Death of a Thousand Stings
Instant — Arcane
Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have more cards in hand than each opponent, you may return this card from your graveyard to your hand.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Saviors of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #26004
Death of a Thousand Stings drains one life and draws a card every time a creature dies — stapled onto a 1/4 body that costs five mana. That rate is too slow and too fragile; any deck that wants this effect can find it on an enchantment that doesn't die to a Shock.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Death of a Thousand Stings is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but competitive interest tops out at Pauper, where the card pool is narrow enough that a repeating drain-and-draw engine on a common has niche appeal in sacrifice shells. In Commander the effect is real but the five-mana creature chassis competes against enchantments and artifacts that do the same job without dying to removal. Legacy, Modern, and Vintage have no room for it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Death of a Thousand Stings is deep bulk — buy a copy for pennies if a Pauper sacrifice deck demands it, but there is no price pressure pushing it anywhere. It has sat at this floor and will stay there.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.