How Much Lifegain is Necessary to Properly Use Well of Lost Dreams?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 7, 2021, 11:14 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have Well of Lost Dreams in several of my EDH decks, because I am very fond of that card, but I have removed it from several of those decks, because I believed that those decks did not have a sufficient number of life gaining cards to properly use the well to its fullest extent.
Therefore, that leads me to wonder how much support is needed in order to make the well a profitable investment; does a deck need to be dedicated to gaining life, or is only an incidental amount of lifegain necessary? What does everyone else say about this subject?
DrukenReaps says... #3
I'd say being able to guarantee at least 2 life gain per turn before I would run it in a deck. A life gain commander like Scytec said or ~20 life gain cards. That amount generally guarantees drawing at least a few per game.
August 8, 2021 12:47 a.m.
not just spells either though, creatures with lifelink, enchantments that net you life based on common actions, and artifacts that do the same like Aetherflux Reservoir.
August 8, 2021 1:25 a.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #5
I tend to think having 30ish cards is good for a particular strategy to work--a little less than one in every three cards.
August 8, 2021 3:34 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
I am very glad to receive everyone's feedback on this matter, and I have decided to remove the well from all decks in which I currently have it, because none of them have a sufficient amount of lifegain to justify its inclusion.
August 8, 2021 8:15 a.m.
griffstick says... #7
Make your cmdr gain you life and it's great. Selvala, Explorer Returned. What Scytec said, I agree with entirely.
August 8, 2021 8:38 a.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
griffstick, at some point, I am planning to build an EDH deck with Liesa, Shroud of Dusk as the general, and that deck will definitely have great amounts of lifegain, so it shall be a perfect deck in which to have Well of Lost Dreams.
August 8, 2021 11:41 a.m.
golgarigirl says... #9
In my experience, you need a deck that both generates many -instances- of life gain (it doesn't matter how much life you gain, just that you do, since Well says 'where X is less than or equal to the life you gained'), and consistently have mana open to turn that life gain into card draw...thus something rampy or that can play a more control-y style (leave mana up) tends to help. I personally do not play it in my Oloro deck, but I play an aggro deck where I tend to tap out for threats, so that makes sense.
August 9, 2021 1:59 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy says... #10
Small amounts of 1 or 2 life here and there works wonders, especially if your Commander has an ability to give you life.
Like Oloro.
Scytec says... #2
you just need consistent access to lifegain. if your commander nets you some type of lifegain, youre probably fine, otherwise, you list should probably be dedicated to life gain of some kind. i dont think incidental life gain would be enough to make it beneficial to run. because if you happen to not have access to it at the time you draw Well, it is a dead draw, which is never fun.
August 7, 2021 11:45 p.m.