Ah Ah Ah Ah Stayin' Alive!!!

Commander / EDH BRGW Lifegain Necropotence

TheRealSpecialK

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Grand Coliseum
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Pine Barrens
• 1x Plains
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Salt Flats
• 1x Scabland
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Creature (22)

• 1x Angel of Grace
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence
• 1x Blossoming Bogbeast
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Exquisite Archangel
• 1x Fortune Thief
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Moltensteel Dragon
• 1x Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1x Piru, the Volatile
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Sower of Discord
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Wall of Blood

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Eternity Vessel
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soul Conduit
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Resilience

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Invincible Hymn
• 1x Pain's Reward
• 1x Repay in Kind
• 1x Reverse the Sands
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Commander (1)

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Axis of Mortality
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Havoc Festival
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x Near-Death Experience
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Pariah
• 1x Prismatic Omen
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Tainted Remedy
• 1x Worship
• 1x Wound Reflection

Instant (10)

• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Congregate
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x False Cure
• 1x Hatred
• 1x Mages' Contest
• 1x Stunning Reversal
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Withering Boon

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Sideboard

Creature (13)

• 1x Elderscale Wurm
• 1x Evra, Halcyon Witness
• 1x Joiner Adept
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Magus of the Mirror
• 1x Master of Cruelties
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Platinum Emperion
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Soulgorger Orgg
• 1x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Tree of Redemption
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Sorin Markov
• 1x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Behold the Beyond
• 1x Bond of Agony
• 1x Illicit Auction
• 1x Oketra's Last Mercy
• 1x Plague of Vermin
• 1x Plea for Guidance
• 1x Revival / Revenge
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Tempt with Discovery

Instant (2)

• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Slaughter

Land (2)

• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Glacial Chasm

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Curse of Vengeance
• 1x Font of Agonies
• 1x Greed
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Unlife
• 1x Righteous Aura
• 1x Solemnity

Artifact (5)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Jade Monolith
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Pariah's Shield
• 1x Phyrexian Processor

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This is an incredibly fun and sneaky deck that plays in a very unique way. The whole idea is that your life is a resource and a tool, and your opponents' life is a toy. There are several different themes going on here:

Stayin' Alive

Much of this deck involves you eating your own life, so we need to find ways of staying alive once our life is low. Cards that keep your life total stable include Worship, Fortune Thief, and Platinum Angel. There are also a slew of instant-speed spells that help prevent damage or keep you alive. Some examples of spells that allow you to keep on kicking when you should have died include the likes of Angel's Grace and Stunning Reversal, and some spells that prevent damage like Deflecting Palm and Selfless Squire.

In addition, Resolute Archangel, Exquisite Archangel, and Oketra's Last Mercy all help you bounce back to full health in case things stat slipping out of your control.

Fun With Life Manipulation

So, why in the world would we want our own life so dangerously low? It allows for all sorts of fun - piloting this will allow you to have control over everyone's life on the board. Cards like Axis of Mortality, Soul Conduit, and Reverse the Sands allow you to redistribute life, allowing you to drain your opponents by draining yourself. Repay in Kind pops everyone at once, which puts you at a huge advantage because of the spells explained in the section above. Fun really kicks in once you play things that prevent your opponents from gaining life, such as Erebos, God of the Dead, Archfiend of Despair, and Tainted Remedy. Having one of these guys means that if you choose to redistribute two of your opponent's life totals, they won't actually switch - they will both become the lowest total between the two of them - or in the case of Tainted Remedy, one player will drop to the lowest life total, and the other will likely straight up die. That is the fun of this deck.

Some of the cards that enable you to drain your life include Wall of Blood, Necropotence, and Toxic Deluge. Paying life at instant speed and draining your life to one in your opponent's end step is an instant win with Near-Death Experience on the board.

In addition to your own life manipulation, there are a host of cards that affect your opponents as well. Heartless Hidetsugu, Dire Fleet Ravager and Havoc Festival are all examples of cards that half or take a way a third of your opponents life in one go. Having out Archfiend of Despair or Wound Reflection when one of those hit is devastating. Check out the combos section to see some more fun examples of life manipulation straegies.

Combos

Here are some of the potential combos in the deck:

Tainted Remedy + Congregate has the potential to deal tons of damage.

Anything that prevents opponents from gaining life + anything that switches life totals.

Wound Reflection or Archfiend of Despair + anything that halves your opponents life totals.

Saskia the Unyielding + Hatred for lethal damage.

Wall of Blood (or anything that can get your life total to one in one fell swoop) + Near-Death Experience

Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond - classic combo.

And there you have it! There is a lot more that goes into this deck beyond what I explained, but you should get a good feel for what it is capable of and how it should run from that description. One last little note - the pain lands are among the most powerful aspects of this deck. They allow you to have a ton of control over your own life - having even a couple of them out is really fun.

The sideboard is really full - I am using it more as a list to reference fun cards I like switching in and out. Things like Stuffy Doll or the Phyrexian Unlife and Solemnity combo add a lot of spice to the deck.

Bonus: Nothing feels better than playing Mages' Contest when no one expects it.

Let me know what you think - I am always open to suggestions!

Top Ranked	Achieved #3 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 year
Splash colors	G
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 7 Mythic Rares 64 - 26 Rares 10 - 8 Uncommons 4 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.08
Tokens	Devil 1/1 R, Minion X/X B, Morph 2/2 C, Rat 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander, Fun edh, EDH Decks, EDH (Group Slug), decks, Interesting Commander Decks, Fun with Combos and Gimmiks, Fav Desksss, Commander, Cool Decks