Pointed Discussion

Strictly better than Rod of Ruin.

Just get two or more of these in play at once. One will charge the other every time.

@forgeling: Technically, no. If you can't deal one damage with other sources, or throw charge counters on this with something else, Rod of Ruin would actually be better.
Despite it not being STRICTLY better, though, it IS far better. Please, nobody ever run Rod of Ruin.

@iondragonx

It says 'other than Talon of Pain', doesn't that mean permanents named Talon of Pain don't generate one another?

I love this card , i play it in a green blue deck that's have not a lot of removal but unblockable creatures and it does it work even if i think this card is made for red burning deck .

The german version just gets counters through combat damage. :´-(

@SorianSadaskan: No, since when a card uses it's own name, it means . If it didn't get counters from other Talon of pains, it would've said something along the lines of "Whenever a source you control other than permanents named Talon of Pain deals damage to an opponent, put that many charge counters on Talon of Pain".

Slightly confusing phrasing on the card, but only for multiplayer purposes.
Whenever a source you control other than Talon of Pain deals damage to an opponent, put a charge counter on Talon of Pain.
So if you have a single source that deals damage to two opponents how many counters do you get? Say I used a fireball on two players as an example.
I could really see it going either way. The spell is a single damage event, it takes up one space on the stack and can be countered with a single counterspell card. But each opponent takes damage separately. A card like pariah only redirects the damage from one of them, so it looks like two separate events from that angle.

Oh yes, my Manabarbs deck has a new recruit.

@blindthrall: I clicked the "report abuse" button under your post. lol.

why is this rated so high? it's one of the clunkier cards from the mirrodin block...

Knock knock
Who's there
Talon of Pain
Talon of Pain who?
Talon of Pa-RAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH FEEL MY WRATH...once I get up the mana
But seriously, absolutely brutal in a token deck

This and Pestilence. Truly evil, especially in multiplayer with light of sanction. I feel my inner Johnny coming out.

Norin the Wary never uses his talon, and is happy not to.

Wow, this card combines very well with Ion Storm.