"In each of us is the strength of all of us."
—Trostani
For the longest time, I had a small collection of cards set aside that played up Green and White's lifegain theme. They went into Captain Sisay, Rhys, the Redeemed, and Tolsimir Wolfblood only to be forced out once those decks filled out with cards that fleshed out their individual themes better. With no other obvious option, they sat on the sidelines until Trostani was printed. Since I already had an effective GW token commander in Rhys, it made more sense to take advantage of her lifegain ability instead.
Of course, with the recent printing of Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, I'm seriously considering moving all the white and artifact cards to that deck, abandoning the few green ones, utilizing a few of the black options that are available. Before I do that, I wanted to document where this deck currently stands and get some feedback from anyone else who might have done something similar.
The deck plays out like an aggro deck for the most part, which is interesting seeing how we normally associate lifegain with control. However, the thing I have found is that most of the good "lifegain matters" cards are all about getting pumped up or pumping up your creatures. It didn't take me long to follow the cards towards making this a more proactive deck.
The deck includes an average amount of green ramp cards so as to make sure it has access to a fair number of mana sources in the mid-game. The deck doesn't play any of the normal white sweepers (as it would rather draw out mass removal), but its not like you need to commit too many creatures to the board before you become a fairly big nuisance to the rest of the table.
I've updated this deck as well, deciding to keep it GW despite some of the "gains life matters" that were just printed in Battle for Zendikar.
Cards that I considered from the last 4 sets:
Fate Reforged Fruit of the First Tree: Drawing cards AND gaining life is exactly what this deck needs, but this doesn't strike me as the right kind of answer to that. Mastery of the Unseen: I think this card would be great, but this deck already durdles enough as it is. Shamanic Revelation: I think it's a tad too expensive to be good enough to run. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: This one was a tough call, but eventually it didn't make the cut.
Dragons of Tarkir Dragonlord Dromoka: Even though the anti-counterspell clause was very nice, I have already been moving away from creatures in the deck just for Lifelink. Dromoka's Command: I like flexible removal, but it just seemed weaker than that options I was already running. Profound Journey: Awesome card that just rots in your hand until you have both the mana to cast it and two ready targets. Sunscorch Regent: Surprisingly good card in this deck, but ultimately not what it needed.
Magic Origins Alhammaret's Archive: Slam dunk! Healing Hands: 4 life and a card for 3 mana is a good deal for a deck like this, but ultimately I came to my senses and removed it. Nissa's Revelation: It's in the deck right now because it does exactly the kinds of things I need. It also works well with SDT and Library. Prism Ring: The cost is right, but the deck is literally split 50/50 on the card colors. If I were sufficiently skewed one way or another, it might make the cut. As it stands, I would probably go with Paradise Plume or Tablet of the Guilds. Tragic Arrogance: Seems like a nice catchall for someone who is getting out of hand with creatures, artifacts, enchantments, or Planeswalkers. Woodland Bellower: Would just be a goodstuff add, so I didn't bother.
Battle for Zendikar Emeria Shepherd: It's able to regrow half the deck and combos nicely with STE. Serene Steward: Nice idea, but if you are going to pay mana you need to get more for your troubles. Greenwarden of Murasa: Another card that would be just a goodstuff add. Nissa's Renewal: I'm going to give this one a spin, but I', fairly sure this will end up in the deck long term. Retreat to Kazandu: Would fulfill the same function as Grazing Gladehart, so I need to ask whether the 2/2 is more relevant than the potential +1/+1 counters. Blighted Steppe: Seems like good added value for little cost. Canopy Vista: Another fetchable dual land.
Card from the Past Sun Droplet: I had considered this card before, but decided it really needed to be in the deck. Austere Command: I needed another sweeper that had options to leave some of my stuff alone if need be. Ajani Goldmane: I took it out to play Ajani, Caller of the Pride, but I decided I wanted both.
Since BFZ, a few more sets have come out and the deck has had some cards to consider:
Commander 2015 Righteous Confluence - I don't think you normally get quite enough for your 5 mana, but the thought of the worst case scenario being me gaining 15 life in 3 separate chunks was very tempting. I tried it out and it was much better than I originally thought. You obviously can't overload on pure lifegain only spells, but having some flexibility makes it worth at least looking at.
Oath of the Gatewatch
Nothing - Zendikar Resurgent seems good, but the deck is already chock-full (too full) of expensive cards.
Shadows Over Innistrad Fortified Village - There was some room for adding dual lands to this deck, and this one is good.
