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So I've been playing a lot of mtg arena lately, and one of the deck archetypes I've been coming up against a lot lately are lifelink/lifegains. If you've never played mtg lifelink is an ability that causes you to gain life when a creature deals damage, it's pretty self-explanatory. There's also cards that grant you life when creatures enter the field and those are just as annoying. I find them just a little tedious to play against because you kinda need to play aggressively to try negate their future gains, so naturally I decided to build my own lifegain deck.
And honestly it's kinda broken
For reference, starting life is 20
Deck list is as follows:
Creatures
1 Lena, Selfless Champion
2 Ajani, Wise Counselor
2 Angelic Guardian
2 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
2 Inspiring Commander
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Resplendent Angel
2 Speaker of the Heavens
2 Valkyrie Harbinger
3 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Leonin Warleader
3 Luminous Broodmoth
3 Soul Warden
4 Angel of Vitality
4 Impassioned Orator
Instants
2 Light of Hope
2 Triumphant Surge
3 Revitalize
Sorcery's
1 Bond of Discipline
Enchantments
2 Banishing Light
2 Faith's Fetters
2 Griffin Aerie
Lands
29 Plains
It started as a 60-card deck but I gradually built it into it's current 80-card version. It's not perfect and there's a few cards I might swap out yet, but it's still a great example of how broken lifelink can be.
Some of the key cards in this deck are:
Soul Warden.
It's a one mana for a 1/1 which is not great since they're are better choices for the same cost, but it's ability is what makes it great. Anytime a card enters the field, either on your side or your opponents, you'll gain 1 life. Ideally you want this in your starting hand to maximize the gains.
Angel of Vitality
Not a bad card overall. 3 mana for a 2/2 with flying that gets +2/+2 if you have more than 25 health (easy) and you'll get a bonus 1 life anytime you'd gain life.
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
Anytime a creature you control enters the field or dies, gain 1 life.
Luminous Broodmoth
It brings cards back from the dead and makes them fly, very useful
But now you're probably thinking, "these cards sound great, but how do they break the game?" and that is where the fun combos begin.
Combo 1
Soul Warden, Angel of Vitality, Ajani's Pridemate, Luminous Broodmoth and Griffin Aerie are on the field.
You summon Lena, Selfless Champion (+1 life from Soul warden, +1 Life from angel of vitality). Her ability procs, creating four token creatures (+4 life from soul warden, +4 life from angel of vitality). Activate her second ability to sacrifice her. Luminous Broodmoth brings her back from the dead (+1 life from Soul warden, +1 Life from angel of vitality again), Her ability procs again (+4 life from soul warden, +4 life from angel of vitality). Turn ends, Griffin Aerie procs creating another token creature (+1 life from Soul Warden, +1 Life from Angel of Vitality)
You've just gained 22 life, and have a dozen creatures ready and waiting to attack/defend.
Combo 2
Soul Warden, Daxos, Leonin Warleader, Impassioned Orator and Valkyrie Harbinger are on the field.
You summon Ajani's Pridemate (+1 life from Soul Warden, +1 from Daxos, +1 from Impassioned Orator), it get's three +1/+1 counters on it.
You attack with Leonin Warleader, it's ability procs creating two 1/1 creatures with life link (+2 life from Soul Warden, +2 from Daxos, +2 from Impassioned Orator), Ajani gets another three +1/+1 counters.
Your opponent blocks and destroys the two tokens. They each die but also deal 1 damage to each of the blockers. (+ 2 life from Daxos, +2 life from the attacks) More counters on Ajani.
Your turn ends, Valkyrie Harbinger procs creating another creature (+1 from soul warden, +1 from Daxos, +1 from impassioned orator) and yet more counters on Ajani.
You've just gained 16 life and turned a 2/2 creature into a 13/13 creature.
Combo 3
Two Soul Wardens, Angel of vitality, Leonin Warleader, Daxos, Luminous Broodmoth and Lena are on the field. You summoned Lena the previous turn so there are also six extra token creatures.
You summon Ajani's Pridemate (gaining six life, and it gets three counters on it). You activate Lena's ability (+1 life from Daxos, +1 from Angel. Ajani gets another counter). You're cards are now indestructible and Luminous Broodmoth brings her back into play (Another six life) and she creates another seven creatures (+14 Life, seven more counters on Ajani.)
You then cast Bond of discipline, all creatures your opponent controls are now tapped and can't block you and all your creatures now have life link.
You attack with both Soul Wardens, Angel of vitality, Leonin Warleader, Daxos, Luminous Broodmoth and the six extra creatures from the previous turn. You also get another two creatures from Leonin Warleader which both have lifelink (+10 life)
You deal a total of 21 damage and gain about 35 life
And that's just the surface. Considering you could have multiple soul wardens, angel of vitality's or impassioned orators on the field, and any variation of combos going that can chain into one another, the potential for life gain is massive. In-fact, the most life I've ended a game with is 153.
Of course those combos are in ideal scenarios, You can never really know what your opponent is going to do. They might have a Banishing Light, Scorching Dragonfire or unsummon ready to negate you cards.
