Touch of the Eternal MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	7
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	2012-07-13
Set symbol
Set name	Magic 2013
Set code	M13
Number	37
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Christopher Moeller

Key Takeaways

Touch of the Eternal effectively turns your life total into a strategic advantage during play.
Resource use flexibility increases with a life total tied to permanent count.
Cons include a higher mana cost and specificity, potentially limiting early game impact.

Text of card

At the beginning of your upkeep, count the number of permanents you control. Your life total becomes that number.

"Time is a vigilant tyrant, but there are those who have broken free of its gaze." —Laikas, Erunian monk

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Touch of the Eternal ensures you gain a decisive upper hand by setting your life total to match the number of permanents you control at the end of each turn. In MTG, this ability can dramatically shift the balance, negating previous damage and potentially putting you out of reach of an opponent’s lethal strike.

Resource Acceleration: While it doesn’t directly create mana or additional resources, ensuring your life total stays high can indirectly accelerate your game plan. A high life total allows you to use life as a resource more freely, enabling strategies that might otherwise be too risky, such as paying life for powerful effects or using life-linked creatures as aggressive attackers.

Instant Speed: Though Touch of the Eternal operates at the slower sorcery speed, its impact on gameplay can be as immediate and game-changing as many instant-speed effects. The end-of-turn life total adjustment can swiftly turn the tide of the game, much like an instant can upend an opponent’s strategy when they least expect it.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Touch of the Eternal doesn’t directly force you to discard, maintaining a board state worthy of its continuous effect often requires discarding other valuable cards as part of strategic plays to keep your creatures alive.

Specific Mana Cost: Touch of the Eternal requires a hefty seven mana to cast, including two white. This can be restrictive, as you need a mana base heavily skewed towards white, in addition to making the card less accessible early in the game.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a seven-mana investment, the card comes with a significant cost that may not align with the tempo of more aggressive or faster decks. In scenarios where swift board development is crucial, allocating resources to such a card can hinder your overall game progression.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Touch of the Eternal is a robust card that can find a home in a variety of Commander decks. Its ability to set your life total to match the number of permanents you control each turn ensures a high resilience against aggressive strategies. This makes it well-suited for control or life-gain-themed decks that thrive on stabilizing the board.

Combo Potential: For those who enjoy exploring combo avenues, this card can be a linchpin in several life-based combo setups. When paired with cards that benefit from high life totals or permanents entering the battlefield, Touch of the Eternal transforms into a powerful engine that can quickly spiral out of control for your opponents.

Meta-Relevance: In a metagame that’s rich with creature-based strategies, having your life total continuously adjusted up can be a game-changer. It also creates an interesting layer of protection against burn strategies and surprise win conditions that rely on lowering your life quickly. As the meta shifts and adapts, the card’s ability to provide consistent life total support ensures its relevance in diverse play environments.

How to beat Touch of the Eternal

Touch of the Eternal stands as a unique enchantment that can shift the balance of life totals drastically in Magic the Gathering. Players familiar with the ebb and flow of the game know that altering life totals consistently each turn creates an uphill battle for opponents. This card’s main ability ties a player’s life total to the number of permanents they control at the beginning of their upkeep, potentially offering a significant life gain and resilience against aggressive strategies.

To overcome this card, consider incorporating removal spells that can handle enchantments efficiently. Cards like Disenchant, Nature’s Claim, or Mortify can dismantle this defense mechanism swiftly and restore the game’s usual rhythm. It might be tempting to race against the life gain strategy, but patience and precision in dismantling your opponent’s key pieces can lead to victory. Remember, targeting their array of permanents with board wipes or spot removal could also indirectly weaken the effect of Touch of the Eternal and diminish its influence on the game’s outcome.

Countering its initial cast is another effective tactic. Cards such as Counterspell or Negate can nip the problem in the bud before it takes root. If Touch of the Eternal does resolve, keep pressure on the battlefield – reducing your opponent’s permanent count makes their life total much more manageable and their position less secure.

Cards like Touch of the Eternal

The mystique of Touch of the Eternal from MTG lies in its ability to solidify a player’s life total at each end step based on the number of permanents they control. This enchantment bears similarities to cards like Phyrexian Unlife, which provides an alternate way to survive by not losing the game for having 0 or less life. However, Touch of the Eternal directly interacts with the board state, rewarding players for a wide presence.

Echoing the theme of life manipulation, we also see cards like Elixir of Immortality. This artifact offers a burst of life gain while shuffling itself and your graveyard back into your library. Though the two cards vary greatly in their impact and usage, they share the common goal of prolonging a player’s ability to stay in the game. Celestial Force, another MTG card that deals with life, grants consistent life gain during each upkeep, regardless of the board state, unlike Touch of the Eternal which requires a robust set of permanents to maximize its effect.

When evaluating life-maintaining strategies, Touch of the Eternal stands out for players with a strategy centered around a vast array of permanents, offering a potentially game-changing effect that scales intricately with their play style.

Elixir of Immortality - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Touch of the Eternal by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Touch of the Eternal MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2013, 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 Touch of the Eternal and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Touch of the Eternal has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2012-07-01	This change of life total counts as life gain or life loss, as appropriate. Other effects that interact with life gain or life loss will interact with this effect accordingly.