Kaladesh Aetherflux Reservoir - If there was a card that was tailor-made for this deck, it was this one. This caused me to do a massive review of the overall mana curve of this deck as I was seemingly never able to get a lot of life from this, but instead of dropping it I added some more ramp and lost some of the higher CMC cards and I haven't looked back. Fumigate - Adding some more mass-removal made some sense, and something that played into my theme seemed like as good a place to start as any. I've gone back and forth with this and I'm still undecided for the long term. Nissa, Nature's Artisan - The first two abilities are exactly what this deck wants, but at 6 mana you need something with more oomph.
Commander 2016 and Aether Revolt
Massively disappointingly nothing...
Overall Changes
Like I said earlier, I had a change of heart with regards to this decks mana curve, so I did an assessment of where the deck stood:
CMC 1 = 5
CMC 2 = 8
CMC 3 = 10
CMC 4 = 15
CMC 5 = 12
CMC 6 = 7
CMC 7 = 4
CMC 10 = 1
Looking to break up the glut at 4, 5, and 6 mana, I decided to cut the following:
-1 Sunbond - This does exactly what the decks wants, but being an aura made actually playing this a rough propostiion.
-1 Phyrexian Processor - Great card, but its too taxing on the mana.
-1 Angelic Chorus - Another great card, but the deck can't afford to play too many 'do-nothings'.
-1 Primeval Bounty - A great value card that needs too much time to get what you need from it.
That freed up room to put Spike Feeder and Farseek (in addition to Aetherflux Reservoir and Fumigate), basically swapping in a 2 and a 3 drop for a 4 and a 6. Its not a huge change, but its made a difference.
Hour of Devastation has given me one slam-dunk card to try in Crested Sunmare; it seems like an excellent payoff for gaining life. It also is seemingly tailor-made to play well with Trostani; not only does it give me something large to populate, but if both are in play I will get a 5/5 Horse every end step. I decided that to fit it in, I would remove Emeria Shepherd; it was great with Sakura-Tribe Elder and it was a great late-game way to get back key permanents that may have been blown up, but it otherwise didn't really fit the theme and I have been looking to cheapen the card in the deck anyway so getting rid of a 7-drop made sense.
The other card that piqued my interest for inclusion in this deck was Uncage the Menagerie. I can effectively cast it for 3, 4, or 5 and be very happy with the results. Although it doesn't gain me life, I'm wondering if it will be better than using Nissa's Revelation because of the added flexibility of being able to cast it for 5 or 6 mana instead of always 7. In the end, I decided to try it in place of another 7-drop Pelakka Wurm that has never really impressed me.
Commander 2017 Curse of Vitality - If it was two life per creature or 4-5 life each attack, then this might be playable. As it is, it is trash.
Ixalan Ashes of the Abhorrent - A little graveyard hate with some lifegain tacked on seems like it should be good, but the anti-graveyard ability is just too narrow. Deathgorge Scavenger - Not a bad card, but ultimately there were plenty of other things I'd rather run. Growing Rites of Itlimoc - So I've been adding this card everywhere I can that it seems reasonable. Inspiring Cleric - 4 life for a 3/2 for 3 mana is not a bad deal. Sanguine Sacrament - I'm not currently not running any X-Spell lifegain spells in the deck, so this one intrigued me to look into what my options were and what option might be best. In order of most efficient to least efficient, there are 6 options: Dawnglow Infusion, Sanguine Sacrament, Vitalizing Cascade, Stream of Life, Alabaster Potion, and Nourishing Shoal. I decided against any of them, but its nice to note that the gold standard is Dawnglow Infusion. Verdant Sun's Avatar - It has the same lifegain ability as Trostani, so it was at least worth testing.
Rivals of Ixalan Azor's Gateway - I was tempted to run this just to get Sanctum of the Sun online, but this deck just can't support it. Famished Paladin - I like the idea, but the card is just way too unimpactful to see play in EDH.
In the end, only Verdant Sun's Avatar made the deck. I removed Ajani, Caller of the Pride to make space; Ajani has a great ultimate but it never gets there and the +1 ability isn't what this deck really wants.
This format has always had and will always have more and more cards that you could add to any given list, so I usually like to give my feedback in terms of things you could cut (a much, MUCH harder task). Below are a few things you could shave in order to make room for some more goodies:
- Ajani's Pridemate, Voracious Wurm, Ageless Entity, Serra Avatar, etc: No matter how big they are, they're just vanilla bodies. You'll find that you can incidentally make a lot of these in other ways.
- Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Pristine Talisman, etc: Your commander will gain you all the life you ever need, so cards that gain you a small amount of life by themselves aren't really necessary.
