I found this by hitting random card repeatedly, but it's still pretty cool. Also, I like the word "Spite". It's just fun to say.
majinara
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
5 life is quite a chunk to lose. Still, most often if the creatures you kill this way would attack and hit you, you'd lose more than 5. Not to mention that killing two for one card is fine card advantage, the whole thing for 3 mana and instant speed, nice. Not tournament quality, but good card for casual decks.
Draugnor
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
When I first saw this card after opening a pack, I thought I would never play it. But it has saved my butt on numerous occasions. You lose a sizable portion of your own ass, but if you kill the right creatures with it, it's worth it.
Interesting, Ashes to Ashes is a sorcery but exiles two nonartifact creatures. Not sure which one is better.
Nonartifact > Nonblack (I think). Exile > Destroy. Sorcery < Instant.
Asparagus333
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
my favorite card EVAAA
WhiteyMcFly
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Ashes to Ashes is the better deal. It deals damage, so it can be prevented.
divine_exodus
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
At the beginning, five life is an effective ONE QUARTER of your life total. Too much.
tcollins
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@divine_exodus
True, but you get to destroy two target creatures at instant speed. The only life point that is important it your last one, and this card can easily take down aggro decks that use cheap but efficient pump spells (such as Primal Bellow or the often reprinted Giant Growth) or can even take out much bigger, more threatening creatures later on in the game (imagine using Reckless Spite to kill an opponent's attacking Iona, Shield of Emeriaand their precious Baneslayer Angel. Also, this card is in {B} meaning expect to pay any price (usually in the form of life, also often in the form of sacrificing minions etc.) to gain the upper hand.
GracefulInferno
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is decent in traditional formats, but should be a very good piece of removal in mono-black EDH. I'd actually run this ahead of Ashes to Ashes because of the omnipresence of artifact creatures in that format.
reapersaurus
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I love how people poo-poo the 1 and 2 life they spend when playing a LAND (sac and CiP-tapped lands), or the multiple lives they spend when drawing a card (Dark Confidant, Sign in Blood), yet they blanche at the thought of investing 5 of it to 2-for-1 the biggest threats on the table.... *shakes head*
Gabriel422
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Definitely don't play this as a four-of, unless you play Death Shadow.dec.
sincleanser
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I really really like this card, but I do have to say, for it to be 5 life, if it was damage instead of life loss I would really want to play this more than I actually do.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dismember? Who needs that? lol, SO glad I discovered this.
Dismember in a non-black deck costs the same life, for half the effect- with the upshot being it kills a small number more kinds of creatures, but targeting a whole less creature in the first place is a big deal.
In a black deck, I could almost see running Dismember anyway, because it can cost 1B and 2 life to kill one creature, and this is 1BB and 5 life to kill 2 creatures, and both of those deals sound the same to me. (to accurately double a spell, the cost should be just a little less than double, but with noticeably more color intensity- this makes cards that are both fair and fun)
BuffJittePLZ
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@tcollins: You are a bit optimistic. If someone has an Iona, why would they have not said black, the color with the most removal (and many of MTG's most broken cards).
BongRipper420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Interesting, but I prefer Ashes to Ashes over this for the same reason I prefer Go For The Throat to Doom Blade. Roughly 1/5 of creatures are black, while much less are artifact creatures.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@artwork Now kiss.
Burningsickle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i personally find this card to be hugely powerful. 5 life may at first SEEM like a lot, but considering you potentially destroy your opponent's entire game with a simple spell... This is great. In addition, you can make up that life with ease, whether it is with Lifelink, Platinum Angel spells like corrupt Phrexyian Unlife or any of the other hundreds of life-gain based abilities.
The greatest part is that it is instant; you can use it to shut down your opponent's threatening attack, or tip the odds in your favor on your attack
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Considering some of these and ashes to ashes as sideboard against Zoo and similar. I like the instant speed a bit more because you can really screw someone's attack up, keep a whispersilk cloak or lightning greaves from attaching, or similar.
Comments (19)
Nonartifact > Nonblack (I think). Exile > Destroy. Sorcery < Instant.
True, but you get to destroy two target creatures at instant speed. The only life point that is important it your last one, and this card can easily take down aggro decks that use cheap but efficient pump spells (such as Primal Bellow or the often reprinted Giant Growth) or can even take out much bigger, more threatening creatures later on in the game (imagine using Reckless Spite to kill an opponent's attacking Iona, Shield of Emeria and their precious Baneslayer Angel. Also, this card is in {B} meaning expect to pay any price (usually in the form of life, also often in the form of sacrificing minions etc.) to gain the upper hand.
Dismember in a non-black deck costs the same life, for half the effect- with the upshot being it kills a small number more kinds of creatures, but targeting a whole less creature in the first place is a big deal.
In a black deck, I could almost see running Dismember anyway, because it can cost 1B and 2 life to kill one creature, and this is 1BB and 5 life to kill 2 creatures, and both of those deals sound the same to me. (to accurately double a spell, the cost should be just a little less than double, but with noticeably more color intensity- this makes cards that are both fair and fun)
The greatest part is that it is instant; you can use it to shut down your opponent's threatening attack, or tip the odds in your favor on your attack