Didn't the lose the game effect used to be "leaves play", not "enters the graveyard from the battlefield"?
Ideatog
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Don't forget Greater Auramancy or Sterling Grove to prevent someone from simply Disenchanting the Lich. Failing that, you could keep Erase and some instant speed life gain in your hand- while said disenchant is on the stack, gain some life and then remove the Lich from play so it never hits the GY. Don't try it with Nefarious Lich, though.
Splizer
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
One of my favourite cards in terms of function. It changes the rules, demanding you build around it.
Is it just me, or did the original wording not include a clause that says you don't lose for having 0 life? So under the original functionality you lose for playing it?
Very, very fun card, extremely flavourful. You become a lich! Here are some cool synergies with other cards...
Reapy in Kind, Reverse the Sands or Mirror Universe: kills your opponent(s) instantly or during next upkeep;
Magus of the Mirror: Same as above but much slower and subject to removal;
Healing Salve: becomes an Ancestral Recall!
Children of Korlis: Sacrifice them to turn you play Lich to draw 20 cards!
Transcendance: Just a funny mechanic of "discard a permanent and draw 2" for each damage you take;
Illusion of Grandeur: Draw 20 cards without the drawback;
Elixir of Immortality: Shuffle your graveyard in your library to avoid decking yourself with all this card draw, draw 5 cards;
Death's Shadow: Put these four 13/13 beatsticks on the board at the same time and swing for 52 during your following turn...
Anyway, I really tried to make this card competitive in B/W but its just a no-go. Lich is too vulnerable to removal and half of your deck would be commited to defend it (Orim's Chant, Silence, Solitray Confinement, Greater Auramancy...) with chump blockers such as Will o' the Wisp. Even with a truckload of mana ramp like Dark Ritual, Culling the Weak and Lake of the Dead and a solid mana base with duals, shocklands and fecthlands, with Tutors, I never could do better than a turn 6 or 7 win... 1/5 games i've played against competitive decks, and one of these wins was when swinging with the Death's Shadows...
Bottomline is that this card is a 3/5 for the competitive player, and a 5/5 for the casual player, because it makes the game so fun. 4/5. Great design.
P.S. It's a shame you can't hardly find any on the market and when you do, this card is between 20$-40$...
Zoah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Lich's mirror... Not the best combo, but it's good.
Salient
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Casting a pre-lethal-storm Tendrils of Agony with this in play causes you to draw two cards for each spell played that turn, pretty much guaranteeing your victory.
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
I've gotta say... if you play this card, then you have no life.
agentvirgo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
It sure would suck to get this O-ringed.
DarthParallax
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Avacyn, Angel of Hope. + Worldslayer. Avacyn actually lets Worldslayer and Lich be in the same deck, synergystically. That's pretty gross. Should insta-solve the problem of having to over-commit to protecting it. Makes her, Lich, and whatever single back up card you want (like Solitary Confinement) Indestructible.
You don't want to play this in B/W. You want to play it in R/B/W, because the 1,000 ways this can be broken with the right Angels & Demons is worth bringing Kaalia into the mix. Don't forget to look up Wound Reflection too, because I list a huge number of combos there that Kaalia gives you access to.
Kaalia is so broken, that you protect each of your 'combos' with more and more combos, and yet most of them are damage-based, and therefore synergistic with each other, so instead of being stuck with dead-card combo halves, you have 2 or 3 '25-card'/'30-card' combos of MASSIVELY DEVASTATING OVERKILL FORCE, making pretty much all your cards relevant most of the time.
Draw a bunch of cards through Black pay-life-hacks, get a bunch of lands and mana through various sources, and just Throw Your Deck at the Board.
YariMatthews
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Okay, so I decided to try some of the Magus of the Mirror and Mirror Universe tricks that I've heard of with this on MTGO and I just want you guys to know that it doesn't actually work. I noticed that when it came around to my upkeep that I was not aloud to sac Magus or Mirror universe. Confused I decided to try to find why and it turns out that if you can't gain life (Lichs draw effect) you can't exchange life totals with a player who has a higher life total. =/ Oh well.
Shadoflaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Darth: That will be my new EDH deck, methinks. Kaalia, tutors, angels/demons/dungeons/dragons, Lich and Worldslayer/wrath effects.
Combine with Transcendence and hope you don't fight a mill deck.
demonknight18
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome flavour!
lilwolf2005
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Must be them pajama robes that makes him immortal.
OttoT
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like the mental images of the Lich getting consumed by a creeping mold.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Use black ramp cards to get this out. Illusions of Granduer to gain the life (and you don't lose anythign when illusions goes away.)