- Nissa's Renewal: By the time you get to six mana, you should probably be done ramping.
- Nissa's Revelation: This seems like too high of a setup cost to be worth it. You have only 23 creatures, and only ten of them have 3 or more power when you reveal them, so the odds of getting a significant return on your seven-mana investment are pretty low.
- Celestial Mantle: Maybe it's my personal hatred for Auras in this format, but for that cost you could play True Conviction, Collective Blessing, Angelic Chorus, and so many others that are less fragile and more potent.
- Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Neither of the +1 modes are very exciting, and without effects like Doubling Season, you can't count on hitting the ultimate ability.
- Ajani Goldmane: The +1 isn't very useful, and there are more effective ways to get the same effect as the -1.
- Elspeth Tirel: For one more mana, Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a whole lot more effective.
And while we're at it, a few staples:
- Eternal Witness, Sun Titan: Always a good decision.
- Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: All three modes are things this deck always wants. Harder to find, but worth it.
- Mimic Vat: Especially good at making tokens for Trostani to populate. If you can activate this followed by Trostani's populate ability, the populated copies don't self-exile.
EDIT: Emeria, the Sky Ruin: You have six basics, three duals, and many ways to fetch them up. Then this becomes nearly free value.
- Mistveil Plains: Counts as a Plains.
- Scattered Groves: A 4th fetchable dual is probably better than a non-fetchable dual that gains 1 life.
Herald of the Host is absolutely bonkers in Trostani. Give it a shot, you won't be disappointed.
I think that if I was focusing on a Populate theme, then this would make a lot of sense. I think I would consider Blade of Selves, but Herald needing my commander in play to do anything doesn't excite me.
This format has always had and will always have more and more cards that you could add to any given list, so I usually like to give my feedback in terms of things you could cut (a much, MUCH harder task).
That is much appreciated. I try to do the same when possible.
Below are a few things you could shave in order to make room for some more goodies:
[spoiler=Things you could cut]
- Ajani's Pridemate, Voracious Wurm, Ageless Entity, Serra Avatar, etc: No matter how big they are, they're just vanilla bodies. You'll find that you can incidentally make a lot of these in other ways.
Yeah, but they are the foundation of the deck. I try to stay away from cards that are "just a beater" in most of my decks, but the truth of the matter is that there are far too few cards that care about gaining life that I didn't want to exclude any of them. This pushes the deck into a more aggro space because of it and on a certain level I'm fine with that until they print more "lifegain matters" cards that steer me in a different direction.
- Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Pristine Talisman, etc: Your commander will gain you all the life you ever need, so cards that gain you a small amount of life by themselves aren't really necessary.
These are actually quite necessary with how the deck is currently configured. If I removed all the other cards you suggested then this would make more sense, but they are an important part of the aggro/lifegain engine that drives the deck.
- Nissa's Renewal: By the time you get to six mana, you should probably be done ramping.
- Nissa's Revelation: This seems like too high of a setup cost to be worth it. You have only 23 creatures, and only ten of them have 3 or more power when you reveal them, so the odds of getting a significant return on your seven-mana investment are pretty low.
I agree with both of these cuts. They are okay cards once you get to 6+ mana, but the deck needs more early plays instead.
But Celestial Mantle is the only one that says to double your life total... I also dislike auras, but I think I make an exception for this one here.
- Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Neither of the +1 modes are very exciting, and without effects like Doubling Season, you can't count on hitting the ultimate ability.
I can agree with this. The dream of gaining 100 life has only happened once, and even then it wasn't that exciting.
- Ajani Goldmane: The +1 isn't very useful, and there are more effective ways to get the same effect as the -1.
I disagree with this one. I get tons of mileage out of Ajani 1.0 and I'e used all three modes to much success.
If I was concerned solely about the token making then you would be correct, but I'm usually activating this to gain life.
And while we're at it, a few staples:
A few staples
- Eternal Witness, Sun Titan: Always a good decision.
- Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: All three modes are things this deck always wants. Harder to find, but worth it.
- Mimic Vat: Especially good at making tokens for Trostani to populate. If you can activate this followed by Trostani's populate ability, the populated copies don't self-exile.
EDIT: Emeria, the Sky Ruin: You have six basics, three duals, and many ways to fetch them up. Then this becomes nearly free value.
- Mistveil Plains: Counts as a Plains.
- Scattered Groves: A 4th fetchable dual is probably better than a non-fetchable dual that gains 1 life.
These are all fine, but I'm more likely to gravitate to on-theme cards versus "staples" in most situations, especially given that I'm mostly not interested in Populating with Trostani. I like the idea of Scattered Groves though, but not at the expense of a land that gains me life.
