Tragic 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
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Tragic Lesson

Instant

Draw two cards. Then discard a card unless you return a land you control to its owner's hand.

legendofa on The more I think about …

1 month ago

I've had problems with the plane of Amonkhet for a while. As far as anyone knows, the entire non-monster, non-exiled-undead population lived in one city, which appears to have a population of several hundred thousand, definitely no more than several million. Outside of that, there's nothing of any particular importance--sand, ruins, and the aforementioned monsters and undead.

Then, that one city with the entire plane's population got destroyed twice in rapid succession. The citizens watched their gods get betrayed and killed right in front of them, and while pretty much everyone was a trained soldier, they were fighting against magically reinforced zombies who were just as skilled as them, not to mention a nearly omnipotent dragon. Very shortly after, almost before the dust settled and the smoke cleared, they were invaded  Flip by psychopathic cyborgs from outside reality. Any survivors from the first apocalypse immediately had to fight  Flip again to avoid assimilation  Flip. Somehow, they won thanks to the surviving gods, two of which (the Locust God and the Scarab God) had been part of the earlier betrayal, and the magical zombies  Flip that had been killing everyone a few (years? months?) earlier.

As it stands now, Amonkhet's population must be a tiny fraction of what it was, and everyone's been traumatized several times over. There can't be more than a few thousand people, and maybe only a few hundred. Some hero types like Djeru, Hazoret, and Samut seem to want to start rebuilding, but how? How many survivors are there, and how many of those are able and willing to work? What resources are available--building material, food, water, anything? The Luxa River got turned into blood. The Omenpaths offer another wrinkle, since if the people of Amonkhet are anything like real people, many of them will try to evacuate. If a reliable and persistent Omenpath opened nearby, I would expect pretty much everyone to leave the ruined, empty plane as refugees.

Is there any reason for the story to return to Amonkhet, or should it just be left as a dead or abandoned plane? I've asked this before, but the story has progressed and the plane seems to be less viable than ever. The only way I see an Amonkhet story progressing is if there's a previously unknown settlement that has never been hinted at, that made it through the God-Pharaoh's return and the Phyrexian Invasion unscathed, which to me is more unlikely than rebuilding a new settlement, which is more unlikely than recovering what they can and abandoning the plane if given the chance.

erikthor13 on Slogurk, Lands Don't Matter

2 years ago

i think you could get some use out of some of the better Moonfolk that return a land to your hand, combined with things that you have like Ayula's Influence. Meloku the Clouded Mirror and Uyo, Silent Prophet are probably the best but a couple other cool ones are Soratami Mirror-Mage and Soratami Savant. some other useful tricks to return lands to your hands are Vapor Snare, Deprive and Tragic Lesson. Trench Behemoth could also be an alternate win condition along the same vein. a few other land discard cards are Trade Routes and Compulsive Research. Greenseeker would also be very useful here. sweet deck overall and probably not room to add all of this but a few more tweaks could really make this shine.

Shaffe_House on This Land is my Land

2 years ago

Part 2

Other Cards that you could consider cutting

  1. Ondu Giant => Seedguide Ash this card is one more mana expsive and has to die inorder to get the lands, but could be such a good upside. This dieing with your commander reads ramp 3 draw 3 cards and gain 3 life
  2. Soratami Mirror-Guard I get what you are doing here, but I feel like there are better payoffs for this
  3. Timbermaw Larva => Rampaging Brontodon trample is 1,000% better on this card
  4. Wakeroot Elemental 5 greens for a 5/5? way overcosted
  5. Wave-Wing Elemental again similar argument to Windrider Eel not that big of an impact
  6. Wild Wanderer good but could have better options
  7. Aetherflux Reservoir I know this is good in commander but why? No synergy at all, there has to be a better card slot here
  8. Elixir of Immortality I used to put this in all of my decks too, but it is counter productive to your stragay with cards like Splendid Reclamation and The Mending of Dominaria
  9. Wayfarer's Bauble There is better ramp than this in green
  10. I see why you have Jiang Yanggu but I feel like there is stronger cards than that. I cut the card to tutor Journey for the Elixir for him sorry :(
  11. There are a bunch of other better than Ranger's Path you could add, I'll show them in the recommendations
  12. Future Sight and Ominous Seas both seem strange here. I get future sight can draw cards, BUT I feel you should use mana sinks rather than off the top of your library draw
  13. Ghostly Flicker is on thin ice, like yes you have all the etb creatures but sometimes it is a dead card. meh at best?

