One of the better life gain spells in green that I've seen. Blows my mind that it's common, too. 4/5.
Fordin
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Sanguine Bond turns this into a double lightning bolt, Boon Reflection, turns this into 12 life for 2G, both together make this card 12 life for you, 12 damage for your opponent for 2G...I like
Also, straight lifegain is a powerful counter against red burn decks. It basically undoes a couple of burn spells, and keeps your life up so they can't just empty your hand and kill you. I've played red burn, and I'll tell you that it's a lot tougher to burn someone for 26 than it is to burn someone for 20.
achilleselbow
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Almost as good as Heroes' Reunion. So far I'm convinced that's the best lifegain around (except Rest for the Weary).
TPmanW
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It doesn't really deserve it per se but I gave the card 4.5 for being a playable lifegain card.
Well, majinara, while you are of course correct that vanilla lifegain makes for extremely weak cards, your inability to see why many people like it is why you're not designing the cards.
JoshMagic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Dear Majinara,
You need to CALM DOWN on what you call a "Horrible card". what i was thinking as i read your comment was that, perhaps, you have never been hit in the face with plural Lightning Bolts . for GG, what i'm reading is "target player discards 2 Bolts, or 3 Shocks". this is a generaly GOOD card, in almost any situation that your low on life. 2 self-targeted Healing Leaves in 1 card equals a sense of card advantage, and especialy so if you just countered 2-3 of your opponents burn spells. very nice card to me.
4/5
WateryMind
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Hmmm... Some people see vanilla life gain...
I see pain. Lots of it. There are plenty of cards that turn lifegain into horrible death for your opponent, some of which have been mentioned.
Also, has no one stopped to think how insane a W/G lifegain deck could be?
Turn one: Plains, Serra Ascendant. Turn 2: Forest, Hero's Reunion (i think that's what's it called) Turn 3: Forest, this. enjoy your 6/6 Flying Lifelink.
sonorhC
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Everyone always says that lifegain doesn't win games, it just prevents you from losing. But unless the game is a draw (and really, how often does that happen?), preventing you from losing is exactly the same thing as causing you to win. If I can postpone you killing me for a turn or two, that's another turn or two I have in which to kill you.
The problem with lifegain isn't that it doesn't help you win; it's just that most lifegain is just plain too weak. There are a lot of ways to deal damage, and a lot of ways to deal it efficiently (and a lot of ways to deal it inefficiently, too, but you never see those cards), but since there are fewer lifegain cards, there are also fewer that are efficient enough. This card just might be on the edge of being efficient enough.
Oh, and it's also CMC 2, which opens up a lot of options for copying it.
Gabriel422
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
An example of straight lifegain being good? Martyr of Sands saw lots of serious play.
But then again, consistently gaining 9-15 life + chump blocker for 1W is just plain unfair, stack damage or otherwise.
I'm all on the <3 lifegain bandwagon. I think its a wonderful addition to the game, and I would like to see WoTC explore new avenues other than direct lifegain win conditions (not a feel-good thing for me), life-to-damage conversions or ultra-fast creature pumping. Threshold mechanics are an exciting alternative. You could have a keyword ability with a name like Embolden that is active while your life total is above a certain threshold, such as 15 or 20. "Embolden - As long as you have 15 or more life, CARDNAME gets +X+X" This mechanic attempts to encourage (embolden?) the player to maintain their life total at a high level, incentivising the use of lifegain cards to augment a traditional creature-based strategy. Imagine using instant lifegain as a combat trick in draft! That's an exciting prospect for me.
The problem is that something like this could seem invulnerable, especially to a newer player. How do you beat a deck that's designed not to lose life? To top it off, the deck would have to be correspondingly weak when your life total is under the threshold, meaning that when you are winning you will probably win quickly and easily, but when you are losing you will probably lose with the same consistency. That isn't fun. The challenge then, would be to make the games swing more, rather than have your life total constantly progressing. You want to be coming out guns blazing, only to fall behind in the mid-game, then swing back and rally your army late-game to snatch victory from the clutches of defeat! Or maybe your decisive lifegain spell gets countered and it's all over? That's more of a story. Life gain isn't the only 'useless' mechanic I would be looking to include in something like this. Defensive blockers and damage prevention would also be utilised.
