Pointed Discussion

Beefy as all heck. I dont use him, but i do have him.
I should make a deck with him in it :d

Would feel right at home in a Grixis deck. ^__^

4 mana for this baddie and a drawback that's not so bad. Worth it.

I smell an EDH general...

IT'S NOT A DRESS!! IT'S A SMOCK!!

10-4, good buddy.
This guy has bizarre flavour. He dishes out 10 damage and... why? BECAUSE HE'S AN EXECUTIONER. Look at the picture. The opposing creature walks up, lays down its head on the block and he lops it off. 10 bleedin' damage. Gee whiz.

Most people think of the drawback first, and normally I would never play this, but I mean 10/4 is something to think about, especially with the regenerate.

@NARFNra: Ahhh, you fall into the same trap so many others have. If Lord of Tresserhorn etb, it will be the only creature you control and it will sacrifice itself.

Anyway, my first comment! I just had to answer that, and just had to choose this card's name as a screen name, seeing that is is pretty much my favorite legend.

Handled correctly, he's a monster, and he's even a Zombie now, for extra synergy.

I love the art to bits, how he's indicating: "Please, rest your hand, prepare to be executed."

And finally: Stifle!! Not quite Phyrexian Dreadnought or Eater Of Days, but probably among the top 5 etb Stifle targets around.

Sac two Perilous Myr and play him with a Consecrated Sphinx in play, and for 4 mana you get a 10/4 regenerator, 4 cards and 4 damage to a hostile. Now the loss of 2 life doesn't seem so bad huh?

Torpor Orb.

Would have been extremely powerful with trample. He's alright like this as well but I guess trample would have made him an absolutely sick EDH general.

. . . Bounce.

Save {U} for Stifle

GengilOrbios: Yeah, trample would be way over the top. However, the big giant axe and his red mana cost make me want to give him First Strike.

5/5.
It was 4/5 before Torpor Orb was printed. Now there is no reason not to give 5/5 anymore.
Just look at him! He is a mega-zombie with a mega-axe and a bloody stump where to cut your head... and 10 power... and regeneration for ONE mana... and enters with FOUR mana... What else do you need to give 5/5???

What about Platinum Emperion? Technically it does not prevent damage, it does however prevent changing amount of life points.

I want to play this with Endless Whispers. Backlash, too, just for kicks.

One word: Unsummon.

While not particularly good, in my honest opinion (I think the ways to cheat his ETB effect aren't worth it,) this card just makes me smile. You can tell a lot of creativity went into making such an interesting drawback.

Dies to Ramirez DePietro.

Lich Lord of Unx is his nephew.

I would never dare play this guy, not after Avacyn Restored. A 'blink' effect would be catastrophic and painful, unless you had the oft-mentioned Torpor Orb.

Good with Reanimate since it's only 4 health. Still, you'll have a heck of a time dealing with the ETB

I tried, I mean I REALLY tried, to use this guy as my EDH general. He's a 10/4 zombie, with a kick-ass name and artwork. He's cheap and has regen for only B. But, no matter what I did, he just was not effective enough. It's fine having a hypothetical general, but in the majority of my real EDH games (which are multiplayer) he did nothing. 1v1, I feel he may very well have an edge, but in most EDH games, LoT is not going to be useful. And I say EDH games, because in most 60 card decks, I am fairly certain he won't be considered.

Firstly, he dictates your deck thoroughly. Sure you can slap Topor Orb in (which is in fairly boring), but that's one card in 100. You have to find it. Then he doesn't have trample of evasion, so add in cards for that. You're effectively running a Voltron deck, and it leaves little room to do any other crazy stuff with what is an awesome tribal: zombies. So why not just run another Voltron deck? And if so, there are plenty of other generals out there who suit this style of play much better. LoT sits in the uneasy realm of not really a standard Voltron general, and not really an awesome zombie-tribal general.

Secondly, I can certainly deal with life loss, and perhaps even want my opponents to draw cards in a group-hug kind of way. But the MUST sacrifice 2 creatures is what puts this card waay out of reasonable playability for me. EDH is a slow format. I know hardly anyone that has more than a couple of one-drops in their deck. Don't let that 4 mana casting cost fool you - you'll not be seeing Mr Tresserhorn for a while. Until you've set up a token system, or put out a few expendable creatures. Even then, with the number of instant-speed removals in EDH, you'll need to make sure you have at least 3 creatures out, just in case. And even then, bounce mechanics are prevalent in EDH. Mystifying maze, bouncy angels, blue cards, etc etc… LoT gets bounced far too often and will either have to sac himself, or sac nearly your entire board. And if your Topor orb is still out when he gets bounced, your opponents aren't playing right.

I'm sure if you're lucky, or determined, you'll get him to work most of the time, but for tribal or voltron, there are simply better options. For me, he's going in my collection and taking pride of place there. There's no denying he's a cool card. Just not one I'd use as my general.