Don't shun this card, it helped lessen the pain of life cost spells such as Noxious Revival, Act of Aggression, and Porcelain Legionnaire at the prerelease. I was in 
and all three of those cards helped quite a bit. It may not be constructed worthy, but I guarantee you will enjoy the lifegain plus mana every turn. Note that it can't be 'killed' like myr can with damage or toughness lowering. Give it a shot, sideboard it out if you're up against total infect, otherwise enjoy it.
Posted By:
mflanaga
(5/11/2011 12:52:13 PM)
For red attrition decks? Accelerates your mana and gains you life so you can stay ahead of the damage you are throwing at all players.
If all you need is mana, this is not the right card. Everflowing Chalice blows this out of the water on that count.
If all you need is colorless lifegain, your choices are severely limited as artifacts don't get anything terribly powerful. This should be near the top of your list, along with Elixir of Immortality.
Posted By:
kiseki
(8/17/2011 1:07:40 PM)
Probably my favorite Mirran card of the set, next to perhaps Jor Kadeen. To perfectly designed. Yes, it's sub-par ramp for the cost, but it's way ahead of the curve on the lifegain side of things. Plus, as a common, and as a perfect throwback to the old Talisman cycle, it's just an overall smartly designed card.
Posted By:
DoragonShinzui
(4/10/2012 7:16:19 AM)
An artifact mana boost that gives you life? What's not to love!?!
And you can make it cheaper with Etherium Sculptor.
Posted By:
DragonLord132
(3/11/2012 5:13:22 AM)
This card is better than its average rating. For pieces to use with this look at:
Ajani Goldmane's ultimate. This hits the table in time for it to power out the planeswalker and start making positive impacts on your life total.
Ajani's Pridemate, with this card it isn't at all inconvenient that it hits the table the turn after the Pridemates as its life gain doesn't impact the Pridemates until after they hit the table. This card now reads "+1 colorless mana, +1 life, +1/+1 counter". Pack this up with Ajani's Mantra and the next card for 3 +1/+1 counters per turn!
Chalice of Life feeds well off of any life gain. While it could be said that it benefits more from single large boosts, when combo'd up with any of the above mentioned cards the Chalice becomes a second or third win condition to Ajani and his Pridemates.
Posted By:
alphagprime
(5/19/2012 9:12:59 PM)
A very underrated card. Lifegain is usually chuckled at and rightfully so, but this can really widen the gap in an attrition war. Far too often I've seen a pair of these decide who wins the big money that night, and who doesn't. As the minutes drone on and on in a match where it's knuckles hitting knuckles, this card will pay off in it's mana cost, and more importantly, its card slot.
Posted By:
TastetheJace
(6/19/2012 1:02:20 AM)
"Act of creation" my ass, Elspeth!
Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice this missing from the front of my Jetta when you returned it?
This thing is more useful than it may initially seem-
Incremental lifegain like this can really add up,
especially when you're using it to power a Forcefield ;)
It works great in my Bruna, Light of Alabaster deck-
the synergy with the aforementioned Forcefield or Drogskol Reaver are quite useful.
Posted By:
drpvfx
(7/11/2012 11:10:37 AM)
This thing is a real sleeper. It's worth considering in a deck that's not too colour intensive, as though it's not the most efficient of mana boosters, the consistent lifegain combined creates something that you will just find ridiculously useful.
Once fought a guy who got one of these out early on. As the match progressed he just had a significantly greater life total than me and it really staggered a lot of what I was doing.
I'd say people should chuck this in a typical green deck, despite them having the best ramp. Curve wise turn one you tend to throw down a Forest and something like Llanowar Elf, turn two throw down a second forest and this.
Seriously, you'll come to love it.
Posted By:
psychichobo
(11/18/2012 3:41:07 PM)
Come on guys, this card is so good that they named the standard deck "Pristine Control" after it.
Posted By:
Tynansdtm
(1/16/2013 12:04:25 PM)