Radagast
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
While lifegain cards alone rarely win outside of Limited, I will give them credit for aggressively costing this one to at least make it decent.
DacenOctavio
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
While vanilla lifegain isn't quite versatile, a cheap lifegain card that gives 6 or more life in a format that's heavy on burn or straight-up creature combat can really swing a close game.
Edit: I don't know why people have to get so personal when I don't share their opinion. First, I'm calm. That's why I made an organized list of reasons when I consider lifegain to be useful and why I consider this card to be near useless, instead of saying "OMG I HATEZ IT!!!", or start to attack people on a personal level, such as some others do.
Second: I rate the card according to art, flavor, nostalgia bonus and how likely I am to play it. This is my personal rating. You do not have to agree with it. And for me, this card fails in all those areas. Newbies love lifegain. If it makes them happy: let them play it, who cares. Still, there is a reason why cards like these are never found in tournament worthy decks.
And third: yes, against super aggressive burn decks, lifegain can stall the game for a while. If you draw enough of it and have it efficient enough. But against all other decks, it sucks. Combo, control, mill and whatnot all cheer when they find an opponent that plays pure lifegain cards.
Old post:
Horrible card. Can't see why anyone would ever play it. Playing that doesn't bring you closer to winning but just delays your defeat.
@ Discoduck: yep, I don't like lifegain. Lifegain makes only sense in three situations for me: - it's a bonus on a card I'd play as well if it wouldn't gain me life - it can actually win me games (like with false cure or test of endurance) - and I add one or two lifegain cards in EDH/Commander decks, since games with those formats tend to take a really long time, so adding one or two permanents that keep gaining you substantial amounts of life prevent you from getting slowly worn down
This card is too weak for EDH/Commander and is in the wrong color for the typical lifegain-combo decks.
wholelottalove
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is six life for two mana, how much better can you get for two mana?
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not a particularly good card, but it sure is tasty. Can't you just feel the green? Sustenance!
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@sonorhC: The rationale behind "lifegain doesn't help you win" is that if the board position favours your opponent those extra turns will do nothing for you. You're losing, so your attempts to kill your opponent fail because they block with their bigger creatures, use their card advantage to foil your attacks, etc.
Lifegain will only help you win if the game is already very close, in which case something that isn't lifegain would probably do that anyway. That's not to say lifegain is useless, just that this sort of argument is why causing you to not lose is distinct from helping you win.
wideyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
While yer all complaining, I'm gaining six life for GG :)
Cloverdad
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not a bad card, its the sideboard card of choice for green decks against monored in pauper.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Depending on the board position, it can function as 1-3 fogs.
The_Erudite_Idiot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Excellent card. Why did it take so long? Effective against some aggro/burn, but not so good as to become a staple. Life gain slows games down. This is about as good as life gain should be for organized play.
Salient
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Development: "Please for the love of Jove play lifegain!"
Comments (28)
Also, is majinara just going around bashing lifegain cards systematically? ;P
Also, straight lifegain is a powerful counter against red burn decks. It basically undoes a couple of burn spells, and keeps your life up so they can't just empty your hand and kill you. I've played red burn, and I'll tell you that it's a lot tougher to burn someone for 26 than it is to burn someone for 20.
You get better results with Rest for the Weary or even Sunspring Expedition.
You need to CALM DOWN on what you call a "Horrible card". what i was thinking as i read your comment was that, perhaps, you have never been hit in the face with plural Lightning Bolts . for GG, what i'm reading is "target player discards 2 Bolts, or 3 Shocks". this is a generaly GOOD card, in almost any situation that your low on life. 2 self-targeted Healing Leaves in 1 card equals a sense of card advantage, and especialy so if you just countered 2-3 of your opponents burn spells. very nice card to me.
4/5
I see pain. Lots of it. There are plenty of cards that turn lifegain into horrible death for your opponent, some of which have been mentioned.
Also, has no one stopped to think how insane a W/G lifegain deck could be?
