Torment (Magic: The Gathering)
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| Released | February 8, 2002 | |||
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| Size | 143 cards (55 common, 44 uncommon, 44 rare) | |||
| Mechanics | Flashback, Threshold, Madness | |||
| Third set in the Odyssey Block block | ||||
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Torment is the second set in the Odyssey Block and focused mainly on Black.
This expansion set is quite special, since it is the first expansion set ever which contains an unequal number of each color. It has 40 Black cards, 28 Blue cards, 28 Red cards, 21 Green Cards and 21 White cards. This unbalance is, however, balanced by the release of the third expansion set in the Odyssey Block, Judgment.
Storyline
Torment tells the story of Chainer, a dementia summoner of the Cabal, who first discovers the Mirari and rises through the ranks of the Cabal, eventually becoming rival to the Cabal Patriarch himself.
Mechanics
Torment continued the Flashback and Threshold mechanics began in Odyssey and introduced Madness.
- Madness - When a card with Madness is discarded, it can be played at a reduced cost. Torment sports 10 Madness cards, a common and an uncommon for each of the five colors.
The "black corruption" theme of Torment spreads beyond sheer numbers of cards. Here are more examples of card cycles that represent black's influences:
- Swamp Rewards - Like the popular Nightmare, these are a handful of cards that greatly reward players that control many swamps, including Mutilate, Mind Sludge, and Cabal Coffers.
- Tainted Lands - A cycle of lands that represent locations that have been "tainted" by black magic. Tainted Peak, Tainted Field, Tainted Isle, and Tainted Wood.
- Greedy Flashback - A cycle of cards that are cheaper to play using Flashback but also require a payment of 3 life. Deep Analysis, Spirit Flare, Acorn Harvest, Flash of Defiance.
- Possessed Creatures - A rare cycle of creatures that begin as seemingly ordinary creatures of their color, but upon achieving Threshold, they become black and corrupted and turn on their former color. Possessed Nomad, Possessed Centaur, Possessed Aven, Possessed Barbarian.
- Nightmares - black and red creatures that remove something of the opponent's from the game when they come into play and return it when they leave play. For example, Faceless Butcher removes a creature, Hypnox removes their hand, Petravark removes a land, and Soul Scourge removes 3 life.
Set History
Torment's release marked a tremendous power boost to the color black. The "Swamp Rewards" cards along with Chainer's Edict and Nantuko Shade were incredibly potent in tournament play, spawning the MonoBlack Control archetype (or the more appropriately named Coffers Control) that could destroy its opponent's creatures, hand, and life total with large Cabal Coffers-fueled spells. Previously, control decks were almost synonymous with blue counter-based control decks, but Torment ended the fallacy that a control deck was unviable without countermagic.
Relative to other mechanics at the time, Torment's Madness mechanic proved to be overpowered, most notably on Circular Logic, Basking Rootwalla, and Arrogant Wurm. This gave rise to U/G Madness (pronouced "Blue-Green Madness"), an Aggro-Control archetype fundamentally built on Wild Mongrel and Aquamoeba as discard outlets to utilize the Madness, Flashback, and Threshold mechanics of Odyssey Block. U/G Madness is notable for being format-dominating, inexpensive to build, easy to play, and almost exclusively utilizing Odyssey Block cards. U/G Madness and Coffers Control are good examples of the player-perceived criticism that "R&D is making our decks for us."
Notable Cards
- Ambassador Laquatus - The sole merman living with the Cephalids in Otaria. His 'poisoned lips' have the ability to invoke a Millstone-like effect on any player.
- Basking Rootwalla - The only spell with a madness cost of 0, Basking Rootwalla has been a staple creature of Madness decks in all formats.
- Cabal Ritual - A less efficient Dark Ritual that becomes better with threshold, Cabal Ritual has shown up in several Type I storm combo decks that want a large number of Dark Ritual-type effects.
- Grim Lavamancer - A small, efficient red creature with the ability to exchange cards in the graveyard for direct damage. Grim Lavamancer has shown up several well-known decks including Fish and Red Deck Wins.
- Nantuko Shade - Among the most efficient black creatures ever printed.