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Title: How much life to kill a creature?

Date Posted: Sun Aug/23/15 at 1:22am

Posts: 1553
Joined: 02-Nov-11

I was talking to someone today and they brought up the 1/1 lifelink cat from RTR and how it was the white version of Typhoid Rats. They said however that deathtouch was better than lifelink in this regard, to which I easily agreed.
After mulling it over for a moment, I declared that killing a creature is better than gaining a life, which seemed slightly odd, but still rather believable.

My question then is this: say that there was an artifact that had the ability "Pay _ life: destroy target creature".
How little/much life would you be willing to pay?

I know from personal experience that playing Ashes to Ashes (exile two creatures for 5 life) seems steep at first glance but is personally worth it in a typical 60 card format. However that is two creatures, yet also costs mana and can only be used as a sorcery.

How much extra if it can be used as an instant?
Multiple times a turn?
EDH versus typical?

I'm curious about everyone's opinion.

Date Posted: Sun Aug/23/15 at 9:56am

Posts: 2788
Joined: 13-Oct-09

At the end of the game the only life totals that matter is that your opponent has 0 and you have 1 or more. How much more doesn't change the outcome.

Life is a resource and if you have to give up some of that resource to increase your advantage that is a practical move. Throwing 19 life into a fire covenet to wipe my opponents field so my creatures can reduce them to 0 is a good play. Target an invisable stalker with a 19 life hatred is a good play.

But be smart about paying that resource. I'm not going to pay 19 life if they have an untapped mountain, or if my creatures can't make the kill. How much you pay will always depend on the situation, but ultimately its card advantage that wins the game, and paying life to gain that advantage is a good thing, and the reason necropetence is in every black edh deck

Date Posted: Sun Oct/25/15 at 4:08pm

simondiamond2012

Posts: 46
Joined: 25-Oct-15

I'd use Toxic Deluge instead and base it around the board state.

Then again, I'm more of an EDH player than anything so 10 life to kill the board as opposed to getting killed by one shot robot (blightsteel) is perfectly okay with me.

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