Standard: Mono White Lifegain - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Sometimes, a format can bring with it unexpected, or even linear, responses. For years, the main answer to red decks in competitive formats has involved gaining life in some way: from Kor Firewalker against Burn in Modern to reusing Lone Missionary or Navigator's Compass with Kor Skyfisher in Pauper, the ability to delay the clock of more aggressive strategies has always proven effective, despite being a bit too simple.

In the current Standard, the Metagame is favorable for this type of approach: Mono Red Aggro has become the predator of Izzet Cauldron and, consequently, the most played deck in the format. With a shell so focused on this matchup that it has little room to attempt more comprehensive answers, paving the way for Mono White Lifegain to become a competitor in the format through the mix of recent support like Haliya, Guided by Light, combined with the effective "Soul Sisters" core between Hinterland Sanctifier, Case of the Uneaten Feast, and the new Aunt May.

This is the standard list from Magic Online Challenges and Leagues. As the name suggests, Mono White Lifegain's main goal is to gain tons of life each turn and benefit from it with cards that align with this theme: Ajani's Pridemate and Essence Channeler become bigger threats, Haliya, Guided by Light and Exemplar of Light grant more resources, and Case of the Uneaten Feast becomes a powerful recursion if we gain five or more life in a turn.

We are naturally Aggro, and we try to win most fair matches in a race between speeding up our clock and preventing the opponent's pressure from putting us in a tough spot. We have a certain advantage against most Aggro lists as long as we can prevent Screaming Nemesis from ruining our game plan before we can stabilize, but we suffer considerably in Control matchups, as this archetype is notoriously vulnerable to Sweepers.

Fortunately, Spider-Man brought us an excellent response to removal with Spectacular Spider-Man, as well as a bit more consistency in life-gain effects with Aunt May, thus offering a modern look to Lifegain decks that, due to the demands of the current Metagame, have moved from the Best-of-One to the competitive Best-of-Three scenario.

Maindeck

The lifegain package. All of the above cards have the same ability when a creature enters the battlefield.

Hinterland Sanctifier and Aunt May have the sole function of offering one extra life for each creature that enters the battlefield for just one mana. Having eight one-drops with this effect creates an easier snowball effect to trigger other cards and transform our creatures into powerful threats.

Haliya, Guided by Light offers a recurring source of card advantage each turn, as long as its controller gains three or more life during the turn—an easy task considering it already guarantees one for each creature that enters the game and complements our one-drops.

Case of the Uneaten Feast also guarantees recurring extra life while having a very effective recursion ability if it resolves—another easy task for this list if we stack many triggers in a single turn.

Ajani's Pridemate and Essence Channeler are two-drops that grow every time we gain life, easily becoming 4/4s or higher by the time they enter play if we have two or more of the above cards in play.

Essence Channeler also interacts with Fountainport to gain evasion during combat and can transfer its +1/+1 counters to another threat if it dies.

Exemplar of Light has the same ability as the above creatures, but with built-in evasion and a recurring card advantage trigger per turn, ensuring more staying power in long games.

Enduring Innocence takes advantage of the low power of most of our cards to function as another constant source of card advantage, while the body with Lifelink contributes to this deck's game plan.

Basri, Tomorrow's Champion as a one-of-one serves as another aggressive drop in the early game, but its main function is to protect Ajani's Pridemate or to allow us to use Exert for many turns to trigger our other cards, even with an empty hand.

Spectacular Spider-Man provides something the archetype needed since the past season: protection against sweepers. It also interacts with Aunt May to become a 4/3 with Flying.

Elspeth, Storm Slayer is our finisher. If she enters and we have a relevant board position, her ability to put +1/+1 counters on our creatures and grant Flying will often end the game. Otherwise, she creates more tokens to trigger our cards and functions as recurring removal against large creatures.

Battle Menu has several roles in this list. It deals with larger creatures, puts another body on the board on the opponent's turn, triggers Haliya on our turn, and can protect our cards from damage-based removal.

Fountainport is our only non-basic land, and it does a bit of everything we need: it guarantees more draws with tokens, creates bodies on the board to trigger our cards, deals damage to enable Essence Channeler's Flying, and can ramp if needed.

Sideboard

Aven Interrupter and Voice of Victory have the main function of delaying and/or hindering the opponent's ability to interact with us, especially against sweepers, which can be lethal since we need board position to generate value, or from a cheap removal that can prevent a more explosive turn.

Seam Rip and Glass Casket complement the package of cheap removals against Aggro, Izzet Cauldron, or other archetypes with small creatures that can generate more pressure than we can handle.

Devout Decree is a direct answer against red decks in general, such as Mono Red Aggro, Izzet Prowess, and even Izzet Cauldron. It also works as a decent removal against black Midranges and is also a decent answer against Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. If you want more flexibility, you can add a few copies of Get Lost.

Ghost Vacuum provides cheap graveyard hate against Izzet Cauldron and the recent Selesnya variants, combining Kona, Rescue Beastie with Yuna, Hope of Spira.

Requisition Raid addresses troublesome artifacts and enchantments like Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Pinnacle Starcage in the same slot where we can increase the power of all creatures to increase the pressure on the battlefield.

Izzet Cauldron

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Dimir Midrange

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Orzhov Bounce

IN

OUT

Simic Kona Omniscience

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!