Not that it’s a legendary card, but it is very multiplayer focussed. Paying life for mana is very strong, especially in Commander where you start with a high life total in the first place, and it might as well be Channel, even with the 3 life for 1 mana ratio. Treasonous Ogre can end things rather quickly. Care to pay 24 life for an Insurrection? Or 30 life for a  Kozilek on turn four? If you like didn’t like high risk and agression, you wouldn’t be playing red. And you wouldn’t trust your life with a Treasonous Ogre.

The life payment can be a boon of its own, if you want to Dethrone an opponent but you happen to sit on the throne yourself. By all means, take a seat! It’s even a bit of damage control with another Ogre, Heartless Hidetsugu, who somewhat halves life totals, and thus life payment after the fact. Or there could be a Havoc Festival in town.

Damage doublers like Dictate of the Twin Gods or Furnace of Rath even combo with Heartless Hidetsugu by killing everyone with even life totals. Paying 3 life can switch you from even to odd and survive.

In multiplayer games, you could even risk paying as much as you can, and recoup the loss from your opponents. With 4 or more across the table, it could even result in a net life gain. Still not cruel enough? Use the mana to ramp into Worst Fears, and donate the Ogre with Bazaar Trader.

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Life totals aren’t always the most important factor in the game, but most of the time you’ll want to have more mana. Short-term gains often outweigh long-term survival, so Treasonous Ogre offers an interesting deal. You’d probably won’t go all out of it very often, but sometimes the extra mana can actually help prevent  taking damage, so it’s always good to at least have the option.