Esper Lifedrain

Standard Lifegain WUB (Esper)

taintedtoaster

Land (25)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 2x Dismal Backwater
• 2x Evolving Wilds
• 2x Island
• 2x Plains
• 2x Scoured Barrens
• 10x Swamp
• 2x Tranquil Cove
• 2x Witch's Cottage

Artifact (2)

• 2x Giant's Skewer

Creature (19)

• 2x Ajani's Pridemate
• 4x Bloodthirsty Aerialist
• 2x Dread Presence
• 2x Spectral Sailor
• 2x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 2x Tempting Witch
• 3x Vampire of the Dire Moon
• 2x Vantress Gargoyle

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Ill-Gotten Inheritance
• 2x Pacifism
• 1x Patient Rebuilding
• 2x Revenge of Ravens

Instant (8)

• 2x Gods Willing
• 4x Murder
• 2x Negate

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Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Clackbridge Troll
• 1x Murderous Rider

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Revenge of Ravens

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The idea for this is to continually set off some kind of life gain to combo with Ajani’s Pridemate and Bloodthirsty Aerialist as soon as turn 2-3. By then you should be going from using Vampire OTDM defensively to very aggressively, either getting that tiny lifegain to ramp up your other Creatures, or using that Deathtouch to have your opponent waste bigger creatures as blockers. The lategame enchantments are to help cement a lead or to catch up. Revenge of Ravens is going to punish opponents for attacking you and Ill-Gotten Inheritance is a nice passive buff with a lil bomb.

Another strategy in this deck is to use out of combat damage. Dread Presence can get you card draw but also drain your enemies’ health. Syr Konrad can ramp for damage depending on your mana and creature draws- he works well with Vantrass Gargoyle if you’re strapped for Mana (The Gargoyle is also a fun Shock sponge and early game blocker). Witch’s Cottage can help tutor them back into the top of your library just in case. Then Giant’s Skewer makes fun Food Tokens that can either heal you or deal damage thanks to Tempting Witch.

Spectral Sailor and Patient Rebuilding are for that card draw, because putting an entire engine on board can be hand draining.

Lastly, your healing lands and Witch’s Cottages for when you can make the most of their bonuses and Murder any key targets that you can’t sponge. And just Pacify/Negate what you can’t

Top Ranked	Achieved #53 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #4 position in Standard 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Splash colors	B
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.63
Tokens	Food
Folders	Standard