Tyrannize

Sorcery

Target player discards his or her hand unless he or she pays 7 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (19)

DemonDragonJ on Is Black Allowed to have …

3 months ago

"Punisher" effects, effects that force a player to choose between multiple equally unpelasant options, have been part of this game for many years, and are usually found in black and red, such as Browbeat, Tyrannize, Choice of Damnations, or Painful Quandary, but Mark Rosewater mentioned in these two posts that red is allowed to have "punisher" effects, but that black is not, a philosophy with which I disagree, because black has always been the color that most focuses on cruelty and malice, and there have been two cards in recent sets, Starseer Mentor and Perforating Artist, that have "punisher" effects, so I am wondering what the general opinion of other players is, on this matter.

What does everyone else say, about this subject? Do you believe that black should have "punisher" effects? I certainly am interested to hear your opinions, on this matter.

DemonDragonJ on Flames of Darkness

5 months ago

I have replaced the two copies of Tyrannize in this deck with two additional copies of Perforating Artist, which reduced the mana curve of this deck from 3.38 to 3.25, because I believed that Tyrannize was simply too expensive for its effect.

DemonDragonJ on How Good is Tyrannize?

5 months ago

wallisface, thank you, for that advice, because I do agree that I should lower the mana curve of that deck and that Tyrannize is too expensive for its effect.

wallisface on How Good is Tyrannize?

5 months ago

Generally, any effect where the opponent chooses what happens, is really bad. The opponent will always choose the option that favours them the most, so the spell will always be doing its weakest/least-useful mode.

Tyrannize also looks like possibly the worst ”opponent chooses effect” spells i’ve ever seen. By the time you can actually cast this, the odds of an opponent having zero cards in hand already must be pretty close to 100% (and, if they don’t, they’re likely playing control, and can just counter the spell if they care enough).

I think this spell will almost always do nothing (because the opponent has already played their cards), and even if it does do something, its effect will be tiny (because it’ll be getting cast at such a late point of the game, and likely not doing anything that matters as far as changing boardstate etc).

I can’t think of many worse ways to spend 5 mana.

As an aside, your red/black deck needs to drastically lower its curve. You’re currently doing nothing on the first 2 turns of the game, meaning you’re always starting 2-full turns behind your opponent - a really dangerous place to be! Decks generally automatically-lose if they’re giving their opponent 2-free turns (there’s obviously exceptions, like Tron, but this is rare. Without some way to accrue massive value, or reset the board, you’re in deep trouble).

DemonDragonJ on How Good is Tyrannize?

5 months ago

I have two copies of Tyrannize in my red/black deck, because I like cards that force my opponents to make a sadistic choice, but that card is rather expensive for a one-shot effect, and I also feel that better options have been printed in recent years, such as Perforating Artist, so I am wondering if I should keep Tyrannize in that deck.

What does everyone else say, about this? How good of a card is Tyrannize?

Raven_of_Arella on Risk of Rakdos

8 months ago

Great looking rakdos deck Ub3r_Shadow! I love the rakdos cards and playstyle! I haven't built a full Rakdos carnage deck yet but you are definitely inspiring me to go make one! After looking through the deck some cards and pet cards I think you may enjoy are: Enchantments: Spiteful Visions and Dying Wish Sorceries: Tyrannize, Feed the Swarm, and Dreadbore Instants: Showstopper, Bedevil, and Hellish Rebuke

Omniscience_is_life on None

4 years ago

Mono-white getting Dovescape , Mirrorweave , Waves of Aggression , and Swans of Bryn Argoll ? Mono-green getting Guttural Response and Wort, the Raidmother ? Mono-black getting Murderous Redcap ? Mono-red getting Tyrannize and Vexing Shusher ? I don't the flavor makes sense, nor do I think we need to make the change. It'd be a very confusing thing for new players, you'll have to remember.

I can see the attraction though, and I agree that it's a good thing to discuss.

Tyrant-Thanatos on Tyrannize or Bedevil?

5 years ago

Yeah this comes of as kind of a strange question just because Tyrannize is honestly just a really poor card. Especially in Commander. 7 life for 5 mana is just.... not good, and the only time someone is going to discard their hand is if what's in it is worth less than 7 life. Giving your opponents choices is almost always a bad thing, even if both choices seem powerful, because they'll always pick the weaker option. In this case though, the 7 life is just really insignificant.

This, combined with the fact that Bedevil is, on the other hand, a really good card, makes it seem like a pretty bizarre question. It's one of the best removal spells in B/R.

So yes, as an in general, I'd never run Tyrannize in EDH, and Bedevil is a good card. I wouldn't go so far as to say that you should just straight swap in every instance, but as an in general its a much better card. There are so many factors to consider with deck construction though like your mana curve, that just swapping this out directly would impact.