How to Deal With
How to Deal With Lifegain in Commander
Most lifegain decks are slow, and a high life total on its own won't beat you. The danger is the handful of cards that turn gaining life into damage, and one two-card combo that can kill a whole table in a single turn. This guide shows how lifegain wins, then what to play against it in every color.
Answer the payoff, not the life total. A lifegain deck at 60 life with nothing else going on is a slow deck. The cards worth spending removal on are the ones that turn life into something else, above all Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood, which together drain every opponent to 0. Red and black can stop life gain outright; every color can remove the pieces.
How Lifegain Decks Win
Lifegain decks gain life in small, repeated pieces: a creature that gains 1 life whenever another creature enters, lifelink on attackers, a land or artifact that gains a little each turn. None of that wins a game by itself. What wins is a payoff that rewards each gain, by growing the board, drawing cards or making opponents lose life.
That is why the slow part matters less than it looks. Every small gain is a trigger, and a deck with several payoffs out turns each trigger into counters, cards or damage. Once you see a payoff hit the battlefield, the deck has stopped being slow.
Soul Warden ↗
One mana. You gain 1 life whenever any other creature enters, yours or an opponent's. Small, but it never stops.
Archangel of Thune ↗
A payoff. Each time you gain life, every creature you control gets a +1/+1 counter, and its own lifelink keeps that going.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose ↗
Each time you gain life, a target opponent loses that much. It can also give your whole team lifelink for five mana.
The Two-Card Kill: Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood
This is the combo that makes lifegain dangerous at casual tables. Each card is a five-mana enchantment that does something modest on its own. Together they make a loop that never ends.
Sanguine Bond ↗
Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life.
Exquisite Blood ↗
Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life.
How one point of life ends the game
The lifegain player has Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood on the battlefield, and a creature enters under Soul Warden, so they gain 1 life.
Sanguine Bond triggers: an opponent loses 1 life.
Exquisite Blood triggers because an opponent lost life: the lifegain player gains 1 life.
That life gain triggers Sanguine Bond again, and the loop repeats until every opponent is at 0. Any life gain or opponent life loss starts it, including a lifelink attack or a single drain.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose has the same ability as Sanguine Bond, so Vito and Exquisite Blood is the same loop, with a three-mana creature in place of an enchantment. For more on how loops like this work, see our guide to what infinite combos are.
Hit the Payoff, Not the Life Total
Attacking the lifegain player because their life total is high usually wastes your turn. Twenty damage into a deck that gains it back over two turns changes very little. Removing Sanguine Bond, Vito or Archangel of Thune changes what the deck can do for the rest of the game.
There are two ways to answer it. One is to stop life gain itself, which shuts off every payoff at once; only red and black have good cards for that. The other is to remove the payoff, which any color can do with removal that hits enchantments and creatures. Removal that hits any permanent, like Beast Within, is the easiest to fit in a deck because it answers everything else at the table too. Against an indestructible payoff like Heliod, Sun-Crowned, destroy effects do nothing, so use exile instead, such as Haywire Mite.
Answers by Color
Every card below is a real option at a casual Commander table, and none of them is expensive. Pick the ones that fit your colors and also do something useful when you aren't facing lifegain.
Red: nobody gains life
Red has the most cards that stop life gain outright. A player who can't gain life gains no life, and rule 119.9 of the Comprehensive Rules says that is not a life gain event, so "whenever you gain life" abilities never trigger. Sulfuric Vortex does a similar job if you want a fourth.
Rampaging Ferocidon ↗
Players can't gain life while it's out, so the loop can't start. It also stops your own lifegain.
Roiling Vortex ↗
Two mana. Pay {R} at instant speed and your opponents can't gain life this turn, even in the middle of the loop.
Screaming Nemesis ↗
When it's dealt damage, it deals that much to any other target, and a player hit this way can't gain life for the rest of the game. Block it or ping it to turn it on.
Black and white: punish it or remove it
Black can turn life gain against its owner. Under Tainted Remedy, a lifegain player who would gain life loses that much instead, so Sanguine Bond never triggers and their own Soul Warden starts costing them life. For removal, Feed the Swarm destroys a creature or enchantment an opponent controls for two mana. White's best answer is removal that hits enchantments.
Tainted Remedy ↗
If an opponent would gain life, they lose that much instead. Their own engine starts working against them.
Erebos, God of the Dead ↗
Your opponents can't gain life, and it's indestructible, so it's hard to get rid of.
Generous Gift ↗
Instant-speed removal for any permanent, enchantments included. They get a 3/3 Elephant, which can't restart the loop.
Blue, green and any deck
Blue stops the second combo piece before it resolves. Green has the best enchantment removal, including Haywire Mite, which costs one to cast and {G} to exile a noncreature enchantment. A deck with none of these colors can still run Meteor Golem.
When to Use Your Answer
The best moment is when the second combo piece is cast. With one piece out and the other on the stack, counter it, or remove the piece already on the battlefield in response, and the loop never starts. Once both are out, the next life gain ends the game, often in the middle of their own turn.
If the loop does start, you still get priority with each trigger on the stack. That is where Roiling Vortex shines: activate it in response to an Exquisite Blood trigger, and the life gain doesn't happen, so the loop stops. Instant-speed removal on Sanguine Bond or Exquisite Blood works the same way. Our guide to priority and responding to spells covers how that works.
Common Mistakes
Using Swords to Plowshares on the wrong creature. It gives the lifegain player life equal to that creature's power, which Sanguine Bond or Vito turns into a drain, and with both combo pieces out it starts the loop. Swords on Vito himself is fine as long as Sanguine Bond isn't out too: he is exiled before the life is gained.
Running only creature removal. Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are enchantments, so a deck that can only kill creatures can't answer the classic version of the combo.
Racing a high life total instead of removing the payoff. The deck regains what you deal; the payoff keeps paying off until it is gone.
Forgetting that Rampaging Ferocidon stops your own life gain too. That's fine in most decks, but check your own lifelink and life gain cards before you play it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood combo work?
Sanguine Bond makes an opponent lose life whenever you gain life. Exquisite Blood makes you gain life whenever an opponent loses life. With both on the battlefield, any life you gain, or any life an opponent loses, starts a loop: you gain 1, an opponent loses 1, so you gain 1, and so on. The loop has no end, so it keeps going until every opponent is at 0. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose has the same ability as Sanguine Bond and does the same job.
Does "can't gain life" stop "whenever you gain life" triggers?
Yes. A player who can't gain life gains no life, and under rule 119.9 of the Comprehensive Rules that is not a life gain event, so abilities like Sanguine Bond's and Archangel of Thune's never trigger. Spells that would gain life still resolve; the life gain part just does nothing.
What is the best single card against lifegain in Commander?
It depends on your colors. In red, Rampaging Ferocidon shuts off all life gain for three mana. In black, Tainted Remedy turns an opponent's life gain into life loss. If your deck can't run either, flexible removal that hits enchantments, such as Beast Within, Generous Gift or Krosan Grip, answers the combo pieces and every other threat too.
Is Swords to Plowshares good against lifegain decks?
It still exiles the creature, but its controller gains life equal to that creature's power. With Sanguine Bond or Vito on the battlefield, that gain drains an opponent, and with both combo pieces out it starts the loop. Swords on Vito himself is safe as long as Sanguine Bond isn't out too, because he is exiled before the life is gained.
Should I attack the lifegain player first?
Not just because their life total is high. A deck at 60 life with no payoff out is slow. A deck at 30 life with Sanguine Bond on the battlefield is a turn away from winning. Watch for the payoffs, not the number.
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