Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite. In this series we break down some of the strongest commanders in the format, what makes them tick, where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and most importantly, how to take them down. With the Halloween season around the corner, it feels only right to spotlight a commander from Magic's own horror set, Duskmourn: House of Horror. Today's feature is the creepiest collection of televisions you'll ever see at a Commander table: The Lord of Pain. So, what makes this commander such a nightmare to face? Let's find out.

The Commander

The Lord of Pain is a five-mana Human Assassin that reads, "Your opponents can't gain life." That alone shuts down entire archetypes, but things get much worse. Whenever a player casts their first spell each turn, Lord of Pain deals damage equal to its mana value to another player. Over a full turn cycle, that's four burn triggers flying around, and if anyone is casting spells on other turns, the damage ramps up fast.

The Deck

The most common shell for The Lord of Pain is "group slug," the polar opposite of group hug. Instead of showering the table with cards and mana, this deck doles out pain, shaving down everyone's life totals including its own. Because the commander does so much heavy lifting, the rest of the deck often looks like a pile of powerful Rakdos staples and damage multipliers. With amplifiers like City on Fire and payoff engines like Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, The Lord of Pain doesn't just chip away. It is overwhelming. Here is an example of a The Lord of Pain deck you might see at your local game store.

EDHRec Lord of Pain | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 The Lord of Pain

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Blood Seeker
• 1 Brash Taunter
• 1 Fate Unraveler
• 1 Florian, Voldaren Scion
• 1 Gleeful Arsonist
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Harsh Mentor
• 1 Kaervek the Merciless
• 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1 Kederekt Parasite
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
• 1 Rampaging Ferocidon
• 1 Razorkin Needlehead
• 1 Scrawling Crawler
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
• 1 Star Athlete
• 1 Stormfist Crusader
• 1 Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
• 1 Vial Smasher the Fierce

• Instants (10)
• 1 Bedevil
• 1 Blood for the Blood God!
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Dark Ritual
• 1 Deflecting Swat
• 1 Infernal Grasp
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Suspended Sentence
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Withering Torment

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Grab the Prize
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Prisoner's Dilemma
• 1 Sadistic Shell Game
• 1 Sign in Blood
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Vandalblast

• Enchantments (10)
• 1 City on Fire
• 1 Descent into Avernus
• 1 Exquisite Blood
• 1 Fiery Emancipation
• 1 Painful Quandary
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Spiked Corridor // Torture Pit
• 1 Spiteful Visions
• 1 Underworld Dreams
• 1 Wound Reflection

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mask of Griselbrand
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (36)
• 10 Mountain
• 10 Swamp
• 1 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Shadowblood Ridge
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 1 Tainted Peak
• 1 Temple of Malice
• 1 Witch's Clinic

Buy This Deck Export text

Strengths

What makes The Lord of Pain so dangerous is how it cuts off the most obvious counterplay. Lifegain strategies or voltron commanders with lifelink usually thrive against attrition decks, but The Lord of Pain slams the door on that approach outright. On top of that, it doesn't need combat damage to win. The deck can keep blockers back, stonewalling the board, while life totals steadily decline with each spell cast.

Weaknesses

Politics are The Lord of Pain's biggest liability. The deck isn't making allies, and constant chip damage almost always turns the game into archenemy. Fear is the only bargaining chip, promising to point triggers elsewhere, but that only buys temporary relief for one player and usually paints an even bigger target on the The Lord of Pain player's back.

Another issue is protection. Rakdos doesn't have great tools for keeping a commander safe, so The Lord of Pain is vulnerable to removal. And in one-on-one situations, its drawback is brutal. The The Lord of Pain player has to target themselves every time they cast a spell, meaning a big mana-value card like The Great Henge could end the game on the spot.

Cards to Watch Out For

1. Basilisk Collar - If The Lord of Pain's damage gains lifelink, the controller suddenly becomes untouchable. The whole table has to unite or risk losing on the spot.
2. Descent into Avernus - This enchantment accelerates the game's end by draining everyone while fueling big plays with treasures. Perfect for what the deck wants to do.
3. Wound Reflection - Few cards complement The Lord of Pain better. Doubling every life loss each turn puts opponents on an impossible clock, and paired with Havoc Festival, it can one-shot the table.
4. Painful Quandary - Every spell opponents cast comes with a punishing choice: discard a card or lose five life. Either way, the pain keeps piling up.
5. Brash Taunter - Turns combat into a nightmare by redirecting damage and pairs beautifully with sweepers like Blasphemous Act to throw massive chunks of damage around.

How to Defeat Lord of Pain

The answer is teamwork. In games with The Lord of Pain, two scenarios usually play out. Either there is an even scarier player such as Jodah, the Unifier, and you work with the Lord of Pain player to focus them down, or The Lord of Pain is the scariest player and the table has to rally together to keep them under control. Deny them their commander, focus fire their life total, and the deck collapses quickly.

Commander Kryptonite

Still worried? Here are some silver bullets to consider.

1. Aegis of the Gods - Lord of Pain's ability targets players. With hexproof, you're simply off-limits.
2. Uril, the Miststalker - Voltron decks with built-in protection can often race Lord of Pain, especially since Rakdos doesn't pack many sac effects to slow them down.
3. River's Rebuke - A midgame reset that bounces all of Lord of Pain's nonland permanents often buys the table two turns to finish them before they recover.

Wrapping Up

And that's how you bring down Lord of Pain. If there's a commander giving you trouble and you'd like to see it featured in Commander Kryptonite, send an email to thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com. Until next time, happy gaming.