Have you ever lost a game of Commander by going exactly to zero life? All you needed to do to survive was gain one measly lifepoint, and no one was there to answer you in your time of need. Welcome to the strategy that never worries too much about reaching zero life. Lifegain is all about having multiple ways to increase your life total every turn and finding a way to use that to your advantage. Even if your life total has eight digits, you still have to find a way to take down your opponents. Let's dive into Lifegain as a strategy and what cards can effectively increase our chance of winning!

Understanding Lifegain Strategies

The goal of Lifegain is just that: to gain life. That might seem like an odd thing at first. It doesn't help you establish a massive board state or even remove your opponents' threats. Gaining three life off a Revitalize might not seem to do much, but if you pair it with a Sanguine Bond, suddenly it looks more appealing. Most Lifegain strategies really depend on what Commander you decide to put into your Command Zone. Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn wants to gain life and go wide with huge creatures. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose wants to slowly drain out your opponents while you are gaining life. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is just a constant lifegain engine in the Command Zone with massive card advantage. Lifegain wins with either drain effects or going wide using your life total as a weapon.

How to Gain Life

Gaining life is actually a very easy thing to do in just about every part of the color pie. White of course is the leader in life gain. Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Essence Warden, and Suture Priest are some of the best creatures we can play in this archetype. These creatures are low to the ground and are sure to gain us multiple life each turn. Authority of the Consuls gains us life while also tapping down our opponents board. Blind Obedience has the keyword Extort which allows us to gain life every time we cast a spell if we have the extra mana. Creatures with lifelink like Serra's Ascendant are also a great way to keep our life totals high. Gaining life is an easy thing to accomplish, but we need it to do more than increase our life. Let's take a look at how we can drain our opponents at the same time.

Bleed 'em Dry

Lifegain is split into two main sub strategies: drain and go wide. Drain is the concept of making our opponents lose life when we gain life. Cliffhaven Vampire is the perfect example of drain. Each time we gain life, our opponents are also going to lose life in the process. These effects can help us close out the game over time. Vampires give us the strongest cards for this archetype. Sorin of House Markov is a new planeswalker we received from Modern Horizons 3. He has an amazing ability to shoot a massive drain effect at a target and has extort!

Marauding Blight-Priest, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Sanguine Bond, and Starscape Cleric all trigger for each instance of lifegain we have. These cards work nicely with our mentioned Soul Warden above. Lunar Convocation is an amazing new card we just received that leans into drain nicely. Indulging Patrician will drain our opponents as long as we are gaining three or more life a turn. Gollum, Obsessed Stalker is my favorite card for this archetype since its effect is so unique, but also insanely powerful. Drain helps us bleed our opponent while also boosting us up for the win. This sub archetype is enough to close out the game alone, but lifegain can also go super wide with creatures if that's more your style.

Going Wide

Gaining life can also help grow your own board. Treebeard, Gracious Host, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, and Lathiel, Bounteous Dawn are the three lifegain Commanders that come to mind that want to go wide with a bunch of creatures. Every time we gain life they can grow your creature army. Elenda's Hierophant, Trelasarra, Moon Dancer, Essence Channeler, Karlov of the Ghost Council, and Voice of the Blessed are all one-man armies. For every instance of lifegain you have, they in turn will grow in power.

Angelic Accord, Griffin Aerie, Trudge Garden, and Crested Sunmare are some of the best ways to create a token army in lifegain. Crested Sunmare is one of my favorites since it gives all your horse tokens indestructible. Making creatures is a great way to continue triggering our Soul Warden type effects. Farmer Cotton doesn't gain you life initially, but it does give you an army of Halfling tokens and Food tokens. Food tokens are a great way to make sure you can gain life on your opponent's turn as well as your own. Tireless Provisioner, Gilded Goose, and Sam, Loyal Attendant are some of the best Food token generators we can play. Having another way to gain life if our hand runs dry is a great way to keep growing our board.

Winning the Game

Lifegain can win just by outlasting your opponents, but that isn't the best way to do so. If you are making your opponents lose life to your drain effects, you have a lot of options. Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Exsanguinate, Debt to the Deathless, Astarion, the Decadent, and Bloodchief Ascension can end the game in an instant if you have been draining your opponents all game long. You can even try to assemble the combo of Exquisite Blood and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose to win on the spot.

Blossoming Bogbeast is a better Craterhoof Behemoth for this strategy that is also repeatable every turn. Aetherflux Reservoir can dome an opponent for fifty damage, which hopefully is enough to take someone out of the game. Bolas's Citadel can be leveraged very well with a high life total. Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance can be alternate win conditions if you can protect your high life total for long enough.

Conclusion

Lifegain is more of an open ended archetype with multiple paths to victory. Find which Commander speaks to you and use it to your advantage. Whether you are going with drain or going wide, you still need ways to gain life so don't forget the basics! Gain life and use it to your advantage to win against your opponent!

See you on the battlefield!

-Nigel