The card isn't as bad as you might think upon first view. Sure, it makes it pretty easy to lose, but it also gives you a card drawing engine and prevents damage to you. So, in the right deck, it's a pretty good card indeed.
return
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(6 votes)
It's a good card, you just have to destroy it before it destroys you.
Darklit_Gargoyle
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
my friend lost all his games at the shards pre release from playing this, because of relic of progentius
Saxophonist
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
What better compliments a crappy card than a crappy Hamlet joke? I'd like to shuffle off this Immortal Coil ASAP.
Dark_Raider
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I don't know what the wizards people were thinking when they made this... thing, but I'm betting it wasn't "Wow! This card is so overpowered, maybe we shouldn't print it..." You get the point.
skew
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I swear there must be some infernal combo including this card... Well, possibly with Donate, if nothing else.
Rainyday2012
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
You know a card is bad when its best combo is with Donate.
BambooNickel
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
i may be wrong... but since the the game loss clause is a triggered ability you could respond to it say... with master transmuter. theoritically, and as long as you could keep putting at least 1 card in your graveyard you could take no damage.
5/5 for the johnny challenge
zpikduM
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(4 votes)
All im going to say is this seems like worst way to die if you can pull it off. Great for johnnies.
Great card. If you have a way to get rid of it. If you have enough graveyard removal, giving it to your opponent, say, with Bazaar Trader, wins you the game.
Arglypuff
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card. I run it in my standard dredge deck. With 2 crabs on the field and the occasional tome scour, I put AT LEAST 6 cards in my graveyard per turn (or landfall, at least). Crack a fetch land and a tome scour, and I get 17 cards in my graveyard! With the occasional draw, too, this card is pretty nice.
Oh, but Platinum Angel wouldn't do anything. The additional rulings specifically mention it. Plat+Coil would cause an involuntary infinite loop unless you are able to put a card in your graveyard somehow.
Guntz1092
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this really isn't that bad, especially if you deck yourself. play this in a W/U/B deck.
Deck yourself lightly with cards like Hedron Crab and Tome Scour to feed your graveyard some fodder for Immortal Coil. Run cards like Sactum Gargoyle, Promatter Powder, Breathe of Life and Grim Discovery x4 to just take wutever you didn't mean to deck. Cards with the Scry ability can help too so you won't deck yourself. If you are a bit too close to losing your graveyard, sacrifice it with Etherium Astrolabe or Thopter Foundry
This is of course, assuming you are playing with an Esper Artifacts Deck
Tezz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
in my platinum angel deck cant resurrect my art creatures with skeleton shard tho...
edit: why would i want to prevent damage when i have platinum angel?
statiefreez
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Bojuka Bog and Bazaar Trader...
DiSCoCaT
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(3 votes)
@statiefreez
I tried that combo with my roommates. It doesn't work after the first game :(
krissy821
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This actually can be a pretty great card in this set. You get a Thopter Foundry to sac a ton of artifacts to make nice, cheap, chump blockers and you gain a nice bit of life as well. And all else fails and you have only a tiny graveyard, then sac this with Thopter Foundry and it's over and done. Also cycling cards would work with this too. From this set there's Sanctum Plowbeast and other guys that can increase your graveyard and let you draw more.
Hoard Smelter Dragon- from Scars of Mirrodin and this card...........hmmmmmmmmmm
PolskiSuzeren
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't care what you say about the card, that art is some of the greatest I've ever seen on a magic card.
monkeymonk42
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You start reading and you say "ok this is a pretty interesting way to absorb some blows" and then you get one line lower and you realize "oh... well no thanks then"
honestly this would be excellent if someone just used Jace Mind Sculpter on you but other than that i see no reason for this.
Magnor_Criol
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Fantastic art.
Really Johnny card though. It's got a narrow niche it shines in and nothing else. That's okay though, we need narrow cards too.
Basically, it's like swapping your life total with your graveyard and saying "look at me, i'm playing with a bad necropotence". Were it not for all the rampant graveyard hate running around, this would see play outside of bazaar trader decks. That being said, it only appears in those decks because of graveyard hate XD
Also this could get interesting with Leyline of Punishment because you wouldn't have to remove your graveyard. And this would be ok with Mortal Combat.
Works wonders if you have Lich's Mirror and Realm Razer on the board. Lose the game at will, get all your lands back, 20 life, and a full hand.
BlackAlbino
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(6 votes)
Oh look, platinum angels retarded lil' brother
bijart_dauth
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
you know a card is bad when the best use of it is to donate it. Of course donating it would be quite epic.
