So I've been messing with this deck for some time, and this deck has proven to be both fun to play and a pain for my opponents. While this isn't a control deck in the same vain of counter spells and bounce spells, it certainly is still very oppressive with plenty of removal and strategies that make life so fun for other players.
The plan is simple: you gain life, your opponents lose life. We weaponize this life gain with creatures like Serra Ascendant, Divinity of Pride, Crested Sunmare, and Blood Baron of Vizkopa and we can straight up win the game with Felidar Sovereign.
Cards like Sanguine Bond allow us to deliver more hurt to our opponents and what black deck with lifegain is complete without the Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood infinite? In fact, we have a few ways to pull this off. Vizkopa Guildmage and Defiant Bloodlord can replace our Sanguine Bond if we do not have it.
Another thing we want to do is manipulate the board and decisions your opponent has to play. These cards bring out the saltiness of players and we have A LOT of cards that impact the state of the game. From cards that slow your opponents down like: Authority of the Consuls, Blind Obedience, and Imposing Sovereign. The sleeper creature Tocatli Honor Guard that just shuts down Enter the Battlefield effects and of course tutor hate with Aven Mindcensor and Leonin Arbiter. We got some graveyard hate as well with Leyline of the Void and Ashes of the Abhorrent.
Now my favorite cards in this deck are the ones that will paint you the biggest target. These cards cause so much hate your way and they are a blast to play. We are talking about: Polluted Bonds, Tainted Remedy, Painful Quandary, Erebos God of the Dead, Isolation Cell, Mindcrank, Palace Siege, and of course our mustached friend, the commander, Kambal Consul of Allocations. These cards are mean. They punish players for playing anything and more often then not are the engines of our lifegain. As they go down in life, you go up. Losing these cards is not the end of all things, as there are other ways to manipulate the board and win the game.
Now we need some cards that protect us, cards that us or our creatures. If we get low on life, we have ways to get right back up. For protection we have Leyline of Sanctity, Grand Abolisher, and Teysa Envoy of Ghosts. We can save our graveyard with Elixer of Immortality. We can save ourselves with Sanguine Sacrament and Beacon of Immortality. We can also save ourselves while harming our opponents with Debt to the Deathless, Death Grasp, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Exsanguinate. We can save our creatures with Athreos God of Passage.
We sport 5 mana rocks with Sol Ring, Commander's Sphere, Darksteel Ingot, Orzhov Signet, and Orzhov Cluestone. We also have other ways to ramp us up with Burnished Hart, Boreas Charger, and Crypt Ghast. Our draw cards are simple: Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, Greed, Well of Lost Dreams, Indulgent Tormentor, and Twilight Prophet. Twilight Prophet is just so perfect for this deck. It does so much work, each opponent losses life, I gain life, I draw a card. All things that I want for this deck. For spot removal we have Swords to Plowshares, Vraska's Contempt, Anguished Unmaking, Mortify, Utter End, and High Priest of Penance. For board wipes we have Settle the Wreckage, End Hostilities, Fumigate, Terminus, and Merciless Eviction.
There it is! I hope you like it and leave a comment or suggestion!
