Could be wrong, but this seems pretty weak
Spoilers
MTG Spoilers!
All card and set spoilers, including official spoilers and unofficial leaks.
Please try to preface spoiler posts with the set code in brackets, like this:
[CMM] Pearl Medallion
Please try to keep all spoilers and spoiler discussion here instead of the other communities to help subscriptions and during spoiler season.
I think you're right. 5 mana draw a card or 5 mana make, at best, 2 2/2s isn't ideal. Interesting with phyrexian mana but how often will you be able to play this and another spell in the same turn.
If there is support in set for paying life as a cost, maybe this sees play? But it'd be a lot for the meta to allow a slow PW in a suicide black style deck that also wins by milling.
Well, thinking about this more, there's a slim chance it could combo kill. You'd need two things. First, Vorinclex, Monsteous Raider in play. Second, a repeatable source of paying life. Something like an expensive enchantment with "pay X life: surveil 1". It's be a three card combo, but you could drop Ashiok, exile your library until you have mana value in exile equal to or greater than your opponents library size, then ult, mill them out, and they die on draw step.
That said, that's a lot to ask for. And it's pretty unlikely we'd get an abusable life paying outlet. You could also do it with some sort of "pay any amount of life" but that's even more unlikely in standard.
Compares pretty closely to [[Lolth]], which saw play. The card draw mode is better, I don't think that selection should be discounted. Given how strong black is already, I just don't know if there is a slot for this. No built in removal is a real issue for control.
Saffron Olive also made that comparison. To me they seem better than Lolth in every way 🤷🏻♀️
Idk. The ultimate is better but the static is worse in standard I think since it requires buildaroung to get value. 2/1s and reach make blocks a lot better.~~ Plus 1 is better in a vacuum but worse in a meta with Sheoldred~~ Actually strike that the +1 is still better regardless of Shelly