60-card thoughts: I used to run an old-school discard deck and I would have killed for a card like this. Hymn to Tourach, Mind Twist, Megrim... not very impressive when your opponent isn't holding any cards. They would just play whatever they drew and my hand would fill with useless discard spells as I prayed for The Rack to bleed out their last few life points before they overwhelmed me. This, however, is a discard spell that wants your opponent to have no cards. A vital missing link I haven't seen before. Too bad I've promised my friends I'll never use those Hymns again...
EDH thoughts: You gotta think of this as an investment for the long game. Sure, the first few times it triggers won't do much; they've either got cards they don't need, or they're not worried about a little life loss. But as they get low on one resource or the other this will become a problem. You don't... (see all)
Posted By:
MisterAction
(7/30/2012 1:34:18 AM)
An interesting card, maybe even a reason to Sign in Blood your opponents every once in a while
@Leonidas Cast Paraselene, choose to discard other card and take 2, destroy all enchantments and gain 3 :)
Posted By:
pedrodyl
(11/26/2012 2:45:56 PM)
@Krush_Chameleon, it does not specify where the spell was cast from, it just looks for a spell being cast by an opponent. They cast a spell, from anywhere, and they have the option of five life loss or discarding.
Posted By:
kor6sic6
(12/17/2012 7:36:41 AM)
Really good in multiplayer.
Posted By:
azure_drake222222
(2/2/2013 8:56:38 AM)
@jordandarkmagic: Cards on the battlefield are called permanents. You can't discard permanents. Permanents can be destroyed, sacrificed, and exiled, but they cannot be discarded, because they are no longer cards. You can only discard from your hand.
Posted By:
igniteice
(3/23/2013 9:55:03 PM)
Running this with Tainted Aether and wrath effects is gorgeous. On the one hand, you kill everything, so saccing lands for your opponent sucks. On the other hand they have to lose more cards to do anything OR they kill themselves in order to sac in order to just get wrathed again (black sun's zenith ain't going anywhere! I mix with Blowfly and Carnifex.)
Top it off with Mindslicer. Kill everything, nuke everyone's hand, everyone has to sac things to get creatures out, and on top of it? they have to lose 5 life or wait 2 turns for subsequent spells.
You want to troll your playgroup? Do it right :D
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(4/17/2013 6:08:06 PM)
I was wondering, hypothetically if I had this card in play and my opponent played a destroy enchantment spell, would the effect of Painful Quandary take place before the spell? and if it does, if they had no other cards in hand and chose not to lose life, would they then be forced to discard the destroy enchantment spell being played? or would they have no choice but to lose 5 life then the enchantment is destroyed?
Posted By:
Dxe10
(5/15/2013 4:48:34 PM)
deck around this, Liliana of the Veil and the 2013 you make the card winner is some nasty stuff
Posted By:
Wormfang
(6/1/2013 4:47:23 AM)
@Dxe10
You don't choose to not lose 5 life. You only choose whether or not to discard a card. If you have no cards in hand, you HAVE to lose the 5 life. If you cast disenchant to kill this card, disenchant is no longer in your hand - it's impossibly to discard it at this point. If you have no other cards in your hand, you HAVE to lose 5 life at this point.
This cards is awesome. It's a punisher card that is actually really strong. Even more mean if you counter their spell because they still lose the life or discard.
EDIT
@Ragamander
Actually, at worst, it's in your hand and you opponent has a strong board position. Even if they are at 5 life with no cards in hand, you can't kill them like you could with lava axe. Even if they have 2 cards in their hand, you can't get rid of them without them playing one of them (ie a lava axe that kills you on their turn).
This card is 'bad' because you need to estab... (see all)
Posted By:
SAUS3
(6/18/2013 9:31:53 AM)
Followed by Sire of Insanity?
Posted By:
roguepariah
(8/13/2013 8:24:24 AM)