After all these years, still one of the biggest fliers in the game, AND it tramples. The casting cost is just about right for what it can do, and the upkeep has been made quite manageable with all the token generators out there. Still, a 7 CMC is kind of high for competitive play.
RafiqTheMiststalker
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
What is that symbol in the background..?
Aaron_Forsythe
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(19 votes)
Aaron's Random Card Comment of the Day #10, 10/8/10
Lord of the Pit is one of those transcendent Magic cards that has spawned an entire category of followers; his legion of gigantic black rares that eat your own creatures includes Ebon Praetor, Doomgape, Devouring Strossus, Minion of Leshrac, and the most recent update, Xathrid Demon.
Cards like Lord of the Pit—and other genre-spawning icons like Juzám Djinn, Ball Lightning, and Masticore—hit some kind of note with players (and designers) that just feels right for Magic, they have some unique quality that people latch on to and generally have good memories of, and thusly are worth trying to imitate time and again, even if they aren’t the most powerful cards in the game. Lord of the Pit (and Demonic Hordes) defined Demons as having a downside attached to an undercosted threatening body, and that blueprint has served us well over the years for making fun, flavorful cards; even though most players would rather not have drawbacks on their cards at all, Lord of the Pit and friends have made such drawbacks feel natural and like fun deckbuilding challenges.
The other noteworthy topic on Lord of the Pit is its well-recognized art and artist. Mark Tedin is the one illustrator that has been working on Magic cards more or less continually since the very first set through today. He has a distinctive style that fit in well with both the iconographic early Magic art as well as the painterly masterworks on most modern cards.
Mark is local to the Seattle area and stops by the office a lot, so it was fortuitous that I bumped into him at the coffee stand earlier this week and got to ask him about his inspiration for Lord of the Pit.
“I wanted it to look not like a Balrog,” he told me. “It was called ‘Balrog’ when I got it, but I wanted to make something that didn’t look ‘Tolkien’.”
He then went on to explain the glyph in the corner of the art: “I was doing a lot of work on Talislanta (an RPG WotC was producing at the time), so I wanted Lord of the Pit to look like a book illustration of a demon, like something from a tome,* so I put that little glyph there. I met a fan at a convention that had gotten a tattoo of that symbol, and he showed it to me and asked me what it meant, and I said, ‘I have no idea!’” That is one trusting fan!
*: I found this comment interested because I have never stopped to think what a Magic illustration was supposed to represent in a meta-sense. Is it supposed to be a photograph of something? An illustration by someone in-world? A movie still?
MadMageQc
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
Aaron_Forsythe said : "Mark Tedin is the one illustrator that has been working on Magic cards more or less continually since the very first set through today." (emphasis mine)
Rob Alexander might be somewhat hurt by that, Aaron. Granted, he has 54 cards less than Tedin, but as far as I can see, he did at least one card in every early set except Antiquities and in every block except Mirage, so he definitely fits that descrption too, I think.
themlsna
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
5/5 for flavor and nostalgia.
jfre81
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
It's still a beast in casual play. I run a black/white deck with three LoP and a few things that can prevent the upkeep damage if necessary, like Circle of Protection: Black. Just for grins I've also got Samite Ministration with which I can gain 7 life instead of taking 7 damage for one turn. And of course some oldschool black mana acceleration. Now, on the rulings - I've always played it with the Circle of Protection and just paid 1 instead of sacking a creature. I guess I can only do this if I do not have any creatures?
Cheza
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(5 votes)
@ Aaron: After I have commented other replies from "Random Card Comment", I want to repeat myself here once. The Lord of the Pit is an icon, a symbol... that's true. But his real status was always ignored due to the fact that black is the color of creature sacrifice, but was never ever the color of creature hordes (production).
Therefore the god of evil was combined with white protection or green token mechanic & mana acceleration. Only rarely, it was combined with Thrulls, the underwhelming Breeding Pit or Sengir Autocrat. The ever-present Swords to Plowshares was also a big problem.
