I'm new to MTG -- maybe 2 months in -- and have been getting some reps in on Arena. White/Black Lifelink has gotten me from Bronze to Gold Tier 2 without a whole lot of trouble, but my win percentage is starting to drop to about 50% so I figure it's time to refine what I've been working with until now. This is obviously not an ideal deck -- It's currently 67 cards, has no sideboard, and I am only working with the cards I have, not the ones on my wishlist, but feel free to make recommendations even if you don't see something here, i.e., I'd like to utilize Consecrate // Consume but haven't come across it yet.
Deck Strategy: Plan A: Create an environment that generates Life on every step (beginning of phase [Twilight Prophet], playing a creature [Ajani's Welcome], declaring attackers [Sanctum Seeker], dealing damage [anything with Lifelink]). Utilize Epicure of Blood to turn Life gain into damage and buff Ajani's Pridemate.
Plan B: If I can't establish creature dominance, cast Kaya's Wrath followed by Revival // Revenge and try to finish off the last few points with flyers.
Notes:
My most successful opening hand is something along the lines of
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to look over it. Please let me know if you have any recommendations on how to make this more efficient/maximize my chances of getting a good draw off the bat.
The problem is that lifegain just isn't good unless you're playing against a bunch of Mono Red Burn.
The deck just feels like a hodgepodge of lifegain with minimal synergy. Pridemate technically is the best creature with lifegain strategies but you only run two. Healer's Hawk is the best one drop. Sanctum Seeker is bad outside of vampire shells, it just feels like you want to play vampires but didn't go all in and ended up being worse for it. Rumors, Thirst, and Bladebrand are awful, and Wrath does not belong in a deck where you're counting on your creatures. You have too many 1-2 ofs or few 3 ofs, no full sets of anything. This makes your deck too inconsistent. And finally, you have too many lands. 26 is usually the top end reserved only for control decks. You should be fine at 23.
I would look into what you're trying to do. Are you going vampires with the lifelink/gain sub strategy? Add more vampires and support. Are you going more with the lifegain strategy? Add some payoffs like Dawn of Hope and Fountain of Renewal (this combo insures you're almost always drawing cards).
Thanks for the pointers -- agree pretty much across the board. I've been waiting for a Fountain of Renewal to drop and I do think that the pridemates are probably the best in this case, as opposed to the vampire theme I was leaning towards. I'll be honest I hadn't thought too much about Healer's Hawk until now.
I kept the cats in place of additional vampires because it lets me take the deck in two directions based on my opponent -- big creatures and direct damage, or indirect damage with the vampires.
You're still pulling your deck in two directions when I said it's a really bad idea. Again, either go all in on vampires or don't. Seeker and Lieutenant are really bad if half your creatures aren't even vampires. When you have a single plan, it's more consistent and powerful.
I'm new to MTG -- maybe 2 months in -- and have been getting some reps in on Arena. White/Black Lifelink has gotten me from Bronze to Gold Tier 2 without a whole lot of trouble, but my win percentage is starting to drop to about 50% so I figure it's time to refine what I've been working with until now. This is obviously not an ideal deck -- It's currently 67 cards, has no sideboard, and I am only working with the cards I have, not the ones on my wishlist, but feel free to make recommendations even if you don't see something here, i.e., I'd like to utilize Consecrate // Consume but haven't come across it yet.
Deck Strategy:
Plan A: Create an environment that generates Life on every step (beginning of phase [Twilight Prophet], playing a creature [Ajani's Welcome], declaring attackers [Sanctum Seeker], dealing damage [anything with Lifelink]). Utilize Epicure of Blood to turn Life gain into damage and buff Ajani's Pridemate.
Plan B: If I can't establish creature dominance, cast Kaya's Wrath followed by Revival // Revenge and try to finish off the last few points with flyers.
Notes:
- 2 Plains
- Isolated Chapel
- Ajani's Welcome
- Impassioned Orator
- Ajani's Pridemate
- Leonin Warleader
which has very little to do with my lifelink strategy. If I goldfish this hand and draw one land, it deals 14 damage by turn 4 and gives me 5 life.1 Vicious Conquistador
2 Impassioned Orator
2 Bishop's Soldier
2 Ajani's Pridemate
2 Legion Lieutenant
1 Resplendent Angel
2 Skymarch Bloodletter
2 Leonin Warleader
2 Sanctum Seeker
2 Twilight Prophet
3 Epicure of Blood
1 Vampire Sovereign
1 Vicious Rumors
3 Ajani's Welcome
2 Moment of Triumph
1 Revitalize
3 Call to the Feast
1 Revival // Revenge (Mostly for Revenge)
Removal Spells (7)
2 Nightmare's Thirst
1 Bladebrand
3 Mortify
1 Kaya's Wrath
1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
Lands (26)
1 Forsaken Sanctuary
2 Isolated Chapel
12 Plains
10 Swamp
1 Orzhov Guildgate
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to look over it. Please let me know if you have any recommendations on how to make this more efficient/maximize my chances of getting a good draw off the bat.
The deck just feels like a hodgepodge of lifegain with minimal synergy. Pridemate technically is the best creature with lifegain strategies but you only run two. Healer's Hawk is the best one drop. Sanctum Seeker is bad outside of vampire shells, it just feels like you want to play vampires but didn't go all in and ended up being worse for it. Rumors, Thirst, and Bladebrand are awful, and Wrath does not belong in a deck where you're counting on your creatures. You have too many 1-2 ofs or few 3 ofs, no full sets of anything. This makes your deck too inconsistent. And finally, you have too many lands. 26 is usually the top end reserved only for control decks. You should be fine at 23.
I would look into what you're trying to do. Are you going vampires with the lifelink/gain sub strategy? Add more vampires and support. Are you going more with the lifegain strategy? Add some payoffs like Dawn of Hope and Fountain of Renewal (this combo insures you're almost always drawing cards).
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
I took some your advice and came up with this, which has been a little more consistent:
2 Leonin Warleader (M19) 23
2 Sanctum Seeker (XLN) 120
2 Twilight Prophet (RIX) 88
2 Legion Lieutenant (RIX) 163
3 Ajani's Pridemate (M19) 5
2 Healer's Hawk (GRN) 14
2 Dawn of Hope (GRN) 8
4 Fountain of Renewal (M19) 235
2 Ajani's Welcome (M19) 6
2 Nightmare's Thirst (M19) 111
1 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
2 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
1 Revival // Revenge (RNA) 228
3 Call to the Feast (XLN) 219
1 Kaya's Wrath (RNA) 187
8 Swamp (RIX) 194
2 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241
4 Forsaken Sanctuary (M19) 250
2 Orzhov Guildgate (RNA) 252
I kept the cats in place of additional vampires because it lets me take the deck in two directions based on my opponent -- big creatures and direct damage, or indirect damage with the vampires.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles