• Healing Salve (Original Art)
  • Healing Salve (Original Art)

    Healing Salve (Original Art)

    Artist
    Dan Frazier
    Year
    1993
    Medium
    Mixed Media
    Set/Console Name
    Alpha
    Console/Game
    Magic the Gathering
    C.O.A.
    no
    Painted A.P.
    yes
    Substrate Material
    Illustration Board
    Substrate Dimensions
    Framed
    Image Area Dimensions
    5 1/2"H x 7"W visible
    Frame Dimensions
    9 7/8"H x 11 1/4"W
    Handmade Protective Case
    NO,Framed
    Reserved List
    No

    Healing Salve is a one-mana white instant, first printed in Alpha (1993). It is one of the original “boons” from Alpha, the cycle of one-mana instants that defined each color’s identity. It represents the idea of white’s protective, reactive philosophy-helping, preventing, and saving. You can choose to gain 3 life, or to prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn. It modern eyes, it’s considered the weakest of the five “boons” (the others being Ancestral Recall, Dark Ritual, Giant Growth, and Lightning Bolt), but back in 1993, it was part of learning Magic’s basic color identities. During 1993-1995 Magic’s scene, Mono-White and White-Blue Control decks sometimes ran one or two copies, but it was quickly replaced by more powerful tools like Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant. In Old School (93/94), Healing Salve can see some niche, but nostalgic play in decks such as Mono-White Control and White Weenie builds. Healing Salve is not on the reserved list, it has been reprinted many times.
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