Life gain is one of the oldest effects in Magic, appearing all the way in the first set of the game. It’s a pretty natural mechanic to add to your game, as most games where players can lose life give them ways to gain life as well. However, Life gain is pretty infamous in magic for not being too good, and today, we’re going to go over why the mechanic failed.
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Ironically, some of the banned cards also gained life but that is usually the reason they are banned other than the already loaded effects.
Necro-potence
Bro I swear you say the names wrong on purpose at this point
You sure?
Pretty sure life gain was a meta killer in a few formats, especially this year with decks managing to go to about 60 life in 5 -7 turns while putting counters on everything.
Life gain isn't White's issue in commander… it's that until recently it's been the worst for card draw and even now it's kind of behind the others.
I have made an Abzan life gain deck work, but that was because I also included a lot of cards that cost life as well.
It designed around actively using life as a resource.
I mean it also helps that it has Siege Rhinos in it, which at the time at least was considered a pretty busted card…
Saying white is bad in Legacy and Commander is basically a dead giveaway whoever is making the argument has only played Commander. The whole meme of "white bad" has basically only ever been true in a 40 life, 4 player free for all format, and then off and on in Standard, where the "best/worst color" changes every couple of years due to the nature of a small, rotating format.
In Legacy, a format where cheap answers are vital, white has both the best answer to creatures (Swords to Plowshares) and the best answer to other permanents (Prismatic Ending), while black, supposedly the color best at removing creatures, is stuck with Fatal Push. In contrast, the thing white is supposed to be best at, turning small idiots sideways, has continued to serve as a vital pillar of the format for literal decades.
I got to the very bottom of mythic rank on MTGA with an Angel tribal deck that had lifegain synergy. It was really fun to play with
As an Oloro edh player, I'm very offended
Top 10 Worst Mana Dorks?
Surprised that Heliod + Ballista/Oak were not mentioned as they are more recent examples of "Life Gain" combos. Another way WotC has tried to rebrand life gain is by implementing effects when you either gain certain amount of life in a turn (think Resplendent Angel) or reach certain life (think Righteous Valkyrie), which have seen nice play in Angel decks.
I think what white's identity should be is taxing and stax since it already does it so well with all the thalia, drannith, ghostly prison, smothering tithe, etc
I don't know why but gaining life is my FAVORITE thing to do in this game 🤣 & I think it's funny when people ask me why would I do that or tell me that the way I play the game is strictly worse.
A BUNCH of people oftentimes forget to have fun when they play Magic, especially in a casual setting. I just finished a deck purpose built for gaining life. If I lose? No problem. Did I hit 150? 200? 400 life that game? I 100% consider that a win, because more than likely I had a crazy fun time gaining all that life.
I have 4 ways to win and I've cut almost everything else out to make more room to gain life. Abzan colors for the best life gain & payoffs, running Ghave as my commander.
WinCons are: Running amuck with creatures with +1 +1 counters. I also have Spike Feeder & Heliod or Thune for going infinite + Walking Balista for when I do. Exquisite Blood & multiple cards that are basically Sanguine Bond. & Aetherflux Reservoir so when I hit 151 life, I'll drop 150 & ping everyone for 50. & that's it!
Update: Added Felidar Sovereign just for the occasional free win 😂
Angel of Destiny is by far my favorite card to use with Lifegain-Oriented decks. It adds a lot of aggro and purpose to Lifegain, and in some color combo decks, you can run it with things like Insurrection, making it incredibly fun to take control of your opponent's creatures, then group hug Lifegain yourself to winning while they don't have blockers
The interesting thing about this is while 1 mana for 3 life is awful, 1 mana for 1,000,000 life is clearly actually very strong because it counters the majority of decks in any given format. The interesting thing about this is at some point there must be a point where lifegain becomes good. The question is, where is it? 1 mana 100 life seems too strong for most formats, 1 mana 50 life would be the same, 1 mana 20 life seems strong but possibly beatable, while 1 mana 10 life feels a little too weak to see play. So I think the cross over point is somewhere between 10 and 20 life for a 1 mana lifegain card to be playable.
That moment you realize you can counter Death’s Shadow with Healing Salve
Anh hát bằng cả trái tim bảo sao mà cứ ngọt lịm như vậy. Bài nào cũng cảm xúc luôn
Mentions Lifelink. Does not mention GrizzleBrand wich not only has it, but turns the life gained into card advantage immediately. SAD
The easiest way to make LP gain good is to introduce a new rule or cards that win you the game if you surpass, say, 50 life.
Lifegain is actually decently meta in MTGA where if you're in lower ranks the games are decently slower then normal paper games would be since players don't have access to all cards they normally would
Only can think of that aura that gives more attack/toughness based on your life gain. Makes certain monsters with like hexproof or trample real crazy.
I'd love more videos like this. Going deep into certain mechanics, and why they work/don't.
