you've got to play around it. I never liked storm because you have to make a storm deck to use it. Except Dragonstorm.
lord_of_obscurity
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(5 votes)
Although it has to be played around, this is definitely a 5 star card. Actually, Dragonstorm requires more building around than this card, because it is so expensive.
Emross
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
Best closer for combo decks right now, and maybe best closer or one of the best (generally speaking).
Really good card and triggered ability.
Ubertoast
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(10 votes)
This card is good enough to be used in vintage, that is really saying something.
Gilgamesh3000
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Yawgmoth's Will just makes this card insanely efficient.
UNBAN_SHAHRAZAD
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(7 votes)
I hate this card. It is so broken (like all the other Storm cards) but as a Type 1 player, you have to respect the threat it represents.
MasterOfEtherium
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Perfect Storm WOMD
Infinis-Nocturnus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This a very powerful card !!! I've played it in a deck wich was only built around it. with dark ritual-culling the weak-yawgmoths will and Creature cards like ornithopther/phyrexian walker etc. you may be able to kill with tendrils of agony in your first turn without a black lotus or a mox...
supershawn
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
yay pete venters ftw
The_Trendkill
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is probably the greatest combo deck finisher of the past decade. It's way more efficient than Brain Freeze in terms of spells required in a turn to get your storm count into the lethal range, and if you're playing in Legacy or Vintage you have access to Dark Ritual, which makes storm decks nuts. 5/5
NeverendingDream
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is now very sad because its best friend Mystical Tutor got banned in Legacy... oh well, there's always Vintage :D
shocker300
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(6 votes)
Im not sure why this isnt a 5/5 from all votes. That really shows the lack of experiance in players on this site. Im 23 and I even know about this card. Guys, this card is the core of 1 of the fastest, meaneast decks out there.
100% 1 turn win.
Im not going to explain details because the skill level of the deck im talking about is very high. But some of you mtg vets out there know exactly what im talking about.
reanimatesucks
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
if you're going for a one shot kill i don't understand the need to pump up your own life. Im new to the game, maybe someone could explain to me how to cast enough spells before this and still pay four mana to cast this one? i guess a few lightning bolts would be good to build up the storm count
dragonking987
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
shocker300 everyone knows about the first turn win combos with this and Yawgmoth's Will but they are all a millon card combos their are plenty of first turn win combos out their and a lot of them seem easyer to pull of the the ones with Yawgmoth's Will.
Lateralis0ne
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I built a deck with this card hybridized with Vault.dec. Rather brutal T1 deck...I've had a turn 2 complete lockout, using no lands. I'm so excited.
Next up, Legacy!
Superllama12
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@reanimatesucks: Back when this was around (and in Vintage) there were tons ridiculous of mana ramping things, such as Black Lotus, the Moxes, and Dark Ritual. There are also a whole bunch of free spells like Ornithopter. What they would do is play free stuff and mana ramping to get out huge amounts of spells, then play this and do obscene amounts of damage on the first turn. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Or, if you wanna be fancy, save a Yawgmoth's Will and do it all again! If you had in your first hand a swamp, two Dark Rituals, Yawgmoth's Will, and two Ornithopters, you cast swamp, two Dark Rituals, two Ornithopters (or another Dark Ritual or one mana spell),then Yawgmoth's Will, then this, which is 10 damage, and you gain ten life. Do it again from the yard, except casting the one mana card/last Ornithopter (because I'm pretty sure Yawgmoth's Will gets exiled instead of going to the yard) and win the game!
EDIT: I just realized: I think you only need to use Yawgmoth's Will and recast the storm spell, not replay everything...you need less specific cards that way (correct me i
reapersaurus
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(6 votes)
@shocker300 - there's a reason why this isn't rated near 5 : because it does very little on its own. 4 mana for some life swing doesn't cut it.
It requires many other cards in combination to be effective, unlike the true 5-star cards in Magic, like Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Black Lotus, etc.
Combolulz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I faced a guy who made a deck that revolved around this card
He would put Cabal Rituals , Dark rituals , any kind of tudor , any card that costs 0 mana (Lion's eye diamond , ect.) and a Tendrils of agony , with all the mana gained from his cabal and dark rituals , he would use a Yawgmoth's will to repeat the process of using most of his deck's spells , then when he's finished he would play a Tendrils of agony that he got from all the black tudors and storm my face for 20+ damage in turn 2 at the least....and then he would laugh as he won the game with 40ish life
THEHUNTERH
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@reapersaurus
you do know that black lotus is only rated .1 more than this card?
And a 4.6 IS close to 5 stars
so you really do not know what your talking about
stille_nacht
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
weird how when taken out of context, some cards are kinda trashy (this, thopter foundry, bazaar of bahgdad, stinkweed imp) but then you put them in the right deck, and they turn completely crazy.
Atali
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(3 votes)
@Superllama Those things might happen in Vintage, but never anywhere else. The only card you mentioned that ever shared standard with Tendrils of Agony is Ornithopter. Even Dark Ritual was last printed four years before Tendrils. Also, you would need an absurdly perfect draw to pull off a win the way you describe.