With the release of Dominaria, there were a few cards to consider:
Evra, Halcyon Witness: This seems like a good way to use all that lifegain for the purposes of killing your opponents, but I also like that I can activate it again and the upward swing in life counts as lifegain which means that if I have Rhox Faithmender or Boon Reflection in play I can gain a ton of life given sufficient mana.
Fungal Plots: There is potential here, but I don't know if I run enough creatures.
Krosan Druid: This just doesn't do it for me at that cost.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty: I like this card a lot for drawing targeted removal away from my other creatures, so it seems that I could get some mileage out of this here.
This deck continues to evolve, and a lot of changes have happened over the last few sets.
Battelbond Bountiful Promenade - There is always room for another dual land in most two-color decks, and this one is not that bad. My concerns are making sure that I keep enough basics in the deck to support the ramp cards. Regna, the Redeemer - Another decent lifegain payoff card. I don't necessarily like the 6CMC, but it triggers on each turn and that makes a huge difference.
M19 Ajani, Wise Conselor - The +1 is the same as Elspeth Tirel which had me intrigued, but the other abilities just don't cut it. Ajani's Welcome - I like cards that help out with triggering Crested Sunmare and other cards like it that want you to gain life on other people's turns. You can't run too many "do nothing" cards in a deck like this, but the 1CMC makes this a very attraction option versus some of the more expensive cards that I run in the deck. Resplendent Angel - Another solid lifegain payoff, this one is a little harder to trigger with needing the gain 5 life. I was used to needing to gain 4 life to trigger Angelic Accord, but 5 is a little tougher given that it doesn't self-trigger with Trostani in play. It is still well worth running though.
C18
None
Guilds of Ravnica Camaraderie - Drawing cards and gaining life is a solid mix for this deck. Dawn of Hope - A solid lifegain payoff, it compares nicely to Well of Lost Dreams and the Lifelinking token generation is a nice ability. Knight of Autumn - I actually like the simple creatures that gain life on entering the battlefield, and this having some additional utility makes it a great addition to the deck. Loxodon Restorer - This one is fine, but it ends up being a tad too expensive for my tastes. Trostani Discordant - Other than needing to have it in the deck for completeness sake, there is little reasons to want to include this here.
Ravnica Allegiance Impassioned Orator - In other formats, this costing only 1 mana for a 1/1 makes sense, but here the 2/2 body is much more relevant.
At the end, I ended up with the following swaps:
+1 Bountiful Promenade, -1 Forest - Another solid dual land
+1 Scattered Groves, -1 Plains - Another fetchable dual land that I skipped over from a previous set.
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Celestial Mantle - I needed to cut a high casting cost card, and even though Mantle doubles life it is expensive for an aura.
+1 Resplendent Angel, -1 Evra, Halcyon Witness - I liked being able to play some silly lifegain tricks with Evra, but it is just a tad too expensive to activate given that you often need to activate it twice in a turn for some of the real shenanigans.
+1 Camaraderie, -1 Nissa's Renewal - I've cut a lot of ramp and top end from the deck, and it made sense to cut Renewal.
+1 Dawn of Hope, -1 Nissa's Revelation - Cutting one card draw spell for a card draw lifegain payoff.
+1 Knight of Autumn, -1 Elspeth Tirel - I've been looking for more ways to cut the overall average CMC of the deck on top of finding ways to get more aggressive, and this is another step in both those directions.
"In each of us is the strength of all of us."
—Trostani
Of course, with the recent printing of Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, I'm seriously considering moving all the white and artifact cards to that deck, abandoning the few green ones, utilizing a few of the black options that are available. Before I do that, I wanted to document where this deck currently stands and get some feedback from anyone else who might have done something similar.
