Beacon of Immortality is sort of an interesting card - it used to be on the banlist, if you can believe it, but these days I'm not sure I'd ever want it in a deck. The life boost alone is decent but no one's impressed by bulk lifegain without any other value. So what use does it have outside of the life itself?
-it boosts the power of serra avatar and whatnot, but the difference between a 40/40 and an 80/80 is usually negligible.
-it triggers well of lost dreams, but there's no way you're paying 40 so it's not any better than junk like meditation puzzle.
-there's lots of single-shot triggers like ajani's pridemate but they don't get any better with bulk lifegain.
-you can make a big ol' minion of the wastes but come on, who seriously uses that card? phyrexian processor is better but again the difference in power is probably negligible w/o evasion. Sunbond could make it cool but sunbond is pretty unplayable outside of maybe vish kal.
-nefarious lich gets freaking ridiculous I suppose, but it still doesn't save you from getting killed whenever someone finds their disenchant.
So can anything think of a way to break this card? I'm kinda coming up short. In most cases I feel like the difference between 8 lifegain and 40 isn't much, and the 8 tends to be cheaper.
Er...I guess it stops you losing the game due to having no cards in your library if you can cast it every turn?
If you're making heavy use of Sanguine Bond and/or Vizkopa Guildmage, particularly the latter, it can be a massive nuke if your life total is reasonably high.
Also gets you killed if someone has False Cure (I remember doing that to someone who was so pleased at getting BoI on a Panoptic Mirror (not in EDH obviosuly))
Hmmm... Commander damage makes absurd amounts of lifegain not terribly relevant, though there are some games where you're not really in danger of being killed that way, so I suppose it has the potential to make you un-killable sometimes?
I just saw in another thread Rain of Gore which, if you're playing Mardu colors, would turn Beacon of Immortality into something very near to "target player loses the game." You know, if Rain didn't have built-in protection against that which I didn't notice until just now.
It being instant speed means people might get complacent since the Felidar Sovereign you just played is just a 4/6 vigilant lifelinker when you're only at 20 life. But oh no! Beacon's an instant and now you have won, I guess. Kinda. "You win the game" effects always seem hollow to me.
I think the only really strong uses I can think of is making a dude huge with Sunbond or Cradle of Vitality, or using it with Sanguine Bond to drain out massive damage.
On the other hand, it could just be useful as a value card in a deck with lots of "Pay X Life" abilities in order to provide fuel repeatedly as it gets shuffled in and drawn again.
Why was it banned in the first place? Perhaps you'll find your way to "break" it there.
Er...I guess it stops you losing the game due to having no cards in your library if you can cast it every turn?
If you're making heavy use of Sanguine Bond and/or Vizkopa Guildmage, particularly the latter, it can be a massive nuke if your life total is reasonably high.
Also gets you killed if someone has False Cure (I remember doing that to someone who was so pleased at getting BoI on a Panoptic Mirror (not in EDH obviosuly))
I think what you meant to say is that it kill someone because you use both.
Er...I guess it stops you losing the game due to having no cards in your library if you can cast it every turn?
If you're making heavy use of Sanguine Bond and/or Vizkopa Guildmage, particularly the latter, it can be a massive nuke if your life total is reasonably high.
Also gets you killed if someone has False Cure (I remember doing that to someone who was so pleased at getting BoI on a Panoptic Mirror (not in EDH obviosuly))
I think what you meant to say is that it kill someone because you use both.
Man, now I know what I'm doing in my BW deck.
Add in either red or blue for Twincast or Reverberate type effects to off more than one player
it's a staple in any lifegain deck, which is a niche deck. otherwise, not worth running. not really sure what else can be said about it.
absolutely hilarious that it used to be on the banlist. Although I'm sure that in a few years people will look back on the banlist as it is now and really scratch their heads.
It was banned back before the massive power creep of 2010. For those who don't know, when Watch Wolf was first printed, people were like "Oh WOW! a 3/3 for two with no drawbacks?!" That was a big deal. When Doran, the Siege Tower was printed, people were like, "Oh my goodness! A 5/5 for 3?! This is crazy!" So, by the time Wooly Thoctar and Leatherback Baloth were printed, people were pretty "meh."
