Keeper's Lifegain Slot

[Anonymous]

I have been reading the Paragon threads re lifegain in Keeper and I have a few questions.

I am pretty convinced that renewed faith is better for most metagames than the zuran orb, mostly because cycling is a big topdeck shaped house.

That seems to me to only to show that zuran orb isn't worth a slot in Keeper anymore.  What I haven't seen is any clear argument that there is nothing better for the slot than renewed faith.  While RF is the best lifegain available that doesn't make it necessarily the best card for the slot.

One obvious alternative for that slot is a second fire/ice.  Fire/Ice, like RF is a card that is at its best vs. red, has some utility in other matchups, and cycles to save you against control.  It seems better in most other respects, however, for a couple of reasons.  First, it is blue.  Second, it actually affects the board.

I would love to see some discussion of the need for lifegain in keeper at all now that zuran orb is apparently less useful than a seemingly mediocre lifegain card from onslaught.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

Leo

[PsychoCid]

Though your suggestion is not at all a bad one, that slot will need to either save you once you've hit a level of life you can be easily burned out from or be more versatile (3rd Wish).  Alternatively, it could remain a slot for a maindeck metagame hoser.

[Anonymous]

I guess my question is whether a card that cycles vs everything but sligh (basically) and can go at best 2 for 1 vs sligh (2 bolts=6 life) is really the best use of this slot given the fact that so many other cards are out there that could be considered.  Among those other considerations should be the fact that we already have another card that go 2 for 1 vs. sligh and cycles.

All I have seen considered for this slot is Cunning Wish (with life in the SB), ZOrb and Renewed Faith.  Is lifegain really so critical to this deck that this slot cannot be considered for other cards?

Is the problem that burn is something the rest of the deck can't handle so we need some sort of many to one solution to compensate?  Couldn't additional slots attacking other parts of burn decks help to close this gap?  Gorilla Shaman, for example is quite strong against many sligh varients because they run X/1 critters and cheap artifacts.  I am not advocating any one solution for this slot, only some added breadth to the discussion of what to add.

Leo

[PsychoCid]

In truth, the slot does not HAVE to be life gain.  On the other boards, we are just trying to come up with the optimal, unmetagamed build.  If there are no quick burn decks around, ditch the lifegain and fill the slot with something more helpful, or round out your deck with another Brainstorm/Cunning Wish.

As far as Sligh goes, though, sometimes you'll get really low on life before you can stabilize, and nothing but life gain will pull you back up enough to survive that few extra crucial turns.