I would, in general though, say Consume Spirit is better.
Kryptnyt
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Or, you could run four of each. Very doable.
Dragejaegeren
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This again. You all sound like this random copy card consume spirit came first, but Drain Life is an oldschool supercard, and back in the days it was a natural part of the traditional mono-black deck alongside clas-sics like Sengir Vampire, Hypnotic Specter, Nightmare, Royal Assassin, and Dark Ritual etc.
it took me a while to realize why they made the 'but not more life than the player's life total before Drain Life dealt damage' bit.. i can think of two instances this clause would matter. the most common being multiplayer games. the second one being Test of Endurance/Felidar Sovereign in either a multiplayer game or one where your opponent doesn't lose for having 0 life.
sonorhC
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
There was actually a third instance where the "but not more than the player's life total" mattered. At the time this was first printed, you didn't lose immediately for having zero life: You had until the end of the current phase to get back up into the positives. Granted, it hardly ever mattered, but it could.
longwinded
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@BastionQoU They put in the "not more life than toughness of creature/life of player" clause because you can't drain more than someone has.... It's not a game decision, it's a flavor decision.
It doesn't matter at all for life, because this card precedes multiplayer formats by many, many years. It matters when you try to double-dip by simultaneously killing an annoying critter and gaining massive amounts of life. (For example, if you're playing mono-black, at 2 life, facing down a Serra Angel and a Circle of Protection: Black. You can kill the angel, save yourself, and and gain 4 life, but you can't kill the angel and pump in enough mana to gain a further 8 life.)
The clause was removed from newer descendants because life gain is not that good, it's pricey, and it just makes the text too long. Removing the clause is also not a game decision so much as a text formatting decision.
Romulox1990
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Underrated card, it's almost the same as the highly rated Death Grasp but for a mono-black deck. If you read the wording correctly, you can still use to overkill a creature (such as dealing 6 damage to a 3 toughness) to ensure it dies assuming they have a pump, you just can't reap as much life.
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wonderful art.
Shamangic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
the oracle should be: Spend only black mana on X. Drain Life deals X damage to target creature or player. You gain life equal to the damage dealt. If you would gain more life from Drain Life than the previous life total of the player or more than the previous toughness of the creature, instead you gain equal to the life total of the player or the toughness of the creature Drain Life dealt damage to.
Comments (13)
I would, in general though, say Consume Spirit is better.
Still today it works fine with cards like Rain of Filth and Cabal Ritual.
They put in the "not more life than toughness of creature/life of player" clause because you can't drain more than someone has.... It's not a game decision, it's a flavor decision.
It doesn't matter at all for life, because this card precedes multiplayer formats by many, many years. It matters when you try to double-dip by simultaneously killing an annoying critter and gaining massive amounts of life. (For example, if you're playing mono-black, at 2 life, facing down a Serra Angel and a Circle of Protection: Black. You can kill the angel, save yourself, and and gain 4 life, but you can't kill the angel and pump in enough mana to gain a further 8 life.)
The clause was removed from newer descendants because life gain is not that good, it's pricey, and it just makes the text too long. Removing the clause is also not a game decision so much as a text formatting decision.
Spend only black mana on X.
Drain Life deals X damage to target creature or player. You gain life equal to the damage dealt. If you would gain more life from Drain Life than the previous life total of the player or more than the previous toughness of the creature, instead you gain equal to the life total of the player or the toughness of the creature Drain Life dealt damage to.