Arcane Foundry › Commanders › The Lord of Pain
The Lord of Pain
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {3}{B}{R} · Black/Red commander
What The Lord of Pain actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · cast_spellWhenever a player casts their first spell each turn, choose another target player. The Lord of Pain deals damage equal to that spell's mana value to the chosen player.
- Static ability · taxYour opponents can't gain life.
- Keyword · menacemenace
What a The Lord of Pain deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 12× A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- 4× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 26× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 4× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 8× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 7× Refill your hand
Best cards for The Lord of Pain
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- Shadowspear1 mana
- Arcane Lighthouse0 mana
- Grafdigger's Cage1 mana
- Conqueror's Flail2 mana
- Roiling Vortex2 mana
- Winter Moon2 mana
- Archetype of Aggression3 mana
- Rampaging Ferocidon3 mana
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Secret Tunnel0 mana
- Crash Through1 mana
- Archetype of Aggression3 mana
- Rhonas's Monument3 mana
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Legion Loyalist1 mana
- Frantic Confrontation1 mana
- Lunar Frenzy1 mana
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- The Master, Gallifrey's End4 mana
- The Master, Multiplied6 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Cryptothrall4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Dash Hopes2 mana
- Pyroblast1 mana
- Tibalt's Trickery2 mana
- Withering Boon2 mana
- Kozilek, the Great Distortion10 mana
- Not of This World7 mana
- Null Brooch4 mana
- Jester's Scepter3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Terminate2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Do or Die2 mana
- Force of Despair3 mana
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Innocent Blood1 mana
- Breaking Point3 mana
- Coils of the Medusa2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Insatiable Avarice1 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Liliana Vess // Liliana Vess0 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Kederekt Parasite1 mana
Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →
Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables.
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