Minecraft wiki entry for Sculk_Catalyst, associated text: A player dying can also affect the sculk catalyst, depending on how much experience the player has gathered. The sculk catalyst wouldn't spread any sculk blocks if the player has 0 experience, little if the player has few experience points and varied if the player has more experience. This could make the sculk catalyst as a way to preserve the player's experience points without having to restore all of the player's previous experience. This doesn't work on players with the "KeepInventory" gamerule set to true.