Another example is that Tinker wasn't banned until Blightsteel Colossus was printed. Turn one land, Mana Crypt, Tinker for Darksteel Colossus was good, but not too good. An 11/11 trampler is a problem, but not game breaking when there are three or more opponents, each with 40 life. It's a different story when one attack knocks someone out of the game.
Magic and EDH were just different back then. When I first learned of EDH in late 2007 (think November/December), both our local gaming stores and the forums that were starting to spring up treated the format as the "dollar rare" format. A format where you would dig through you binders and boxes as well as the local store's lot of cards for gems that might work in a 40 life singleton format. the expression "yeah, but it would be good in EDH" became part of our lingo. You weren't going to play with Mana Crypt and Underground Sea. Those were good cards that belong in your Vintage and legacy decks.
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"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Another example is that Tinker wasn't banned until Blightsteel Colossus was printed. Turn one land, Mana Crypt, Tinker for Darksteel Colossus was good, but not too good. An 11/11 trampler is a problem, but not game breaking when there are three or more opponents, each with 40 life. It's a different story when one attack knocks someone out of the game.
I believe Tinker was banned in '09, according to mewen's thread from a year ago, which is well before blightsteel was printed. This also corresponds to what I remember, as I don't remember tinker ever being legal and I came in around the time rofellos was unbanned (before it was rebanned).
Although I'm sure that in a few years people will look back on the banlist as it is now and really scratch their heads.
A few years? I think the multiplayer banlist is head scratching right now.
me too, but I get warnings and infractions whenever i complain about it. I hope that the RC pays attention to the dream banlist thread here, and considers making some changes based on it.
I believe Tinker was banned in '09, according to mewen's thread from a year ago, which is well before blightsteel was printed. This also corresponds to what I remember, as I don't remember tinker ever being legal and I came in around the time rofellos was unbanned (before it was rebanned).
I guess you are right, but I remember playing with Tinker and Academy a lot back when I played regularly. I do remember now complaining about Tinker getting banned when, at the time, it didn't have any game breaking targets to fetch like it has now. For example, Knowledge Pool + Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is a good reason to ban Tinker as well... now, but back then I was really angry with that update.
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"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
I'm using it in Trostani, Selesnya's Voice where I'm playing a ton of 'Lifegain Matters' cards, but that deck is mostly just looking to play the most 'bang for your buck' lifegain cards available to trigger those effects. I cut almost all of the cards that only gained life since lifegain only cards inherently suck. With this in mind, Beacon of Immortality is actually quite good and is one of the few spells that I run that only gain life. Since the deck has 16 cards that care about lifegain, it makes sense to run it.
When I built Obzedat, Ghost Council it ended up not making the cut. I had a ton of Drain Life effects that worked much better since they did not need other cards to work well (or at all) at doing what I needed them to do. Even though that deck runs Vizkopa Guildmage and Sanguine Bond, its not worth the slot for interaction with only 2 cards.
One of my playgroups has no commanders capable of winning through commander damage other than extreme circumstances with the one exception of The Mimeoplasm, and nearly all games are ended by collective grind damage. Beacon, and lifegain in general, would be particularly strong in that group.
But for the most part, when games end via Commander damage, Blightsteel Colossi, or infinite combos, lifegain doesn't matter at all apart from being used to trigger things.
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-it boosts the power of serra avatar and whatnot, but the difference between a 40/40 and an 80/80 is usually negligible.
-it triggers well of lost dreams, but there's no way you're paying 40 so it's not any better than junk like meditation puzzle.
-there's lots of single-shot triggers like ajani's pridemate but they don't get any better with bulk lifegain.
-you can make a big ol' minion of the wastes but come on, who seriously uses that card? phyrexian processor is better but again the difference in power is probably negligible w/o evasion. Sunbond could make it cool but sunbond is pretty unplayable outside of maybe vish kal.