But what I really liked in your post: Lord of the Pit (and Demonic Hordes) defined Demons as having a downside attached to an undercosted threatening body, and that blueprint has served us well over the years for making fun, flavorful cards; even though most players would rather not have drawbacks on their cards at all, Lord of the Pit and friends have made such drawbacks feel natural and like fun deckbuilding challenges.
So where do you get your "most players" from? Did you specifically ask players? Did this fulfill the quality standards for a realistic poll i.e. different ages, gaming styles? Or is it more like a manager decision in hope for an agreement from the target audience.
Don't you think it's a kind of answer that players tend to focus on highlander or limited formats??? What do you think is the reason? In our group, we have switched too, including even more restrictive forms like star, pauper, etc. This is mainly because Magic has become plain, simple, stupid & repetitive. And this is mainly because of the lack of drawbacks. So if the cards don't give us the drawbacks, we will find some in form of gaming formats with drawbacks/restrictions. THAT'S the reality... not your so called "user request".
As for the Lord of the Pit: I always wrote that black should be the color for creature based mana acceleration (like Llanowar Elves) and I never understood why green should be the only color to be able to cast their iconic creatures without being FORCED to add another color for mana ramp. If any color can have creatures with flying, draw spells or search spells, why shouldn't it be possible to give each color a unique way to accelerate greater amounts of mana? An Akroma in a pure white deck makes much more sense and is much more flavorful than adding artifacts or green.
Thomas_204
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Suicide black! :)
Morgaledh
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is the card that made me want to start playing this game. First, I just love saying "Lord of the Pit." Then there's the artwork... nothing like it, man. As far as the suicide aspect, dying to this thing because I wasn't able to control it was so flavorful that it was almost ok. I mean, I started playing D&D/AD&D back in 81, so I got that if you summoned a demon and screwed around with it, you'd die. No cacodemon spells here. And when I didn't die, but used my summoned fiend to crush my opponent? All was right with the world.
This card isn't about what is better and what is worse. This card is about, well, this card. And it has to be a 5/5, because this is Magic, and it's a Lord of the Pit.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh man. Cheza, you are quite possibly the most condescending and self-righteous Magic player on all of Gatherer. I really can't believe some of the stuff you've written in response to Aaron, and I'm glad he probably doesn't check his old comments for feedback because he'd most likely be pretty offended at the tone of some of your posts - well, more likely he would simply laugh and forget about it. In any case, may a Lord of the Pit await you outside your door and whip your disrespectful and arrogant heiny into submission with a Gorgon Flail. Disgusting.
Also, you suck at design and display only a marginal understanding of the tenets of Magic. All of your ideas might fit in Time Spiral, where they were deliberately breaking form, but otherwise, good job on doing an incredibly bad job at trying to 'fix' the game.
MICKEY.KNOX
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you think Cheza is bad, wait till WrathofShane gets here...
Pongdok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A guy at my school was made to quit magic because of this card. (Unholy strength might have played a role as well.) Apparently his mom didn't think that summoning demons was a wholesome activity for an impressionable, young mind. Shows what she knew...harlot. We all turned out to be well-adjusted, productive members of society, didn't we? Barely any satanists in the bunch, and only a few weirdos who pretend to think they're vampires in order to pick up desperate fat chicks. Thank you LOTP. You have given us so much. Good balance. Neat card. 4. 5/5
adolphus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
back when Dual lands weren't considered useful. My brother swapped a Volcanic Island and Badlands for one of these.
Comments (14)
Lord of the Pit is one of those transcendent Magic cards that has spawned an entire category of followers; his legion of gigantic black rares that eat your own creatures includes Ebon Praetor, Doomgape, Devouring Strossus, Minion of Leshrac, and the most recent update, Xathrid Demon.
Cards like Lord of the Pit—and other genre-spawning icons like Juzám Djinn, Ball Lightning, and Masticore—hit some kind of note with players (and designers) that just feels right for Magic, they have some unique quality that people latch on to and generally have good memories of, and thusly are worth trying to imitate time and again, even if they aren’t the most powerful cards in the game. Lord of the Pit (and Demonic Hordes) defined Demons as having a downside attached to an undercosted threatening body, and that blueprint has served us well over the years for making fun, flavorful cards; even though most players would rather not have drawbacks on their cards at all, Lord of the Pit and friends have made such drawbacks feel natural and like fun deckbuilding challenges.
