Gift of Strands
Enchantment — Aura
Flash
Enchant creature
When this Aura enters, scry 2.
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #16274
Gift of Strands puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and gains you life equal to the number of counters placed — all for two mana at instant speed. In any deck that cares about life totals or +1/+1 counters, that's a meaningful board buff and a life swing on the same card; outside those shells, it's unplayable.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Elrond, Master of Healing
Elrond, Master of Healing triggers whenever you gain life, so Gift of Strands does double duty: it spreads +1/+1 counters across your board while simultaneously firing Elrond's scry-and-draw engine off every creature that just got a counter.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Gift of Strands is a Commander card through and through — the effect scales with board presence, and multiplayer games give you the creature count to make the life gain meaningful. In Legacy and Vintage, it's technically legal but competes with formats that end on turn two or three, making a two-mana sorcery-speed pump irrelevant outside of casual tables. Oathbreaker can support it in the right life-gain shell, but the smaller starting life total and faster pace shrink the margin. Stick to Commander, and specifically to decks with Elrond, Master of Healing or similar counter-and-lifegain payoffs — anywhere else, Gift of Strands is below the bar.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Gift of Strands is deep bulk — there's no reason to hesitate on picking up copies. Bulk commons with narrow Commander homes rarely spike, so don't expect this to move; just grab it if you need it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Elrond, Master of Healing
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.