Stream of Life
Sorcery
Target player gains X life.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Revised Edition
- Price
- $0.21
- EDHREC rank
- #17553
Stream of Life pays X green mana to gain X life — no permanents, no upside, just a number on your life total. It's a life gain spell with no follow-through, and in nearly every format something else does this job better.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Stream of Life is a trap: life gain without a payoff is one of the format's most reliable ways to fall behind, and a sorcery-speed X-spell that replaces itself with nothing is not a payoff. Pauper is the one context where Stream of Life edges closer to playable — the card pool is shallow enough that cheap, scalable life gain occasionally earns a slot in dedicated life-drain or storm-adjacent shells. Legacy and Vintage have access to it but will never want it. The honest verdict is that Stream of Life belongs in a precon nostalgia pile, not a tuned list.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.21 bulk tier
At $0.21, Stream of Life is deep bulk — the price of a card that sees essentially no competitive demand. It won't rise; there's no scarcity story here.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.