The Torment of Gollum
Sorcery
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Amass Orcs 2. (Put two +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. It's also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #13558
The Torment of Gollum drains each opponent for 2 and makes them discard a card every upkeep — continuous pressure that stacks fast in a four-player pod. Three mana to cast is a fair entry point for an effect that never stops asking questions.
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 |
In Commander, The Torment of Gollum is at its best: three opponents means six life drained and three cards discarded every full rotation, which snowballs quickly in longer games. It slots naturally into aristocrats, Rakdos discard, and Orzhov life-drain strategies where the cumulative pressure matters more than a single burst. In Pauper it's a common and the effect is real, though the format's faster pace means you need to stick it early or it won't lap the table enough to matter. Legacy and Vintage have no interest — those formats move too fast for a three-mana enchantment that wins over time.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, The Torment of Gollum is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a dollar box, not tracking it on a buylist. Bulk enchantments with incremental effects rarely climb unless they land in a precon or spike a format, so treat this as a cheap inclusion, not a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.