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BMoor's Magic
The
Gathering
Deck Garage
"Monowhite Lifegain Deck"
December
21, 2010
Throughout my career at Pojo.com, one of
the lessons I've repeated over and over is
that life gain doesn't win games, it just
makes you lose more slowly. That said,
gaining life isn't a mechanic to be brushed
off out of hand. You can build a deck out of
it, if you keep your eyes on victory.
----------------------------------------------------
Okay So I am doing this instead of the forum
because it wont let me use them. So I
am building a white type 2 life gain deck
with some artifacts, and am having trouble
finishing it so I am asking for your help.
Here is what I have so far:
Creatures: (I am still 4 short)
4 goldenglow moths
4 Ajani's pridemates (for attack power)
4 soul's attendants
non Creature spells: (still 2 short)
4 Ajani's mantras
2 rest for the weary
2 holy strength (to beef up the low levels)
2 revoke existence
2 Accorder's Shield (once again to beef up
the low levels)
1 sylvok lifestaff
2 trigon mending
1 bladed pinions
2 elixir of immortality
Lands
20 plains
okay so that's my deck as you can see I am
still missing some cards but the reason
being is i am still kinda new to building
decks and am unsure of what else to put in,
you can also so i have a fondness for
artifacts and artifact equipment. what I am
trying to do with this deck is get a deck
that gains life while still attacking the
other person to kill them. I am making it
type 2 as well and so I need to have type 2
cards in it and I have not found very many
cards that I think will help from the type 2
sets. I tend to loose to fast playing
decks and ones that have poison and or
counter based effects. so any help you could
give me for this deck would really help and
if you can't find anyway to help it just let
me know because just letting me know that
means I need to look at my plans again and
rethink what I want to do.
Thank you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In order for a card that gains you life to
also help you make active progress toward
winning, it has to do other things besides
just gain life. Thus, all the cards in this
deck that do nothing else-- Trigon of
Mending, Ajani's Mantra, and Rest for the
Weary-- can come out. I'd argue Goldenglow
Moth counts too, since blocking is basically
damage prevention, which is like reactive
life gain, except that you have cards in
here that can give it a power boost and
allow it to attack. And since it has flying,
that would be useful.
But then, what do you have to enhance the
Moth? Holy Strength isn't good enough to
play for other reasons, and Bladed Pinions
leaves it still having zero power, which
means your singleton of Sylvok Lifestaff is
pretty much all there is. So pull Holy
Strength, and the Moths with it.
Now, for what to put in. The most useful
form of lifegain is lifelink. By tying the
life gain directly to damage dealt, you
encourage the player who wants a higher life
total to get it by attacking with his
creatures, rather than turtling up and
dragging the game out forever. Well,
Baneslayer Angel and Transcendent Master
have lifelink, but the Angel is going for a
ton of money right now. The Master's price
tag I'm not sure of, but he's mythic rare so
getting a playset may be a challenge. Serra
Ascendant has lifelink too, and is "merely"
rare so should be easier to get, but is only
a 1/1 until you get 30 life. Better yet is
Basilisk Collar, which can grant both
lifelink and deathtouch to any creature.
Your Soul's Attendant suddenly becomes a
formidable blocker if if can kill a creature
regardless of toughness and gain 1 life in
the process. And Ajani's Pridemate suddenly
becomes quite fearsome indeed when not only
does it kill anything it tangles with, but
every attack gives it a +1/+1 counter, and
the life gained from lifelink increases by 1
each time.
I think Serra Ascendant is worth playing,
however, because of its second ability. Any
deck devoted to life gain should be able to
get to 30 life. Once you do, the Ascendant
ascends into a 6/6 flyer with lifelink. And
I think that's really what a life gain deck
needs: a card that rewards you for gaining
all that life. Ajani's Pridemate is a step
in the right direction, but I'd like to take
a bigger step. What you really need is the
biggest reward for life gain in the game--
Felidar Sovereign. Go into an upkeep with 40
or more life, and victory is yours!
Suddenly, gaining life really is getting you
closer to winning! And the Sovereign's 4/6
body gives you the attack power you've been
craving.
The only other card I can think of in
Standard (type 2) is Survival Cache, which
asks you to have "more life than an
opponent". Fail at this, and the Cache
becomes worse than Rest for the Weary.
Succeed, and it becomes better than
Divination. Considering how little card draw
white gets, it's a play worth making. By the
time you've played out most of the cards in
your hand, in this deck, you're likely to
have gained a good bit of life and the Cache
is likely to give you a card both times
around. Just don't cast the Cache unless
you're sure you'll get to draw.
Good luck!
~BMoor
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