Leonin Elder

Creature — Cat Cleric

Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield, you may gain 1 life.

Discussion (33)

CavemanlyMan on Karlov-The Big Daddy of Lifegain

1 month ago

Leonin Elder . I noticed you had included the constellation gain life card at one point, and if you liked that card then this is just better. Also Exquisite Blood is a good source of lifegain, arguably as good as your other 5 drop sources. However, it does create infinite lifegain for you and life loss for your opponents when used in tandem with some of your other cards. I have no clue if that's something you want to stay away from.

McDashing on White Phyrexian Machine Orthodoxy - Kitchentable

4 months ago

Thanks for the thought Kebes. Unwinding Clock was in my first draft, however due to the high price and lack of synergy with Living Weapon I avoided including it. I ended up removing Living Weapon from my deck due to lackluster performance if I lack Brass Squire & Puresteel Paladin, which I want to avoid using as it breaks the White-Phyrexian theme. So it might be wise to give Unwinding Clock a try by now.

Etched Champion & Leonin Elder both work great but as the above, I want to avoid using them due to theme. I am in doubt about Phyrexian Revoker, as while it may be Blue-Phyrexian it will help with my severe lack of battlefield control.

Helm of the Host is an interesting card I was not familiar with. Seems to have some flexible synergy, while a bit costly. My initial thought about Karn, Scion of Urza is that he would break the White-Phyrexian deck theme hard, however I've had a look at the lore and it seems Karn is pretty much writing the White-Phyrexian bible while insane on their basement throne. The card helps with my bad Card-Draw, and goes well with the artifacts as well. I'll definitely scoop this one up if I can find it, and I'll feel less bad about including Urza Lands (upon a friend's suggestion) as this keeps the theme intact once again. Thanks for bringing that one up, as I'm not fond of planeswalkers and wouldn't have found that one by myself.

dum321 on Hot Karl Voltron

4 months ago

Thanks for the comment, Direwulf. Duelist's Heritage has been kind of a low impact card and could definitely be replaced, especially now that I know Leonin Elder exists. Great recommendation! Gift of Orzhova on the other hand, has done surprisingly well in my opinion. Getting Karlov in the air with lifelink has come in handy on more than one occasion.

Direwulf on Hot Karl Voltron

4 months ago

There is an impressive lack of fat in this list. The only cards I'm curious about are Duelist's Heritage and Gift of Orzhova. How have they played out for you? Also have you considered Leonin Elder? I just built a Karlov deck and haven't played with it yet but it seems like it would be much improved over the last couple of years with all the recent artifact token mechanics.

Roo182 on Karlov/Sorin Blessed

1 year ago

Hi LordBlackblade - Please see below for my responses:

Lands:

If I cull those 7 lands, do I just replace them with basics? Or are there other suggestions I can sub them with? I am just worried because this will leave me with only 26 lands which is way too low.

Enchantments

Curse of Fool's Wisdom - I agree - I only had this in there to proc with Geier Reach Sanitarium which has also been removed so this is an easy cull.

Armillary Sphere - I'll leave this one in I think, I gotta ratio some cards I actually own, haha

Bontu's Monument - I actually agree with you here, this one has been one of my potential cuts for a while, it looks like I only have 18 creatures there in current state, this is a smart cut, let's do it.

Fountain of Renewal - I see what you're saying. I'll leave it for now and see what else we can cull, but having a diverse array of ways to gain life is my goal here.

Sorceries

Final Parting - I think for the price, this works fine for now. I am willing to sac 1 card to find any other card I want, unless there's a $1 tutor I could sub in that doesn't force that discard?

Creatures

Drana's Emissary - See Fountain of Renewal :D

Ranger of Eos - This is a good flag - reason I kept Ranger in here was because I'd want him to go and find specifics, if he can come out and trigger to get any one of Leonin Elder, Soul Warden or Soul's Attendant, it could be really good for my setup. If we think it's too flimsy, we can remove it, but having the ability to set up into life gain from Artifacts/Creatures splash ETB seems a good option.

Instants

Murder - Agreed, this is purely in here because cheap/I own it. I will actually remove it though in favor of some of the better cards below

Ray of Distortion - I think I'll keep it for now as I own it and the choice/flashback provides pretty good value

Adds

Enchantments

Ashes of the Abhorrent - Deathgreeter in enchantment form. Also hoses some graveyard strategies

I love this, instant add!

Artifacts

Sun Droplet - This card is a sleeper! Not that it says each upkeep, helping you stack those sweet, sweet Karlov triggers

Oh man, the amount of time's I've removed or added this card is ridiculous. But the more I look at it, the more I think "ok, this is either a massive threat deterrent, or, a massive buff". gotta add it.

Talisman of Hierarchy - I love the talismans. Great rocks in any multicolor EDH deck in my opinion

This is a perfect card to replace one of those lands you mentioned above (I ditched Orzhov Guildgate)

Sorceries

Read the Bones - One of my favorite black draw spells. Card selection plus draw is generally very powerful

This is huge, added

Syphon Mind - A critically underplayed draw spell in my opinion. Puts you up quite a few cards on each opponent

Really struggling to get this into the deck. Potentially can remove Ranger of Eos as this does create some crazy draw / counter... thoughts? Or maybe one of the weaker (Night's Whisper) or high CMC Draw Spells like Hedron Archive or Solemn Simulacrum?

Creatures

Blood Artist / Deathgreeter - This guy does work in so many situations. Usually an auto-target in most metas, that just goes to show how powerful the effect is

Another one that I've added and removed so many times. Suggestions for what comes out for it?

