Painful Quandary

Enchantment

Whenever an opponent casts a spell, that player loses 5 life unless he or she discards a card.

Discussion (50)

plakjekaas on Arch of Orazca

2 weeks ago

Do you guys only play games that end with your hand still full of cards? I've used this one in many decks, especially decks that run out their hand fast. Once you have the 10 permanents out, you can never lose the city's blessing. Paying 6 mana for an additional card is fine when it's turn 13 and everyone ran everything in each others' boardwipes and are now topdecking. And in that stage of the game, I was glad I had this card out, because even when topdecking a land, my lands draw me cards to keep going.

It is priceless to have those effects on utility lands. Even if you never draw a card with them, they still pay for your spells and you lost nothing by running them.

Unlike things like Maze of Ith or Temple of the False God that can do literally nothing depending on your boardstate, the carddraw lands are still Wastes with upside and no opportunity cost to help you beat your opponents who play Painful Quandary or every single version of Planar Cleansing.

If my commander doesn't draw cards, I'll have at least one of these in the deck because not every deck curves out perfectly and is able to spend all mana every turn. Sometimes all you draw is lands and this is the difference between playing the game, or being bored while others play the game. Don't overload on lands like these, obviously, there's a downside to colorless lands in colored decks, and every color has more efficient cards to help you with card advantage, but actually calling them unplayable? I would only be able to say that with a straight face if RNG in Magic was always on my side.

RiotRunner789 on Free Contest: Ring in the …

2 weeks ago

Well my favorite mtg color is black by far and my favorite strategy are non-blue control that bleeds the table dry. Essentially a ton of Painful Quandary effects.

Though if I win, I'd prefer something not black and a strategy I don't use. I'm thinking Grual. I steer away from creature heavy decks, go-wide aggro, chaos, and landfall / land strategies.

MrKillStar on Syn Konrad EDH

1 month ago

Lhurgyof - I would personally keep those cards away from Syr Konrad and use them in deck with K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, Vilis, Broker of Blood, etc... also from the new set: Profane Transfusion (I know this is few months old comment, so you probably know about it already).

nieds - I see you already got a lot of really good cards, I'll just type some of them that I cut out since they're kinda meh in this kind of deck below. Anyway, you can check my Syr Konrad's deck here: For the Void. Im still switching few cards, explaining why I chose every card in the deck description, etc. I decided to go with mix of reanimator+aristocrats with several infinite combos. So I would welcome any feedback aswell and you might get some inspiration right there! :)

Some cards I would cut and why:

1) Loxodon Warhammer - is good in voltron / attack based decks, but here it looks like a random card that can gives you some life back (which black/other artifacts can do just better than lifelink artifact), but for 6 mana its meh. You could replace it with Shadowspear, which is three times mana cheaper and provides you with another utility ability. Or simply Bontu's Monument as another pseudo mana rock that also gives you a bit of life.
2) Sensei's Divining Top - I know SDT is amazing on its own, but I wouldnt personally bother with it, unless you would go for the Aetherflux Reservoir + Bolas's Citadel + Sensei's Divining Top combo. I would switch it for either Viscera Seer (as another free sac outlet), or my choice for my deck was Shadows of the Past (with any infinite creature generator+sac and Bolas's Citadel, you can just "tutor" and cast whatever you want from top of your deck - think I explained it in my deck's description already or I add it sometime later).
3) Painful Quandary - Again, good card, just doesnt fit that well in my opinion. Goes well with Mindcrank and Archfiend of Despair but thats probably about it. I would rather put it in some discard focused deck. Instead of this, card like Morality Shift would be really cool for sure. Or cards like Forever Young / Gravepurge / Death Denied to proc Syr Konrad's ability and recast them with Bolas's Citadel + another card draw sources. Or you could also stick to enchantments liie Mortuary/Haunted Crossroads (parts of my infinite combos).
4) From planeswalkers I would personally keep only Liliana of the Dark Realms (to help with land drops and deck thining) and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools (creates more tokens than Lilianas, decent card-draw and punish opponents for letting you -10 him). Other Lilianas are not bad for sure, just either slow or not that fascinating as they seems to be. Karns are just out of place.

