Is there a limit on the amount of life I can pay with Plunge into Darkness?
Asked by CkajLanoa 7 years ago
I know that with the card Plunge into Darkness you choose the amount of life you pay before you pay it, unlike Ad Nauseam, where you pay life one at a time until you run out of life/library. My question is, is the amount (x) that you choose with Plunge into Darkness limited to either the amount of life you have, or the number of cards in your library? Pretty much, can I choose x=47, go to -29 life, then lose?
Gidgetimer says... #2
Also, you don't pay life into Ad Nauseam and the life loss isn't restricted to one. You reveal a card and then lose life equal to its CMC. You can go negative with Ad Nauseam because it is an effect that happens, not a cost that is paid.
Plunge into Darkness you choose how much life to pay as it is resolving and as acbooster said you can not pay more life than you have at that point. Lim-Dl's Vault is something where you are able to pay 1 life at a time, and it too is limited by the amount of life you have to pay.
February 5, 2017 5:13 p.m.
As a note, you can always pay 0 life, even if you don't have that much. You can never pay less than 0 life.
February 5, 2017 8:26 p.m.
Relevant rule:
117.3. A player cant pay a cost unless he or she has the necessary resources to pay it fully. For example, a player with only 1 life cant pay a cost of 2 life, (...)
@Neotrup: You seem to be confusing the life total (which can be below 0) with an amount of life you're paying (which can't be below 0). The reason you can always pay 0 life is that you can always "afford" to pay 0 life, not (like you're implying) that it's an exception to rule 117.3. It's explicitly mentioned in the rules for clarification, not as additional information.
February 6, 2017 8:56 a.m.
@BlueScope: The relevant rule is actually a subsection of the one you mentioned:
117.3b Paying life is done by subtracting the indicated amount of life from a player's life total. (Players can always pay 0 life.)
Considering the rules call out that you can always pay 0, I don't see why me saying it is me being confused. As for not choosing a number less than 0 to pay, that rule is:
107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can't choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. However, its possible for a game value, such as a creatures power, to be less than zero. If a calculation or comparison needs to use a negative value, it does so. If a calculation that would determine the result of an effect yields a negative number, zero is used instead, unless that effect sets a player's life total to a specific value, doubles a player's life total, sets a creature's power or toughness to a specific value, or otherwise modifies a creatures power or toughness.
February 6, 2017 10:09 a.m.
@Neotrup: I know you're referring to that subsection, and you're not stating anything wrong, but the correct thing for the wrong reason (you said "even if you don't have that much"): The part emphysized by you is just a clarification of what's already established before; the reason you can always pay 0 life is that you can always afford to pay 0 life, not that a rule allows you to do so even though your life total is below 0 - these are completely independent of each other, and you mixed them up in your previous reply.
February 6, 2017 10:36 a.m.
Also, I mentioned "relevant rule" in regard to the question, not the section of my reply directed towards you.
acbooster says... Accepted answer #1
You can only pay as much of a resource as you have. In this case you're paying life, so you can't pay more than your current life total.
February 5, 2017 12:06 p.m.