Rules: Does Lifelink Stack? And When Exactly Do You Gain the Life?

Short answer first, then the reasoning — that is how rules questions deserve to be answered, because you usually need this ruling in the middle of a game.

The answer

Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature do not stack — lifelink is not a trigger, it is a property of how the damage is dealt, and having it twice changes nothing. What matters is the amount of damage: when a creature with lifelink deals damage, its controller gains that much life as part of the same damage event, not afterwards. There is no moment in between where you can die first at zero life from that same combat and then gain the life back — the damage and the life gain are simultaneous. That timing is why a lifelink blocker can save you on exactly lethal: the life arrives in the same step as the damage, and state-based actions check your life total after both have happened.

The cards involved, on their real text

Whip of Erebos (mana cost {2}{B}{B}; Legendary Enchantment Artifact; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander): Creatures you control have lifelink.
{2}{B}{B}, {T}: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate only as a sorcery.

Shadowspear (mana cost {1}; Legendary Artifact — Equipment; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Theros Beyond Death): Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has trample and lifelink.
{1}: Permanents your opponents control lose hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Equip {2}

Build and check your list with the MTGBrew card database, and browse every card mentioned here in the MTGBrew Learn guides on MTGBrew.

If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Mana Base Guide: Lands That Ramp — Myriad Landscape, Blighted Woodland, and Krosan Verge — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.

Keep reading

Keep reading: Mana Base Guide: Lands That Ramp — Myriad Landscape, Blighted Woodland, and Krosan Verge and Jetmir, Nexus of Revels Commander Spotlight: What This Legend Brings to the Command Zone.

Why this keeps coming up

Most rules confusion is really wording confusion: two game words that sound similar — destroy and exile, damage and life loss, target and choose — mean different things, and the difference is deliberate. When a ruling surprises you, read the exact words on the cards involved, in the order a judge would. Nine times out of ten, the text already contains the answer, which is why MTGBrew's guides quote oracle text instead of paraphrasing it from memory.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice Commander Guide: Proliferate Value

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is one of those cards players keep coming back to — and the Scryfall record shows exactly why. Atraxa, Praetors' Voice — Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Angel Horror — Mana cost: {G}{W}{U}{B} — Rarity: mythic — Set: Double Masters Oracle text: Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink. At the beginning of your end step, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) What Atraxa, Praetors' Voice does Read the oracle text literally: Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink. At the beginning of your end step, proliferate. Its type line is Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Angel Horror and its mana cost is {G}{W}{U}{B} (converted mana cost 4.0). It was printed in Double Masters at mythic rarity. Where it fits A four-color Angel with proliferate on your end step — counters, planeswalkers, and poison all grow under Atraxa. Legal formats listed by Scryfall include: historic: legal, timele...
Read more

Coming Soon: Your MTGBrew Profile Record — vs the Computer and vs Real Players

Image
Every Magic player remembers their best wins. The MTGBrew game — in development now, coming soon — is being built to remember them with you: your profile will carry your record against the Computer and your record against real players, side by side. Two records, two different stories Games against the Computer run at Easy, Medium, and Hard, matched to the same 1–10 strength scale the deck builder uses — so a win over a Hard brew means something specific. Games against real players are online 1v1 matches, where the record reflects human opponents, human lines, and human bluffs. Keeping the two records separate keeps both honest. Built around the decks you brewed You will play the decks you built on MTGBrew's AI deck builder , in the format you pick: Commander at 40 life, Regular at 20, Pauper at 20, or Random. If you have no deck yet, you can borrow an equal-power community deck so the match stays fair. The live players-online counter and player chat are part of the same build, and ...
Read more

Coming Soon: Play Magic: The Gathering Right on MTGBrew

Image
The game is coming to MTGBrew. We are building a full play experience right here — soon you will be able to take the decks you brew on MTGBrew.ai straight into a real game of Magic: The Gathering, no downloads and no separate app. Here is what is being built right now: Play vs the Computer. Three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard — powered by the same 1-to-10 deck strength scale as our AI deck builder. A Hard opponent plays the strongest decks the builder can brew; Easy is the perfect sparring partner while you learn a new deck. Play vs real players, online. Live 1v1 matches against other MTGBrew players, with a live players-online counter on the Play screen and chat so you can find opponents and talk through the game. Your format, your life total. Every match starts with a format pick — Commander at 40 life, Regular at 20, Pauper at 20 — or choose Random and let the game roll one for you. Both players see the format and starting life before the first card is drawn. ...
Read more