Tainted Remedy + Beacon of Immortality = Instakill
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on June 23, 2015, 8:48 p.m. by sergiodelrio
OK people, I have attempted and failed to break Rain of Gore along with other fellow tappedout crusaders in a thread that I'm not going to revive at this point.
Now, Wizards just handed us the card we needed!
Tainted Remedy 
Enchantment
If an opponent would gain life, that player loses that much life instead.
I totally get that Beacon of Immortality is tricky to cast in Modern, but never say never. Instakill is tempting.
I'd really like people's thoughts on the card, the combo, and what might belong in an appropriate deck. Some obvious calls are Wall of Shards, Condemn, targeted lifelink and maybe even Grove of the Burnwillows... as if that one needed more support.
The real problem with that combo in modern is when they Abrupt Decay your tainted remedy in response to Beacon of Immortality
June 23, 2015 9:03 p.m.
Seems way sweet. You probably have to play some rituals and maybe Darkness.
June 23, 2015 9:07 p.m.
Greater Auramancy, Starfield of Nyx and a bunch of enchantments that tax/slow down opposing players (Ghostly Prison, Blind Obedience, Suppression Field etc) seems like the way to go.
I was working on a Starfield deck and a Tainted Remedy deck separately, but this thread made me realize I should probably merge them into a single deck ("Enchantbears"?)
June 23, 2015 9:18 p.m.
but with Beacon of Immortality, you dont acually gain any life, it just doubles, it doesnt say you gain life equal to your life total so it wouldnt work right? Correct me if im wrong
June 23, 2015 9:28 p.m.
CheeseBro: Gatherer rules say doubling someone's life total counts as lifegain, so yeah, this actually works.
June 23, 2015 9:31 p.m.
sergiodelrio says... #10
Well, the Beacon is obviously just the finisher. The general idea is to grind out the opponent using your Wall of Shards, your lifegain spells, and maybe some cards that give opponent's creatures lifelink for that extra fun... pair them with Children of Korlis and it won't even hurt. Even without the beacon you can screw up your opponent quite nicely. Also, thanks for your thoughts and suggestions, keep 'em coming!
June 23, 2015 9:33 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #11
For everyone that says it isn't viable simply because of the 6 CMC instant I would remind you that the second most played combo deck is one whose only win conditions involve 6 mana cards. Having said that Tainted Remedy dies to Abrupt Decay and puts you in an even worse spot. Not particularly viable but I could see it winning a FNM or 2 because rogue deck.
June 23, 2015 9:34 p.m.
sergiodelrio says... #12
For those who say "dies to removal": I have a playset of Spellskite and I'm not afraid to use it. Theoretically, there is a way for everything on the table to be removed.
June 23, 2015 9:41 p.m.
Incredibly rough draft of what an enchantment-filled hate deck would look like:
This still has a long way to go, but it's a start. :P
June 23, 2015 9:44 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #14
You might be able to pull this off in perhaps a Junk deck that splashes green for the ramp. It wouldn't be competitive, but it'd be funny at FNM.
June 23, 2015 10:27 p.m. Edited.
TheAnnihilator says... #18
Ok, so the real issue is how the deck performs when you DON'T have Tainted Remedy. You literally just help your opponent win the game at that point.
June 23, 2015 11:30 p.m.
Disregard this comment, I should learn how to read.
June 24, 2015 1:09 a.m. Edited.
sergiodelrio says... #20
Well, without the remedy you'll just pump yourself and maybe use Felidar Sovereign.
June 24, 2015 5:10 a.m.
Definitely Alms Beast!
"Creatures blocking or blocked by Alms Beast have deathlink!"
June 24, 2015 9:22 a.m.
Deathlink would be a fun mechanic.... Not a mix of Deathtouch and lifelink... But more like soul bond... When this creature enters the battlefield pair it with one other creature you don't control. When this creature dies the controller of the paired creature sacrifices it. Other than that, I don't have enough competitive experience to say whether or not this is viable.
June 24, 2015 10:33 a.m.
KenpoKid10 says... #23
swkelly89 I was also thinking Esper for card draw and control. Maybe throw in a couple late game bombs to finish them off if you can't get the combo off.
August 19, 2015 6:10 p.m.
psychicesp says... #24
Ive seen decks that utilize the Tainted Remedy combo with cards like Condemn, Last Breath Oust Healing Hands(you get the picture.)
To build a deck around Tainted Remedy wouldn't be too hard to make competitive, especially since the cards it combines with often are worth the lifegain as a result of low mana cost. Just throw in Auramancer and Greater Auramancy to deal with removal, and just to be cocky and hilarious: Alms Beast and you've got a viable deck with cheap removal spells that deal damage instead of having a downside. Its combos would have to be nerfed by padding the deck with cards to counter or prevent enchantment removal, but there is a viable deck there. Adding one or two Beacon of Immortality would add a nice wincon but wouldn't be necessary for this deck to be good. You wouldnt have to worry about surprise enchantment removal, because pther combos will draw out any enchantment removal they have long before they can turn Beacon of Immortality back on you
vishnarg says... #2
Too expensive for a legitimate competitive combo deck in modern, but sounds great for the kitchen table. The benchmark for insta kill combos in modern is Twin Exarch, and this is just worse.
June 23, 2015 8:52 p.m.