Healing Hands MTG Card

Magic Origins (ORI)
2015-07-17 - Number 17

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 134

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number ORI-17

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery

Key Takeaways

Aside from health restoration, Healing Hands also grants card draw, making it a dual-purpose spell.
The card can integrate well into life-gain decks and offers instant-speed play for added versatility.
It presents a strategic option against aggressive decks, balancing life gain with maintenance of hand advantage.

Text of card

Target player gains 4 life. Draw a card.

The ethereal touch brings relief. The physical touch brings peace.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When you cast Healing Hands, you not only gain life but also draw a card, effectively replacing the Healing Hands in your hand and potentially giving you more options for subsequent turns.

Resource Acceleration: While Healing Hands itself doesn’t directly provide mana or tokens, gaining life can be a form of resource acceleration in decks that benefit from high life totals, allowing you to use life as a buffer or a tool for other life-related synergies within your deck.

Instant Speed: Healing Hands can be cast at instant speed which offers flexibility. This means you can wait until the end of your opponent’s turn to cast it, leaving mana open for other spells or abilities, and making it harder for your opponent to predict your moves and plan their strategies accordingly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: With Healing Hands, while there’s no direct need to discard, its one-time effect may result in card disadvantage compared to other recurring or more impactful healing spells.

Specific Mana Cost: Healing Hands requires both white mana and generic mana to play, which might not seamlessly fit into multi-color decks that could experience mana-base conflicts.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing three mana might seem steep when you consider that other spells provide more robust effects or greater control at a similar or lower cost, affecting the card’s utility in fast-paced games.

Reasons to Include Healing Hands in Your Collection

Versatility: Healing Hands serves as a multifaceted tool, easily fitting into life-gain decks or acting as a surprise element to turn the tide in close games. Not only does it provide a health boost, but it also allows for a draw which can be crucial in many situations.

Combo Potential: Built upon synergies, it can enhance strategies centered around life gain triggers or benefit from the additional card draw. Pairing Healing Hands with cards that thrive on life changes can create powerful interactions for any player.

Meta-Relevance: This card’s relevance escalates especially in a meta where aggressive strategies are common. The life gained from Healing Hands can be just enough to outlast your opponents, while the extra card ensures you maintain card advantage.

How to beat

Healing Hands is a card that offers a blend of life gain and card draw in MTG, specifically designed to provide a modest cushion against aggressive strategies while refilling the player’s hand. Its impact, however, can be diminished in a few ways. To effectively counter this card, it’s vital to focus on aggressive and efficient plays that overwhelm the life gain provided or to incorporate life total-independent win conditions.

Utilizing hand disruption tactics can also be a potent way to reduce the effectiveness of Healing Hands, by either pre-emptively removing it from your opponent’s hand or disrupting their overall strategy. Cards that deal direct damage can counteract the life gained, while negating the card draw through counterspells or discard effects can neutralize its benefits and keep the momentum in your favor.

Considering its one-time effect, persistent threats and strategies that apply continuous pressure will outpace the temporary relief that Healing Hands offers. It’s about creating a scenario where the life gain becomes negligible in the face of your winning strategy, thereby reducing the impact of this life-giving Magic card on the game.

Cards like Healing Hands

Healing Hands is known for its life-gaining utility in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. Comparable to other healing spells, this card allows a player to gain life while also drawing a card. This echos the functionality of cards like Renewed Faith, which offers the flexibility of cycling for an alternative effect. However, Renewed Faith can potentially grant more life when cycled, setting it apart from Healing Hands’ consistent but singular effect.

Looking at another peer in the life-gain constellation, we encounter Rest for the Weary. This card can deliver a significant boost in life points, particularly if you have a landfall for the turn, surpassing Healing Hands’ fixed life gain. Rest for the Weary’s lack of card drawing makes Healing Hands a more versatile option for maintaining hand advantage.

In terms of potentiating the benefits of life-gain, Healing Hands shines by coupling the increase in life with card draw, a synergy less common in MTG. This dual-purpose nature may not always match the higher life gain potential of some alternatives, but it provides a strategic balance useful for various decks, illustrating why Healing Hands keeps a place in players’ collections.

Cards similar to Healing Hands by color, type and mana cost

Cleansing Meditation - MTG Card versions

Kayla's Reconstruction - MTG Card versions

Proclamation of Rebirth - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Healing Hands MTG card by a specific set like Magic Origins and Mystery Booster, 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 Healing Hands and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Healing Hands Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2015-07-17 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Josu Hernaiz.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2015-07-17	Magic Origins	ORI	17	2015	Normal	Black	Josu Hernaiz
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	134	2015	Normal	Black	Josu Hernaiz
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	ORI-17	2015	Normal	Black	Josu Hernaiz