I recently ran into an issue during a game involvong these two cards, and I’m hoping someone can resolve it. As long as I have Platinum Angel out, can I simply choose to take the life loss from Torment of Scarabs into negative life values continuously, or am I forced to sacrifice nonland permanents once I hit zero?
I would assume I could keep taking the damage since Torment says lose life rather than pay life, but none of us could come to any confident conclusions.
Notes: Card name edited for Torment of Scarabs so tags will work.
Torment of Scarabs's second ability means, in relevant part, "... that player may sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card. If he or she doesn't, that player loses 3 life" (C.R. 118.12a, 603.5). Thus, the enchanted player may choose not to sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card, and will lose 3 life if he or she chooses not to, even if he or she has 3 or less life (C.R. 118.12, 107.1b, 119.3) (compare Torment of Scarabs with Blood Clock, where a player can't choose to pay 2 life if he or she has less than 2 life [C.R. 119.4]).
EDIT (Feb. 4, 2021): Some rules were renumbered in the meantime.
Yes, you can simply take the life loss. While you can't pay life you don't have, you can lose life even beyond zero. And the only choice you make for Torment of Scarabs is wether you want to sacrifice a nonland permanent/discard a card or not. You never have to make a choice of wether to lose life, which would be impossible and thus could not be chosen.
I would assume I could keep taking the damage since Torment says lose life rather than pay life, but none of us could come to any confident conclusions.
EDIT (Feb. 4, 2021): Some rules were renumbered in the meantime.
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