It seems like it should have deathtouch, but it works slightly differently. Deathtouch says "Any damage to the creature is treated as if it killed it", whereas this says "Whatever the damage did, it's dead anyway." The difference is in the rulings if the damage would be enough to kill the creature without deathtouch/this. You only have to regenerate once from deathtouch, because the damage, which *was* lethal, has been removed. The killing is a property of the damage, so the damage has to still be there to kill it. From this you have to regenerate twice, because the damage being removed doesn't change the fact that it used to be there. Since damage was there at some point, this triggers and tries to destroy the victim again.
tl;dr: This forces two regenerations if the damage would normally be lethal, deathtouch would need only one.
Posted By:
Dabir
(1/5/2011 5:27:39 PM)
This also uses the stack, unlike damage (from a source with deathtouch). You might think that you're trading your blocker for their big stompy but they can bounce it with the destruction trigger on the stack.
Posted By:
Tynansdtm
(2/24/2012 9:19:22 PM)
What this gives isn't strictly better than deathtouch. While this can possibly force 2 regenerations, because you deal all of the damage before the destroy effect this card doesn't work as well with trample as deathtouch does (since deathtouch makes the first point of damage lethal and the creatures trambles over for its power -1, while this card requires you to deal all of the damage first so either it or the trample is usually useless).
Posted By:
EvilDarkVoid
(5/8/2013 5:35:29 PM)
Why is this rated so low? I put this on an ally's Tim in a multiplayer game, then immediately went home and made a deck with this, Hermetic Study, Horseshoe Crab, and of course Superman. The instant kill is worth watering down the mana pool.
Posted By:
blindthrall
(12/17/2010 1:29:28 AM)
Shouldn't the rule text just be "Enchanted creature has deathtouch."?
Posted By:
NerdyTB
(12/20/2010 10:19:14 PM)
One downside to this card is its NOT deathtouch. Under the new rules, you have to apply full lethal damage before you can assign trample damage or damage to another creature, in multiblocking for example. 1 point of damage is considered lethal when the creature has deathtouch. If it has this triggered ability, 1 point is not considered lethal damage unless they had 1 toughness.
So it does not combo with lure, for example.
Posted By:
TheWrathofShane
(11/6/2013 12:19:44 AM)
Venom is a better choice if you're looking to wipe someone's board by attacking with a creature like Taunting Elf, but this is not bad for pingers like Ronin Cliffrider.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(5/9/2014 6:35:30 PM)