Liesa Lifegain [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH Casual Combo Group Slug Lifegain Primer WB (Orzhov)

Padsworth

Group Hate (16)

• 1x Ashes of the Abhorrent
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Blood Seeker
• 1x Cliffhaven Vampire
• 1x Drana's Emissary
• 1x Fate Unraveler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Indulging Patrician
• 1x Isolation Cell
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Tainted Remedy
• 1x Underworld Dreams
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage

Abuse (8)

• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Angel of Vitality
• 1x Bloodthirsty Aerialist
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Serra Avatar
• 1x Sunscorch Regent

Removal (5)

• 1x Despark
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Utter End

Board Wipe (3)

• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Wrath of God

Answers (1)

• 1x Children of Korlis

Land (34)

• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 13x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence

Boardstate Lifegain (9)

• 1x Ashes of the Abhorrent
• 1x Drana's Emissary
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Venser's Journal

Card Advantage (7)

• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 1x Greed
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Skirge Familiar
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Hand Lifegain (4)

• 1x Beacon of Immortality
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Syphon Soul

Abuse King and Queen (2)

• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Bloodthirsty Aerialist

Commander (1)

Ramp (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Orzhov Cluestone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy

Dont touch me im scared (5)

• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Hissing Miasma
• 1x Norn's Annex
• 1x Revenge of Ravens
• 1x Souls of the Faultless

WinCon (5)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Beacon of Immortality
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Tainted Remedy

Extort (2)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Pontiff of Blight

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Maybeboard

Other (16)

• 1x Basilica Screecher
• 1x Celestial Force
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Kingpin's Pet
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Spellbook
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Tithe Drinker
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wall of Reverence

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Commander Legends is Finally Dropping, and who doesn't love a good Orzhov Deck?! Well... probably your friends after playing against this one.

The Objective

This build is tuned to be focused on the extort keyword. While few extort cards were printed - and almost none of them are in this deck - the general idea of group life-loss as you gain is the theme of this build. Because of Liesa's 3rd Ability the entire group is going to be fighting to hold onto their life as your decks slowly drains them all. Your opponents WILL hate you and you will almost always be target acquired - but they need to remember Symmetrical Effects are Fare! A massive complaint in the EDH world is how under powered white is in the format. The color faces a problem in that it is designed to deprive your opponents of resources instead of boosting its own. Well this deck is going to do both... thanks Orzhov!

Course of Action

Standard Game plan

Everyone looses Life

Extort, Extort, Extort. Take a look at the Group Hate section of the deck-list. This area is your bread. cards like Blind Obedience, Blood Seeker, Drana's Emissary, Fate Unraveler, etc. Your opponents are going to be withering away and are going to need to exist in a constant state of removing your board-state. The way we respond to that is by filling virtually our entire deck with these kind of effects. It is said that life is a resource in MTG, and so make them use it. Liesa is already forcing them into terrible corners, but the deck can somewhat continue operation without her.

You gain that Life

While many of your life-loss effects are 1-side, some are indeed symmetrical (fare). Ah, but you need to make sure that you gain that life back so that you have the advantage! Ashes of the Abhorrent, Soul's Attendant, and most of our Bombs will get us the life we need to keep the machine turning

How we Get there

This deck can be very resource heavy, and while sitting back and letting your effects take their toll is fun and all, why not get more active in pushing towards victory?

Card Draw

Keeping our hand full is a necessity in this list, and even more so making sure it is not full of stuff we don't want. Don't be afraid to discard! The cleanup step can suck because nobody likes getting rid of their cards, but getting that card selection in the first place is invaluable.

• Necropotence is one of the strongest cards in this deck as you can easily start picking up lumps of cards from your library.
• Well of Lost Dreams and Dawn of Hope both allow you to draw cards on life-gain
• Bloodgift Demon: Draw an extra card on your turn
• Greed + Skirge Familiar Another draw as long as you have life. Perfect for a Situation where all you need is to fish for the second half of a WinCon, as it does require discarding for Skirge's mana.

