A tournament player's view of those who use healing spells.
Lets start with tournament players. Why do they refuse to put healing cards in their decks? The answer is similar to their negative response to “spot removal”. The tournament philosophy is this: stay 100% focused on what you are doing and do not concern yourself with what your opponent might be trying. Cards that destroy enchantments, remove creatures from the game or restore life points are reactionary and considered a “dead” slot in any deck. If you are simply responding to what your opponent is doing you will be on the defensive the entire game. There will not be enough cards in hand to complete your own plan. This is unacceptable to most advanced players who are often solely focused on getting their infinite combo, 200 tokens or “storm” card out by turn 4. Their decks are structured with playsets of only 10 different cards so they are almost 100% assured of what will be in their hands. If all goes according to plan you will be more than dead before turn 5.
The casual player on the other hand, has and will continue to benefit from healing. If tournament games usually last 6 or 7 turns then novice games often last 15 or 20. Its no wonder these players put direct, huge, healing cards into their decks. In a duel where the two players are apparently hitting one another for 2 damage or less each turn, healing for 8 can completely flip a game. The same holds true for multiplayer (another more causal experience) which tends to last 20+ turns (although healing often draws “aggro” from your fellow wizards).
8 mana should win you the game, not delay it.
As I said before, the “sweet spot” for healing lies somewhere in between these two philosophies. Healing is not a strategy in itself and you probably shouldn’t do it at all unless you’re also getting something else. Something like a creature, a hard to remove static effect that heals forever or some sort of control over the board itself. Often times, in tournament play, the other player will build a deck around doing 20 damage so healing in a smart way can really throw them off. However think about the times you’ve lost to a great deck or player. You’d probably lost complete control of the game and 15 life wouldn’t have done you much good anyway so you don’t want to focus on healing specifically, you want it to be a byproduct of spells that are already great without the healing. In a casual atmosphere, there are ways to still get that extra life but also set yourself up for a clean defeat of your opponent.
When choosing healing spells for your deck, what you want to look for are cards that both gain life and serve another purpose. Enter Aven Riftwatchers.
Creatures typically don't last for more than 3 turns anyhow.. and if they do?.. you get to hit your opponent for 4 and gain 4 for 3 mana.
With this card you can drop a flying 2/3 creature for 3 mana and be guaranteed a 4 point heal. It has vanishing 3 but most creatures do not stick around that long anyway. Attack a couple of times and use him to block on his first turn out. You can even combo him up with a slew of other cards that can bring him back to your hand, blink him etc. healing you for 2 each time it leaves or enters play! Or try a creature like Kitchen Finks that heals at least twice and can be manipulated just like the riftwatcher for more all while giving you a great creature in the meantime. What Muldrifter did for blue decks and drawing cards, these creatures can do for healing.
There are also static abilities that can gain massive amounts of life without using more than a couple of mana. Check out the Kraken’s Eye, or the corresponding heal artifacts for the other 4 colors. These are great for decks with a lot of little spells and have become even more useful in the Alara and Lorwyn blocks with the influx of the multicolor cards, guaranteeing you some life from even your opponent’s spells. This card can be absolutely devastating against a deck of the same color as yours but will get you at least 5-10 life from your own mono colored deck as well. Not bad for turn 2 or your left over mana on any turn.
Big heals might as well read like this...
Avoid cards such as Mangara’s Blessing or Spring of Eternal Peace that may give you a chunk of life but probably involve you losing a turn and possibly control of the game. Think of all of the other things you could do with 5 mana that wont just delay your death but might give you real power over the outcome of the game! I know you all love the feeling of throwing that heal instant card on top of a lightning bolt for the win, but trust me, it rarely happens like that and you’re more likely to have that 5 mana cost healing spell in your opening hand or even mid game where it might as well read “gain 5 life, end the turn and lose control of the game”. Instead use a card with a double purpose like Recumbant Bliss or Exile to turn the tables on your opponent.
Lately, there have not been a lot of direct healing cards released. It seems wizards is more focused on incorporating life gain into other cards with static abilities such as lifelink on creatures, or as an afterthought of a “choose two” card. Playing a card that says “Gain X Life for X Mana” is a dead card and WotC knows that. This recent change to the way we heal is truly for the better. But those cards are still out there and in many cases, still legal so be sure to stay clear of them and find creative ways to both gain a bit of life while still moving the game forward in your favor.
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Aven Riftwatcher is one of the more underrated cards in recent memory. Glad you could work it in to an article.
this might have been the case in the past, but now, due to felidar soverin, lifegain is a win condition. this causes many of your argunents to lose value, but i ageee that most healing in magic is a waste of time. the worst is when facing a combo deck. true you might slow thier aggro, but only stall yourself and give them an opening for a game winning combo.