Magic Hurts by smahon90

Format: Commander

Commander: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This Esper control and life-drain deck leverages Yshtola, Nights Blessed to generate card advantage and incidental damage by casting mid-to-high cost noncreature spells. The deck controls the board through high-density countermagic, targeted removal, and tax effects while steadily bleeding opponents with triggers from the commander, Kambal, and Papalymo. Its primary win condition is the classic two-card infinite life-drain loop pairing Exquisite Blood with either Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Enduring Tenacity. Alternatively, the deck grinds down opposing life totals through steady burn, combat swings via Inkshield tokens, or overwhelming card economy fueled by Omniscience and recurring spells.

Decklist (103 cards)

  • 1 Absorb
  • 1 Aetherize
  • 1 Arcane Lighthouse
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archmage of Runes
  • 1 Authority of the Consuls
  • 1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
  • 1 Captain America, Living Legend
  • 1 Cast Away Doubt
  • 1 Chromatic Lantern
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterpoint
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cryptic Command
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Darksteel Plate
  • 1 Deadly Rollick
  • 1 Decorum Dissertation
  • 1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
  • 1 Dismember
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Emet-Selch of the Third Seat
  • 1 Enduring Tenacity
  • 1 Espers to Magicite
  • 1 Exemplar of Light
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Exquisite Blood
  • 1 Eye of Nidhogg
  • 1 Fandaniel, Telophoroi Ascian
  • 1 Flawless Maneuver
  • 1 Force of Negation
  • 1 Frantic Search
  • 1 Ghostly Prison
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Grand Abolisher
  • 1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
  • 1 Idyllic Tutor
  • 1 Inkshield
  • 9 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Jet Medallion
  • 1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
  • 1 Leech Collector // Bloodletting
  • 1 Lyse Hext
  • 1 Mortify
  • 1 Omniscience
  • 1 Opal Palace
  • 1 Papalymo Totolymo
  • 1 Parasitic Impetus
  • 7 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Professor Onyx
  • 1 Queza, Augur of Agonies
  • 1 Raffine's Tower
  • 1 Reenact the Crime
  • 1 Render Silent
  • 1 Repair and Recharge
  • 1 Rewind
  • 1 Risky Shortcut
  • 1 Sephiroth's Intervention
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Silence
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Snuff Out
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 8 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Syphon Mind
  • 1 Talion, the Kindly Lord
  • 1 Teysa, Opulent Oligarch
  • 1 Thancred Waters
  • 1 The Wind Crystal
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Undermine
  • 1 Unwind
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Vindicate
  • 1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
  • 1 Void Rend
  • 1 Wizard's Staff
  • 1 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed