Yawgmoth's Bargain

Enchantment

Skip your draw step.

Pay 1 life: Draw a card.

Legality

Format	Legality
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

sylvannos on Hoax Storm v2

5 months ago

@FireMind42: Yeah in that case, you'll want to go for Underworld Breach or Paradoxical Outcome (or something weird with both). I'd lean more towards Paradoxical Outcome because it lends itself better to straight U/R Storm. Not to mention, it opens up Displacer Kitten + Coveted Jewel shenanigans. Then you won't have to rely on rituals so much (Desperate Ritual, Goblin Electromancer, and Seething Song are especially awkward). You can then fit more artifact mana and draw spells.

You'll still want Bolas's Citadel because you're never going to actually spend black mana to cast it and the card is just the nuts in Storm. Memory Jar is always fun with Hullbreacher and Narset, Parter of Veils, but Bolas's Citadel is like Yawgmoth's Will and Yawgmoth's Bargain in one card that can be Tinker'd for (especially with Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, and Ponder). You'll still need Sphinx of the Steel Wind in your sideboard, which is another card you're never going to actually cast.

Since you don't want Monastery Mentor, you'll have to get by with Laelia, the Blade Reforged. Sometimes you'll want to Grapeshot. Sometimes you'll want to Brain Freeze. Sometimes you'll want to Empty the Warrens. Other times, you need something that can get big quick and an easy way to do that is Laelia, the Blade Reforged, Treasure Cruise, and Dig Through Time. She's mostly for Underworld Breach, but I'm not sure you'll need that with Paradoxical Outcome.

I also don't know how I forgot to mention Mind's Desire in my original post. That's the reason to play pure U/R Storm in Vintage LOL. Personal Tutor may also have a potential spot somewhere in this list. It grabs Tinker, Grapeshot, Time Walk, Mind's Desire, and draw 7s. I'd even consider it over the second copies of Past in Flames and Grapeshot.

sylvannos on Hoax Storm v2

6 months ago

To start with, there's a few cards that have better Vintage equivalents. Overmaster and Spell Pierce should be the 3rd. and 4th. copies of Force of Will. Leftover space from cutting those can be Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, or Flusterstorm. You don't need Faithless Looting because we have Paradoxical Outcome, Sensei's Divining Top, Gush, Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, and Brainstorm to choose from. Merchant Scroll also belongs in here, because you can use it to grab Ancestral Recall at the very least. Usually you want it to make sure you have protection in hand by grabbing countermagic.

Library of Alexandria isn't good in this deck. And you're not the type that needs 8x {UR} sources, so Steam Vents can go, along with a few copies of Volcanic Island (1 or 2). Replace all of these with four copies of Scalding Tarn and basic lands. Or even just play 6x fetches. You need to be able to shuffle after using Brainstorm, Ponder,and Sensei's Divining Top.

From here, you have a solid U/R Storm shell. However, I wouldn't play straight "Modern U/R Storm, but Power 9" dot dec. 2 mana is a lot for Goblin Electromancer, there are easier ways of winning than Grapeshot, and so on. The question then becomes "Where to go from here?"

• Paradoxical Outcome is just the nuts. By bouncing moxen and cheap artifacts, it's a ritual (since you can replay everything for {0}, untapping it all) and it's a draw spell. However, Paradoxical Outcome requires Mox Opals, Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, etc. so you'll have to cut rituals (likely Seething Song). The upside is you get an extremely powerful engine that can often end the game with a single Paradoxical Outcome.
• Thassa's Oracle is the new hotness for Vintage combo cards. You can win the game by casting Brain Freeze on yourself, then casting Thassa's Oracle. It also opens up more combos using Demonic Consultation and Doomsday. Sometimes you've just drawn a bunch of cards and have ~3 cards left in your deck.
• Tinker is too good in Storm not to play it. You're either getting Memory Jar, Bolas's Citadel, Time Vault (Voltaic Key is already good in Storm when combined with Mana Vault and friends), or a random wincon like Sphinx of the Steel Wind boarded in for game 2. Bolas's Citadel will essentially flip the top half of your deck into play.
• You can also play draw 7s (Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister, Memory Jar, Diminishing Returns) in combination with Narset, Parter of Veils and Hullbreacher.
• Mana Drain is good, but you may find it too slow if you make any of the above changes. It definitely does more work in a more control-oriented Storm deck with Narset, Parter of Veils, Dack Fayden, Grim Tutor, etc.
• Lastly, there's the question of Underworld Breach, Yawgmoth's Will, Monastery Mentor, or some combination of these. Underworld Breach will mean you can stay in two colors. Playing black for Yawgmoth's Will allows you to play Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Necropotence, Doomsday, Tendrils of Agony, and hardcasting Bolas's Citadel. Monastery Mentor both scales up and goes sideways. A single token is enough to kill someone combined with Paradoxical Outcome or a draw 7. Monastery Mentor is like casting Tarmogoyf and Empty the Warrens for three mana and one card.

Hope this helps! Welcome to MtG's oldest and greatest format.

