Brutal Voltron Licia, Sanguine Tribune

Commander / EDH Lifegain RBW (Mardu) Voltron

Maumoleseullevrai

Lands (35)

• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Boros Garrison
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Kabira Crossroads
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 4x Plains
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thawing Glaciers

Some control is needed (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Crackling Doom
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Play Licia fast (14)

• 1x Chaplain's Blessing
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Glory-Bound Initiate
• 1x Golden Urn
• 1x Gonti's Machinations
• 1x Hide / Seek
• 1x Icatian Moneychanger
• 1x Martyr of Sands
• 1x Rest for the Weary
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Sunbeam Spellbomb
• 1x Sunspring Expedition
• 1x Tavern Swindler
• 1x Words of Worship

Play Licia Again Later (11)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Blood Tribute
• 1x Consuming Vapors
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Eternity Vessel
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Oketra's Last Mercy
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Thrull Parasite

Mana Ramp (6)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum

How to use your crazy amounts of life (4)

• 1x Angelic Accord
• 1x Cradle of Vitality
• 1x Dark Tutelage
• 1x Felidar Sovereign

Commander (1)

Protect and Enhance Licia (12)

• 1x Bastion Protector
• 1x Bloodsworn Steward
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Favor of the Mighty
• 1x Haunted Cloak
• 1x Kindred Boon
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Spectra Ward
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Unquestioned Authority
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Killer combos with Licia (6)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage

Draw Cards (5)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

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My wife's true power is not lifegain. It is absolute badass voltron!

Presentation

Let's start this by saying why I created this deck : My wife's name is Lycia. That's as simple as that.

Now, let's start the presentation :

At first glance, Licia, Sanguine tribute is underwhelming : a 8 CMC 4/4 Mardu commander. Really disappointing compared to Markov, Marchesa, or even that dear Mathas.

Everywhere I look, People build Licia Commander decks with Lifegain as a priority, playing soul sisters, small lifelinkers and cute little lifegain cards that will gain you life on the long term. And, that's what I did first. And I was disappointed.

Actually, Licia is an absolute Voltron Beast. If you're wondering what Voltron is, it is the art of trying to win with commander damage. If you can't manage that, kill the opponents anyway. Brutality is a necessity.

But, again, it fits the character (no, not my wife) very well: Read this little official sentence :

She wields dual swords stained with the blood of countless victims, including the enchanted blood of an angel, whose feathers Licia wears in her helmet as a symbol of her supremacy

That's what I call heavy metal.

Well, now let's see who this commander deck works, shall we?

How do you kill players with Licia?

The idea is very simple , and in three steps :
1) Play Licia on turn 3, 4 or 5
2) Pump her as hell with her ability and other cards and protect her
3) Attack people or put up a combo and win

When taking Licia in consideration, here are what makes her strong :

• She can be played for as little as 3 mana. That means that she can be a 4/4 lifelink first strike vampire soldier for . and that's far more impressive than the same for .
• She boosts herself to an amount of 3 +1/+1 counters on each of your turn. Don't take the 5 life cost into consideration, it is meaningless compared to the life she gains you. This means that, unless you give her haste, she strikes as a 10/10 lifelink as soon as the turn after you cast her. That's very crazy good
• She has lifelink. First strike is here mainly in order to protect you from deathtouch which is a very nice bonus. but the amount of life you gain from her is stupid crazy.

So, actually, you can consider her as a 10/10 Lifelink First Strike creature. That's what Licia is, really.

Now, let's take a look at how we will use that information with the three steps of this deck.

First step : Play Licia on turn 3, 4 or 5

There is a total of 14 cards that are here to help you do that. You can look at them on the appropriate category in the list above.
If you're wondering why you don't see cards like Aerial Responder, Gifted Aetherborn or Vampire Nighthawk, the answer is easy : it doesn't gain you enough life in one turn.

In order to play Licia fast, we need to gain a lot of life in one turn for very cheap.

And by lots of life I mean 5+ minimum life. So lifelink for 2 is sweet and all cute, but that doesn't help us.
That means that we're going to play cards that nobody ever plays, because they offer no card advantage, but for us, each of these cards read like : "Gain X life and Licia costs X less" . Which is pretty cool.

Let's see how you can play Licia on turns 3, 4 and 5.

