Bitter Triumph
Instant
As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard a card or pay 3 life.
Destroy target creature or planeswalker.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive
- Price
- $1.01
- EDHREC rank
- #924
Bitter Triumph destroys any nonland permanent — creatures, planeswalkers, enchantments, the works — for three mana and a discard, making it one of the most flexible removal spells in black. The discard is a real cost in most decks, but in anything that wants cards in the graveyard, Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist chief among them, it's not a cost at all.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist
Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist runs Bitter Triumph as a near-auto-include because the discard fuels the graveyard Xu-Ifit needs to generate bone counters and generate value — removal that feeds the engine is just efficient two-for-one territory.
Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer turns the discard on Bitter Triumph into a free cast trigger, so you're destroying a threat and potentially replaying a spell from your graveyard on the same turn for no card disadvantage.
Toshiro Umezawa
Toshiro Umezawa wants instants in the graveyard to flash back, and Bitter Triumph sitting there after use is a potential recursive answer — the discard just helps stock the yard faster.
Zurgo Stormrender
Zurgo Stormrender is in the Rakdos discard space where fueling the graveyard matters, and Bitter Triumph's nonland permanent scope handles the threats that straight creature removal like Terminate misses entirely.
Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Greasefang, Okiba Boss needs Vehicles in the graveyard to reanimate, and Bitter Triumph lets you pitch one while answering an opponent's board piece — two jobs, one card, one mana cost.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Bitter Triumph earns its slot because the format is saturated with enchantments and planeswalkers that dedicated creature removal simply can't touch, and three mana at instant speed is a reasonable rate for that scope. The discard cost separates it from cleaner answers like Anguished Unmaking, but any deck running a graveyard theme happily eats it. In Pioneer and Modern, it competes in a removal suite where the discard matters more — paying a card to kill a creature is a real tempo loss in 60-card formats, so it tends to show up only in shells that want the discard. Legacy and Vintage have access to cheaper, more broken interaction, pushing Bitter Triumph to the fringes there. Standard is where its broad target range gives it the most raw utility, since the format's removal options are narrower and nonland permanents often go unanswered.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.01 cheap tier
At $1.01, Bitter Triumph sits firmly in the bulk-rare tier — cheap enough to slot into any deck without a second thought. That price is stable ground for a broadly useful card; it's not going anywhere dramatically in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist
- Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
- Toshiro Umezawa
- Zurgo Stormrender
- Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.