Lifegain has long been a go-to archetype for MTG Arena players, even when the deck wasn’t competitive. Between watching your life total soar, and seeing a ton of triggers fill your screen, Lifegain offers a seemingly simple strategy that can do a lot of cool things.
Not only is Lifegain now one of the best decks in Standard, but it just won the latest Arena Championship! If you’ve ever been a fan of MTG Lifegain strategies, there’s no better time to give Standard a try.
Never-Ending Triggers
During the early turns, this Orzhov Lifegain shell is looking to assemble a healthy mix of Soul Sister effects. At just one mana, this deck gets access to
Hinterland Sanctifier
Hinterland Sanctifier
Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life.
,
Liliana the Faultless
Liliana the Faultless
Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control enters, you gain 1 life.
{1}, {T}, Discard a card: Another target creature or planeswalker you control gains hexproof until end of turn.
, and
Aunt May
Aunt May
Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life. If it's a Spider, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
as creatures that all gain you life whenever another creature enters. If that weren’t enough, you even get to access to a playset of
Case of the Uneaten Feast
Case of the Uneaten Feast
Whenever a creature you control enters, you gain 1 life.
To solve — You've gained 5 or more life this turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Sacrifice this Case: Creature cards in your graveyard gain "You may cast this card from your graveyard" until end of turn.
, which is significantly harder to interact with.
With a critical mass of Lifegain enablers in play, you not only make racing a nightmare for opposing creature decks, but you also maximize a boatload of payoffs.
Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Ward—Pay 3 life.
Whenever you gain life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre explores. Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20. (To have this creature explore, reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
, for example, threatens to run away with it while smoothing your draws. For card draw,
Enlightened Confidant
Enlightened Confidant
Lifelink
At the beginning of your end step, if you gained life this turn, surveil 1. If you put a card with mana value less than or equal to the amount of life you gained this turn into your graveyard this way, put that card into your hand.
and
Haliya, Guided by Light
Haliya, Guided by Light
Whenever Haliya or another creature or artifact you control enters, you gain 1 life.
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card if you've gained 3 or more life this turn.
Warp {W} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
then help accumulate card advantage every turn they stick around.
If your opponent can kill your payoffs on curve, there’s no need to fear, as
Moseo, Vein’s New Dean
Moseo, Vein’s New Dean
Flying
When Moseo enters, create a 1/1 black and green Pest creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, you gain 1 life."
Infusion — At the beginning of your end step, if you gained life this turn, return up to one target creature card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the amount of life you gained this turn.
can bring them back from the dead. After all, with just one copy of Case in play, Moseo can resurrect any of your two-drops the same turn it and the Pest token enter.
Notably, a Solved Case of the Uneaten Feast also singlehandedly rebuilds your board if you get board wiped. With the option to Warp multiple copies of Haliya for especially explosive turns, gaining five life in one go is easier than you’d think. From there,
Lunar Convocation
Lunar Convocation
At the beginning of your end step, if you gained life this turn, each opponent loses 1 life.
At the beginning of your end step, if you gained and lost life this turn, create a 1/1 black Bat creature token with flying.
{1}{B}, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.
converts excess life into cards and provides a stream of blockers, buying you time to dig for all your best grindy tools.
The last piece of the puzzle is assembling a clock to close games, and
Starscape Cleric
Starscape Cleric
Offspring {2}{B} (You may pay an additional {2}{B} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)
Flying
This creature can't block.
Whenever you gain life, each opponent loses 1 life.
wins entirely outside of combat! With its Offspring ability, you’d be shocked how quickly the triggers pile up.
An Incredible Position
Ultimately, winning the Arena Championship is no easy feat, but Lifegain was up for the challenge. Part of the reason is that Lifegain is extremely versatile and beats many of the top archetypes in Standard.
Naturally, decks that don’t feature much removal, like Landfall, let you gain boatloads of life over the course of a game. Any triple one-drop draw puts you firmly in the driver’s seat, creating tons of lifegain triggers for value. This life buffer makes Trample enablers like
Earthbender Ascension
Earthbender Ascension
When this enchantment enters, earthbend 2. Then search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put a quest counter on this enchantment. When you do, if it has four or more quest counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains trample until end of turn.
less concerning, unless
Mightform Harmonizer
Mightform Harmonizer
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the power of target creature you control until end of turn.
Warp {2}{G} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
is also in the mix. So, if you can find a couple well-timed disruptive elements like
Erode
Erode
Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
, Sunscape Cleric can run away with the game unimpeded.
At the same time, though, your matchup against Dimir Reanimator and its slew of removal spells is still great. Case, in particular, is an unkillable piece of protection for
Deadly Cover-Up
Deadly Cover-Up
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may collect evidence 6.
Destroy all creatures. If evidence was collected, exile a card from an opponent's graveyard. Then search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with that name and exile them. That player shuffles, then draws a card for each card exiled from their hand this way.
and
Day of Black Sun
Day of Black Sun
Each creature with mana value X or less loses all abilities until end of turn. Destroy those creatures.
, which is a huge boon. All the while, Lunar Convocation buries the opponent in card advantage even if they can kill all your stuff, and your lifegain elements minimize the concern of a quickly reanimated
Deceit
Deceit
When this creature enters, if {U}{U} was spent to cast it, return up to one other target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
When this creature enters, if {B}{B} was spent to cast it, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke {U/B}{U/B}
.
Admittedly, Lifegain still isn’t perfect, as tools like
Pinnacle Starcage
Pinnacle Starcage
When this artifact enters, exile all artifacts and creatures with mana value 2 or less until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
{6}{W}{W}: Put each card exiled with this artifact into its owner's graveyard, then create a 2/2 colorless Robot artifact creature token for each card put into a graveyard this way. Sacrifice this artifact.
out of Azorius Artifacts can clean up your wide boards. This trigger-happy deck is also vulnerable to
Torpor Orb
Torpor Orb
Creatures entering don't cause abilities to trigger.
, which has grown into a staple sideboard card in Standard. Fortunately, this decklist includes answers like
Shattered Acolyte
Shattered Acolyte
Lifelink
{1}, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
and
Pyrrhic Strike
Pyrrhic Strike
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may blight 2. (You may put two -1/-1 counters on a creature you control.)
Choose one. If this spell's additional cost was paid, choose both instead.
• Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
• Destroy target creature with mana value 3 or greater.
in its own sideboard, further bolstering its position.
With a strong, cohesive gameplan that’s hard to disrupt, Lifegain doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere in the metagame. It’s cool to see a fan-favorite archetype like Lifegain finally reach top-tier status in Standard.
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