Lifegain cards
Pioneer forum
Posted on Oct. 27, 2020, 12:34 p.m. by 9-lives
I'm thinking about including lifegain cards into my deck. There is a specific card or cards that I know give 1 life per turn, and I think they would be best for my deck. What are they? And should I use one of the best pure lifegain card out there called Heroes' Reunion since I am running a green/white deck?
I am running a green and white cats tribal deck. I would post my deck, but this isn't the place for that. And, thank you, Chaplain's Blessing is nice and probably better than Heroes' Reunion. I plan on using lifegain not only for simply gaining the main currency in this game, but also giving P/T to my Ajani's Pridemate consistently. This is why I want a card that gives 1 life per turn. I was thinking about Ajani's Welcome but that's finnicky; i want a reliable lifegain.
October 27, 2020 1:08 p.m.
That's what I was looking for! Thank you very much! I knew it was called 'fountain' something, but I only could think of Radiant Fountain.
October 27, 2020 1:41 p.m.
Not only will this help me with giving +P/+T, it will offset some black cards that say 'deal 1 damage to player' but generally people who run those decks also have a ton of triggers of that at once.
October 27, 2020 1:44 p.m.
So lets say you do that and stop/undo that effect once, you will have given up a card in your hand to do that where as they have done nothing but follow their game plan. You have not impacted the board or done anything that will stop them doing it again.
Life gain is bad without a major pay off ala Serra Ascendant
October 27, 2020 2:04 p.m.
What's wrong with pure lifegain? It's like making yourself have more turns, essentially. And, yes, it synergizes with some cards, but I am running a pioneer cat deck, so I don't have anything like that. And another synergy would be like Resplendent Angel.
October 27, 2020 2:18 p.m.
If they have artifact removal, what can I do to save my card?
October 27, 2020 2:20 p.m.
And I wasn't saying that if I stop their -1 to my health once, it will matter. I'm just saying that it will give me life consistently each turn, and if someone has an effect that says 'deal 1 damage to player' or even 2 or 3, I will have a buffer for that even though that's not my main aim with this card.
October 27, 2020 2:23 p.m.
I dont know your deck composition but if you are running a lot of creatures and especially if you are in tokens, another good card is Ajani's Welcome along with the pridemates.
For card advantage and lifegain there is Dawn of Hope.
October 27, 2020 3:09 p.m.
But you havent dealt with the damage source. Removing the damage source does that better. If you gain 4 life by giving up a cars and are attacked by a 4/4 you have traded 1 card for nothing.
Think about Magic like this. Magic is a resource game. The central resource is cards. You want every one of your cards to trade for 1+ of your opponents cards. Add in life, mana, the graveyard and similar and you win by spending your resources more efficently and invalidating their resources. A 2/2 is invalidated by a 2/3.
So the issue with life gain is that it doesnt trade for any cards and given pioneer is a creature based format it isnt like it trades for lightning bolt or amything.
October 27, 2020 3:21 p.m.
There are good resources that offer something besides lifegain when you are in Selesnya colors. Abd have lifegain included along with the ability you want the card for. Good choices like; Nissa, Voice of Zendikar,Emmara, Soul of the Accord, March of the Multitudes. and Knight of Autumn. I would run march or the knight before that white sorcery or that WG instant at the top of this thread.
Good stuff in white; Legion's Landing Flip and Ajani Steadfast.
These all offer something besides just lifegain and many of them will actively advance your game state or provide threats while gaining lives.
October 27, 2020 3:24 p.m.
Since my cat deck is somewhat of a toolbox, I like cards that have multiple effects that I can use or choose from, so Dawn of Hope is nice, but it requires that I gain life, and I don't really have any lifegain cards except for Fountain of Renewal. I didn't know that Ajani's Welcome worked with tokens. And yes, Ajani's Pridemates are one of the ones that I'll rely upon to be heavy hitters. When I have a lot of lifelink 1/1 cat tokens with buffs, I'll be able to get Pridemates to quite high P/T.
October 27, 2020 3:27 p.m.
And I don't really like any of the planeswalkers. Unless there are some good generic mana ones (not colorless like waste lands).
Here ya go:
Felidae Cult
Pioneer
SCORE: 11 | 75 COMMENTS | 1835 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS
October 27, 2020 3:39 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #17
On the note of lifegain, life is far and away one of the least important resources in the game. It's only relevant against aggro or if you are actively using it as a resource with, for example, Ad Nauseam or Sign in Blood.
There are two main reasons to include lifegain: either you get advantages with cards like Ajani's Pridemate, Griffin Aerie, Resplendent Angel, etc., in which case you mostly want creatures with lifegain or Fountain of Renewal. Otherwise, you're looking at effects like Lone Missionary, Arashin Cleric or Life Goes On/Chaplain's Blessing as sideboard cards against aggro.
October 27, 2020 4:13 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #18
If you’re looking for instances of life gain, for triggers, rather than whopping doses of life...and are using green might I humbly suggest Living Artifact? It’s old, but it’s a cheap fire-and-forget deal that’s pretty easy if you have an artifact to put it on.
October 27, 2020 4:30 p.m.
I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks says... #19
That does look like a fun card but I'm pretty sure its not legal in pioneer
October 27, 2020 4:31 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #20
Ugh - sorry about that! I’m definitely behind on the formats, but I also get so excited about talking about long-lost cards. Thanks for your understanding!
October 27, 2020 4:36 p.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #21
Basically, echoing some prior opinions: lifegain for the sole purpose of extending the game via "protecting" yourself is a very tepid and diluted way of staying alive til you can win. If you run more removal, you can stop creatures bashing in (removal is also more toolboxy, in general), and if you run more card draw you can dig towards answers. Unless you're running up against burn or some direct-damage decks, lifegain is primarily to combat combat damage--which can be dealt with by just killing the creatures from which that damage stems.
That said, if you're set on this path, Feed the Clan works well with beefy cats like Ajani's Pridemate, etc.
October 27, 2020 4:38 p.m.
StardustDragon11 says... #22
The problem most decks run into is that life total doesn't really matter. You can have 1 life or life but it doesn't make a difference in-game.
October 27, 2020 6:02 p.m.
9-lives Great List! Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is one of the most powerful cards in pioneer. It gains life passively and repeatedly and ramps you while doing it. It requires blue, so the mana is tricky but is powerful enough to be worth it. I would recommend the following changes to make this work.
- +3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath main
- +3 Kaheera, the Orphanguard main
- +2 Breeding Pool main
- +2 Hallowed Fountain main
- +1 Hinterland Harbor main
- +1 Glacial Fortress main
- -4 Anointed Procession main
- -2 Font of Fertility main
- -3 Plains main
- -3 Forest main
I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks says... #2
I think Chaplain's Blessing is better in a 60 card format. And why do you need lifegain? For sideboard against aggro? What colors are you in?
October 27, 2020 12:53 p.m.