Shard of the Nightbringer

Creature — C'tan

Flying

Drain Life — When Shard of the Nightbringer enters the battlefield, if you cast it, target opponent loses half their life, rounded up. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (5)

euqinU on What to add in my …

1 month ago

I have the Necron Dynasties precon that's currently being upgraded, let me know what I should add next or remove to make it more appealing and competitive in the casual pod. This seems to be a really good commander deck full of sacrifices. Here's the list of the cards on the deck:

Illuminor Szeras Grim Haruspex Scrapyard Recombiner Gate to the Afterlife Sojourner's Companion Dross Scorpion Frogmite Smothering Abomination Meteor Golem Noxious Gearhulk Workshop Assistant Diabolic Tutor Scrap Trawler Marionette Master Foundry Inspector Gray Merchant of Asphodel Myr Retriever Disciple of the Vault Staff of Domination Psychomancer Triarch Praetorian Dread Return Cranial Plating Mask of Memory Sol Ring Barren Moor Myriad Landscape Arcane Signet Mind Stone Wayfarer's Bauble Desert of the Glorified Vault of Whispers Anrakyr the Traveller Chronomancer Cryptek Lokhust Heavy Destroyer Necron Deathmark Out of the Tombs Royal Warden Shard of the Nightbringer Shard of the Void Dragon Skorpekh Lord Technomancer Their Name is Death Their Number is Legion Trazyn the Infinite Canoptek Scarab Swarm Canoptek Spyder Canoptek Tomb Sentinel Cryptothrall Ghost Ark Sceptre of Eternal Glory Tomb Fortress Living Death Reliquary Tower Mutilate Caged Sun Mystic Forge Sculpting Steel 30 Swamp

TheForsakenOne on K'rrik, Blatant Cheater

3 months ago

Because extort says "That much life" it scales with how much life is lost, which Bloodletter changes as a replacement effect. Because it specifically replaces life loss instead of damage causing life loss it does double the lifegain you receive.

And Wound Reflection is just a little too slow for my tastes. Its a 5 mana investment on something that isn't putting you in a winning investment unless you're following it up with a Pontiff of Blight, Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Shard of the Nightbringer, and people tend to target you or it as soon as it comes down because they see the aforementioned cards coming.

HahaStax on Vito, Lifesucker

9 months ago

Hey, have you heard of Shard of the Nightbringer yet? It's Blood Tribute on a body.

Sleepysherlock on Life and Death

10 months ago

Oh i nearly forgot

Pontiff of Blight, Shard of the Nightbringer, and Lich's Mastery

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

1 year ago

Guerric

I wasn't able to play a multiplayer game this weekend but ran 9 games of 1v1. I won 7/9 games as unblocked angels seems to be consistently good. 6 games were against Necron Precron, 2 games against Faldorn Exiles & 1 game against Aesi Landfall. Made a couple swaps to give Pyre of Heroes a shot. Didn't touch the lifegain package but messed with the protection one. Since all 9 games were duels, some of the changes weren't great.

Eye of Vecna for Pyre of Heroes

Cosmic Intervention for The Ozolith

Angel of Condemnation for Karmic Guide

Angel of Jubilation for Inspiring Overseer

Starnheim Unleashed for Luminarch Ascension

Search for Glory for Enlightened Tutor

I notably left in Together Forever and didn't put in Breathkeeper Seraph because I wanted to see if there were synergies between Together Forever and Pyre of Heroes.

Lost 1 game against Necron Precon due to a combination of things. I missed 2 land drops early in the game and was forced to use Enlightened Tutor for a Sol Ring so I could play my hand. Later in the game Ioverplayed the hand and got hit by Shard of the Nightbringer followed by Their Name is Death on the next turn. I was definitely kicking myself at the end because I had Emeria Shepherd and played it when I should've held it. Necrons actually did pretty well against this deck overall as they had fliers which stopped some early attacks. In the end though, as with most precons, they ran out of gas while Angels could keep chugging along and beefing up.

Lost 1 game against Faldorn Exiles due to Food Chain & Eternal Scourge with Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald producing a million wolves on turn 4. With no answers in hand, it was a quick and clear loss.

I was able to get Pyre of Heroes out in several games. One of my favorite combinations was using it on Inspiring Overseer to drop in Serra Paragon and then recasting Inspiring Overseer for the extra life and draw. On the following turn I sacrificed it again to grab Battle Angels of Tyr and hit for even more draw.

During the final game against Aesi Landfall I wanted to see how much value I could get out of Pyre of Heroes so I kept an obviously risky hand. My starting hand consisted of Arid Mesa, Plains, Fabled Passage, Emergence Zone, Mutavault, Pyre of Heroes, and Path to Exile. Aesi had a pretty slow start without much ramp but dropped Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait turn 5 which I promptly pathed. The only Angel I drew was Angelic Curator which I pyred into Inspiring Overseer. I also had Together Forever on the board so when I pyred Inspiring Overseer into Serra Paragon I was able to bounce it back to hand and recast Angelic Curator on the same turn. Next turn I cast Inspiring Overseer and pyred that into Thraben Watcher and started swinging for lots of damage.

In a multiplayer game other players would've had more answers for our board and Pyre of Heroes may not stick around. However, I don't think it seems threatening on its own and most times it's just a value engine. I think there may be a case for swapping it out for Eye of Vecna. They cost the same for 2 colorless. Their activations are also the same at 2 colorless. The differences are the 2 damage we take for Vecna and also that the draw occurs on upkeep before our draw phase and we have to pay the 2 and life if we want the card. If we drop Vecna early game and we're looking for something key, usually a land or a low cost angel and there's no guarantee that we'll get it. So if we're on turn 4, we've expended 2/3 available mana on drawing either a land or a 2cmc angel because we can't play anyting else. If we aren't dropping Vecna early and instead on turn 6-7 then it's pretty slow compared to its counterparts. Yes it replaces itself but nothing else we do will give us cards the turn we need it. All the other draw cards play into our strategy of either playing angels, attacking or gaining life. Also, the ones we pay into can be done on opponents turn when we're holding up answers, so there's no "wasted mana".

Out of the current swaps The Ozolith and Luminarch Ascension were very mediocre. This is likely due to the duel format and will need more testplaying in a 4-man setting. I was able to get The Ozolith up to 18 counters one game but it didn't matter since I was dead the next turn.

I think just based on this trial run that Pyre of Heroes deserves a strong consideration especially with Inspiring Overseer. Let me know your thoughts!