Drain Life
Mana cost {X}{1}{B}.
Spend only black mana on X.
Drain Life deals X damage to any target. You gain life equal to the damage dealt, but not more life than the player's life total before the damage was dealt, the planeswalker's loyalty before the damage was dealt, or the creature's toughness.
Drain Life is a black card, legal in Premodern, shown in its old-frame Fifth Edition printing.
Price and printings: Cardmarket (€0.08) · TCGplayer ($0.37) · Scryfall
Tracked daily since 28 July 2026: on Cardmarket between €0.08 and €0.62 in that time.
How often Drain Life is played
Drain Life is maindecked in 3 of 131 tournament decks in this archive (2%), averaging 1.7 copies; kept in 1 sideboard (1%); used by 2 of 33 tracked archetypes.
Counting only the 75 decks that can cast black cards, 4 of them play it (5%).
See how it compares on the Premodern staples list.
Premodern archetypes that play Drain Life
- Fluctuator: The second kill: X damage to any target, and X can be paid only with black mana, which Songs of the Damned provides. Alone after Songs it deals N minus 2; after Haunting Misery has used three of the mana, N minus 5 more. It also kills a creature in a pinch.
Sideboard plans with Drain Life
- Mono Black vs. Zombies, Clerics and Rebels. Against Zombies, in: all four Engineered Plague and Drain Life; out: Plaguebearer, three Duress and a Cabal Therapy. Drain Life has no color restriction, so it kills a lord and wins back the life Shepherd of Rot drains.
- Mono Black vs. Sligh, RG Zoo and UG Madness. Spinning Darkness costs no mana if you exile the top three black cards of your graveyard and deals 3 damage to a nonblack creature while you gain 3 life, and Drain Life, with X paid in black mana only, gains you life equal to the damage it deals, up to a creature's toughness. Against Sligh and RG Zoo, in: Vendetta, Spinning Darkness and Drain Life; out: two Cabal Therapy and a Graveborn Muse. Against UG Madness, in: Vendetta, Spinning Darkness and Drain Life; out: all three Ravenous Rats.
Tournament decks with Drain Life
- Mono Black: 1st Place at MTGO Premodern League (1× sideboard)
- Basic Mono Black: 4th Place at Andre's League 10 Tappa (3× mainboard)
- Fluctuator: 6th Place at Magico Conclave Etrusco (1× mainboard)
- Fluctuator: 2nd Place at Magico Conclave Etrusco (1× mainboard)
Spicy brews with Drain Life
- Coffers Control (3×)
