Well of Lost Dreams

Artifact

Whenever you gain life, you may pay (X), where X is less than or equal to the amount of life you gained. If you do, draw X cards.

Discussion (51)

burferking on Mathas, Bitter Hugs

2 weeks ago

I like your deck! It has a similar flavor to my Grixis Twisted Group Hug (No Pain, No Gain!), where I can help with cards and effects, but at a cost. The idea was a Zedruu the Greathearted , but with black, black being my favorite Mtg color. I invite you to take a look at my deck and draw some inspiration from it. One of the principles of the deck is that I don't target destroy/exile/counterspell anything; "that wouldn't be nice, from a good guy that helps you, eh?". I personnally found that Illicit Auction and Pain's Reward are such fun cards and can hurt a player so bad at the same time ! You could also consider any cards with the Join Forces and Tempting Offer mechanics. If I do help someone, it is not everybody, like I originally would have like. So to be honest, I may rename my deck "Grixis Bitter Hugs" -because I think it is more accurate than "Grixis Twisted Group Hug"- if you don't mind. While commenting, I took time to update my deck's description, which was pretty much empty before lol

You could also add Anvil of Bogardan , Oracle's Vault , Outpost Siege , Vance's Blasting Cannons  ^Flip, Bloodgift Demon , Indulgent Tormentor , Well of Lost Dreams ... Phyrexian Arena is a must, Rhystic Study is a beast (but pricy $), Mystic Remora is great and you could add also Braid of Fire , comboing with Luminarch Ascension . For more lands, add Land Tax , Knight of the White Orchid , Weathered Wayfarer , Sword of the Animist , Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip, Journeyer's Kite ...

The_Biking_Viking on 7 Days to the Wolves

3 weeks ago

\m/ Love the reference and deck +1 from me.

Have you tried out some life gain payoff cards like Archangel of Thune , Well of Lost Dreams or Angelic Accord to name a few? Ran a similar Tolsimir deck before, heavily into the wolf theme and less elves, but you gain stupid amount of life if your commander sticks around.

Azeworai on Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

3 weeks ago

Ah, life gain! A strategy as old as time, so what a splendid choice in deck!

May I recommend such effects as Blood Artist and Falkenrath Noble ? They seem to slot in perfectly.

Beacon of Immortality can propel you far ahead, often to the point of team-up. (Use with care)

As for card draw, Necrologia and Necropotence churn through a library quickly, and Well of Lost Dreams can draw quite a few cards in short time. I would definitely make room for that any of those.

Killing Wave is a befitting board wipe for a strategy such as this, especially one with few creatures.

Phyrexian Processor can be a finisher with efficacy, but that's a personal choice.

Blind Obedience can slow down your opponents vastly whilst upholding your life-gain schemes.

Crypt Ghast is fine ramp that, again, can gain life.

At last, Chainer, Dementia Master is a card I love all too much and gets out of hand very quickly.

Let the Nightmare Go On..: My decklist for Chainer. :)

Conquer all with 200 life.

triproberts12 on Arcane Encyclopedia or Arcane Signet?

1 month ago

Yeah, J, I'm also on the Arcane Encyclopedia sucks train. For 1 more mana, you can have those two first cards with Mind's Eye . A lot of white decks will have incidental life gain, at which point Well of Lost Dreams is way better on rate. If the deck is more aggressive or equipment-based, Mask of Memory , Rogue's Gloves , Skullclamp , and Sword of Fire and Ice get the job done better, and in any mono white or red deck running 20+ basics, Endless Atlas will be almost strictly better. That's just the list of artifacts that are better.

The point I'm trying to ultimately make, though, is that there are far more powerful options for most decks if you spend some time looking for accidental subthemes and punching those keywords into Scryfall, since you'll often find insane cards for one deck or theme that don't really have a home elsewhere.

Lanzo493 on

1 month ago

I would prioritize creatures that do more than just gain life or simply get bigger for gaining life. Any card that is already good, and then adds lifegain on top of it, is a good benchmark to consider adding to the deck. Vault of the Archangel and Kambal, Consul of Allocation are good cards that work better in a lifegain theme. Well of Lost Dreams and Drogskol Reaver will get you a lot of draw. I also like Sunbond for the occasional Voltron kill. And you've got to run Swords to Plowshares , just for the how well it fits the deck. Pristine Talisman is the only mana rock that gains life. Just letting you know in case you're interested.

multimedia on

1 month ago

Hey, interesting budget version of Atraxa.

