Pioneer: Selesnya Lifegain - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Selesnya is, naturally, the color combination in Magic known for go-wide Aggro strategies, using creatures of various sizes that have some level of synergy, like Selesnya Angels, or that generate immediate value when they enter and stack up a mix of aggression and card advantage—the case of Selesnya Company, the most famous variant of this strategy in Pioneer today.

In the hands of player claudioh, a new variant of these strategies may have emerged. Blending a Legends subtheme with Mox Amber, Selesnya Lifegain uses the synergies between Haliya, Guided by Light with Leonardo, Cutting Edge and Trelasarra, Moon Dancer, plus some mana dorks and Planeswalkers to gain a mid-to-long-term advantage in the match.

This is almost the same list claudioh used to win the Pioneer Challenge on April 5th, but I removed a few slots I found less powerful to add the Planeswalkers Elspeth, Storm Slayer and The Wandering Emperor to the maindeck—both have direct synergies with the game plan while providing a payoff for the extra mana we generate over the course of the match.

Maindeck

Our early turns focus on ramping mana to sequence spells or drop a bomb like Collected Company or a Planeswalker as early as possible. Mox Amber represents free mana, but only if we have a legendary creature to generate mana with it, which Aunt May and Haliya, Guided by Light provide on turn one while guaranteeing life gain with each creature that enters after them.

Gilded Goose and Prosperous Innkeeper round out the extra mana and have good synergies with the list. Goose, in fact, can create a recurring draw engine alongside Haliya, Guided by Light in the late game for four mana.

Leonardo, Cutting Edge and Trelasarra, Moon Dancer are the payoffs and grow as we gain life. Trelasarra synergizes with any of the drops above and extra draw effects like those from Enduring Innocence, if we stack the triggers appropriately so the life gain triggers before the draw, and she gets a +1/+1 counter and Scry.

Haliya also synergizes with Leonardo, where the Sneak "bounce" plus the damage already gives the three life needed to draw a card with her. Plus, returning Innkeeper or Gilded Goose provides another resource from their ETBs.

Enduring Innocence triggers with any creature in the list and provides more staying power over the course of the game. As a bonus, it's resilient against traditional removal, and Lifelink turns it into another resource to hold off Red Aggro in the format.

With so many low-cost creatures and a decent number of ramp effects, it's natural that Collected Company is one of the pillars of Selesnya Lifegain and enables some of the archetype's most explosive turns. Even though we don't have impactful ETBs like those from Skyclave Apparition, even finding two one-drops that gain life on ETB can result in a significant power boost on board.

The Planeswalkers are at the top of the curve and the other payoffs for mana acceleration. Both double as spot removal and can put more bodies on board to trigger Haliya or Aunt May.

They also synergize with each other, with Elspeth increasing the number of tokens The Wandering Emperor creates. When our creatures are large enough, a single activation of Elspeth, Storm Slayer can end the game that same turn if we have enough creatures on board.

I consider these two cards as flexible slots, and we can replace them with whatever we prefer. Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11 performed very poorly in most matches and felt more like a win-more card than a necessity. On the other hand, Virulent Emissary was notably useful against Aggro.

In addition to enough untapped duals to ensure consistency and speed in color access, we have Boseiju, Who Endures to answer artifacts and enchantments in the maindeck and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire as complementary interaction to our Planeswalkers.

Sideboard

Loran of the Third Path is a legend for Mox Amber that answers artifacts and enchantments on ETB. As a bonus, it works as a source of extra draws in long games.

Haywire Mite also deals with artifacts and enchantments, but with the bonus of being cheaper than Loran and providing more life for our game plan, including triggering Haliya.

Seam Rip and Get Lost serve as board interaction. Rip works against almost all threats from Prowess, while Get Lost is more appropriate in Midrange and Control matches.

Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Arclight Phoenix are still two of the most prominent archetypes in Pioneer, and four graveyard hate slots seem necessary to deal with the opponent's key cards in those matches.

Ghost Vacuum costs less, and comes down earlier but exiles one card at a time. Unlicensed Hearse can be a complementary threat in those matches while exiling two cards at a time, being more efficient at emptying the graveyard and delaying the cast of Treasure Cruise.

In Control matches, we need a way to protect ourselves from Supreme Verdict, and Spectacular Spider-Man offers an efficient interaction against sweepers while also being a legend for Mox Amber.

Izzet Prowess

IN

OUT

Orzhov Greasefang / Abzan Greasefang

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Golgari Midrange

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Selesnya Company

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!