colorshifted Hornet Sting

Have it gain 1 life and call it (((Bat Bite))) and you have a card I put in some set somewhere on an old hard drive.

A snake bite should probably have deathtouch (and would need to cost more for that card).

I think I'd add the drain 1 life part, to this, yeah. Just plain damage is red; and it's only 1 which is still pretty weak.

Hmm, well and are 's allies so yeah okay maybe. Certainly less questionable than Hornet Sting.

On that note (damage being a jund thing), should have less effects that deal damage and have more stuff that like "sacrifices an attacking creature" or "exile target creature with power/toughness 3 or less" (which can't be stacked like damage)? Personally I've never felt comfortable with stuff like "deals 2 damage to target attacking/blocking creature" in since it can get rid of creatures in so many different ways (o-rings, straight-up exile, sacrifice, tapping temporarily and indefinitely, prevent damage, redirecting damage, destroying under certain conditions, etc - it even has or had access to counterspells and tucking) and yet many cards commonly go with the one way that feels the least amount of (that being damage).

I like Bat Bite, weak but flavourful, although now I check, it was printed as Taste of Blood which I didn't like that much. Maybe I just liked the flavour, or liked the elegance of having a colour-appropriate card to fill out a set, even if I wouldn't usually use it.

It does feel odd that no color is secondary in direct damage, doesn't anyone get hornet sting? Apparently not.

The other possibility would be to add another exception like black's drain or green's new "equal to the power of a creature you control", direct damage with a hoop instead of weaker.

I like the idea of snake bite, but it would work better as a creature that definitely wouldn't have poison. And Taste of Blood is already weak, even compared to the decreased rate-of-return for black drain over red direct damage, so there doesn't seem a need for an even weaker version.

Black is secondary in direct damage; it just has to come with a rider to make it "feel black", which is usually lifegain to give the drain feeling, but can also be association with another black activity (Dead Reckoning, Corpse Lunge, Megrim) or giving up some other resource (...I thought, but I can't find any in Modern).

...And then there's straight-up colour bleeds like Cruel Sadist, and throwbacks like Wail of the Nim (referencing Pestilence which isn't really in black's pie any more) and Fate Unraveler (referencing Underworld Dreams, ditto).