Serra Beatstick

[parallax]

Serra Beatstick

Creature -- Angel
6/6
Flying
When ~this~ comes into play, gain 20 life.

How much life gain can we tack onto a creature before it's too good as a reanimation target? 10 life? 20 life? How good is life gain compared to Akroma's keyworderrificness? Would it be fair as long as we included a Flames of the Blood Hand effect in the same set?

Serra Beatstick

Creature -- Angel
6/6
Flying
When ~this~ comes into play, your life total becomes 20.

[zeus-online]

This is an instant auto-win against most aggro decks....Hmm but its pretty expensive. Might be okay, although 20 life seems abusive in some way.

/Zeus

[parallax]

Paying nine mana for anything and/or reanimating a carefully chosen target should be game against aggro anyway. The supreme aggro beating this card represents is also balanced by being reletively pointless against a control deck.

20 life is the best amount objectively as it's exactly how much you start with. A smaller amount of life gain is a possibility if this is too strong, but isn't gaining 10 life + a 6/6 flyer an auto win against aggro anyway? Might as well go all the way for extra Timmyness.

[zeus-online]

Astral sliding this thing would be ridiculos lol...but i think its alright at nine mana

I'm having a hard time deciding with this card..i mean....good aggro decks can race most reanimate targets, but racing this would be like running straight into a brick-wall.

/Zeus

[asmoranomardicodais]

It should be "when ~this~ comes into play, If ~this~ is played from your hand, gain 20 life". I don't like the horrible reamination enabling this does.

Or, even cooler, add "When this leaves play, lose 20 life", and make it Illusions of Grandeur the creature. That would be awesome.

[dandan]

Make it change your life to 20. Go ahead, re-animate it on turn 1!

[KandyKid]

Make it change your life to 20. Go ahead, re-animate it on turn 1!

That or make it when ~this~ comes into play, and you played it from your hand.

[chrissss]

" your life total becomes 20"

or

"if played form your hand"

the wa the card is now, I wanna oath that baby

[jro]

What if it did a Beacon of Immortality effect?  That might make it really good in reanimator and really bad played normally, though.  What about if it did a Congregate?  That makes it good against aggro, not good in control decks (which I think is okay), not terribly good in reanimator, and rocking in Timmy's multiplayer group.  Or what about if everyone gained 20 life?  That could reduce its cost, since it would become a 7 turn clock instead of a 4 turn clock.

Or it could just stay as is.  That's fine too, although Astral Slide (or Momentary Blink, now) would be pretty dumb.  And I think the "if you played it from your hand" clause is such a lame fix for all reanimation problems, not just this one.

[parallax]

Well, I chose "gain 20 life" because of the Timmy feel. It's just cooler than "your life total becomes 20" or "double your life total". Having said that, "your life total becomes twenty" has a nice flavor to it. Sort of a reset.

I really want this card to be an option for reanimator decks. That precludes "if you played it from your hand" clauses. Reanimating it is half the fun. I don't think it would be a good choice in Oath. Akroma and Razia just win a turn faster. I also think it's a pitiful reanimation target against control and some types of combo. Think of how many times you would really want this rather than Akroma in a reanimator deck. I like the idea of reanimator decks having to choose what targets to include rather than just "derf, derf, Legendary Dragons or Akroma".

[Norm4eva]

I suppose if one is scared of it in Oath it could get some dumpy text like "When -this- comes into play, unless it came into play from your library..." but that's a REALLY obvious way to nix it for certain people.  Honestly I'd rather see someone gain 20 life than put stupid SSS in front of me.  It might make Pitch Long's job a little harder, but that doesn't really offend me either :P :P
Making it put your life total right at 20 would make it in line with Blessed Wind, or whatever that card is. 

[Matt]

There is no way for this to gain 20 life and be reanimate-able. Reset to 20 however is fine.

[parallax]

There is no way for this to gain 20 life and be reanimate-able. Reset to 20 however is fine.

After some thought, I like setting your life total to 20 better, anyway. It's more flavorful.

[jro]

I think it's worth mentioning that inasmuch as anyone plays Blessed Wind, they play it to lower someone's life to 20, not raise it to 20.  Could this be target player?  Or maybe make everyone's life total 20, and cost it more aggressively?   As is, it seems like it would only ever be any good in a reanimator/oath deck, since any normal white deck playing cards like this will be dead long before they get to nine mana.

[parallax]

I shaved some mana off the cost to account for lessened brokenness. I think at 7 mana this is a reasonable play for white-based control decks that will want to reset their life after an aggro assault, while at the same time being a reasonable inclusion in reanimation strategies.