brunsbr103 is right about one thing - it does remove the ability to gain double life with two warhammers, say, whereas multiple instances of a keyword (lifelink) are redundant.
I suspect they changed it in 10th Ed because they thought it would be a staple for quite a while, with good reason. It's a great card that is resonant for casual players and powerful enough for tournament play every now and then. They must have altered their reasoning since, but they've reprinted in almost as many products as they can, testifying to how much they like the card I guess.
Posted By:
djflo
(10/18/2012 7:01:23 AM)
brunsb: Magnetic Theft never worked anyway, since it gave the creature an ability. So the creature had the ability and since the creature is controlled by your opponent...it's the difference between "enchanted creature has 'whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life'" and "whenever enchanted creature deals damage, you gain that much life"
Posted By:
LordRandomness
(1/6/2012 7:23:28 PM)
Actually, they kept lifelink only because it was printed saying "lifelink" in Tenth Edition, and they (most of the time) follow the text on the last printed version.
Posted By:
Shiny_Umbreon
(7/21/2010 6:05:20 PM)
@brunsbr103 - They changed it to Lifelink because (as stated below) they were just updating the text into a keyword. They're doing the same for Trollshroud right now (I hate the name Hexproof). Also, you were never able to do those things, you gained life once the damage step is resolved, no extra resolution is was ever required for it. You also couldn't use it with Magnetic Thief "shenanigans" because the card itself doesn't have the ability. Rather the Warhammer gives the Lifelink to the equipped creature. So they would be the one gaining life from dealing damage to you.
Posted By:
Kitty_the_Kat
(6/25/2011 2:29:09 AM)
Does anyone know why they shortened the "whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life" into lifelink? Now it's ability no longer stacks, and I can't use any Magnetic Theft type shenanigans to render one of my opponent's attacking creatures useless!
Posted By:
brunsbr103
(4/2/2010 8:27:21 PM)
brunsbur you are thinking of spirit link.
Posted By:
krumtheslow
(10/28/2010 11:04:59 AM)
Not uncommon anymore.
Posted By:
Forgeling
(8/24/2009 6:58:15 PM)
It didn't stack before, and you couldn't use it to make one of your opponent's creatures give you life, because it gives the life gaining ability, meaning who gains life is the creature's controller.
Posted By:
Luke_BPC
(9/22/2010 7:39:37 PM)
My friend had a deck with this, skullclamp, and cranial plating. It has lead me to hate this card a lot
Posted By:
monkeymonk42
(11/1/2011 1:23:32 AM)
lol it was uncommon?!
Posted By:
Shadoflaam
(12/28/2011 8:21:19 PM)