Lose of Life
General forum
Posted on May 13, 2012, 3:21 p.m. by loudambiance
I have been out of the loop for a while now, and was playing with an old deck I have with a few friends. One of the cornerstones of my deck is Shepherd of Rot. My friends told me that with recent rule changes, the loss of life caused by this card is treated as damage and can be prevented with effects that prevent damage. I tried reading through the rule manual on this and can find no reference. Is this truly the case now?
When in doubt, check the oracle text for the card on Gatherer. :)
The oracle text still states "(Tap): Each player loses 1 life for each Zombie on the battlefield.", so this life loss is not considered damage, but rather a straight loss of life. Which means this would not trigger cards such as Angelheart Vial for example.
At the same time, spells and abilities that prevent damage (such as Circle of Protection: Green or Auriok Replica for example) cannot prevent any of it.
Damage does indeed cause life loss, but life loss in itself is not considered damage.
May 13, 2012 3:31 p.m.
Nice timing Epochalyptik, you beat me by less than a minute. :)
@loudambiance: Just a note for next time, the MTG Q&A is a more appropriate place for questions regarding specific cards and/or rules.
May 13, 2012 3:34 p.m.
loudambiance says... #5
Thanks for your responses. ZaLiTHkA, I see that now, I am very new to the site and still finding my way around. Thanks for the suggestion.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Your friends are incorrect. Loss of life is not equivalent to damage. As such, damage prevention effects will not work on loss of life effects.
May 13, 2012 3:31 p.m.