Updated through Ravnica Allegience - 2/10/2019
1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Creatures - 26
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Voracious Wurm
1 Spike Feeder
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Resplendent Angel
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Rhox Faithmender
1 Ageless Entity
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Crested Sunmare
1 Thragtusk
1 Acidic Slime
1 Shattered Angel
1 Duplicant
1 Regna, the Redeemer
1 Verdant Sun's Avatar
1 Serra Avatar
Instants/Sorceries - 20
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Rampant Growth
1 Into the North
1 Farseek
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Survival Cache
1 Beast Within
1 Harmonize
1 Chastise
1 Momentous Fall
1 Primal Command
1 Fumigate
1 Austere Command
1 Righteous Fury
1 Beacon of Immortality
1 Storm Herd
1 Uncage the Menagerie
1 Camaraderie
1 Sylvan Library
1 Dawn of Hope
1 Angelic Accord
1 Cradle of Vitality
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Boon Reflection
Artifacts - 9
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sun Droplet
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Well of Lost Dreams
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Alhammarret's Archive
Planeswalkers - 1
1 Ajani Goldmane
Lands - 36
1 Arctic Flats
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Canopy Vista
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Fortified Village
1 Bountiful Promenade
1 Scattered Groves
1 Command Tower
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Krosan Verge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Blighted Steppe
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
1 High Market
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Seraph Sanctuary
1 Radiant Fountain
5 Snow-Covered Forest
5 Snow-Covered Plains
The deck plays out like an aggro deck for the most part, which is interesting seeing how we normally associate lifegain with control. However, the thing I have found is that most of the good "lifegain matters" cards are all about getting pumped up or pumping up your creatures. It didn't take me long to follow the cards towards making this a more proactive deck.
The deck includes an average amount of green ramp cards so as to make sure it has access to a fair number of mana sources in the mid-game. The deck doesn't play any of the normal white sweepers (as it would rather draw out mass removal), but its not like you need to commit too many creatures to the board before you become a fairly big nuisance to the rest of the table.
If your meta is full of combo this deck will not fare very well, but against other aggro or control decks this deck can hold its own. There is also lot of room to add more creature removal (Path to Exile, Beast Within, Exile, or Crib Swap) or non-creature removal (Harmonic Sliver, Qasali Pridemage, Sylvan Primordial or Acidic Slime). There are also a ton of "staples" that I'm not running for space concerns (Genesis, Survival of the Fittest, etc.
So anyone else play Trostani as a lifegain deck?
10/22/2014
-1 Spike Feeder
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Baneslayer Angel
-1 Celestial Force
-1 Decree of Justice
-1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
-1 Snow-covered Forest
+1 Path to Exile
+1 Oblation
+1 Beat Within
+1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
+1 Acidic Slime
+1 Radiant Fountain
+1 Blossoming Sands
1/7/2015
-1 Ajani Goldmane
+1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
10/21/2015
+1 Alhammarret's Archive
+1 Emeria Shepherd
+1 Nissa's Revelation
+1 Nissa's Renewal
+1 Austere Command
+1 Sun Droplet,
+1 Ajani Goldmane
+1 Blighted Steppe,
+1 Canopy Vista
+1 Wooded Foothills
-1 Victory's Herald
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
-1 Yavimaya Elder
-1 Mana Reflection
-1 Oblation
-1 Ivory Tower
-1 Farseek
-1 Thawing Glaciers
-1 Windbrisk Heights
-1 Mosswort Bridge
3/19/2107:
+1 Farseek
+1 Spike Feeder
+1 Aetherflux Reservoir
+1 Fumigate
+1 Fortified Village
-1 Sunbond
-1 Phyrexian Processor
-1 Angelic Chorus
-1 Primeval Bounty
-1 Gavony Township
7/15/2017:
+1 Crested Sunmare
+1 Uncage the Menagerie
-1 Pelakka Wurm
-1 Emeria Shepherd
2/3/2018:
+1 Verdant Sun's Avatar
-1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
5/19/2018:
+1 Evra, Halcyon Witness
-1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
2/10/2019:
+1 Bountiful Promenade, -1 Forest
+1 Scattered Groves, -1 Plains
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Celestial Mantle
+1 Resplendent Angel, -1 Evra, Halcyon Witness
+1 Camaraderie, -1 Nissa's Renewal
+1 Dawn of Hope, -1 Nissa's Revelation
+1 Knight of Autumn, -1 Elspeth Tirel
Cards that I considered from the last 4 sets:
Fate Reforged
Fruit of the First Tree: Drawing cards AND gaining life is exactly what this deck needs, but this doesn't strike me as the right kind of answer to that.
Mastery of the Unseen: I think this card would be great, but this deck already durdles enough as it is.
Shamanic Revelation: I think it's a tad too expensive to be good enough to run.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: This one was a tough call, but eventually it didn't make the cut.
Dragons of Tarkir
Dragonlord Dromoka: Even though the anti-counterspell clause was very nice, I have already been moving away from creatures in the deck just for Lifelink.
Dromoka's Command: I like flexible removal, but it just seemed weaker than that options I was already running.
Profound Journey: Awesome card that just rots in your hand until you have both the mana to cast it and two ready targets.
Sunscorch Regent: Surprisingly good card in this deck, but ultimately not what it needed.
Magic Origins
Alhammaret's Archive: Slam dunk!