Cliffhaven Vampire / Vizkopa Guildmage - If you're going to run Sanguine Bond, you should consider this guy too

Agreed, same issue though - what isn't giving me enough value with Sanguine/Exquisite to warrant taking out for this?

Divinity of Pride - Similar to Serra Ascendant, big beater for cheap plus lifelink!

See Blood Artist resonse - however I am aware this deck lacks any other source of damage outside of Swol Karlov, so things like Walking Ballista and Serra Ascendant will be handy. I do have Sunscorch Regent - is that worth taking out for this?

Instants

Return to Dust - Gives you options and can snag two cards for one. Considered a staple in some circles

Good add, I removed Kaya's Guile but not sure if this was the right choice?

multimedia on Sorin/Karlov Blessed Deck Help

1 year ago

Hey, I agree if you want to play Vamps, have a Vamp army with Sorin then Edgar Markov is the best tribal Vampire Commander. You could play a secondary life gain/drain strategy with Edgar; Cliffhaven Vampire + Righteous Cause.

With Karlov of the Ghost Council you want to play the best cards within the budget that gain you life or use life to give you value which are mostly nonVamp cards. Karlov is the center of attention, you build around him. Edgar is different; you may not even cast Edgar in a game. Instead utilize his eminence ability from the Command Zone; cast Vamps to create Vamp tokens which builds you an army to attack.

Karlov is a win condition, doing Commander damage which is less relying on other creatures to attack. Of course other creatures can attack especially if they have evasion and lifelink. The purpose of creatures with Karlov is to support him in some way.

How I would play Karlov with a $200 budget:

• Cards that life gain during your turn and opponents turns: Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Leonin Elder, Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• Voltron to help him attack: Shadowspear, Basilisk Collar, Spirit Loop
• K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth and extort: Blind Obedience, Thrull Parasite, Crypt Ghast, Pontiff of Blight, Tithe Drinker, Basilica Screecher
• Bolas's Citadel + Aetherflux Reservoir to take advantage of life gain.

Aetherflux and Collar were just reprinted in the Mystery Booster set; those versions are $4 and $2. The nice thing about extort with Karlov is it gives you a life gain source for important cards that you should play that don't normally gain you life such as mana rocks, enchantments, removal spells, etc. Smothering Tithe + Leonin Elder can be a life gain and counters engine with Karlov.

ManaPickler on Karlov, Leader of the Ghost Mafia

1 year ago

Hey COOZCOOZCOOZ, saw the new updates and it's looking good. I'm definetly gonna have to pick up a Shadowspear for my list. And was wondering if you've tried Daxos, Blessed by the Sun yet? I just added him to my list but haven't seen him in action yet.

I would strongly recommend cutting Erebos, God of the Dead, he was an early cut for me. All of the playgroups I've been in have always been able to steal or clone efficiently and it's rough to get shutdown by your own card. Also, Divinity of Pride would always seem to force a board wipe when I ran it and I couldn't gain anything from running it. And Obzedat's Aid and/or Unburial Rites could easily be switched out for things like Whip of Erebos or Mimic Vat if your looking to repeatedly reanimate.

Some cards I have found to really work with any playgroup are Leonin Elder, Golem's Heart and Paradise Plume. And it took me awhile, but I finally got my hands on an O-Naginata, as I've tried to focus my equipment package towards trample and low equip costs. Also, where's Panharmonicon???? Card was made for things like soul sister's package.

Anyways, my recommendations are based on my games and playgroups. Hope this helps.

catmaster0 on Good Kitties

1 year ago

Nifty list. I don't have the cards or meta that you do, playing a more casual styled meta, and I play 1 v 1 30 life commander, so my list is very different, though in many cases I can see why we have different cards. But there are some things that I am curious about and I do have some suggestions. Hopefully you find some of them helpful.

Pouncing Jaguar has 2 power for a 1 drop cat, but 1 mana echo seems very annoying. Steppe Lynx may need landfall, but I imagine in the early turns this is achievable and you can save your mana for other things. Given your artifact hate I imagine players will trigger Leonin Elder often enough to give little life boosts. Glittering Lynx can also be randomly annoying for a 1 drop cat. Sure, they aren't 2 power starters, but at the start neither is Leonin Vanguard , which you run as an early game pressure card.

Do you love your life so much for your lifegain plan to use Spirit Loop ? I'm not sure I'd use a card with little other purpose. Given your buffs standards Battle Mastery seems ok, Silverblade Paladin should be a favorite, a creature to tutor for combos with cats, especially Lost Leonin , is good alongside its own 2/2 double strike frame. Grafted Wargear is nice, though I suppose with artifact removal the drawback stings, though it can't be much worse than a combat tricked creature removal on king of the pride. Still, grafted is faster than Heirloom Blade .

Hunting Cheetah may be a cat, but at that speed I would think Hunter's Insight should be a valid set-up card.

Pendelhaven is a better forest in most cases, a free 1 power boost in addition to being an untapped green source. I have enjoyed Mutavault as getting under the radar as a cat land. For ramp is burning a and to draw so good to use it over nature's lore or an artifact like Arcane Signet , even with your artifact hate out?

Skyhunter Skirmisher eats life quickly, though as a 3 drop that needs Arahbo to sink into it you might find it slow and weak to removal's tempo. Rhonas serves as such 3 drop support with a bit of added mana sink damage. As far as swarm boosts go Metallic Mimic is an early game 2 drop cat option that rewards swarming multiple cats.