Last week when brewing Elspeth decks for Oathbreaker I mentioned you could focus on lifegain, but it would be better to leave it to whiskered professionals.

Even though I felt lifegain deserved its own article for Oathbreaker, I hesitated to write it after presenting a similar list last week. Then Wizards of the Coast printed a new infinite damage combo including Heliod, Sun-Crowned, a perfect card in a deck radiant with life.

If you have two mana to activate Heliod and a Walking Ballista with two counters, you win the game. But like the Splinter Twin combo, the threat of it will be even more potent. The first decklist will feature this infinite ace, along with other more conventional routes to winning with lifegain. The second list will be for those who like good times with Ajani, but don't number infinite combos among those.

Heliod's Wrath | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Locket (2)
• 1 Ajani, Strength of the Pride
• 1 Enlightened Tutor

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Ajani's Pridemate
• 1 Angel of Vitality
• 1 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Auriok Champion
• 1 Crested Sunmare
• 1 Dauntless Bodyguard
• 1 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
• 1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Martyr of Sands
• 1 Mother of Runes
• 1 Nyx-Fleece Ram
• 1 Perimeter Captain
• 1 Ranger of Eos
• 1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1 Resplendent Angel
• 1 Rhox Faithmender
• 1 Serra Ascendant
• 1 Soldier of the Pantheon
• 1 Soul Warden
• 1 Soul's Attendant
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Wall of Reverence

• Instants (3)
• 1 Benevolent Offering
• 1 Congregate
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Spectral Procession
• 1 Survival Cache

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Dawn of Hope
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 1 Grasp of Fate
• 1 Test of Endurance
• 1 The Birth of Meletis

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Pearl Medallion
• 1 Well of Lost Dreams

• Lands (22)
• 15 Plains
• 1 Blighted Steppe
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Kabira Crossroads
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 Seraph Sanctuary

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We went through an ordeal to ultimate Elspeth Tirel the turn she comes onto the battlefield. Meanwhile, Ajani, Strength of the Pride can practically saunter into play and do it. Only thirty-five life? Why, Soul Warden can gain you that much alone in multiplayer. When your foes tap out to attack you in a desperate attempt to keep your life below the line Ajani has drawn in the sand, then you can pounce all over them with your pridemates or win outright by tutoring up your new two-card combo.

I've traveled far for lands that gain life, as they can help you combo faster. Also, having a Soul's Attendant in play means you only need to cast Walking Ballista for X = 1. Heliod, Sun-Crowned can immediately arm it with another counter. The god draw is turn one soul sister, turn three Heliod, and turn four win.

More often, you won't have both pieces of the combo in hand. If you have one, wait to play your Oathbreaker until you have a fifth mana source. Once he's on the battlefield, you can immediately cast his signature spell and find the missing piece. The rest of the time, you'll be gaining life, getting other advantages, and they may well be enough to win.

I've included this old chestnut. If an opponent wraths the board, and you have up, tutor your game-winning enchantment. Let your opponents scramble to find the damage to keep you below fifty. Some cards in the deck will allow you to gain ridiculous amounts of life, such as Congregate and Rhox Faithmender. Others will make it very painful for your opponents to damage you, in a manner of speaking.

Most of the time you will save your tutor for the combo, but to prevent opposing Planeswalkers from going ultimate you can also find a Faith's Fetters, one of the stronger cards in this deck. Similar to Pithing Needle and Sorcerer's Spyglass, it can paralyze an opposing walker. However, leaving them on the battlefield still allows their signature spell to be cast, which may not be safe. You could play more defensive measures to protect yourself and the combo, but aggressive creatures give you the flexibility to disrupt opposing combo strategies.

Your high life total will open up play patterns that other decks cannot pursue. If you cast Enlightened Tutor for one half of a two-card combo and don't immediately win, your opponents will throw everything they have at you. But if your life total is high enough, you may still live to annihilate them with an endless barrage of ballista bolts.

You will be able to protect your combo with Mother of Runes and Giver of Runes, two cards you can enlist with Ranger of Eos or Ranger-Captain of Eos. Both can also find the other big payoff for gaining life, Serra Ascendant.

Mother of Runes not only can protect your key creatures but also give your landbound pridemates evasion. As a further safeguard you have Dauntless Bodyguard. You can also search for Perimeter Captain or Soldier of the Pantheon. And to gain a burst of life, there's always Martyr of Sands. With all these important 1-drops, you may well wish to play Proclamation of Rebirth. We'll include that value card in the combo-less version of the deck.

Your friends may prefer you not include two-card combos. You may grow tired of them (comboing, that is). Or, you may find you win more games by decreasing the threat-level of your deck. If you're clearly playing the most dangerous deck at the table, the other players are more likely to ally against you. This will be less possible if everyone at the table is equally threatening.

Ajani, Strength of the Pride is intimidating even alone, with that ultimate. If you want to dial that threat level down you could play instead Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis. Similar to Elspeth Tirel, we'll pair this Ajani with a defensive signature spell. Faith's Shield can keep him alive, protect the pridemate tokens he creates, or give them the evasion needed to kill opposing Planeswalkers.

Life of the Party | Oathbreaker | AE Marling

• Locket (2)
• 1 Ajani, Strength of the Pride
• 1 Faith's Shield

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Ajani's Pridemate
• 1 Angel of Vitality
• 1 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Auriok Champion
• 1 Crested Sunmare
• 1 Dauntless Bodyguard
• 1 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
• 1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Linden, the Steadfast Queen
• 1 Martyr of Sands
• 1 Mother of Runes
• 1 Ranger of Eos
• 1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1 Resplendent Angel
• 1 Selfless Spirit
• 1 Serra Ascendant
• 1 Soldier of the Pantheon
• 1 Soul Warden
• 1 Soul's Attendant

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Ajani Steadfast
• 1 Elspeth Tirel

• Instants (3)
• 1 Benevolent Offering
• 1 Invoke the Divine
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Proclamation of Rebirth
• 1 Spectral Procession

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Angelic Accord
• 1 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Dawn of Hope
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 1 Grasp of Fate
• 1 Legion's Landing
• 1 Ordeal of Heliod

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Pearl Medallion
• 1 Well of Lost Dreams

• Lands (22)
• 15 Plains
• 1 Blighted Steppe
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Kabira Crossroads
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 Windbrisk Heights

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This deck features a few different lifegain payoffs, such as Angelic Accord and enablers like Linden, the Steadfast Queen. Rather than the excessive Congregate, we're playing Ordeal of Heliod. If you cast it on a pridemate with counters you can gain the ten life immediately. Elspeth Tirel gains you three life and tokens if you have a soul sister in play, such as the new Daxos, Blessed by the Sun.

The last we saw of him, he was dead: Daxos the Returned. He made a deal with Erebos, able to leave the underworld in search of his lost love, Elspeth. What the god didn't tell him was that Elspeth was also slain, and by leaving the underworld he was going even further from her.

Now we see Daxos as Heliod's creature, the same Heliod who killed Elspeth, Sun's Champion after she did his bidding, the same god whom she now is hunting. Heliod likely chose him to use him as a bodyshield against the woman he loved. Add that to the Grecian urn of asshole moves by Heliod, already overflowing with his dealing infinite damage turn four.