Demon's Due (SNC)

Demon's Due
Casting Cost: {3}{B}
Card Type: Instant
Card Text:
Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life.
Flavour Text:
Ob Nixilis extends his hand not in partnership, but to affirm your subservience.
Artist: Slawomir Maniak

Strengths and Weaknesses:

• Strengths:
  • Provides card selection through Scry 2, allowing you to filter draws.
  • Instant-speed card draw is always beneficial.
  • Pairs well with strategies that don't mind losing life.
• Weaknesses:
  • Four mana can be a bit expensive for a draw spell in faster formats.
  • Losing 2 life may be a drawback in a deck that doesn't have life gain or is against aggressive strategies.

Deck Utility:

• Control Decks: Good for refilling your hand and digging for answers.

• Midrange Decks: Useful for gaining card advantage in grindy matchups.

• Combo Decks: Helps find combo pieces more efficiently thanks to the scry.

Interactions and Combos:

• Life Gain Effects (e.g., Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose): To offset the life loss.

• Cards that Benefit from Life Loss (e.g., Death's Shadow): Use the life loss to your advantage.

• Scry Synergy (e.g., Thassa, Deep-Dwelling): Pairs well with cards that further capitalize on scry mechanics.

Flavor and Lore:

• The flavor text portrays a grim contract with Ob Nixilis, a character who has appeared in multiple sets as a demon planeswalker. It underlines the dark undertones of the card's mechanic.

Overall Impression:

"Demon's Due" offers a balanced trade-off of card advantage for life, making it a potentially potent choice in the right decks. The instant speed and scry ability offer flexibility and adaptability, suitable for a variety of black-centered strategies.