MTG Salvation

Hello and welcome!

Ever since I started playing commander, I wanted to build a lifegain deck, but I always wanted it to be a bit different than your regular Oloro, Ageless Ascetic or Karlov of the Ghost Council build with all the lifegain staples such as Soul Sisters or Aetherflux Reservoir. A friend of mine mentioned the idea of adding red to the common WB lifegain shell and using the life as a resource to play punisher cards like Manabarbs and Heartless Hidetsugu with less fear of dying. I also wanted to make use of the Mardu shard's combat focus and opted to create an aggressive lifelink tribal creature base. The deck wants to attack early and often, without holding back, hopefully gaining tons of life in the process through lifelink beaters such as Divinity of Pride, Archangel of Thune and of course Licia, Sanguine Tribune herself (which will hopefully only ever cost three mana to cast). I added plenty of ways to give all my creatures lifelink via Windbrisk Raptor, Whip of Erebos or Odric, Lunarch Marshall. I especially love Noble Purpose here, since it stacks with lifelink and doubles the lifegain per creature (and I finally get to use the copy that I pulled out of one of my first booster packs ever). I was stoked to be able to add some pet cards of mine that I wanted to play forever, such as Kuro, Pitlord and Crescendo of War. Instead of leaving creatures to block, I am hoping to just gain a ton of life on attack and use that as a cushion against counter attacks (plus the usual removal and so on). Iroas, God of Victory and Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant are there to allow for more reckless attacks without having to think about losing my dudes in combat. Add the punisher cards, and hopefully my opponents will be dead before they can develop their own gameplan. When playing this deck, I want to close out games fast, deal lots of damage, gain lots of life, and use the punisher elements to make life a living hell for my opponents. If I die, I die. But I will take as many of you with me as I can.

Here's the list:


This is very much a first draft and I really appreciate any feedback you're willing to give! In particular, I am not sure if the deck is packing enough removal to answer tricky permanents, e.g. Erebos, God of the Dead or Humility. I am only running Anguished Unmaking and Vona, Butcher of Magan as enchantment removal atm. I am also looking for input with regards to the balance between the lifegain and the punisher part of the deck. Should I add more of either? Other cards I am considering are Dolmen Gate to support Iroas, God of Victory and Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant in allowing me to go all in on attacks to gain life, without fear of losing my creatures. The deck is missing some obvious includes like Serra Ascendant and Karlov of the Ghost Council, because I didn't have copies lying around right now.

I haven't had the chance to test the deck yet, so I have no clue wether the strategy actually works. However, I can't wait to give lifelink to Heartless Hidetsugu or Balefire Dragon, or to have Manabarbs and Purity on the field, or to drain the life out of people with Defiant Bloodlord and True Conviction. This deck is an EDH deck in the truest spirit of the format - it wants to go go over the top!

Quote from JDviant »

Like you mentioned, more enchantment removal is probably a good idea. I play a lot of mono-R, which not only means Blood Moon but effects like Leyline of Punishment. Orim's Thunder punishes your opponent so it's on theme, but even a Chaos Warp is a good all-around card you could use. Wear // Tear will always have a target too. Forsake the Worldly exiles or replaces itself.

Just did some test runs with the deck and you're definitely right. Needs more removal. Another problem I've noticed is that I don't have enough lifegain in the deck to consistently get Licia on the board early. She usually only arrives late when I already have a couple of big lifelinkers. Also, focusing on lifelink tribal means she usually only arrives after combat, which doesn't synergize well with the haste effects. So I think I will have to include some more small lifelink creatures or cards that gain some life in my upkeep a la Venser's Journal.

The problem is, I really can't decide what to cut right now. Any suggestions?

Dega Sanctuary! Of course! I was actually planning to include this card, but somehow forgot it during deckbuilding. Thanks for the reminder!

Some cards that will help spread the love around: Spellshock, Ankh of Mishra (Zo-zu the Punisher), and Ancient Runes.

Also, cards that gain you life will preferably be repeatable, and not cost you mana on the turn you would want to cast your commander. So things that happen on upkeep/draw/mainphase without costing mana are ideal. You want to be able to attack with your commander with haste if you can, so that means setting up some lifegain beforehand, then casting your commander, then attacking right away. Relying on lifelink creatures isn't ideal because creatures die really easily. Enchantments and artifacts would probably be much better at consistently gaining life. So a card like Vizkopa Guildmage
won't help you cast Licia because it costs mana for the ability, which feels really slow.
Maybe something like Venser's Journal?

I guess the exception would be cards that can power out an early Licia anyways, so Serra Ascendant would be a must-include.

- Boros Charm
- Crimson Honor Guard
- Vampire Nighthawk
- Molten Disaster
- Burning Earth
- Zo-zu the Punisher
+ Aura of Silence
+ Erebos, God of the Dead
+ Lyra Dawnbringer
+ Sangromancer
+ Dega Sanctuary
+ Lavaclaw Reaches
+ Isolated Chapel

It's been a while since I played this deck, but I recently took it out for some games and have decided to give it another shot. Let's see what these changes will do.

I've always found Magma Phoenix with a Basilisk Collar to be quite hilarious. I do notice the damage or removal is a little lacking, but when you put in some more, that's a fun target.