Painful Quandary
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
What it does
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, that player loses 5 life unless they discard a card.
Rulings
2 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2011-01-01
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, Painful Quandary's ability triggers and goes on the stack on top of it. It will resolve before the spell does.
- 2022-10-14
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, Painful Quandary's ability triggers and goes on the stack on top of it. It will resolve before the spell does.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Painful Quandary, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marina Vendrell | 1 | 1 | — |
| Captain N'ghathrod | 1 | 0 | — |
| Oloro, Ageless Ascetic | 1 | 0 | — |
| The Lord of Pain | 1 | 0 | — |
| Tinybones, Trinket Thief | 1 | 0 | — |
| Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Rakdos 2 decks
- Mono-Black 1 deck
- Dimir 1 deck
- Esper 1 deck
- Five-Color 1 deck
Painful Quandary price history
The Foundations #179 printing, as Scryfall reports the TCGplayer market. Updated nightly. Click any version below to chart its price.
Every recorded price change
| Date | Non-foil | Foil |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2026 | $1.43 | $2.10 |
| Oct 31, 2026 | $1.43 | $2.10 |
| Oct 30, 2026 | $1.68 | $2.07 |
| Oct 29, 2026 | $1.85 | $1.99 |
| Oct 27, 2026 | $2.10 | $1.93 |
| Oct 26, 2026 | $2.03 | $1.86 |
| Oct 25, 2026 | $1.66 | $1.92 |
| Oct 24, 2026 | $1.66 | $1.82 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | $1.69 | $1.78 |
| Oct 21, 2026 | $1.82 | $1.79 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | $1.79 | $1.81 |
| Oct 19, 2026 | $1.79 | $1.96 |
| Oct 17, 2026 | $1.65 | $1.96 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | $1.79 | $2.02 |
| Oct 15, 2026 | $1.94 | $2.05 |
| Oct 14, 2026 | $1.96 | $2.10 |
| Oct 13, 2026 | $1.94 | $2.12 |
| Oct 12, 2026 | $1.78 | $2.08 |
| Oct 11, 2026 | $1.69 | $2.02 |
| Oct 10, 2026 | $1.73 | $2.34 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | $1.79 | $2.34 |
| Oct 8, 2026 | $1.84 | $2.37 |
| Oct 7, 2026 | $1.78 | $2.28 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | $1.69 | $2.28 |
| Oct 5, 2026 | $1.58 | $2.28 |
| Oct 4, 2026 | $1.48 | $2.26 |
| Oct 3, 2026 | $1.40 | $2.26 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | $1.49 | $2.21 |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $1.54 | $2.29 |
| Sep 30, 2026 | $1.68 | $2.30 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | $1.83 | $2.21 |
| Sep 28, 2026 | $1.85 | $2.21 |
A row is recorded only on nights the price moved, so each price held until the row above it.
Every version of Painful Quandary
7 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them. Click a card's art to chart that version's price above.
- Normal
- $1.43
- Foil
- $2.10
Promo
Foundations Promos
- Foil
- $1.99
- Normal
- $1.36
- Foil
- $2.27
Promo
The Brothers' War Promos
- Normal
- $2.80
- Foil
- $2.52
Promo
The Brothers' War Promos
- Foil
- $3.04
Extended Art
- Normal
- $5.00
- Foil
- $7.18
- Normal
- $2.99
- Foil
- $21.79
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Painful Quandary. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.
Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.
