Hello happy life gain MtG and Commander fans! Wow do I have a fun new Orzhov take on the very popular life gain archetype in Commander! I typically don't run it much in my brew, but you have to admit it's pretty popular in the format! Let's turn to the new version from Magic Foundations:

Here you are kind folks! She is on a four-drop on curve 4/4 lifelinking hexproof from instants to protect her a bit and then if your life is more than 40, she'll get evasion with menace and then a +1/+1 size. 50 life? +6/+6 total , so she's a base 10/10 with lifelink and menace. You could see her more as a Commander Damage threat with life gain win backups, or vice versa. We'll do both with red zone and life gain good stuff!

Now let's turn to our brew!

Lands, Ramp, Rocks

Let's start with the boring ramp. Pristine Talisman taps for colorless and you'll gain a life too. It's a Life Gain essential. Then the five-drop 4/4 enchantment dork Sunblade Samurai with basic cycling for Plains and you'll gain two life too!

Now let's turn to the uncommon four-drop rock that taps for one color that you chose, and when anyone casts that color spell (your foes too!) you'll gain a life. The three-drop dork with a Scarecrow type is next with an ETB trigger to gain two life.

The Celestus will turn to day on arrival, and then tap for three to swap the day/night phase, and then when that happens you draw, discard and gain a life too! Bounty Board taps with a mana to toss a bounty counter on a dork at sorcery speed. Then when it dies, all opponents should draw and gain that 2 life too!

Phial of Galadriel is next with a tap for any color, and if you would draw when no cards in hand, draw two, and gain life with five or fewer gain double. Love it loads here! The Saga The Birth of Meletis costs two, on the first page you'll ramp a basic Plains to your hand, chapter 2 will make an 0/4 Wall and in chapter three? Gain life!

Now let's turn to lands! The common sac land will ETB, sac for a basic Plains or Swamp, and fetch it tapped and you'll gain a life too. I am also running every ETB life gain land and then Orzhov Basilica to bounce it. The ETB tapped land taps for both colors and becomes a 1/4 Nightmare for four mana and then when it swings you'll drain life from a foe!

I wanted more card draw in my lands and mana in addition to The Celestus and Bounty Board, enter Minas Tirith. You can tap it with two mana to draw but only if you attacked with two dorks. Then I needed ways to keep my life up at 50 for Elenda's ability so I needed ways to keep my life total, so I am not running War Room, but am running the trio of lands to stop attackers. Kor Haven will tap for colorless and tap with two, see also Maze of Ith and Labyrinth of Skophos.

Life Gain Fun Stuff

Now let's turn to the Fun Stuff this deck is built around! Since I wanted Voltron for Elenda and life gain stuff too, how above this duo? The Class costs one, at level one will increase life gain by one,

level two for four mana will pump one dork by a +1/+1 counter like Elenda and level 3 will return and gain life of its toughness! The dork costs five for a 3/4 flying lifelink dork with a life gain trigger to toss +1/+1 counters on all of my stuff. Love this pair here loads to help close with my Commander or else as well as helping my board.

Now let's turn to life gain synergies. Fiendish Panda costs four for a 3/2 and tosses life gain +1/+1 counters here for perma-growth. Then when this dies, you'll recur something else that's it's power in cost or fewer back to the battlefield for free. Cat Collector ETBs with a Food, and then when you gain that life, you'll make a 1/1 Cat, but just once/turn.

The three-drop Vampire Cleric has a flying 1/1 body, grows when you gain that life too with +1/+1 size and when it's killed, you can make its power in Vampire tokens with lifelink! Then the spell costs five and Zombifies and gains you three life too!

Synergies and Win-Cons

Now let's turn to synergies and backup win cons! Since I need to maintain 50 life for keeping Elenda at 10/10 size and menace, I am running the literal win con of the enchantment above in my upkeep. The artifact costs four for a cast spell trigger to gain life for each spell cast, and then will pay 50 to shoot a foe for 50, likely killing them.

The main question is if I run the enchantment kill that turns life gain to you to life loss to them as vice versa, so one of either will kill them all. I am only running two that turn all life gain to loss; Enduring Tenacity will do so, and if it dies it'll come back once. Alhammarret's Archive will double our life gained! Then also our cards drawn, save naturally too.

Now let's to 5 Voltron cards in here, in addition to Rogue's Passage, I need life gain cares win-cons like this trio. The two Swords of X and Y cost three, equip for two, give +2/+2 in size and protection from two removal heavy colors, and then the first will gain 3 life and return a dork from combat damage, and the latter will gain life equal to your hand count and they'll eat damage equal to theirs. The last one costs three, equips for two, makes a 1/1 Halfling to equip on arrival, and makes a Food token too, and then the equipped dork increases in size equal to the life gain! Nasty here!

I added two equipment to protect Elenda with shroud and give her unblockable. Silver Shroud Costume has flash, equips on arrival for two mana cost, three equip, and only has shroud that turn, great in response to targets. See also Whispersilk Cloak.

Then I needed to give my team lifelink, so they can all really help inflate that life total. Whip of Erebos will do that as well as tap for four at sorcery speed to reanimate one of my dead things just this turn with haste, but it exiles. That's bonkers with Field-Tested Frying Pan!

Kaya, Intangible Slayer costs seven for a six loyalty and +2 to force all foes to lose three and you gain it, nice win con life gain combo, or you can also 0 her to draw two and let your foe's scry 1. Then you can -3 her to exile an enchantment or dork, and make a dork 1/1 copy of it! Removal of stuff too! Exsanguinate costs two to start, each foe loses X life and you gain the life lost not X, so it scales up the more foes you have. It's a great mana sink for Cabal Coffers.

