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Essence Channeler
Creature — Bat Cleric
rare
As long as you've lost life this turn, this creature has flying and vigilance. Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. When this creature dies, put its counters on target creature you control.
2/1
Semantic Tags
Cares about +1/+1 counters — places, moves, doubles, or benefits from counters on creatures.
Benefits from creatures or permanents dying — death triggers, blood artist effects.
Triggers or payoffs when you gain life — not just life gain itself, but caring about it.
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (4)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomburrow Promos#12p | rare | · | · | · |
| Bloomburrow#356 | rare | · | · | · |
| Bloomburrow Promos#12s | rare | · | · | · |
| Bloomburrow#12 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Rules
If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.
Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.
To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.
A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.
If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.
The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
Rulings
Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Essence Channeler’s second ability will trigger twice. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, planeswalkers, and/or battles at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will trigger only once.
In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won’t cause Essence Channeler’s second ability to trigger even though it caused your team’s life total to increase.
If enough -1/-1 counters are put on Essence Channeler at the same time to make its toughness 0 or less, its last ability will see all of the +1/+1 counters it had when it died as well as the -1/-1 counters it had, and an equal number of each of those types of counters (plus any other applicable counters) will be put onto the target creature.
If you gain an amount of life “for each” of something, that life is gained as one event and Essence Channeler’s second ability triggers only once.
Once Essence Channeler has been blocked by a creature without flying or reach, losing life to give it flying and vigilance won’t cause it to become unblocked.
Essence Channeler’s second ability triggers just once for each life-gaining event, no matter how much life was gained.
Essence Channeler’s first ability cares whether you’ve lost life this turn, not how your life total has changed. For example, if you’ve gained 2 life and lost 1 life so far this turn, you’ve still lost life.
Essence Channeler’s last ability doesn’t cause you to move counters from Essence Channeler onto the target creature. Rather, you put the same number of each kind of counter Essence Channeler had when it died onto the target creature.
If Essence Channeler has -1/-1 counters on it when it dies, that ability will include those as well. This may result in the recipient of the counters also dying.
In some unusual cases, you may end up putting the appropriate counters on more than one permanent. For example, if you control The Ozolith when Essence Channeler dies, you’ll put the appropriate number of each kind of counter onto both The Ozolith and the target creature.
If Essence Channeler is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you gain life, it won’t receive a counter from its second ability in time to save it.
Essence Channeler’s last ability puts all counters that were on Essence Channeler onto the target creature, not just its +1/+1 counters.