Healing Hands: 4 life and a card for 3 mana is a good deal for a deck like this, but ultimately I came to my senses and removed it.
Nissa's Revelation: It's in the deck right now because it does exactly the kinds of things I need. It also works well with SDT and Library.
Prism Ring: The cost is right, but the deck is literally split 50/50 on the card colors. If I were sufficiently skewed one way or another, it might make the cut. As it stands, I would probably go with Paradise Plume or Tablet of the Guilds.
Tragic Arrogance: Seems like a nice catchall for someone who is getting out of hand with creatures, artifacts, enchantments, or Planeswalkers.
Woodland Bellower: Would just be a goodstuff add, so I didn't bother.
Battle for Zendikar
Emeria Shepherd: It's able to regrow half the deck and combos nicely with STE.
Serene Steward: Nice idea, but if you are going to pay mana you need to get more for your troubles.
Greenwarden of Murasa: Another card that would be just a goodstuff add.
Nissa's Renewal: I'm going to give this one a spin, but I', fairly sure this will end up in the deck long term.
Retreat to Kazandu: Would fulfill the same function as Grazing Gladehart, so I need to ask whether the 2/2 is more relevant than the potential +1/+1 counters.
Blighted Steppe: Seems like good added value for little cost.
Canopy Vista: Another fetchable dual land.
Card from the Past
Sun Droplet: I had considered this card before, but decided it really needed to be in the deck.
Austere Command: I needed another sweeper that had options to leave some of my stuff alone if need be.
Ajani Goldmane: I took it out to play Ajani, Caller of the Pride, but I decided I wanted both.
What I ended up doing was the following:
+1 Alhammarret's Archive, -1 Victory's Herald: Swapping in an all-star for an underperformer seemed like a no-brainer
+1 Emeria Shepherd, -1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Elesh Norn is a goodstuff holdout, and Emeria Shepherd fills a similar spot on the mana curve.
+1 Nissa's Revelation, -1 Yavimaya Elder: Elder is another goodstuff holdout and I think Revelation can fill that role nicely.
+1 Nissa's Renewal, -1 Mana Reflection: This seemed like a nice thematic swap.
+1 Austere Command, -1 Oblation: Now that tuck isn't a thing, Oblation is kinda meh.
+1 Sun Droplet, -1 Ivory Tower: Swapped one early turn play for another, but Tower is too inconsistent.
+1 Ajani Goldmane, -1 Farseek: Decided to cut a mana accelerator to fit in another Ajani
+1 Blighted Steppe, -1 Windbrisk Heights: Heights rarely gets activated in this deck.
+1 Canopy Vista, -1 Thawing Glaciers: Better mana fixing and nowhere near as slow.
+1 Wooded Foothills, -1 Mosswort Bridge: There is a mini-Landfall theme woven through the deck that makes this swap worthwhile, plus I rarely activated Bridge.
Commander 2015
Righteous Confluence - I don't think you normally get quite enough for your 5 mana, but the thought of the worst case scenario being me gaining 15 life in 3 separate chunks was very tempting. I tried it out and it was much better than I originally thought. You obviously can't overload on pure lifegain only spells, but having some flexibility makes it worth at least looking at.
Oath of the Gatewatch
Nothing - Zendikar Resurgent seems good, but the deck is already chock-full (too full) of expensive cards.
Shadows Over Innistrad
Fortified Village - There was some room for adding dual lands to this deck, and this one is good.
Eldritch Moon
Blessed Alliance - I tried this out in place of Chastise for a while.
Kaladesh
Aetherflux Reservoir - If there was a card that was tailor-made for this deck, it was this one. This caused me to do a massive review of the overall mana curve of this deck as I was seemingly never able to get a lot of life from this, but instead of dropping it I added some more ramp and lost some of the higher CMC cards and I haven't looked back.
Fumigate - Adding some more mass-removal made some sense, and something that played into my theme seemed like as good a place to start as any. I've gone back and forth with this and I'm still undecided for the long term.
Nissa, Nature's Artisan - The first two abilities are exactly what this deck wants, but at 6 mana you need something with more oomph.
Commander 2016 and Aether Revolt
Massively disappointingly nothing...
Overall Changes
Like I said earlier, I had a change of heart with regards to this decks mana curve, so I did an assessment of where the deck stood:
CMC 1 = 5
CMC 2 = 8
CMC 3 = 10
CMC 4 = 15
CMC 5 = 12
CMC 6 = 7
CMC 7 = 4
CMC 10 = 1
Looking to break up the glut at 4, 5, and 6 mana, I decided to cut the following:
-1 Sunbond - This does exactly what the decks wants, but being an aura made actually playing this a rough propostiion.