Rikiaz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I don't see where all the hate is coming from. It's better then most other "Immortal" cards (i.e Lich, Lich's Tomb, Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion, ect.) I run this in my Archenemy Reanimator deck and it has served me well. The deck is based on cards that sacrifice creatures to reanimate other creatures and it works very well with the counter spells in it.
Hey, look guys. Its the Tesseract. The Tesseract. Look at the Tesseract.
Just me? hokay...
SleetFox
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The biggest eff-you possible in this game is use a convoluted combo to give this to an opponent then get them to cast yourPraetor's Counsel. There's something magical about killing someone with something that's supposed to be really good.
pedrodyl
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I'm gonna use it in blue black mill, when I mill myself a little too much
OneFishTwoFish
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Maybe, just maybe, this will combo decently with Mesmeric Orb.
@SleetFox: You are looking for Hive Mind and Donate. I list them in that order because your opponent would have to Donate first, before receiving the Immortal Coil. Free stuff is cool.
@DarthParallax: Haha, I wish that worked, but Lich's Tomb will cause Necropotence to eat your permanents.
What I want to try to combo this with is Everlasting Torment. Sure, you lose the game if your graveyard is gone, but Immortal Coil won't exile any of them unless you are using its ability to draw a card. As long as cards keep hitting your graveyard from somewhere (e.g. casting spells), you've got an extra card each turn. For the same mana cost as Archivist. Damnit.
En_Sigma
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think all this card really needs is a clause that keeps you from losing the game through means other than damage. Then it would combo with plenty more than it does currently. Still a great card; I love cycling my hand into it.
One day, someone will break this card in half. One day.
j_mindfingerpainter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Most hilarious (and pointless) win ever: Control this and Lich's Mirror, some cards in your graveyard, and Abyssal Persecutor. Keep swinging with the Persecutor and other OP stuff until your opponent has negative life. Exile all the cards from your graveyard (there are tons of ways to do it), but Lich's Mirror saves you, and virtually restarts your part of the game, which includes shuffling Abyssal Persecutor into your library, so you win as a state-based action.
001010011100101110
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"To be, or not to be: that is the question... in that sleep of death what dreams may come/When we have shuffled off this mortal coil." - Act III, scene 1, Hamlet, William Shakespeare
What a great hidden reference by Wizards, Hamlet is torn between life and death, with only the vengeance from the grave(ghost of former King) keeping him alive and supplying him with knowledge. What flavor!
OttoT
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Most would say this is good against a mill deck perhaps.... except I run 3 reminisce's in mine xD
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Solitary Confinement- will break if you dont draw cards. Immortal Coil- Solitary Confinement protects you from damage, so no losing cards from your graveyard. Lich's Tomb- we are protected from losing, even if we have 0 life. we would have to sacrifice permanents, but we're protected from damage from Solitary Confinement. Necropotence- draw all the cards you need, at the cost of life
If you play Phylactery Lich with these cards, putting your Phylactery Counter on Immortal Coil....
you are one paranoid dude. but I think you're safe. oh wait-
ParallaxtheRevan: Fine. I'm going to REALLY make you IMMORTAL then.
...were ALREADY must-haves for my Kaalia of the Vast EDH Deck
NOW you tell me Transcendence Form of the Dragon Nefarious Lich Stigma Lasher Sanguine Bond Everlasting Torment Rain of Gore and Vizkopa Guildmage
are ALL ALSO in Kaalia's Colors as well?! o.o
THERE! Kaalia is Officially The Most Awesome B*tch In MAGIC ^_^ Because, you know, it's not like these are the ONLY things you can do with her o.O
Stinga
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what Mnemonic Nexus may come When we have shuffled off this immortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so short life at the hands of drawback.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Might be used as an ok way to extend your life total while also giving you cards. Also, if the damage isn't prevented (say with Eternal Torment) then you don't remove cards and you take damage as normal; making this a reliable draw engine.
Still have to be careful of grave-hate of course, but the fact you can just bounce/sac this with one of the many ways to bounce/sac permanents (especially artifacts.)
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's not supposed to be like a conditional Platinum Angel: you don't drop it and then proceed to not die. You use it temporarily: play it, use your graveyard as a resource for cards and life (effectively), then destroy it before it destroys you and continue the game. You can tell that's what it's for because it doesn't have that stupid "when this leaves play, lose" effect like all the other Lich things.
Also: Dies to Bojuka Bog. The player sank into the swamp, presumably.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Seems interesting.
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The issue with this card is that there is a ton of graveyard hate around. Very effective graveyard hate that is heavily played because of things like dredge and re-animator. With this on the field you are one Rest in Peace or Bojuka Bog from losing the game instantly. Even VS mill, I know that my mill decks all carry graveyard exiles like Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus or Rest In Peace. Sure, I do it to stop re-animator and eldrazi from ruining my day, but if anyone was playing this it would also destroy them.
