Withering Torment

Instant

Destroy target creature or enchantment. You lose 2 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (5)

_Kane_ on Valgavoth, Harrower of souls (HF-1)

1 month ago

Hey, welcome to TappedOut.net! I would recommend listing you basic lands under one art image so the counts are more accurate. We can chat about the mana base another time.

Here are a few quick suggestions;

Sulfurous Springs - Replace Ash Barrens

Basilisk Collar - Lifelink to keep your HP at a healthy amount and deathtouch for a decent chump-blocker.

Razorkin Needlehead - Ping dmg on opp turns.

Blasphemous Edict - Board wipes are needed along with targeted removal.

Stormfist Crusader - Card draw

Roiling Vortex - This reads, "Yes, yes, and more please."

Scrawling Crawler - Yes, you have your opps drawing more cards, but they will pay for it with their life. You will also draw more cards. Taking advantage of the "symmetric" card draw by making it weighted in your favor.

Florian, Voldaren Scion - Card selection and Card draw.

Underworld Dreams - Ping dmg on opp turns.

Withering Torment - Enchantment removal is extremely rare in Rakdos Colors.

Ankh of Mishra - Ping dmg on opp turns.

Rug of Smothering - Ping dmg on opp turns.

Nightshade Harvester - Ping dmg on opp turns.

Magebane Lizard - Ping dmg on opp turns and keeps spell decks in check.

Cemetery Gatekeeper - Exile someone's fetch land from a GY. Then, whenever a player play a land you ping for 2 dmg.

Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip - A tapped land with a great spell on the backside.

Reanimate - Any graveyard...

I believe you opened a Bloodthirsty Conqueror!!

Expensive:

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Bloodchief Ascension

Orcish Bowmasters

Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin

Deflecting Swat

Jeska's Will

Deadly Rollick

Solphim, Mayhem Dominus

Zo-Zu the Punisher - I may have one of these for trade. I'll check.

Dauthi Voidwalker

Opposition Agent

As far a cuts:

Vile Entomber - Easy cut.

Olivia, Crimson Bride I would lose the graveyard reanimator subtheme.

Valgavoth's Lair - With your deck only being in two colors and with no add value for the land being an enchantment (the extra card type becomes more of a risk than reward), I would cut this land.

Enchanter's Bane - Just not strong enough and the damage isn't on your opponents turns.

Mask of Griselbrand - Too expensive to cast/equip and requires the creature to die for the card draw to trigger.

Temple of the False God - Easy cut. The pay off isn't there and the number of times you won't be able to tap this land for mana isn't worth the upside.

Light Up the Stage - There is better card draw.

Braids, Arisen Nightmare - The group slug effect is nice, but a potential cut due to being non-targeted removal/group sacrifice.

Massacre Girl - Black has better board wipes that can't miss.

Ash Barrens - Easy cut for a land more suited to your deck build.

Bloodfell Caves - Easy cut for a land more suited to your deck build.

wallisface on Is Enchantment Destruction in Black …

3 months ago

DemonDragonJ as has kindof been addressed already in this thread, mana costs are very format dependent (for example, commander games are far more forgiving with letting players get-away with casting higher mana spells) - but for pretty much all of the competitive formats, that 1 additional mana of Withering Torment is more likely to cost you the game than the sorcery-speed of Feed the Swarm. From what i've seen online the overwhelming majority of the competitive community are in agreement that Feed the Swarm is just a much stronger card (not that it's particularly playable to begin with, however).

In commander/multiplayer/casual formats, I can definitely see the additional mana cost of Withering Torment being justifiable for its added utility. But in prettymuch any 1-v-1 game, it's just too high a mana-cost to take seriously.

Crow_Umbra on Is Enchantment Destruction in Black …

3 months ago

I'm pretty excited for Withering Torment in my Black aligned decks that don't have access to White or Green. Three mana is hefty, but it's not nearly as flexible as something like Stroke of Midnight, for a comparable CMC & rarity. I wouldn't replace Feed the Swarm, but might run it as a compliment in more Grixis leaning color combos.

Picking the option to destroy a creature feels less ideal, especially when compared to other creature-centric removal options in Black like Bitter Triumph, Go for the Throat, or Infernal Grasp. If anything, Withering Torment is just Infernal Grasp with enchantment removal stapled onto it for 1 more mana.

I'm seeing more artifact heavy commanders more frequently in my main play group, like Brenard, Ginger Sculptor, Ygra, Eater of All, a Dr. Who Historic Duo, and Rocco, Street Chef, to name a few. Given this uptick in these varied artifact strats, I'm shifting towards more artifact punishing interaction or removal, than I am enchantment focused stuff.

wallisface on Is Enchantment Destruction in Black …

3 months ago

I should also note, from discussions i’ve seen so far, most people are in agreement that competitively Feed the Swarm is much better than Withering Torment - so assuming that holds true Wotc have only made a spell worse than what’s already available.

DemonDragonJ on Is Enchantment Destruction in Black …

3 months ago

WotC stated that black's ability to destroy enchantments would be far less powerful than that of white or green, but I feel that Withering Torment is too powerful, since its drawbacks are not sufficient to prevent it from encroaching on white and green's territory; for a mere 1 additional mana over Feed the Swarm, Withering Torment is an instant, has a lower loss of life, and (most significantly) allows its caster to destroy their own enchantments, which goes against WotC's philosophy that black should not be able to destroy or otherwise remove its own enchantments, given that color's focus on "deal with the devil" effects.

What does everyone else say about this matter? Do you believe that enchantment destruction in black is becoming too powerful? I certainly am interested to hear your responses.