A "get out of *** up" for free, in the right situation. Not great, but free lifegain is at the very least helpful.
Posted By:
DoragonShinzui
(10/31/2012 1:16:06 PM)
thought this wasnt too bad, then i saw shining shoal, I can see a small upside of n.shoal can gain 15 life with autochron wurm, where s.shoal will prevent roughly 3 to 5 damage, and deal 3 to 5 damage to an opponent so while N.shoal is not strictly worse than S.shoal in practicality it is. Redirection>Prevention>Lifegain
Edit, Facepalm
Posted By:
Ava_Adore
(5/2/2011 10:09:14 PM)
Well, if it's not lifegain that costs 1 card to gain no battlefield presence, it's lifegain that costs *2* cards to gain no battlefield presence!
Seriously, this card's a joke, and anyone that plays it... *facepalm*
Posted By:
JaxsonBateman
(8/21/2011 6:31:21 PM)
Judging strictly by the fact that lifegain control decks (and Felidar Sovereign type modern decks) don't seem to work, and need more support, I can't imagine dropping the serious card advantage for 10 to 15 life maximum. It would be much better to have two times X life instead, bringing it close to something like Martyr of Sands. Considering Shining Shoal basically does this AND redirects damage.
@ ICEFANG13
Except that you can only reanimate creatures creatures in the grave, not the exile zone.
Posted By:
EnderofGames
(4/8/2012 10:39:12 PM)
So much potential wasted here on the generic life gain spell... I agree +1/+1 counters would have been cool although I think it would have been too overpowered. However in defense of Wizards, the other "typical" {G} options would have been:
1. Putting creatures into play, which would have been insanely powerful, even exiling a {4} cost card would yield massive card advantage.
2. Giving a creature +X/+X, this would have mostly trumped Blazing Shoal and also would have been absolutely broken
3. Untapping / tutoring lands, even putting X / 2 lands into hand / play would be ridiculous.
From a design perspective, the only way any of the above 3 options would have worked would be if there was a restriction on the value of {X} (i.e. "{X} cannot be more than 5") which wouldn't have flowed very well with the rest of the cycle.
Posted By:
tcollins
(5/24/2012 12:35:01 AM)
Well if you were running Draco in your mono green deck anyway, than I suppose it's cool to get 16 life for 2 mana. But still, this card isn't really top notch.
Posted By:
BongRipper420
(8/30/2012 12:01:51 AM)
Not bad for a lifegain deck, needs other cards to turn life gain into winning positions, like Cradle of Vitality, or Sanguine Bond.
Posted By:
TheWrathofShane
(10/21/2012 11:56:54 PM)
It wouldn't even work with Draco, he's not green.
I suppose it's a last ditch 'Oh God I don't wanna die' trick that you can spring on people who think you've got no lands untapped for a Fog. Dunno if I would run it though, with green I tend to like throwing down my creatures quickly.
Posted By:
psychichobo
(1/1/2013 3:40:24 PM)
Free, instant speed, potentially-huge lifegain can be pretty tricky with Ageless Entity. Your opponent likely won't expect it to gain 15 power for zero mana after he declares no blockers!
Posted By:
Kirbster
(11/7/2013 11:44:11 PM)
Shining Shoal: Redirect damage, able to save yourself, kill an opponent or Eliminate a threat on the board.
Disrupting Shoal: Manaless counterspell, often worth losing card advantage to kill a combo. Great against common CMCs like 
or 
in legacy.
Sickening Shoal: Kill a creature, even an indestructible one, not the best, but can be solidly helpful.
Blazing Shoal: Power boost, banned in modern, potent damage tool early game by letting you discard an unneeded end game spell.
This is pretty unforgivably bad, so much worse than the rest of the cycle that its amazing. Giving up card advantage for life is never a good idea. Spring of life for one mana more is a pretty terrible option too, but probably the only way you would use this card. If you are losing so badly that you need to spend 2 cards to gain some life, you are probably not going to come back from doing s... (see all)
Posted By:
Enelysios
(1/28/2014 8:35:02 PM)