Gift of Immortality

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature

When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under it’s owner’s control. Return Gift of Immortality to the battlefield attached to that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Discussion (51)

dingusdingo on Land Destruction

22 hours ago

Simian Spirit Guide into Crack the Earth is 2-for-1'ing yourself. Land + Crack the Earth is also 2-for-1'ing yourself. I see the appeal of Crack the Earth, but often times it won't be enough to truly bury an opponent's game plan. Smallpox is a much stronger card and there are more angles to exploit playing it i.e. not having a creature in play, or gaining benefit from the land/creature sac or the discard. Having Crack the Earth as a cornerstone of the deck with no card draw will be a recipe for falling behind game after game.

Consider white splash. Flagstones of Trokair lets you break parity on symmetrical land destruction like Smallpox. Also hitting a Fulminator Mage with a Gift of Immortality is a surefire way to wreak havoc on enemy lands, as well as handle swinging aggro decks that can easily play in the 1-2 mana range.

I really don't see the point in playing Blood Moon if you're going to be destroying lands as the focus.

StopShot on Counteracting large hexproof creatures.

1 month ago

The subject of this thread revolves around dealing with and counteracting against the commanders: Uril, the Miststalker, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Dragonlord Ojutai, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, Thrun, the Last Troll as well as commanders that consistently or typically give themselves hexproof through various equipments/auras.

While it may not be the most prevalent strategy these types of commanders can be annoying to deal with. I'd like to create a discussion on what are the best ways to deal with these commanders. Given how niche these commanders can be, running cards that exclusively dedicate themselves to their removal may be detrimental to draw into when playing a game where none of your opponents run them. Therefore cards that can both combat massive hexproof creatures as well as still being useful to have if none of your opponents are playing with big hexproof creatures should be taken into consideration when deciding what is the "best" or "most practical" solution to combating hexproof strategies.

The first cards that come to mind are Arcane Lighthouse, Detection Tower, Bonds of Mortality, Shadowspear and Glaring Spotlight. These cards entirely dedicate themselves to combating hexproof strategies, and while this may be a detriment when used against non-hexproof strategies, these cards do lend themselves some extra utility. Arcane Lighthouse and Detection Tower can be seeded into your manabase so at worst they're just a Wastes however they can be more inefficient in comparison. Given that both are lands, tapping them costs you an extra mana resource effectively making their abilities cost to activate. Not only that, but they have no effect at stripping indestructible which can be a common keyboard which may be used alongside most hexproof strategies. Cards like Bonds of Mortality and Shadowspear cost only one to activate and they can bypass indestructible, however given they're not lands you have to dedicate a nonland slot in your deck to accommodate either of them which means taking out a card that may better synergize with your deck's main strategy in their place. They also lend themselves targets for counter spells and given hexproof decks contain white and/or green, artifact/enchantment removal will pose a high potential risk. This is all not to mention you still need to provide a removal spell in tandem with these cards in order to remove the threat.

Another solution is board wipes. Cards such as Wrath of God, Damnation, Day of Judgment, Supreme Verdict, Blasphemous Act, etc. Mass creature removal is incredibly strong given that its always relevant in most metas making it a highly flexible solution that isn't too narrow to rely upon. It's biggest drawback however is if the massive hexproof creature that needs to be dealt with has indestructible, totem armor or Gift of Immortality. Even a card such as Toxic Deluge can be a risk as you may have to pay a huge amount of life if the creature is incredibly big. Cyclonic Rift is another effective card. One thing to note about boardwipes are they affect the whole table which makes them also more likelier to be countered than by effects that impact a single individual.

A more narrow solution would be through damage prevention effects such as Story Circle, Forcefield, Runed Halo, Rune of Protection: White, etc. Given each card never "targets" they can be used to infinitely "Fog" a problem creature that you can't put up with. These effects are more narrow than boardwipes but broader than hexproof removal. Cards like these still run into problems with artifact/enchantment removal and they don't run enticing side effects such as drawing a card upon entering the battlefield like Bonds of Mortality or giving a creature lifelink and trample like Shadowspear, however you won't need to exhaust your removal spells to keep the large creature(s) either. In more broader metas such as combo, stax and prison, these effects may not be as useful however. More broader variants of these protection cards exist as Ensnaring Bridge, Divine Presence, Peacekeeper and Meekstone though these cards may make multiple opponents unhappy enough to remove them than the more narrower options.