Other Cards that you could consider adding

This is where the fun begins and your wallet cries

  1. You want Nissa, Who Shakes the World great card, it is a mana doubler ramp, and also you just win with the ultimate
  2. I heard you like ramp try Tireless Provisioner and pick up one for me while you are at it please
  3. Here is a gaint list of green ramp Harrow , Growth Spiral , Explore , Khalni Heart Expedition , Roiling Regrowth , Grow from the Ashes , Urban Evolution , Migration Path , Natural Connection , Nissa's Renewal , Nylea's Intervention , Spring / Mind , Animist's Awakening , Omen of the Hunt
  4. Keeping your life total at a high level Kazandu Nectarpot , Grazing Gladehart , Retreat to Kazandu , Jaddi Offshoot
  5. Mana Sinks, you are going to have a lot of mana, might as well do something with it Kamahl's Druidic Vow ummm.... yes? Kefnet the Mindful one of my favorite Gods, that doesn't have a place. I look forward to getting attacked by him Sprout Swarm it is really easy for this card to be "free"
  6. Win Cons Blackblade Reforged yes, all the yes Kamahl’s Will All the lands become creatures lol Crash of Rhino Beetles oh crap a 15/15 oh no Oran-Rief Hydra meh, but it could be good?

  7. Other just good cards Frilled Mystic , Trygon Predator , Plasm Capture Gush , Tragic Lesson , Simic Charm , Rampage of the Clans

That is all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'll have more la

Grubbernaut on Impending Horrors

2 years ago

I like the idea; I'd consider subbing out Quench for Censor and/or some Jwari Disruption  Flip. I also like Frantic Inventory , and more importantly with Mystic Sanctuary , Tragic Lesson is an absolute house. I also think that without looting effects, 4x Mission Briefing is a little much; honestly, card advantage is probably more important than recursion, as you're not looking to max out big spells so much as play a lot of them. If you mainboard some mass-bounce, it could be worth it to run a couple Briefing, but I think things like Behold the Multiverse , Chart a Course , etc could be more helpful overall.

I also think 3x Spell Pierce seems high - Negate or maybe Neutralize could be better. Curious Homunculus  Flip also benefits more with extra spells with colorless in their cost.

Also: since Anticipate doesn't trigger Chasm Skulker , it may be worth swapping for Deliberate or one of the other mentioned draw spells.

I also think with the full playset of Sanctuary, 4x Castle Vantress is too much as they don't add to island count; I think going down to just one or maybe two would be better, especially since by the time you'd be using them for value, you're generally either already winning or already losing.

I think Unsubstantiate is decent, but especially if you swap the other soft counters for hard ones, it may be worth changing out for Into the Roil to have a spell on four that clears the way for Skulker and adds to your draw count.

Finally, another card to consider (probably over Homunculus) is Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  Flip. Especially with lots of draw spells, you're likely to flip it early, and it both adds to draw count for Skulker and once flipped won't be bounced - though it would be better in a build with Frantic Inventory or other graveyard synergies to get it going ASAP. I think this swap is more of a tossup compared to the stuff suggested above, though.

I want mono U to work in pioneer, so I love this. Cheers!

cheffireball on Dimir Control - 2021

2 years ago

Why Tragic Lesson over Divination ? I feel like bouncing a land can sometimes be good, but usually it seems worse.

Grubbernaut on Dimir Hulk Control

2 years ago

Typhoon is fantastic. I might make a separate list for that; I just love the Tragic Lesson + Mystic Sanctuary lock enough that I'm focusing on sorceries and instants. I'm a brewer at heart and tend to shy away from the true meta-decks for that reason, moreso for fun than truly to win more.

I might make a simic list to power out a hardcast Typhoon earlier, and abuse it in that way.

Degaine on Pauper Electromancer V2

2 years ago

If you play this goblin then maybe you want some Train of Thought , but you need to change manabase in this case (I would cut ash barrens and maybe add dual lands oradd at least terramotphic expanse). Tragic Lesson is another option if you want to play foil, but well...Chris is a bad card without gush, so normal counterspell, or even dispel could be better. On the other hand.

Snake_Oil on EDH Under $1 Series - …

3 years ago

Just going by Scryfall (even going as deep as <0.90c in terms of value rather than the full dollar) there are quite a few that spring up that I'd be interested in seeing made on such an extreme budget:

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter -- Simic Control/Tempo is something I'd be super interested to see on a budget, not gonna lie.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang -- Recursive politics on a budget?

Kefnet the Mindful -- You could easily do Mystic Sanctuary loops here, there are a couple of spells that require you to bounce a land to cast, like Deprive and Tragic Lesson.

Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter -- Only because I have a budget plan for her myself, I'd be interested in seeing another take on it!

Darigaaz Reincarnated -- This is more of a pet idea for me, I love Darigaaz.

Rosheen Meanderer/Hallar, the Firefletcher -- Both are kind of unique in Gruul colours so it'd be interesting to see either made on a budget.

Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro -- If you're looking for a tribal commander, Shamans are a very unique tribe.

Those are just some that spring to mind for me looking over the list, whether you run with any of them or not I hope you enjoy the process of budgeteering! I know I do whenever I get the itch!

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