Does lifelink stack
Asked by skozzkozz 11 years ago
If I played a card like Child of Night and also had Whip of Erebos on the field when I deal damage would I gain twice as much life
omnipotato says... #4
Nope. From the MTG rules: 702.15e Multiple instances of lifelink on the same object are redundant.
However for older cards, they've kept their original wording, which is "Whenever this permanent deals damage, you gain that much life." If a card has that ability, you can give it lifelink and you'll gain twice the life.
May 21, 2014 6:46 p.m.
Rules questions belong in Q&A. There's a tab at the top of the page.
May 21, 2014 6:47 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #7
No, however there are some cards that are worded differently, and seem like lifelink but do stack.
For example: Armadillo Cloak can be used on top of lifelink or you can stack 2 armadillo cloaks. You can also enchant enemy creatures to almost negate their damage.
May 21, 2014 6:56 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #8
Do be careful with the pre life link cards though, as some have been updated to read as life link.
May 21, 2014 7:01 p.m.
omnipotato says... #9
The difference between lifelink and the older cards is that with lifelink the controller gains life and some older cards say "you gain that much life"
May 21, 2014 7:05 p.m.
Lifelink itself is a static ability. Something like Armadillo Cloak is a triggered ability, meaning the life-gain goes on the stack.
If you put Armadillo Cloak on a blocker and enough lethal damage gets through, you'll die before you would've gained the life with the Cloak. With Lifelink, it would be simultaneous.
May 21, 2014 7:09 p.m.
to expand this a bit further, whenever dealing with any keyword in Magic (lifelink, first strike, double strike, trample, etc....) no two instance of the same ability stack. So just like with lifelink, if I have a Fencing Ace in play and then play True Conviction , the second instance of double strike is redunant.
As many have said though, if the card says "when =Creature= deals damage you gain that much life" is a triggered ability. As such, if a creature has multiple instances of said ability, they will all go on the stack. The same is true for abilities like Exalted (e.g. Qasali Pridemage ) or Bushido (e.g. Devoted Retainer ).
An interesting point, if you have a Gelectrode with lifelink from say a Basilisk Collar , at the point the damage is dealt you gain the life. This ability does NOT use the stack. However if the same Gelectrode was enchanted by Vampiric Link then at the point of the damage resolving the life gain trigger DOES go on the stack. At this point other players have a chance to respond to the life gain trigger.
May 21, 2014 7:57 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #12
Last I checked, two or more instances of exalted did stack, so keep that in mind.
May 21, 2014 8:07 p.m.
Yep, thats correct. Because Exalted is a triggered ability each instance will be treated seperately. So If you have a Sublime Archangel and a Qasali Pridemage and the pridemage attacks, it will get +1/+1 from the angel's exalted ability, +1/+1 from its own exalted ability and another +1/+1 from the angel giving the pridemage exalted. all in all the pridemage gets +3/+3 as an overall power/toughness modifier (although technically its 3 off +1/+1 as you can respond to each one individually, with say a Voidslime ).
vampirelazarus says... Accepted answer #1
No, it does not.
However, effects that say "When (source) deals damage, you gain that much life" do, if they haven't been updated to have Oracle text that says Lifelink.
May 21, 2014 6:45 p.m.