Commander Deck Tech: Hope Estheim

Usually, when we talk about lifegain decks, we talk about white and black, colors that can turn lifegain into infinite damage with a few simple combos. But, in today's article, we'll explore a pretty curious approach for this strategy in Azorius colors, as well as revisit my beloved Final Fantasy set.

Hope Estheim comes into play early and is a lot more dangerous than it seems at first. This 2/2 creature with lifelink costs 2 mana and has an ability that triggers at the beginning of your end step. When that happens, each opponent will have to mill X cards, and X is the amount of life you gained that turn.

Please note that Hope doesn't care about how you gain life. You could gain it through combat with lifelink, an effect like Soul Sister, an artifact, an instant spell, or anything else. Big or small, it is all the same to this commander, so lists with Hope can play the same small lifegain cards or big lifegain cards.

Because the list we'll see today is in Azorius colors, it doesn't lean on classic pure control tools and strategies. It protects itself and progresses its own game plan differently. Each time you gain life, no matter how you do it, will feed Hope's ability and force the opponents to deal with a win condition that doesn't interact with conventional combat.

The list we'll see today is an Azorius lifegain strategy. It uses small creatures to gain life repeatedly, permanents that double or buff how much life you gain this way, and some cards that turn this advantage into card draw, protection, and alternative win conditions.

You won't have to get 99 life points as fast as possible in a single turn and then mill everyone else's decks all at once. Most of the time, you'll focus on value, hoarding resources with smaller pieces that interact nicely with each other until Hope can turn an average turn into a lot of mill. At the same time, this list plays a few cards that can win the game all by themselves if you get a lot of life points, so your opponents will have to answer multiple different threats.

Here it is:

Ramp and Setup

Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, and Talisman of Progress are the most common ways to get ahead in mana in Commander. Hope is quite cheap, but the cards that buff its effect usually cost four, five, or six mana, so getting ahead in mana is still relevant.

Pristine Talisman is smaller but great in this game plan. Gaining 1 life might seem like nothing, but considering this will also force your opponents to mill cards at the end of the turn and you can double it with The Wind Crystal, Rhox Faithmender, or Boon Reflection, it is actually quite decent.

Crystals are some of the most important cards in this list. The Wind Crystal discounts the cost of your white spells and doubles every life point you gain, so it's precisely the type of effect that makes Hope absurdly powerful. Gaining 5 life is already quite decent, but gaining 10 will put a lot of pressure on the board.

The Water Crystal is the other side of the coin. It discounts the cost of your blue spells and makes your opponents mill more cards. Its activated ability can also put a lot of pressure on them in long matches. With Hope in play, anything that makes the opponents mill more cards will make your game plan a lot safer, and you'll be able to progress it a lot better.

Gaining Life Consistently

This is the most classic part of the deck. Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, and Suture Priest do what we expect Soul Sisters to do. They give you life as creatures enter play. In Commander, most of the table will be putting creatures in play, so these cards will give you a lot of life for very little investment back.

Daxos, Blessed by the Sun is similar, but it is more resilient because of its first effect, which could be really helpful early on. Authority of the Consuls is also excellent because it gives you life when enemy creatures enter play, disrupts aggressive decks, and makes attacking you directly quite difficult.

Lifecreed Duo and Hinterland Sanctifier also give you life when your creatures enter play. They interact really well with the small creatures in this deck and Y'shtola Rhul, which can blink these creatures and give you life all over again.

Haliya, Guided by Light is one of the most interesting pieces in this list because it gives you life when your creatures and artifacts enter play and will also draw a card at the end of the turn if you gain 3 life or more. Azorius colors usually don't struggle with drawing cards, but doing so like this is great as well as very efficient.

Multipliers and Taking Advantage of Life Points

Multipliers are the reason this deck can end the game quite suddenly, even when the board doesn't seem that worrying. Rhox Faithmender, Boon Reflection, and Alhammarret's Archive double how much life you'd gain, while Leyline of Hope and Cleric Class give you a few extra life points each time you do and are quite relevant when you gain life bit by bit in the same turn.

Cleric Class also scales and is pretty helpful at several moments of the game. Its first level gives you more life points, the second turns these points into counters, and the third brings back a creature from the graveyard, which will also give you life.

One of the problems lifegain decks face is finding out what they should do with all the points they'll have. Dawn of Hope, Well of Lost Dreams, and Drogskol Reaver are common answers to that question, as they turn life points into new cards. The Gaffer is also helpful, as it draws cards when you gain 3 or more life points.

Faithful Mending is small but really great in this game plan. It gives you life, filters your hand, and also has Flashback, so you can reuse its effects later on. Considering this deck needs specific pieces to work, this type of card is pretty critical.

Mill and Other Win Conditions

Bruvac the Grandiloquent is one of the scariest cards in this deck. Hope makes each opponent mill cards, and Bruvac will double this effect and turn fair turns into real win conditions. With The Water Crystal on the board, you'll boost these effects even more and mill 4 times as much.

Traumatize is one of the most straightforward ways to remove a player from the match when you have Bruvac, whereas Space-Time Anomaly is a finisher that uses your own life points to end the game. If you've already hoarded this resource or the match is nearly ending, targeting a player with this spell could be enough to destroy them.

Beacon of Immortality is one of the funniest cards in this deck because it doubles your life points and then feeds Hope at the end of the turn. Congregate does something similar in full boards, particularly after everyone has played a bunch of creatures and tokens.

You won't always win through mill. Aetherflux Reservoir is a pretty natural win condition because this deck gives you life and can get to 50 life points relatively easy.

Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance are similar. They punish pods that let you get a lot of life points uninterrupted. I don't really like Felidar in Commander, but this list was created by someone else, and it does use it.

A good opening hand usually has two or three lands, a mana rock or a cheap way to gain life, and at least one way to keep drawing or filtering cards. Hope doesn't cost a lot of mana, so you don't need to mulligan aggressively to play it on turn 2. But you do need to make sure you can take advantage of its ability.

Early on, you should put a Soul Sister or ramp piece in play and try to not stand out too much. Hope can come into play early, particularly if your board is decent, but you don't need to expose your commander if you don't have protection. Oftentimes, you're better off developing your board with cards like Soul Warden, Authority of the Consuls, or Haliya, Guided by Light before you turn your life points into mill.

In the mid-game, you should combine a lifegain piece with a boost. The Wind Crystal, Rhox Faithmender, and Alhammarret's Archive will turn any small lifegain card into something a lot bigger. That's when you'll also use Well of Lost Dreams, Dawn of Hope, and The Gaffer to keep your hand full.

When it's time to end the game, you'll need to assess the game really carefully. If the opponents don't have many cards in their decks, Hope with Bruvac the Grandiloquent or The Water Crystal usually does the trick. If you have a lot of life points, Aetherflux Reservoir, Felidar Sovereign, Test of Endurance, and Space-Time Anomaly are more straightforward.

This deck does play resources like counters and some classic control tools, but it also centers around a lifegain shell. This is not that popular in MTG or Commander, yet this list can win games even though it doesn't play the popular Orzhov engines that put pressure on opponents whenever you gain life. For that alone, it got me interested. Furthermore, it's a Final Fantasy list, which is always great (even though it's Final Fantasy XIII).

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!