This is a classic card that looks like a good deal and certainly can be, but consider the following:
If you play it early, you are playing a card that for three turns or so does NOTHING. This can often equate to more of a loss than 8 life is a gain.
Imagine you are in a close game and you need to topdeck something relevant. This is a TERRIBLE card to topdeck.
Posted By:
Baconradar
(8/28/2010 4:19:23 PM)
I'm tired of people calling lifegain useless and stupid. Sure, by itself, lifegain's basically just stalling, but when you take cards like Sanguine bond, Serra's Ascendant, Ajani's Pridemate, Ageless Entity, Divinity of Pride, Ajani Goldmane and Felidar Sovereign, lifegain suddenly becomes a lot more attractive, doesn't it?
Posted By:
ScepterofEternities
(9/3/2011 8:30:38 AM)
I see some hate because it takes three turns for this card to take effect. In a sense this is correct, insomuch as that if your deck would take three turns to activate this card, then it shouldn't be in that deck. There are plenty of decks out there, however, that would take one if not zero turns for the triggered effect, and that is where the card shines. I'm not talking about gearing your deck for this card either, but a deck that purposefully mana ramps to trigger damaging effects, or for the mana advantage can make great use of this. Lifegain is a form of stalling until you can activate the bigger effects that you are ramping for after all ;-)
Posted By:
snyden
(3/3/2010 11:27:18 AM)
If you don't die in the first three or so turns, this is going to be better than Rest for the Weary. Therefore, it's one of the better life gain cards. It's still a card with no value outside of life gain, but for what it is, it's really nice.
Posted By:
SleetFox
(11/8/2010 1:21:26 PM)
i like it simply because not every deck has a good one drop creature, expecially in casual, were people dont spend more than 15 dolors or so on there decks. and enchantment destroy usually costs 2 or more, so in general you come out up on the mana spent, and you lose no card advantage.
Posted By:
bijart_dauth
(11/22/2010 7:09:20 PM)
I'm going to build a W/B lifegain deck with Sanguine Bond... and I'm considering to put this quest instead of the Rest for the Weary... I can just leave it in a play until I put Sanguine Bond and once it has it's counters, I don't need to put any other land for it to be effective... on the other hand, if you're finishing your game and draw this, it's in most cases quite disappointing. Not to mention that your opponent can easily prepare and react on every expedition...
It's not strictly worse or better then Rest for the Weary, they have just different usage... I will deffinitely try it, it can be really funny with things like Elixir of Immortality and fetching lands
Posted By:
Narim
(12/4/2010 10:46:37 AM)
@armogohma - Then rarity is a factor. Acquiring a playset of these is much easier than of the Captain, and also take into account the amount of creature removal that is rampant.
The way I've always looked at it is that lifegain is white's way of stalling to the later game; blue has counter and bounce, black has destruction and graveyard shenanigans, red has burn (red doesn't really hope for late-game), and green has mass amounts of creatures.
Posted By:
Alsebra
(7/23/2012 11:18:35 AM)
Rest for the Weary can achieve the same effect in a single turn, for the cost of one colorless mana more.
Posted By:
Templar314
(3/20/2010 4:24:10 PM)
I can actually see these in W/U control. They do give a lot of life for little investment, in a deck that doesn't have a lot of other things not called Ponder to cast first turn.
Posted By:
Designer_Genes
(10/3/2009 10:14:26 AM)
I would run these in my sanguine bond deck, 4 of these to be exact
If I can get 3 out of 4 out with quest counters on them by the time I get sanguine bond out on turn 5 I've won, in casual at least :P
Posted By:
PeterRabit
(9/27/2009 10:08:19 PM)