Painful Truths
Reprinted in Star Trek Commander (TRC), releasing November 13, 2026.
Painful Truths: Sorcery, Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {2}{B}
- Mana value
- 3
- Type
- Sorcery
- Colour identity
- Black (B)
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander (ECC)
- Released
- 2026-01-23
- Collector number
- 82
- Artist
- Winona Nelson
- Commander rank
- 1,681 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
- Keywords
- Converge
Build around this card with Grover
About Painful Truths
Painful Truths is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare black sorcery from Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander (ECC), a Commander product released in January 2026. It is collector number 82 in that set, with art by Winona Nelson. It costs {2}{B} (two generic and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 13 sets, from Battle for Zendikar (2015) to Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander (2026). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.27 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-01).
Card text
Converge - You draw X cards and lose X life, where X is the number of colors of mana spent to cast this spell.
As the Eldrazi spread, no secret that could give Zendikar's defenders an advantage was considered too dangerous to seek.
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.27 (as of 2026-11-01).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Painful Truths by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Pioneer | Legal |
|---|---|
| Modern | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Penny Dreadful | Legal |
Other printings of Painful Truths
Painful Truths has been printed in 13 sets. The 12 most recent other printings are listed here, newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Star Trek Commander (TRC) #274 | Rare | 2026 |
| Star Trek Commander (TRC) #447 | Rare | 2026 |
| Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #2302 | Rare | 2025 |
| Pioneer Masters (PIO) #101 | Rare | 2024 |
| Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander (OTC) #146 | Rare | 2024 |
| March of the Machine Commander (MOC) #262 | Rare | 2023 |
| Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander (ONC) #95 | Rare | 2023 |
| Dominaria United Commander (DMC) #116 | Rare | 2022 |
| New Capenna Commander (NCC) #255 | Rare | 2022 |
| Commander 2020 (C20) #134 | Rare | 2020 |
| Commander 2017 (C17) #118 | Rare | 2017 |
| Battle for Zendikar (BFZ) #120 | Rare | 2015 |
Official rulings
Five official rulings apply to Painful Truths, newest first.
- If a spell with a converge ability is copied, no mana was spent to cast the copy, so the number of colors of mana spent to cast the spell will be zero. The number of colors spent to cast the original spell is not copied.
- The maximum number of colors of mana you can spend to cast a spell is five. Colorless is not a color. Note that the cost of a spell with converge may limit how many colors of mana you can spend.
- If there are any alternative or additional costs to cast a spell with a converge ability, the mana spent to pay those costs will count. For example, if an effect makes sorcery spells cost {1} more to cast, you could pay {W}{U}{B}{R} to cast Radiant Flames and deal 4 damage to each creature.
- Unless a spell or ability allows you to, you can't choose to pay more mana for a spell with a converge ability just to spend more colors of mana. Likewise, if a spell or ability reduces the amount of mana it costs you to cast a spell with converge, you can't ignore that cost reduction in order to spend more colors of mana.
- If you cast a spell with converge without spending any mana to cast it (perhaps because an effect allowed you to cast it without paying its mana cost), then the number of colors spent to cast it will be zero.
Similar cards
Other sorcery cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.
More cards from Star Trek Commander
In these precons
Painful Truths is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.