Lich's Tomb MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact
Released	2004-02-06
Set symbol
Set name	Darksteel
Set code	DST
Number	128
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Matt Cavotta

Key Takeaways

Lich’s Tomb offers a distinct life-for-permanents exchange, enhancing battlefield resilience.
Demands strategic hand and resource management to optimize its benefits effectively.
Its unique properties elevate combo deck strategies and meta engagements.

Text of card

You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life. Whenever you lose life, sacrifice a permanent for each 1 life you lost. (Damage causes loss of life.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lich’s Tomb offers a unique approach to maintaining card presence on the battlefield. Despite not directly drawing cards, it allows players to turn life into resources, ensuring they stay in the game even when their life totals are depleted. This can be incredibly valuable in formats where life can be used as a resource more aggressively.

Resource Acceleration: While it doesn’t provide traditional mana acceleration, Lich’s Tomb can facilitate a form of resource acceleration by allowing you to keep important permanents in play. Skilled players can leverage this to maintain a board presence and edge out their opponents in attrition wars.

Instant Speed: Although Lich’s Tomb itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, its effect is constant, providing round-the-clock protection for your permanents. This means any strategies relying on quick interactions or surprise elements won’t be hindered, allowing you to seamlessly integrate the card into decks that function at instant speed.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Lich’s Tomb necessitates discarding cards to maintain your presence in the game. This can swiftly deplete your hand, leaving you with fewer options to counter your opponent’s moves.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring four specific mana types to cast, this card demands a dedicated mana base, making it less versatile across various deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its casting cost at four mana, other artifacts or spells in the same range may offer more immediate impact or flexibility, reducing Lich’s Tomb’s appeal in certain situations.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Lich’s Tomb offers a unique defense mechanism for decks that can manage life total strategically. It allows players to continue in the game even at precarious life totals, fitting well into decks that aren’t afraid to pay life for greater benefits.

Combo Potential: Lich’s Tomb can be an integral part of combo decks focusing on life manipulation or those involving alternate win conditions. It works exceptionally well in scenarios where sacrificing permanents can actually further your game plan.

Meta-Relevance: As the game evolves, cards like Lich’s Tomb can find their place countering certain death-trigger strategies. It shines in metagames where enduring at low life totals can outpace opponents’ strategies, especially in formats where life payment is a common cost for powerful effects.

How to beat

The strategic plane of MTG often involves cards that can flip the game on its axes, such as Lich’s Tomb. This dark artifact transforms the challenge of maintaining life points into a test of resource management. Players using Lich’s Tomb trade their traditional loss condition for one where losing life equates to sacrificing permanents. The key to overpowering a player under the Tomb’s thrall is twofold: apply pressure to deplete vital resources quickly and sidestep the lifeloss contingency.

Ideally, the strategy against Lich’s Tomb centers on using indirect damage sources like Mill or Poison to circumvent the life-to-permanent conversion mechanic. Aggressive artifact removal tactics such as invoking the likes of Naturalize or Disenchant can also be decisive in dismantling the Lich’s Tomb’s influence. In the realm of MTG, it’s a match of wits and flexibility—anticipate the unorthodox path and rendering Lich’s Tomb’s formidable ability inconsequential becomes a reality.

Ultimately, outmaneuvering Lich’s Tomb lies in recognizing the importance of versatility and speed; by deploying efficient, targeted strategies, the card’s seemingly insurmountable advantage can swiftly be turned into a liability for the user.

Cards like Lich's Tomb

Lich’s Tomb holds a distinctive place among unique artifacts in Magic: The Gathering. Its similarities with coveted cards like Platinum Angel demonstrate the capability of defying traditional defeat conditions. Whereas Platinum Angel prevents players from losing the game, Lich’s Tomb allows players to continue at the cost of permanents upon taking damage. This trade-off between life and board presence paints an eerie survivability scenario.

Delve into the realm of Phyrexian Unlife, and you’ll stumble upon an enchantment that also blurs the losing conditions by granting players negative life totals without defeat. Yet, Lich’s Tomb stands out for transforming life points into a tangible currency for survival, mirroring the sacrificial ethos of a Lich. Additionally, Darksteel Reactor is another parallel, as it embodies a victory condition in stark contrast to Lich’s Tomb – wherein instead of stalling defeat, it aims to secure triumph through inevitability over the course of the game.

In essence, when analyzing the dynamics and gameplay strategies these parallel cards introduce, Lich’s Tomb presents itself as a compelling choice for players looking to venture into the domain of death’s thresholds and the resilience to forestall one’s own demise in the world of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Lich's Tomb by color, type and mana cost

Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lich's Tomb MTG card by a specific set like Darksteel, 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 Tomb and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lich's Tomb has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal