Hmm... This is an odd card. At first glance I thought it was great, but it doesn't work very well in monoblack decks- or rather, not as well as the alternatives. It's always really expensive as a burn spell, and black has much better creature removal; in particular, Hideous End, Tendrils of Corruption and Corrupt beat it hands down, provided all of your mana comes from swamps. Flexibility is the only thing it's got going for it.
...Unless of course you have something like Cabal Coffers, but there must be better uses for that much black mana.
GrimGorgonBC
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
This card is meant for life gain suicide decks, dont rely on this as a removal only.
This is a reprint of Drain Life
izzet_guild_mage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is not a kill spell (all things going well, that is). It is a game ending dome-hitter. And end games it does. As for whether this or Corrupt is better...why not run both :P
Block-Bastard
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@GrimGorgonBC This is not a reprint of of Drain Life as this card doesn't put a limit on how much life you can gain. Drain Life: You gain life equal to the damage dealt, but not more life than the player's life total before Drain Life dealt damage or the creature's toughness
EvilCleavage
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(5 votes)
tendrils of corruption whoops this cards ***. If that one colorless mana was gone it would be better but still not as good as tendrils. I wouldn't use this.
jstorrie
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Variable burn, kills Planeswalkers, excellent versus aggro decks, nonbasic-land-friendly. Very good and versatile.
BiOhyBr
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I like this card better than corrupt because in my mono black deck I have done 16 for only 6 swamp using 2 dark rituals and a nirkana revenent. With corrupt and tendrils I would have only done 6. Having said that, you can still do massive amounts of damage with corrupt and tendrils, and in my opinion, tendrils is the best out of the three, but that's just because of the lower mana cost.
Compare to Stream of Life and Fireball. This is why we play black, people. To get the best effects of all colors combined together in a single spell at a higher cost. A pretty good bargain if you ask me.
Tetsu_tora
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
how can you not rate this a 5? damage a foe, gain life, potentially cheap...and yeah it's a reprint of drain life so now your little black deck can have 8 drain life spells, 12 if you count soul burn.
Not obsoleted by any cards mentioned in these comments. Unlike corrupt of tendrils, it can funnel copious amounts of black mana rather than just counting the number of swamps you control. This is particularly relevant in the color that has cabal coffers. And while consume spirit lacks the multiplayer power of exsanguinate, you can't point exsanguinate at a creature.
Jannissary
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not a fan, but it has its uses.
Much better used as a stalling tactic or a late-game finisher, but there are probably better ways to get that done.
Comments (13)
...Unless of course you have something like Cabal Coffers, but there must be better uses for that much black mana.
This is a reprint of Drain Life
This is not a reprint of of Drain Life as this card doesn't put a limit on how much life you can gain.
Drain Life: You gain life equal to the damage dealt, but not more life than the player's life total before Drain Life dealt damage or the creature's toughness
Answer: Jet Medallion lol
And while consume spirit lacks the multiplayer power of exsanguinate, you can't point exsanguinate at a creature.
Much better used as a stalling tactic or a late-game finisher, but there are probably better ways to get that done.