Cards I would put in for sure:

1) Tortured Existence - even on its own, it triggers Syr Konrad's ability twice and only for everytime! As you might already know, I use it with Phyrexian Altar and Desecrated Tomb to make infinite etb/die/sac triggers.
2) Bog Witch - discarding (creature) cards to trigger Syr Konrad's ability; is basically Dark Ritual on a stick which you could use to Reanimate/Animate Dead/Victimize right after. Also is 1/1, so another target for your Skullclamp.
3) Doom Whisperer - big good stuff with ability to filter your deck and put creatures directly from your library into the graveyard.
4) Haunted Crossroads - even on its own, its great way to get your creatures back (on top of library for Bolas's Citadel), next to Phyrexian Reclamation.
5) Emergence Zone - simply to give your spells Flash when you would need them, really nice utility land (similar is Winding Canyons but only for creatures, so eh).
6) Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip - cheap way to "protect" your creature, triggering Syr Konrad's ability or another land if needed.
7) Tainted Strike - absolute game winning beast card with Syr Konrad and either any creature/sac generator, boardwipe with 10+ creatures on board, or discard/mill cards.
8) Diabolic Intent - you got plenty of token generators, so this is just mana-cheap tutor.
9) Feed the Swarm - more ways to deal with enchantments and creatures.

I hope some of this will help and you like some of those cards! :)

7thZombieman on Tiny in Size, but he'll be your Demise

1 month ago

Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension / Leyline of the Void + Helm of Obedience / Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Cinderhaze Wretch These are some solid combos for discard tribal, and usually a quick closeout for a game.

I'd leave the Painful Quandary in and opt out Oppression. Every time I've played Oppression, its fucked me in the long run. Library of Leng is better than Anvil of Bogardan in my opinion, since it only applies to you. Definitely include that Sangromancer, crazy value in a discard deck. Mind Rake > Mind Rot just cause of the overload cost. Some cards to think about adding in Imp's Mischief, Rankle, Master of Pranks, Syphon Mind, Mind Twist, Archfiend of Ifnir, Banshee of the Dread Choir. Good lookin deck though! Hope these suggestions can help you out

Massacar on Yurlok, have some mana and die

2 months ago

Mana Web, I would add Awakening from your maybeboard, Price of Glory

Painful Quandary, Nightshade Harvester, Ankh of Mishra, Exquisite Blood

Something like Crawlspace for protection (I use Bottled Cloister and Ensnaring Bridge too)

Horizon Stone, Omnath, Locus of Mana, Leyline Tyrant to protect yourself from manaburn

Vexing Shusher to help protect your spells as you cast

Mammet on Thicc Boi Mill

2 months ago

Painful Quandary, Silent Arbiter, Jace, Memory Adept, and Geth, Lord of the Vault are definitely on my list of cards to acquire now. I had a Propaganda in my collection already so I replaced Breaking Wave with it. Crawlspace will be nice too, but with the price of it and Painful Quandary, I'll be prioritizing the latter.

CypherusX on Thicc Boi Mill

2 months ago

Pretty good deck you have here. I feel like Painful Quandary and Propaganda are some pretty good deterrents to go with your walls. Silent Arbiter and Crawlspace aren't too bad either. Since your using mill you could get away with Scheming Symmetry since you can mill whatever your opponent chooses. In terms of more mill focused creatures there are Gyruda, Doom of Depths, Mindwrack Harpy and Geth, Lord of the Vault. If you want Planeswalkers you could go with Jace, Memory Adept, Ashiok, Sculptor of Fears and Liliana, Death Mage for her last ability.

I feel like you could replace a few of your defenders with some of my recommended creatures and/or Planeswalkers and you probably don't need that many tap spells. However since it is a casual deck you'll know your playgroups meta better than me so only you can really judge if my recommendations work for you and which of your cards perform better than others.

RiotRunner789 on Negan - PeePee Pants City

2 months ago

Painful Quandary is powerful and definetly on theme. The name is perfect. Though this is a bit less budget friendly.