Lifegain has been my favorite playstyle ever since I moved my first steps into the MtG Multiverse. As a result, I’ve been experimenting with Mono-White for 13 years, and this deck is the end product of this process.
The deck has two main purposes: staying above the key threshold of 27 life and gaining life with consistency.
Martyr of Sands’s ability is by far the fastest way to reach the first goal, while the Soul Sisters, Lunarch Veteran
and Righteous Valkyrie all help achieving the second one. The last mentioned group of cards needs tiny creatures to work fine, hence the numerous 1-drops and the aggro playstyle.
The win conditions all benefit from the achievement of either one or the other aim of the deck: Speaker of the Heavens as well as Righteous Valkyrie appreciate staying at 27 life or above, and Voice of the Blessed works the best when gaining life constantly.
The rather limited attacking options and the late game management are two critical points for the deck. Giver of Runes protect key creatures, Thraben Inspector gives the excess lands some use and is generally good at mantaining the life flux, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can act as an instant when drawn in the late game and the Flagstones of Trokair help avoid running into Plains after hitting the third land; they noticeably perform the best in a deck full of 1-drops, where they are less likely to make you skip a land drop.
Finally, Path to Exile grants some sort of field control and slows the opponent down, while the 17 Plains complete the set of 22 lands, the ideal number for a 1.32 CMC deck according to channelfireball.com.
Overall, this list has proven to be extremely solid. It can certainly win matches in a few turns but it doesn’t have to, since all the life it gains gives the deck a nice dose of resilience.