-1 Phyrexian Processor - Great card, but its too taxing on the mana.
-1 Angelic Chorus - Another great card, but the deck can't afford to play too many 'do-nothings'.
-1 Primeval Bounty - A great value card that needs too much time to get what you need from it.
That freed up room to put Spike Feeder and Farseek (in addition to Aetherflux Reservoir and Fumigate), basically swapping in a 2 and a 3 drop for a 4 and a 6. Its not a huge change, but its made a difference.
The other card that piqued my interest for inclusion in this deck was Uncage the Menagerie. I can effectively cast it for 3, 4, or 5 and be very happy with the results. Although it doesn't gain me life, I'm wondering if it will be better than using Nissa's Revelation because of the added flexibility of being able to cast it for 5 or 6 mana instead of always 7. In the end, I decided to try it in place of another 7-drop Pelakka Wurm that has never really impressed me.
Commander 2017
Curse of Vitality - If it was two life per creature or 4-5 life each attack, then this might be playable. As it is, it is trash.
Ixalan
Ashes of the Abhorrent - A little graveyard hate with some lifegain tacked on seems like it should be good, but the anti-graveyard ability is just too narrow.
Deathgorge Scavenger - Not a bad card, but ultimately there were plenty of other things I'd rather run.
Growing Rites of Itlimoc - So I've been adding this card everywhere I can that it seems reasonable.
Inspiring Cleric - 4 life for a 3/2 for 3 mana is not a bad deal.
Sanguine Sacrament - I'm not currently not running any X-Spell lifegain spells in the deck, so this one intrigued me to look into what my options were and what option might be best. In order of most efficient to least efficient, there are 6 options: Dawnglow Infusion, Sanguine Sacrament, Vitalizing Cascade, Stream of Life, Alabaster Potion, and Nourishing Shoal. I decided against any of them, but its nice to note that the gold standard is Dawnglow Infusion.
Verdant Sun's Avatar - It has the same lifegain ability as Trostani, so it was at least worth testing.
Rivals of Ixalan
Azor's Gateway - I was tempted to run this just to get Sanctum of the Sun online, but this deck just can't support it.
Famished Paladin - I like the idea, but the card is just way too unimpactful to see play in EDH.
In the end, only Verdant Sun's Avatar made the deck. I removed Ajani, Caller of the Pride to make space; Ajani has a great ultimate but it never gets there and the +1 ability isn't what this deck really wants.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
- Ajani's Pridemate, Voracious Wurm, Ageless Entity, Serra Avatar, etc: No matter how big they are, they're just vanilla bodies. You'll find that you can incidentally make a lot of these in other ways.
- Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Pristine Talisman, etc: Your commander will gain you all the life you ever need, so cards that gain you a small amount of life by themselves aren't really necessary.
- Nissa's Renewal: By the time you get to six mana, you should probably be done ramping.
- Nissa's Revelation: This seems like too high of a setup cost to be worth it. You have only 23 creatures, and only ten of them have 3 or more power when you reveal them, so the odds of getting a significant return on your seven-mana investment are pretty low.
- Celestial Mantle: Maybe it's my personal hatred for Auras in this format, but for that cost you could play True Conviction, Collective Blessing, Angelic Chorus, and so many others that are less fragile and more potent.
- Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Neither of the +1 modes are very exciting, and without effects like Doubling Season, you can't count on hitting the ultimate ability.
- Ajani Goldmane: The +1 isn't very useful, and there are more effective ways to get the same effect as the -1.
- Elspeth Tirel: For one more mana, Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a whole lot more effective.
- Eternal Witness, Sun Titan: Always a good decision.
- Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: All three modes are things this deck always wants. Harder to find, but worth it.
- Mimic Vat: Especially good at making tokens for Trostani to populate. If you can activate this followed by Trostani's populate ability, the populated copies don't self-exile.
EDIT: Emeria, the Sky Ruin: You have six basics, three duals, and many ways to fetch them up. Then this becomes nearly free value.
- Mistveil Plains: Counts as a Plains.
- Scattered Groves: A 4th fetchable dual is probably better than a non-fetchable dual that gains 1 life.
I think that if I was focusing on a Populate theme, then this would make a lot of sense. I think I would consider Blade of Selves, but Herald needing my commander in play to do anything doesn't excite me.
That is much appreciated. I try to do the same when possible.
