Run four of these with Serra Avatar and/or Ajani Goldmane. I just with that this card could have had a companion card like Diligent Farmhand or Pardic Firecat.
Posted By:
mrredhatter
(10/23/2009 10:10:38 PM)
These burst cards are fun with Pyromancer Ascension and Font of Mythos and support like Book Burning. Can become a lot of power, and this combined with the two burn burst spells, it can be a simple and fatal deck.
Posted By:
Ritius
(1/6/2010 11:46:06 PM)
Wasn't this Jenson's icon?
I remember playing against a Test of Endurance deck on MODO way back when.
Posted By:
Orim-s_Thunder
(1/20/2010 3:01:35 AM)
I knew a guy that religiously ran 4 of these in all his white deck's.. lol. It wasn't that big of a deal but sometimes he'd put it on an isochron scepter with 1-2 life bursts already in his graveyard then it could get kind of annoying.
Posted By:
Revelation666
(6/15/2010 2:16:43 AM)
I like the art. And the effect. And the repetition in the art that mirrors the effect. :3
Posted By:
DacenOctavio
(11/23/2010 11:08:07 PM)
My buddy built a deck with these and Phyrexian Processor. If he gets the processor early game, he's not afraid to lose 5 life just to keep pumping out 5/5 fatties. Or late game, when he has ~30 life, he pumps out 15/15 fatties.. Needless to say, these are essential for any deck built around loss of life. 3.5/5
Posted By:
Smauls
(1/21/2011 12:29:03 PM)
Life gaining is normally lame, unless it's lifelink, which is repeatable, and pumpable, and in general just plain stupid fast when you think about it. untapping with a Double Strike, Lifelink creature should win you the game if it's power is greater than 2. Seriously.
3 power = 3 damage to them
lifegain you gain 3, total 6 difference swing
doublestrike = they lose 6, you gain 6.
12 difference total. that's over half of a starting lifetotal. And you can swing again if it doesn't get killed. And pump it.
12 + 18 (let's say you giant growthed it) = 30 life in two turns. And you've dealt 30 damage. kill.
compare to just gaining life, and not bringing the opponent directly closer to losing. If you have 40 life and they have 20, there's nothing stopping them from paying 19 into Necropotence and comboing your face dead.
That's why people say 'not losing isn't the same as winning'. Also take as an example, seven cards of mana ramp and 3 turns of tempo, vs. a deck without ramp... (see all)
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(9/14/2011 12:35:37 PM)
@stygimoloch Yeah man, I know how you feel... but really, lifegain IS pretty lame unless it's tied to some other effect. Take for example these lifegaining cards that did see serious play: Ravenous Baloth (you get a fatty), Kitchen Finks (you get a persistent, efficient beater), Primal Command (you can slow your opponent down or fetch a creature) or even Martyr of Sands (it's still a 1/1 creature!) and Captured Sunlight (Cascade is awesome). The point is: "not losing" is not gonna win you the game.
Posted By:
True_Mumin
(6/30/2009 8:48:27 AM)
It's true that 12 life for 2 mana can make a big difference, but the other half of the truth is that to get to that level, you already had to spend 2 cards and 2 slots in your deck and thus you are already pretty much behind your opponent in both card quality and card advantage. With the very few exceptions (I can think of Congregate in Urza block which was so much efficient that it was worth playing), pure life gain just is not good in limited play. In constructed though, I remember a type 2 g/w control deck full of wrath and fog effects and life gain which played this card. Poor opponent's creatures...
Posted By:
Angerr
(2/11/2009 2:38:20 PM)
Some people will tell you that life gain on its own is always worthless. Those people have never gained twelve or sixteen life for two mana. With those kinds of numbers, it really DOES buy you the extra couple of turns you need for that big alpha strike.
Posted By:
stygimoloch
(12/3/2008 9:44:44 AM)