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Moxonomy

Pain 101

Instant1 generic manaBlack mana
Format takes

How this card plays

8 reviews

Two mana for a tempo swing that resolves three problems at once: a chump becomes a trader, the trade becomes a two-for-one, and the body comes back for another turn instead of staying in the yard. In a medium-speed format where commons settle on 2/2 and 2/3 lines and the best blockers cap around three toughness, granting deathtouch to a one-power attacker turns combat math inside out. The returned-tapped clause matters more here than it would in a faster format. The creature comes back tapped, so it cannot block the turn after the trade; what you are buying is a second attacker for your next swing, not an immediate defensive answer to the Turtle legend across the table. Time the trade for their attack step and you get the body back without losing your own combat tempo.

WB Sacrifice is the cleanest home, not because the card builds anything (the death-only recursion and ownership clause keep it a one-shot value play, exactly as designed) but because it stacks a second payoff onto a trade that already justified the slot. The dies-trigger and the deathtouch trade both feed a shell that already cares about creatures dying. BG Food wants it for a narrower reason: re-buying a body that converted a Food on its way down. Both take it P1P5 to P1P7, a touch higher in WB.

The punisher is Grounded for Life, which kills your tapped creature the turn it returns, for less mana, exactly when it is most exposed. Hold the recursion until their open mana is taxed. This wants twelve-plus playable creatures behind it: the deathtouch grant needs a board to attach to, and in a creature-light build it sits dead while you wait for a target.

Pain 101 (tmt)
TMT · #69common
Pricing
Normal: $0.17
Foil: $0.31
Oracle Text

Rules text

Until end of turn, target creature gains deathtouch and "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control."
Legalities

Format Status

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