The Circle of Life

Commander / EDH Combo Lifegain Reanimator WB (Orzhov)

JohnBTY

Creature (35)

• 1x Ashen Rider
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Deepwood Ghoul
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Exquisite Archangel
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Haunted Dead
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Mischievous Poltergeist
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Putrid Imp
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 1x Restoration Specialist
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Selenia, Dark Angel
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage
• 1x Wall of Blood
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (35)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 8x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Windswept Heath

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dawn of the Dead
• 1x Greed
• 1x Near-Death Experience
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Wound Reflection

Instant (3)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Beacon of Immortality
• 1x Utter End

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Mana VaultGC
• 1x Phyrexian Processor
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Demonic TutorGC
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Oketra's Last Mercy
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Repay in Kind
• 1x Unburial Rites
• 1x Victimize

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This hybrid monstrosity is a work in progress. I had an Ayli reanimator deck that had slowly slipped into an all-in infinite combo build when our local store put a harsh limitation on infinite combos. I'd been meaning to try out weaponized lifegain for a while and finally got around to throwing it together.

There's a variety of one-off win cons that can be set up in a variety of ways, like Felidar Sovereign and Near-Death Experience. The real plan is to put together a combo involving massive lifegain (Beacon of Immortality, Exquisite Archangel, Resolute Archangel, etc) and a reciprocal life-loss effect (Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, Defiant Bloodlord) to blast opponents out of the game with your lifebar. You can also drop your life total to 1 or 2 and use Repay in Kind to put everyone at critical, then reclaim your own life total with children of korliss or even better, Sigil of Despair.

The deck wants a variety of outlets available to it, both for sacrificing and discarding, but apart from a typical reanimator deck, you need to be able to control your life total at will; hence life-payment sinks like Deepwood Ghoul, Mischievous Poltergeist, and even Necropotence, which does double-duty as card draw engine and life sink. There will be occasions, I'm sure, where the correct play is to Necro for more cards than remain in my deck to set up a Repay in Kind or a Children of Korliss/Sanguine Bond blast.

And then there's good ol' Aetherflux Reservoir, which just gives you something productive to do when you rattle off a Beacon of Immortality with Alhammarret's Archive and Rhox Faithmender in play.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.72
Tokens	Minion X/X B, Morph 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B