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Phyrexian Colosseum

10 months ago

DemonDragonJ, I'm in two minds on that. I feeel like maximum {B} would mean there's no choice but to ride it until the end, one way or another. But, cards like Dystopia, Necropotence, and Yawgmoth's Bargain all give the option to stop paying, and those are some pretty iconic cards in {B}.

Personally, I like the idea of using cumulative upkeep and potentially adding a drawback when it leaves play. Something like losing 10 life or not being able to draw a card if it is in your graveyard or exile.

But I'm not a great card designer so that might not work, and it might take it away from what you want it to be. Either way, I think it's a cool design :)

Squee_Spirit_Guide on I'm not dead, you're dead!

10 months ago

Hey, Balaam__! I really like Wall of Blood, and I considered it along with Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain in the early versions. All three were actually in the first concept I came up with that was focused on ramp and discard, but didn't have reanimation. Then I got excited about a turn one (ish) kill... I probably got too hyper-focused on it, honestly. The original idea was slower and less flashy, but a little more resilient.

Andramalech, this was a really fun challenge! And to your Stifle I say Silence! Before you cast it, of course :) I feel like this deck would never actually work, but if you pulled it off once, that would be the stuff of legends!

EnbyGolem on Good Ol' Kamahl

1 year ago

You could also keep it on a ‘sideboard’ with the deck and swap to it when people are okay with you playing it. I actually do a similar thing with my old-school deck and Yawgmoth's Bargain; I sometimes swap a card for it when my playgroup is playing more higher-tiered decks as a way for me to help keep up with the rest of the group.

bushido_man96 on Pointy Hat Squad

1 year ago

Yawgmoth's Bargain is a banned card in EDH, so you should consider replacing it. One life for one card is pretty broken in EDH.

I'm not sure I'd run Ponder in here. I think a straight draw spell like Night's Whisper or Ambition's Cost would be better, or any other straight draw spell of your choosing.

Does High Tide do much for you here? Being in a three color deck, it doesn't seem like you'll have many Islands on the table at a given time to make much out of it. You could probably find a more consistent ramp spell.

Overall, looks fun!

Gadianten on Orah's Dirty Clergy [Aristocrats EDH]

1 year ago

All recommendations I am making are assuming your in a multi player meta where endurance and flexibility are useful and not a 1v1 meta where speed and reliability are the most critical.

Sorry if I mislead you on the card Yawgmoth's Bargain, it was not my intention, as it is banned for commander. I was just trying to make a comparison to it and the Yawgmoth, Thran Physician reanimation draw combo. The fact that Buried alive makes it easy to set up a mimic of Yawgmoth's Bargain, a card so terrifying, powerful and game breaking in commander that is was banned years ago is incredible and worth the effort to set up.

Edge Walker is pretty good with Yawgmoth for playing the absurd hand size he can get you once you have assembled the draw engine, but if your not assembling him or drawing ridiculous amounts of cards I can see his value limited greatly. Just to give you an idea how crazy the handsize can get imagine you have Children of Korlis out or draw into him, getting a hand size of 50 or more is pretty tame at that point and you need cards like Edge Walker and Priest of Gix to allow you to do something with that kind of hand because if you dont, the table will do its best to reenact the battle for middle earth at your expense.

Gift of Immortality is just pure synergy with your commander as it enables "free" sacrifices to fuel interesting outlets like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. Simply slapping gift on your commander will protect him from a lot of removal and make him viable sacrifice fodder to recover other fallen clerics, in short it make your commander far better at doing what he wants to do, cheat death. Also, gift works once each turn, not just your own, or if you prefer try gift with Selfless Spirit and have a mini Avacyn or place it on Remorseful Cleric and make other reanimation players cry.

Another good add for your deck would be Altar of Dementia as it provides another sac outlet or an alternative win via milling people using your reanimation loop. You can even use it to help fuel your own graveyard.

I don't know if you are aware of this funny interaction between some of your creatures, but Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician together make your non human creatures very difficult to deal with as you can remove the +1/+1 counter from undying with the -1/-1 counter granted from Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Not everyone seems to know that the two counter types cancel each other out and are removed off the creature, making undying shenanigans possible.

Davinoth on Orah's Dirty Clergy [Aristocrats EDH]

1 year ago

     Gadianten: Thanks for the suggestions! A few of them have actually already been in and out of the deck a number of times. I was thinking recently that Buried Alive should go back in, good call!

     Hadn't considered Priest of Gix or Yawgmoth's Bargain, but I think both are probably going to make it in as well, excellent suggestions!

     Edgewalker was cut a while ago, and the deck's average CMC has dropped since then as well. I often felt the cost reduction was relatively inconsequential. Same goes for Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. Good card, but I found I almost never actually activated her, and the removal portion is pretty well covered by the deck's removal package.

     Not sure about Gift of Immortality and Dance of the Dead. I often feel like I have too many slots devoted to Reanimation cards as it is. I've considered cutting Animate Dead a few times, but haven't due to it's great synergy with Hall of Heliod's Generosity - which of course both of your suggestions here would take advantage of as well. Perhaps I'll swap Victimize out for Gift of Immortality.. something to think about!

     Thanks again, really great suggestions! =D