Endless Punishment Upgrade Guide: 15 Easy Changes You Can Make

Last updated on August 17, 2025

The Lord of Pain | Illustrated by Greg Staples

Of the new Duskmourn Commander precons, the one that jumped out at me the most was Endless Punishment. Part of the reason it stands out to me is because it’s the one villain among a group of heroic characters, making it the most fitting for playing with as the Archenemy. I also like the design of Valgavoth, and I thought it would be cool to have a Commander deck that featured this Magic set’s main villain.

When I started looking through the full decklist, I was surprised to learn that it featured an alternate Rakdos commander that I found more exciting than Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls: The Lord of Pain, one of the better commanders we're getting in Duskmourn. Looking at what the deck as a whole wanted to do, I thought it’d be more fun to have the commander consistently do damage to other players, as opposed to benefitting from my other damage effects. When it came time to upgrade the deck, I decided to do so knowing I’d be using The Lord of Pain as my commander.

Out of the box, Endless Punishment already has a lot of useful tools for putting pressure on your opponents. Here’s how I took what was in the box and updated it to make it fit my personal preference and the alternate commander.

Deck Overview

Descent into Avernus | Illustration by Bruce Brenneise

In its original form, Endless Punishment lives up to its name by consistently dealing damage to opponents for basic elements of gameplay like drawing cards or casting spells – it's what's known as a “group slug” deck in Magic slag. I leaned heavily into this aspect by adding cards that either enhance the damage already being done or give you ways to more quickly eliminate players.

I didn’t do anything that I thought would compromise this deck’s ability to also be played in a game of Archenemy, though I also didn’t do anything to specifically enhance it in this regard. That way, the deck can still be played in either Archenemy or Commander effectively, similar to how it is out of the box.

Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Deck - Endless Punishment

• ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE—Become the House that always wins and dish out damage to all who enter your halls until you see your new tenants evicted . . . permanently
• 2 FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDERS—Every Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Deck includes 2 Traditional Foil Legendary Creature cards featuring spine-tingling Borderless art
• 10 ARCHENEMY SCHEMES—Archenemy pits a team of three against one player who draws from an extra deck of powerful and nefarious schemes. Each Duskmourn Commander deck introduces 10 terrifying schemes to make the table tremble!
• INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS— Each deck introduces fresh horrors to Magic: The Gathering with 10 never-before-seen Commander cards
• CONTENTS—1 ready-to-play Endless Punishment Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Deck (100 cards), 10 Archenemy cards, a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack, 10 double-sided tokens, and 1 deck box

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Upgrade Plan

My basic strategy with this build was to focus on this deck’s ability to put pressure on opponents by constantly doing damage to them or draining their life. With that in mind, I made some changes to speed up that process. By draining life from my opponents more quickly, I’m not just looking to win more quickly, but also deny them a valuable resource. It’d be harder for players to use cards like Bolas's Citadel as a key part of their strategy, especially when The Lord of Pain prevents players from gaining life.

I figured speeding up the life-draining/damaging process would also be helpful if you wanted to run this deck as the archenemy, as there’ll be more pressure on you to close out the game quickly when it's one-on-three.

In addition to trying to eliminate players more quickly with this build, I also wanted to make the mana base quicker. This meant replacing tap lands with lands that could come in untapped and adding faster ways to search for lands. This also allowed me to take out a few of the extra mana rocks to open up slots for more cards in the 99.

You may notice that the mana curve in this deck is slightly steeper than in the pre-constructed version due to some of my changes. This is intentional as I found myself getting frustrated with drawing something like a Fellwar Stone in the late game instead of a bomb that would allow me to assign a lot of damage with The Lord of Pain. In my playtesting, I never struggled with the updated mana base and found that I was able to do a bit more damage once I added more higher mana value cards.

Rowan, Scion of War

Suggested Cut: Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Rowan, Scion of War serves a very similar purpose as Rakdos, Lord of Riots, but in my opinion, it’ll be helpful more often. This Rowan card discounts a wider range of spells, and it has no stipulations on when you can play it. It also costs 1 less mana than Rakdos, which can help offset some of the steepening of the mana curve I’ve created here.

