Lich's Mastery MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost6
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Enchantment
Abilities Hexproof

Key Takeaways

  1. Lich’s Mastery transforms life gain into card draw, offering a continuous stream of options.
  2. Hexproof and life-preserving abilities make it a formidable tool in control decks.
  3. It needs careful play to avoid vulnerability through mandatory discarding.

Text of card

Hexproof You can't lose the game. Whenever you gain life, draw that many cards. Whenever you lose life, for each 1 life you lost, exile a permanent you control or a card from your hand or graveyard. When Lich's Mastery leaves the battlefield, you lose the game.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lich’s Mastery offers a unique approach to gaining card advantage. With its ability to draw a card whenever you gain life, it sets the stage for potential massive card draw in the right deck. This allows you to significantly bolster your hand, keeping the pressure on your opponents while you maintain a high number of options to play.

Resource Acceleration: While Lich’s Mastery itself does not directly produce mana, it greatly complements strategies that revolve around life gain. This synergistic relationship can create indirect resource acceleration by allowing you to play cards drawn off life gain more quickly, effectively outpacing an opponent’s development.

Instant Speed: Lich’s Mastery can greatly benefit from instant speed spells within your deck. Although it is not an instant itself, its life gain card draw trigger works at instant speed. This means that any life gained on your opponent’s turn translates into immediate card gain, keeping your hand replenished and ready to respond to any situation.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Lich’s Mastery requires a sizeable commitment in terms of card resources. Whenever you take damage, the mandatory discard can deplete your hand, leaving you vulnerable to your opponent’s strategy and hindering your ability to respond to threats on the board.

Specific Mana Cost: With a requirement for three specific black mana, Lich’s Mastery may be challenging to cast on curve, especially in multicolored decks. This restricts its inclusion to mainly mono-black or heavy black-mana bases which could limit its overall flexibility within varied deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing six mana to cast, Lich’s Mastery is on the higher end of the mana curve. In fast-paced matches or against aggressive strategies, this can be a significant drawback as it may arrive too late to successfully turn the game in your favor.


Reasons to Include Lich’s Mastery in Your Collection

Versatility: Lich’s Mastery can be a game-changer in decks that thrive on life-gain and card advantage. It turns any life gain into potential card draw, making it a valuable card for a variety of strategies that focus on staying in the game for the long haul.

Combo Potential: This card unlocks numerous combo avenues, particularly in decks that manipulate life totals. With the right set of cards, Lich’s Mastery can become the centerpiece of a combo that enables a player to draw copious amounts of their library and find the keys to victory.

Meta-Relevance: With the fluctuating nature of the meta, Lich’s Mastery can outmaneuver opponents who are not prepared for its unique mechanic. It’s particularly strong in environments where life gain is prevalent and there are limited ways for opponents to deal with enchantments, making it a dark horse in the right circumstances.


How to beat

Lich’s Mastery is a unique hexproof enchantment in MTG that transforms the way you play the game. With an ability that prevents you from losing the game for having no life and allows you to draw cards for each life you gain, it might seem daunting to overcome. However, an effective strategy is key to dismantling its defenses. It’s critical to remember that Lich’s Mastery has a liability; when you take damage, you must sacrifice that many nonland permanents or discard that many cards or lose that much life, in any combination. This means the card’s strength can also be its undoing.

Targeted discard effects or spells that force your opponent to draw numerous cards can deplete their hand and field, turning Lich’s Mastery from an asset to a liability. Additionally, cards that remove enchantments can directly deal with Lich’s Mastery itself. Since the enchantment is hexproof, you’ll need spells that don’t target it directly, such as Cleansing Nova or Merciless Eviction, which can sweep it away without targeting. Always be ready to switch tactics, focusing not on depleting life totals but on controlling the field and hand to effectively counter this powerful enchantment.


BurnMana Recommendations

Delving into the deeper strategies of MTG, Lich’s Mastery emerges as a potent card that redefines gameplay, especially in life-gain and control decks. As we’ve explored, while it offers powerful advantages, it also introduces strategic vulnerabilities that require thoughtful navigation. For players eager to harness Lich’s Mastery’s potential, it’s essential to build around its strengths and protect against its weaknesses. Are you ready to integrate this card into a finely-tuned deck? Immerse yourself in our detailed guides and elevate your MTG expertise. Embrace a new level of play and discover the synergies that make Lich’s Mastery a valuable addition to your arsenal.


Cards like Lich's Mastery

Lich’s Mastery is a unique piece in the complex puzzle of MTG enchantments with its distinct mixture of risk and reward. It has parallels to other “Lich” cards such as Lich’s Tomb and Nefarious Lich, which share the theme of exchanging your life total for ongoing benefits or game-altering effects. Yet Lich’s Mastery’s hexproof ability certainly sets it apart, shielding it from the direct removal spells that commonly target enchantments.

When looking at Lich’s Mirror, another similar card, we find a reshuffling mechanism that resets the game state, barring the player’s life total. Unlike Lich’s Mastery, Lich’s Mirror does not allow the player to draw cards for any loss of life, and it doesn’t provide the same guarantees against losing the game. Additionally, Lich’s Mirror’s effect is mandatory, whereas Mastery offers control over the replacement effect, allowing for strategic planning.

Ultimately, when identifying similar cards, Lich’s Mastery is a standout for its complex interaction with life, card draw, and death prevention mechanics. Despite the inherent risks, it enables a play style that cleverly circumvents traditional paths to victory, and that can lead to a fascinating and unpredictable match experience for seasoned players.

Lich's Tomb - MTG Card versions
Nefarious Lich - MTG Card versions
Lich's Mirror - MTG Card versions
Lich's Tomb - Darksteel (DST)
Nefarious Lich - Odyssey (ODY)
Lich's Mirror - Shards of Alara (ALA)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lich's Mastery MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria Promos and Dominaria, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Lich's Mastery and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Lich's Mastery Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2018-04-27 and 2018-04-27. Illustrated by Daarken.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12018-04-27Dominaria PromosPDOM 98s2015normalblackDaarken
22018-04-27DominariaDOM 982015normalblackDaarken

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lich's Mastery has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Lich's Mastery card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2018-04-27 If you run out of other permanents, cards in hand, and cards in graveyard, you’ll have to exile Lich’s Mastery itself and lose the game.
2018-04-27 If you’re dealt more damage than you have cards to exile, you’ll just exile everything you can.
2018-04-27 While you can’t lose the game, your opponents can still win the game if an effect says so.
2018-04-27 While you control Lich’s Mastery, your life total still changes. Lich’s Mastery’s effects don’t replace the life gain or life loss.
2018-04-27 You don’t have to exile all the cards from one place. For example, if a source deals 5 damage to you, you may exile one permanent, two cards from hand, and two cards from your graveyard.

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