Realistically, Tendrils of Agony is a finisher in a U/B control deck. Control the board until you can storm up enough for a kill (perhaps using Mind's Desire?).
As long as you can get the first turn Dark Ritual into Entomb and Exhume / Animate Dead, you can usually combo off right then and there. And in multiplayer, the first Tendrils allows you to draw more cards and keep the combo going! Current record is 520 damage on the first turn (Yawgmoth's Will is in the deck too for the lulz).
Only downside is that I no longer have friends.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Might be fun as a side win-con in a Hellcarver deck. You're likely to cast it for roughly 8 lifesteal when he hits, among your free creatures, living death's etc..
ekann123
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh the fun of force of will-ing their tendrils of agony to make their T1 win combo fizzle. ;D
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Ugh storm... stupid mechanic. Its always broken or useless.
Combofriend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Favourite black finisher smokes most counters too 5/5
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Vault.dec? does that mean Time Vault or From the Vault? Now that the Vault includes Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Hymn to Tourach, there really is no reason not to build a REALLY SCARY From the Vault: Deck. o.o XD
I mean, this is not a *great* deck......but it IS SHINY AND AWESOME xD (FTV Lands and the busted Mana Artifacts take this concept into the actual realms of possibility.) (I'm probably not using nearly enough Sensei's Divining Top, though)
YoungSloshee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Turn 1: Island or Swamp. Turn 2: Island or Swamp. Cloud of Faeries or zero-mana kobolds. Turn 3: Island or Swamp (not all of one mana source). Cloudstone Curio. Turn 4: Island or Swamp (at least two {B}). Bounce your first creature with another faeries or kobolds, then bounce the second with the first. Rinse and repeat. Drop the Tendrils.
Teluin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ekann123 that wouldn't work... it would only stop the first copy (unless you mean they JUST do your exact life total of course)
Comments (30)
Really good card and triggered ability.
100% 1 turn win.
Im not going to explain details because the skill level of the deck im talking about is very high. But some of you mtg vets out there know exactly what im talking about.
Next up, Legacy!
EDIT: I just realized: I think you only need to use Yawgmoth's Will and recast the storm spell, not replay everything...you need less specific cards that way (correct me i
because it does very little on its own.
4 mana for some life swing doesn't cut it.
It requires many other cards in combination to be effective, unlike the true 5-star cards in Magic, like Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Black Lotus, etc.
He would put Cabal Rituals , Dark rituals , any kind of tudor , any card that costs 0 mana (Lion's eye diamond , ect.) and a Tendrils of agony , with all the mana gained from his cabal and dark rituals , he would use a Yawgmoth's will to repeat the process of using most of his deck's spells , then when he's finished he would play a Tendrils of agony that he got from all the black tudors and storm my face for 20+ damage in turn 2 at the least....and then he would laugh as he won the game with 40ish life
you do know that black lotus is only rated .1 more than this card?
And a 4.6 IS close to 5 stars
so you really do not know what your talking about
Those things might happen in Vintage, but never anywhere else. The only card you mentioned that ever shared standard with Tendrils of Agony is Ornithopter. Even Dark Ritual was last printed four years before Tendrils.
Also, you would need an absurdly perfect draw to pull off a win the way you describe.
Realistically, Tendrils of Agony is a finisher in a U/B control deck. Control the board until you can storm up enough for a kill (perhaps using Mind's Desire?).
Swamp
Dark Ritual
Entomb, search for Griselbrand
Exhume or Animate Dead to put Griselbrand on the battlefield
Pay 14 life, draw 14 cards
Lotus Petal
Memnite or Putrid Imp
Culling the Weak
Dark Ritual
Any card with CMC 0 or 1
Any card with CMC 0 or 1
Tendrils of Agony for 20 life
GG
As long as you can get the first turn Dark Ritual into Entomb and Exhume / Animate Dead, you can usually combo off right then and there. And in multiplayer, the first Tendrils allows you to draw more cards and keep the combo going! Current record is 520 damage on the first turn (Yawgmoth's Will is in the deck too for the lulz).
Only downside is that I no longer have friends.
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Balance
4x Berserk
4x Bogardan Hellkite
3x Mox Diamond
4x Grove of the Burnwillows
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2x Lotus Petal
4x Necropotence
4x Maze of Ith
4x Mystical Tutor
4x Masticore
4x Serendib Efreet
4x Sol Ring
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I mean, this is not a *great* deck......but it IS SHINY AND AWESOME xD
(FTV Lands and the busted Mana Artifacts take this concept into the actual realms of possibility.)
(I'm probably not using nearly enough Sensei's Divining Top, though)
Turn 2: Island or Swamp. Cloud of Faeries or zero-mana kobolds.
Turn 3: Island or Swamp (not all of one mana source). Cloudstone Curio.
Turn 4: Island or Swamp (at least two {B}). Bounce your first creature with another faeries or kobolds, then bounce the second with the first. Rinse and repeat. Drop the Tendrils.