While Rowan, Scion of War isn’t as strong of an attacker or blocker as Rakdos, Lord of Riots, some of the other additions to this deck do make up for its relative lack of power by giving you more powerful creatures.

Withering Torment

Suggested Cut: Feed the Swarm

Even if you’re playing a normal game of Commander, this deck has a tendency to become the archenemy at some point during the game as other players become concerned about their dwindling life totals. I figured it’d be nice to have Withering Torment in this situation as opposed to Feed the Swarm, as it’ll only cost 2 life even if you’re destroying a higher mana value enchantment. That way, even if you’re feeling the pressure, you’re still likely able to afford playing this card.

Additionally, Withering Torment is an instant, which makes it a better form of interaction than a sorcery like Feed the Swarm.

Wound Reflection

Suggested Cut: Sadistic Shell Game

In general, I’m not a big fan of ceding control of my spell effects over to my opponents the way Sadistic Shell Game does. They could easily cut deals just to destroy creatures that don't matter, or a player may choose to destroy one of my opponent’s creatures that I want to stay on the field for one reason or another. This deck has plenty of removal that I control, so I figured it wouldn’t be too big of a deal to replace one instance with a different type of card.

Wound Reflection is perfect for accelerating your opponents' loss of life. This deck deals damage or drains life pretty much every turn if you have your board state up and running. By doubling that each turn, you can easily take players out more quickly. Combining this black enchantment with a bomb like a Blasphemous Act and The Lord of Pain’s triggered ability can also take a huge chunk out of an opponent’s life total, possibly eliminating them.

Grievous Wound

Suggested Cut: Fear of Burning Alive

Having an additional method of shutting down lifegain can be really helpful when The Lord of Pain isn’t on the battlefield. Grievous Wound might not be a global shutdown, but you can use this black aura on a player that you know is using lifegain as a big part of their strategy to slow them down.

Grievous Wound also helps accelerate your opponents’ loss of life by halving their life total each time they take damage. While this slows down their life loss as they get lower, that isn’t too big of a deal. This deck deals damage from a lot of different sources, which can get around the main downside of this black card a bit.

Fear of Burning Alive is more focused on damaging creatures. While there are situations when this would be helpful, there are also situations where its trigger would do little to nothing. I think Grievous Wound is a more consistently helpful card in this deck.

Wayfarer’s Bauble

Suggested Cut: Fellwar Stone

Fellwar Stone can be an unreliable mana rock. I’d much rather get an actual land on the battlefield that taps for a color that I need as opposed to an easily removed mana rock that may or may not tap for the right color at any given time. To that end, Wayfarer's Bauble made more sense to me as a source of ramp and mana fixing.

Descent into Avernus

Suggested Cut: Rakdos Signet

Descent into Avernus is a red enchantment that I love playing in a deck like this. It’ll put more pressure on your opponents while simultaneously giving you a lot of mana to work with. This red card helps you pay for some of the more expensive spells I’ve slotted into the deck. While it’s a risk to give your opponents extra resources, it also tends to make the game just a little more interesting.

The upper limits of what Descent into Avernus can do for you, even just in terms of mana production, far outweigh the benefits of having another mana rock like Rakdos Signet.

Archon of Cruelty

Suggested Cut: Massacre Wurm

Massacre Wurm isn’t a bad choice for this deck, but since I ditched Rakdos, Lord of Riots, I wanted to have another big flying creature to help keep me safe in the air. I decided on Archon of Cruelty because this black creature would also make up for some of the removal I took out from cards like Sadistic Shell Game and Fear of Burning Alive.

Archon of Cruelty also plays into the life drain aspect of this deck while giving you a source of lifegain. I appreciate having some extra life in this deck as it wasn’t uncommon for players to swing at me when their life total started to get dangerously low.

Obosh, the Preypiercer

Suggested Cut: Combustible Gearhulk

The Lord of Pain, as well as other important damage dealers in this deck like Brash Taunter, Descent into Avernus, and Vial Smasher the Fierce, all happen to have odd mana values. That made Obosh, the Preypiercer a great damage doubler in this deck, and a great way to speed up your opponents’ loss of life.

While Combustible Gearhulk has a nice ETB effect, it’s a one-off ability. I’d much prefer the sustained benefit of having Obosh, the Preypiercer instead.