The last effect used to combat large hexproof creatures is sacrifice effects such as: Fleshbag Marauder, Innocent Blood, Vona's Hunger, Liliana's Triumph, Doomfall etc. These effects can bypass not only hexproof but also indestructible, regenerate and totem armor. Their drawback lies in if the player with the large hexproof creature has any other creatures to sacrifice in their place. Because of this caveat this effect isn't too strong unless ran in multiples which can be difficult to commit to in a 100-card format. Instead selective sacrifice effects may be the best way to devote to this solution with cards like: Crackling Doom, Soul Shatter, Slaughter the Strong, Council's Judgment, Renounce the Guilds and Wing Shards. While these cards won't always guarantee the large hexproof creature will be removed, they provide a stronger case than not compared to most traditional sacrifice removal.

Lastly there are counter spells to remove hexproof creatures. While they may be the best all purpose solution they can be rendered ineffective if a Cavern of Souls or some other can not be countered effect is in place. With exception to Withering Boon, the biggest downside to counter spells are they are entirely exclusive to blue meaning other color combinations without blue do not have this option available.

Which method do you rely on to stop massive hexproof creatures? Is there a card or solution set not listed here that you use? If you happen to play EDH decks with big massive hexproof creatures, which effects annoy/counter you the most?

Goblin_Guide on I'm the Capashen Now | Gerrard Hero EDH

1 month ago

Interesting deck, mine goes more in the combo direction (based on the word "artifact" instead of "creature"), basically a bad Breya with two less colors and with the opposite piece of text on his cardboard (she's the sacrifice outlet while he's what I think of as a Second Sunrise in the command zone).

I like the use of Gift of Immortality, can't believe I never thought of that -- I even have one floating around somewhere, I think.

Also, I might suggest Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward over or in conjunction with Eerie Interlude and its cousin Ghostway because they can serve much the same purpose and have the added utility of comboing off with Gerrard that way (although I suppose you don't have that third piece of the combo).

Of course, all of this advice comes from a player who's Gerrard deck started as a Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer artifact combo deck that I try not to play to often because turns are annoyingly long, so maybe ignore this comment entirely.

sanddeviljack on Snapdax, Apex of Hatred

1 month ago

Sweet Mardu list. I can see how Mathas makes for a great choice since he doesn't push you in a particular direction. As for Saskia vs Breya, I'd vote for Saskia. Green gets you more enchantresses and land auras for ramp. I'm noticing there are zero Instants. A conscious choice? I can respect that.

Impact Tremors, maybe? Or Indestructibility? You have other etb effects, and a reasonable number of creatures that would be extra worrisome for your opponents if they suddenly became indestructible. Or Gift of Immortality might even do the trick.

DemMeowsephs on Kelsien and Friends!

1 month ago

Of course, I'd love to help!

They almost all seem like pretty worthy cuts to me, with the exception of maybe one or two, but that is just what I think. The Void Beckoner thing to give Kelsien deathtouch is smart I really like that, so definitely add it. It's always good to have Magus of the Wheel sort of effects if you aren't in blue, card draw is very important, so add that too.

The Kaya's Ghostform and Gift of Immortality effects are also good to have in any voltron type deck, and the same goes for Reconnaissance, and Temur Battle Rage. If you like the recon ability you might like Maze of Ith too, which can also target your opponent's creatures, or just help out Kelsien. So yes those are all good cards to add as well.

Deflecting Swat is great allowing you to double Kelsiens ability and target two creatures which makes it certainly worthy. If I understand the cards rulings correctly, you could even use it to chose new targets on one of your removal spells, which is a great option, or even just stop your opponents from harming Kelsien, and instead turning their effect around back at them.

I would playtest Sword of the Animist because when I use it, it works a bit too slow for me, and plus you only run one of each basic land, and the sword only searches for basics. Yes it would be good for those three attacks (if you don't have basics in your hand or on the battlefield already), but you also have Prismatic Vista, and if you add more basics JUST for this effect it seems to me there's just way too many hoops to jump through to make it work. If you still like it definitely keep it, that's just what I think. If you don't end up adding it though, I would try using Smothering Tithe because it's an amazing card and one of the best white cards ever printed. Painful Truths is good too but if you are deciding between that and Smothering Tithe I think you should add smothering tithe first and then maybe try to add a way to add it afterwards. Read the Bones might be something to consider as well.

