How does life gain stack, or does it?
Asked by tasondag 8 years ago
Thanks everyone in advance! I'm curious how life gain would/wouldn't stack (order of operations). For example: If I had (2) Rhox Faithmender on the field and I gained 2 life, would I just gain 4 life or would I double my life gain twice, resulting in 8 life gain?
BlueScope thank you for the simple but yet thorough answer! What if I have 10 life, I gain 2 life while 3 Rhox's are on the field and I dealt damage with a creature enchanted with Celestial Mantle. How would that order of operations happen?
June 2, 2015 3:35 a.m. Edited.
BlueScope, Would I gain 16 life for the 2 life gain. Then 20 for Celestial mantle from doubling my life total. Then 160 for Rhox again due to the doubling life total of Celestial Mantle? Equalling 196?
June 2, 2015 3:41 a.m.
Atrocissus says... #4
tasondag, the lifegain resolves before Celestial Mantle, so you would gain 16, then Celestial Mantle wants to double to 52 (which means gaining 26), this is changed by the Rhox Faithmenders to gaining 104 life. This would put you at 130
June 2, 2015 5:13 a.m.
What's important is that gaining of life doesn't use the stack - only an ability giving you life might (but it never does for combat damage, for example). Rhox has a replacement effect that will simply replace gaining life with a different amount of life, but it's not triggered and put on the stack.
Therefore, it's important when you gain life, and when the creature deals combat damage. Let's say at the beginning of your turn, you're at 20 life with 3 Rhox on the battlefield under your control, one of them enchanted with Celestial Mantle. In your precombat main phase, you choose to Lightning Helix an opponent's Grizzly Bears, gaining 3x8 life from that, putting you to 44. Then you attack the opponent with the enchanted Rhox, and it#s not blocked, causing 4 damage with lifelink, meaning at the time damage is dealt, you will also gain 4*8 life, putting you to 76. Celestial Mantle's ability will go on the stack, as it triggered upon the Rhox dealing damage, and you would normally double your life total to 152, which equals an increase of 76 life. In Magic, doubling life means you gain as much life as you already have (simply put), so gaining 76 life is also multiplied by 8 because of your Rhox, which ends you up at 76+76x8 = 684 life.
Math isn't my strong suit, and either way someone might want to double check the above... but that's what happens in my opinion.
June 2, 2015 5:56 a.m.
EddCrawley says... #6
BlueScope Spot on, Brother.
You should be classed as a Mathmagician...
June 2, 2015 10:58 a.m.
Aftertherevolution says... #7
BlueScope So if doubling life counts as life gain, would it then trigger Defiant Bloodlord's ability and send that back as damage as well?
BlueScope says... Accepted answer #1
The latter would be correct. From Gatherer:
If you control two Rhox Faithmenders, life you gain will be multiplied by four. Three Rhox Faithmenders will multiply any life gain by eight, and so on.
June 2, 2015 3:19 a.m.