Done in a blue deck the ramp cards are always splashable and get things out early. This gives you a quick way to get 20 cards, tons of mana and draw, and probably your tendrils of agony and as many cards/counters as you need to protect it all.
omni8000
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I really lich this card alot
thisisthedave1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
cards that allow u to exchange life totals when this out will work. :), like mirror universe
@YariMatthews: In response to: "if you can't gain life (Lichs draw effect) you can't exchange life totals with a player who has a higher life total. =/ Oh well." ...
That doesn't sound right. Lich doesn't say you can't gain life, it just has a replacement effect for when you would gain life. So if you have 0 life and your opponent has 20, when you sacrifice Mirror Universe you would gain 20 life (and your opponent would lose 20 life), which is then replaced with the effect of drawing 20 cards, but your opponent should still lose the 20 life.
If your opponent had a "can't lose life" ability on board, then you can't sacrifice Mirror Universe. Or, if you have some *other* "can't gain life" ability, you couldn't. But since Lich doesn't say you can't gain life, it just has that replacement effect for gaining life, it should work.
If it doesn't work as I've described you should send a note to Wizards explaining what you're seeing in the MTGO client and they'll either fix it if I'm right or elaborate on the ruling if I'm wrong and the game is programmed correctly as is.
Comments (32)
Delaying Shield is one of the best cards to use with this, and Death's Shadow? Instant beatstick.
Reapy in Kind, Reverse the Sands or Mirror Universe: kills your opponent(s) instantly or during next upkeep;
Magus of the Mirror: Same as above but much slower and subject to removal;
Healing Salve: becomes an Ancestral Recall!
Children of Korlis: Sacrifice them to turn you play Lich to draw 20 cards!
Transcendance: Just a funny mechanic of "discard a permanent and draw 2" for each damage you take;
Illusion of Grandeur: Draw 20 cards without the drawback;
Elixir of Immortality: Shuffle your graveyard in your library to avoid decking yourself with all this card draw, draw 5 cards;
Death's Shadow: Put these four 13/13 beatsticks on the board at the same time and swing for 52 during your following turn...
Anyway, I really tried to make this card competitive in B/W but its just a no-go. Lich is too vulnerable to removal and half of your deck would be commited to defend it (Orim's Chant, Silence, Solitray Confinement, Greater Auramancy...) with chump blockers such as Will o' the Wisp. Even with a truckload of mana ramp like Dark Ritual, Culling the Weak and Lake of the Dead and a solid mana base with duals, shocklands and fecthlands, with Tutors, I never could do better than a turn 6 or 7 win... 1/5 games i've played against competitive decks, and one of these wins was when swinging with the Death's Shadows...
Bottomline is that this card is a 3/5 for the competitive player, and a 5/5 for the casual player, because it makes the game so fun. 4/5. Great design.
P.S. It's a shame you can't hardly find any on the market and when you do, this card is between 20$-40$...
You don't want to play this in B/W. You want to play it in R/B/W, because the 1,000 ways this can be broken with the right Angels & Demons is worth bringing Kaalia into the mix. Don't forget to look up Wound Reflection too, because I list a huge number of combos there that Kaalia gives you access to.
Kaalia is so broken, that you protect each of your 'combos' with more and more combos, and yet most of them are damage-based, and therefore synergistic with each other, so instead of being stuck with dead-card combo halves, you have 2 or 3 '25-card'/'30-card' combos of MASSIVELY DEVASTATING OVERKILL FORCE, making pretty much all your cards relevant most of the time.
Draw a bunch of cards through Black pay-life-hacks, get a bunch of lands and mana through various sources, and just Throw Your Deck at the Board.
Done in a blue deck the ramp cards are always splashable and get things out early. This gives you a quick way to get 20 cards, tons of mana and draw, and probably your tendrils of agony and as many cards/counters as you need to protect it all.
Ad Nauseam + Lich = Black Enter the Infinite
That doesn't sound right. Lich doesn't say you can't gain life, it just has a replacement effect for when you would gain life. So if you have 0 life and your opponent has 20, when you sacrifice Mirror Universe you would gain 20 life (and your opponent would lose 20 life), which is then replaced with the effect of drawing 20 cards, but your opponent should still lose the 20 life.
If your opponent had a "can't lose life" ability on board, then you can't sacrifice Mirror Universe. Or, if you have some *other* "can't gain life" ability, you couldn't. But since Lich doesn't say you can't gain life, it just has that replacement effect for gaining life, it should work.
If it doesn't work as I've described you should send a note to Wizards explaining what you're seeing in the MTGO client and they'll either fix it if I'm right or elaborate on the ruling if I'm wrong and the game is programmed correctly as is.