Life threshold
| Life Threshold | |
|---|---|
| Mechanic | |
| Introduced | Mirage |
| Last used | Final Fantasy |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Life threshold cards compare a player's current life total to either a set number or their starting life total. These can be thresholds above or below their starting life total and typically are white or black effects, the two colors most invested in life gain.
History
This mechanic is one that existed in single cards since Razor Pendulum in Mirage; it would be an aberration as a card that shortens the game, rather than designs that assist the caster when the caster is low on life, which most of the early designs were. Several cards in this category gain life themselves to put their controller past the threshold, acting as a buoy against pressure.
Space-Time Anomaly is a unique design that compares a life total to the only metric in the game with a similar order of magnitude: library size. There are however multiple cards which relate power and toughness to life total.
Over starting life
These cards are ones that reward the player for putting in life gain in their deck. Thresholds of 25, 30, and 40 are common as fixed numbers, while 7, 10 and 15 make up the relative ones. No such design exists to punish opponents whose life total is higher than their starting life.
One major shift that changed this mechanic's design is the rise of Commander, a format with a default life total of 40, rendering many high-threshold cards trivial to achieve and low-threshold ones unplayable if they rely on them. Serra Ascendant was once a highly sought after card for Commander as it began the game active as a 6/6 with flying and lifelink. Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant can immediately flip into an enchantment. Felidar Sovereign nominally can win the game with its ability if landed early enough, though being an upkeep trigger makes this non-trivial.
Consequently, some life threshold cards printed later are templated to compare with one's starting life total, as seen on cards like Chalice of Life. Cards like Angel of Vitality can still use fixed numbers if their payoff is not significant in the context of the format.
Under starting life
Cards in this category often use fixed life numbers, often 5 or 10. It can be used both for the player and for their opponents.
Fateful Hour was a whole mechanic that relied on the feeling of being close to death (5 life, specifically), but the lack of game played in that context was cited as part of its design weakness. Another unnamed mechanic in Zendikar was nicknamed "bloodied", a reference to a Dungeons & Dragons term, that is active when an opponent is at 10 life: the term in D&D used the "half of starting life" templating that became more popular to also address the issues of such cards in Commander. Only four cards in the set used that mechanic, two others outside of it, but even with the "half of starting life" templating only Anya, Merciless Angel uses it for opponents. This design space has not generated many cards since the change.
Another category of card is one that constantly scales with life total, most famously on Death's Shadow from Worldwake, which is not a functioning creature above 12 life but improves the more one loses life.
Unlucky lands use 13 life as a flavorful threshold for a horror set.
Some cards also require an exact match of the threshold value.