So This is a hyper-budget Lifegain/aggro deck, that I would LOVE some opinions on. Keep in mind, my goal here was to keep everything under 20$.
I wanted to make Life Gain, but then I thought, "I love beefy creatures". So I tried to bring these two things together, lets go over it card by card:
Creatures:
Pride Guardian
: Just SUCH a solid one drop. Yes defender takes away from his ability to get aggressive in late game, but early game he gives a decent defensive option against small-time swings.
Fleecemane Lion: I adore this card. Once Fleecemane goes monstrous its among the hardest creatures to get rid of, period. Hexproof and indestructible mean that this cat is more slippery than an eel in a vat of jello,and mark him as a prime target for our buffing Auras(
Ordeal of Heliod
and Unflinching Courage). Once it goes monstrous its also gonna bring Feed the Clan online which ain't to bad neither. Monstrous aside, a 3/3 for 2 could be worse in terms of curve.
Grazing Gladehart
: Sure, this guy isn't our beefiest beasty, but his ability is nice; if we Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds into a basic land, his ability is popping off twice in one turn, meaning for 3 mana we can be, potentially, netting 4 life a turn for a good couple of turns. Its also not such a bad target for our Auras, with Unflinching Courage making it activate Feed the Clan while
Ordeal of Heliod
can offer similar benefits.
Loxodon Hierarch: This is one I was torn on, Ojutai Exemplars offers more versatility, while this elephant is distinctly more reliable. In the end I went with reliability, but could easily be persuaded to go another route. He activates Feed the Clan, gives us 4 health right off the bat, and has a built in combat trick, thats a pachyderm I can get behind.
Ageless Entity
: One of the bigger swingers we're bringing to the table. Since he can take a little while to get online we're only packing two, but that doesn't diminish his value. If we through an Unflinching Courage on him, he doubles his own stats every turn, while also giving us ludicrous amounts of life. An excellent finisher for our little budget brew, albeit one that could likely have a tad more speed. Regardless, he's a strong card who fits in nicely with our curve.
Felidar Sovereign: The One. The Only. The big cat himself. For 6 mana his frame could be bigger, but with vigilance AND lifelink, I'll take it. Throw in a built in win-con, and I am happy as a clam with this guy(AND he activates Feed the Clan?!?!). Yes, there are a few flaws in how he works, his ability only activating during your upkeep being one of them, though we can subvert that with Savage Summoning(kinda). He's also fantastic at being bait, in a deck as geared around gaining life as this is, people simply will not let him stick around. He can draw out all their removal so that you can take them out with
Ageless Entity
or Fleecemane Lion and their assorted buffs.
Spells:
Feed the Clan: In this deck it is strictly better than
Rest for the Weary
which I have seen as a very popular life gain tool. Most of our creatures either activate ferocious intrinsically, or will once we buff them up with our enchantments. Even if we don't 5 life for 2 mana is nothing to scoff at, still we're shooting for Ferocious, because 10 life can be HUGE, especially if we have
Ageless Entity
out there.
Heroes' Reunion: Much like Loxodon Hierarch,I'm a bit iffy on this one. It's undeniably strong, 7 life for 2 mana is a good value, but I can;t help but wonder if I could get more out of its slot.
Savage Summoning: This works exceptionally well in this deck. I've always thought of it as a pretty underated card, and it really shines here, it lets out
Ageless Entity
get online faster, it makes our Loxodon Heirarch go from solid to scary in terms of bulk, lets Fleecemane Lion hit the battlefield at during times that help ensure it gets to go monstrous, and can make Felidar Sovereign go from gimmick to instant-win. Hell, it even lets
Grazing Gladehart
become a more apt target for
Ordeal of Heliod
.
Ordeal of Heliod
: Speaking of which, this is a dope little toy. The counters are nice, but the life is what we're really after. With Savage Summoning skimming a turn off its timer, we can take advantage of its whopping 10-life swing even earlier.
Unflinching Courage: Its no Armadillo Cloak. While we can't enjoy putting it on our opponents creatures like we could with the cloak,we can enjoy watching it turn almost all of our creatures into immediate threats. There's just something about the inevitability of a Fleecemane Lion
+
Savage Summoning
+
Unflinching Courage
that says "I'm gonna hit you with 7/7 hexproof, indestructible, trample, and lifelink cat until you die".
