"EDH Battles: Pain Magnet"

"Brace for impact.."

"EDH Battles: Pain Magnet"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

     One of my recent EDH games involved a 4 man match up between Kaervek the Merciless(Ed) , Sigarda (Beast) , Ghave (Mike) and Teysa, Orzhov Scion( Me). It was a free for all game where only politics and the silkiness of your tongue can save you. In this environment one of my opponents played a 1 black mana costing enchantment that might have cost him the game altogether. It was this enchantment.

"Ouch"

      Blood Chief Ascension. It counts the loss of at least 2 life points for any opponent at the end of each turn. If there were 3 or more counters on it, it would go online and cause havoc to all opposing players. It would read any card going to a graveyard from anywhere and there would be a 2 life loss for the opponent and 2 life gain for the Blood Chief Ascensions controller.Terribly bad news since players casting spells , discarding cards at end of turn , drawing and discarding cards to a Thought Courier for example as well as creatures dying would all have 2 Life loss.Any action done would cost an opponent if this manages to go online and with 3 end steps before the controller becomes an active player again there is a possibility that the blood chief ascension can be activated for as long as each opponent attacks each other. However there is another bad possibility.

"Hey I'm Gideon Jura...Ouch..."

     In a format where anyone can attack you it was a rather unwise choice.The decision to put down this enchantment attracted a lot of pain. All of us didn't want to put a counter on this enchantment that would offer a lopsided advantage to its owner. The Magnetic pull to attack the controller was strong and no one was resisting the urge. Sigarda was the first to punch through and in the end all creatures were Lured to that player , he was doing a Gideon Jura impression...without the being indestructible part. It was no surprise that he was the first person eliminated. No amount of politics or sweet taking could have saved him at that point. He removed the cursed enchantment from his deck.

"Magnetic pull...No one can resist..."

     Another card that would be a bad idea if you did not have ample defenses would be Luminarch Ascension. It would go online if there was no damage done to the controller.While these could win you the game with a whole army of 4/4 Angels at your command , you need to have it go online first and opponents would tend to concentrate agression on you if you are not able to have chump blockers or fog like effects such as those offered by Kami of False Hope or spells like Holy day. There is always a combo involved with these cards but please bear in mind that those pieces won't always be in your hands so timing when playing these enchantments are everything. With that being said let the battles commence but choose your enchantments wisely otherwise they can become your own personal pain magnet.