Dark Bargain

Black has always paid for its card draw with life, but the bargain here is structural rather than scaling: a flat two-point toll for a fixed peek at three and a guaranteed two-for-one, with the loser of the three feeding the graveyard. That graveyard clause is the wrinkle that separates this from a plain card-advantage spell. The card it doesn't keep isn't lost; it's placed where reanimation, flashback, escape, delve, and threshold all want it, so the "discard" half doubles as a setup tool. Instant speed sharpens the whole package: holding it lets you fill your hand at the end of an opponent's turn, dig for an answer on their attack step, or set up a graveyard payoff a beat before you need it, none of which a sorcery dig like Read the Bones can do. The two life isn't trivial in an aggressive race, but it's a known quantity, not the open-ended drain of effects that let you keep paying. What you're buying is consistency: a refill that always finds two of three and always salts the bin, paid for at a price you can see coming.