Crypt Ghast

Suggested Cut: Thought Vessel

Crypt Ghast was an easy inclusion in this deck. This black spirit‘s static ability helps you to afford your more expensive spells, which in turn lets you deal more damage with The Lord of Pain. Its extort ability is yet another way to drain life from your opponents, and it also gains you some back, keeping you further ahead on life.

Thought Vessel is slightly less important for this deck when you aren’t running Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls as your commander. You don’t need to get around hand size restrictions as much, and Crypt Ghast also provides a form of extra mana and plays into your overall strategy, so this seemed like a good swap.

Sorin Markov

Suggested Cut: Evolving Wilds

Cutting a land for a spell isn’t always advisable, but after playtesting this deck, I found that 38 lands on top of mana rocks and things like Solemn Simulacrum was a bit more than I needed. What I thought this deck really did need was Sorin Markov.

Sorin Markov is a brutal planeswalker in a game of Commander to begin with. Add to that the ability to deal out large amounts of damage with The Lord of Pain and all of the punishing effects in this deck, and a player that you hit with Sorin’s -3 activated ability might as well consider it a death sentence.

I chose Evolving Wilds to ditch since it isn’t actually a source of mana, instead just fixing and a way to thin out the deck. If you aren’t comfortable cutting a land, I’d still recommend finding another card to replace with Sorin Markov.

Haunted Ridge

Suggested Cut: Bloodfell Caves

Commander tends to be a slightly slower format, meaning slow lands like Haunted Ridge aren’t as bad of an option here as they may be in other formats. I much prefer a land that has a decent chance of coming in untapped over a land that certainly comes in tapped like Bloodfell Caves, especially when this deck isn’t running lifegain payoffs.

Castle Locthwain

Suggested Cut: Temple of the False God

Temple of the False God can be a real bummer to draw early in the game. This is especially true in a deck that doesn’t have a lot of ways to find and play extra lands. That made it an easy card to replace, and I landed on Castle Locthwain as a good alternative.

Castle Locthwain is likely to come in untapped, and it provides a nice source of card draw. Having a land with utility and one that can always produce mana is much less of a risk than something like Temple of the False God.

Bloodstained Mire

Suggested Cut: Terramorphic Expanse

Terramorphic Expanse is just a slower version of a normal fetch land like Bloodstained Mire, so possibly the most obvious upgrade to this deck is to swap it out for the real deal.

Luxury Suite

Suggested Cut: Luxury Suite

I’m not a big fan of Exotic Orchard unless I happen to be playing a 5-color commander. When I have as few as two colors in my deck, like in this one, I prefer to include lands that I know are going to produce my colors.

Luxury Suite is a great substitute. It can tap for the only two colors you need in this deck, and it’ll most likely come in untapped.

Blood Crypt

Suggested Cut: Geothermal Bog

Similar to Bloodstained Mire and Terramorphic Expanse, the shock land Blood Crypt is just a better version of Geothermal Bog. Being sure you can play your land untapped is helpful when you’re trying to play a fast game, which you should be with this deck.

The Final Deck and New Cards

Barbflare Gremlin | Illustration by Matt Stewart

Here’s the fully upgraded decklist for this Commander precon, and all the new cards you’ll need to add. If you want to purchase these cards, you can click the shopping cart icon in the second box above to grab everything you need to upgrade your copy of Endless Punishment.

Commanding Conclusion

Brash Taunter | Illustration by Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo

Testing out this deck was a lot of fun. I was happy to see my efforts to speed up my damage output with cards like Wound Reflection and Obosh, the Preypiercer work out. In general, I enjoyed this Rakdos precon both in its original and updated form, and I’m excited to keep tinkering with it as I find more ways to improve on what I have now.

If you’re looking for a slightly different way to build this deck, I was at one point considering leaning more heavily into direct damage. This would mean ditching life drain effects like Blood Artist in favor of something that dealt damage instead. That way, I could include my damage enhancers like City on Fire and know that it would benefit all my triggered abilities, instead of just half.

Let me know if you have any ideas for different directions for this deck, or if you can think of some updates that would be even more helpful than the ones I’ve listed above. You can leave a comment here, reach out on Draftsim’s Twitter, or check out our Discord server.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

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