TURN 3

First, let's note that with any signet you can get your hands on and play on turn 2, any Turn 4 enabler will work for turn 3, with some exceptions. that also works with some cards and sol ring.You also, obviously, need one mana of each mardu color

The cards that work on turn 3 without any signet and/or sol ring :
Gonti's Machinations if you're lucky to be hurt two times before your turn 3
Tavern Swindler if you're lucky. But never hesitate to use her in order to play Licia, unless you lose on the spot, of course.
Icatian Moneychanger be careful of not forgetting the upkeep trigger!Serra Ascendant.
As you can see, two of these three cards are based on luck, but Serra Ascendant is your main pass, because that card is crazy stupid.

TURN 4

The same goes for the signets and sol ring : any turn 5 enabler can be played on turn 4 with these.
Chaplain's Blessing
Martyr of Sands with at least two white cards in hand (not difficult)
Sunbeam Spellbomb
Words of Worship
Sunspring Expedition unless you got a fetch. Then it is turn 3 with this card.
Glory-Bound Initiate Be careful with this one, you must not exert it on turn 3, because 4 life isn't enough for a turn 3 Licia. Wait for the 4th turn to exert it.

TURN 5

Elixir of Immortality Also protects you from milling.
Golden Urn if you played it on turn one.
Hide There should be plenty of high CMC creatures in any deck.
Rest for the Weary Of course with the landfall trigger.

Play Licia again later.

For this, look at the cards in the category. These cards are here in order to allow you to gain lots of life in order to pay less for your commander. Oh, and don't forget : Modifying your life total to a higher total is life gain. Of course, all the above cards also work for playing Licia again.

Tips : Always keep the cards that allow you to play Licia again in your hand: Their main goal is to allow you to pay less for Licia, not to gain life. Of course, if it allows you not to lose or to instantly win, don't hesitate.

Second step : Protect and Enhance Licia.

Well, this step is the hardest one to play out but the easiest one to understand : Every card in the category is here to allow you to strike with voltron damage and prevent Licia from dying. Protection from colors, unblockable, everything is good. Do pay attention to these three lands : Rogue's Passage,Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion and Shizo, Death's Storehouse which allow you to enhance Licia.

Getting hit by the opponents shouldn't be a problem with this deck, since you gain a lot of life anyway. But be careful of commander damage, poison damage and attack prevention. The cards in "control" section allow you to remove these threats to impose your supremacy.

Tips :Don't put every protection at once on Licia. Keep some in case there is a wrath that kills her. Be aware that some wraths are impossible to deal with (Hallowed Burial or Merciless Eviction for example), and that's why you must keep protection in your hand.

Third and last step : Win.

The main way to win with this deck is obviously by dealing commander damage with an unblockable Licia. but that's not the only way to win.

Look at the category "Killer combos with Licia" to get an idea of every card that can often steal a win out of nowhere.

There is no infinite combo but the famous Exquisite Blood one. That's good, because I am not a huge fan of infinite combos.

Chandra's Ignition is by far my favorite card : With a 16/16 or 19/19 Licia on board, this card is absolute madness : deal 19 to every other creature and player, and gain hundreds of life! And you can still attack with Licia after that!

Tips : Vizkopa Guildmage's second effect can be activated multiple time for multiple triggers, often granting you a victory after an attack with Licia.

Cards that were once there but are not anymore.

Lone Missionary Sadly, this one doesn't allow you to play Licia until turn 6. That's too bad.
Venser's Journal You very often have a nearly empty hand, so in the end this card doesn't do much good.
Archangel of Thune The problem with this card is that it grants +1/+1 counter each time you gain life, but does not depend on the total of life you gain. This does work poorly with the deck. Cradle of Vitality is far better.
Sword of War and Peace Same as Venser's Journal.

How good is it?

Very crazy good. You have a nearly 80% chance of playing Licia on turn 5, which means that your opponents are going to bite the dust very quickly. And Licia, with its cost-reducing effect, makes it impossible to get rid of her on the long term. She will always come back and strike to gain you 10,13,16,19 life or more while dealing commander damage.

Thanks for reading, and do not hesitate to mention cards that I may have not heard about or your ideas for this deck!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	UG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.26
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Energy Reserve, Vampire Knight 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Ideas, licia, EDH, ideas, intersting decks, expensive deck