Turn one: Plains, Serra Ascendant.
Turn 2: Forest, Hero's Reunion (i think that's what's it called)
Turn 3: Forest, this. enjoy your 6/6 Flying Lifelink.
The problem with lifegain isn't that it doesn't help you win; it's just that most lifegain is just plain too weak. There are a lot of ways to deal damage, and a lot of ways to deal it efficiently (and a lot of ways to deal it inefficiently, too, but you never see those cards), but since there are fewer lifegain cards, there are also fewer that are efficient enough. This card just might be on the edge of being efficient enough.
Oh, and it's also CMC 2, which opens up a lot of options for copying it.
But then again, consistently gaining 9-15 life + chump blocker for 1W is just plain unfair, stack damage or otherwise.
Threshold mechanics are an exciting alternative. You could have a keyword ability with a name like Embolden that is active while your life total is above a certain threshold, such as 15 or 20.
"Embolden - As long as you have 15 or more life, CARDNAME gets +X+X"
This mechanic attempts to encourage (embolden?) the player to maintain their life total at a high level, incentivising the use of lifegain cards to augment a traditional creature-based strategy. Imagine using instant lifegain as a combat trick in draft! That's an exciting prospect for me.
The problem is that something like this could seem invulnerable, especially to a newer player. How do you beat a deck that's designed not to lose life? To top it off, the deck would have to be correspondingly weak when your life total is under the threshold, meaning that when you are winning you will probably win quickly and easily, but when you are losing you will probably lose with the same consistency. That isn't fun.
The challenge then, would be to make the games swing more, rather than have your life total constantly progressing. You want to be coming out guns blazing, only to fall behind in the mid-game, then swing back and rally your army late-game to snatch victory from the clutches of defeat! Or maybe your decisive lifegain spell gets countered and it's all over? That's more of a story.
Life gain isn't the only 'useless' mechanic I would be looking to include in something like this. Defensive blockers and damage prevention would also be utilised.
Then there's Timely Reinforcements. That card just wrecks burn decks.
I don't know why people have to get so personal when I don't share their opinion. First, I'm calm. That's why I made an organized list of reasons when I consider lifegain to be useful and why I consider this card to be near useless, instead of saying "OMG I HATEZ IT!!!", or start to attack people on a personal level, such as some others do.
Second: I rate the card according to art, flavor, nostalgia bonus and how likely I am to play it. This is my personal rating. You do not have to agree with it. And for me, this card fails in all those areas. Newbies love lifegain. If it makes them happy: let them play it, who cares. Still, there is a reason why cards like these are never found in tournament worthy decks.
And third: yes, against super aggressive burn decks, lifegain can stall the game for a while. If you draw enough of it and have it efficient enough. But against all other decks, it sucks. Combo, control, mill and whatnot all cheer when they find an opponent that plays pure lifegain cards.
Old post:
Horrible card. Can't see why anyone would ever play it. Playing that doesn't bring you closer to winning but just delays your defeat.
@ Discoduck: yep, I don't like lifegain. Lifegain makes only sense in three situations for me:
- it's a bonus on a card I'd play as well if it wouldn't gain me life
- it can actually win me games (like with false cure or test of endurance)
- and I add one or two lifegain cards in EDH/Commander decks, since games with those formats tend to take a really long time, so adding one or two permanents that keep gaining you substantial amounts of life prevent you from getting slowly worn down
This card is too weak for EDH/Commander and is in the wrong color for the typical lifegain-combo decks.
Lifegain will only help you win if the game is already very close, in which case something that isn't lifegain would probably do that anyway. That's not to say lifegain is useless, just that this sort of argument is why causing you to not lose is distinct from helping you win.
Constructed Players: lol no
Development: We'll take
Constructed Players: lol no
Development: We'll take
Constructed Players: lol no
Development: We'll take
Constructed Players: lol no
Development: Hmm.
Constructed Players: why do u keep makin lifegain cards that no one plays ever
Development: Well, don't forget about limi---
Limited Players: umm, yeah, we---
Constructed Players: no shut up. 1/2 stars.
Limited Players: (._.)