ELENDA - DRAIN AND GAIN
~Weaponized Lifegain~
DECK PHILOSOPHY
I'd like to find a few more excellent payoffs for a high life count of similar caliber to Bolas's Citadel. What are some great ways to spend life?
Elenda felt like she would be a challenging commander to build around. She is one of the few commanders that actually want to go to your graveyard rather than the command zone. I relish the opportunity to really find the best ways of getting the most consistent value out of her.
I found that one of the best ways to get counters on Elenda is to kill my opponents creatures. So, there are one sided or selective board wipes here for that purpose. Certainly room to grow here as well.
My choice of vampires definitely isn't perfect. Some of them I absolutely love, but others aren't feeling like they contribute to my overall gameplan. Bloodghast and Necropolis Regent both have performed perfectly. I started to notice my vampire count dwindle as I brought in more synergistic cards. Honestly, I'm ok with that because Elenda has no direct synergy with the creature type. Time will tell what the right number of vamps is for the deck.
WIN CONDITIONS
I can also win with commander damage fairly reliably as Elenda gets huge pretty quick. In fact, this deck has become more and more voltron as I play around with it. I plan to have an equipment subtheme, as there are several equipment that support her quite well. Stuff like Shadowspear or Nim Deathmantle are really good on Elenda.
Eventually, I will add in Exquisite Blood to combo with Sanguine Bond but I'm trying to make the deck function well without infinite combos before I go there.
DECKLIST
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:
WISH LIST
Vampiric Tutor - big money, but I would drop it for this deck because it's on theme!!
Enlightened Tutor - derp! only goes in every white deck ever
Anointed Procession - although not fully utilized here as in other decks, I think it would still be worth having
Ancient Tomb - nice ramp on theme
Nim Deathmantle, Reanimate - should work well for what we are doing
Shadowspear - this one of the most efficient ways of giving Elenda trample that I can think of. Also grants us some other nice bonuses.
Martyr's Bond - I could see this card finding a home here
Ad Nauseam - this isn't explicitly a combo deck, but I feel that a lifegain deck could use this card anyway
Kindred Dominance - one of the better one sided wipes for the deck I think, although very high in mana cost.
Land Tax, Smothering Tithe - powerful tax cards that are on theme
Hatred - on the reserve list so this is definitely high on my priority list
Exquisite Blood - for obvious reasons
Austere Command - one of the best removal spells in the game
Patriarch's Bidding - certainly a card that would be good in this deck, however my vampire count is dwindling, so maybe not.