The draw won't come up too often, since you
pretty much already have to be ahead on life
when you cast it to get to draw, and the rebound
is even less likely unless you're already built
up a huge lead or locked down your opponent's
offense-- you better believe your opponent will
go all out to get your life total down when he
sees you'll be drawing an extra card if he
doesn't. That said, Survival Cache is a pretty
decent card. White gets so little card draw,
that even if this only draws you one card it's
above average for white. And with White being
the color of life gain, this could settle in
nicely into a Felidar Sovereign deck or the
like. And if the rebound draws you a card, the
fact that you get the card on your upkeep means
you've just untapped and can play it immediately
if need be.
The cliche about life-gaining cards is that
they don't "do" anything. Survival Cache
attempts to remedy that by not only giving you a
ridiculous amount for the cost (see: Martyr of
Sands, Kitchen Finks), but trying to give you
more cards than the opponent (see: Loxodon
Hierarch, Kitchen Finks again). Technically, it
still doesn't "do" anything, at least not by the
standards of those very powerful creatures, but
it can still put the fear in any deck that tries
to win with direct damage.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Survival
Cache
Welcome back readers today we have another
example of a good life gain card. Survival Cache
not only gains you life but card advantage as
well, and with rebound you double your pleasure
and double your fun. In standard I can see this
card seeing play in blue/ white control decks
are combo decks making use of Pyromancers
Ascension or Rebound. In extended and eternal it
may see a bit of play but I'm guessing not
heavily although it is a quality card. In casual
and multiplayer this card is amazing it provides
the life to keep you in the game and the card
advantage also its higher than an opponent so
you only need to be higher then one other player
to reap the benefit. In limited its card draw
and life gain I would pick highly if I were in
white. Overall its just a solid card that is
sure to see play.
Today's card of the day is Survival Cache which
is a three mana Sorcery that will give four life
and can potentially equal two drawn cards.
The catch is the if clause which makes this a
bit less reliable than other card draw engines,
but those are quite the rarity for White.
In a life gain deck this is a very useful tool,
but really shouldn't be seeing play anywhere
else.
For Limited life gain options aren't as readily
available and by itself this card doesn't stand
up as well. It is playable, but not
necessarily an early pick in Booster or an
automatic inclusion in Sealed depending on the
pool. If the deck is solid and there's
room for the extra card there is no real
drawback to running this and possibly getting an
extra draw in addition to four life. The main
issue with the design is in being a "win more"
card that does better when you are in the lead.
That style of effect has minimal usage when
behind in a game and often leaves it as a poor
topdeck.
In Multiplayer the Survival Cache really shines
as you only need to have more life than an
opponent which should not be an overly difficult
condition to meet. The new Archenemy
casual format in particular might see this card
played often as the Archenemy starts with forty
life and everyone else begins with only twenty.
