Lifegain Deck Wins $10,000 in Major MTG Event

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, Liliana the Faultless, and Aunt May 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 FeastCase of the Uneaten FeastWhenever 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, for example, threatens to run away with it while smoothing your draws. For card draw, Enlightened Confidant and Haliya, Guided by Light 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 DeanMoseo, Vein’s New DeanFlying
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 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 ClericStarscape ClericOffspring {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 less concerning, unless Mightform HarmonizerMightform HarmonizerLandfall — 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, 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-UpDeadly Cover-UpAs 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, 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.

Admittedly, Lifegain still isn’t perfect, as tools like Pinnacle StarcagePinnacle StarcageWhen 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 OrbTorpor OrbCreatures entering don't cause abilities to trigger., which has grown into a staple sideboard card in Standard. Fortunately, this decklist includes answers like Shattered AcolyteShattered AcolyteLifelink
{1}, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. and Pyrrhic StrikePyrrhic StrikeAs 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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