If you come up against a deck that creates tokens, you've got it easy though. You'll be gaining free life and free creatures for next to nothing pretty much every turn
On the other hand, if you come up against deck that is aggressive or can lock down your creatures, you can begin to struggle. Strangely the biggest struggle to play against is a similar deck, because then it just becomes a war of attrition where both players are making tiny dents in each others life points.
And honestly it's kinda broken
For reference, starting life is 20
Deck list is as follows:
Creatures
1 Lena, Selfless Champion
2 Ajani, Wise Counselor
2 Angelic Guardian
2 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
2 Inspiring Commander
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Resplendent Angel
2 Speaker of the Heavens
2 Valkyrie Harbinger
3 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Leonin Warleader
3 Luminous Broodmoth
3 Soul Warden
4 Angel of Vitality
4 Impassioned Orator
Instants
2 Light of Hope
2 Triumphant Surge
3 Revitalize
Sorcery's
1 Bond of Discipline
Enchantments
2 Banishing Light
2 Faith's Fetters
2 Griffin Aerie
Lands
29 Plains
It started as a 60-card deck but I gradually built it into it's current 80-card version. It's not perfect and there's a few cards I might swap out yet, but it's still a great example of how broken lifelink can be.
Some of the key cards in this deck are:
Soul Warden.
It's a one mana for a 1/1 which is not great since they're are better choices for the same cost, but it's ability is what makes it great. Anytime a card enters the field, either on your side or your opponents, you'll gain 1 life. Ideally you want this in your starting hand to maximize the gains.
Angel of Vitality
Not a bad card overall. 3 mana for a 2/2 with flying that gets +2/+2 if you have more than 25 health (easy) and you'll get a bonus 1 life anytime you'd gain life.
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
Anytime a creature you control enters the field or dies, gain 1 life.
Luminous Broodmoth
It brings cards back from the dead and makes them fly, very useful
But now you're probably thinking, "these cards sound great, but how do they break the game?" and that is where the fun combos begin.
Combo 1
Soul Warden, Angel of Vitality, Ajani's Pridemate, Luminous Broodmoth and Griffin Aerie are on the field.
You summon Lena, Selfless Champion (+1 life from Soul warden, +1 Life from angel of vitality). Her ability procs, creating four token creatures (+4 life from soul warden, +4 life from angel of vitality). Activate her second ability to sacrifice her. Luminous Broodmoth brings her back from the dead (+1 life from Soul warden, +1 Life from angel of vitality again), Her ability procs again (+4 life from soul warden, +4 life from angel of vitality). Turn ends, Griffin Aerie procs creating another token creature (+1 life from Soul Warden, +1 Life from Angel of Vitality)
You've just gained 22 life, and have a dozen creatures ready and waiting to attack/defend.
Combo 2
Soul Warden, Daxos, Leonin Warleader, Impassioned Orator and Valkyrie Harbinger are on the field.
You summon Ajani's Pridemate (+1 life from Soul Warden, +1 from Daxos, +1 from Impassioned Orator), it get's three +1/+1 counters on it.
You attack with Leonin Warleader, it's ability procs creating two 1/1 creatures with life link (+2 life from Soul Warden, +2 from Daxos, +2 from Impassioned Orator), Ajani gets another three +1/+1 counters.
Your opponent blocks and destroys the two tokens. They each die but also deal 1 damage to each of the blockers. (+ 2 life from Daxos, +2 life from the attacks) More counters on Ajani.
Your turn ends, Valkyrie Harbinger procs creating another creature (+1 from soul warden, +1 from Daxos, +1 from impassioned orator) and yet more counters on Ajani.
You've just gained 16 life and turned a 2/2 creature into a 13/13 creature.
Combo 3
Two Soul Wardens, Angel of vitality, Leonin Warleader, Daxos, Luminous Broodmoth and Lena are on the field. You summoned Lena the previous turn so there are also six extra token creatures.
You summon Ajani's Pridemate (gaining six life, and it gets three counters on it). You activate Lena's ability (+1 life from Daxos, +1 from Angel. Ajani gets another counter). You're cards are now indestructible and Luminous Broodmoth brings her back into play (Another six life) and she creates another seven creatures (+14 Life, seven more counters on Ajani.)
You then cast Bond of discipline, all creatures your opponent controls are now tapped and can't block you and all your creatures now have life link.
You attack with both Soul Wardens, Angel of vitality, Leonin Warleader, Daxos, Luminous Broodmoth and the six extra creatures from the previous turn. You also get another two creatures from Leonin Warleader which both have lifelink (+10 life)
You deal a total of 21 damage and gain about 35 life
And that's just the surface. Considering you could have multiple soul wardens, angel of vitality's or impassioned orators on the field, and any variation of combos going that can chain into one another, the potential for life gain is massive. In-fact, the most life I've ended a game with is 153.
Of course those combos are in ideal scenarios, You can never really know what your opponent is going to do. They might have a Banishing Light, Scorching Dragonfire or unsummon ready to negate you cards.
If you come up against a deck that creates tokens, you've got it easy though. You'll be gaining free life and free creatures for next to nothing pretty much every turn
On the other hand, if you come up against deck that is aggressive or can lock down your creatures, you can begin to struggle. Strangely the biggest struggle to play against is a similar deck, because then it just becomes a war of attrition where both players are making tiny dents in each others life points.
