Life Goes On

Instant

You gain 4 life. If a creature died this turn (was put into the graveyard from the battlefield, tokens enter the graveyard before they cease to exist), you gain 8 life instead.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

legendofa on Incredible budget combo elves

1 year ago

Tldr: Cut the Giant Growth and Life Goes On for more protection. Cut the Beast Whisperer and Regal Force for more direct searching.

How often do you use the Giant Growth? This would be my first pick for switching out for more protection. It buffs your creatures, but it won't help when your creatures get Murdered. With only a single Growth, it's also not going to appear reliably, and single-target pumping isn't really what I see this deck doing.

I'm also going to ask about the Life Goes On. Since this deck doesn't have any lifegain focus or interactions, how often does it change the course of a game? Can you point to multiple matches where it directly contributed to a win? Unless it regularly and specifically protects a win or avoids a loss, it's kind of out of place here, especially as a one-off. Lifegain for lifegain's sake usually just ends up diluting the deck and adding filler.

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To go into this next thought, the goal for this deck is to ramp into big smashy creatures and attack, right? If that's the case, maybe switch the Beast Whisperer for Fierce Empath or Mwonvuli Beast Tracker and switch of the Regal Force for a second Empath or Tracker or another big scary creature. The Empath and Tracker will get your finishers in hand faster, and once you hit that stage, you want to be attacking, not drawing cards off a 5/5 without evasion.

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If you're trying to stay inexpensive, the Heroic Intervention might be a bit much, Blossoming Defense is reasonable but not super cheap, and Ranger's Guile, Mwonvuli Beast Tracker, and Fierce Empath are all pocket change.

AmoeboidChangeling on Kami & other Spirits

2 years ago

lespaul977 Thank you! Your deck is also cool and seems like lots of fun and Seedborn Muse is a nice Spirit indeed.

These cards appearently weren't good in their own standard environment. I have them from a friend, don't even remember which one of us bought them. I even had to remove some of the Kamigawa Spirits from this deck because they were so bad. But in it's current state, the deck is nice for kitchentable Magic.

The deck has now been modified a bit, but only the lifegain spells. Joyous Respite is an awful card, now it's been removed and replaced by another Life Goes On and another Wolf's Quarry. I'll update the deck eventually. Thank you for the upvote!

ClockworkSwordfish on Life Gain

2 years ago

This looks like a good start! I think to really get Lathiel working, you'll want cards that gain you life in huge chunks - some good, cheap options include Ordeal of Heliod, Life Goes On and Feudkiller's Verdict. Cards that do nothing but gain a little bit of life at a time, such as Ajani's Mantra or Marble Chalice, build up an advantage over a long time but aren't quite as flashy. Likewise, enchantments just meant to make creatures bigger - that is, Vinecraft, Siegecraft and Castle - are somewhat redundant, as you can expect to make creatures bigger by virtue of gaining life!

The other key element to Lathiel is that you're accruing +1/+1 counters, so creatures like Conclave Mentor, Abzan Falconer and Abzan Battle Priest will capitalize on that fact. Having access to lifelink is probably key, since it will essentially allow your creatures to double in size each turn. Other good ways to ensure that include Loxodon Warhammer, Behemoth Sledge Vitality Hunter. Hopefully some of these pointers help give you a leg up!

razelfark on Selesnya Life Gain

2 years ago

Seems you have a good base going for your deck idea so far. There are a couple cards I would suggest adding to the deck idea, and trimming others due to more efficient plays.

First I would advise going for a full set of Prosperous Innkeeper as this card is way to good for your deck type to run less then 4. The ETB (enter batltle field) trigger to gain life for all your cretures entering the battle field is huge for Trelasarra, Moon Dancer as it can spin her out of control quickly. The addition of the treasure token to give you a turn of ramp can also be very valuable.

I would also suggest adding extra copies of Righteous Valkyrie to the deck as most of your creatures are clerics, giving you extra life for them entering the battlefield while it is on the board. The anthem effect it brings for being at 27 or more life is also very strong and hard for decks that do not have a straight kill spell to remove the angel handle the card a lot of the time.

For some good lifegain cantrips to consider, I would suggest Cram Session and Revitalize . These spells will give you some life and allow you to get another card to potentially play. With cram session you can use some potentially good removals spells like Containment Breach and Reduce to Memory in the side or get Environmental Sciences for some more life and fetch a land if you are a bit stalled on lands. There are other card options to consider as well, but those are some quick examples.

A cheap rare that is good to consider for the deck Yasharn, Implacable Earth . This card is a good size body that will and some lands to your hand and also prevent players from activating sacrifice mechanics and life paying functions. This is particularly useful with a lot of decks trying to make use of treasures as they will not be able to activate them while it is on the board (small note, your treasures also won't work). If you do not think its good enough for the main board, would definitely use in the side for best of 3 matches.

I would suggest Hallowed Priest for arena, but it sadly does not have a paper version of it printed. Due to this I would suggest moving your Trelasarra, Moon Dancer to a 4 of as this card is one of your strongest creatures with this kind of deck and is likely to die to opponents removal spells at least once as it is a high priority target for their removal a lot of the times. I would also increase the Cleric Class to a 4 of for paper format if not just a 3 of at least for general play.

