And yes, it works. The point is to avoid petty life gain, with one of the truly infinite combo PEZ allow.


It's a well known combo from the old extended format, when both en-kor creatures and Daru spiritualist were legal. Having both on board open way to an infinite toughness cleric at no cost, thanks to the Oracle version of any en-kor creature, which reads :

0 : Prevent the next 1 damage inflicted to ˜˜˜.

Find a way to sacrifice it to gain his toughness in life points, and you just win the game against any deck hoping to drop you down to 0 life point.

The origins

The original version of this combo deck looked somehow like this, back in 2002 :
Deck - Worthy Face

14 Plains
8 Mountain
2 Worthy Cause (Uncommon)
3 Angelic Protector (Uncommon)
4 Nomads En-kor
4 Tireless Tribe
4 Standard Bearer
2 Monk Realist
4 Task Force
3 Spirit En-kor
4 About Face
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate

As you can see, it was pretty basic, but already had a solution against decks that tried to deck you : about face. Daru spritualist wasn't out yet, but Task forces were, and it was quite enough. This is still a quite good list, even if I'd rather play 4 Fling instead of 4 Incinerate.

Life with Nature

More recently, Jean-Mary Accart, goddam good Legacy and Peasant player, made this version of Life :
1 Maze of Ith
1 Starlit Sanctum
4 Forest
9 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
1 Remote Farm
4 Benevolent Bodyguard
4 Nomads en-Kor
4 Daru Spiritualist
4 Task Force
4 Spirit en-Kor
4 Worthy Cause
4 Crop Rotation
4 Barbed Sextant
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Commune with Nature
SB: 4 Divine Offering
SB: 4 Vision Charm
SB: 3 Island
SB: 1 Rust
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 2 About face

As you can see, it now has Green to find Starlit Sanctum and Maze of ith through Crop Rotation, and the right creature thanks to Commune with nature. Red is only a splashed color, red mana being provided by Barbed sextant and Chromatic sphere (which helps to draw, btw).
The side is quite strange, and offers a way out of ProsTides, which doesn't care how many life points you have left, but how many cards left you have in your library.
From its author, the side is merely "something to have a side".

A bit of Dissension

But Jean-Mary didn't stop, and perfected his Life with Nature deck, as I like to call it :

1 Maze of Ith
1 Remote Farm
1 Starlit Sanctum
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Forest
4 Secluded Steppe
8 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Barbed Sextant
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Benevolent Bodyguard
4 Daru Spiritualist
4 Nomads en-Kor
4 Spirit en-Kor
4 Task Force
4 Crop Rotation
3 Condemn
1 Worthy Cause
4 Commune With Nature
SB: 4 Tireless tribe
SB: 3 Reinforcements
SB: 4 About face
SB: 4 Obsidian Acolyte

The over-classic Worthy cause is now a one-shot, Condemn allowing to combo off with Task forces (which Starlit Sanctum doesn't allow), and being a nice removal too. The mana base has been ajusted too, a mountain makin it back, and a Selesnya sanctuary providing a true mana acceleration. This has to be tested, especially the side. IMHO, Tireless tribe is too dangerous in a deck with so few drawing abilities, and reinforcements, altough being a counter-measure against MBC and Tides, seems very dangerous.

Playtest, comment and have fun !