The Gaffer - White Lifegain

[ISBPathfinder]

I haven't playtested this as of posting it but the idea is really that I can trigger to draw cards on any player's turns which opens up some interaction and multiple triggers of my commander and some other enablers to trigger. Ideally you gain some life and spawn an angel while also drawing a card and if you can do all of that for a mana or two on someone else's turn that sounds delightful.

While building this I don't have a lot of interaction but I think this is another one of those make me stop kind of decks where a combination of drawing cards, making tokens, and gaining life its just checking how an opponent can stop it rather than trying to stop everything its opponents are doing.

I really wanted to include Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue Racer when building this list but I couldn't find as many disposable artifacts as I had hoped for originally. Its possible I could lean into some things like Scrabbling Claws kind of things to expand on my disposable artifact count but I am really hoping for some more food artifacts with additional value I just don't think we will get them anytime soon.

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

COMMANDER (1)

1 The Gaffer

CREATURES (15)

1 Serra Ascendant

1 Soul Warden

1 Soul's Attendant

1 Walking Atlas

1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned

1 Resplendent Angel

1 Archangel of Thune

1 Celestine, the Living Saint

1 Crested Sunmare

1 Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles

1 Lyra Dawnbringer

1 Shattered Angel

1 Nykthos Paragon

1 Valkyrie Harbinger

1 Emeria Shepherd

ARTIFACT (17)

1 Mana Crypt

1 Candy Trail

1 Scroll of Avacyn

1 Sol Ring

1 Witch's Oven

1 Golden Egg

1 Lembas

1 Potion of Healing

1 Nuka-Cola Vending Machine

1 Orazca Relic

1 Sceptre of Eternal Glory

1 The Book of Exalted Deeds

1 The One Ring

1 Thran Dynamo

1 Alhammarret's Archive

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Throne of Eldraine

ENCHANTMENT (4)

1 Authority of the Consuls

1 Angelic Accord

1 Anointed Procession

1 Smothering Tithe

INSTANT (28)

1 Awe Strike

1 Healing Grace

1 Healing Salve

1 Life Burst

1 Light of Hope

1 Reward the Faithful

1 Soul's Grace

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Blessed Alliance

1 Dazzling Reflection

1 Divine Offering

1 Heliod's Intervention

1 Honor the Fallen

1 Rest for the Weary

1 Revitalize

1 Sun's Bounty

1 Whitesun's Passage

1 Excise the Imperfect

1 Invoke the Divine

1 Ray of Dissolution

1 Reverse Damage

1 Reviving Dose

1 Riot Control

1 Ritual of Rejuvenation

1 Teferi's Protection

1 Union of the Third Path

1 Benevolent Offering

1 Clever Concealment

SORCERY (1)

1 Sanctify

PLANESWALKER (1)

1 Ajani, Strength of the Pride

LAND (34)

1 Ancient Tomb

1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin

1 Homeward Path

1 Myriad Landscape

1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

25 Plains

1 Reliquary Tower

1 Sanctum of Eternity

1 Strip Mine

1 Wasteland

Approximate Total Cost:

[pokken]

I think this is a deck where all those artifacts are a red herring and you're better off with the fetchland + Cosmic Intervention + Brought Back + Lotus Field package. The catchup ramp like Loyal Warhound is mostly on dudes and helps trigger Soul Warden effects.

Instant speed token production is likely going to work better than the weird instant lifegain spells (except the few that are pretty good).

I think I'd build this deck as enchantress with Serra's Sanctum and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as well, allowing you to churn out huge Mastery of the Unseen // Heliod, God of the Sun--not to say you don't keep a large interaction package, just more permanents, enough to enable nykthos/sanctum.

