Master of Cruelties

Bracket

• B1 Exhibition — Not in the same deck as its two-card combo partners: Kaalia of the Vast, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Satoru Umezawa
• B2 Core — Not in the same deck as its two-card combo partners: Kaalia of the Vast, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Satoru Umezawa
• B3 Upgraded — Not in the same deck as its early two-card combo partners: Kaalia of the Vast, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Satoru Umezawa
• B4 Optimized — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list
• B5 cEDH — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list

Why

• Two-card combo with Kaalia of the Vast, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Satoru Umezawa (early with Kaalia of the Vast, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Satoru Umezawa)

How Lotus Vault estimates a bracket

Bracket: Lotus Vault analysis, with Commander Spellbook flags

Combos

4 known combos, 3 of them two-card.

• Kaalia of the Vast + Master of Cruelties
  Produces: Target opponent loses the game
  View on Commander Spellbook
• Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Master of Cruelties
  Produces: Target opponent loses the game
  View on Commander Spellbook
• Satoru Umezawa + Master of Cruelties
  Produces: Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent, Target opponent loses the game
  View on Commander Spellbook

Combos: Commander Spellbook

Rulings

• 2024-01-12 · Wizards of the Coast
  Master of Cruelties's last ability won't trigger if it attacks a planeswalker or a battle.
• 2013-04-15 · Wizards of the Coast
  If Master of Cruelties attacks alone, another creature entering the battlefield attacking will have no effect on it. Master of Cruelties continues to be an attacking creature. The other attacking creature will assign combat damage normally, regardless of whether Master of Cruelties's last ability triggers.
• 2013-04-15 · Wizards of the Coast
  For a player's life total to become 1, what actually happens is that the player loses (or in some rare cases, gains) the appropriate amount of life. For example, if the player's life total is 4 when the last ability resolves, it will cause that player to lose 3 life. Other effects that interact with life loss (or gain) will interact with this effect accordingly.
• 2013-04-15 · Wizards of the Coast
  Assigning no combat damage isn't the same as preventing that damage. Effects that make damage unpreventable will have no effect if no combat damage can be assigned.
• 2013-04-15 · Wizards of the Coast
  Master of Cruelties isn't forced to attack, but if it does, it must do so alone. If you control another creature with an ability that says it must attack if able, that creature must attack and Master of Cruelties won't be able to.
• 2013-04-15 · Wizards of the Coast
  An ability that triggers when something "attacks and isn't blocked" triggers in the declare blockers step after blockers are declared if (1) that creature is attacking and (2) no creatures are declared to block it. It will trigger even if that creature was put onto the battlefield attacking rather than having been declared as an attacker in the declare attackers step.

Rulings: Scryfall · Wizards of the Coast