Necropotence - Foil

Try these four: Necropotence + Venser's Journal + Maralen of the Mornsong + Mindlock Orb.

Maralen locks down all card draw. Mindlock Orb negates Maralen's library search. So without library search open, you simply use Necropotence to replenish your hand. Venser's Journal compensates for any/all life lost by it or Maralen.

In other words; your game keeps going, and your opponents will never get a new card again.

I play Magic until 1994 and that card is the most powerfull card ever period. ( beat any Power 9 cards )
Why? Zuran Orb/Ivory Tower +Reliquary tower and Necropotence = you can have all your deck in your hand really really fast. = Win.

I just cannot believe the amount of people that do not get this card. The fact that CA wins games is not exactly a secret plus like the first reviewer said it is not like black doesn't have any ways to deal with life loss.

Wow... Ivory Tower + Library of Leng... Hadn't seen that coming - it sure sounds lethal O_O

Still, Necropotence is really frikken' awesome because it enables you to dig deep into your library after whatever cards you may need. Back in the days, it used to work brilliantly with Drain Life, ensuring your continued survival and that your hand kept ever-growing. However, Necropotence does not allow you to directly "draw" your cards, which is just about the only really bad thing about it. You can restock your entire hand for 7 life, but you'll have to wait an entire turn, and you won't get to trigger any abilities that triggers when you draw a card. This, however, is also a good thing, preventing people from killing you on the spot with Spiteful Visions or Underworld Dreams!

I agree - people who think Necropotence is bad have no idea of how powerful this is. Necropotence really strengthens any mono-black life drain deck by allowing you to fill your hand whenever needed. The cost of drawing with necropotence is easily nullified with cards like Tendrills of Corruption, Corrupt and other lifestealers. Actually, you could even use necropotence to "convert" the rules text of the Lifelink ability of creatures you control into something like,
"Whenever this creature deals damage, for each point of damage, draw a card at the beginning of your next end step", making Necropotence pretty strong in Vampire decks as well.

Perfect when paired with Venser's Journal.

To answer the above reviewer's questions... If, for any reason, a card goes directly from your hand to the graveyard, it is considered discarding. If the card comes from anywhere else, it is not discarding. Each turn, you can pay 1 life as many times as you want to and can afford to, but you aren't required to.