Atraxa is your best source of life gain with her lifelink because the damage she does to a player is also Commander damage. She already has evasion (flying) meaning you're most likely going to be gaining life when she attacks. Gaining life while at the same time potentially killing your opponents. I would focus more on Atraxa and beefing her up which then in return makes cards that benefit from gaining life better. Counters are a fine way to beef up Atraxa because they also interact with her proliferate. Consider including more ways to get counters on Atraxa?

Cards within the budget to consider adding:

Counter Engines

• Hadana's Climb  ^Flip
• Forgotten Ancient
• Evolutionary Escalation
• Orzhov Advokist

Ancient, Escalation and Advokist are repeatable sources of counters to put on Atraxa. Even though Escalation and Advokist put counters on an opponent's creature Atraxa is still going to be bigger and more powerful. These cards and Ancient can beef up Atraxa quickly. A big reason to add Climb is Winged Temple of Orazca . It's a win condition land with Atraxa.

Draw and Tutors

• Eladamri's Call
• Mystic Remora
• Open the Armory : tutor for Greaves/Boots.
• Brainstorm
• Painful Truths

Ramp

• Faeburrow Elder
• Fellwar Stone
• Birds of Paradise or Paradise Druid
• Crystalline Crawler

Ramp that can make any color of mana is very helpful when playing four colors with a budget manabase. Adding more of it lets you ramp into Atraxa faster.

Value from Gaining Life

• Crested Sunmare
• Resplendent Angel
• Well of Lost Dreams

Sunmare and Resplendent are repeatable sources to make big tokens when you gain life. Resplendent is very good with Lyra Dawnbringer . Well is good when you're consistently gaining life, turning that life gain into drawing cards.

Lands Upgrades

• Llanowar Wastes
• Yavimaya Coast
• Sunken Hollow
• Prairie Stream
• Canopy Vista
• Woodland Cemetery
• Sunpetal Grove
• Opal Palace
• Ash Barrens

The Pain lands (Llanowar, Coast), Battle lands (Vista, Sunken, Stream) and Check lands (Woodland, Sunpetal) are upgrades for the Bounce lands. The Battle lands are good with Basic lands and Farseek to be able to search for a dual land. The Check lands are good with the Basic lands and the Battle lands. If you cast Atraxa with Opal then she ETB with a counter on her ready to proliferate.

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Cards to consider cutting:

• Azorius Chancery
• Dimir Aqueduct
• Dromar's Cavern
• Golgari Rot Farm
• Orzhov Basilica
• Selesnya Sanctuary
• Simic Growth Chamber
• Thespian's Stage
• Myriad Landscape
• Ill-Gotten Inheritance
• Lawmage's Binding
• Spirit Loop
• Witching Well
• Ageless Entity
• Arvad the Cursed
• Basilica Bell-Haunt
• Bloodbond Vampire
• Elderwood Scion
• Vampire of the Dire Moon
• Horizon Chimera
• Evra, Halcyon Witness
• Elite Guardmage
• Deathsprout
• Scour All Possibilities

Good luck with your deck.

GarbledAura on Ayli Lifedrain

2 months ago

Took out Pious Evangel  ^Flip, Brood of Cockroaches , Dutiful Attendant , Champion of Stray Souls , Woebearer , Corpse Blockade , Epicure of Blood and two basic lands for Well of Lost Dreams , Beacon of Unrest , Revival / Revenge , Brought Back , Swiftfoot Boots , Arcane Lighthouse , Fabled Passage , and Mimic Vat .

king-saproling on Trostani Token

2 months ago

These may interest you: Phyrexian Processor , Parallel Evolution , Helm of the Host , Bramble Sovereign , Awakening , Voice of Resurgence , Well of Lost Dreams , Illusionist's Bracers , Adorned Pouncer , Angel of Sanctions , Anointer Priest