Cards I would trim from your deck would be Turntimber Ascetic , Tajuru Paragon , Conclave Mentor , and Life Goes On .

You are running some cards I haven't test yet like Druid Class , so I am not so sure how that works out and would be interested to hear your thoughts if you think it has been working out for you. If you are interested in seeing my take on this deck that I have been playing in the arena's 2022 format you can see it here

Hope these comments help.

lagotripha on budget mono-black aggro/devotion

2 years ago

I've played a bunch of mono black in modern. It is great for FNM, but will probs never put up tournament results.

The deck lives on sideboarding and the sheer variety of options available - your opponent has no idea if you are aggro, midrange grindy or combo until turn three or four. This means that published decklists and scouting in major tournaments strips away its biggest advantage.

Cards to mess around with;

Duress (and the million variants) - hitting a Life Goes On can be 'more damage' than any 1 drop.

Gifted Aetherborn - it completes the dire moon / nighthawk trio, and helps with tribal vampire options like Stromkirk Condemned or Captivating Vampire

Stromkirk Condemned and stuff like Zombie Infestation lets you play with discard synergies - pitching your hand then casting symetrical discard, or getting back demigod.

Lashwrithe If you want an equip in mono black on a budget, it is this. Its scary on its own, strapped to a nighthawk it boosts your life total to massive levels.

Ratchet Bomb used to be the only enchantment answer, but Feed the Swarm has really patched that hole and made the deck a lot more solid.

Sign in Blood - draw two is good. Two damage is good to finish an opponent sometimes too.

There are a bunch of 'return to the battlefield' 1 drops that can help create tempo by flooding the board and provide fodder for sacrifice effects - Bloodsoaked Champion, Dread Wanderer, Tenacious Dead etc.

If you want to do it the other way, effects like Unearth let you keep key creatures on the battlefield, while synergysing neatly with stuff like Profane Command to hit face.

Finally, play to mono-black's biggest advantage, reliability. Lots of decks focus on hands that can 'just win the game', mono black does an amazing job at getting a hand that is 'better than the opponent'. Not an incredible hand, but a little disruption and a lot of 'good cards', no chance of getting mana screwed, and far less need to mulligan.

zapyourtumor on Lifegain: The Thicc Wurm Story

2 years ago

Finally found someone else using Voracious Wurm !! Although your deck doesn't have many white cards, I've found a version of the wurm combo with Martyr of Sands , Heroes' Reunion , and Life Goes On to be pretty effective against other casual decks. If you can fit martyr in I think she could do some serious work.

razelfark on Witherbloom Lifegain

2 years ago

Kind of noticed your deck idea is lacking on pest token generation and a strong consistent closer. I have tried and witnessed a couple variants and see you are missing some of the strong combo pieces that would likely help your build.

Would suggest putting the Hunt for Specimens in your main board and putting a couple copies of Pest Summoning in your side. This will help give you some more sources of token generation access to you main board outside of Sedgemoor Witch but also give you more tokens if played after the witch is on board.

Another strong spell Plumb the Forbidden will give you explosive turns of damage as a sac outlet for your tokens and spell stacks to create tokens with your Sedgemoor Witch or great amounts of drain with Witherbloom Apprentice. The spell also doubles as a way to sacrifice your board in response to a sweeper to refill your hand (be mindful not to sacrifice Witherbloom Apprentice or you won't get spell drain triggers).

The enchantment Bastion of Remembrance is also highly recommended as this makes sure you get life drain to happen even if you don't have Vito or Dina on board. The enchantment also is not legendary meaning you can get multiple triggers unlike the creature options.

If you feel you need more draw, then I would suggest Village Rites. It is a cheap draw spell that has combat trick potential and can be used to give you a response to removal.

What I would suggest to cut or remove some copies of to make room for the suggested cards: Witherbloom Command, Cram Session, Life Goes On

Personally I am not a big fan on the Witherbloom Command and would cut from these to make room for the suggestion as most of its options are very restricting for sorcery speed.

Pending on how you want to drain your opponent I would suggest trimming some copies of Dina, Soul Steeper and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose if you need the extra card slots, or trimming/cutting Witherbloom Apprentice. Personally I am fan of the apprentice, but the decks more focused on Sedgemoor Witch sometimes skip on it.

Hope these suggestions help. Let me know if you have any questions and I can get into more details on the cards I suggested.

TriusMalarky on Please help save this game

2 years ago

I think the problems with the color pie are built into Magic from it's conception. It's really that the color pie was never balanced to begin with.

I mean, look at the boons cycle -- Recall became one of the 9 best spells of all time, Dark Ritual is one of the best mana accelerants in the game, Bolt is the best red card period, and giant growth is still relevant. Healing Salve is not playable in anything and AFAIK has never been.

White consistently gets the short end of the stick because its mechanics aren't on-par compared to the other colors. Lifegain is almost never worth the mana, unless it's incidental. Maybe Life Goes On when you can get 8 life out of it . . . but even then I'd always prefer Push over LGO.

Magic was not designed well in the first place -- and we have reasonable evidence that the MtG team is about as competent as half-roasted squirrels. But the best thing -- the massive creativity palette that the game provides -- is the reason the game is still alive.