Let's finish this section with this pair of legendary leaders! The one just printed five-drop 5/5 on curve flyer is first. When it swings, you can give another attacker flying...Elenda? At your end step you'll make a 3/3 Bird token with the same ability if you gained 3 life. The Angel costs one more for a 4/4 smaller body, but this time in your end step you'll make two 1/1 Warriors, no brakes of life gained, just one will work. The six-drop 4/4 Vampire Angel Black one rocks deathtouch and lifelink too. It has a life gain trigger to give it indestructible. At your end step, you can spend Orzhov mana to reanimate something with mana of your life gain this turn or less.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers, and pretty much every answer that also gained you life is here, save for modal spell // lands. I tossed in four of those that answer or remove. Dawn's Truce and Teferi's Protection will save all your stuff from almost anything. Karlov of the Ghost Council is great with a life gain trigger to toss two +1/+1 counters for removal if you spend two mana and remove six counters to exile a dork. Or you can just swing. And Crypt Incursion will exile all dorks from a graveyard and then you'll gain a trio of life for each one exiled! Love this in response to a recursion spell like Rise of the Dark Realms or Reanimate on the stack.

The artifact dork costs six for a 5/4 menace evasive body. Then when it ETBs you can destroy another dork and gain it's toughness in life. The four-mana uncommon White instant will destroy an attacker and gain life equal to the power this time.

We need mass removal. Fumigate will destroy all dorks and you'll gain a life for each one! Righteous Fury will only destroy tapped stuff, and then you'll gain two life this time. Do this precombat to kill most of the stuff that attacked you or others, and then get your swing on.

I wanted two more X spells for Cabal Coffers like Exsanguinate so I turned to Erebos's Intervention, which will -X/-X a dork to slip past indestructible and you'll gain it in life, or emergency graveyard removal like Bojuka Bog. March of Wretched Sorrow will shoot a dork or planeswalker for X damage, not foes, and then gain X life too. Love it loads here!

Card Flow

Let's turn to card draw! The Orzhov 2/3 is next. It has lifelink and an end step trigger for life gain to spend two to draw a card. The two mana rare enchantment has the ability to turn any life gain into card draw for two mana, not just EOT, and then will mana sink four mana to make a 1/1 lifelinking Soldier. The artifact four-drop will turn life gain into card draw for X mana and cards drawn of your life gained, love this mana sinking for your Cabal Coffers mana too.

Cosmos Elixir is next with the ability in your end step to either gain 2 life or draw a card if it's more than 40. Exemplar of Light has flying and will toss +1/+1 counters with life gain, and when you do? Draw that card!

The 5/5 deathtouch rough seven-cost is here with that ETB trigger to draw, and force your foes to lose life and you'll gain it. It's also an attack trigger too. The legendary dork costs three for a 2/3 dork that draws you a card if you gained at least 3 life this turn. Note that's every turn, not just yours.

Here's my deck!

Life Gain Fun Times with Elenda | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Elenda, Saint of Dusk

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Archivist of Oghma
• 1 Auriok Champion
• 1 Cat Collector
• 1 Elenda's Hierophant
• 1 Enduring Tenacity
• 1 Exemplar of Light
• 1 Fiendish Panda
• 1 Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles
• 1 Inspiring Overseer
• 1 Karlov of the Ghost Council
• 1 Markov Purifier
• 1 Noxious Gearhulk
• 1 Oasis Gardener
• 1 Priest of Ancient Lore
• 1 Regna, the Redeemer
• 1 Rodolf Duskbringer
• 1 Shroudstomper
• 1 Soul Warden
• 1 Soul's Attendant
• 1 Sunblade Samurai
• 1 The Gaffer
• 1 Witch Enchanter

• Spells (19)
• 1 Kaya, Intangible Slayer
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening
• 1 Chastise
• 1 Crypt Incursion
• 1 Dawn's Truce
• 1 Emerge from the Cocoon
• 1 Erebos's Intervention
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Fell the Profane
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Malakir Rebirth
• 1 March of Wretched Sorrow
• 1 Righteous Fury
• 1 Sejiri Shelter
• 1 Terashi's Grasp
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Union of the Third Path
• 1 Vraska's Contempt

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Cleric Class
• 1 Dawn of Hope
• 1 Sanguine Bonds
• 1 The Birth of Meletis
• 1 Test of Endurance

• Artifacts (20)
• 1 Alhammarret's Archive
• 1 Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bounty Board
• 1 Cosmos Elixir
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Field-Tested Frying Pan
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Paradise Plume
• 1 Phial of Galadriel
• 1 Pristine Talisman
• 1 Silver Shroud Costume
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 The Celestus
• 1 Well of Lost Dreams
• 1 Whip of Erebos
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (32)
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Labyrinth of Skophos
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Obscura Storefront
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Restless Fortress
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Snowfield Sinkhole
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 1 Shambling Vent
• 1 Sunlit Marsh
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 7 Plains
• 4 Swamp

Buy This Deck Export text

There you go! There are five modal spell // lands. I tossed in Expedition Map to search for Cabal Coffers or Urborg, you may want to grab Demonic Tutor but it's pricey and unliked by others. Would you want to add True Conviction for more lifelink and double strike too faster kills, or Beacon of Immortality? Other removal like Flay Essence that gains you life equal to its cost? Or even Divine Offering? Amalia? Many card draw sac a dork will gain you life too like Vampiric Rites or Regna's partner Krav, the Unredeemed. You've got this!