Nefarious Lich MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Enchantment |
| Released | 2001-10-01 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Odyssey |
| Set code | ODY |
| Number | 153 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Jerry Tiritilli |
Key Takeaways
- Draw cards instead of gaining life, providing strategic depth and new possibilities.
- Indirect resource acceleration by increasing card draw efficiency.
- Instant-speed life gain spells synergize well, enhancing mana use every turn.
Text of card
If you would be dealt damage, remove that many cards in your graveyard from the game instead. If you can't, you lose the game. If you would gain life, draw that many cards instead. When Nefarious Lich leaves play, you lose the game.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Nefarious Lich offers a unique card advantage by allowing you to draw cards when you would gain life, transforming health boosts into potential new strategies and plays. This can be a continuous source of new options as long as the Lich remains on the battlefield.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources in the form of mana, Nefarious Lich’s ability to convert life gain into card draw indirectly accelerates your resources. By cycling through your deck faster, you’re more likely to draw into the lands and mana sources you need to execute your game plan.
Instant Speed: The Lich itself may not have instant speed, but its ability works in sync with instant-speed life gain spells. This synergy allows you to maximize the use of your mana every turn, ensuring your card draw happens as efficiently as possible whenever you gain life, even on your opponent’s turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Nefarious Lich requires the discarding of cards, which can present a challenge when your hand size dwindles. Being forced to discard can mean sacrificing vital strategic options or losing out on the next best play.
Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a very particular mana allocation, which stresses deck-building around black mana sources. Its restrictive cost can deter inclusion in more versatile, multi-colored decks where mana fluidity is key.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that is on the higher end of the spectrum, Nefarious Lich competes with other high-impact MTG cards for a spot in your deck. Players might find that other cards at a similar cost threshold offer more immediate or impactful benefits to the game state.
Reasons to Include Nefarious Lich in Your Collection
Versatility: Nefarious Lich offers a unique angle to gameplay, transforming your life total into a resource that can power up your other strategies. This makes it an excellent choice for decks that look to utilize life in unconventional ways or are focused on alternative win conditions.
Combo Potential: This card opens the door to various combos, particularly in formats that allow the interplay with cards like ‘Repay in Kind’ or ‘Sickening Dreams.’ Managing your resources correctly can lead to sudden and unexpected victory conditions, leveraging the synergy between life, card draw, and graveyard mechanics.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta that is heavy with creature-based strategies, Nefarious Lich can be incredibly impactful. As the game shifts towards longer control matchups, the ability to draw multiple cards without losing life can set you at an advantage, making it an important asset against other late-game contenders.
How to beat
Nefarious Lich presents a unique challenge on the battlefield of Magic: The Gathering. As a card that can dramatically alter the rules of the game for its controller, developing strategies to counter it is crucial for success. Typically, cards like Nefarious Lich are best handled by focusing on its Achilles heel – its dependence on having a card to exile whenever you would gain life.
To effectively counter this card, players often resort to targeted removal spells or abilities that can deal with enchantments, such as Disenchant or Naturalize. The window of vulnerability is when the Lich’s controller is unable to exile a card due to a lack of hand or grave resources, subsequently losing the game. Additionally, suppressing the opponent’s graveyard before the Lich becomes active is a smart approach, utilizing cards like Tormod’s Crypt or Rest in Peace. It is also beneficial to reduce life gain opportunities or to strategically time them to ensure the Lich’s requirement becomes a liability instead of an asset.
In essence, preemptive strikes against the graveyard, enchantment removal, and controlled life gain are the keys to dismantling the threat posed by Nefarious Lich. It’s a delicate balance of timing and resources that can shift the game in your favor.
Cards like Nefarious Lich
Nefarious Lich offers a unique twist on the enchantment landscape in MTG. It’s akin to cards like Lich’s Mastery which also changes the rules of losing the game. Unlike the Mastery, the Lich requires you to exile a card from your graveyard whenever you would draw a card, ensuring your hand remains full as long as your graveyard can sustain it. But beware, for if the Lich leaves play, you lose the game.
Similarly, Lich draws comparisons, transforming your life total into a fleeting resource, instead banking on your deck’s capacity to handle this new game state. Though Nefarious Lich doesn’t give you hexproof or allow you to draw extra cards when losing life, it does stand out in its simpler mana cost and immediate impact on graveyard strategies.
To sum it up, Nefarious Lich emerges as a card with a high-risk, high-reward strategy for players who like to live on the edge. Its unique ability to maintain hand size offers a distinct approach compared to similar MTG cards, asking the daring question: ‘How far are you willing to go for unabated power?’
Cards similar to Nefarious Lich by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Nefarious Lich MTG card by a specific set like Odyssey, 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 Nefarious Lich and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Nefarious Lich has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Nefarious Lich card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | If you were going to gain life and you also have a replacement that can turn card drawing into life gain on the battlefield, you can gain life by using the Lich to turn the original life gain into card drawing, and then using the other replacement to turn a card draw into life gain. Nefarious Lich will not replace the life gain with a card draw again because it has already acted on this event. |
| 2004-10-04 | This card will not prevent you from losing the game due to zero or less life. |
