Everlasting Torment MTG Card


Alters matches by weakening creatures and denying life gain, offering a persistent competitive edge. Boosts damage-based decks, accelerates opponent’s resource depletion, and paves the way for victory. Introduces surprise elements and control in instant interactions, enhancing damage and counterplay.
Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment

Text of card

Players can't gain life. Damage can't be prevented. All damage is dealt as though its source had wither. (A source with wither deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

When night fell, the plane itself was scarred.


Cards like Everlasting Torment

Everlasting Torment brings a unique twist to the gameplay of Magic: The Gathering, standing out as an enchantment that significantly alters the state of the game. It’s akin to cards like Wither, as both impose the wither mechanic onto creatures, which makes all damage dealt to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. However, Everlasting Torment impacts each creature on the field and also clashes with life gain strategies by preventing players from gaining life, making it a broader and more relentless effect than the single-target Wither.

In the realm of damage prevention, Everlasting Torment can be paralleled with cards like Leyline of Punishment. They both negate life gain and ensure that damage can’t be prevented, disrupting opponents’ plans to stabilize or buffer their life totals. Even so, Everlasting Torment’s continuous application of the wither effect truly sets it apart, adding a layer of strategy in managing and dealing damage.

Analyzing the interconnectedness of such effects, Everlasting Torment provides players a tool to control and weaken opposing forces. Its capacity to shift the mechanics of damage and life gain positions it as a strategic staple in decks designed to exploit these alterations.

Leyline of Punishment - MTG Card versions
Leyline of Punishment - MTG Card versions

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: The power of Everlasting Torment lies in its ability to alter the course of a match by continuously affecting both life totals and creature endurance. This unique enchantment nullifies life gain efforts of your opponent while permanently wounding their creatures, providing a strategic advantage that can persist throughout the game.

Resource Acceleration: Everlasting Torment can be a boon for decks that thrive on damage-based abilities. The continuous effect of converting all damage to -1/-1 counters can accelerate resource depletion for your opponent by ensuring their creatures become weaker with each blow, possibly giving you a swift path to victory.

Instant Speed: Although Everlasting Torment itself isn’t played at instant speed, it changes the dynamics of instant-based interactions. With its static abilities affecting damage and life gain, you can optimize your instant spells that deal damage or create -1/-1 counters, knowing that any life the opponent would gain is negated, bringing an element of surprise and control to the battlefield.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One common critique of Everlasting Torment is the potential strategic setback that may occur if the player doesn’t have an ample hand size. With no mechanism for card advantage, being forced to discard can significantly weaken a player’s position.

Specific Mana Cost: Everlasting Torment comes with a mana cost that includes both black and red. This specificity restricts its playability to decks that can produce both colors, potentially excluding it from a wider range of strategies that don’t align with its mana requirements.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, including one black and one red, some players find this card’s cost a bit steep given its effect. While the ability to prevent life gain and turn damage into wither counters is unique, the mana investment can be a hurdle, especially in fast-paced games where efficiency is key.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Everlasting Torment is a dynamic card that adapts well to decks geared towards control or damage strategies. Its ability to cause wounds that can’t heal makes it a valuable asset in prolonged games.

Combo Potential: The card has potential for synergies in combos that capitalize on its ability to apply -1/-1 counters, functioning well with abilities that activate upon damage or when creatures die.

Meta-Relevance: In environments dominated by life-gain strategies, Everlasting Torment shines as it nullifies those tactics, leveling the playing field and often tipping the scales in your favor.


How to beat Everlasting Torment

Everlasting Torment presents a unique challenge on the battlefield, with its ability to eliminate life gain and modify damage as it turns all damage into -1/-1 counters. To outmaneuver this enchantment, consider employing removal spells that target enchantments specifically, such as Disenchant or Back to Nature, which can dispatch Everlasting Torment promptly.

Adjusting your strategy is crucial when facing a deck built around Everlasting Torment. Incorporate cards that thrive on -1/-1 counters or use those counters to your advantage. Creatures with wither or persist mechanics can become unexpected assets. You might also want to sidestep traditional life gain tactics and lean towards strategies that bolster your life total by alternate means, such as cards with lifelink or those that increase your life when Everlasting Torment is not in play.

Overcoming Everlasting Torment involves a blend of precise timing, the right removal, and a tactical shift in your deck’s mechanics. Cards like Witchbane Orb can protect you from the indirect effects of the enchantment, ensuring that your plan to take down your opponent remains unaffected. With careful planning and a dash of creativity, you can turn this daunting obstacle into an advantage.


BurnMana Recommendations

Unveiling the strategic layers of Everlasting Torment can be transformative for MTG enthusiasts keen on optimizing their gameplay. This card’s distinct qualities enable a shift in battlefield dynamics that savvy players can exploit. Harnessing its potential requires a blend of keen insight and robust deck building to amplify its impact. We at BurnMana encourage in-depth exploration and intelligent incorporation of Everlasting Torment in your decks. Dive deeper into strategies that pivot around this intriguing card, unlock new combos, and fine-tune your approach against life-gain tactics to secure your edge in combat. Explore more with us and bring unmatched resilience to your game.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Everlasting Torment MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor and Commander 2016, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Everlasting Torment and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Everlasting Torment Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2008-05-02 and 2016-11-11. Illustrated by Richard Kane Ferguson.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12008-05-02ShadowmoorSHM 1862003NormalBlackRichard Kane Ferguson
22016-11-11Commander 2016C16 2332015NormalBlackRichard Kane Ferguson

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Everlasting Torment has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Everlasting Torment card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2008-05-01 Effects that replace an event with gaining life (like Words of Worship’s effect does) will end up replacing the event with nothing.
2008-05-01 Effects that would replace gaining life with some other effect won’t be able to do anything because it’s impossible for players to gain life.
2008-05-01 If a cost includes life gain (like Invigorate’s alternative cost does), that cost can’t be paid.
2008-05-01 If an effect says to set your life total to a certain number, and that number is higher than your current life total, that effect will normally cause you to gain life equal to the difference. With Everlasting Torment on the battlefield, that part of the effect won’t do anything. (If the number is lower than your current life total, the effect will work as normal.)
2008-05-01 Spells and abilities that replace or redirect damage aren’t affected by Everlasting Torment’s second ability. They’ll work as normal.
2008-05-01 Spells and abilities that would normally cause a player to gain life still resolve, but the life-gain part simply has no effect.
2008-05-01 The last ability affects all damage, whether it’s dealt by creatures, other permanents, spells, or cards that aren’t on the battlefield. Wither works everywhere.
2008-05-01 The “damage can’t be prevented” statement overrides all forms of preventing damage, including protection abilities. Damage prevention spells and abilities can still be cast and played; they just don’t do anything.