@achilleslbow:
While I don't think it's bad, I can give you some possibilities as to why it's not rated higher.
First, it's not an undercosted Drain Life. Drain Life can- and usually is- aimed directly at an opponent, which is too big of an advantage to ignore. It has game winning potential. And you'll note that, at the time of writing, Drain life is rated average at best by the community. So this is not like that. This is more like a kill spell. Which is where we get into point two.
Lets starts some proper comparing. For five mana, you get to kill a 4-toughness-or less creature, gain 4 life, and (potentially) draw at Sorcery speed. Not bad. However, the card taking up the staple spot for this is Tendrils of Corruption. This card, for four mana, gives you: the ability to kill a 4+ toughness creature and gain 4+ life at instant speed. Ah, but Doctor, you say- that works best in mono-black! Can you really compare the two? Why yes, I say, I... (see all)
Posted By:
DoctorKenneth
(10/7/2010 1:56:04 PM)
But it's not that simple, reapersaurus.
In UB Control and decks like it, you rarely want to tap out to kill one of their creatures, especially spending 5 to do so. With that kind of mana, it would be far better to just Doom Blade their creature while leaving counterspell mana open.
Posted By:
Polychromatic
(5/13/2011 11:22:42 AM)
I think the best comparison this card can hope to have is Annihilate, which is a cantrip creature destruction spell like this one.
...still, that one is instant speed too! Hmm... Prophetic Bolt? No...
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(5/15/2011 3:13:24 PM)
This card is amazing, don't know why it isn't rated higher. Without the card draw bonus, it's an undercosted Drain Life. With it, it destroys a creature, gets you a significant chunk of life, AND replaces itself! Not to mention that it gets around the "nonblack" limitation that most black kill spells have. I splashed blue into my Golgari deck just to be able to run these, which wasn't that hard - since I was already running 4 Farseeks, all I had to do was put in one Watery Grave to be assured of being able to pay the bonus cost every game without making it harder to cast any of my other spells.
Posted By:
achilleselbow
(5/3/2010 3:37:45 PM)
This card is better than most people realize.
If you're running B/U (self-selecting if you're looking at this card) it kills a 4-toughness creature (like Serra Angel, etc), and gains you 4 life.
AND THEN YOU REPLACE IT WITH A FREE CARD DRAW.
So to sum up:
You likely kill your opponent's best creature.
You get 4 life.
You don't use a card.
1-for-0'd, with 4 life tacked on for playing B/U.
Posted By:
reapersaurus
(3/14/2011 1:46:01 PM)
I know everyone's arguing on the card itself (It's mediocre I would say, but it's not terrible), but I just wanted to mention that holy shit that is some hardcore flavor text.
Posted By:
NARFNra
(8/20/2013 9:31:45 PM)
@Kryptnyt, to add to Prophetic Bolt and Annihilate you can also add Bituminous Blast which is essentially the same thing. I think this card should have been an instant.
Posted By:
iHARBiNG3R
(10/24/2013 12:26:47 PM)
That angel doesn't look like she's being killed in agony. She's shrugging.
"I'm being wrapped up in ribbon and I don't know what's going on."
Posted By:
syrazemyla
(5/14/2014 10:39:44 PM)