Now for the graveyard recursion, I am a bit confused. (Brought Back/Unearth). You don't have too many three cmc creatures, so I don't understand why you'd include Unearth, unless you are using it for Kelsien. If you do use them for Kelsien, you'd have to put him into the graveyard instead of the command zone. If you do this and someone plays something common like Bojuka Bog, Kelsien is gone forever. It could be good in some situations, but putting Kelsien in the graveyard can be pretty risky, especially with all the Bojuka Bogs running around these days. The same goes for Brought Back, but even more so. You'd have to have two mana open which is not always the case, and it would have to be something put there THIS turn, making the card worthless if it wasn't that turn. Its still a good card in some situations I suppose, but if you are using it for Kelsien its risky, and if you aren't there are much better cards to include in your deck in my opinion. If you do still like these graveyard recursion effects, maybe include Call of the Death-Dweller that way Kelsien gets deathtouch as well. Let me know if there is something I am missing.

The two final cards are the removal spells, Vindicate and Crush Contraband. Vindicate is amazing, nothing else to say there. Crush on the other hand is kind of pricy, yes it exiles up to two things which is great, but I feel like there are better things. Also keep in mind, if you exile something it does not usually count as dying, and won't trigger Kelsien IF I AM correct, which I may not be, so I would look into that. Sorry I'm not too good on the rulings :). However there are many more great effects that could replace crush, like Mortify, Utter End, etc. Teferi's Protection is AMAZING and I would run it in your deck, maybe instead of crush if you can.

In the end that is my take on the maybeboard, I'm not sure if it helps or gives any insight, but I hope it does! Let me know if it helps and what you think. Cheers.

arsenicide33 on Alesha, Who Gets Things Done

1 month ago

Cool deck!

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death was one of the first generals I built a commander deck around and I've been tuning mine ever since.

Replacements I would make

• Replace Dolmen Gate with Reconnaissance since it costs 1 less and also can untap your creatures after damage has been dealt to give them pseudo-vigilance.
• Replace Angel of Invention with Marionette Master since if you get infinite ETBs on marionette master, you can sac the infinite tokens to deal infinite damage.

Other cards I might suggest

• Add Moriok Replica is the best card I have in my Alesha deck, it can draw you so many cards every turn.
• Add Panharmonicon/Flameshadow Conjuring so you can get double ETB triggers.
• Add Torch Fiend and Kami of Ancient Law for repeatable artifact/enchantment removal.
• Add Remorseful Cleric for repeatable graveyard hate.
• Add Magus of the Disk for a repeatable board wipe.
• Add Yahenni, Undying Partisan since he's a free sac outlet that can draw you cards and can also be recurred using Alesha.

Combos I might suggest

• Add Reveillark/Sun Titan + Karmic Guide + a sac outlet + a creature with an ETB trigger like Murderous Redcap = infinite ETBs.
• Add Vesperlark + Felidar Guardian + a sac outlet = infinite sacrifices.
• Add Sun Titan + Gift of Immortality + a sac outlet = infinite sacrifices.
• Add Zealous Conscripts + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker = infinite hasty pirates.

Cards I recommend ditching:

• Remove Carrion Grub Its basically 4 mana for 4 cards milled, that isn't worth it.
• Remove Sunforger You only have 6 legal Sunforger targets, it isn't worth it to keep it in.
• Remove Dictate of Erebos You don't need this if you can just get a Ravenous Chupacabra out and keep recurring it.
• Remove Mindclaw Shaman This was a card that I found didn't do much when I played it, there are alot of other creatures with better ETB effects.
• Remove Relic Seeker There isn't much of a need to fetch a piece of equipment since you only have Sunforger, Sword of the Animist, and Skullclamp.

Feel Free to check out my RBW Alesha's Beautiful Smile combo deck for ideas.

shaftdiggity on Alela, Enchantress of the Fae

1 month ago

Idol of Oblivion would be an all-star I would think.

If you find people target Alela, maybe Kaya's Ghostform, Crab Umbra, Hyena Umbra, or Gift of Immortality

Peoyogon on Yennett

1 month ago

I see you are going all in on the odds-only aspect. I can respect that. However, you may want to consider adding more ramp as I also see your curve is quite high. You definitely don't have to play 2-drop Mana rocks but I would adding something. Wayfarer's Bauble, Chromatic Lantern, and even Darksteel Ingot are all ones that would still fit your restriction.

How is your commander doing in terms of survivability? If you feel you need extra help in keeping them alive, you could add more voltron-esque cards like Darksteel Plate, Gift of Immortality, or Champion's Helm.