If there wasn't any graveyard exile out there, or if it was in any way rare, this would be a neat curiosity. As it stands, it probably did some cool things in limited?
Comments (48)
You get the point.
5/5 for the johnny challenge
Great for johnnies.
Oh, but Platinum Angel wouldn't do anything. The additional rulings specifically mention it. Plat+Coil would cause an involuntary infinite loop unless you are able to put a card in your graveyard somehow.
Deck yourself lightly with cards like Hedron Crab and Tome Scour to feed your graveyard some fodder for Immortal Coil. Run cards like Sactum Gargoyle, Promatter Powder, Breathe of Life and Grim Discovery x4 to just take wutever you didn't mean to deck. Cards with the Scry ability can help too so you won't deck yourself. If you are a bit too close to losing your graveyard, sacrifice it with Etherium Astrolabe or Thopter Foundry
This is of course, assuming you are playing with an Esper Artifacts Deck
cant resurrect my art creatures with skeleton shard tho...
edit: why would i want to prevent damage when i have platinum angel?
I tried that combo with my roommates. It doesn't work after the first game :(
Also cycling cards would work with this too. From this set there's Sanctum Plowbeast and other guys that can increase your graveyard and let you draw more.
Cheapest victory ever.
honestly this would be excellent if someone just used Jace Mind Sculpter on you but other than that i see no reason for this.
Really Johnny card though. It's got a narrow niche it shines in and nothing else. That's okay though, we need narrow cards too.
Also this could get interesting with Leyline of Punishment because you wouldn't have to remove your graveyard. And this would be ok with Mortal Combat.
@VampireCat: We already had some pretty good reasons to Traumatize ourselves...
Just me? hokay...
@SleetFox: You are looking for Hive Mind and Donate. I list them in that order because your opponent would have to Donate first, before receiving the Immortal Coil. Free stuff is cool.
@DarthParallax: Haha, I wish that worked, but Lich's Tomb will cause Necropotence to eat your permanents.
@NextSureThing: Why not Oblivion Ring your Rampaging Baloths first, so you can restart with an army? Also, why use Immortal Coil when you could just cast a suicidally-large Earthquake or Bond of Agony?
@Ragamander: It works fairly well with Solitary Confinement if you add Curse of the Bloody Tome to keep feeding cards to Immortal Coil so that you can draw enough cards to feed Solitary Confinement for as long as it takes to win. But you might as well play something like Archivist, and it puts you on less of a clock, too.
What I want to try to combo this with is Everlasting Torment. Sure, you lose the game if your graveyard is gone, but Immortal Coil won't exile any of them unless you are using its
What a great hidden reference by Wizards, Hamlet is torn between life and death, with only the vengeance from the grave(ghost of former King) keeping him alive and supplying him with knowledge. What flavor!
Immortal Coil- Solitary Confinement protects you from damage, so no losing cards from your graveyard.
Lich's Tomb- we are protected from losing, even if we have 0 life. we would have to sacrifice permanents, but we're protected from damage from Solitary Confinement.
Necropotence- draw all the cards you need, at the cost of life
If you play Phylactery Lich with these cards, putting your Phylactery Counter on Immortal Coil....
you are one paranoid dude. but I think you're safe. oh wait-
ParallaxtheRevan: Fine. I'm going to REALLY make you IMMORTAL then.
So WAIT just a fricking second. o.O
Worldslayer
Avacyn
Lich
Stoneforge Mystic
Gisela
Solitary Confinement
Demonic Tutor
Idyllic Tutor
...were ALREADY must-haves for my Kaalia of the Vast EDH Deck
NOW you tell me
Transcendence
Form of the Dragon
Nefarious Lich
Stigma Lasher
Sanguine Bond
Everlasting Torment
Rain of Gore
and Vizkopa Guildmage
are ALL ALSO in Kaalia's Colors as well?! o.o
THERE! Kaalia is Officially The Most Awesome B*tch In MAGIC ^_^
Because, you know, it's not like these are the ONLY things you can do with her o.O
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what Mnemonic Nexus may come
When we have shuffled off this immortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so short life at the hands of drawback.
Also, if the damage isn't prevented (say with Eternal Torment) then you don't remove cards and you take damage as normal; making this a reliable draw engine.
Still have to be careful of grave-hate of course, but the fact you can just bounce/sac this with one of the many ways to bounce/sac permanents (especially artifacts.)
Also: Dies to Bojuka Bog. The player sank into the swamp, presumably.
If there wasn't any graveyard exile out there, or if it was in any way rare, this would be a neat curiosity. As it stands, it probably did some cool things in limited?