The Lifeforce/Painter's Servant combo is a little more fragile than it sounds... I know from experience. With elves and best-case scenario, you have them both down on turn three and are able to counter one spell. Still kinda slow.
Fun, anyway.
Posted By:
Kirbster
(5/30/2010 3:55:55 PM)
Yeah, this plus Painter's Servant = GG.
Counter any spell your opponent tries to play for 2 mana? Yes, please.
Posted By:
jlowther
(4/7/2010 10:53:37 AM)
with painter's servant and Omnath for best results.
Posted By:
WhiteyMcFly
(4/30/2010 9:42:10 PM)
In many cases it was better to just have a few copies of Avoid Fate in your deck. Nevertheless this is a unusual green card and useful for that reason. I agree that Painter's Servant is excellent in combination with this card. In fact, I think that there is no better combo for this card. The concept of combining this card with Omnath, Locus of Mana is also awesome. I would guess especially in mono-green or with a few copies of Wild Growth and an Overgrowth or two. That way you won't have to stress to much about playing the balancing game with the risk of your Omnath getting depleted. You could also through in a Deathlace just in case; especially if you're playing any copies of Dwan's Reflection or Fertile Ground.
Posted By:
Mr_Hendry
(5/3/2010 11:37:38 PM)
At one point this was one of the strongest anti-black sideboard card available to green and if we move back to monochromatic and it becomes available in standard again that may once more be the case. Surprising that Deathgrip is currently rated almost 2 points higher on average.
Posted By:
Nighthawk42
(9/11/2009 2:34:07 AM)
hmm all I think is Painter's Servant...
Posted By:
genovevo
(12/28/2009 7:12:07 AM)
Great fun if you have an opponent who plays a lot of black that you really want to annoy, pretty much useless otherwise.
Posted By:
Glopdemon
(7/13/2009 1:37:05 AM)
Link > Ganon
Autumn Willow > Baron Sengir
I am sad that there is not a third _____force, because I would have liked to be able to assemble the Triforce.
Note that Deathgrip/Lifegrip can be a subtle choice for Painter's Servant combo. I prefer Lifegrip, because it's possible to run mono-green, and Avoid Fate is a powerful protective counter for protecting your Servant or your Lifegrip before assembling the combo. On the other hand, if you're inclined to go all-in on the Grindstone combo strategy, black has better tutors (e.g. Grim Tutor).
The main problem with that is, if you're going all in with Grindstone, don't run green or black, instead run blue, red, or blue-red.
(If you've seen Painter's Servant + Grindstone and you're wondering why anyone would try anything else, a single sideboard card like Gaea's Blessing or Blightsteel Colossus/a... (see all)
Posted By:
Salient
(8/26/2011 9:31:23 AM)
I like the 5ED mirrored flavor text between this and Deathgrip.
Posted By:
Ibn_Shisha
(7/13/2011 6:52:05 PM)
heh, if playing EDH, a vintage or legacy deck, or casual, I can see another idea that makes it fun.... combine it with Magical Hack so you can alter which color spells you can counter. I can imagine it becoming very annoying n a blue + green ramp deck particularly against a 2-color deck where you already have 2 lifefore out, both magical hack'd to counter both colors.
Granted, not the best, but an option nonetheless.
Posted By:
Travelsonic
(6/5/2013 4:22:24 PM)