Assassin's Strike

Sorcery

Destroy target creature. Its controller discards a card.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Dandan	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Judge's Tower	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (10)

Vampire0940 on Tinybones the card thief

3 years ago

Azeworai: Thx for your suggestions. There are some good alternatives like Mind Rake and Delirium Skeins. But on the other Hand there are some cards i will not consider, because the deck should not be competitive but more a funny and flavour thing. Thats the reason why i play obviously awful cards like Assassin's Strike. I know the flavor thing doesn't exist for Phyrexian Obliterator but he is just cool ^^" Nevertheless i will change some cards with some of the named cards. Big Thanks to you :)

Idoneity on Tinybones the card thief

3 years ago

Ah, I have piloted a mono-black discard deck for quite the number of years. I have Chainer, Dementia Master at the helm myself, as he is a rather powerful card when everyone's hands are empty, thus he reigns unanswered. Therefrom, a great amount of methods may be used to win.

Tinybones is less of a finisher itself, more so a value engine. As such, I would recommend possessing a lower curve to take advantage of the card draw and more potent finishers within the deck to hent for victory. Also, having card draw outside of the commander would grant a better backup plan. A discard deck's goal is to empty each opponent's hand and win by going unthreatened. If no players have cards to discard, Tinybones cannot provide draw.

The changes I would make are more instants so you kill things once they resolve as opposed to waiting a full turn, swifter discard in the early game to make your commander more effective, stronger finishers for the sake of ending the game betime, and just cutting some cards.

So, first, there are some things I would remove.

1. Murderous Compulsion may go with the discard theme, but it's conditional removal at sorcery-speed.
2. Bad Deal is ironically a bad deal, as it is six mana for two cards gone.
3. Assassin's Strike is just egregious. A six-mana sorcery to kill one thing and they discard but one card. Begone.
4. Unnerve is fine but not great. Being a one time effect at four mana, I dislike it, though Xantcha is a great character in the art.
5. Haunting Hymn is six mana, which is far too late for discard effects to be effective. You want discard early, as it makes it far more difficult for decks to catch their footing.
6. I have the same reason for Tasigur's Cruelty.
7. Cabal Conditioning has an identical reason.
8. I have a shortlist for this category, being creatures without long-game value; Burglar Rat, Liliana's Reaver, and Banshee of the Dread Choir have discard stapled to them, but don't do much else whilst lacking much in terms of evasion for Larceny.
9. Scythe Specter is slow and other cards just do its job better, and Herald of Anguish is slow and lacks fodder for its second ability.
10. Necrogen Spellbomb is just crap. Two mana for one card from a single player's hand is awful. Don't play this.
11. Awaken the Erstwhile neglects the game plan of having more cards than your opponents whilst lacking the option of going back. I'd just add a stronger finisher.

Alright. With that out of the way, I may suggest other cards.

So, early game discard. Mind Rake and Delirium Skeins are each great, for they take card from every player in the first few turns of the game.

Let's add some better kill spells: Snuff Out, Victim of Night, Go for the Throat, Hero's Downfall, Drag to the Underworld, and Murderous Rider.

Wraths are a cruciality for slower strategies such as this, for aggressive strategies such as Alesha or Tymna. You should add any of Massacre Girl, Damnation, or Massacre Wurm.

Upon card draw, you have none outside of the Trinket Thief, Rankle, and Geth's Grimoire. I'd add any of Phyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood, Underworld Connections, and Dread Presence. Necropotence may seem as if it negates the strategy, but it is always worth it.

Lightning Greaves just seem great.

Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual allow for turn one Pit or Mists, easily providing much value with your commander on turn two.

Expedition Map allows you to assemble your land combos with Cabal Coffers and Urborg. Always nice.

Nirkana Revenant is an option for the sake of late-game ramp, giving much for Torment of Hailfire.

Now, for the finishers I have many. Do note that these are meant to be played when people haven't any cards in hand, hence lacking answers for these once on the field. Sheoldred, the Whispering One grants value from each player's bin whiles eating at their board. Abhorrent Overlord offers a swarm of flyers to end the game. Grave Titan is much the same. Archfiend of Despair goes well with Tinybones's second ability. Though I am not too fond of it, Archfiend of Spite offers much. Geth, Lord of the Vault hents the opponent's graveyards to swarm the board. Kokusho, the Evening Star is a massive threat that harms upon death. Kothophed allows for a quite a bit of card draw. Lord of the Void is always fun. Lastly, Gray Merchant of Asphodel does so much every time it hits the field.

