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Archfiend of Despair
Creature — Demon
mythic
Flying Your opponents can't gain life. At the beginning of each end step, each opponent loses life equal to the life that player lost this turn. (Damage causes loss of life.)
6/6
Semantic Tags
Difficult to block or grants evasion. Includes flying, menace, fear, intimidate, shadow, skulk, horsemanship, unblockable effects, and cards that grant these abilities.
Cards that directly win the game or threaten to end it quickly. Includes 'you win the game' effects and massive threats.
A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.9, “Flying.”
Prevents or punishes life gain — Erebos, Leyline of Punishment.
Prevents or punishes life gain — Erebos, Leyline of Punishment.
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (3)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander Masters#137 | mythic | · | · | · |
| Commander Masters#503 | mythic | · | · | · |
| Battlebond#44 | mythic | · | · | · |
Related Concepts
Related Rules
If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.
Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.
To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.
A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.
If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.
The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
Rulings
Archfiend of Despair’s last ability counts only how much life was lost. It doesn’t care whether a player also gained life.
In a Two-Headed Giant game, damage and life loss happen to each player individually. If each player on a team is dealt 2 damage, each of those players loses 2 life and the team’s life total goes down by 4. When Archfiend of Despair’s ability resolves, each of those players again loses 2 life and the team’s life total goes down again by 4; they don’t each lose 4 life.
The amount of life to lose is determined only as Archfiend of Despair’s triggered ability resolves. For example, if you control two of them and an opponent lost 3 life earlier in the turn, the first ability to resolve would have that player lose 3 life, and the second would have that player lose 6 life.