OK, this is simple and interesting, but I think still need fixing because (i) it promotes stalemates and (ii) most of the time, if you're not already winning, it will help your opponent more than you.
Mmm... it's not gonna completely stall a game out; since you're only gaining from YOUR creatures. Sideboard this in against a burn deck for the most extreme example of breaking its symmetry. A less extreme example is the ground war still kills creatures off - it's the players gaining the life, not the damage being prevented. Still, once you get the ground war won, both sides will be on silly life and take a lot of whittling.
And it changes the combat dynamic - getting your creatures killed now has an upside, so you want to attack more.
Honestly; I'd keep this almost as it is, just give it a higher cost to keep it in the hands only of those who really want to cope with the changed dynamic. (And stop it being dropped so early resulting in totally stupid life totals)
Going further down that route; I'd also quite like to reduce the lifegain. Haf-life-link? (What, creatures give life in exchange for plutonium?); but don't see a way to do that that isn't a complete mess. And the simplicity of this is very compelling. If this had been printed before wrath, it could easily have been as iconic.
For Challenge # 068
OK, this is simple and interesting, but I think still need fixing because (i) it promotes stalemates and (ii) most of the time, if you're not already winning, it will help your opponent more than you.
My fix: make it only affect your creatures and make it cost more. Other than that, it's not an unreasonable card.
Mmm... it's not gonna completely stall a game out; since you're only gaining from YOUR creatures. Sideboard this in against a burn deck for the most extreme example of breaking its symmetry. A less extreme example is the ground war still kills creatures off - it's the players gaining the life, not the damage being prevented. Still, once you get the ground war won, both sides will be on silly life and take a lot of whittling.
And it changes the combat dynamic - getting your creatures killed now has an upside, so you want to attack more.
Honestly; I'd keep this almost as it is, just give it a higher cost to keep it in the hands only of those who really want to cope with the changed dynamic. (And stop it being dropped so early resulting in totally stupid life totals)
Going further down that route; I'd also quite like to reduce the lifegain. Haf-life-link? (What, creatures give life in exchange for plutonium?); but don't see a way to do that that isn't a complete mess. And the simplicity of this is very compelling. If this had been printed before wrath, it could easily have been as iconic.