Ramp

Orzhov doesn't offer the greatest ramp options, and unfortunately most times we will be needing colored options as cards like Necropotence cost . Mana fixing is a necessity.

• Sol Ring... Need I say more
• Orzhov Signet Talisman of Hierarchy: The signets are some of the best fixing options in the format for a budget, and Hierarchy is a cheaper talisman.
• Commander's Sphere,Orzhov Cluestone, and Gilded Lotus are all good for fixing, however they take a bit longer to get out. Don't keep a 2 land hand just because you have a Lotus, Sol Ring is a different story.

Pillow Fort

Dont touch me im scared

You are a target playing this deck. Period. You need to be able to make your opponents pay to attack you therefor, as otherwise you'll be getting quite the beat-down:

• Ghostly Prison In the days of old when this deck was Esper Propaganda was here too, however Oloro is no more
• Norn's Annex is perfect for the theme
• Revenge of Ravens, Hissing Miasma are just a few other to keep you protected.

How to Win

Simple, remove their life totals...

The "Fare" Ways

These are how you would win if you want to actually keep your friend group in tact.

The Bombs

These spells and strategies are meant to finalize the kill after dwindling their life total.

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel needs no introduction.
• Exsanguinate Is a good dump of mana in the late late game to secure a kill
• Debt to the Deathless Is strictly a better option. This will see more kills if able to resolve.

This is just abuse

Winning with combat is a very viable option! Using Mass consistent life loss/gain to absolutely gain the upper hand on your side of the field is great. Don't let them draw, cast spells, or really just exist without punishing them for doing so.

Combat

• Ajani's Pridemate What is this, Standard?
• Bloodthirsty Aerialist Oh, now it has flying too?
• Divinity of Pride, Serra Ascendant, Angel of Vitality. Big Creatures go brrr
• Serra Avatar At least it doesn't have trample...

Just concede

• Rhox Faithmender Oh... so its doubled now?
• Sangromancer, Blood Seeker No sac loops either...
• Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Isolation Cell Make it 4 life instead of just 2
• Fate Unraveler Don't try and draw for answers

How to Not have Fun in Magic

Ahh, at last... The combos and easy wins.

• Blood-bond is an obvious one : Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond
• Beacon of Immortality + Tainted Remedy makes you alpha-strike any one opponent
• Aetherfulx Reservoir Hold your ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ opponents hostage.
• Aetherflux Reservoir + Exquisite Blood Ping them off one by one.

Answers

As much as we would love it to be so, we are not playing solitaire. This deck isn't fast enough where you can just ignore your opponents, so we need answers.

Single Target Removal

Despark,Mortify,Return to Dust,Utter End etc. You may also choose to put in other removal spells you have laying around. Path to Exile, Generous Gift, etc

Why remove a single target

when you can remove them all???

• Wrath of God
• Merciless Eviction
• Toxic Deluge

But why not This Card?

EDH is a Casual Format, and I play it as such. This deck has been tuned towards my playgroup, and I encourage you to do the same.

I also use

cards that I already owned. Part of the fun of EDH is that you get to use the cards that you already have collected. So while the price point is high for a "casual" deck, I was able to craft out of my collection.

The Maybe Board

The maybe board is just a pile o cards that will fit in the deck depending on if you want to save money or spend more, as well as things that people might already own.

End

At the time of this primer's release, Commander Legends hasn't dropped yet. The brew has primarily been based on past decks I've built and synergies I already owned. This list may expire in a few weeks when the set finally drops and I can actually lug this to the shop.

As my first big effort primer, it was a ton of fun putting this deck together! Use the comments to tell me how wrong I am about not including your favorite card, and I'll make sure to consider it!

Top Ranked	Achieved #57 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #45 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #6 position in Commander / EDH Primer 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond Aetherflux Reservoir + Exquisite Blood Beacon of Immortality + Tainted Remedy Greed + Skirge Familiar
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.58
Tokens	Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Treasure