I like it.

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