The other noteworthy topic on Lord of the Pit is its well-recognized art and artist. Mark Tedin is the one illustrator that has been working on Magic cards more or less continually since the very first set through today. He has a distinctive style that fit in well with both the iconographic early Magic art as well as the painterly masterworks on most modern cards.
Mark is local to the Seattle area and stops by the office a lot, so it was fortuitous that I bumped into him at the coffee stand earlier this week and got to ask him about his inspiration for Lord of the Pit.
“I wanted it to look not like a Balrog,” he told me. “It was called ‘Balrog’ when I got it, but I wanted to make something that didn’t look ‘Tolkien’.”
He then went on to explain the glyph in the corner of the art: “I was doing a lot of work on Talislanta (an RPG WotC was producing at the time), so I wanted Lord of the Pit to look like a book illustration of a demon, like something from a tome,* so I put that little glyph there. I met a fan at a convention that had gotten a tattoo of that symbol, and he showed it to me and asked me what it meant, and I said, ‘I have no idea!’” That is one trusting fan!
*: I found this comment interested because I have never stopped to think what a Magic illustration was supposed to represent in a meta-sense. Is it supposed to be a photograph of something? An illustration by someone in-world? A movie still?
Rob Alexander might be somewhat hurt by that, Aaron. Granted, he has 54 cards less than Tedin, but as far as I can see, he did at least one card in every early set except Antiquities and in every block except Mirage, so he definitely fits that descrption too, I think.
Now, on the rulings - I've always played it with the Circle of Protection and just paid 1 instead of sacking a creature. I guess I can only do this if I do not have any creatures?
After I have commented other replies from "Random Card Comment", I want to repeat myself here once.
The Lord of the Pit is an icon, a symbol... that's true. But his real status was always ignored due to the fact that black is the color of creature sacrifice, but was never ever the color of creature hordes (production).
Therefore the god of evil was combined with white protection or green token mechanic & mana acceleration. Only rarely, it was combined with Thrulls, the underwhelming Breeding Pit or Sengir Autocrat. The ever-present Swords to Plowshares was also a big problem.
But what I really liked in your post:
Lord of the Pit (and Demonic Hordes) defined Demons as having a downside attached to an undercosted threatening body, and that blueprint has served us well over the years for making fun, flavorful cards; even though most players would rather not have drawbacks on their cards at all, Lord of the Pit and friends have made such drawbacks feel natural and like fun deckbuilding challenges.
So where do you get your "most players" from? Did you specifically ask players? Did this fulfill the quality standards for a realistic poll i.e. different ages, gaming styles? Or is it more like a manager decision in hope for an agreement from the target audience.
Don't you think it's a kind of answer that players tend to focus on highlander or limited formats??? What do you think is the reason? In our group, we have switched too, including even more restrictive forms like star, pauper, etc. This is mainly because Magic has become plain, simple, stupid & repetitive. And this is mainly because of the lack of drawbacks. So if the cards don't give us the drawbacks, we will find some in form of gaming formats with drawbacks/restrictions. THAT'S the reality... not your so called "user request".
As for the Lord of the Pit:
I always wrote that black should be the color for creature based mana acceleration (like Llanowar Elves) and I never understood why green should be the only color to be able to cast their iconic creatures without being FORCED to add another color for mana ramp. If any color can have creatures with flying, draw spells or search spells, why shouldn't it be possible to give each color a unique way to accelerate greater amounts of mana?
An Akroma in a pure white deck makes much more sense and is much more flavorful than adding artifacts or green.
This card isn't about what is better and what is worse. This card is about, well, this card. And it has to be a 5/5, because this is Magic, and it's a Lord of the Pit.
Also, you suck at design and display only a marginal understanding of the tenets of Magic. All of your ideas might fit in Time Spiral, where they were deliberately breaking form, but otherwise, good job on doing an incredibly bad job at trying to 'fix' the game.