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Moxonomy

Bite of the Black Rose

Sorcery3 generic manaBlack mana

The voting mechanic turns a sweeper-or-discard split into a social problem rather than a deckbuilding one. The two outcomes are tuned to roughly symmetrical pressure: a -2/-2 board wipe that clears tokens and small creatures, or a two-card discard that carves into each opposing hand. Because the controller votes first, the opponents are stuck reacting to a known stake, and they almost never agree on which outcome hurts least: the player flooded with creatures wants psychosis, the player hoarding cards wants sickness, and any tie hands the discard to everyone opposing you. That asymmetry of pain is the design point. A creature-heavy board gets punished if it votes to save its hand; a control hand gets stripped if it votes to save its creatures. The caster does not pick the result so much as set the trap and let the table's conflicting incentives resolve it, which means the spell is at its best precisely when opponents have divergent things to protect. Will of the council cards live or die on this kind of structured disagreement, and this one frames the disagreement as a choice between two punishments rather than a benefit to be claimed, so there is no comfortable vote.

Bite of the Black Rose (cns)
CNS · #26uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.50
Foil: $5.89
Oracle Text

Rules text

Will of the council — Starting with you, each player votes for sickness or psychosis. If sickness gets more votes, creatures your opponents control get -2/-2 until end of turn. If psychosis gets more votes or the vote is tied, each opponent discards two cards.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
N/A
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