Celestine wants a deck that gains life over and over and gets rewarded for it. It also suits a deck that brings big creatures back from the discard pile.
Mana cost
White ()
Power / toughness3 / 4
RarityRare
Flying, lifelink
Healing Tears — At the beginning of your end step, return target creature card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the amount of life you gained this turn.
Picked for what they do in Celestine's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Celestine's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Celestine works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast7 Oct 2022
Celestine's triggered ability looks at the total amount of life you gained to determine X, regardless of whether or not you also lost any life. For example, if you gained 3 life this turn, X is 3, even if you also lost some amount of life in the same turn.
Wizards of the Coast7 Oct 2022
The target creature card is chosen as the triggered ability is put on the stack. Gaining life after that point won't let you choose a target with a higher mana value.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWPlayers write colors as letters: W for white.LifegainLifegain decks gain life over and over and use cards that reward each gain with extra cards, creatures or damage to opponents. Everyone starts at 40 life in Commander, so the extra life also keeps you safe while you set up.Open the Lifegain pageLifegain PayoffTurns life gain into an actual effect: draining opponents, drawing cards, or growing creatures each time you gain life. Without one of these, gaining life mostly just delays things. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Sanguine BondOpen the Lifegain Payoff pageReanimationReturns a creature card from a graveyard straight to the battlefield, skipping its mana cost. That is why decks built around it put their biggest creatures into the graveyard on purpose. Named for Reanimate. Animate DeadOpen the Reanimation pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain pageReanimatorReanimator decks put big creatures into their own graveyard early, then bring them back onto the battlefield without paying their cost. It gets a huge creature into play far sooner than you could afford to cast it.Open the Reanimator pageRecursionBrings cards back from the graveyard: to your hand, to the battlefield, or letting them be cast again from where they lie. Eternal Witness, Reanimate, VictimizeOpen the Recursion page
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