Of course, I'd add more ramp and reanimation. Mind Stone, Arcane Signet, Charcoal Diamond, and Lake of the Dead are great for ramp. Animate Dead, Reanimate, and Dread Return are fine ways to get stuff from anyone's yard, save for the Return.

That shall be all from me. Do enjoy your day!

FrancoisParfait on Murder all the Things

5 years ago

Thanks for the input! I agree with the suggestions, honestly I only had Assassin's Strike for flavor, but it makes more sense to replace them with more Murder s.

Same thing with Contract Killing , I'm a sucker for flavor.

Taking out Destroy the Evidence seems like a good idea, I like playing them, but having other things such as Duress seem to be the better option.

Thanks again!

Kjartan on Murder all the Things

5 years ago

I assume this is built out of cards you owned at the time of construction, and that's why you only run 2 Murder and 2 Asphyxiate /3 Assassinate , as well as having a 2/2 split between Ruthless Ripper and Hired Poisoner .

Even so, I have to question you on some of these other choices:

Assassin's Strike seems like a terrible option. This late in the game, your opponent likely doesn't even have anything to discard, essentially making it a 6 mana sorcery removal spell.

Contract Killing also seems bad, since your only 6+ mana card is Assassin's Strike . And unless you hold a lot of cards back, those clues, with 5 lands in play, or not gonna do a whole lot.

Destroy the Evidence definitely also seems bad. Most decks don't care about losing a land this late in the game, and milling them will more than likely just help them. Since you're not a land destruction deck, nor a mill deck, I don't think you have a way of capitalizing on this card.

As for suggestions, something to deal with non-creature decks, and some overall better spells. Doesn't have to be expensive, just Duress , more Murder s, Victim of Night n' all that.

Urethra_Franklin on Devil's Revenge

6 years ago

I playtested against the deck a bit, and it seems a bit slow for an aggro deck. A little inconsistent, too. But that will be fixed as you tune the list. As for suggestions:

Rakdos Cackler is a solid card, so having 4 of it makes a lot of sense. You could also bump up the number of copies of Vexing Devil. A lot of players will just pay the life and be done with it, so it helps you burn them out. Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear are also solid choices for 1-mana creatures (Monastery Swiftspear does need a lot of non-creature spells to work super-effectively, so keep that in mind).

I would also recommend replacing a lot of cards with more mana-efficient versions. Aggro decks generally don't have a lot of cards with more than 3cmc, so those would get cut first (except for Demigod of Revenge. that card is great for this color combo). Cards like Traitorous Instinct, Bloodfray Giant, Firefiend Elemental, Assassin's Strike, Carnival Hellsteed, Chaos Imps, and Minotaur Aggressor are way too expensive (in terms of mana cost) for what they do. You could look at the cards you have, find the effects you want (such as discard, creature removal, etc.), then search for cards that do the same thing but for less mana. That way, your deck makes an impact on the game much sooner.

Then, you could remove a lot of the singles you have in the deck. The more of a particular card you have, the greater the chance of you drawing that card. In your deck, you currently have 4 copies of Rakdos Cackler, which gives you a greater chance of drawing one than you would have of drawing a Temur Battle Rage, for instance. When you're building a deck, you want as many copies as possible of cards that you really want to draw early on and fewer of cards that are either situational or expensive.

Hopefully that helps a bit!

Jastorm on I own your Graveyard

7 years ago

Daedalus FYI on what I put in and took out, thanks again :-)
Terror in for Assassin's Strike
Vendetta in for Defeat
Doom Blade in for Gloomlance
Heartstone in for Vampire Nighthawk

Tethys on Liliana Eats Your Brain (Creaturless T4 Win Combo)

7 years ago

And Assassin's Strike unfortunately just has too high of a mana cost to be effectively used in a Modern deck, IMO. I appreciate the suggestions though.

ticked-off-squirrel on Liliana Eats Your Brain (Creaturless T4 Win Combo)

7 years ago

why not add a classic Mind Rot or Assassin's Strike?