Lifegain-how much to be worth it
Modern forum
Posted on Feb. 9, 2025, 5:27 p.m. by Bookrook
Life gain started out pretty bad with Healing Salve. WOTC has been printing better versions like Chaplain's Blessing, but none of those are playable. Is there an amount of life per mana that would be playable? I’m talking about cards that are one-time use instant/sorceries, not recurring stuff. No other effects like Revitalize, just raw life gain. What’s a suitable amount that would be playable?
Sliverguy420 says... #3
Chaplain's Blessing may give more life than Healing Salve, but i wouldn't call it the better card overall. life gain effects, especially one-time use effects that don't do anything else, don't see play not because of the ratio of life : mana, but because life gain by itself doesn't win the game, just stalls the game. and that goal is better accomplished by just using removal. a card could be a 1-mana instant "gain 10 life" and still not see play except in one specific deck with a particular combo. even then, the player will likely just opt for an infinite lifegain combo
February 9, 2025 5:52 p.m.
Unlikely that wizards would ever print this, but your saying that a one mana gain 100 life would see no play just because it blows out Afro?
February 9, 2025 6:17 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
These kinds of cards do nothing to affect the board, and so by themselves are useless. I’m going to assume the lifegain amount can’t be soo high as to force a draw (i.e. trying to chip through 1000 life with a tournament-timer is going to be hard for most decks).
If the card buys you one more turn without dying, they’re still in a pretty weak position, because it’s cost you a card, done nothing to help you recover, and means you’ll probably lose anyway.
If the lifegain is enough to buy you a whopping five more turns without dying, you probably still lose to most control, combo, and midrange decks, which will just get further ahead by out-valuing you, disrupting your win-condition, or just combo-ing off.
So, the only real value these cards would ever have is in being a sideboard piece against aggro, where the lifegain allows you time to stabalise. We already see this being employed against decks such as Burn, just with more efficient/practical options like Kor Firewalker.
My personal view is if a 1-mana instant read ”gain 15 life” then it might show up occasionally in peoples sideboards when the meta is particularly aggro/burn-orientated. I also think that would be a super-irresponsible card for Wotc to print, as it either doesn’t see any play, or it kills an archetype
February 9, 2025 6:23 p.m.
Sliverguy420 says... #6
no, thats not what i'm saying because its obvious wotc would not print such a card. using hyperbole doesn't prove the point you're trying to make.
February 9, 2025 6:25 p.m.
Converting mana to life without a card is something wizards will not do again, see phyrexian mana. I think this hypothetical question has been asked and answered.
Basically, just gaining life without impacting the board is not worth going down a card, outside of against very specific matchups where you can buy multiple turns with such a card (which would require it to be more lifegain than what will ever be printed realistically).
The One Ring for example stopped you from losing life with its protection from everything, so that could be seen as a form of lifegain, and it also impacted the board, so it saw play. There's not many lifegain cards that see play outside of ones that stricly counter an archetype, like even Weather the Storm barely sees play and that gains an obscene amount of life vs its obvious target, storm decks.
February 9, 2025 8:12 p.m. Edited.
plakjekaas says... #9
Feed the Clan has been played in sideboards forever, for the reasons wallisface specified.
February 10, 2025 10:40 a.m.
wallisface says... #10
plakjekaas Which format are you referring to? I’m not sure ”forever” is quite correct, i’ve been playing Modern since Battle for Zendikar, and haven’t seen this card once. It looks playable for kitchen-table environments, but I don’t think they typically use sideboards (or need to worry about burn).
February 10, 2025 12:57 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #11
Oh yeah, I play Pauper regularly. Both Weather the Storm and Feed the Clan are the bane of my burn deck.
February 10, 2025 4:18 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #13
I forgot about Weather the Storm too, until it basically 6- for-1'd me when I got greedy and tried to Lava Spike+Skewer the Critics+Lightning Bolt+... Fireblast for exactly lethal all on my turn ('^^).
nbarry223 says... #2
I don't think any amount is enough, because you are losing out on a card, and not progressing the board at all. It needs to have a reusable ability or something like that to be worth it. There's plenty of cards at 1 mana that gain life multiple times and progress the board state. Soul Sisters, the new power crept energy version, etc.
There is no amount of life that makes a card worth it, but if it was lifegain per mana without being at the cost of a card, I would value it at around 4 life per mana, depending on other factors of course.
February 9, 2025 5:40 p.m.