Wow. That's quite a Lava Spike, or quite an upgrade to Bump in the Night. I fear this should perhaps be 2 mana.

Well, bump lets you do it twice; and black rarely cares what its life total is; only the damage it can deal.

But yeah, it's a bit good. To get the same effect with Drain Life you need .

This lacks that flexibility (and can't hit creatures) but still needs to cost more I think. maybe?

It's an interesting enigma... I don't think black rarely cares what its life total is... there are plenty of U/B control decks that would love to gain some incidental life.

The tricky part is that decks that like to cast Lava Spike... those are the decks that don't care to gain life. I suppose this kind of card goes best in your standard 'fish' deck, where you're racing the opponent by evading, and delaying them?

Awkward. It's awkward because this spell looks fine at , and compares favorably with Volcanic Hammer at that cost. But if that's true, then what costs ? My guess is "Lose 3, Gain 1" or "Lose 2, Gain 3". I don't think anyone wants to see those spells, though. "Lose 2, Gain 2, Instant speed" might be the best looking option.

(BTW: "Looses" should be "Loses".)

For , you get Taste of Blood.

That's true, but Taste of Blood is very bad. I think "lose 2, gain 2" would be printable for (though I'd make it sorcery speed rather than jmg's instant).

(Vitenka's Drain Life comparison isn't relevant because Fireball is very inefficient compared to Lava Spike, Flames of the Blood Hand etc; with Fireball / Consume Spirit you're paying for the flexibility and the potential for late-game massive damage.)

I think the right costs are:

­, Sorcery, Lose 2 gain 2
­, Sorcery, Lose 3 gain 3

By comparison with Flames of the Blood Hand, you could possibly make a Lose 4 gain 4 for , but I'd more expect to see that at .

i think i'll move it back to and 2 life then, thank you guys for all the feedback.