Yeah, but they are the foundation of the deck. I try to stay away from cards that are "just a beater" in most of my decks, but the truth of the matter is that there are far too few cards that care about gaining life that I didn't want to exclude any of them. This pushes the deck into a more aggro space because of it and on a certain level I'm fine with that until they print more "lifegain matters" cards that steer me in a different direction.
These are actually quite necessary with how the deck is currently configured. If I removed all the other cards you suggested then this would make more sense, but they are an important part of the aggro/lifegain engine that drives the deck.
I agree with both of these cuts. They are okay cards once you get to 6+ mana, but the deck needs more early plays instead.
But Celestial Mantle is the only one that says to double your life total... I also dislike auras, but I think I make an exception for this one here.
I can agree with this. The dream of gaining 100 life has only happened once, and even then it wasn't that exciting.
I disagree with this one. I get tons of mileage out of Ajani 1.0 and I'e used all three modes to much success.
If I was concerned solely about the token making then you would be correct, but I'm usually activating this to gain life.
These are all fine, but I'm more likely to gravitate to on-theme cards versus "staples" in most situations, especially given that I'm mostly not interested in Populating with Trostani. I like the idea of Scattered Groves though, but not at the expense of a land that gains me life.
With the release of Dominaria, there were a few cards to consider:
Evra, Halcyon Witness: This seems like a good way to use all that lifegain for the purposes of killing your opponents, but I also like that I can activate it again and the upward swing in life counts as lifegain which means that if I have Rhox Faithmender or Boon Reflection in play I can gain a ton of life given sufficient mana.
Fungal Plots: There is potential here, but I don't know if I run enough creatures.
Krosan Druid: This just doesn't do it for me at that cost.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty: I like this card a lot for drawing targeted removal away from my other creatures, so it seems that I could get some mileage out of this here.
So for right now, Evra, Halcyon Witness is coming in for Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and I hope that we get some more lifegain matters cars in upcoming sets.
Battelbond
Bountiful Promenade - There is always room for another dual land in most two-color decks, and this one is not that bad. My concerns are making sure that I keep enough basics in the deck to support the ramp cards.
Regna, the Redeemer - Another decent lifegain payoff card. I don't necessarily like the 6CMC, but it triggers on each turn and that makes a huge difference.
M19
Ajani, Wise Conselor - The +1 is the same as Elspeth Tirel which had me intrigued, but the other abilities just don't cut it.
Ajani's Welcome - I like cards that help out with triggering Crested Sunmare and other cards like it that want you to gain life on other people's turns. You can't run too many "do nothing" cards in a deck like this, but the 1CMC makes this a very attraction option versus some of the more expensive cards that I run in the deck.
Resplendent Angel - Another solid lifegain payoff, this one is a little harder to trigger with needing the gain 5 life. I was used to needing to gain 4 life to trigger Angelic Accord, but 5 is a little tougher given that it doesn't self-trigger with Trostani in play. It is still well worth running though.
C18
None
Guilds of Ravnica
Camaraderie - Drawing cards and gaining life is a solid mix for this deck.
Dawn of Hope - A solid lifegain payoff, it compares nicely to Well of Lost Dreams and the Lifelinking token generation is a nice ability.
Knight of Autumn - I actually like the simple creatures that gain life on entering the battlefield, and this having some additional utility makes it a great addition to the deck.
Loxodon Restorer - This one is fine, but it ends up being a tad too expensive for my tastes.
Trostani Discordant - Other than needing to have it in the deck for completeness sake, there is little reasons to want to include this here.
Ravnica Allegiance
Impassioned Orator - In other formats, this costing only 1 mana for a 1/1 makes sense, but here the 2/2 body is much more relevant.
At the end, I ended up with the following swaps:
+1 Bountiful Promenade, -1 Forest - Another solid dual land
+1 Scattered Groves, -1 Plains - Another fetchable dual land that I skipped over from a previous set.
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Celestial Mantle - I needed to cut a high casting cost card, and even though Mantle doubles life it is expensive for an aura.
+1 Resplendent Angel, -1 Evra, Halcyon Witness - I liked being able to play some silly lifegain tricks with Evra, but it is just a tad too expensive to activate given that you often need to activate it twice in a turn for some of the real shenanigans.
+1 Camaraderie, -1 Nissa's Renewal - I've cut a lot of ramp and top end from the deck, and it made sense to cut Renewal.
+1 Dawn of Hope, -1 Nissa's Revelation - Cutting one card draw spell for a card draw lifegain payoff.
+1 Knight of Autumn, -1 Elspeth Tirel - I've been looking for more ways to cut the overall average CMC of the deck on top of finding ways to get more aggressive, and this is another step in both those directions.