I had a list of ideas for this deck in Ephara at one point (since Gaffer is basically bad Ephara it might help :D)

https://deckbox.org/sets/2383832

Some big hits are:

Righteous Cause
Sylvok Lifestaff / Proper Burial if you play some sac outlets
Blighted Steppe is pretty flexible in some designs (e.g. Sun Titan // Crucible of Worlds
Miren, the Moaning Well again for sac'ing dudes
Springjack Pasture makin bros at instant speed (there're a few more of these lands too)
Trading Post
Umezawa's Jitte -- absolutely bananas with gaffer.
Sun Droplet can get the party started

and of course Auriok Champion is another soul sister with pips and Healer of the Pride is pretty good if you're making dudes.

[ChocoDude]

Quick post as I gotta run soon. I really enjoy my Gaffer deck. It's super unassuming, but turns out to be incredibly strong. You gain so much life and draw so many cards that it's really hard to kill. I think it's one of my strongest decks and I've won with it both times I've played it against my 4-player pod. Glad to see Reliquary Tower in your list and Ajani, Strength of the Pride is absolutely back-breaking.

You went the lost-cost artifacts and spells route. I'll be curious to see how that plays out for you. I've seen a few lists like that, but that doesn't appeal to me as much.

[ISBPathfinder]

I think its valid to say that there is going to be a difference between having the best lifegain payoffs in play vs not in play. Going through my list I have like 7 really strong and a handfull of like.... ok triggering effects.

Ephara - Yea I have done a tokens ephara list. I think the potential reward is higher for this but also probably less consistent. There is room for a lot of instant speed divinations that spawn tokens as well and even a number of one drop cantrips that could also spawn tokens. My issue is probably more so that the token gen that can trigger on opponents turns is kind of few and far between. I am not sure that seven REALLY strong cards can keep this concept together even if it might draw cards decently just because those few cards are going to get targeted like crazy when I play them.

I am not really sure where I am going if I am building this one or not yet. I think its cool but for now it might just exist as an idea rather than something I build.

[ChocoDude]

Yeah token generation for a combat damage wincon isn't that strong with The Gaffer. That's why I run Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, Angel of Destiny, and Aetherflux Reservoir. I tried out Approach of the Second Sun and it felt meh to me even with all the card draw. Also, I put in Elixir of Immortality in there as I decked myself once with my friends from all the card draw. You'd think Approach would be good because of that but it wasn't. However, I've revised the deck quite a bit since that initial trial, so Elixir may not be necessary anymore. I added in a couple more of those wincons and better token generators.

[ChocoDude]

A couple of cards that have put in great work for me are Peace of Mind and Blind Obedience. Peace allowed me to filter lands out later in the game and Obedience got me three life each cast with three opponents still around. The +1 life cards have been handy for my build as well to get me to the three, or four, life needed for tokens or card draw.

Card thoughts: I'm running Prism Ring, but I was thinking of trying out Angel's Feather. Do you think it'd be worth it even though I may not have an opponent playing white? I feel like the odds of another player playing white are decent. Sun Droplet might work as well, but seems more limiting than the other two cards. One life every turn is good, but less likely to get you to a three-life trigger.

[ISBPathfinder]

Yeah token generation for a combat damage wincon isn't that strong with The Gaffer. That's why I run Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, Angel of Destiny, and Aetherflux Reservoir. I tried out Approach of the Second Sun and it felt meh to me even with all the card draw. Also, I put in Elixir of Immortality in there as I decked myself once with my friends from all the card draw. You'd think Approach would be good because of that but it wasn't. However, I've revised the deck quite a bit since that initial trial, so Elixir may not be necessary anymore. I added in a couple more of those wincons and better token generators.

Yea of those wincons I would maybe play the angel but I have a strong dislike for the rest of the bunch in how I play. It might seem sort of silly given that I just built a Ratadrabik of Urborg deck that wins from nowhere but none none of the cards involved in of themselves are offensive its just a critical mass of abilities going off in a non infinite way. I don't care for standalone cards that declare victory like this. Its a personal dislike which is silly because most of those cards aren't even that competitive but I still dislike them.

Your second post has some good insight as well but I think without more payoffs I might need to just put this project on the back burner. I am not willing to pull the trigger on too many of the potential payoffs.