My favorite color in magic is white and black in second place. I'm a big fan of white black decks too.
I sometimes play a black white Life Gain burn deck it does a lot of damage but takes a while to set up.
you need cards like Vito thorn of the dusk rose or Sanguine bond . which causes any Life Gain you get to be dealt to the opponent as damage.
lifegain as a bonus on top of whatever else effects is always good. like, incidentally gaining life, or having the option to instead of something else is always greatly appreciated. it's like, half of why Thragtusk was so good for so long. without the lifegain, it's a pretty mediocre beater. WITH it? totally can swing a game around in a hurry. hell, preventing lifegain is like 90% of why skullcrack ever saw any play at all.
ohhh you meant PURE lifegain cards that do nothing else. yeah those are shit.
I think its finally time to recognize that white is no longer a bad color. On its own, its not great, but the white staples that can be added to any deck just makes that deck a ton better. But to match the theme of this video, the bonkers white staples are not about lifegain as the primary function
I think its important to note that most people who look towards lifegain don't typically lifegain cards, they play lifegain synergies. Most of those don't run purely life gain cards either, you play cards that give advantage when life is gain and find otherways of gaining life than using a card. I'm still waiting for a good B/G/W commander to hit Arena that run superb lifegain combos, there aren't many commanders currently that really synergize with the idea well sadly (at least to run those three colors together). . .B/W I think beats out W/G.
Simple fix for raw lifegain being useless: 1 rulebook entry that says ANY alternative non-mana cost also requires the caster to pay 5 life per point of colored/colorless mana substituted, on top of any existing lifepoint costs, and this extra cost can be lethal. Would fit perfectly for Phyrexian Mana too.
In Magic lifegain cards are far better than in Yugioh. Its so hard to win with a red aggro deck against a white lifegain deck.
Wtf is Astral recall?
Mana reflection effects all mana producing permanent you control
Soul sisters gain life whenever any creature enters the battlefield not just your own.
It’s definitely not that great a mechanic in 60 cars formats but it’s quite fun in EDH
Lifegain is absolutely relevant, but only against decks that have a tempo based wincon like aggro or some midrange decks. Against a control or combo deck that doesn't really care about your life total, it's pretty bad, but gaining 2 life can often make the crucial difference that helps you stabilize against an aggro deck. I think that lifegain cards tend to be better in Standard than eternal formats because Wizards rarely prints viable combos into standard, meaning lifegain is actually going to matter in a lot of matchups. I splashed green in my standard Oni-Cult Anvil deck specifically to run Gala Greeters, and it has consistently been one of the best cards in the deck against aggro and decks with Sheoldred, mostly because of the lifegain mode.
Even though lifegain is usually only playable if it's tacked onto another card that gives you additional value, pure lifegain cards have actually seen some amount of play, such as Nourishing Shoal in Modern Reanimator/Through the Breach and Weather the Storm in Pauper Turbofog (though I guess it may be telling that to make pure lifegain good, you have to attach it to a busted mechanic like free spells or storm).
It’s worth knowing that life gain is only really bad when that’s all the card does. Lifegain stapled onto other stuff can be amazing in any race scenario. Just look at like Kitchen Finks. The fact that it gains you 4 life while being a recurring solidly priced beater makes him an amazing swing in the life race. As a bonus effect tacked onto other reasonably priced stuff, life gain can be amazing.
A bit like Necropotence. I remember pulling Mana Crypt out of a double master pack, and being utterly excited. Friend didn't know what the card was, he read it, and then said it didn't seem that good 'cause 3 life is a lot of life lost. And then I used it against them. And then they saw how much it didn't matter and how good it was once they saw it in action.
I love life gain as a mechanic even though i know it is bad. my first real deck was soul sisters so i have an attachment. i think you could make a very good life gain card if you make another soul sister but instead of creature it just said permanent, and i think it has to be for both sides and not just what you control like the soul sisters. it would be a great card because of pseudo landfall and artifacts/artifact tokens that can be generated. or just straight up make a 2 life soul sister.
Having played a mono white deep draw deck, I can say that life gain is very powerful. Life gain is normally a side mechanic in a combo. Mono white deep draw had life gain and draw on multiple cards. A card like rejuvenation is a great example of this. Gain three draw one.
There is also life gain clerics in orzo colors.
I used to have a "casual" B/W Soul Sister deck that I played with my friends in 4 player games and they hated me because I was almost unkillable.
Absolutely terrible deck, but it was extremely fun gaining more life than they could beat through until I could drop Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood.
I like gain life decks as long as it’s a “pain and gain” deck. You heavily use life as a resource.
I don't think the issue is lifegain in itself. rather that each lifepoint doesn't matter so much so the cost is simply too high on most pure lifegain spells. imagine Healing Salve gave you 100 Life. That would probably be pretty OP for the cost of 1 mana and 1 card. So the balance is probably somewhere between 3 and 100 Life for one mana and one card. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.