-nefarious lich gets freaking ridiculous I suppose, but it still doesn't save you from getting killed whenever someone finds their disenchant.
So can anything think of a way to break this card? I'm kinda coming up short. In most cases I feel like the difference between 8 lifegain and 40 isn't much, and the 8 tends to be cheaper.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
If you're making heavy use of Sanguine Bond and/or Vizkopa Guildmage, particularly the latter, it can be a massive nuke if your life total is reasonably high.
Also gets you killed if someone has False Cure (I remember doing that to someone who was so pleased at getting BoI on a Panoptic Mirror (not in EDH obviosuly))
I just saw in another thread Rain of Gore which, if you're playing Mardu colors, would turn Beacon of Immortality into something very near to "target player loses the game." You know, if Rain didn't have built-in protection against that which I didn't notice until just now.
It being instant speed means people might get complacent since the Felidar Sovereign you just played is just a 4/6 vigilant lifelinker when you're only at 20 life. But oh no! Beacon's an instant and now you have won, I guess. Kinda. "You win the game" effects always seem hollow to me.
I think the only really strong uses I can think of is making a dude huge with Sunbond or Cradle of Vitality, or using it with Sanguine Bond to drain out massive damage.
On the other hand, it could just be useful as a value card in a deck with lots of "Pay X Life" abilities in order to provide fuel repeatedly as it gets shuffled in and drawn again.
Why was it banned in the first place? Perhaps you'll find your way to "break" it there.
I think what you meant to say is that it kill someone because you use both.
Man, now I know what I'm doing in my BW deck.
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
Add in either red or blue for Twincast or Reverberate type effects to off more than one player
absolutely hilarious that it used to be on the banlist. Although I'm sure that in a few years people will look back on the banlist as it is now and really scratch their heads.
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
Or if you combo it with Vizkopa Guildmage and/or False Cure.
EDH Decks:
WUBOloro, Combo ControlWUB
UBOona Reanimator ComboUB
BRGProssh, Eater of the Blue MageBRG
UBRGrixis StormUBR
Rebuilding Jenara (stealyourstuff.dec)
Pauper Deck:
UBInspired SirenUB
Another example is that Tinker wasn't banned until Blightsteel Colossus was printed. Turn one land, Mana Crypt, Tinker for Darksteel Colossus was good, but not too good. An 11/11 trampler is a problem, but not game breaking when there are three or more opponents, each with 40 life. It's a different story when one attack knocks someone out of the game.
Magic and EDH were just different back then. When I first learned of EDH in late 2007 (think November/December), both our local gaming stores and the forums that were starting to spring up treated the format as the "dollar rare" format. A format where you would dig through you binders and boxes as well as the local store's lot of cards for gems that might work in a 40 life singleton format. the expression "yeah, but it would be good in EDH" became part of our lingo. You weren't going to play with Mana Crypt and Underground Sea. Those were good cards that belong in your Vintage and legacy decks.
I believe Tinker was banned in '09, according to mewen's thread from a year ago, which is well before blightsteel was printed. This also corresponds to what I remember, as I don't remember tinker ever being legal and I came in around the time rofellos was unbanned (before it was rebanned).
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
A few years? I think the multiplayer banlist is head scratching right now.
me too, but I get warnings and infractions whenever i complain about it. I hope that the RC pays attention to the dream banlist thread here, and considers making some changes based on it.
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
I guess you are right, but I remember playing with Tinker and Academy a lot back when I played regularly. I do remember now complaining about Tinker getting banned when, at the time, it didn't have any game breaking targets to fetch like it has now. For example, Knowledge Pool + Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is a good reason to ban Tinker as well... now, but back then I was really angry with that update.
When I built Obzedat, Ghost Council it ended up not making the cut. I had a ton of Drain Life effects that worked much better since they did not need other cards to work well (or at all) at doing what I needed them to do. Even though that deck runs Vizkopa Guildmage and Sanguine Bond, its not worth the slot for interaction with only 2 cards.
But for the most part, when games end via Commander damage, Blightsteel Colossi, or infinite combos, lifegain doesn't matter at all apart from being used to trigger things.