Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 7 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Creature — Unicorn
Abilities Lifelink
Power 2
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Lathiel turns life gain into powerful creature growth, advancing board presence significantly turn by turn.
  2. Instant-speed life gain spells complement Lathiel’s ability, offering strategic combat advantages and flexibility.
  3. Despite its specific mana needs and higher cost, Lathiel’s potential for commanding combos makes it a valuable asset.

Text of card

Lifelink At the beginning of each end step, if you gained life this turn, distribute up to that many +1/+1 counters among any number of other target creatures.

Weeping, the hunter cast aside her bow, struck by the majesty of the creature before her.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn excels at providing incremental card advantage over time. With its ability to place +1/+1 counters on your creatures whenever you gain life, you’re effectively enhancing your board state each turn without losing hand resources.

Resource Acceleration: This card synergizes well with life gain strategies often found in Selesnya decks. By converting life gain into a valuable resource through creature growth, Lathiel enables a form of resource acceleration that can lead to overwhelming your opponent with increasingly powerful creatures.

Instant Speed: While Lathiel itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it pairs harmoniously with instant-speed life gain spells. This interaction allows you to bolster your creatures on demand, making it a formidable tool for combat tricks and end-of-turn growth, keeping your opponents constantly on their toes.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Though Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn doesn’t require discarding as part of its primary abilities, building around it may often lead to situations where you’re discarding cards to find the necessary life gain enablers; this can be a setback if you haven’t established a considerable hand size.

Specific Mana Cost: Lathiel requires a precise combination of mana, one white, one green, and two of any color, which can hinder deck flexibility. Players need to ensure a stable mana base to cast it consistently, and this can dictate the overall deck composition, limiting accessibility in multi-color strategies that don’t support a green-white (Selesnya) framework.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn enters the battlefield later than some other impactful commanders or creatures within the Selesnya color pairing. This can lead to a delay in strategy execution as you have to wait until at least turn four to begin accruing the benefits of its life gain-related abilities.


Reasons to Include Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn in Your Collection

Versatility: Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn offers a flexible role in various deck builds that focus on life gain and counter distribution. Its ability to sprinkle +1/+1 counters each turn makes it a solid addition to decks that capitalize on creature growth and resilience. Whether you’re enhancing a commander deck or fine-tuning a casual playgroup favorite, Lathiel seamlessly integrates with strategies aiming to outlast and outgrow opponents.

Combo Potential: This commander’s capacity to exponentially increase the power of your creatures each turn is what makes it a potent combo enabler. Combine Lathiel with cards that gain life on creature casts or effects, and witness an explosive synergy that can quickly dominate the board. The combo configurations are nearly endless, rewarding the creative deck builder with a cascade of +1/+1 counters.

Meta-Relevance: In the evolving landscape of the MTG meta, Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn maintains relevance by countering aggressive strategies with steady life gain and board presence. The incremental advantages gained over each turn cycle are particularly potent in matchups where sustaining momentum is crucial to outlasting your rivals.


How to Beat Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn

Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn carves out its niche in the Magic: The Gathering universe as a unique commander option that excels at distributing +1/+1 counters during the end step of each turn. It embodies a strategy centered on life gain, leaning heavily into a synergy-based playstyle that can snowball into a substantial board presence if left unchecked.

To disrupt Lathiel’s pivotal lifegain strategy, pinpoint removal spells can prove quite effective. Cards such as Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile can exile Lathiel before the life gain and counter distribution trigger. Additionally, preventing life gain in the first place by using cards like Tainted Remedy or Erebos, God of the Dead can cripple Lathiel’s ability to proliferate +1/+1 counters. Board wipes also serve as valuable tools to neutralize a growing number of buffed creatures, allowing you to reset the board and limit the lifegain benefits sought by your adversary.

Confronting Lathiel requires both timing and the proper execution of removals or life gain denial strategies. By staying vigilant and keeping Lathiel off the battlefield, you minimize the potential for exponential growth and maintain a more manageable board state. Remember that disrupting Lathiel’s engine early on is key to securing victory in your Magic: The Gathering clashes.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn in MTG involves understanding both its strengths and vulnerabilities. This card offers a unique approach to boosting your creatures through life gain, but it’s crucial to consider its mana demands and strategic deployment timings. If you aim to optimize your green-white deck or explore new synergies with life gain mechanics, incorporating Lathiel can significantly enhance your board state. Are you keen on exploring the depths of counter distribution, life gain combos, and maintaining relevance in the current meta? Dive into our extensive content that unpacks the potential and power of Lathiel, and refine your deck-building skills for your next MTG showdown.


Cards like Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn

Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn carves out a distinct niche in the realm of creature cards with life gain abilities in Magic: The Gathering. When considering its parallels with other cards, Ajani’s Pridemate is a creature that stands out. Ajani’s Pridemate grows stronger with each instance of life gain, similar to the way Lathiel spreads +1/+1 counters across other creatures you control whenever you gain life. However, Lathiel offers a broader impact by distributing those counters instead of hoarding them on a single creature.

Another analogous card is Archangel of Thune, which matches Lathiel’s ability to bolster multiple creatures when gaining life. The significant difference lies in Archangel of Thune’s keyword ability of lifelink, which inherently supports its own growth mechanic. In comparison, Lathiel requires external strategies to trigger the life gain. Lastly, we look at the familiar Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice, which also revolves around life gain but focuses on creating and powering up tokens as well as serving as a reliable life gain source.

Lathiel the Bounteous Dawn offers a blend of strategy and reward, positioning itself uniquely amongst MTG’s life-centered mechanics by encouraging a more synergistic approach to creature enhancement and battlefield presence.

Ajani's Pridemate - MTG Card versions
Archangel of Thune - MTG Card versions
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - MTG Card versions
Ajani's Pridemate - MTG Card versions
Archangel of Thune - MTG Card versions
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Commander Legends, 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 Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2020-11-20 and 2023-04-21. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 862922015NormalBlackLucas Graciano
22020-11-20Commander LegendsCMR 2852015NormalBlackLucas Graciano
32020-11-20Commander LegendsCMR 6052015NormalBlackLucas Graciano
42023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 180z2015NormalBlackShawn Wood
52023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 1152015NormalBlackLucas Graciano
62023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 502015NormalBlackShawn Wood
72023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 1802015NormalBlackShawn Wood

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
GladiatorLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2020-11-10 As each end step begins, if you haven't gained life that turn, Lathiel's triggered ability won't trigger at all. If it does trigger, you choose the targets and how the +1/+1 counters will be distributed as you put the ability on the stack. Each target must receive at least one +1/+1 counter.
2020-11-10 Gaining more life in response to the triggered ability won't change how many counters will be distributed, nor will it change the distribution.
2020-11-10 If some, but not all, of the creatures are illegal targets as the triggered ability tries to resolve, the original distribution of counters still applies and the counters that would have been put on illegal targets are lost. If all of the creatures are illegal targets, the ability won't resolve.
2020-11-10 The triggered ability will consider the total amount of life you've gained that turn, not how your life total has changed. For example, if you start the turn at 10 life, then gain 5 life, and then lose 7 life, you'll distribute five +1/+1 counters, even though your life total is now lower than it was at the beginning of the turn.
2020-11-10 You may choose no targets if you want. In that case, no +1/+1 counters are put on any creature.

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