First printed in Final Fantasy (2025)
All 6 prints
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Legendary Creature — Human Cleric
Lifelink
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on Aerith Gainsborough.
When Aerith Gainsborough dies, put X +1/+1 counters on each legendary creature you control, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on Aerith Gainsborough.
2/2
- Illustrated by
- Nakamura8
Legality
- Legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Penny Dreadful, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Pauper, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH
Rulings (6)
- 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, Aerith Gainsborough'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.
- If you gain an amount of life "for each" of something or "equal to the number" of something, that life is gained as one event and Aerith Gainsborough's second ability triggers only once.
- In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Aerith Gainsborough's second ability to trigger, even though it caused your team's life total to increase.
- In the rare case where enough -1/-1 counters are put on Aerith Gainsborough at the same time to make its toughness 0 or less, the number of +1/+1 counters on it before it got those -1/-1 counters will be used to determine the value of X in Aerith Gainsborough's third ability. For example, if there are two +1/+1 counters on Aerith Gainsborough and it gets three -1/-1 counters, you'll put two +1/+1 counters on each legendary creature you control when Aerith Gainsborough's third ability resolves.
- If Aerith Gainsborough is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you gain life, it will die before its second ability would resolve. Its last ability will use the number of counters that were on it when it was last on the battlefield.
- Aerith Gainsborough's second ability triggers just once for each life-gaining event, whether it's 1 life from Al Bhed Salvagers or 3 life from Balamb T-Rexaur.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.006 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
In Limited on MTG Arena
Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).
| Set | GIH WR | vs set | IWD | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final Fantasy (FIN), Premier Draft | 55.9% | +0.2 | +1.7 | 8043 |
| Final Fantasy (FIN), Sealed | 58.4% | +1.0 | +2.3 | 1352 |
- GIH WR
- win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
- vs set
- points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
- IWD
- improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
- Games
- games in which the card was seen
Combos
25 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite damage, Infinite lifegain triggers…: Aerith Gainsborough + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Walking Ballista
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite damage…: Aerith Gainsborough + Shalai and Hallar (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite damage, Infinite lifegain triggers…: Aerith Gainsborough + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Triskelion
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite lifegain…: Aerith Gainsborough + All Will Be One + Bloodthirsty Conqueror
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite lifegain…: Aerith Gainsborough + All Will Be One + Exquisite Blood
- Infinite damage, Infinite lifegain triggers…: Aerith Gainsborough + Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Deathbringer Thoctar
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite +1/+1 counters on legendary creatures you control…: Aerith Gainsborough + Cauldron of Souls + Derevi, Empyrial Tactician + Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on legendary creatures you control, Infinite charge counters on a permanent…: Aerith Gainsborough + Cauldron of Souls + Derevi, Empyrial Tactician + Spawning Pit
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on legendary creatures you control, Infinite creature ETB…: Aerith Gainsborough + Bloodthrone Vampire + Cauldron of Souls + Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite +1/+1 counters on legendary creatures you control…: Aerith Gainsborough + Cauldron of Souls + Derevi, Empyrial Tactician + Hammerhead, Maggia Boss
