My own lifegainer

Hi all,

I started playing MTG again about a month ago after a LONG (15year) hiatus. Much has changed.

I built up a white life gainer when I learned about the new rules (Standard, etc) and I have been tuning it over the last few weeks at a local FNM.

My deck is sort of hit and miss. Sometimes I'll totally streamroll people, others I'm smoked by the 4th round if I can't draw the mana I need. I have some big guys in here because 100+ life doesn't help much if all my guys on the field are weak.

What do you all think? I know a handful phase out Oct 1, but I am waiting to see what replaces it.

Card Name Quantity
Lands
Plains 22
Emeria, the Sky Ruin 1
Kabira Crossroads 1
Sejiri Steppe 1

Spells
Sorcery
Landbind Ritual 2
Invincible Hymn 1
Solemn Offering 1
Day of Judgement 1

Instants
Angel's Mercy 3
Pitfall Trap 1
Rest for the Weary 1

Enchantment
Pacifism 3
Ajani's Mantra 2
Armored Ascension 2
Oblivion Ring 1
Leyline of Sanctity 1
Celestial Mantle 1

Artifacts
Whispersilk Cloak 3
Angel's Feather 2
Angelheart Vial 2

Creatures
Soul Warden 4
Felidar Sovereign 4
Ajani's Pridemate 4
Soul's Attendant 3
Serra Ascendant 2
Ajani Goldmane 2
Sun Titan 1
Serra Angel 1
Angelic Arbiter 1
Admonition Angel 1


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Sideboard:
Angel Feather 1
Wurm's Tooth 1
Dragon's Claw 1
Devout Lightcaster 3
Kraken's Eye 4

I know I need more in a tournament sideboard, ill just fill it out with lands to make 15.

Also, can anyone see any card from sets which are currently not legal? This whole new phasing out cards after a few sets from tournament play is pretty annoying.

Hi Ducky! Thanks for joining! Where do you play at?

Looks like it's Standard legal to me.

Might I make a few recommendations?

First, some of the more situational cards, I'd move to the sideboard. Things like the Solemn Offering and Leyline are great against certain decks, but can be dead cards. For instance, if someone's playing Mono-Red aggro (Red Deck Wins), Solemn Offering is dead in your hand.

I imagine a lot of your one and two of's are due to not owning more than that. If you can, try to trade to get the 3rd and 4th of some of those cards (like Serra's Ascendant).

A lot of times, lifegain decks have a hard time winning, because the cards that gain you life don't effect the board position. I remember back when Darksteel first came out, I was drafting triple Darksteel. My opponent played turn 2, 3, and 4 Nourish, gaining 18 life, while I played small creatures each turn. Eventually his hand was empty, and then my guys just went to town taking him to zero. For this reason, guys that play double duty are especially strong. I see you have the Soul Wardens and Soul's Attendants, which are both creatures and lifegain sources, as is the often brutal Serra's Ascendant. Pridemates have great synergy with your deck as well. You might consider taking out some of the pure lifegain that doesn't effect the board at all, like Landbind Ritual, Angel's Feather, Angel's Mercy, and Rest for the Weary. You can replace them with more aggressive creatures, like White Knights, Kazandu Blademasters, and the like. Sure they don't have lifelink, but your opponent often needs to deal with them. White Knights have the added advantage of avoiding black's removal (but sadly not the ubiquitous Lightning Bolt). They also add synergy to your Ajani Vengeant, who is completely at home in this deck. Gains life when you need to get over 25 for your Ascendants, pumps your team when you want to alpha strike for the win.

As a side note, don't you wish this and this were still legal...

White also currently has some great removal. Path to Exile, Condemn, Journey to Nowhere; all awesome. You might want to use the removal in place of something like Whispersilk Cloak, which I find can be a bit expensive and clunky.

Finally, about your sideboard, why not gear it towards defeating certain decks as opposed to gaining life vs certain decks. 4 Kor Firewalkers would pull double duty, giving you a chance against fast red decks, as well as continuing to gain you life. Solemn Offering does fit in against some of the combo decks out there. I'm sure a quick search at http://gatherer.wizards.com will find some other cards that fit into your strategy and hose other peoples'.

Hope that helps. Thanks again for posting.

PS: If you have 4 Baneslayer Angels, put them in too. Don't have 4 Baneslayers? Welcome to the club!

Sylphedine,

Thank's for the critique. I currently play at 1UP in Reading for FNM.

Yeah most of my cards are what I have been able to get via trade. I've been ditching all my ice ages and older (mostly 4th/revised and beta) in exchange for standard legal cards. Also my first 3 M11 packs had 3 titans (1 being primeval) so I have had some good luck. Just no 4 up on the Baneslayers.

I didn't think about sideboarding Solemn Offering and Leyline, with people I usually play against, they are always needed, but I understand how in a tournament not everyone would require them.

Being so new to the game again, I have no idea what's in past sets beyond looking through lists on the vendor sites, or how they work together. So the recommendations help alot.

I Just had someone try an allies deck against me, luckily for me it fed my life pretty well once I had 3 wardens on the board. I'm thinking that maybe a little ally flair in my deck may work out well.

The Kor Firewalkers look great. And I see they have foil. Almost every card in my deck that has a foil is the one I have traded for (all but 3 lands, almost all creatures). If Im going to lose, at least the cards look cool.

Ducky wrote:I didn't think about sideboarding Solemn Offering and Leyline, with people I usually play against, they are always needed, but I understand how in a tournament not everyone would require them.

Think of it this way: Right now you're using Solemn Offering and Leyline reactively, meaning it's defending against cards in their deck (Ha! I just made their Mind Rot/Blightning useless!). But if you put more aggressive cards in your deck, you force them to react to your deck or die (I played a White Knight turns 2 and 3, meaning I don't care that you blightninged me, you have to deal with 2 2/2 first strike pro black dudes). Sometimes the best defense is a good cliche.

Most of us are down in Philly or just outside the city. How did you find this group?

And congrats on opening a Primeval Titan. You should see if someone will trade you 2 Baneslayers for it, since you can use them better in your deck. With the hype around the Titan right now, that's not outside the realm of possibility.